UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kanan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of
OCTOBER 9,1978
Conservation important
It is a sad commentary on man that preservation of his environment often takes a back seat to the interests of so-called "progress."
But the evidence to support this is overwhelming. Lists of endangered and extinct plant and animal species testify to man's indifference to his environment.
According to the Smithsonian Institute, a species became extinct about every 1,000 years in the prehistoric world. It happened every 10 years by 1950, and today at least one plant or animal species vanishes every year.
CURRENTLY THE U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists 177 animal species as endangered, and nearly 100 are endangered in this country also are endangered.
But a battle to preserve the natural diversity of plants and animals is one that now rages in Congress and in parts of the federal government. It has become more intense in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's ruling this summer halting construction on the $116 million Tellico Dam in Tennessee to save the tiny snail darter.
With increasing frequency, questions are raised about the importance of preserving seemingly insignificant plants and animals. These questions ultimately lead to consideration of the
web of life; the interrelationship of all living things. The effects of a disturbance of this web are still undetermined.
BUT LEGISLATION to assess the extent of our environment's natural diversity and to preserve it has been introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Keith Sebelius, R-Kan., and in the Senate by Sen. Lee Metcalf, D-Mont.
Their legislation, HR. 8650 and S. 1820, would provide a long overdue formal commitment to preserve the natural diversity of plants and animals.
States would have the responsibility to classify, inventory, monitor and protect their "natural diversity resources." A standardized data bank would catalog each state's plant, animal and geologic features, indicating the most fragile environmental areas.
In addition, the legislation would provide grants to states that have programs to protect the environment's natural diversity.
Without doubt the legislation will face a difficult struggle to obtain congressional approval, but at least it marks a beginning—perhaps an increased awareness of the importance of environmental preservation. Maybe the precedent of the snail darter can become the norm, not the exception.
Elections often bring out the worst in politicians, and this year is proving to be no exception as politicians across Kansas are calling for the reinstatement of capital punishment.
all the candidates for governor and attorney general in the two major parties have expressed their support for the death penalty. Bob Stephan, Republican candidate for attorney general, has been one of the proponents on the campaign trail.
Elections bring call for death penalty
Stephan has taken a page out of George Wallace's book by running on a strict law-and-order platform, with capital punishment a major issue in his campaign.
"Capital punishment is a legitimate form of punishment." Stephan said in a recent interview with the University Daily Kansas. "It has been a serious problem of the majority of the people is legitimate."
ALTOUGH HE wasn't specific; it can be assumed by his statement that Stephan would consider the return of impalement, the rack and the ancient African custom of separating one's fingers from one's hand to maintain abandonment if a bloodthirsty public called for it.
Nevertheless, the almost unanimous support for capital punishment among this year's batch of politicians indicates that the bill will receive renewed attention when the Legislature convenes again in January. And that is too bad.
SO FAR the Kansas Legislature has remained a bastion of sanity in an insane world when it comes to capital punishment. While there is no death penalty rule on the statute books in Kansas, there are currently 400 people on death row in 30 states.
A new death penalty bill in the Kansas Legislature passed the House last spring before dying a slow death in the Senate's Committee on Federal and State Affairs.
Although Stephan often seems to be exploring new depths with each new statement, the debate over capital punishment also means new to the political scene.
These inmates received their sentences under laws adopted after the 1927 Supreme
Inner-city renewal needs team effort
NEW YORK—When they consider the problems of our biurgited
immer-city neig“*hoods, many p* *blame the blame on mortgage
problems.*
Bv MAX KARL
N. Y. Times Feature
A favorite ploy has been to rail against the home mortgage lending institutions, accusing them of "red-lining" the areas from which they borrow.
The most noteworthy example is New York City, where mutual savings banks and savings and loan associations have been under attack for supposedly having drawn a red line around inner-city housing, so denied,坠害ed the opportunity of obtaining home mortgages.
CONSUMER ADVOCATES and people living in inner cities fail to accept the reality that the problem is not one of a single adversary, the mortgage lender, withholding funds; it is a problem which must be addressed. In fact, the people and the people who allowed the situation to develop in the first place.
These are lenders who are willing to get involved in inner-city areas and to help halt the continuing deterioration of housing stock by pouring new mortgage money into the area. They do this, often without consent from the community, which more often than not, is not shared by municipal government.
