OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
April 2,1984 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kansas (USP5 60440) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuart-Fint Hall, Lawrence, KS, daily during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during the summer session, excl. online classes. All students must register by mail or by phone. Mail are $1 for six months or a $2 year in Douglass County and $1 for six months or $3 for the outside country. Student subscriptions are $3 a semester paid through the student activity fee. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to USP5, 118 Stuart-Fint Hall, Lawrence, KS.
DOUG CUNNINGHAM
Edition
DON KNOX
Managing Editor
SARA KEMPIN
Editorial Editor
JEFFE TAYLOR ANDREW HARTLEY
CAMPUS Editor News Editor
DAVE WANAMAKER Business Manager
PAUL JESS
CORT GORMAN JILL MICHELL
Retail Sales Manager National Sales Manager
General Manager and News Adviser
JANICE PHILLIPS   DUNCAN CALHOUN
Campus Sales Manager  Classified Manager
Veterans praised
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
Today marks the start of POW/MIA Vietnam Memorial Awareness Week.
In part, the week is intended to draw attention to the proposed memorial to University of Kansas students who were killed in the war. A rigorous process led to the selection of a design for the memorial, which is to be south of the Frank R. Burge Union.
So far, $16,000 of the necessary $30,000 to pay for the memorial has been raised.
A memorial to honor KU students killed in Vietnam seems to be a good thing. Many veterans have noted recently that although they fought—and some died—in Vietnam, they were shunned when they returned to the United States.
Certainly, this country can do better by its Vietnam veterans than to shun and ignore them.
The reception was in marked contrast to the reception given to soldiers who came home from other wars, such as World War II.
Students at this University, however, should keep in mind the purpose of the KU memorial. Its purpose must not and cannot be to glorify war.
The memorial's purpose should be this — to serve as a reminder of the sacrifices KU students and others made in Vietnam.
Many students now have forgotten about the war. To some, the war was only blurred images on a television screen, rather than the suffering and terror that participants faced.
Such an inscription must recognize the divisive views in this country about the war. The wording also must recognize the real sacrifice of the thousands of young people from across the country who died in the fighting.
One point about the memorial that has not yet been decided is the wording of an inscription on the memorial.
Also, the views on this campus during the war were highly critical of U.S. action in Southeast Asia. The wording must be careful to stay away from supporting the politics of the war.
Rather, the memorial must be built to remember the sacrifice of those who fought and died. The students of this University will be best served if that goal is kept firmly in mind.
Incident is a bit fishy
Approval of the bill would send it to the House and Senate floors.
State Sen. Richard Gannon, D-Goodland, probably summed up the most recent Statehouse controversy best.
"I think this whole process stinks," he said.
Indeed, the question of whether five legislators violated the state's open meetings law with regard to a bill that would raise the drinking age in Kansas to 19 does smell a bit fishy.
Gannon, one of six legislators who are to decide the fate of the drinking bill, has said that the other committee members approved the bill without a mandatory public hearing.
Gannon and two other legislators have requested that the attorney general's office look into the possible violations of the open meetings law, which requires that all conference committee meetings be open to the public.
Legislators must not be allowed to decide the fate of Kansas behind the public's back.
If the violations are confirmed, the legislators must be severely reprimanded for dismissing the public's sacred trust.
On the other hand, if the legislators are not guilty of the violations, their names must be cleared to avoid tainting the chances of this bill on the Senate floor.
Whatever the result, the committee members have more important things to do than to question each others' integrity.
A solution must be found quickly to get the members back earning their pay.
If a question of integrity has arisen, as it has, the answer must be found. The attorney general's office must now do its utmost to find the source of this big stink.
Smoking on flight OK
In one of the last important actions it will take before going out of business at the end of the year, the Civil Aeronautics Board has decided to continue to allow cigarette smoking on most airline flights.
The antismoking lobby has asked the CAB to prohibit all smoking on domestic flights of two hours or less, and the tobacco lobby has opposed it
will still be able to puff away in the smoking section of jets, though pipe and cigar smokers will have to abstain.
The decision was a reasonable one. The continued separation of smokers from nonsmokers and the ventilation systems on modern jet aircraft that replace all air in the plane three times a minute should insure that nonsmokers don't suffer any discomfort.
The CAB rejected the pleas of antismokers, so cigarette addicts
Chicago Tribune
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten on one sheet of paper, double-spaced and should not exceed 200 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and home town or institution. The Kansan also invites individuals and groups to contact him. Columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Staffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
LETTERS POLICY
Gather 'round the newstand, fabl! it's USA Today! For just a quarter you too can sample the salad bar of newspapers, pick your mix of sins and gris, sobs and slobs, beauties and beats! A mearly two
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
we take the bad news, and we slice it and dice it — we know how to price it; give us 25 cents and we serve information, complete with
bits is a small price to pay to keep you in touch with the world of today!
