24
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday; September 27,1968
Vote on local tax
No one likes to pay taxes and the prospect of the city of Lawrence plucking an extra $10 from the pockets of car owners here does not seem to be viewed with wild enthusiasm on the Hill.
This is because the tax proposal, which will appear on the local Nov. 5 ballot, will apply to anyone having a motor vehicle in this city-not just the Lawrence citizens but KU faculty and us "nine-month transients," the KU students.
And perhaps the city has pulled a sneaky trick by cutting $55,000 from its street maintenance budget and entirely scrapping all allocations for improvements, thus nearly forcing owners of motor vehicles to put up that extra ten in order to have something to drive on.
Still, sneaky tricks or no, the city's rationale makes sense.
In the past, property owners have supported the costs of maintaining and improving Lawrence's streets. Most KU students live in residence halls, Greek houses or apartments and don't pay a dime of property tax.
Have you ever seen a street get potholed by houses driving down them or an intersection bottleneck caused by a long line of shops, banks, motels and hamburger joints waiting to make a left turn?
Motor vehicles wear out the streets, and it seems right that their owners should foot the bill for upkeep.
And yes, fellow students and distinguished faculty, your cars do their share. More than 8,500 of the vehicles which will be cracking Lawrence's pavement this year are student-owned and faculty stickers are stuck to the rear windows of 2,500 more.
Take a drive down West Ninth Street, down the hill from Sunset to Emery. Drive the 30-mile-an-hour speed limit. Unless your car has super-slushy suspension you will find yourself gaily bouncing all over that washboard road. A drive through a Kansas tornado might be a smoother ride.
Or approach Massachusetts Street on West 11th and take the left turn lane. The drubbing you will get bears a marked resemblance to the motion of a weight reducing machine.
Or check out the corner of West Campus and West Eleventh. See the potholes. See the car drive over the potholes. See the car tear a tire or bend its suspension. See the owner pay exorbitant repair costs.
So go and vote on the tax next election day if you can pass the eligibility requirements—and many of you on the Hill can.
It was defeated in the August primary election last year. One of the things that may have defeated it then was the fact, pointed out by opponents of the tax, that KU students and staff weren't here to join the voting and were effectively disenfranchised by the date set for the election.
You're here now. That charge won't work this time. So go down to City Hall, register, and cast your ballot-for or against as your inclination dictates.
Reluctantly, I am for the tax. I don't like the idea of forking over that extra $10 either. But, hopefully, if I do Lawrence will do something about the rotten condition the streets are in today. Robert Entriken Jr.
Robert Entriken Jr.
“... and despite the fact that both hares preached law and order. . . ”
Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester, $10 a year. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan. 60044. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents.
Executive Staff
Executive Staff
Managing Editor          Monte Mace
Business Manager        Jack Haney
Assistant Managing Editors, Pat Crawford, Charla Jenkins, Alan T. Jones,
                           Steve Morgan, Allen Winchester
City Editor              Bob Butler
Assistant City Editor     Kathy Hall
Editorial Editor        Allison Stelman
Editorial Editor        Richard Lundquist
Sports Editor            Ron Yates
Feature and Society Editor  Rea Wilson
Associate Feature Editor   Sharon Woodson
Copy Chiefs           Judy Dague, Linda McCreney, Don Westerhaus, Sandy
                           Zahradnik, Zona, Katie, Wool
Advertising Manager      Mike Willman
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Promotion             Pam Flatton
Circulation Manager    Jerry Bottenfeld
Classified Manager      Barry Arthur
"It's a funny thing. The Kerner report said the riots were caused by 'white racism' and the newspapers cried, 'Extraordinary.' I called it the same thing, 'white racism,' and the newspapers cried, 'Extremist.'
quotes...
Dick Gregory
MOST PRONE
ST. LOUIS —(UPI)— A city traffic report says motorists most prone to accidents are 25 to 34 years old, driving on a dry street in daylight, between 3 and 5 p.m.
Juvenile epic dull
by Scott Nunley
"Wild in the Streets" is a monumentally dull motion picture that reaches its dramatic heights when a stoned Diane Varsi floats to her feet to address the U.S. House. In order to mistake the remainder of this juvenile epic for entertainment, a viewer would first have to contract a myopia so severe as to be terminal. The only insight associated with the production must be the flash of bitter irony that consigned "Wild in the Streets" to "mature" audiences.
American International set out to crank out that type of commercialized formula film that has done so much to earn Hollywood its reputation.