Because of the rise of state and municipal inner-city building projects, many lenders are considering the investment possibilities of such projects. In many cases, they come to the private mortgage insurance industry—firms which guarantee home loans made by financial institutions to potential buyers who cannot afford to pay 20 percent down—for help in evaluating such projects.
WE IN THE MORTGAGE insurance industry have found a consistent pattern of decay, left virtually unchecked through years of shifting population patterns. Often our underwriters who go into proposed inner-city building areas witness scenes of such complete devastation that only a strong and aggressive move by city development would be able to save the area from complete abandonment.
In the majority of cases, city services have been eroded to the point that to say they exist at all is perhaps an exaggeration. Often, the transportation system is inadequate. Roads have been pitted with traffic jams and vehicles are sporadic or nonexistent, limiting access to job opportunities.
We have also found a serious decline in such essential services as street lighting, sanitation and police protection. When this is the case, the area resembles more than anything else a forgotten part of our city, another factor of a populace that no longer cares about preserving what is left.
UNDER SUCH CONDITIONS, it would be foolhardy to expect an unrestricted addition of funds from the private sector to restore the area. Without the aid of the people living in the inner city, as well as the continued efforts to rebuild these areas will remain ineffective.
Despite such drawbacks, private industry has not been lax in attempting to restore our urban environment. A recent example of this effort is the mortgage insurance industry joined together to make available $10 million in mortgage money for inner-city neighborhoods in
With the aid of private mortgage insurance, which secured all loans with a down payment of 20 percent or less, this program has gotten off to a successful start—one that may encourage emulation in other cities across the country.
IN NEW JERSEY, the mortgage finance industry joined with lenders to provide a pool of funds for building projects in 25 cities across the state. In this case also, private mortgage insurance was used to insure high-risk loans.
Additional examples involve the cities of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Denver—all of which have successfully begun innercity building projects with the assistance of local lenders and the private mortgage insurance industry.
In all these cases, early participation by municipal government is a requirement for the inner-city program. It is expected that as these programs begin, the private sector should replace the public sector, and those in the areas where they live in the areas must carry the burden of how they want to live.
The rejuvenation of America's inner-city neighborhoods depends on the will of these neighborhoods to survive their present adversity and to look toward solutions. With the help of private business, the government and the people, it can be done.
Mux Karl, a member of the Milwaukee, Wisc., Bar Association, is chairman and chief executive officer of the Mortgage Guaranty
Whitesides
John
Court decision that struck down capital punishment laws across the country.
AFTER THAT RULING, many states immediately drew up new statutes. However, despite the proliferation of new death penalty laws, no one but Gary Glimore, who is a different story entirely, has been executed in the United States since 1967.
In that case, Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled 54 that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution and punishment. Justices William J. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall ruled the death penalty was cruel and unusual per se, while Judge George Burke ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was applied in a sporadic, arbitrary and discriminatory manner.
state court system and then to the U.S. Supreme Court. If those appeals fail, the convict can start over again in a U.S. District Court, then move on to a federal appeals court and then to the Supreme Court once again.
Indeed, studies by Northeastern University Professor William Bowers indicate that an overwhelming majority of those currently on death row are there for
THE CASE of Spenkelink, a 24-year-old driver who was convicted of killing his traveling companion, will bring another issue before the Supreme Court. Driven to prove his guilt, studies show most convicts who receive the death penalty so do for killing whites—not blacks—and therefore the new capital punishment laws are as arbitrary and discriminatory as the old ones that were unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Despite the many opportunities for appeal, two convicts have run out of place to turn, and many others will soon be in the same position. John Spenkelink of Florida and Jerry Larry Juriek of Texas are the first convicts to be released from the Supreme Court—their next-to-last resort.
A person sentenced to death can first appeal through two or more levels in the
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has not yet heard arguments in a case involving the death sentence on Aug. 21. His case is now before the Supreme Court, which might decide whether the state can impose the death sentence on Aug. 21.
Maryland restored the death penalty last March, and the New York State Senate failed to override Gov. Hugh Carey's veto of a death penalty bill by only one vote. The New York Legislature is expected to try again next year. Oregon will get into the act in November with an attempt to restore the death penalty through an effort led by the state's ballot. At 4 o'clock course, there is always next year for the Kansas Legislature.
killing whites, with the percentage reaching into the 90% in many states.
