4 Wednesday, October 17, 1990/ University Daily Kansan Opinion THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 45th District Parker says conservative view represents area; Solbach stresses experience, budget knowledge Republican challenger Martha Parker says Douglas County's 49th District voters are ready for a conservative representative in the Kansas Legislature. But Democrat incumbent John Solbach says his extensive legislative experience and understanding of the state budget make him the superior candidate in this year's race. Not surprisingly, both candidates support the Margin of Excellence. Solbach seems to offer more specific solutions to many of the state's other problems. Parker said she strongly supported financing for the Margin of Excellence. If the 1991 Legislature considers Gov. Mike Hayden's plan to finance the Margin through an increase in cigarette taxes, Parker said she would support the plan. The Margin was the Board of Regents three-year plan to bring the total financing of its seven institutions to 95 percent of their peer schools and to bring faculty salaries to 100 percent of their peers. The Legislature financed the first two years but not the third. But Sobach does not believe Hayden's financing plan would produce enough revenue to finance the Margin and thinks the funds should come from the state general fund. Instead, he would support a progressive income tax system in Kansas. Revenue raised by the new tax system could be deposited in the general fund, he said, which in turn could be used to finance the Margin. A large portion of the general fund is used to finance education and social services. Solbach and Parker both have non-specific stances on recycling, although Solbach does support a bottle deposit bill. The bill would require mandatory deposits on some beverage containers. Mandatory deposits would encourage people to recycle instead of litter, he said. Parker said economic development in communities could facilitate the development of recycling programs, especially in smaller communities. Solbach has more specific ideas about relieving the state's property tax problems. He said the property classification amendment passed in 1986 by voters hurt small businesses. He supports a new constitutional amendment that would provide modest relief for homeowners and farmers and would shift part of the property tax burden back onto big businesses and utilities, easing the load of small businesses. Parker said people should realize their property taxes were high because mill levies in their communities were high. These mill levies pay for things needed by the community, such as new schools and roads. The property tax issue ultimately comes down to what people want and whether they are willing to pay for it, she said. Parker would like to see less reliance on property taxes, which would encourage local units of government to find alternative sources of revenue. She said more people, especially in rural regions, should have taken advantage of appraisal appeals when their property was reappraised. Solbach also has more specific answers to Social and Rehabilitative Services financing problems. He said that the state needed to ensure that as many of its citizens as possible have at least the minimal necessities to survive and that the SRS program needed reorganization and new leadership. Solbach said SRS might be able to cut costs in nursing home care reimbursements, a large part of the SRS budget, by encouraging participants to consider in-home care and hospice care. SRS could reimburse people for these alternatives at a potentially lower cost. Parker believes children and the elderly should receive priority in SRS financing. The United States needs to be more socially responsible, she said. But Parker said she was concerned that more people were demanding financing from SRS. She would support cutting the SRS budget at some point. Parker believes she is the better candidate for the 45th District because she is better acquainted with Lawrence residents through her work as a teacher and community historian. She also believes that as the conservative candidate in the race, she can better represent the Lawrence community, which she described as conservative. Solbach views himself as the better candidate in the race because his 12 years as a Kansas legislator have given him experience and made him familiar with the legislative process. He said he also had more knowledge of budgets than Parker did, having served on the House Appropriations Committee for eight years. Sobach also said he understood farming problems because he and his wife own a small farm and raise cattle. Brett Brenner, Jill Harrington and Mary Neubauer for the editorial board A message to Israel United States will not tolerate excessive violence The United States was right to join other nations in condemning the killing of at least 19 Palestinians last week on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Late last week, after five days of debate, the U.N. voted to condemn Israel for the killings and to send a team of investigators to look into the incident. The United States, by signing the U.N. resolution, sends a strong message to Israel that our government does not approve of Israel's mishandling of the incident and its dealings with the intefadah, a Palestinian uprising. The resolution also undercut more severe actions demanded by many Arab countries. There is still confusion in the international community, as well as in Israel, concerning the chain of events that led to the killing of the Palestinians last week in Jerusalem. bullets; and then ammunition. Israel rejected the U.N. resolution, saying that more severe incidents in other countries have gone uninvestigated. Israeli officials then accused the United States of making it a sacrifice, so the U.S. government countered anti-Semitism Hussein alliances with Arab countries. Many observers believe that Palestinians rioting on the Temple Mount threw stones at Jews worshiping at the Wailing Wall, Judaism's holiest site. Security forces dispersed the Palestinians by using tear gas and rubber The failure of Israel to cooperate with the U.N. resolution could put more strain on already deteriorating ties with the United States, which damage hope for peace in the Middle East. This is not the first use of excessive force by the Israeli government in attempts to control the 34-month-old infadah. