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Thursday, September 6, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Gas pennies count
Gasohol retailers should play fair with prices
n percent ethanol added."
Notices proclaiming the addition of ethanol to gasoline have become
Noticees proclaiming the addition of ethanol to gasoline have become a familiar sight at filling stations in Lawrence and across the country.
Since prices at the pump began to rise, the price of gasoline mixed with ethanol, commonly known as gasohol, has kept pace with the price of pure gasoline penny for penny. E-Z Shop, Sixth Street and Crestline Drive, is one gasoline retailer that sells gasoline mixed with ethanol. E-Z Shop, like most gasoline retailers, sells the mixture for the same price per gallon as filling stations selling pure gasoline.
What many do not realize is that ethanol is not a petroleum-based product. Ethanol is an alcohol made by fermenting and distilling grain. The majority of the ethanol that is mixed with gasoline is made from corn, but wheat and milo also can be sources of fuel alcohol.
Several years ago, the price of ethanol was higher than the price of gasoline. Consequently, the price of gasolah at the pump was slightly higher than its pure petroleum counterpart. According to a Kansas manufacturer of ethanol, the record wheat crop and expected bumper corn crop this year have pushed the price of grains used in the manufacture of ethanol down. Consequently, the costs of producing ethanol are "lower than last year
because of falling grain prices."
Despite falling manufacturing costs, the price of gasolon has risen at the same astronomical rate as the price of gasoline. Those in the ethanol industry expect grain prices to rise in response to increased energy costs for farmers, but the effect of rising petroleum costs on farmers is not likely to be reflected in grain prices for some time. It would seem that gasolon manufacturers and retailers have the opportunity to provide consumers with relief from the high price of gasoline
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan and others have called for the end to price gouging by gasoline manufacturers and retailers. While the national gasoline industry deserves our scrutiny, close attention also should be paid to the suppliers of gasohol if a plausible solution is to be found to the problem of price gouging at the pump. Legislators should focus not only on the suppliers of petroleum but also on the suppliers of ethanol.
Signs informing consumers of the addition of ethanol to gasoline should not be ignored. To ignore these notices is to fill with your pennies that these pockets of those in the ethanol industry.
David Harger for the editorial board
Boarding woes
KU needs penalty; skateboarders need option
Since Aug. 27, when a skateboard hit a KU student in the head outside Wescoe Hall, University administrators have
scrambled to do what many students requested as long as a year ago.
Most of the student body, including those who mutter obscessities at the skateboarders and would like to see the bunch disappear, couldn't be happier.
Roger Orok, director of University Support Services, said administrators began responding to complaints last year. Concrete bumps were added to planters outside Wescoe and workers roughed a nearby deck with a grinder.
Also, KU police, facilities operations personnel and University General Council members have discussed the skateboarders for the past few weeks. Oroke said.
Only after a freshman suffered a serious head injury the first day of classes did the signs go up. Perhaps visions of lawsuits danced in administrators' heads.
The incident was, of course, an accident. Two people sharing a split second's worth of bravery were killed.
Skateboarders outside of Wescow last week said that the accident was a break one and the other was uncontrollable.
But skateboarders and the 27,000 students who trek across campus each day form a diverse network. The chances of another injury is greater because there are a number of students and skateboarders grows.
KU administrators served the KU community well by putting up the signs. It's too bad those signs give KU police feeble authority to stop the skateboarders. Tuesday, four days after the signs first appeared, Oroke had not told KU police what to do about those who ignore the signs.
There isn't too much that can be done. A city ordinance forbids skateboarding on Massachusett Street from Sixth to 11th streets, as well as a half-block east and west of Massachusett Street. People skateboarding there can receive tickets.
KU officials and students should request the Lawrence City Commission to include our campus in the ordinance. Until then, KU police have the difficult job of enforcing the administration's new directive without the threat of a penalty.
And where will the skateboarders go? They said that they didn't know of a place with such great facilities.
According to a spokesperson at the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department, there isn't a place in town for skateboarders to go. Nor are there for building a facility for skateboarders.
As one skateboarder put it, "No one cares about us unless we're causing problems."
If the skateboarders work with the city and the University and if all would recognize that there is indeed a problem that requires attention, then perhaps some sort of agreement could be reached. The skateboarders need a specific area in a park or a facility financed by a combination of University, city and skateboarders' funds. Then maybe skateboarders could be told where to go instead of simply where not to go.
Tiffany Harness and Rich Cornell for the editorial board
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Total ban unnecessary
skater waited at the scene until help arrived. The responsibility he displayed speaks well of skaters in general. I have known many who would run immediately, but these children stayed in spite of their fear.
The accident constitutes no reason to effect a complete ban on skateboards. All physical sports, by nature, have their share of accidents. However, if someone was injured in a bicycle or moped accident I don't believe University officials would try to control their use in any way. If some action necessitates itself, the University could easily install a
This week the University of Kansas banned skateboards on campus. The new policy stems from last week's accident in which a KU student was injured by a stray skateboard at Wescue. The offending 19-year-old
fairer regulation, one which would not impede those of us who use our boards for transportation. Simply moving to a total ban is an unnecessary act of discrimination. If everyone else may ride happily by on their rollerblades, bicycles, moped, etc., we must take actions we have to walk, carry our boards, until we have left camps? It's skate harassment, pure and simple.
H. Wade Jones Northville, Michigan, freshman
Citizens at fault for gas prices
It has been more than a month since Iraq invaded Kuwait and, as some would have you believe, drove the price of a gallon of gasoline through the roof. The Iranian government's certification of the Persian Gulf crisis may one think much.