Go for the "Now" bag, cash in on the day's headlines: the White House sweepstakes, the drug scene, the revolt of youth. Toss in a million-dollar color production complete with name stars. Never mind slowing down the profits with intelligent screenwriters or a sensitive director.
Of course, there is the off possibility that sneaky Andy Warhol actually contrived "Wild in the Streets" to be the season's greatest put on, a parody of the Bad Film.
Unfortunately, director Barry Shear provides no concrete evidence of this intention Like Jean Luc Godard in "Band of Outsiders," Shear seems to be merely a wild shot, blasting away indiscriminately at comedy, satire, and drama.
"Wild in the Streets" opens on a pretentious Freudian biography of rebel Max Frost, a bit of character study apparently intended to be taken seriously. But Shelley Winters' overacting and the tricky camerawork renders it ludicrous.
Then, like Godard. Shear employs an anonymous narrator to provide the information that the movie itself fails to convey. At each point when action might have become entertaining in its own right, the Voice intrudes and guides the viewer smoothly into apathy.
With now a second's slapstick and now a second's social criticism, "Wild in the Streets" twangs out of tune, not one thing or the other. The slapstick is not original in itself and the polemics against America's current Cult of Youth are merely hysterical.
Even the "acid rock" soundtrack is a failure. The tame lyrics and simple instrumentation are totally unexciting, as outdated as Elvis' chording. With the rock crowd today tuned to serious revolutionaries, Max Frost's threats ring naive. Listen, for example, to Jim Morrison sing "... we got the numbers ... gonna win, yeah we're taking over!"
But that's more than enough discussion of a worthless film.
"Wild in the Streets" is a ghoulish production, attempting to capitalize on the very real dangers of this society. It feeds off the crises but offers neither insight nor laughter as a remedy. It has nothing to recommend it as cinema, as commentary, or as entertainment.
Chosen ones, CYD
To the Editor:
I recently learned the hard way how indiscriminate reporting can color an issue. Therefore I have written this letter so the quote "God's Chosen Ones," in last week's paper may appear in context.
My speech to the Peoples Voice meeting was as follows: I wish to address you tonight as the advance guard of a new society. No longer shall we consider ourselves dissenters and critics of the establishment but rather as the first members of a new establishment of equal representation.
Destructive activities such as the Convocation walkout are wrong. Now is the time for the presentation of positive and constructive alternatives to rhetoric and injustice in this school as well as the world..
God chose us to be different, different from the establishment. We must no longer fear or repress our feeling; we must no longer simply complain. If we see a wrong, we must present a right.
This is why I ask you to gain strength from the fact that you are not a member of the present power structure, that you are different.
Be proud that God chose us not to be able to accept quietly whatever happens but rather to feel and see the injustices in our world and further to try to make things better.
Robert Stowe, ISP Representative of ASC
To the Editor:
Having attended the Democratic convention as the daughter of a New York McCarthy delegate and a McCarthy supporter myself, I returned to Lawrence deeply concerned about the question of political responsibility. I have never considered myself a "political person," but as a result of my concern I have attended in the past week the opening meetings
of three campus political organizations: Peoples Voice, SDS, and Campus Young Democrats.
I have one comment. Whatever may be said of the internal divisions of Peoples Voice or the narrowly radical appeal of SDS, both made, at their opening meetings, a serious (if sometimes disjointed or awkward) attempt to discuss the issues they felt critical-civil rights, Vietnam, student power, whatever.
The meeting of the Campus Young Democrats, on the other hand, struck me as a kind or minor Orwellian nightmare: five-minute election of officers (one nominee or less for each post), promises of beer parties, enthusiasm for "buttons, stickers—everything you need," (everything?) and "vigor" as a key political (whatever happened to thought?) ingredient; no discussion of issues.
Let me be fair: before election of officers, the second item on the agenda, the group was told that CYD would concentrate this year on sticking stickers and posting posters for state candidates.
Humphrey was mentioned about a half-hour into the meeting: "Is that a dirty word? Because I came mainly for a Humphrey button." The appointed head of Young Citizens for Humphrey leaped up to gallantly offer his own button and to explain that Young Citizens was a different organization, and to make his call for "vigor."
It takes a good deal to send a mild apolitical type like me stalking out of a meeting, but after 45 minutes, stalk I did.
What happened then? A sudden burst of impassioned yet rational issue-oriented discussion? I hope so, and I doubt it.
Candy Howard New York senior