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which were seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel has the right to exist as a sovereign state. It does not, however, have the right to deny basic human rights to people living on land it controls. Brett Brenner for the editorial board Homophobic acts disgrace KU I am snucked and opposed at the recent incidents of violence perpetrated against homosexual people at the University. The repeated incidents of vandalism of the Gay and Lesbian Students of Kansas display in the information booth were acts of violence and attempts to censor a person's freedom of expression. Censorship is specially the ignorance and have no place here. Homophobia is a disease of fear and ignorance. Those who remain very afraid and very ignorant become the most violent. So I ask the鬼女, "Who is this woman so much? These were words and pictures, nothing more. Why were Freedom of expression means that sometimes I have to see or read things with which I disagree. The fact that I disagree with racist, sexist, homophobic or anti-Semitic statements does not give me the right to destroy the printed matter or silence the speaker. It does, however, give me the right to speak out against a person or group. you so intimidated by them that you had to perpetrate an act of violence against your fellow students? I would also like to address every individual who watched the acts of vandalism take place and said nothing, did nothing. You are as much to blame as those who actually vandalized the booth. You also have committed a hate crime and are an accessory through a vehicle known as tacit consent. Because you said nothing and took no action to stop the crimes, you condoned the actions. I regret that you left no evidence. no The White, heterosexist, male power structure that we live by protected the criminals sufficiently to make them feel justified, even to commit a crime and commit a crime against people and a lifestyle that they feared. fingerprints, in your personal acts of violence against homosexual people. According to our esteemed Chancellor Gene A. Budig, "there is no room at this University for those who would use coercion, physical or psychological, against other members or guests of this community. No one is obligated here to agree with everything said or written. But by accepting membership in this community, each of us should be educated and obliged to that those forums are available and that they are conducted without interference." (Student Handbook, 1900-91, p.2). Despite those words, attitudes born of generations of ignorance persist in destroying that forum that U.S. citizens claim to prize above others. The information booth on Jayhawk Boulevard has been repeatedly vandalized by homophobic people and anti-Semites. The criminals have shamed their peers. Their acts of violence are a tragedy to the University. Kristin Lange is a Women's Student Union member and vice president of the KU pro-choice coalition. Homosexuality not natural or mainstream E every year at this time the homosexual community "comes out of the closet" Matt Jackson Guest columnist nomosexual community "comes out of the closed" and pleads its case to the rest of the society. Rarely is the homosexual sub-culture challenged here at KU. But I would like to present a factual, unemotional rebuttal to the homosexual community and the虞质ality of human beings reject this lifestyle and consider it anything but "gay." Homosexuality is not natural. In nature we don't see two male lions engaged in sex or two leonian eagles nesting together. Animals do not display preferential homosexual behavior. Our bodies are not designed to engage in homosexual acts, whereas a man and a woman's bodies are intricately designed to accommodate each other. Anal sex does nothing but destroy and exploit a person's body. Homosexuality, more so than any other lifestyle, is under the threat of AIDS. Gay men are responsible for 73 percent of all AIDS cases. (Newsville) About a third of AIDS for AIDS from 1986 through mid-1991 is estimated to cost $37 billion (Journ.) or American Insurance) AIDS treatment is limited and today AIDS is 100 percent fatal. If handling a certain chemical were responsible for 73 percent of all cases of a certain cancer that had no cure and cost billions in medical treatment, that chemical would be immediately banned and extinguished from our planet. Of course, I am not sure if I can by no means endorse or even acknowledge homosexuality as a viable alternative lifestyle. Contrary to their propaganda, homosexuals do not fit into the mainstream of U.S. life. According to the book "Homosexuality: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women," who says they have had 500 different sexual partners during their lifetimes. Only 1 percent of homosexuals have had only from one to four different sexual partners in their lifetimes. Call me homophobic, call me closed-minded. But there are some things in life that are worth avoiding and being closed-minded about. For example, I hope that everyone on the planet is sleeping in the middle of the interstate. Please understand me for being closed-minded about keeping my daughter from drinking Drano. You can choose to be homosexual, you can have made a rational decision to be closed-minded about homosexuality. I do not have compassion for the homosexual lifestyle. But I do have compassion for homosexuals as individuals. I believe they are caught in a way of life that must be scary and oppressive. True freedom from homosexuality can be found only through a personal, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ changes lives, not only of homosexuals but of all people, regardless of sexual orientation. Matt Jackson is a Lawrence resident. Celebrate our freedoms Celebrate our freedoms The people who tried to cover and destroy the posters displayed across from Bailey Hall that celebrated National Coming Out Day must not realize how closely related their freedom is to the struggle of gays and lesbians. Gay people must be allowed to be teachers, health workers, Boy Scout leaders and soldiers; to form families and to enjoy the same rights and freedoms that heterosexual people have. As U.S. citizens, we all should be proud of National Coming Out Day. We all should celebrate. We all should speak out against discrimination and try to ensure long-term tolerance. KANSAN STAFF DEREK SCHMIDT Editor Editors News Julie Mottenburg Editorial Mary Neubauer Planning Pam Solliner Campus Holly Lawton Sports Brent Maycock Photo Andrew Morrison Features Stacy Smith DEREK SCHMIDT Editor JKIESTR JGABRIELSON Managing editor TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser MINDY MORRIS Retail sales manager JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser MARGARET TOWNSEND Business manager business sales Campus sales mgr. Cristal Dool Regional sales mgr. Jackie Schmalzmarl National sales mgr. David Price Co-op sales mgr. Deborah Salzer Production mgr. Missy Miller Production assistant. Jolli Axelan Marketing director. Audra Langford Creative director. Gail Enibinder Business staff MINDY MORRIS Letters should be typed, double spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer, signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Kansas Great集录 should be typed, double spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed. The reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be brought or returned to the Kansas newsroom, 111 Saffier-Fleiss Hall, letters, columns and cartoons are the opinion of the writer and one successively the widest of the Kansas. Edithories are the Three Imaginary Girls Jim Hoggatt Kansas City, Kan., senior By Tom Avery 1