At first, the culprit was the gasoline station owners. These greedy businessmen were profiling from the crisis, complained people on the evening news as they topped off their gas tanks. The price paid for the same gasoline sold before the crisis had suddenly ballooned to a price many thought unfair.
The interesting term used was price gouging. Funny, but I always thought gouging applied only to the eaves.
Gasoline station owners, however, quickly argued that they too were victims. The owners blamed their customers' misfortune on gasoline wholesalers. The wholesalers believed the price of gasoline oil based solely on speculation
When the stock market began to tumble, people began talking about recession, a word that sounds worse than whispering about taxes and shouting at liberals sound together. Finally, President Bush began flooding Saudi Arabia with U.S. troops, and everyone took solace in pointing the finger at that wicked Saddam Hussein when he killed them. That had come time to deal with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhaid and former Panamanian general Manuel Noriega.
To get to the point, there has been finger pointing of epic proportions the last few weeks about the price of oil and, consequently, gasoline. Understandably, most people are putting out the real culprit in this fiasco: the U.S. consumer
Ep. sorry, to burst everyone's bubble, but we are all at fault for these outrageous prices. The law of supply and demand dictates that if everyone were truly upset, they would cut back on gasoline purchases and the price would fail Most people, though, have done little more than cancel their gas pump while feeling helpless and trvying to assign blame.
Ironically, the answer is right under the consumer's nose. Driving fuel-efficient cars less often or not at all is about all that will help. Yet, how many U.S. citizens are driving gasoline? Are they driving gasoline? Are they driving gasoline? About as willing, it seems, as most would
Bryan
Swan
Staff columnist
'The current perception seems to be that the only crisis the United States faces is the threat of war with Iraq.'
be to have a nuclear power plant nearby, something that also would ease our dangerous dependence upon foreign powers.
The current perception seems to be that the only crisis the United States faces is the threat of war with Iraq. Yet, there is another crisis here at home, where we feel that car-pooling, bus riding or walking from place to place is a hassle. Just ask President Bush, who does not even think U.S. citizens should alter vacation plans and who encourages us to conserve in only the most (pardon the expression) wimpy way.
Altering driving habits or constructing nuclear power plants may be at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to what the United States can do to end its dependence on foreign oil. However, if consumers are more inclined to purchase nuclear energy there is little indication we will do otherwise, any effort to form a national energy policy is doomed to failure.
As U.S. citizens and consumers, all of us must realize our hunger for cheap energy has made the Middle East as important as it is. We are all responsible, not just for the high price of gasoline, but also for the brave U.S. soldiers sweating it out in Saudi Arabia for the sake of cheap oil. Therefore, if fighting breaks out, we all will be accountable for the thousands of flag-draped coffins that return to our shores.
Something to think about the next time you gas up.
Bryan Swan is a Topeka senior majoring in journalism.
Climb satisfies urge to defy death
It all began innocently enough,
six friends, a brand-spankin'
new mini-van, a fuzzbuster just
dying to be tested, and the burning
desire to do something before we
immersed ourselves for another
semester in the wonderful world of
higher education.
How we ended up in Estes Park, Colo., (minus my sleeping bag), is a story in itself.
Our objective on this little outing was to climb Long's Peak. At 14,255 feet it's only the 48th tallest peak in Colorado, but it's supposedly the most difficult to climb. All I knew was that a car or a ski lift looked like a better way to ascend it than my two better way.
Our little group of amateur mountaineers did make it to the summit almost seven hours after our 3 a.m. departure, but it was no stroll in the mountains. We had to change of almost fifty degrees. We walked across leagues no more than three feet wide in places, with a 900-foot drop on one side, in 25-mile-earth wounds. And I'm scared to tell of the other degree angles, patches of patches
Because it's there I guess. Because no one wants to be beaten by a pile of rocks, no matter how mammoth.
The real thrill was not the climb, although it had its moments. It was reaching the top and knowing I'd won. Knowing that, although it's not a thrill, it beaten a mountain that had claimed the lives of 60 people this century.
Donovan Finn
Staff columnist
It was by far the most intense experience of my life. Physically, it was exhausting and painful. Mentally, it was a constant battle against terror and the desire to quit. "Why?" I asked myself more than once.
KANSAN STAFF
KJERSTIN GABRIELSON
On the way down from that mountain I swore over and over that I wouldn't attempt anything like it for a long time. But that was only a month ago, and I'm already feeling ready to do something similar again.
When I peeked my head over the top and pulled myself up that last few feet, it was all worth it. I knew I made it with me two foot (and I
I really like to climb Long's peak again. Then again, maybe I should be able to have a little more challenge. I hour Kilamanjaran is nice this time of year.
Why? Because, above all, it was fun, with more thrills than the best roller coaster or the scariest movie.
DEREK SCHMIDT
Editor
Road trip, anyone?
almost invisible ice. Scary doesn't even begin to describe it.
The Kansen reserve the right to project or edit letters, goon columns and cartoons. They can be maligned or brought to the Kansen newsroom, 111 Stuart Flun Hall, Letters, cartoons and cartoons are the opinion of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kansen. Editorials are the opinion of the Kansen editorial board.
MARGARET TOWNSEND Business manager
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
hands). I didn't quit when we were climbing rocks so loose that we lost a foot of ground for every five we climbed. I kept going when the air was cold and hard, tired and light headed, and a minute of work deserved a minute of rest, and the end only seemed to move further and further away. I knew that pain, fear and exhaustion didn't stop us from being good. In fact, it felt magnificent.
Editors
Business staff
> Donovan Finn is a Topeka sophomore majoring in journalism.
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Retail sales manager
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Sales and marketing adviser
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Home Remedies
SO; BROOKLYN, WERE THE FIRST SEVEN DANSON COLLEGE ALL YOU HOPED?
By Tom Michaud