OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
November 29,1983 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kannan UNPS 606400 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stauffer Fini Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 605201 daily during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during the summer sessions. Subscriptions by mail are $1 for six months or $27 a year in Douglas County and $1 for six months or $3 for each outside the county. Student subscription fees are $4 per month through the DU CUSTOMER. Send SUBSCRIPTIONS to THE UNPS 606400. Lawrence, Kan. 605201
MARK ZIEMAN Editor
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Think about it
Americans have such short memories, and it won't be long until all the talk about the possibility of nuclear war fades from the public consciousness. It has happened before, and it will happen again if concerned citizens and groups don't keep the candle burning in this vigil for peace.
But now the issue is clearly before the public, and another reminder has come across the news wires: The Bikini Atoll, a group of 26 islands used for nuclear testing in the 1940s and 50s, still is contaminated from radiation and will take $100 million to clean up.
Americans, reminded by "The Day After" of the holocaust we potentially face. must remember, just as the Europeans and Soviets must remember. Otherwise, the horrors will sneak up on the sleeping people of the Earth.
It will take that much to make the islands safely habitable, though a couple of decades have elapsed
since the last of the the 23 bombs was detonated over the atoll.
The Bikini islanders now live 424 miles south of their islands on another island. The islanders could now return to the island, but there would be a catch. "If the Bikinians were to eat no produce grown on Bikini Island, resettlement could take place today," officials of the Bikini Atoll Rehabilitation Committee said.
The islanders tried moving back in the the 1970s, but they had to eat food grown on the islands and were exposed to large doses of radiation. They were evacuated again in 1978.
Imagine that the islands, instead of being just a few dots in the Pacific, were the whole world. And imagine that the United States and the Soviet Union let the missiles fly. Imagine the larger-scale contamination, the starvation, the destruction — we, unlike the islanders, would have no place to take refuge
— and remember that we can't allow it to happen.
Thanks to a zealous group of "animal lovers," a deer hunt scheduled to start yesterday at a wildlife refuge in Massachusetts was canceled. The "animal lovers," however, have not helped the problem, but aggravated it.
A deer problem
The hunt, designed to kill 75 deer of a herd of 185, was recommended after an eight-month study by researchers who were concerned about overcrowding of deer at the reserve. For each of five days, 75 hunters were to enter the refuge.
Protesters, however, so loved the deer that they announced plans to sneak into the refuge and protect the animals by acting as human shields. Refuge officials decided to forgo the hunt and not endanger people.
The scenario calls to mind visions of Bambi and her friends in the forest, and for good reason; the demonstrators obviously are lost in a world of fantasy and imagination
— in this world, nothing dies,
resources are unlimited, and hunters represent a threat that must be stopped.
Meanwhile, in the real world, alternatives to the hunt are not pleasant. Refuge officials have suggested resettlement, an expensive option. Otherwise, the overpopulation of deer is expected to cause starvation, danger to vegetation, and the spread of disease.
One protester, when informed of the hunt's cancellation, said, "I'd rather see them starve to death than shot." Another protester said, "This is my Thanksgiving, that our deer have been saved."
As these protesters and their associates enjoy their leftover Thanksgiving turkey or other fowl or meat — procured for their tables through the killing of animals — they should ponder the deadly, costly mess they have caused.
Media manipulation
The policy that banned journalists from Grenada during the first days of the American invasion represented one of the many attempts the Reagan administration has made to define the truth of what has, or has not, happened on that tiny island.
A strikingly evocative example of media manipulation appeared in television and newspaper photos of the captive leaders of the Grenadian ruling group. Bernard Coard and Gen. Hudson Austin, being brought back to the island after several days aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Television viewers may have remembered the infamous picture of blindfolded American diplomats with hands tied behind their backs, facing the cameras and the rabid crowds before the American Embassy in Tehran.
The two bearded black men were stripped to the waist, wearing what looked like lifejackets and hospital-issue pajama bottoms. Ostentation white blindfolds covered the upper part of their faces.
Their hands were bound behind their backs . . . like captured savages, the "brutal thugs" President Reagan had said they were.
This was not the kind of thing a civilized people would ever do, Americans told themselves in 1979 and 1980. This was barbarism and cowardice, said American political leaders.
Boston Globe
The University Daily Kansas welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 300 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 faculty or staff position. The Kansan also invite individual groups to submit guest columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
Breakdown in Geneva
Some questions and answers on the breakdown of U.S.-Soviet talks on medium-range nuclear missiles:
Q: What are the talks about?
Q: What are the talks about?
A: The negotiations, which began two years ago, cover American and Soviet nuclear missiles in the region. The weapons are known as "medium-range."