But for the past 10 years debate over capital punishment has been carried on in a way that has sometimes led to the murder of the murderers when one is not forced to face the reality of dead bodies and grim executions. Unfortunately, those who are accused of the murder will not have that advantage for long.
ALTHOUGH MOST evidence points to the fact that the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder, public opinion公诉 indicate that the public still favors it by a comfortable margin. And the number of states with legality laws on the books continues to increase.
Bowers expects his findings will be instrumental in the battle against capital punishment.
"The public is very frightened about murder, and wrongly imagines that the death penalty is some sort of solution to it," he said recently.
Nostalgia craze can get old fast
In an effort to boost its ratings, a New York City radio station today will switch from a format of soft rock to all-Beatles music.
Station WYNY-FM will begin playing only the music of John Paul, George and Ringo for at least two weeks. A random phone will be made to judge listener response.
Surely the station won't succeed.
After all, a station needs a regular and reliable listening audience to succeed in the job.
The question will be answered by New Yorkers in the next few weeks.
The Beatles dominated American music in the 1960s, but was their music popular enough to be the sole focus of a radio station?
Nuclear power criticisms unfounded
Nuclear power has many more advantages than drawbacks. It will free us from dependence on scarce fossil fuels, help clean up our environment and contribute greatly to eliminating the energy shortage we currently face. I am convinced that fear of nuclear power is rooted in ignorance, and that those who understand
To the editor:
I would like to take issue with some of the unfounded statements made by John Whiteides in his column in last Wednesday's Kansas. Whiteides claims that the masses of people oppose nuclear power. This is absolutely false. In every state where nuclear power is available, people have voted overwhelmingly in favor of nuclear power. The dismal failure of California's "nuclear shutdown" initiative a few years ago is a classic example.
Whitesides makes a number of claims that nuclear power is unsafe. Again, it is not so. The reactors themselves are safe. No nuclear reactor has been designed, with so many redundant back-up systems. Nuclear power is clean power. There is no smoke, no ash, no carbon monoxide, no sulfur dioxide. There is also pollution, the coal strip mining or expensive foreign oil.
Whitesides bewaits the vulnerability of nuclear plants to sabotage. Nuclear plants can be damaged by than other kinds of power plants, and sabotage would have similar results; the loss of electric power. It is impossible for a plant to be completely sabotaged, though the plant could be easily shut down.
both nuclear power and its alternatives will favor nuclear power.
Kenneth Mitchell Topeka Senior
Without trying to make an absolute moral judgment here, let me just request that the judge follow the rules of this courtroom.
U.S. energy needs balance nuclear risk
I strongly object to the nature of John Whiteside's column, "U.S. Ignoring Nuclear Drawbacks." In it he presents a multitude of question, unsubstantial assertions designed to portray the nuclear industry unquevivuously as a villain of the people. With no evidence whatsoever he speaks in absolute rhetoric, which is the regional region," millions of deaths, billions of dollars lost and of all things, how "the people" stopped the Vietnam war.
But the most questionable assertion of all is that it is the wish of "the people" (Yes, the same ones who stopped the war) not to have nuclear power. Here is where the issue must ultimately stand, yet he avoids it entirely.
balance nuclear risk
To the editor:
Is nuclear power the first contribution of industry and technology to society that has been dangerous or potentially poisonous? Certainly not! Nor is it likely even to be among the most hazardous. Consider the ubiquitous automobile. Yet as much as we hate such dangers and social problems, we are entirely supportive of them in our energy for mass communication. We love our electric power and we hate to pay the bill.
regard to whether we, undoubtedly a society unwilling to regress in consumption standards, must accept the risk in order to satisfy our inevitable lust for more and more energy in the future. Reactionary industries and barricaded railroads will get us nowhere.
Non-smokers' rights deserve protection
Robert Johnson
Goddard sophomore
To the editor
I am disappointed in the Kansan for publishing an article which advocates negative, antihumanistic, and violent perspectives who are asking for basic human rights.
I am referring to Rick Alm's article on Proposition 5 of California in which he encourages smokers to blow smoke in other people's faces. His reference to non-smokers as freedom-haters seems rather toxic to me since it has traditionally been perceived as a sign of reckless or hazardous effects of those who choose to contaminate the air. The non-smoker has had no choice in the matter even when exposure to tobacco has caused extreme
reactions such as with an asthmatic or a person with a bad heart or allergies. There is no getting away from the smoke in this society at this point because of the consequences of other persons' actions. And those consequences are even worse for the non-smoker since sidestream smoke, that which comes from the burning end, contains higher concentrations than mainstream smoke, that which the inhales usually through a filter.
