University Daily Kansan
Thursday, Sept. 24, 1970
5
Assistant County Attorney Gives His Views on Unrest
"I don't think the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. . . I think it will die when we no longer care."
Thus reads part of a quotation which hangs above the desk of Mike Elwell, assistant Douglas County attorney.
Elwell, a 28-year-old graduate
Mike Elwell
... pessimistic
of the KU law school, sat in his office late Monday afternoon to try to convey his feelings about student unrest at KU, the increased drug abuse in Lawrence and the problems which KU and Lawrence might face in the next year due to 'social' unrest.
"Disrespect for the law, at least here in Lawrence, has greatly increased in the last two years," Elwell said.
Today's youths, he said, have no guilt feeling when they break the law. "If they think a law is unjust or unfair they simply disregard it."
The same holds for student
unrest; the demonstrators recognize something as being unjust or unfair and they protest it, he said. If the protest turns to violence and destruction, the demonstrators feel no sense of guilt. In other words, he said, the demonstrators believe that the ends justify the means.
Asked why he believed there was such a great increase in the disrespect for law, Elwell said such disrespect was caused by a "catalyst effect."
Elwell said, "A crowd of demonstrators is composed of activists and onlookers. The onlookers just stand by and watch, they can tolerate such things as rock throwing. But when the police arrive at the scene and resort to the only means available to subdue the demonstrators, such as tear gas which can't distinguish between demonstrator and onlookers, a catalyst is set into effect and the onlookers, not being able to tolerate the tear gas, become alienated from the law."
Concerning the new marijuana law, Elwell said, "It's good, because it still retains the distinction between selling and possession."
He said he had never seen a city more inadequate for enforcing laws against drug traffic.
"The cases we receive on drug abuse are by accident and not by design," he said.
Elwell estimated the drug traffic in Lawrence to be more than $500,000 a year.
"It would be naive to anticipate going through the year without problems," Elwell said. "Student unrest could be triggered instantly, but, what exactly could trigger it is the 64-dollar question."
Puzzles, Pastimes Seen At Library Presentation
Kenneth Spencer Research Library is currently showing three exhibits which offer engravings,
Scholarships Help Reduce Housing Costs
Students living in KU's eight scholarship halls pay about $300 less per year than those living in regular residence halls.
The reduction is possible because of cooperative operation of the halls and the sharing of cooking and housekeeping duties.
Residence hall scholarships are held by 189 women and 206 men this year. The scholarships are renewable for four years if a satisfactory grade average is maintained.
photographs and puzzles and pastimes.
The engravings, part of the Max Kade collection recently presented to the art department, range from the 15th to 19th centuries and include a print by Albrecht Durer.
He said it could be any thing from a rock festival to a speaker at a student rally. "It doesn't take much," said Elwell, "to provide the spark."
This exhibit, which is in the front lobby, will be replaced in the near future by a display concerning the life and works of Charles Dickens.
The library is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Elwell said he was disappointed with those students who stood by at a violent demonstration and did nothing to try to stop it. He said this further promoted the violence and destruction on campuses, specifying Berkeley which he described as "total chaos."
e
A Young Man's Odyssey Into Middle America
"Aquiescence provides a form of moral support for those achieving their goals by violent means," said Elwell.
"ADAM AT 6 A.M."
"Arnold Toynbee has pointed out that 19 of 21 civilizations have died from within and not by conquest from without... It happened slowly, in the quiet and the dark, when no one was aware," reads more of Elwell's quotation, made by Laurence M. Gould, president of Carleton College.
The world changed for
technicton**
A National General Pictures Release
A Cinema Center Films Presentation GPPI
Matinee Daily 2:30 Evening 7:15-9:15
The University Experimental Theatre presents
"The Uncomfortable Circumstance Surrounding the Letting of the Back Bed-Sitting Room"
by Billi Dawn Schoggen
and
by Steve Reed
"Marshall McLuhan, What're You Doin"
Swarthout Recital Hall—Murphy
Original Scripts by KU Playwrights
8:20 p.m.
Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 2, 3
For ticket information call: UN 4-3982
Patronize Kansan Advertisers
MON-THURS 10:30-10:00 FRHSAT 10:30-MDNT.
RIVER CITY RECORDS
at 1401 Mass.has everyday discount prices on all records,tapes,cassettes and is open everyday and nite drop by.
SUN1:308:30