OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
August 22,1983 Page4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kansas (USPS 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuart Finst-Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66055, daily during the regular school year and Monday and Tuesday during the summer sessions. Subscribes are $15 for six months or $32 for six years. Subscriptions by mail are $15 for six months or $1 a year in Douglas County and $1 for six months or $3 for a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $7 a semester pass through the student's library. SUBSCRIBE MASTER. Send your order to USPS Mail, Attn: Master, Box 9269, Kansas City, KS 66055.
MARK ZIEMAN Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM STEVE CUSICK
Managing Editor Editorial Author
MICHAEL ROBINSON Campus Editor
ANN HORNBERGER Business Manager
DAVE WANMAKER      MARK MEARS
Retail Sales        National Sales
Manager
PAUL JESS General Manager and News Adviser
LYNNE STARK Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN Advertising Adviser
Time to decide
Proposals to bring more retail shopping to Lawrence have been bouncing from committee to committee for four years. But the city has yet to make a decision.
The proposals have come under such names as downtown redevelopment and a "cornfield mall." Assorted committees and government bodies have pored over variations of these proposals.
The Lawrence City Commission has studied the matter. Citizens for a Better Downtown, Action '80, the Downtown Improvement Committee and subcommittees of these groups all have discussed the development of retail shopping.
And at best for this four-year effort, they have gathered information and data. The city has signed preliminary agreements with the New Orleans company of Sizerel Realty Inc. to plan a shopping mall for downtown. But the biggest decision of all — to seek tenants for a downtown shopping project and start construction on it — has yet to be made.
The City Commission, after extensive study, adopted a comprehensive plan for the downtown area in January 1982.
The time has come for a decision. The city should proceed with a downtown mall or with a shopping complex in another area of Lawrence, as was proposed earlier. Or it should scrap present plans for downtown redevelopment.
But aside from figures and reports and studies and preliminary agreements, nothing has been done. The area that would be affected by a plan for more downtown shopping has not yet been determined, so many merchants are unsure of the future.
And now things have stalled. The time came long ago for city officials and the citizens of Lawrence to decide on a plan for a shopping development either downtown or in another area.
If Lawrence does not want a shopping mall, then plans should be scrapped, and city officials should spend their time on other things.
Kahl was no hero
Gordon Kahl will not be remembered like George Washington. Nor will he go down in the annals of American history as a patriot.
He was nothing but a tax protester who took his tax revolt too far. Kahl was a member of Posse Comitatus, an anti-tax group whose tactics have drawn the attention of law enforcement officials. Kahl was suspected of killing two federal marshals and a sheriff.
"He will be remembered like people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, because he was a patriot," said Keith Shive, a Halstead man and one of the rally's organizers. "George Washington
But he was a hero to about 30 people who gathered Sunday at Cheney Reservoir near Wichita to pay tribute to the man, who was killed in an Arkansas shootout with law officials in June.
won our liberty for us, and us patriots are going to have to do it again."
That's pretty twisted. And it gets downright scary — visions flash to mind of armed reactionaries preparing for the day the big revolt comes.
washington and the ragged band of patriots who helped him fight the Revolutionary War had a just cause. They were battling tyranny and suppression of personal liberties.
Kahl and members of the present-day militant tax groups can't claim that same justness, especially when they resort to violence.
If taxes are too high, the American people are the ones to decide, as they apparently did in the 1980 presidential election. Right or wrong, they voted for lower taxes when they elected Ronald Reagan and they didn't raise a pistol to do it.
Wrath of nature
Sweat bubbled from the pores last week, as KU students performed their fee-paying duties in a coat of sticky grime.
It was hot, and the humidity was high. Temperatures were in the 100s, and nature let us know that she was in control. But she always has been, anyway.
The human will has mastered atoms and rivers. It has even taken the pump of life, a heart, and passed it from one person to another. But we still sweat when the weather turns hot.
The sun can still crack the land and leave jagged scars where neat corn rows used to be.
Nature's wrath can be deadly, and the only thing humans can do is prepare. We haven't tamed it by tempering with it so far and we're still under its power.
Nature can still kill, too. It unleashed Alicia last week, and the heat waves of this summer and the summer of 1980 left scores of people dead.
But that's just as well — human tinkering many times has screwed up an already perfect thing. The dicing of atoms hasn't brought much peace, and the rearranging of the delicate atmosphere probably wouldn't make the weather any finer.
