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University Daily Kansan / Monday, April 6, 1992
OPINION
LIFE IN HELL
1992 BY MATT GROWNING
The dregs of driving.
The asses of automotive.
I speak, of course, of Lawrence drivers. Show me someone who learned to drive in Douglas County, and I'll show you an insurance company's worst nightmare.
This city is blessed with many wonderful innovations. The campanile tolls every quarter hour to keep KU students on time.
Too bad no one knows how to use them.
The intersection of Massachusetts and 23rd streets is cut with right-turn lanes to keep the busy corner moving. And Lawrence's busiest streets are equipped with perhaps the greatest invention in the history of city planning — left-turn lanes.
It seems every time I'm sitting — that's sitting as opposed to actually moving — at a green light, it's because some idiot in front of me is turning left without getting over. What they think the big, yellow, left arrow painted on the road means is hard to imagine. Do not enter the dark recesses of the mind
David Mitchell Staff columnists
of the Douglas County driver. What lurks there is all too frightening.
These people also seem to think that their turn signal is half of a hazard light, to be used in minor emergencies, because the only time they let other drivers know they're going to turn is when they slam on their brakes in the middle of an intersection.
I hate to put a sweeping stereotype on a vast number of the driving public in their own hometown, but these psychos of the streets invariably have Douglas County plates.
You know the people I'm talking about. They're the ones that sit at red lights, wait for the light to change, go through the intersection and turn right into the first parking lot. Sure, they
could have turned right on the red and already been there, but they wouldn't have been able to hold up traffic in such a simple scenario.
The next time some moron turns left in front of me without getting over or signaling — because he or she couldn't wait to play Lotto America or get a Kwik Kencher — I'll have to reearend them without leaving skid marks. Of course, according to our warped state laws, the person who hits someone from behind is automatically at fault. But it would be worth it.
I've never had a major accident. I've never had a speeding ticket. My insurance is cheap. My car is paid for, and I'm ready for a new one. My little car probably would be totaled easily, and my insurance might go up for a while.
But as the wrecker towed my car away, and the officer wrote me a ticket, I could smile knowing I took one of them with me.
David Mitchell is a DeSoto senior majoring in journalism.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Libraries forced to condense
Rising costs, smaller budgets force the University to reduce either salaries or subscriptions
Beset by rising costs and shackled by declining purchasing power, KU libraries' financial problems continue to darken. The next likely victim will be periodicals. Eight hundred scholarly journal subscriptions are to be canceled in the coming fiscal year.
Sadly, there is not a lot the University can do to prevent the cancellations, because the sources of the problem come from outside, not from within.
Chancellor Gene Budig has been a longtime supporter of the KU libraries. Besides being responsible for the construction of the Science Library, his administration has managed to increase the libraries' budget over the years. But despite the increases, budget power is on the decline. The libraries are helpless. External factors hold them hostage.
Among them:
- The U.S. dollar's purchasing power is declining around much of the world, boosting the cost of foreign publications.
- Corporations are buying up nonprofit publications and increasing, sometimes doubling, subscription costs.
The minimum wage increase two years ago has cost KU libraries $117,000.
All these external constraints on purchasing power create an undesirable tug of war between personnel and publications. Which can be cut? Higher salaries mean fewer books. More books mean lower salaries. And the salaries of KU librarians already rank 104th out of the 107 largest research libraries in the United States. Eliminating the 800 journals seems the only logical choice.
it is not from a lack of effort or concern that the University will lose these subscriptions. But it represents the plight of universities and libraries nationwide — budgets cannot keep up with rising costs.
KU must pay price for coach
Martin Scherstuhl for the editorial board
Kansas' Mason has changed losing team into serious contender in just five seasons
When Coach Glen Mason entered his first spring practice with the Kansas football team in 1988, he inherited a squad that had won four games in the last two seasons. Kansas had fewer than 50 scholarship athletes on its roster. And several of those players quit as Mason reshaped the team with his tough, no-nonsense approach.
Mason is now in his fifth spring practice, in the fifth year of a five-year contract. Kansas is coming off its first winning season since 1981. Much of the credit for the turnaround belongs to Mason and his staff. Considered one of the best young coaches in the country
he'll celebrate his 42nd birthday on Thursday - Mason has been mentioned as a candidate for several positions at other schools.
the coach has said many times that he is happy at Kansas and has no desire to leave. And Mason surely has proven his loyalty to the program after enduring three losing seasons. But Kansas fans have played the game before. Don't mention Larry Brown's name
to Mason or Coach Roy Williams, but when a coach says he is staying, it is not always so.
