Opinion
University Daily Kansan, February 21, 1983
Handicapped hit again
It's 1983
Some Lawrence residents, apparently caught in a time warp dating back several decades, need to be reminded.
These residents, whose property is in the vicinity of a proposed group home for the mentally handicapped at 3701 Overland Drive, said they feared that their children's safety and their property values would be threatened if the home were approved.
"It doesn't sound good to say we object to mentally handicapped people in the neighborhood," said one of the residents, Rita Parrish, "but I'm a parent and have four small children."
She might as well have said, "We object to mentally handicapped people in the neighborhood."
The misunderstanding and prejudice exhibited toward the handicapped is a problem as far-reaching as racism. Cottonwood Incorporated, a Lawrence agency for the mentally handicapped that intends to operate the home,
already has six other such homes throughout the city. No problems with any of these have been reported.
The rights of handicapped individuals to live outside of institutional confines need to be upheld. The people who would live in the proposed home are mentally retarded — they are not psychopaths, crazy people or child molesters, despite uninformed assertions to the contrary.
Parents can only hurt their children by "protecting" them from people who are not "normal." The interaction between neighbors and residents of the home could be a blessing for both, teaching the residents how to live more independently while breaking down walls of ignorance among neighbors.
As for the fears of property devaluation — as if its inherent selfishness was not argument enough — studies looked at by the city-county planning office show property values did not decline in neighborhoods where group homes had been built.
Senate, Kansan bickering produces few positive results
Well, the honeymoon is over.
Wet, the locksmiths is in KU's student government officials have had time to settle into their offices, hang new pictures on the wall and rid themselves of the numerous scandals that rocked the previous administration.
And now it is time for journalistic watchdogs to start drooling at the thought of another season of "Inside."
If you followed just what the press had to say about Student Senate, you would probably perceive it as a trivial and worthless organization, or, more appropriate, disorganization and accretion. Generalization, if you had no knowledge of what Student Senate is really about.
However, I am a student senator and I know that Senate is a worthwhile avenue for
JOHN BOWER
addressing student needs. I have the dubious pleasure of being both a student senator and a Kansan editorial columnist.
I guess that makes me a member of the two best-funded, most often ridiculed and mutually admired societies of this University. Supposedly, I get to be god while I expand my collegiate horizons. I get to allocate money from the student activity fee, and at the same time, read my own column about what great strides I took in helping out my fellow students.
What power!
It appears to me that Student Senate is always under the microscope, so that any trivial faults can be detected and focused upon. Because the day-to-day operations of Student Senate are not newsworthy, controversies appear where they arise. When failures receive more attention than they merit.
The daily reader is quick to get the impression that Student Senate business is trite and petty, and soon finds that he can easily skip over Senate stories without missing an ounce of daily
Good student leaders should set goals at the beginning of their term — long-range goals that require a great deal of time, patience and legwork. And most do.
However, the trial and error of the legwork involved is not news, but the Kansan covers it as if it were. By giving prominence to a small issue, the coverage creates the perception of a large issue. This has a chilling effect on student leaders' enthusiasm for pursuit of long-range goals.
Student leaders then find themselves working to fulfill the needs of the press rather than the student body as a whole. The cycle reaches its ultimate conclusion with Senate leaders calling for a new constitution, and Kansan and Kansan editors playing armchair quarterbacks with election endorsements.
Because the press gives minor issues prominence, readers are forced to think that the minor issues are major ones. But the readers are not ignoring them and realize when a story is just a notification.
The Kansan covers Student Senate more than it covers any other campus organization that I can think of. Why? Because Senate is so accessible. For example, it is a lot easier to write a story about the Student Senate than the Kansas Board of Regents. In a way, the Kansan is hurting Student Senate by not treating it as if it were any other newsworthy organization.
The relationship between the Kansan and the Student Senate has been combative for quite some time, and I am wondering whether it will ever change.
I guess that because I am involved in both organizations, I have some ideological hope that the Kansan and the Student Senate will work together more professionally, rather than look over their shoulders to see what the other one is up to.
The Kansan and the Student Senate are invaluable organizations to this campus. They not only give a good background in their respective fields, but also aid in participants' betterment as individuals.
I would like to get up on my soapbox and tell everyone all of the great things that Student Life has to offer.
I am leaving it up to my colleagues here at the University Daily Kansan to accurately cover newsworthy stories about Student Senate and the issues that it is working on for the benefit of the university. I am also relying on editors to give the stories the amount of prominence that they deserve.
I think this would create a more constructive environment in which problems could be solved, alternatives investigated and significant strides made between the Kansan and Student Senate.
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 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 Kan萨斯 reserves the right to edit or reject letters.
