Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY Kansan
Published daily since 1912
4A
Lindsey Henry, Editor
Dave Morant, Managing editor
Kristie Blasi, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser
Marc Harrell, Business manager
Colleen Eager, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and mar keting adviser
Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Friday, April 3, 1998
W. David Keith / KANSAN
Editorials
Kansans wouldn't be in any sort of heaven with corporate hog farms
The Seaboard Corporation wants to fatten its pockets with a swine farm in Great Bend that could slaughter about 4 million hogs per year and bring 2,400 jobs. While some legislators are eating up the idea, small-scale farmers and the Kansas ecosystem would be the ones most adversely affected.
The Kansas Legislature should not allow the company to build its farms.
Seaboard already has begun recruiting central Kansas farmers to raise the 10,500 hogs the plants usually hold. This form of corporate agriculture would be devastating to family-owned farms that cannot compete economically with mass marketing.
Nearby inhabitants of the corporate farms also would lose out. They would have to live with the stench of open lagoons that would hold the waste produced by the hogs until it could be sprayed on fields. These lagoons also would damage the environment, particularly if constructed near valuable sources of water. Although not likely to
be constructed near Lawrence, if these farms affect the drinking water in one part of the state, Lawrence drinking water eventually could be affected.
A proposed site near Liberal would be located near the Cimmarona River, a potential source of drinking water. Cheyenne Bottoms, a wildlife refuge only five miles north of Great Bend, would be ill-affected by potential manure spills which could harm wildlife such as the endangered whooping crane.
House Bill 2950 proposes measures that would regulate the distances at which lagoon could be placed from water sources and habitable structures. While intentions are good, this bill has some loopholes. The regulations were based largely on research conducted by Kansas State University about the adverse effects of the hog farms. However, the study will not be finished until October 1999.
The Legislature should not make a decision that would affect the Kansas
environment and many Kansas residents without all of the facts.
Hog carcasses and disease also could become a problem if corporate hog farms are allowed. Current regulations allow carcasses to be picked up within 48 hours. However, the Kansas Sierra Club warns in hot temperatures carcasses can burst and breed files within 30 hours. Seaboard has a bad reputation for adhering to even lax regulations. The corporation has been fined $89,900 for improper disposal and has disposed of about 35,000 dead hogs per month at its farms in Oklahoma.
If the Legislature passes this bill, and Gov. Bill Graves signs it, Seaboard would endanger the Kansas ecosystem and exploit it. The risks far outweigh any potential economic benefits of corporate hog farms.
This proposal would affect all Kansas. KU students and Kansas residents should write their legislators and tell them not to allow corporate hog farming in Kansas.
Erinn R. Barcomb for the editorial board
Drinking requires responsibility
Drinking alcohol is not all fun and games. With the privileges of imbibery come many responsibilities. KU students who drink should make every effort to be responsible, safe drinkers.
The responsibilities are numerous and the consequences of irresponsibility can be deadly.
When students drink irresponsibly, without taking safety measures, they put their lives and others' lives at risk. Too often, drinkers succumb to the temptation to drive themselves home from bars or parties, despite their intoxication. Maybe it is convenient to
drive oneself home, but convenience is not worth the risk. When students consider driving after a night on the town, they should ask themselves, "Am I willing to risk death, simply for convenience?"
Nor should students risk the lives of others in such a way — but this is exactly what people who have been drinking do when they get behind the wheel.
Underage drinkers have even greater responsibilities. Although it is illegal for them to drink, they may think that they should have that right, that they are mature adults. But if these underage drinkers want to prove that they are truly responsible adults, they must act the part. Being irresponsible, unsafe drinkers and risking lives is not the way to accomplish the goal.
a dangerous place, whether drunk or sober.
Also, drinkers can be unsafe even when not in a car. They may not pay attention to who they are with, or what they are doing, putting themselves in risky situations. The world is
Before going out this weekend, or any time, students should consider how they will get home safely, and make responsible decisions.