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 invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Letters should be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
LETTERS POLICY
Paper changes to benefit readers
By MARK ZIEMAN Kansan Editor
From the entertaining Bloom County comic strip on Page 17 to the shocking picture of a slain Benigno Aquino on Page 1, this fall's University Daily Kansan has expanded its coverage to benefit you, the reader, in more ways than ever in its 94-year history.
Some changes you may not even notice, such as the imposing bold-faced headlines throughout the paper or our cleaner and crisper type used in captions. But this fall we're offering you much more than a better-looking newspaper. For example:
Wire photos from United Press International. For the first time in Lawrence, you don't have to wait for the afternoon newspaper to see the people and events that made the news that morning or the night before. Now you can get the most
up-to-the-minute pictures in a package with the most up-to-the-minute news.
Expanded sports coverage. When can you find out who won the late games the night before? Beginning this semester, you'll find that information — along with team standings and other crucial stats — in the Kansan's Sports Almanac. In the morning.
FROM THE EDITOR
What's important to KU students? Although we think the Kansan has
have something to say, call our editorial editor, Steve Cusick, at 864-4810.
always been the best at covering issues that affect you as a student (after all, we are the student newspaper), we'll go one better — we'll ask what you's important, then print your opinion here, on the editorial page. Once or twice a week, we'll run a guest column submitted by a KU student, faculty member or administrator. We've even added a new staff position to coordinate this endearay. If you
Entertainment Entertainment pages. Tired of recipes and how to play a better bridge game? Instead, how about Bloom County, movie reviews, interesting features and a calendar of events on campus, in and around the area? Check out pages 17 and 18 in today's Kansan.
And there's more. We've expanded our weather coverage, with a weather map and national and local forecasts on Page 2. On Page 3, we've started a column of local news briefs, similar to our successful news briefs for our national news column that we've run on Page 2 for several years.
And we've made changes that you as a reader can't see, changes that make us very proud. For instance, we've compiled one of the best staffs we've ever had, more than 100 students with journalism experience
ranging from a few weeks on a county weekly to months on news papers such as USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.
In the past 11 years, the Kansas three times has been named the best college newspaper in the country by the Associated Collegiate Press. Of that we are very proud. But we are not spending thousands of man-hours each week just so we can make sure our students are doing this for us, and if we are not doing it right, we want you to let us know.
My name is Mark Zieman. I'm the editor this fall. The Kansan's managing editor is Douglas Cunningham, and Michael Robinson is our campus editor. Andy Hartley is our sports editor; Sara Kempin, entertainment editor. If you think we've missed the boat on our coverage, want to voice your opinion on the editorial page, or just have a news tip, give one of us a call. The number is 864-4810.
Reagan's policy defense
President Reagan thinks public support for his Central American policy is lacking because of the unresolved territories of U.S. goods in the region.
He fails to understand that although the goals are clear — to prevent a leftist take over of El Salvador and to destabilize, if
HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
possible, the Sandinista government in Nicaragua — the methods may be unacceptable and the price worsome.
In a recent Saturday radio address, Reagan said the polls indicated "many Americans are confused about what they are supporting in Central America
"Unfortunately," he said, "there have been such distortions about U.S. policies in Central America that the great majority of Americans don't know which side we are on."
in remarks last week, Reagan blamed the "hype and hoopla" by the media and the "disinformation and demagoguery."
His frustration in selling his foreign policy is understandable, as his predecessors could have warned him, but the ambiguities of administration moves and fear that he may deepen America's tensions. America might keep people from rallying wholeheartedly around the flag.
Explaining his policy, Reagan said the United States supported peaceful change in Central America but opposed Soviet and Cuban intervention because they can exploit the differences of race and injustice "to install communist dictatorships such as we see in Cuba."
coming from people who put politics ahead of national interests."
He revealed in his broadcast that his mail is heavily anti-administration on the question of Central America.
He insisted the United States did not support dictatorships of either the far right or the far left. At the same time, the administration had little to say about dictatorships of the far right, including the recent military coup in Guatemala and the
beleaguered Pinochet government in Chile.
"We support the elected government of El Salvador against communist-backed guerrillas who would take over the country by force," he said, adding, "The United States opposes the unelected government of Nicaragua."
Reagan conceded that the United States sympathized with the Nicaraguan "Contras" who were trying to overthrow the Sandinista government. Furthermore, congressional sources said, the CIA is financing 10,000 anti-Sandinista insurgents.
Reagan acknowledged that some El Salvador security forces, acting as "death squads, still misuse their public trust."
