No. 12 of Chapter IX on P
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kanan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of
JANUARY 17, 1979
Nuke questions linger
Two chapters were added last week to the saga of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station near Burlington. Neither incident was designed to warm the heart of even the most optimistic utility official.
The most publicized of the incidents was the arrest on Saturday of 36 demonstrators for blocking railroad tracks and refusing to allow the passage of a train carrying the Wolf Creek nuclear reactor vessel to the plant site.
The demonstration marked the first incidence of civil disobedience protesting the Wolf Creek plant, and was the latest in a string of demonstrations in Kansas highlighting the dangers of nuclear power in general and the Wolf Creek plant in particular.
THE KANASS Natural Guard, an antinuclear protest group, had planned the protest for months and had camped in a farm field adjacent to the railroad tracks for most of last week. For the protesters it was a well-planned action that garnered more publicity for the anti-nuclear cause.
For officials of Kansas Gas & Electric and Kansas City Power & Light, co-owners of the power plant, the protest was an effective sign that the anti-nuclear movement in Kansas has not been dimmed.
Utility officials have other problems on their minds, however. Tests performed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission revealed that samples of the concrete slab that will support the plant's nuclear reactor failed to meet
the necessary strength tests. Utility officials have maintained that the tests used on the concrete were faulty, but NRC officials rejected that theory.
THE NRC'S findings have prompted the Mid-America Coalition for Energy Alternatives to ask the NRC to suspend the construction permit for the plant pending further investigations of the plant site.
Construction officials at the plant, while denying that there are any inadequacies in plant construction, also have bemoaned the increasing maze of federal regulations that govern projects like the Wolf Creek plant.
But while a construction project the size of the one in Burlington is bound to have occasional deficiencies, the very nature of nuclear power also mandates that no deficiencies in plant construction be tolerated.
A PLANT with the potential dangers of a nuclear power plant must be a very safe plant indeed, as must the process for storing nuclear wastes. The fact that no satisfactory method for the storage of those washes has been found, combined with the prospect of deficient construction in operational plants, add up to an impressive case against the need for nuclear power.
As a sign carried by one proteron on Saturday asked, "If you can't pour concrete, how can you store nuclear wastes?"
It is a question that utility officials are having an increasingly difficult time answering.
After what seems to have been an all too short vacation, the grid begins once more. For a number of us in 112 Flint Hall, that means a nightly vigil in the newsroom — too little sleep, too much coffee and too many classes to read for that early morning class.
But we'll survive, and each weekday morning, from now until May 8, we promise you that the Kansas will roll off the presses and send us another edition of our campus. What we think could be America's only mid-morning daily newspaper is back. Today's Kansas mann the beginning of what we hope will be one of the best newspapers in the tradition of journalistic excellence.
Kansan staff strives for excellence
AS A STUDENT newspaper, much of our coverage will be directed at campus issues. We will strive to bring you not only the news, but features and picture pages on people, places and happenings in the area. You'll find a list of campus activities and meetings throughout the summer, and each Friday we will bring you a page of entertainment news and listings.
The Kansan will again cover the Kansas Legislature this semester to bring you more information about the law and Lawrence. We think local coverage of University issues in the Legislature is important to our readers. We want to tell them what makes Theopka and Topeka it affects you as a student.
Of course, we'll rely on our wire services, the Associated Press and United Press International, to help us report national and world issues. But when news breaks, if it's fit to print, you'll be able to find it in the Kansan.
BUT TO HELP us do these things, we'll need your help. Despite our best efforts, we're bound to make mistakes. When we do, let us know and we'll correct them. If you know of some feature that might interest our readers, tell us so we can tell them.
Traditionally, the editorial page has been a forum where our writers can comment on and analyze the news. It will remain that, with editors representing the Kansan's opinions and with by-lined columns representing the opinions of our editorial writers.
But more importantly, the editorial page is a forum for your ideas and opinions. We encourage you to comment on our work and we would like your comments or by drop in the newsletter at any time.
If you drop by, you'll find a staff of more than 50 reporters and editors from varied backgrounds, most of whom are journalism majors. You'll also see Kansan and other newspapers. So here's an
Barry Massey
introduction that, I hope, will make us more familiar.
DIRCK STEIMEL, Wright senior, will be managing editor, responsible for directing news operations. He has worked for the Hutton campus and is a faculty campus editor for the Kansas last semester.
John Whitesides, Lawrence senior, will be editorial editor, in charge of the daily production of the editable page. He spent last summer with the Kansas City Star and you may remember him from last semester when he was an editorial writer for the Kansai
Mary Hoen, Iowa City, Iowa senior, will be campus editor. She has worked for the Wichita Eagle and Beacon and the Chute Tribune, and spent last fall at the Modern Media. St. Petersburg, Fla., she participates in a newspaper management program.