Hollywood just moved next door to Beirut; we're the National Enquirer in a three-piece gray suit! We researched what you want, and it's just what you need. Our polls and computers bred a newspaper neuter with a life guarantee of true mediocrity!
We're the word of the masses, like the news with molasses, there's just enough sugar to sweeten the pill. And if all the varieties make you feel queasy, it's easy to pull out the juice of a quarter you hardly can lose.
sensation. Forget introspection,
historic dissection, we'll give you
the dirt on the latest election!
But speaking of losing, we'll lower our voices, too much of our inking is turning up red. The Gannett chain might be guilty of losing its head. We've lost the head, we've ended up in a fight in a contest for profits that seems to be lost.
It may flatten the dent that's been made in our profits — we can't really drop it at this point in time. We've got too much invested, it's still being tested, this concept whose time is now long overdue.
The rest of the chain is resenting the pain of $127 million loss in the past 18 months. And projections aren't better — in fact they are redder — because 1984 is costing us $72 million. Estimated losses are $75 million.
A venture is one thing, a fiasco another — and by the way, brother, can you spare a dime? 'Cause it seems that in time — looks like only a month — our prices will jump up to 35 cents.
And as for the die-hards, those nose in-the-sky hards: who says that USA Today is lacking in news? We live in an age of fast facts and travel - who has time for the babble of in-depth review?
Color graphics and photos can tell it all simply. A picture replaces those hundreds of lines. They are lost in back pages by high-pressured readers who don't feel a need for enriching their minds.
So we cut a few stories to make room for the weather, gave it 10 percent space out of general news. But we think that our readership's more concerned about whether it's longer than with the congressional blues.
Nobody noticed when we skipped over Reagan's pronouncement concerning the arms-control talks. And busing in Chicago is of negligible interest to people who might tend to sav "let them walk."
HELAINE KASKEL
Staff Columnist
Our paper is effective with our central objective of packaging news in a salable way. Even if they're not buying, we'll still keep on trying — fast food did not catch on in only a day.
The media are changing, and we're rearranging the state of America's newspaper press. And we're really offended when our product's upended by polite academics who say we've a mess.
And forget advertisers — they're terrible misers — they won't give us dollars to finance our spree. But increased circulation as we conquer the nation will also increase our credibility.
We have only one worry — that in our great hurry to build up a product with great mass appeal, we have somehow misfired, and may have been left with the raw end indeed of a very raw deal.
Our computers, and graphics, and technological gymnasies all could have bypassed the road to success. For it seems that the readers have past the rainbow, and found the colors just another yellow press.
Looking at some lesser-known laws
"No person shall manipulate any waterski, surfboard or similar device while intoxicated or under the influence of any drug, barbiturate or marijuana.
That is a law, Kansas Statutes Annotated 82a-180, and is evidence that not all state laws address issues as important to the future of Kansas
as reappraisal and classification or the protection of the public from Wolf Creek.
By skipping through KSA, the law of the land, you can find many rules that most people don't know about. You might not even notice you. They might even affect you.
First, a disclaimer. What follows is not necessarily sound legal opinion — my views on the interpretation of law are respected as
fully as the views of Annette Funicello on peanut butter. Caveat recitator — let the reader beware.
The first section of a law often is devoted to definition. Sometimes lawmakers define words ordinary people take for granted.
In the chapter "Sex Offenses," for instance, the Kansas Legislature, in an honest effort to dispel some of the misinformation she saw the need to define "woman."
In case you're wondering, the law does not narrow the definition of woman to "Helen Reddy," but to "any female human being." "Man" is not defined in the article. Neither is "Bov George."
Besides clarifying any confusion about women, KSA also provides clear, concise instructions in every manner such as riding motorcycles.
"A person shall ride a motorcycle only while sitting astride the seat, facing forward, with one leg on each side of the motorcycle." And that's that. No equivocation, and no allowance for creativity.
Perhaps you're not a motorcyclist. Perhaps you prefer horses. If Old Paint contracts glanders,
don't worry. Glanders is a contagious, sometimes fatal disease characterized by nasal discharge among the lungs. But don't worry.
The authorities have the right to order your glanders-striken horse killed. You are entitled to collect compensation equivalent to half the horse's value up to $150, by simply uploading a signed sign by to taxpayerspling
If pigs are your animal of choice, do not despair. Pigs are covered by the legislative blanket as "swine" in KSA Chapter 47.
