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Tuesday, October 3, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Fraternity sets example in helping mentally disabled
We all owe our thanks to the men of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house.
They have made a great humanitarian idea into a national project that could help the mentally disabled and could teach a few things to the people that give them that help.
And it should.
When Pat Hughes took Jay "JT" Turnbull, a mentally disabled 22-year-old, into the SAE house last year, he took the first step toward Natural Ties, a national program that involves more than just the national SAE organization. It can involve every living group.
Not only does the mentally disabled person get the chance to have relationships with the community at large and gain numerous friends, but those involved also benefit from the learning that comes from caring for a mentally disabled person.
That learning includes many obvious points: how a mentally disabled person is different than anyone else, how he is the same and how his needs can be cared for.
But members of the caring group also would learn about themselves. They would learn to face any fears they may have about mental disabilities, and they would learn that they could overcome those fears to help someone who is, most importantly, a fellow human being.
The important thing is to take that first step, as did Hughes and the other men of the SAE house, and welcome a mentally disabled person into your living group.
You both can take the rest of the steps together.
You both can take the rest of the steps together.
David Stewart for the editorial board
KU student alumni efforts exemplary of group work
The University of Kansas Student Alumni Association achieved great feats at the national convention for student alumni associations and student foundations Sept. 13-16 in Greenville, N.C.
The KU contingent of 19 students and two advisers successfully convinced the nation's top 200 universities and colleges, which are actively involved in strengthening alumni relations, to have the organization's September 1990 convention at the University of Kansas.
Judy Ruedlinger, coordinator of membership and the student alumni advisor, said the Student Alumni Association worked throughout last year preparing the University's presentation for the national convention. Ruedlinger said the University won against the University of California at Los Angeles for the opportunity to play host to the convention.
The University community, as well as the city of Lawrence, should salute the substantial efforts of the Student Alumni Association. The 21 individuals who attended the convention in Greenville positively reflected the University, and they accomplished an extraordinary feat by guaranteeing Lawrence the 1990 convention.
The amount of effort and pride this organization exemplified in North Carolina provides an outstanding precedent for other campus organizations to emulate. Strong, effective leadership, with its members always striving to improve its goals, should be rooted in the core of any campus organization.
The University's Student Alumni Association has achieved this, and the 800 various students, many of whom will visit our campus for the first time next fall, prove it.
Thom Clark for the editorial board
Members of the editorial board are David Stewart, Stan Diel, Brett Brenner, Ric Brack, Daniel Niemi, Craig Welch, Kathy Walsh, Deb Gruver, Thom Clark and Tiffany Harness.
Other voices
Philadelphia Daily News on Thunderbird wine:
Gallo is taking Thunderbird out of Skid Row liquor stores, responding to arguments that the accessibility of the cheap wine encourages alcoholism among derelicts.
There's got to be a civil rights issue here. It's inherently unfair to restrict Thunderbird to the rich.
News staff
David Stewart ... Editor
Ric Brack ... Managing editor
Daniel Nieml ... News editor
Candy Niemann ... Planning editor
Stan Diel ... Editorial editor
Jennifer Conner ... Campus editor
Elise Lenne ... Sports editor
Luna Hume ... Photo editor
Stephan Kline ... Graphics editor
Christine Winner ... Artist/Features editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Linda Prokop...Business manager
Debra Martin...Local advertising sales director
Jerro Medford...National/regional sales director
Jill Lowe...Marketing director
Tani Rank...Production manager
Carrie Shimko...Assistant production manager
Margaret Townsend...Co-ordinator
Eric Wheeler...Creative director
Doug Dock...Classified manager
Jeff Mosey...Teamsheet manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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U.S. ready to coin a change
While Congress spends billions of dollars on fighting the war on drugs, argues over Star Wars expenditures and spends more money on other parts of its agenda, a bill that would change a part of the faces of America waits to go to committee. As of a week ago, at least 260 Representatives and at least 66 Senators are coponsors of a bill that would change the "tails" side of every coin manufactured next year.
Coin collectors are the most vocal proponents of change, whether because they are bored with the current design and want to collect new designs or because they want to hoard the current design once the new coins are minted. Under the direction of Diane Wolfe, a Reagan appointee to the U.S. Commission on the Fine Arts, the drive to change has gathered steam.
The most cited argument is that the current designs are "ordinary and boring." The commission wants to replace the Lincoln Memorial, the eagle and other designs with ones commemorating the bicentennial of the signing of the Constitution, which continues through 1991. This is similar to the special issues of the quarter, half dollar and silver dollar in 1976 commemorating the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Richard Lehman, chairman of the House Banking Committee's subcommittee on coinage, wants to follow the 1976 lead but change only the quarter and for only two years. But Wolfe and others want a redesign of all the tails sides for years to come.