LETTERS POLICY
Q: What is the goal of the negotiators?
A: To agree on a balance in the numbers of the missiles.
Q: What are the disagreements between the Soviets and Americans?
Q: What caused the breakdown?
A: There are many, but one of the most important concerns the nuclear missiles of France and Britain. The Soviets say these missiles should be counted as part of the NATO total, since these countries are U.S. allies, but the United States says the weapons are independent. Britain and France agree.
A: The Soviets said they would not continue to negotiate after the West German parliament voted to accept new U.S. medium-range missiles on German soil. C: Who's it?
A: The Soviets say the new U.S. missiles are a threat to their
security because the weapons can reach the Soviet Union within minutes. Previously, the United States had such weapons based in Europe.
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Q. Why is the United States putting the new missiles in Europe?
A. U.S. and NATO officials say they are needed to counter a build-up of new Soviet SS-20 missiles aimed at Western Europe. The United States maintains no comparable force of
missiles in the region, but does have nuclear-armed submarines and bombers
o. Will the talks resume?
Q: Are there other arms con trol talks in progress?
A. U.S. officials say the Soviets probably will come back after a few months. In announcing their walkout, the Soviets said simply that they were halting the "pressure" on them from any date for their resumption.
A: Yes, American and Soviet officials are also holding talks, called START, on long-range nuclear weapons, those that can reach Soviet soil from the United States, and vice versa.
Q: Will these talks be affected by the Soviet walkout?
A. U.S. officials say they don't think so. The Soviets made no mention of the START talks in their walkout statement and another session is scheduled next week.
Leaks disturbing to Reagan
WASHINGTON — It took two months for the report to leak that President Reagan had ordered a crackdown on illegal immigration of leaks in the White House.
In seeking leakers, Reagan is falling into the tradition of his predecessors. From early on, he has become irate when he has read in the newspapers some of the attacks against him and has even said, albeit jokingly, that there are "bugs in the chandeliers in the Cabinet room."
There have been several investigations of news leaks in the White House, but the so-called guilty group has not apprehended, are never identified.
His decision to invade Grenada was a well-kept secret at the White
House when several aides, who usually are in the inner circle, were kept out of the loop.
But it also caused some of the aides to suffer a credibility setback. Furthermore, it was no secret to
HELEN THOMAS United Press International
many Caribbean countries and people or to reporters in the region or to the Soviets or Cubans who often kills it were about to take place.
Secrecy often is insidious, and when an administration begins giving his detector tests to its own employees, he will be personally humiliated for those subjected to the tests, not to mention the creation of an atmosphere of suspicion.
When it comes time for Reagan to write his own memoirs, as all his recent predecessors have, one wonders whether he will apply the same rules of secrety to himself and others. Reagan has his personal recollections that inevitably must involve some of his private dealings with world leaders.
Reagan's latest investigation of leaks was ordered in September after television networks broadcast stories saying Robert McFarlane, a former CIA officer, the Middle East, had recommended U.S. air strikes against Syrian positions in Lebanon to protect the U.S. Marines stationed in Beirut.
Women pipers
WASHINGTON — The defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress last week by no means changed that the women's liberation movement.
One way that women in the future are likely to assert their equality is by playing bagpipes.
That prediction comes from the authority of Nancy Crutcher, now the only American female who plays bappins professionally.
I use the word "play" in this editorial with more of a bow to tradition than any attempt at linguistic accuracy. Male or teenage players are an amateur, baskup players all sound pretty much alike to me.
Nevertheless, Crutcher insisted a trained ear could distinguish light
In an interview, she estimated that there were several hundred women in the United States who were amateur pipers. And she said that they originally had been a male bastion, the number was bound to increase
United Press International
DICK WEST
tunes and marches from classical bagpipe music and could even tell a difference in the way they were rendered.
By way of demonstration, she struck up a chorus of 'Scotland the Brave', which she identified as the bagpipe No.1 on the bagpipi hut parade.
I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that, to me, it sounded a great deal like "Who Threw the Killis in Mrs. MacTavish's Haggs?"
So how did a nice, young woman like Crutcher get involved with baggies? Well, it happened to years ago when she was a Yale undergraduate and switched her allegiance from the clarinet. Crutcher said that it and been the "small sound" that turned her off.
She insisted that most women had enough lung power to keep bagpipes inflated. The trick, she said, is to breathe when to blow and when to squeeze.
Blowing or squeezing, since mastering the pipes, Crutcher has been in big demand in New York for performances at Scottish festivals, parades, weddings and the like. She also represents the Scotch Whisky Association, which sponsored her visit here.