Hoenk and her assistants are responsible for the reporters on the paper and for directing news coverage, Pam Manson, Overland Park senior, will be associate campus editor, Carol Hunter, Parsons senior, and David Link, Lawrence graduate student, will be assistance campus editors. Manson has worked for the Topoka Daily Capital and the Fort Scott Tribune. Hunter spent two years with K.C. Young before just finished an intercession internship with the Kansas City Times. Link is a veteran Kansan reporter and copy editor.
NANCY DRESSLER, Kingman senior, takes over as sports editor after serving as associate sports editor last semester. She has worked for the Hutchinson News and the
Her associate will be John Tharp, Toplea junior, who spent last summer with the Leavenworth town and has been a sports coach. He played baseball at Beacon and the Kansas City Star and Times.
Our ever vigilant copy chiefs, late night protectors of grammar and style, will be Linda Finestone, Prairie Village senior, Paula Southerland, Toperka seniand, Leon Unrub, Pawnee Rock senior. Finestone has worked for the Kansas City Times and the
Pittsburgh Morning Sun, Southerland spent last summer at the Wichita Eagle and Beacon and Urhahn has worked for the Mineapolis (Minn.) Tribune, Hays Daily News, Topika Capital-Journal and the Larned Tiller and Tailer.
RANDY OLSON, St. Louis senior, will be graphics editor, a new Kansas position. He will be responsible for providing guidance with the paper's make-up and will help students in artists and photographers. Olson spent last fall as a photographer for the Milwaukee Journal.
Alan Zlotky, Topeka senior, will be the Kansan's chief photographer. He is in charge of a staff of four other fine photographers and just finished an interes-
sion internship with the Kansas City Star
and Times.
And me. I've been on the Kansas staff for several semesters, most recently as editorial officer. I've had internships with NASA and in the University of N.Y. TimpeLingh and the Charge Editor.
The Kansan abounds with talented people, many of whom I wasn't able to mention. But we're looking forward to this semester and I'm grateful for making the Kansan serve you, our readers.
King worked to bring peaceful integration
Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something we call death.
The scene and the subsequent encounter were arresting.
Awaiting them was Public Safety Commissioner Eugene (Bull) Connor, a man who was the epitome of police brutality, and who reflected the seething hatreds of a city where acts of violence against blacks were the order of the day.
On a downtown Birmingham, Ala., street on a hot, muggy afternoon 2000 blacks gathered to protest the racist policies of the most rigidly segregated large city in America. The protesters came to Birmingham to protest with them, with the knowledge his presence was unknown even with the knowledge his presence probably would be met with repression.
Connor watched with growing impatience as the crowd of black men, women and children in their Sunday best filled the streets. On one side of the street stood the police, a team of Connor's policemen with their growling dogs, and firemen ready with their hoses.
We all think about it, and every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think about it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself what it is that I would want said and I leave the word to you this morning.
"Freedom!" shouted a black boy, raising arms toward the heavens. "Get white hair."
THE FIREMEN moved, and instantly water shot from the nozzles with the sound and fury of gunfire. At first a powerful stream rattled elm trees with such force that pieces of thick, black bark were striped off. Then the firemen ined on in their targets. A slim black girl braced herself against the jet stream but was unable to withstand the brute force of the water. The blacks were swept down the street as if they were litter.
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the letter is after a period, it should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansan reserves the right to edit letters for publication.
Finally, satisfied that the blacks had been pushed back far earlier, the water was shut off. "God bless America," a reporter mumbled in disgust.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell him not to talk too long.
Thus did the civil rights movement of the Sixties come to the attention of America and the world, and into the spotlight was thrust a young black minister who would become perhaps the greatest spiritual leader the world has known. Martin Luther King Jr.
KING WASN'T present when Connor unleashed his firebuses. But he had spent weeks carefully planning the assault on a large group of men, and supremacy. Day after day, blacks of all ages cheerfully would go downto them to be arrested for offenses such as parading without a permit. More than 3,300 blacks, including many from the South, were ever arrested in an American racial protest.
And every now and then I wonder what I want him to say. Tell him not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize. That isn't so important.
the battle, for the most part, appeared to be over in Birmingham. In but every large city in the North and in other places in the South, a wave of embezzlement erupted rapidly. Blacks began to demand an end to school segregation and better jobs and housing. A movement was growing in America, a movement whose time had come when the South seemed unable to symbol to millions, both black and white.
In the days that followed the Birmingham roots, the tension eased, and an agreement was reached.
Tell him not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that's not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school.
He was born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, a city haunted by the Negro and the Negro cause. As a boy, King grew up in one of the most prosperous cities in homes. But though he was sheltered economically, he was not sheltered from those experiences that outrage and demoralize human dignity, and that later would play an important part in shaping his
THERE WAS the time when he was eight, when he went downtown with his father to buy a pair of shoes. Father and son took the shoes home and approached and said he would be happy to help them if they moved to the socks in the rear. The elder King refused and they left the store in anger. Such incidents made it difficult for him to walk about with him insight he would retain years later.
There were places he could not go, things he could not do, instruments, objects and books.
I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life to people.
