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University Daily Kansan, September 23, 1980
Opinion
Lawrence gets bargain
For several years, Lawrence has been shopping around for a solution to its retail problems. Last week, city commissioners finally got an eye-opening bargain.
The city long has been toying around with the idea of building some kind of major mail to try to regain some of the retail dollars now falling into the hands of retailers in Kansas City and Topeka.
Lawrence is losing about 15 percent of its potential retail dollars because many residents choose to do their shopping elsewhere.
The city has considered the development of a major mall either downtown or near the edge of the city limits. Many of the city's residents and businessmen resent such an idea.
Yet a reasonable compromise may be on the way.
A consultant told city commissioners last week that the addition of several downtown department stores would be more practical than a major mall. Moreover, the consultants concluded that a major downtown
or suburban mall would be counterproductive.
The suggestion to add a few large department stores in the downtown area would solve many problems and, at the same time, would avoid many hassles. The new department stores would revitalize the downtown area, but not so much of the city would have to be torn down as it would if a downtown mall were built.
The compromise would increase retail dollars, but preserve the city's small-town flavor.
If a suburban mall were to be built, the downtown would lose much of its business. The compromise actually would attract more residents to the downtown without rearranging the business district's face. That fact would be enough to console those who oppose any kind of mall action.
Teska Associates, an Evenston, Ill., firm hired by the city, was paid $25,000 to study the city's retail problems. The firm's solution, although quite simple, was worth every last penny.
It's hard to believe that no one thought of it sooner.
Unique sweepstakes gimmick: Win a car, help cure cancer
The canary-yellow envelope looked like any of the others, but you seem to find in the mailbags almost weekly bits of
Act now! One entry makes you eligible for more than 1,000 prizes," the envelope announced. "Plus: $1,000 prize just for promptness."
A mock rubber stamp imprint, printed at a slant for effect on the front of the envelope, announced a "dramatic new kind of sweepstakes." A second peek into the peak of an official-looking document embossed with the words "grand prize," no doubt to entice the recipient.
You know the type.
Inside, a full-color brochure glamorized a few of the prizes that were being offered: an Old
BLAKE
GUMPRECHT
smobile Omega coupe, a video cassette recorder,
televisions, watches, jewelry . . .
But it was different.
A full page of the brochure was devoted to a spread on the grand prize “two-carefree weeks in Bermuda and Acapacina for two”—with color photographs of the sea and sparkling blue ocean. It seemed to be no different from the dozens of similar packages I had received previously and had quickly thrown out.
I did a double take. I wasn't sure what to think.
This was no typical prize package trying to lure the recipient into subscribing to a magazine, buying land in an Arizona desert or joining a cancer research group. It was to the National Foundation for Cancer Research.
Apparently others also wondered whether the promotion was legitimate. A television station in Washington recently concluded an investigation into the promotion, I later found out. It found
It seems that the National Foundation for Cancer Research, the younger, poorer, struggling competitor to the American Cancer Society, has simply been badly in need of funds.
The foundation, based in Bethesda, Md., was formed about eight years ago and since then had
een operating on an annual budget of about $5 million.
The American Cancer Society, by comparison, is more women old and works with a budget of more than $300 million.
"We just didn't have enough money to do what we wanted to do because of the company's executive board." C. Salisbury, S.C. Salisbury.
The promotion was Salisbury's idea. He long has been a mail sweepstakes buff and religiously returns the necessary material for every prize package that renders him a favorite player on boys plays nonetheless.
The promotion idea came to him about two years ago.
"I was sitting at my desk taken the Readers' Digest sweepstakes," he recalls. "It occurred to me that the same type of thing could be done for a good cause as well."
The resulting promotion, masterminded by a New York advertising agency, has been responsible for doubling the amount of contributions the foundation receives each year.
The foundation, which operates 35 laboratories in 10 countries, now receives more than $10 million in contributions annually—and donations continue to increase.
Acceptance of the idea didn't come quickly though. She was soon laughed it off as Olsen offered. Others offered at the end.
"It took me about a year to sell the idea," he says, "I had trouble convincing the people within the foundation. We have a very conservative organization. They said it wasn't dignified. I pointed out that there's no dignity in dying of cancer."
Money for the prizes given away in the fund will be made to regular fund by regular contributors, Salisbury says.
At first, only 50,000 prize packages were sent. A total of 12,000 prizes sent out this month, giving 10 million houses.
"The response," Salisbury says, "has been absolutely amazing."
Salisbury predicts that either a cure or a control for cancer will be developed within five years. The promotion, however unorthodox it seems, could move that date even closer, he said.
