Opinion
Page 4
University Daily Kansan, July 20, 1983
The ladv needs a facial
Most people have more to worry about than the health of a 97-year-old lady in New York City. But this lady is special and her story is worth hearing.
She has a chronic skin ailment which has pockmarked her skin over the ages. We hear that she has a strange growth on her elbow. There are rumors that her head isn't on straight. She's the Statue of Liberty and she's falling to pieces.
Here in Lawrence, we may find ourselves far removed from the happenings on either coast. We may be in the heartland, but we have to think of our country, not just wheat, weather and words.
The Statue of Liberty is not just an enormous sculpture in New York Harbor. It's one of the most visible and moving symbols of what this country stands for. Cynics may point at the deteriorating statue and say that it shows how deteriorated the state of liberty is in the U.S. It may be true that the statue is falling apart, but it was not erected to be the butt of a national joke. It's time to repair the lady.
rounding the 305-foot statue with scaffolding for 2-and-one-half years and may entail removing the right arm and torch and rebuilding it on the ground. A team of French and American architects have completed a study of the statue and estimate that the repairs will cost from $20 million to $30 million. That's a lot of cash, but would be money well spent.
The restoration will require sur-
It's not that easy, though. The White House isn't going to pick up the lady's tab. The money for restoration is coming from public donations. The donations are being collected by the Interior Department's Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Commission, (co National Park Service, Interior Building, Washington, D.C. 20240).
For many of us, even in Lawrence, the Statue of Liberty was the first sight of America our ancestors saw. Perhaps that is what we should think about when we hear a cry for money from the restoration commission.
It all goes well, the repairs will be finished in plenty of time for the centennial celebration of the statue's dedication, Oct. 28, 1986, according to the team of architects. We think it would be a fitting birthday present to one of our nations leading ladies.
SAMANTHA
Ball diamonds are boy's best friend
I have a confession to make. These past couple of years I have been going through a "born again" experience. It is not, however, a religious experience. Rather, it involves an overwhelming renewed interest in the game of baseball. As with all confessions, it is best to start at the beginning.
beginning.
Summer vacation is a time of endless possibilities. Especially for an elementary school student who has suffered through the agony of late spring classes. One of those possibilities involves baseball.
Baseball can take many different forms. I, along with many other kids, took part in "organized" baseball, such as Little League. I wasn't the most graceful player. But I played the game with plenty of heart and desire.
game with plenty of bases.
I played every position except first base and pitcher. Some might call it versatility, others called it uncoordinated. I do remember sometimes having to chase after fly balls or watch a grounder go through my legs.
The best thing was the队 I played for — TED Market. Win or lose, after every game, the players could go to the sponsor's store and get a free soda or popsicle.
As for my times at bat, I wasn't known as a long-ball threat or a short-ball threat. I was luck if I was hitting my weight, which was under 100 pounds. Instead of looking for a ball to hit, I wished for the walk. Let somebody else swing for the fences or make an out.
Besides "organized" baseball, there were the pickup games. No uniforms, no managers or umpires but plenty of running around. It wasn't often that we could get enough players for two full squads, so we improvised.
in squares, so we import them.
Sometimes the team at bat had to supply a
catcher. Or a catcher and a pitcher. There were times when a ball hit to right field was foul since both teams were playing without a rightfielder.
both teams were played. Other baseball variations included: pop flies, hot box, catch, whiffle ball or stick球. When there wasn't anybody around, a rubber ball, a wall and a dash of imagination could put you in the middle of the World Series.
But playing the game wasn't enough. One had to collect baseball cards. A pack of cards cost a
JUSTIN ABELSON Managing Editor
nickle. For the money, one got five cards and a piece of gum. The gum was very pink, very sweet and usually quite stale.
The cards allowed me to get closer to my heroes, like Willie Mays or Bob Coleman or lesser known players like Choo Choo Coleman. Sure, most of the poses were staged. And I always disliked playing with cards. I loved playing cards and I would provide me with such useful information that a player did during the off season.
But there was more to do with the cards than to just look at them. One always tried to trade the duplicates. A George Altman for a Boston Red Sox's rookie stars. Flipping cards was another pastime. It was played like pitching pennies, except you never flipped your favorite cards. But sometimes, when you got caught up in the flipping fervor, you lost a favorite or two.