Both Mason and Bob Frederick, athletic director, have said that the contract negotiations were no big deal. But they have been saving that since last fall.
saying that this class is In all fairness, Frederick, a member of the NCAA basketball committee, has been busy with the NCAA tournament. However, as soon as the Final Four concludes, priority should be given to ensuring that Mason remains at the Jayhawks' helm. In 1987, Mason guided Kent State to its first winning season in more than a decade. A month later, he left for Kansas.
Mason and his staff have changed the team from a laughing stock into a winning program with a bright future. The Athletic Department should reward Mason for his dedication with a generous new contract. And Mason should show his players and fans that he is as serious about the future as he was about the last four years.
Mason is the 33rd coach in Kansas history. No Jayhawk coach has lasted for more than four seasons since the early 1960s. That is one tradition Kansas should discontinue.
David Micklehill for the ediitional board
David Micklehill for the ediitional board
Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the University Daily Kansan editorial board. Opinions expressed in letters, cartoons and guest and staff columns are solely those of the author or artist. Views expressed in columns and cartoons are not necessarily shared by the Kansan.
International roundup
Financial Times, London, on global warming:
The temperature of European Community U.S. relations has been rising recently over the issue of global warming. The EC environment commissioner, Carlo Ripa di Meana, has criticized President George Bush for his refusal to commit the United States to targets for reducing emissions of harmful gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Bush, for his part, says he does not intend to support unrealistic environmental plans which could cost U.S. jobs.
The chances of narrowing the trans-Atlantic gap do not look very strong. Unless Bush's political opponents step up the attack on his environmental record and force him to respond, he has no reason to change his position. This, in turn, will give no encouragement to the more fainthearted in the EC. The Earth
Summit meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June will achieve very little if Bush does not attend with some firm goals.
Assthings are, the right question to ask is: Are Bush and British Prime Minister John Major, who are facing elections, and President Francois Mitterrand, who is losing political ground, prepared to lose face to Moammar Gadhafi?
*La Stampa, Turin, Italy, on sanctions against Libya:*
Of course, these sanctions will not ruin Libya, even if only because the other Arab countries, while not loving him, will sell him everything.
Business as usual then? Not exactly. There is a serious danger that the usual die-hard fringe
groups will send out the same trouble-shooting kamikaze terrorists. Not to the far-off United States, of course, but most likely to some Western place within arm's reach.
The cynical response must be no. And so Gadhafi will be subjected to international
- Straits Times, Singapore, on the Thai general election;
Thailand has had a general election and now will have an elected prime minister. But, at the same time, its pro-democratic bloc has been relegated to the opposition while pro-military parties form the government.
It is important not to conclude from all this that the election itself was not worthwhile. What the polls exemplify, however, is the problem of excluding the military, whose political neutrality is a precept of democratic theory, from the political arena in many developing countries. Without a minimum of economic democracy political democracy can be little
more than a hope.
- The Jerusalem Post on allegations that Israel sold weapons with U.S. components to China, South Africa and other countries:
The unprecedented campaign of leaks against Israel, originating in unidentified administration sources in Washington, seems to have borne fruit. It has caused serious damage to Israel's good name and public standing. And it has dealt a body blow to its military industry, whose health is essential to the country's survival. Even more damaging may be the campaign's effect on U.S.-Israel relations.
The U.S. public is neither interested enough to study the issue nor prone to believe denials by a foreign country. In the absence of unequivocal dissociation from the leaks by the administration, let alone action against the leakers, it
naturally tends to believe the worse. Thus, unsubstantiated, baseless charges have blossomed into received wisdom. It is the first time in recent history that a democratic friend and ally of the United States has been treated so shabbi.
*El Mundo, Madrid, Spain, on Spain and Jews:*
On March 31, the Madrid synagogue was the site of a highly symbolic act: The king of Spain and the president of Israel closed the historical wound opened 500 years ago when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed the Edict of Expulsion for Spain's Jewish community.
What one can do today is to use this glomy episode in our history to actively renew and extend criticism of anti-Semitism.
KANSAN STAFF
TIFFANY HARNESS Editor
VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager,newsadviser
Editors
News ... Mike Andrews
Editorial ... Beth Randolph
Planning ... Lara Gold
Campus ... Eric Gorski/Rockwall
Photo ... Eric Nelson
Photo ... Jacob Johnson
Features ... Debbie Myers
Graphics ... Aimee Brainard/Jeff Meesey
JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
JAY STEINER Retail sales manager
Campus sales mgr...Bill Leibengood
Regional sales mgr...Rich Harlsharber
National sales mgr...Scott Hanna
Co-op sales mgr...Amel Johnson
Production mgrs...Kim Wallace
Lisa Keeler
Marketing director...Clarkton
Leader...Classified mgr...Kip Chin
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
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