Still, it seems a perverse commentary that a non-profit cancer research organization has to resort to such basic forms of gimmick advertising.
But if it works . . .
The University Daily KANSAN
Editor Carl Beiler Business Manager Elaine Struber
Managing Editor Cynal Hughes Editorial Editor David Lewis Campus Editor Judy Woodburn Associate Campus Editor Jeff Sjerven Campus Editor Assistant Campus Editor Mark Spencer, Don Munday, Dylan Whittle Sports Editor Gena Myers Associate Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Kenin Playoff Editors Bob Schaud, Ellen Iwamoto, Jennifer Holler Makeup Editors Tom Tedeschi, Lori Winkelman Wire Editors Eleni Nawambo, Gall Eggers Copy Chiffle Chris Kold Chief Photographer Ben Bigler, Ken Combs, Scott Hooker, Shaaf Photographers Dave Kraus, Drew Torres Columnist Amy Holwell, Ted Lickingt Monera, Brett Cooley Scott Faust, Fred Markham, Susan Schonmaker, Blake Gumprechut Editorial Cartoonist Joe Bartos
Staff Artists John Jinks, Michael Wenner, Nive Bolton Staff Writers Dan Torchia, Shawn McKay
Retail Sales Manager Kevin Konter National Sales Manager Karry Guason Campus Sales Manager Barley Coon Classified Manager Tracy Coon Advertising Makeup Manager Jane Weedcock Staff Artist Judy Seiler Staff Graphographer Brian Watkins Teasheet Manager Brian Sompbe Sales Representatives Binkhink, Annette Conrad, Terr Fry, Bill Groom, Larry Leibengood, Paul O'Connor, Paula Schweiger, Bill Roberts Thaine Shelter, Anthony Tilson, Kaye Wucrop, Susan Birnbaum
General Manager and News Adviser ... Rick Mussel
Kanera Adviser ... Chuck Chowta
Unlabeled editorials represent the opinion of the Kanana editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers. Letters are welcome. They should be typewritten. If the letter is printed on a computer, it must be typed. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should be the writer's class and hometown or incity or staff position. The Kanana reserves the right to edit letters for publication. They can be delivered personally or mailed to the Kanana newsroom, 181 Flat Road, New York, NY 10024.
OPEC squabbles; U.S. fills 'er up
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meeting last week in Vienna, demonstrated that the group's stranglehold on the motorist is loosening.
The oil ministers broke up without accomplishing much. The average driver can expect to escape with only about a penny rise in some prices because of the shells bundling.
The break occurred when Saudi Arabia, which had planned to implement a price indexing system based on importers' inflation rates, and Iran and Libya, price hawks, split because Saudi Arabia charges $28 a barrel the lowest in the cartel.
Iran, Libya and sympathetic cronies thought the Saudis had betrayed the intent of
TED LICKTEIG
the cartel by holding down the price while the price ceiling stood at $37 a barrel.
The Saudi recognized the glut of oil in the world market, however, and realized that a price increase might have only further hurdles. In June dipped to its lowest level in nine years.
As a compromise and for the sake of OPEC unity, the Saudi factions were sent and pushed to change their position. [343] BiblioBazaar
OPEC's supply problem is quickly growing to the point of embarrassment and is another wedge in the group's solidarity. An oil industry official said recently that there could be as much as a week's worth of U.S. oil imports floating in tankers off the Texas coast. U.S. imports in August were down 37 percent compared with last August.
Nigeria, the second largest supplier of U.S. imported oil, tried to head off the glut in August by cutting production by 10 percent, but failed miserably.
The U.S. oil companies also are in a bind. Production costs continue to rise, but demand falls to justify more price increases. Even price increases do not necessarily guarantee the companies further reductions in demand. The International Energy Agency says that a 1percent rise in energy prices results in only a 0.15 percent drop in demand.
The avowed goal of certain OPEC extortionists is to raise the price of oil to slightly more than $60 a barrel, which is the estimated cost of similar forms of energy on a unit-fort-unit basis. Dernand in the oil market and OPEC feuds are working to defeat that goal.
The Economist, an international economist magazine, says that the international oil companies will be left holding 400 million barrels of oil each year to distribute requirements or winter sales.
All the while Iran is charging a ghastly $35.50 a barrel for its low quality crude. And the barometer of oil demand worldwide, the spot market, recently has seen prices for oil
Those fiends! One more price raise on my imported liquor and I may consider doing something about it!
below that of the contract prices charged by OPEC members.
The production of Alaskan crude also is muddying the picture. Because of the slope's production, more oil wells are being drilled than ever. A 2-cent-a gallon subsidy was removed by the Department of Energy on Alaskan oil companies. Of course, the major U.S. oil companies have had to reduce prices slightly to move supplies.