Then there was the radio or television. Or the newspapers supplying the accounts of games, the features, standings and box scores. Or the specialty magazines, with the pictures that often got cut out and taped to the walls.
There were also the baseball books: the histories of the game; the autobiographies and biographies, and the essays written by baseball players. One such writer was Lily Barker, who age it took the form of 'boy wonder' about
And then there were the trips to the ballpark. My attention was divided between the game and the food I could consume. Hot dogs, popcorn, pizza, cookies, broccoli, and even if they gave away a prize, Cracker Jack, even if they gave away a prize.
Chucker Jacen
But as I reached high school, my interest in the game ran to wane. I no longer devoured all I could about baseball. In fact, I found baseball boring.
Even in college, baseball wasn't a passion. I followed the playoffs and the World Series but only in passing. The summer after graduating, he was when the change occurred. I saw the light.
I was working in Geneva, New York, where one of the summer offerings was a minor league baseball team. The Geneva Cubs were the single A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.
How can I describe the experience? The place was small enough to get to know the players. During night games, one might take notice of the sunset and the stars. The fans were enthusiastic and friendly. A fine place to get reacquainted with the game.
That proved to be the reswakening experience. I want to spread the word to those who are lost. Make your way to the hallpark, relax and enjoy yourself. It is a pleasant way to get saved.
Parade of AIDS victims won't find the cure
Parades are usually pleasant, and my memories of childhood smiles and tears when the parade came into town and are left quite vivid — memories that I wouldn't trade for the world — perched stop Dad's shoulders so I could see, though it often meant he couldn't.
For the most part, they are all the same, with brightly-colored floats lavishly covered with thousands of flowers; loud, marching bands bellowed sounds my young ears grew to enjoy more and more; and music that was a bit of trash along the street and tired little boys and girls — and parents.
A new kind of parade was held recently, though time would hardly allow me to chase my childhood fondness to San Francisco to enjoy it. And I would have been quite disappointed had I
gobble.
And, in fact, it is doubtful that many children watched this parade, and if they did, it is doubtful they understood its message.
A group of AIDS victims, calling themselves the "People with AIDS Alliance," led an estimated 300,000 people through the streets of San Francisco in the 13th annual Gay Freedom Day Parade.
Admittedly, the parade is not a new one, but to my eyes, and doubtless, to the eyes of many children, it was.
Homosexuals, intravenous drug abusers,
Haitians and hemophiliacs make up more than
94 percent of this country's victims of acquired
immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
And, of the reported 1,641 confirmed victims of
For years, parades have symbolized to our children amusement, the declaration of a special event or day.
concerned, frightened.
So were lepels, but they didn't hold parades.
WARREN BRIDGES
the disease, it has been reported that 1.140 of
it is caused by a bacterial
Obses are either homosexual or bisexual Statistics are not the problem here.
True, victims of the disease are justifiably concerned, frightened.
Three days before the parade, held June 26, the National Gay Task Force met with Reagan administration officials in an effort to try to combat the disease.
Jeff Levi, a representative of the group, has been reported as calling the meeting "very successful," and said that the administration officials indicated that they would ask for more than $17 million from the 1984 budget to help fight the disease.
That hardly seems necessary, however, as newspapers, television reports and radio have almost daily reported on some aspect of the disease, mentioning even that the doctor who was denied medical attention for years because doctors reportedly failed to correctly diagnose the disease as AIDS.
The parade's successful steps in fighting the disguise?
Perhaps the parade was meant to draw attention to the disease.
Perhaps the victims who participated in the parade had something to say.
it only they had said it — as the group in Washington did.
I don't see any.
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The University Daily Kansan 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 reserves the right to edit or reject letters.
Dog days bring on heat politically silly season
By IRA R. ALLEN
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The political "silly season," a phrase coined by some pundit long ago to describe campaign publicity gimmicks, is generally thought to start a few weeks before the first primary and to continue through Election Day.
But close观察 of headline patterns know the "silly season" is not some vague election year metaphor. It arrives on schedule once a year and lasts precisely 31 days.
It is July — a month so hot and humid in Washington that statues sweat and lethargic pigeons slide right off.