She came by the latter association honestly. The phrase "to pay the piper" originated in Scotland, where pipers are compensated by the "quich," a silver cup containing a wee dram of scotch.
When not quaffing quauches,
Crutcher gives bagpipes lessons to 25 students, about half of them female and not all misguided.
I took a lesson, only to discover there is more to bagpipes than meets the eye, which usually ennure them with their cowlhead and the teacher's legs.
Despite some clarinet training, I couldn't even play "Who Threw the Kits in, etc." It was a bit like trying to make music on a Hoover vacuum cleaner. Obviously, I blew when I should have squeezed.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Board mishandled student elections
To the Editor:
The initial election results naming Priority candidates Scott Swenson and Dennis Strickland as winners would have been fine had the Board not excluded the 114 Momentum votes. The Board agreed the votes weren't said because it wasn't clear whether students were voting for Kevin Walker and Mark McKee, Momentum candidates or for the entire Momentum party. Who else could one vote for on a presidential ballot other than presidential candidates?
I would like to know how stupid the Elections Review Board members think the KU population is? The handling of this year's student elections shows they don't give us very much credit.
Then came the ballot counting. The Nov. 21 edition of the Kansas reported that the ballots were counted four times on election night without problems before Swenson was declared the winner.
The same story quoted Julie Menzel, Election Board committee chairman, as saying that Friday's recount produced a new winner after the same discrepancy was found twice. After a third recount Monday Swenson and Strickland were again declared winners.
Finally, I come to the number of votes counted. The first counting gave the following results: Priority, 1,049; Momentum, 1,036; Costume, 1,004; and Freedom, 246. This totals 3,335 and with the 114 Momentum votes not counted, it becomes 3,449 total ballots cast.
Yet in the latest totals Priority had 1,054. Costume, 1,052. Momentum, 1038, and Freedom, 245. This comes to 3,389 and 7,053. Where did the extra 54 votes come from and where were they in the first count?
I think the Election Review Board as student officials owes the student body an explanation. Why doesn't an impartial party, not affiliated with KU, run the elections? We wouldn't have to deal with inept poll workers, inaccurate ballot counts and manipulation of election rules. Most of all, it would be fair. I think we deserve it!
Brian Courtney DeSoto sophomore
under "someone's thumb" in our own lifetime gives our children or their children the chance to work for a better way.
Elections snafu
To the Editor:
So another Student Senate election has come and gone. Before I begin, let it be known that I have voted in every Senate election held during my five years at the University of Kansas.
During those years I have witnessed the rise and fall of many a coalition and marvelled at the lack of progress made by each victor. I expected this year to be no different than the rest, but the present election ballot snauf has topped anything I've ever seen.
Suffice it to say that I have now lost all hope for an intelligent and valuable entity called the University of Florida. And I forgive me, I'm forgetting that after
all, isn't this what higher education is really all about? See you at the polls next year.
William A. Siebenaler Bloomington, III., senior
Nuclear illogic
Last week we watched the "Nightline" panel discussion of Lawrence's reaction to "The Day After." During the discussion, a woman expressed her opinion that "living under someone's thumb" was worse than the holocaust shown in the movie.
To the Editor
Government systems do not last forever, and bad systems of rule are nuclearity rather short-lived. Nuclear war, on the other hand, is not a choice. There is no hope, no future, no freedom.
She said she was willing to fight for freedom even if it meant the total destruction of the entire planet. While we appreciate the strong bonds that our people have, statement, we were deeply shocked by her use of the word "freedom."
Freedom is the ability to choose, to make decisions about one's life unencumbered by the edicts of government. America's creation as a nation was based upon freedom from the tyranny of foreign rule. Yet the nation has been given a free line'*spoke of was a great distortion of the freedom upon which this country was based, for freedom is not just for her but for everyone.
If she "chooses" global destruction, where is our freedom? How is it that she can choose a "freedom" which kills not only animals but plants and friends, and every living organism on earth? To make a choice to live
It is frightening enough when an unthinking person makes such a statement, but when the same sentiments are expressed by world leaders who have the ability to carry freedom, hope or for any future dims.
Slogans like "Give me liberty, or give me death" make life simple. No one has to think — just pull out your ready-made philosophy and paste it on the end of a stick and your position is justified.
The only thing that sets humans apart from animals is the ability to think, argue and discuss. That is our special tool for survival. If we rely on mankind's unintelligible phrases, we close off our only chance to make things work.
Let's push for the creation of a human dialogue between Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov. It’s a conversation of doigma and began the discussion.
John Helyar Lawrence senior
Linda Knappenberger Lawrence senior