4
Thursday. April 21. 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
2017
VIEWPOINT
City needs to rethink hefty jaywalking fine
The $55.50 fine for jaywalking in Lawrence, which recently has been more strictly enforced, is exorbitant for the nature of the crime.
Massachusetts Street is admittedly dangerous at night. People frequently cross in the middle of the street and against the light, and the crowding and congestion of traffic on the weekend increases the probability of an accident. The pedestrian accident last week was extremely unfortunate, and the city has chosen to enforce its law against jaywalking in order to reduce the risk of further accidents.
However, the fine for this transgression should be reasonable. $55.50 is not reasonable. It is ridiculous. It is out of proportion to the crime — a parking ticket at the downtown meters is only $1. It is the source of resentment and does nothing to improve the relationship between the police and the citizens of Lawrence.
This outrageous fine is even more problematic given the earlier lax enforcement of the jaywalking law. Given that this law seems to have been rarely, if ever, enforced, one might think that officers would consider issuing warnings for the first offense.
An increased concern with pedestrian safety is laudable. But it appears that the city, under the pretext of helping its residents, is harassing bar-goers on Massachusetts Street and filling its own coffers.
Increased police presence on Massachusetts Street is a good thing if the purpose is to make this area safer at night. If increasing safety includes preventing jaywalking, so be it.
But a $5 fine also would reduce jaywalking,would be more readily accepted by Lawrence residents and would not seem to exploit the situation quite so enthusiastically. The city should rethink its enforcement of the jaywalking law.
MARGARET BECK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Commission's bar limit will dry out downtown
Lawrence city commissioners have enacted an ordinance placing a limit on the number of bars downtown. Their action is contradictory to supply and demand forces and will cause problems larger than those city commissioners are trying to avoid.
The ordinance affixes a preset number of drinking establishments that make less than 55% of their sales from food.
The rationale of the new ordinance is that it will ensure the proper atmosphere downtown. Additional bars, however, would potentially bring more patrons downtown who would add to the nighttime ambiance.
There hasn't been a surge in the number of bars downtown. Eight of the 12 establishments meeting the criteria have been in business for more than 12 years.
Capping the number of bars downtown will cause potential new bars to be widely dispersed. This dispersion will encourage drinking and driving among barhopping patrons. A central location allows patrons to walk between bars and eases the job of the police.
Another down side to the ordinance is that there will be less competition among downtown bars to attract patrons. The decrease in competition could lead to a decrease in the overall quality of the existing establishments. Low-quality establishments no longer need to worry about a high-quality establishment moving into the neighborhood.
Setting a fixed number of bars will lead to lower levels of public safety and lower-quality establishments downtown, the area commissioners supposedly are preserving.
J. J. ANDRE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Editors
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Factors
Aest Managing Editor...Dan England
Assistant to the editor...J.R. Clairewood
News...Kristi Fogle, J.K. Greenwald
           Todd Selfert
Editorial...Colleen McCain
           Nathan Olean
Campus...Jess DeHaven
Sports...Doris Dorsay
Photo...Doug Hesse
Features...Sara Bennett
Wire...Allison Lipper
Freelance...Christine Lause
Business Staff
Business Star
Campus sales mgr ... Jason Eberly
Regional sales mgr ... Troy Tarwater
Retail assist mgr ... Judith Standley
National and Coop sales mgr ... Robin King
Special Sessions mgr ... Shelly McConnell
Production mgr ... Laura Guth
Gretchen Kootterleinch
Marketing director ... Shannon Reilly
Creative director ... John Carton
Classified mgr ... Kelly Connally
Tearsheets mgr ... Wing Chan
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of California should not use the first letter of their name.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Saucer-Flint Hall.
Head out on the info highway; but bring your crash helmet
Driving on Kansas' construction- added roadways can be a challenge. But it will pale in comparison to cruising the proposed information superhighway. Technology-wary, be warned. In fact, you better hold on tight because in cyberspace there are no traffic cops, speed bumps or guardrails.
One such detour was routed through my apartment the other day.
There was a lengthy message on my answering machine, but it wasn't for me. Actually, it wasn't a message at all. It went something like this:
It's not so much the wires, cables or direct satellite signals that make the information highway difficult to navigate. Rather, it's the concept of digital telecommunications zooming along roadways that have no curbs. One minute you're talking with your grandmother in Kansas City, and the next thing you know, your conversation is on some computer bulletin board for the sexually challenged. Hello? Operator?
"Hello, Esther, this is Jennifer at the Visiting Nurses Association." (The names have been changed to protect the technologically innocent.)
We've all heard the hoopla about how the information highway will open up the floodgates of information to the ignorant, foster democracy in lands of tyranny and break down cultural barriers. It may accomplish this if we're smart about it. But those SNAFUs, the little detours that send you and your proverbial digital soul across cyber-purgatory, have got to stop.
"Oh, yes. Honey, I'm glad you called."
"Well, we got the message from Gov. Carnahan's office that you needed additional assistance." (Gov. Carnahan? He's in Jefferson City, Mo.)
"You want to call me back when he gets home?" (Better yet, why is Esther on my machine?)
"Yeah, honey. I'll call back, and he'll you in.."
("Hello Operator?")
The telephone wire handles most of the traffic on the information superhighway. It's a frightening prospect when the freeway of information is detoured from someplace in Missouri through your answering machine. I only hope that poor Esther doesn't have any of my telephone conversations recorded on her answering machine. That could spell trouble.