No sooner do the lightning bugs and mosquitoes rise up from the capital's primordial swamp than lawmakers and top government policymakers flee to Delaware beaches or California mountainset. Top investigative reporters loll on Martha's Vineyard. The regular order of official business comes to a stop, but the police are staying; the voters don't start paying attention until Labor Day in an election year, and they are barely conscious of politics in off years.
In July, there are not just slow news days. It's a slow news month.
a show news issue.
That is why for the past seven years, seemingly minor events become full blown scandals, dominating the headlines until Congress or the president does something truly substantive.
latest daily story:
This July, for example, the only story in town
— breaking as soon as Congress on a 10-day
vacation — is "is debategate."
Every recent July has seen the Washington media, usually consisting of those reporters who have to work when everyone else is on vacation, embarked on a feeding frenzy nipping at the latest juicy tidbit.
While potentially more substantial than other scandals, there has yet to be any solid evidence that anybody did anything illegal. There is a growing suspicion that whatever is proven, only a few lower-level campaign aides will suffer any consequences.
What makes this July even juicier is the allegation that friends of the president and
possibly some government officials committed bizarre sexual activities on video tape.
Senate Republican leader Howard Baker speculated that the current brouhaha boiled over just as lawmakers went on a Fourth of July vacation, proving that "this city has missed Congress. The press goes crazy writing its own stories."
Last July, the story was allegations that lawmakers engaged in homosexual acts with pages and may have used, bought or sold cocaine.
In 1981, the July scandal was the firing of CIA covert operations chief Max Hugel for his past deeds in an alleged stock swindle, and calls for the firing of CIA Director William Casey, who failed to fully disclose his financial dealings. Casey is also involved in the current controversy.
very.
In 1980, President Carter's perennially embarrassing brother, Billy, was required to register as a foreign agent and to testify before a Senate committee about alleged influence-pedding in Libya.
In 1979, President Carter created a crisis by retreating incommunicado to Camp David, firing some of his Cabinet and pronouncing the existence of a nuclear attack "a national threat." July will do that to you.
In 1978, it was Carter's drug adviser, physician Peter Bourne, who scandalized headline writers by having written a phony prescription for an aide and eventually resigning.
July 177 marked the beginning of the tail of Carter's budget adviser, Bert "C" Mroud of Friar
Obviously, there are many other minor scandals that occupy idle reporters' witness the Libyan hit squad of December 1981 and the continuing speculation about Nancy Reagan's
And there is plenty of legitimate history being made — in other months.
indeed in so many ways.
So it gives one pause, in the year's best month for pausing, to wonder whatever happened to July.
Perhaps its quot*<sup>b</sup> of historic events — the birth of Julius Caesar, the American and French revolutions, the battle of Gettysburg, the moon landing, Ted Kennedy's fateful encounter with a bridge railing — was used up long ago.
The city deserves the best in redevelopment
Reservations about the proposed downtown mall should not be confused with any lack of desire to develop the central business district to its best advantage. Scheme IV offers some real pitfalls. Eighth street will be closed off. The fire department is situated on this street a block away. The disjointed interior wall creates a rat's nest in and upon those so called a rat's nest. In malls, there are fewer jobs per dollar and lower salaries than at downtown stores. Selection is limited and prices higher because soaring rents force a "middle Market" approach that ensures mediocrity. Thus this plan will cost 20 percent more due to its urban nature. Guess who says. Ask any
To the editor:
trucker working the downtown area about the plan. New Hampshire will be blocked and rerouted next to Rhode Island for an estimated million dollars.
mlinda boo start from the given that a southwall mall will be built: Sizerel has promised to do so. How can we keep the center city vital? A hotel and convention center on the blighted 600 block of New Hampshire would create new markets. An earth-sheltered retail center on the 700 block fronting Rhode Island would be of international import and offer utility savings for shops that can then offer lower prices. Gained in the deal would be a park on top. The appropriation of the Woolworth building would allow the necessary renovations to open up the first level to handicap
access and the revelation of the brick structure. One level could be a single store and other shops owned condominium style.
It's regrettable that we have been pushed into this scheme because of the package deal arrangement of financier, architect, contractor equalling that hybrid known as the developer. It's been either their way or not at all. Please remember that cash will flow out of state to mall home offices and our Louisiana-based owners ad infinitum. Something grand will be created in downtown Lawrence to the benefit of all — but not this mail. We can do better.
Ann G. Francke Lawrence junior
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