Letters Policy
IRS tip rule singles out waiters
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The long arm of the law, as represented by the Internal Revenue Service, is trying to reach out and touch waiters, barmaids and other restaurant workers likely to collect tips.
The IRS says many taxpayers who toll in the food industry have serious memory lapses when it comes to listing tips on their Forms 1040. Thus, 8 percent of their total sales has been made automatically subject to taxation.
Restaurant employees, for their part, say that the new law is causing crippling disruptions in the food industry.
Any customer who leaves only an 8 percent gratuity is likely to find that service at his table is more expensive.
Nevertheless, some waiters and waitresses complain that they rarely serve the last of the big spenders. When their tips fail to add up to the minimum percentage, they say, the sales totals that their bosses report to the IRS are misleading.
I do not necessarily quarrel with the principle that the IRS is entitled to extract a pound of flesh for every beetsteak out of a restaurant kitchen. What I question is the fairness of singing out waiters when so many other people are walking away with not reporting huge chunks of income.
Someone once sent me a copy of "A Special Message to Taxpayers," a pamphlet prepared by the Massachusetts revenue department. The pamphlet reminded Bay State residents that they were liable for taxes on income derived from their employment, cash-skimming and other illegal activities.
"Not reporting such income can lead to prosecution for perjury and fraud." It solemnly
I commend that approach to President Reagan and Congress as they struggle to reduce the
As things now stand, the entire budgetary burden is borne by those of us who have only legitimate sources of income. So how about tightening collection procedures on the millions of dollars in illicit revenue that go unreported each year?
How long has it been since kidnappers paid taxes on ransoms? How long is hostage-takers forked over to the government the indicated portion of cash and valuables received in property investments? How long since airline workers were replaced by the IRS for transportation benefits?
I don't know exactly how much in taxes thieves, prostitutes and drug dealers are able to avoid paying each year. It might turn out that, with all the deductions they could claim, they would owe little or nothing. Income earners in fields have heavy business expenses, you know.
Even in these days of declining gasoline prices, keeping the motor running in a getaway car must be frightfully expensive.
However, most bank robbers, narcotics traffickers and the like file no returns at all. And they can probably afford to leave big tips. These would evadeens the government should be going after.
Another new law extending the withholding system to ill-gotten gains could put the budget
Reagan taking offensive on defense
Rv HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan is embarking on a sales campaign to promote support for the building of the MX missile, his military spending increases and his foreign policy.
On all three fronts, he still must convince Congress and the public that he is on the right side.
As a result, he is calling in some old pros to help launch a drive to improve understanding of his policies and to win backing for them at home and abroad.
He has tapped MK Friedersdorf, his former chief jobholder on Capitol Hill, to return from his diplomatic sojourn in the Bahamas to lend a hand in the fight against ISIS and deployment of the controversial MX missile.
In the foreign policy field, his administration has committed $65 million to a program to support democratic institutions throughout the world through student and leader exchange programs and aid to foreign education and broadcast outlets.
Reagan also recently dispatched Vice President George Bush to Europe to shore up sagging support among European leaders for his "zero-zero" nuclear arms proposal to the Soviets. Many of the leaders are urging a more flexible policy than the U.S. proposal that calls for the elimination of all intermediate-range missiles on the continent.
And he sent Secretary of State George Shultz to China to mend fences in a continuing dispute over the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. Shultz also stopped in Japan, where relations are strained
Bob
At midterm, the need for selling his policies is obvious. The Western allies appear to be pulling in another direction, and Reagan has yet to establish himself as the leader in the field.
If the selling campaign succeeds, it will be because Reagan has managed to persuade Americans that they must stay ahead of the Soviets in the arms race, and because he has convinced the Europeans that he offers the best hope for a peaceful world.
At home, Reagan makes no bones about the fact that he is bothered by critics who think he is spending too much money on military programs and taking away from the poor.
over trade and Japan's contribution to Asian defense.
Helen Thomas is the White House political commentator for UPI.
He has brought in William Greener, one of the spokesmen for the White House and the Pentagon in the Ford administration, to advise him how to make a better case for the $30 billion increase in the defense budget, and for greater understanding of the need for a buildup.
"I know there's been a constant drumbeat about defense spending as if that's responsible for all our ills," Reagan told a business gathering earlier in the week.
Also underway at the White House is a review of Reagan's media and public relations offices to determine how well they are working. The president has been scheduling a series of sessions with out-of-town correspondents and broadcasters who are briefed on his budget and given a chance to question him on a range of subjects.
"We feel that it is necessary to do what we're doing." he said. He but went on to say that he was being "very careful" to preserve the "safe net" for people who are truly needy."
In the near future, Reagan plans to deliver an address on his foreign policy and on defence policy.
powers as a supersalesman to turn around the public opinion polls that have shown a dramatic drop in support for the trillion-plus increases in defense during a five-year period.
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