If you own any swine, they shall not run at large. However, at any township or general election, voters may exempt their township from that law and permit swine to trot about freely in the streets.
Driving swine along highways, long a form of recreation in Outer Kansas, is always legal so long as you will notice consequences of swine setups.
Some people, believe it or not,
would rather go fishing than swine driving.
When fishing, be careful not to violate KSA 32-135, which states,
"It shall be unlawful" to place or
explode any dynamite, giant powder, lime, nitroglycerine or any other explosive ... to take or kill, stun or wound fish "
Execution of at least one of the laws has become law. Yes, I refer to the criminal use of noxious matter, a misdemeanor.
Noxious matter is defined as any "substance which may give off dangerous or disagreeable odors or distress to persons exposed thereto.
Criminal use of noxious matter is defined as "use or attempt to use noxious matter to the injury of persons and property, or the placing or depositing of such matter upon or about the premises of another person without the consent of such person."
Consider the language disagreeable odors deposited without the consent of innocent bystanders or committing failfulness a misdemeasurement.
Next time you are criminally subjected to noxious matter, in a crowded elevator for instance, you may be arrested as a警卫's arrest. KS2 132146 for details.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The University Daily Kansan will change its letters-to-the-editor policy immediately because of continual receipt of a large number of letters on a wide variety of issues.
We now ask that letters be no more than one type-written page, double spaced.
Proposal violates rights
To the editor:
1 am concerned about the administration's position in regard to the visitation rights in the residence
Fred McEhlene, director of residential programs, said in a University Daily Kansas article March 26, "We are not promoting cohabitation. We are in that person who would not feel they had the right."
Cohabitation is a legal right under our laws for anyone over the age of 18. McElenhie also said that a few of the residents had complained about overnight guests.
Satisfying the rights of a few while infringing on the rights of the vast majority is clearly in conflict
Moreover, I hope that Mr. McElhenie is not taking it upon himself to force his values upon other adults.
James Jeffrey, AURH president, has proposed a solution that would not have a dominating party. Rather, all parties would creatively collaborate to reach a solution.
Such a solution would address the real problem of conflicts between roommates over overnight guests. Roommates should first directly confront each other and use their staff if necessary.
Scott Ellsworth
Louisville, Ky., sophomore
Choosing life over death
To the editor:
I would like to respond to the letter by Carol Lucas, a graduate student from England, that appeared in the March 20 University Daily Kansan.
Although I found the entire letter repugnant, I would especially like to take exception to the following statement: " . . . in most cases, the denial of a woman's freedom to choose the appropriation of her body for forced procreation is far more degrading" than abortion.
When when has procreation been forced? Are
has women of America really just baby-making?
Are there any other issues?
Or does legalized abortion now save them from the pains I have by choice and thought this be painful? It has been so hard.
termined a proposal to restrict the constitutional guarantee of freedom of movement.
Why is it that so many women seem to think that the choice comes at the point of abortion rather than at birth?
The far-reaching tentacles of this proposal would seem to indicate that it will be illegal to traverse the hallways of the opposite sex during security hours.
If a child is not wanted, then precautions to prevent pregnancy should be taken before one is created, rather than resorting to abortion as a means of birth control after the fact.
Women must take responsibility for their actions; birth control is easily available and there is always the option of saying "no," unpopular as that may be.
Karen McCoy
Karen McCoy
1980 graduate, Dodge City
Sex is to be a pleasurable experience, but it is not without its responsibilities. A woman should consider the possibility of pregnancy and all its ramifications before having sex.
Leveling guilty verdict
To the editor:
The great representative of the people, AURH and specifically Fred McElhenein, have mas-
Justification for this proposal comes from a small but vocal minority who have complained of roommates and their sexual interludes or from parents who warn their mothers who worry about their daughters' safety.
Because of this unfounded outure, a guilty verdict is laid upon our shoulders; we must not pass through the domain of the oppostie sex past the evil hour of 10 p.m.
We are presumed to have the intelligence and emotional control to handle the educational pressures of university life, but we are not presumed to have the ability as civilized human beings in residence halls.
One of the main benefits of college life is that it affords the individual the opportunity to grow as a human being; a blanket rule such as that proposed by AUIRH denies us this benefit.
Resident directors and assistants are being paid to resolve student problems, and this includes those who have roommates with sexual relationships that infringe on the right to live in the room.
Any suspicious-looking people can be reported to the RD. Any problems that arise are handled on a case-by-case basis; this is the only fair and responsible way of resolving isolated problems.
All that I ask is that AURH and those who will vote on this policy represent the interests and concerns of most residents.
Given that 2 percent of the residents support the change, I fail to understand how this proposal can be supported.
Douglas Neumann
Topeka senior