Kansan staff
Paul Eakins for the editorial board
Paul Eakins . . . . . . . . . Editorial
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“You can kill more flies with honey — and good grammar — than with vinegar.”
—Student Senator Matt Bachard
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
How to submit letters and guest columns
Guest columns? Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuaffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Paul Eakins (eakins@kansan.com) or Andy Obermueller (andyo@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Perspective
feel guilty about Lisa Rose.
I never met the Overland Park freshman who died after being struck by a car Tuesday night as she left a local bar. I was
feel guilty about Lisa Rosel.
'Why?' goes unanswered following life's tragedies
n't the bartender who served her, the doorman who let her in or the driver of the car that killed her. I was at home, safely asleep in bed when the accident happened.
But I feel guilty, I suspect, because of the notion that maybe it should have been me.
Andy
Obermueller
andyo@kansan.com
Most college students have an anecdote about a dumb thing that they did under the influence that they are able to laugh about in hindsight. Look-
tions that people sometimes cite when they try to comprehend a tragedy such as the untimely death of a fellow student. "It was her time" doesn't satisfy me. "That's just life" is equally uncomfortable. Even theological explanations that I usually find peace with sometimes leave me still pondering the "But why?" notion.
ing back at four years of college, I have my share of escapades that I can laugh off, but I also learned what it was like to make a truly dumb and devastating decision after drinking too much.
It's always the "Why" question that trips us. The harder we search for truth, the harder it becomes to find. This is the paradox: The more we try to find out, the more we realize we can never know. It's like gasping for breath underwater.
We come up empty, unsurprisingly, when we try to mend our broken souls with the larger truths that are so hard to find. But if we narrow our sights and try to derive meaning, that can be more usable to repair our spirit. So coming to terms with troubling events is thus a question of focus. We have to focus on asking, "What does this mean to me?" instead of "Why did this happen?"
Because there are no answers that can justify tragedy. There are only questions. But in asking those questions and searching for some shred of truth — even if we are destined never to find it — we can interpret meaning. The search for truth may be a futile exercise, but the search for meaning is not.
My mistake was driving. During a trip to my apartment, when I certainly should have walked, I instead drove and wounded up flipping my car. Thankfully, I only injured myself, not a passerboy or another motorist as I easily could have.
Narrowing my focus to a specific meaning rather than a broad truth quelled some of my frustration and put my guilt on hold.
On the other hand, Lisa did not try to drive home. Her choice was to walk. She seemed to have made a relatively responsible decision, and yet she died. I made a stupid choice and, for no apparent reason, I lived.
That doesn't mean that I was able to get a decent night's rest last night, nor do I expect to go to bed tonight with a reconciled heart.
It seems strange to be so bothered by the death of someone whom I never met. No matter how much I try to balance the events, the inequity in outcome does not make for emotional equilibrium. Not only because I feel a pang of guilt, but also because I feel frustrated at not being able to understand why lightning struck where it did.
I can't let go of that.
But I have some idea as to the meaning of my accident, and I have interpolated a broader understanding of what life means to me afterward. As time passes, I may be able to understand why Lisa died instead of me, and from that meaning, catch a fleeting glimpse of a greater shred of truth.
At least, I hope so.
In an attempt to answer the 'Why' questions, I have considered the hollow justifica-
Obermüller is a liberal, Kan., senior in journalism and an Opinion page editor.
Feedback
Column appreciated but contained errors
First I want to thank you, John Colbert, for the tribute article you wrote about the tragic and unfortunate death of Lisa Rosel. She was an admirable, outgoing person who deserved a tribute and much attention. But I believe that when you actually see and experience such a traumatic event, it goes all too fast and is in a sort of surreal haze, therefore making it difficult to obtain an exact picture of what actually happened. I was with those three that made the untimely trip across the street that Tuesday night, and I would like to clear up a few things that actually happened.