A BRIGHT student, he skipped through high school and at 15 entered Atlanta's Negro Morehouse college. His fatherMorehoused an educator who thought he wanted to study medicine or law. "I had doubts that religion was intellectually respectable," he said. "I rejoiced against the emotionism of Negro religion, because it was not what I didn't understand it and it embarrassed me."
Although raised in the warmth of a tightly knit family, King appeared to be a sensitive and complex youth. Twice, before he was 15, he tried to commit suicide. Once his brother had been murdered by his grandmother, Jenne Williams, unconscious when he slid down a bannister. Martin thought she was dead, and in despair he ran to a second floor window and jumped out—only to land unhurt. He did the same thing, resulting in a result, on the day his grandmother died.
At Morehouse, King searched for "some intellectual basis for a social philosophy." He read and reread Thoreau's essay. Civil Disobedience, and concluded that the ministry was the only profession in which he develop his growing ideas on social protest.
AT CROZER Theological Seminary in Chester, Pa., King built the underpinnings of his philosophy. Hoeck and Kang impressed the community for laying innatably into Gandhi's books.
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love someone.
On Dec. 1, 1958, a seamless named Rosa Parks boarded a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She had just finished a day of shop cleaning and would have returned home to rest. As the bus picked up more passengers, the black passengers were taken out. The whites getting on could sit down. When
"From my background," King said, "I gained my regulating Christian ideals. From Gandhi I learned my operational technique."
I want you to say that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to do it in my life to clothes who were naked.
driver told Parks to get up, she politely and sternly refused.
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
"I don't know why I wouldn't move," she said later. "There was no plan or plot at all. I was just tired from shopping. My feet hurt." She was arrested and fined $10.
The incident proved later to be the catalyst that united a people who for years had been the beat of burden of the dominant white culture. Within hours, the blacks embarked upon a bus boycott that was more than 90 percent effective and that almost every yorkie's bus line. Blacks walked, rode mules, drove wagons, and traveled in carpools.
THE BOYCOTT soon became the Montgomery Improvement Association, and King was elected president without a dissenting vote. King and others suggested that King should have been identified with the community and was not identified with any faction of the bitterly divided black leadership. It also has been suggested that King was named because almost no one wanted to be identified publicly as the owner of a new venture with an uncertain future.
In the beginning, many Montgomery citizens, both black and white, thought the boycott eventually would fold. When this event to happen, white Montgomery turned mean.
Yes, if you want to, say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. Say that I was a drum major for righteousness.
The mayor and other city officials publicly became members of the White Citizens Council, and a "get tough" policy was announced by the mayor.
King was arrested on a charge of driving 30 miles an hour in a 24 mile zone. Four days later, the bomb exploded. The bomb was thrown on the porch of his home. When King arrived home, an enraged crowd of blacks with guns, rocks, rods, knives and other weapons poured in, ready to take to the streets in protest.
POLICEMEN, FIREMAN, city officials and Mayor Galse also were present, their faces grave with apprehension. It was clear that Montgomery was on the verge of exploding in a blood bath, and it seemed there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
Assessing the situation and realizing all that was needed was a spark to set things off. King raised his arms and controlled the crowd.
"Don't get panicy," he said calmly. "Don't do anything panicy at all. Don't get your weapons. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword."
King continued, "We are not advocating violence. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them, love them and let them know you love them."
And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things I want, but I just want to leave a committed life behind.
The crowd fell silent, wondering what manner of man could speak this way, especially just after his wife and child had narrowly escaped injury and perhaps death.
WHEN HE FINISHED, cries of "innen" and "God bless you, son" floated up from the crowd. It began to disperse, its anger defused and dissipated.
Thanks to King 's invenolent direct action philosophy, blacks had an effective means of protest. As a powerless group dominated by a powerful majority, blacks could not stage an open revolt. To go into the streets under those conditions with open demands for change was suicid. King and the students staging sit-ins were used in the national resistance movement in the disarming, appealing garr of love, forgiveness, and passive resistance.
King became famous worldwide, for the parable of the porch went over the wires of the news media. And in less than a year the Supreme Court upheld an earlier order forbidding Jim Crow seating on Alabama buses.
And that is all I want to say, If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer
s somebody with a song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong then my living life is a story.
Even after victories were won at the lunch counters, in classrooms and public buses, civil and voting legislation was enacted to allow the nation a day, seven days a week in the struggle to secure basic human rights for all Americans. He was in Memphis, Tem., on April 4, 1968, preparing for a demonstration in Washington to问 an asasman's bullet ended his life.
THE VOICE of the prince of peace, the idealistic dreamer, the consciousness of a man who is caught in the shadows.
King once ended a talk by quoting the words of an old Negro slave preacher who said, "We aim what we ought to be and we aim 'n where we ought to be and we aim 'n what we want to be and we aim 'n what we are going to be. But, thank God we aim 'n what we
No, never again would the black American be where or what he was, thanks to Mara
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
I can bring salvation to a world once
If I can spread the messages as the master
If I can spread the messages as the master taught.
Then my living will not be in vain.
February 1968
Ebenezer Baptist Church
Atlanta, Ga.
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