It is fortunate that people should have to fight for the right to breathe, especially people with ill health. I have talked with many smokers who admit that they are even bothered by smoke when not smoking themselves. When so many people are so adversely effected by smoking, cured smoker are unwilling to make any concessions to those who are seriously harmed by it, I feel there should be some sort of limitations imposed.
Proposition 5 is not "an insidious attempt to make life unfeable for smokers." Nor is it an attempt at prohibition. Rather it is a same request for the basic human right to smoke.
I am allergic to tobacco and find that my social life continues to be limited and my health continues to be imposed upon no one. I am also a hard worker and hostile behavior of some smokers, such as that advocated in Mr. Alm's article, to be very negative, inhuman and unfair. Promoting this type of attitude with harsh societal society, but will only necessitate restricctions.
Jeanne Green Lawrence junior
However, other questions are raised by WYNY-FM's new format. Will the listeners be Beatles' fanatics or people who want to relive the 1960s?
In the past few years, nostalgia has gained popularity in country and the similarity doesn't appear to be significant.
IN ONLY one summer, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band," a movie in which the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton sing some old Lennon and McCartney songs, has revived an interest in the Beatles music of the '60s.
But the Beatles aren't the only ones to become the focus of the current nostalgia
Only Paul McCarthy appears to have anywhere near the success alone that the Beatles together did 15 years ago. And even the same group compare to the Beatles former popularity.
The movie version of the Broadway hit "Grease" was released this summer and has been an undeniable success. Almost before the movie was out, souvenir们 began to sell. It times it seems there isn't a child in mind who doesn't have a "Grease" T-shirt.
AND DON'T forget the success of National Lampoon's "Animal House," which brought the Toga party to life. National Lampoon's style of comedy and Saturday Night Live's John Belushi certainly contributed to the movie's success, as did "Animal House" itself, is nostalgic movie about fraternity life in the 1960s.
Those three movies are only part of the nostalgia wave from this summer.
The enormous successes of TV's "Happy Days" and "Laveneer and Shrieley," have continued into the 1978 television season. Both series rely heavily on an audience of teen-agers that didn't live in the late '60s and early '60s, but wish they had.
Twenty years ago, Henry Winkler's "Fonzie" character and John Travolta's "Danny" probably would have been losers. Now they are national heroes.
The people that lived in the 1950s certainly didn't think they were living in the best and most perfect world.
if WYNN-FM's all-Batlets radio format survives, it will be surprising. It also will be surprising if the nostalgia craze lasts much longer.
As an occasional change of pace, it's nice to look at life in previous years. But when "reminiscing" plays too large a role in entertainment, the effect is ruined. What once was special becomes routine rather quickly.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Published at the University of Kansas daily August through May and Monday through Thursday during June and July except Saturday, and Sunday and holidays. Second-class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas 60454. Subscriptions by mail are $1 for six months or $2 a year in Douglas County Kansas. Mail to University of Kansas, $2 a semester, paid through the student activity fee.
Editor
Storm Pressor
Managing Editor Jerry Sass
Steve Frater
Editorial Editor Harry Risch
Campus Editors
Associate Campus Editor Campus Editors
Sports Editor
Associate Sports Editor
Magazine Editor Magazine Editor
Associate Magazine Editor Mary-Anne Glervin
Copy Chiefs
Laurie Daniel, Carol Hunter, Pensa Sounderland
Make-up Editors
Paula Eckert, Patricia Horton
Pam Eckey, Linda Finesworth, Cati Rich
Associate Business Manager
Artist, Business Manager
Promotion Manager
Promotion Manager
Advertising Manager
Advertising Manager
Networking Manager
Networking Manager
Classified Sales Manager
Classified Sales Manager
Photographer
Artists
Karen Wenderson
Artist, Business Manager
Mel Smith, Allison Blair
Nate Hudaye
Michel Johnson
Jeff Kious
Leslie Chandler
Bob Hart
Steve Polom, Liz Hammilia
General Manager
Advertising Agent
General Manager Rick Musser