U. S. policy adds up to Reagan's determination not to let another Central American country go communist. For that reason he has ordered a show of military force in the region, and it has nothing to do with dictators but which way they lean.
Resisters don't deserve aid
I felt as if I had given my life away on that mid-September morning.
But the law, regardless of its infringement on my personal liberty, was a law. And like driving the limit and not stealing, I complied.
It hurt to think that the government had the power to put me in a position where I might be forced to kill or be killed.
And last spring the government tacked onto its draft registration command a requirement that students receiving federal financial aid must verify they had registered for the draft or if they had not, why.
I can't regret it. The deed is done, and my name lies in some Selective Service computer. I have registered for the draft.
A flurry of criticism followed, with a Minnesota group seeking an injunction against the new requirement, saying that such a verification is an infringement on people's right to freedom from self-incrimination.
The group, the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, obtained the injunction from a Minnesota University student who later overturned by a higher court.
Jerry Rogers, director of KU's student financial aid office, said that anyone who wanted to pick up
The matter will be reviewed in October, so the Minnesota challenge is not over.
But the verification rule is being enforced, and many students at the University of Kansas felt its effect during registration and enrollment.
MICHAEL BECK
Staff Columnist
federal financial aid cheques have to sign a form verifying that he had registered for the draft or that he was exempt.
Some at the University say the law is absurd, agreeing with the Minnesota group that the new requirements infringe on the right to
However, the requirements are law — like registration — and the government should not be expected to hand out loans to those who do not comply with the law.
Draft registration exists, and until it ends, measures must be taken to enforce it.
Those opposed to the verification should fight the registration itself and not simply the verification requirement.
An alternative for those morally opposed to draft registration and its effects should be to register for the citizenship only for conscientious objector status.
Those students would then be able to get their loans and be exempt from the draft at the same time.
Other federal programs don't require draft registration verification and they probably should. Perhaps requiring verification for only student financial aid is discriminatory.
Perhaps those draft-age men who receive government aid of any kind, be it Social Security or welfare, should be required to verify that they have registered before they can receive government funds.
The new financial aid requirements should not be eliminated as long as students must register for the draft.
As a person refuses to sign a draft card with one hand, but reaches out for a loan with the other. Uncle Sam cuts a stripe across the pocket wallet back into those striped pants.
World still faces oil woes
The industrialized countries have dealt with their energy woes by switching from fossil fuels. Their oil demand has dropped because they've turned partially to using other sources of energy
The world energy outlook is not so bright, but it could be gloomier. There are innumerable problems stemming from the oil price increases of the past decade, but there are also ways to cope with the problems.
However, poorer nations have been unable to switch to alternative sources because of the costs of modernization.
The global economic recession of recent years caused a smaller demand for energy in developed countries, but the oil price rise in 1973 had a devastating effect, especially on the Third World.
The cost of energy is predicted to reach $50 billion a year by the end of 2013 — a gray outlook for the Third Generation on oil imports. Financial experts
KALPANA
TRIVADI
Staff Columnist
In addition to the private sector's assistance, the World Bank would be able to provide additional aid. It can discourage countries from wasting time and money on oil-intensive production. The multinational corporations that help produce energy could hold "buy-back rights." — to buy some of the energy produced at a preferential rate. And a cash and carry policy would work especially well for developing countries that have lost international credit because of unpaid, long-standing debts. With this policy, if a country has cash, it can buy oil.
estimate that the debt of all oil-importing countries will total $853 billion by the end of this year, most of it from developing countries.
But shifting to alternative sources of energy creates problems too. In many developing countries, forests are disappearing rapidly because people are burning wood for fuel. Since deforestation is a global problem, it can be solved only through a global approach.
The oil price increases have affected countries differently. Industrialized nations have been able to cope, while non-oil-producing countries have suffered and they continue to struggle. A spending spree by oil-producing countries, which began in the late 1970s, has left many countries with large debts to pay. They borrowed large sums of money, thinking the price of oil would always go up.
The International Finance Corporation can and the Third World as an intermediary by getting financiers in energy for developing countries.
Financially strapped, but oil-rich Venezuela, for instance, this year owes $16 billion in interest on World Bank loans.
Although OPEC countries control much world currency, a few critics think that oil-producing countries have lost much of the power they held when the price of oil started skyrocketing a decade ago
Although some experts predict a gloomy global energy future, signs of economic recovery have brought hope. And the prospect of reason among those that could recover poor countries is almost inevitable.