Until recently, the computer communities, called "cyberburs," have been relatively self-policing. Adhering to common computer etiquette, everyone was respectful of each other's cyberspace. But the popularity of adult entertainment and sexually explicit computer bulletin boards has attracted some crafty juveniles and a lot of attention. Needless to say, parents were outraged to find out that little Johnny had been downloading dirty pictures on the PC. With the exception of obscenity laws, however, many parents have learned that
This points to just one of the many problems the development of information technology poses. It is not just a wild ride on some isolated information back road that has everyone from industry analysts to politicians worried.
few laws exist in the cyburbs.
Like traveling on a winding, mountainous road that has no shoulder and no speed limit, we are preparing to careen into the age of information anarchy. And much like Esther's detour, the road doesn't always take you where you want to go.
Vice President Al Gore and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown have assumed the roles of sheriff and highway patrolman, respectively, in dealing with computer travel. Since taking office, they have made the information highway a top priority. It may be a futile attempt, though.
The seven regional Bell telephone companies, known as the Baby Bells, exhibit a powerful influence over telecommunications deregulation. They've been wrestling with the programming companies, such as Adobe, Prodigy and Oracle, about who will rule the roadways. Many believe that the Baby Bells will win.
Judging by the Bells' maintenance of the information highway, I may get to go to Missouri more often. Hello? Esther?
LAWRENCE POLICE HAVE A NEW WEAPON TO USE IN THE CRACKDOWN ON JAYWALKING
Greg Thonon is a Kansas City, Kan. senior, in Journalism.
Lack of motivation worries friend
How do I tell him?
How do I tell my best friend that I'm worried about him?
How do I tell him that I think that he could do better than a pizza delivery job all his life?
I've known this guy since the eighth grade. We've been through a lot together, from the time we spent shooting pool in his basement during high school to the time we spent shooting darts in bars now.
But last semester, the time we spent in school together came to an abrupt end. He flunked out of KU.
It happens to a lot of people. About 50 percent of all students who enter the University hopeful for a degree never receive one.
But I don't think that he belongs in that group.
When he first told me the bad news, his voice barely a whisper, I didn't know what to say, except that I was sorry. I wasn't surprised. He hadn't been too motivated lately. He never did his homework.
I thought that he would take a semester off. It would be good for him.
And after a conversation we had a
I didn't think any less of him. He still was my best friend.
week after he got the news, I wasn't worried at all.
"Now that I am having a hard time getting a degree, I've just realized how much I want one. I'll get it."
But he admitted that when he got comfortable working all the time and making money, he might not ever want to go back to school.
A month ago, I asked him what his future plans were. He said he didn't know.
I asked him again last week what his plans were. He said he didn't know.
If he enrolls in a junior college and does well, he eventually could enroll again at the University. He needs to do it soon. I'm still not sure whether he has the motivation to do it.
On my drive home from his apartment, weaving through the jagged
roads, I thought about this semester. It struck me how the roads snuck up on me, causing me to yank the steering wheel left and right. I was swerving all over the place.
This proved to me two things: that my mind obviously was on his indecisiveness and that his indecisiveness was leaving me feeling uncertain.
We always had gone through life's twists and turns together. I looked over at the empty passenger seat, the seat that he always seemed to be in before this semester. Guilt filled me. That seat made me wonder whether I was doing enough to help him straighten out his life.
It's not that I think that his life is bad right now. I don't think that everyone needs a degree to have a good life. In fact, if I knew that I could be a good journalist without getting a degree, I wouldn't be a Jayhawk right now.
I think that he has a good life
But sometimes I'm not so sure. He sleeps for most of the day. I wonder whether he has many friends with whom he can talk besides me and his roommate. He doesn't have that biting sense of humor that he used to. In fact, he doesn't seem to laugh much at all anymore.
This worries me.
This guy always was doing something to make others laugh. He never seemed to let anything get him down.
There are times when friends need a kick in the pants. A boost to help each other reach their lifetime goals. That's what friends are for.
And the guy is my best friend. I should be able to talk with him, right? how do I tell him?
But how do I tell him?
How do I tell him without sounding?
as if I'm better than him, just because
I will soon have a degree and he
won't?
How do I tell him without sounding,
as if I'm disappointed with him?
How do I tell him that even though I know he's happy with his life,he may not be in the future?
How do I tell him that I think he is too smart, too good at working with people and too talented to continue living his life the way he is living it right now?
How do I tell him that his life right now is a waste of his ability?
How do I tell him? I don't know. You tell me.
Dan England is a Lenexa senior in Journalism.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Hispanic conference received poor coverage
I wish to thank the University Daily Kansan for its excellent coverage of the fifth annual Hispanics of Today Conference, which took place the weekend of April 8-10. It is amazing that an extremely successful and positive event for Hispanics, such as this conference was, could get so much public. It surprises
me that the Kansan could afford to send a reporter to the least-attended workshop, as I didn't know the Kansan had that many reporters.
The worst thing was that the story about the workshop on financing your education was the one that the editorial staff of the Kansan chose as being representative of our conference.
Obviously, the editorial staff of the Kansan didn't think that our keynote speaker for the dinner on
April 9, Samuel Betances, would be as great a story as the workshop on financing your education. The Kansas Union Ballroom was filled by people who attended the dinner and listened to Betances' powerful and motivational speech.
As I seem to recall, Student Senate helped the Hispanic American Leadership Organization bring Betances by approving our request for funding for Betances' honorarium. Senate paid approximately $5,400, and
yet, the Kansan neglected to place a story about Betances' speech in the paper on April 11.
It is a shame that the members of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization, who worked so hard for six months to make this conference a success, were rewarded by the pitiful little story on the workshop in Dyche Hall that 40 people attended.
Tony Sanchez Topeka senior