No formal poll has been taken to feel the nation's pulse for strong feelings about coin designs. Opponents of redesign claim that no clamor for change by the general public exists. But coin collectors, who make up a sizable and vocal minority, are clamoring; and so far, the only reservations voiced are in the House and Senate.
Opponents of this redesign charge that the American public is not dissatisfied with the current designs and might be suspicious of new designs, that redesign would mean unneeded costs and that they don't want to see another Susan B. Anthony flasco. Congress, remember, in 1978 gave its OK to the minting of a new dollar coin featuring the profile of Anthony, a leader of the women's suffrage movement. Now, about 300 million of these dollars sit in government vaults, spurned even by collectors. But the Anthony dollar failed mainly because it was the same size as a quarter.
As for the cost, the Treasury Department estimates
David White
Guest columnist
that a redesign of all the coins would bring in an extra $250 million during the next six years. The costs for the new molds are minimal, and most of the revenue will come from "seniorage," the difference between what the government pays to mint a coin and what the public pays for it. The Mint pays only 3 cents to strike a quarter and receives 25, thus making a 22-cent profit. And redesign means the minting of more coins than usual, thus bringing in more money than usual. And even if artists convince the Treasury Department to mint an outrageous design, Congress still has the final say in whether a design is adopted.
design is adopted.
The entire argument hinges on the idea of change and the American coin. Many people do not know what is on the tails side of the penny, let alone the nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar and silver dollar. And it is arguable that many people, if not told that the designs had changed, would not notice. "A quarter is a quarter," many would say. "It's still worth 25 cents."
This bicentennial is going by without all the hoopla that accompanied the 1976 celebration, and this observance is of an arguably more important event in U.S. history. Although the Declaration of Independence freed the American colonists in intent, and spirit, they needed a war to set them free and a constitutional government to protect those freedoms. The signing of this great and powerful document deserves more attention than it is getting, and the American coin is a good vehicle for observance.
New designs would stimulate demand from collectors and non-collectors. New designs would stimulate discussion on the Constitution and also about whether redesign was a good idea. New designs would also bring in $250 million
It's time for a change in the American coin.
David White is an Atchison senior majoring in journalism and history.
Dixie must unite to improve
The South may rise again. The Southern Governors Association is exploring ways to end the uncivil war that pits state governments against one another in a never-ending struggle to offer industry lower and lower taxes if it will relocate to their state. When it comes to relocation, it's a buver's market.
This competition tends to make the Southern tax structure more and more regressive. As each state tries to outbid the others in an attempt to attract new industry, the burden of supporting government may shift more and more onto the shoulders of long-established industry, private citizens and even those least able to pay. Nobody seems eager to offer the poor any economic incentives to relocate.
States rush to offer tax reductions, credits and moratoriums to new industry and new expansions. But states must still find ways to support schools, highways, prisons and other basic services. Soon every new industry represents a drain instead of a gain.
This report from the Southern Governors' Association suggests that the states have given away entirely too much of the store by now.
"From the standpoint of the 50 states as a group," it argues, "tax incentives do not represent money well spent. If no incentives were provided, the same number of firms would relocate in the nation, and state governments would have saved significant funds."
States would benefit from such a pact, and the national economy would. Industries could decide where to locate on traditional economic grounds (like natural resources, transportation costs, wage levels and so on) rather than because of tax breaks. Not only would such decisions be more fair, they would be more rational.
But no state sees things from the standpoint of all; each seeks to compete against the others for industrial investment. Only if they could all agree on offering new industry the same tax breaks could this overdone competition be ended, and that is just what this report recommends. "Such a formal or informal agreement," it says, "would be similar to an arms control agreement between the superpowers." Instead of competing against one another for the favors of industry, states would try to establish a level playing field. Economic decisions might then be made on grounds of economics, not tax policy.
There are ways, besides offering even bigger tax breaks, to attract and foster industry. For example, Develop a better educated, more highly skilled workforce. Provide better rail service, highways, sewers, water service and other components of what economists call the infrastructure. Provide capital for new plants. Promote trade by underwriting export loans and technical assistance. Give industry the kind of support and opportunity that will make tax breaks a lesser consideration when it comes to relocating. Some high-tax states (California and Massachusetts, for example) continue to attract industry because of reasons that have little to do
Paul Greenberg Syndicated columnist
with the tax structure - such as a highly trained and flexible labor force.