I had met with my friends at Bull Winkle's about an hour after they had been there. The four of us, Rosel and her two close friends, William Hogan and Angie Boley, all walked outside of the bar to leave at the same time at about 11:50 a.m. My car was parked up the street, in the opposite direction of where Hogan's Bronco, in which the three of them had arrived, was parked. I bid him good night and crossed the street to get into my vehicle. After only about 10 paces, I heard the same horrible impact and screeching of the Montero that you did, and I turned around and ran back toward my friends to get a closer look. She was under the back wheel on the driver's side in a mangled position. The screaming of the "don't die, please don't die," was her close friend, Hogan, who was with her to take her home. The driver of the Montero did nothing of the sort. Hogan was the one in hysteries, the one pleading for the salvation of her life, not the driver at all.
Also, let's be rational about the accident. You said the driver was going at least thirty miles per hour. To hit someone hard enough to take their life away instantaneously, you would have to be at going at least thirty miles per hour or certainly faster than that, and certainly would have to be not paying attention to the road at all. If he had, none of this would have occurred.
I am not trying to blame anyone. It was such an unnecessary death, and our sympathies go out to Lisa's family, her friends and to Matthew Vestal, the driver of the vehicle.
In a way, two lives were ruined that night. I agree with
Rick Shearer Leawood junior
you in that it was the most tragic thing I have ever seen, and none of us that were there have been able to think about virtually anything else since. This puts life in perspective and makes you realize what is really important; your family and your friends. I just felt that it needed to be mentioned, and that her friends did all that they could. It is not easy when there is nothing you can do, yet you feel so helpless.
Alternative break coverage lacking
As a participant in the alternative Spring Break program, I was disappointed in your coverage of the break. I was a member of the Detroit site. Yes, we got lost a few times, but so what? That did not take away our purpose, which was to work with inner-city schools and promote peace and violence prevention. As a person, I was changed by the Detroit trip. I realized that what we were doing was not only important and beneficial for the children but to myself as well. I learned the impact that we as individuals have on children and teens simply by listening. I know we made an impact because several of the children called later reporting violence and accepting their responsibilities as peacemakers to report such acts.
It really saddens me that The University Daily Kansan did not focus on this aspect of the trip, because 10 years from now. I will not remember getting lost, but I will never forget the experience I had interacting with such great kids and teens.
Sarah Banker Wamego junior
As executive producer of this year's Rock Chalk Revue, I would like to make a statement regarding this year's show.
We were not made aware of the Native American Student Association's concerns until less than one week prior to opening night. We immediately opened rehearsals and invited representatives of the Native American Student Association to watch the skit for themselves.
Revue producer recounts show's saga
Representatives of the Native American Student Association and the Black Student Union first watched the skit on the Tuesday prior to the show.
Immediately follow the skit, executive director Kyle Evans and I met with representatives from both the Native American Student Association and the Black Student Union for more than three hours.
The meeting helped us to understand and appreciate their point of view and led us to make several changes in the script of "Don't Drink the Water."
Prior to the rehearsal of the revised skit the following evening, we again met with representatives from both the Native American Student Association and the Black Student Union along with the directors of "Don't Drink the Water." Although the representatives of the Native American Student Association made it clear that they wanted us to remove the skit from the Revue, we felt that we had come to an agreement with them.
And, although we did not remove the skit from the show, we made the changes that they requested.
After immediately opening rehearsals and hosting two days of intense discussions and revising the skit numerous times, on Opening Night it was apparent that still not everyone was happy. However, in the time allowed, the meetings—and the revisions they brought about—were the best we could do.
In the future we will search for and find ways to better integrate multicultural perspectives into our judging process. This has been a good learning experience and has opened the door for good dialogue between next year's Advisory Board and other campus organizations.
While we strive to put on a high-quality show year after year, we make no claims that we are professionals. When the majority of this year's cast first stepped foot onto the stage in the Lied Center, it was the first time they had stepped onto a stage anywhere. And for many, it will be the last time they step onto a stage. We are amateurs. We are students from the University of Kansas who are trying to raise money for the United Way and have a good time doing so.
Andrew Schauder Rock Chalk Revue executive producer