To quote Gov. Michael Castle of Delaware, "It's no longer a question of smokestack chasing." He finds that the best companies are looking for more than the lowest taxes. And why so all-out to attract the worst?
The chief appeal of the South for investors was once the low cost of labor, but that attraction is rapidly being lost to countries with far lower labor costs. This latest study from the governors notes that many such places can offer wages that are only a tenth of those found in the United States.
The South needs to find attractions for industry other than the lure of cheap labor — like skilled, competent and readily trainable labor. Developing such a work force will require a solid tax base to support education, but many states have chiseled away at theirs in order to attract more industry. Joining with other states to plug at least some of the bigger loopholes in the tax structure is a good idea whose time should have come a decade ago.
The bad news is that some states are still dragging their heels. Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas sounds skeptical about getting the states to cooperate in such a Southwide effort.
"In principle, I agree with it," he says. "In practice, it may be difficult to get done." But where there's a will, and some economic expertise, there's a way. Why not explore the idea? No one would want to eliminate incentives for new industry, but equalizing them might restrain this race to see which state can erode its tax base quickest.
"What's a (tax) break in one state," Clinton warns, "may be policy in others." That's why an interstate study is needed to define tax breaks; so they can be kept within the range of decency throughout the South. There have been more challenging hurdles in modern economics than measuring the effect of taxes. Bill Clinton supported an interstate agreement to haul nuclear waste halfway across the country before depositing them in a single, unfortunate location. Surely he can see the utility of Southern states agreeing to a limit on how much tax revenue each state is willing to sacrifice in order to bid for new industry.
Europe is due to unite economically in 1992. Why shouldn't Dixie?
**Paul Greenberg is a columnist with Pine Bluff (Ark.)**
Ozette
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Wages must be raised
Stan, Stan, Stan. Why don't you just come out and say it? In your editorial concerning the minimum wage you virtually condemn the Democratic Party for socialist-type policies and the thrashing our free-market economy. Red-batting is usually the tool of cowardly conservatives who lack any truth or logical methods of attack. The "ignorant masses," as you call them, are the people who have built and continue to build this nation brick by brick, day after day.
Increasing the minimum wage will increase the buying power of millions of Americans. This will translate into greater spending because the lower classes have a higher propensity to spend than their upperclass counterparts that you and the Republican Party seem to hold so dear. This is important to note because it clearly shows one of the big differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt the Democratic Party has ordered the introduction and the large middle class that is the backbone of our modern democracy. Democrats believe in “trickle up.” Republicans promote “trickle down.” Is it any wonder the middle class has shrunk since 1900?
Douglas E. Johnston Wichita senior
Rights of fetus ignored
In the Sept. 26 Kansan, Deb Gruver defended abortion on the grounds that "women have the right to control their own lives." I don't think I've ever met anyone who opposes this right. However, there is another side of the issue that was conveniently swept under the rug.
I firmly support people's rights. But, as the saying goes, "rights end where the next person's nose begins." If the unborn fetus is alive and is its own entity, then it must have its own beginning. The fundamental issue, then, is whether the fetus is a living individual.
Is a fetus alive? Is it its own entity? Well, it performs the processes of nutrition, respiration and synthesis - the biological definition of life. Further, its DNA structure is completely different from its mother's DNA, so biologically, fetus and mother are not the same entity.
The fetus is alive. It is its own entity. Should it have the right to survive? Does the mother's right to convenience outweigh the other's right to life? Can it?
Scott Gruhn
Anchorage, Alaska, senior
The Royals drew 2,477,700 fans during 80 home dates this season. This franchise record averages 30,971 a game. Sung writes that the New York Mets continued to draw big crowds last week despite Hurricane Hugo. He then admits that an 18 million market doesn't hurt attendance there. What she fails to emphasize is the fact that Kansas City is the smallest market in baseball. Yet the Royals drew almost 2.5 million, no small accomplishment.
KC fans support Royals
The way Elaine Sung writes in her Sept. 27 column, the Kansas City Royals are a floundering franchise headed out of town. If she examined the situation a little more closely, she'd see how strongly the area supports the team.
Naturally, attendance will be low at the end of the season. The start of school means fewer kids in the stands during weekdays. High school football on Friday nights dwindles attendance. Also the weather is cooling down, making games downright chilly many nights. And college students can appreciate the expense of going to a game. Gas prices, $3 parking, $3 to $10 ticket prices and outrageous concession prices make ballgames a luxury.
Regardless of this, Kansas City has shown it can and will continue to support a major league team. Looking at the situation more closely, any baseball fan can see that the place to find the Royals will continue to be beautiful Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Kyle Schmidt
Topeka junior