The dispute between Iran and Libya and Saudi Arabia may have developed in part because of Iran's internal domestic policies. Alkbar Aibar Moinfar is burdened with the task of selling
oil to customers who are outraged at Iran for the hostage stand-off. Oil sales are now more critical than ever for Iran because of the turmoil and the resurgence of the tumultuous period after the revolution.
Meanwhile, the Saudi oil minister, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamiani, has threatened to cut daily production by a million barrels a day as a sign of Arab unity against the Israelis. But simultaneously he has only verbally tried to keep the troops out of the United States in the Middle East.
More fireworks can be expected in November at the meeting of OPEC's heads of state and in December when the oil ministers meet again.
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Sen. Dole's record misconstrued in column
While I may differ with Sen. Dole on various issues, I do believe his record should be reported accurately. Lied Tickelg's articles on Sept. 15, "A Letter to the Editor," suffered itself from some bad information.
In his second paragraph, Lickteig writes,
"Last spring ... Dole forsook his membership in
the Senate Agriculture Committee. Dole switched to the Finance Committee . . . In paragraph four, Lickteig underlines his error by writing, "Dole ... cannot say that he has switched to the grain embargo because he is no longer a member of the Agriculture Committee."
Questionable research, Lickteig. Dole has been, and is still, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee since coming to the Senate in 1968. Before that he served for a number of years on the House Agriculture Committee.
While deciding to become ranking minority on the Senate Financing Committee, Dole remains the third-ranking minority member of the Agriculture Committee. It is unfortunate that Lickiegh has used false information to illustrate his arguments.
However, I don't believe his argument to be worthy of great praise, either. While I don't want to take up space for a usually fine paper, I do believe Lickie's main point to be wrong.
Besides being a bit of a generalization, I'm not sure I agree that serving the great mysterious public interest and being re-elected are two activities dramatically opposed.
Lieickig writes, "This (political) disease has resulted in the loss of effective leadership in Congress because each Congressman is insured by re-elected, not in serving the public interest."
Anyway, I hope Lickteig will improve his research.
Scott Morgan Shawnee law student
What is freedom?
To the editor:
The first statement below comes from the forward of an official 1890 government publication of a noncommunist country. The last two, published in the same booklet, were made available at the University. Could you possibly guess which country they came from? Read them carefully and try:
"The success of Western civilization has been built on the twin pillars of free enterprise and democratic government. It is because the alternative posed by communism eschews both these principles, while it presents an increasingly sinister threat to our survival, that the West calls itself the free world. We share that freedom and intend to maintain it."
"My government is indisolubly committed to the ideal of freedom which can only be attained within a framework of order. We therefore strive for an order which will guarantee maximum freedom to individuals and nations. Order and freedom in their turn are crucial to realizing our potential to realize his or her potential, in this way guaranteeing the greatest prosperity for our community."
"The order which Marxism creates leaves no room for freedom. The greatest good is not stability per se, or for order its own sake. A system in which freedom is limited to which material welfare is limited to a few within a sea of poverty is not only defensible, it is objectionable."
Incredible' and ridiculous as it may seem, the statements were published in "Towards a Constellation of States in Southern Africa", published by the Republic of South Africa, the government official who made the last two statements is the country's Prime Minister, P. W. Botha.
I'd just bet that until you read this, you didn't even know what true freedom was.
Professor of economics and Soviet and East European studies
Preacher right
To the editor:
But what was going on in the minds of the many quiet, sober-faced lookers?
Today I paused for a few minutes to hear Cindy
assets teaching me the art of perchance a 100
chapter book on her latest reading.
Certainly she was not shoving anything down the throats of a captive audience. They were there by choice, and enjoying it, judging by the vocal responses. Many smiled, a few snuckered, and several maintained a current of challenges to her stand on campus morality.
I do wish she had spoken with more compassion for fellow young people. I believe in hellfire, whatever that is, but fear alone. Nothing else can answer. Nothing else satisfies completely, permanently.
One wiscracker's ribald comment drew a quick "You pervert!" from Cindy. Delighted applause followed this thrust. Hope Icandy is not wrong. That's known. At any rate, she speaks on the right side.
A
Electrician, facilities operations
Chick Howland's article in the Sept. 12 issue concerning cheating and plagiarizing was most interesting. What is the University Daily Kansan's position? I would presume you don't support plagiarism. Yet the insert "Ampersand," distributed with the Kanasen several days earlier, included an advertisement on page 7 for a term paper catalog. It's actually a term paper "assistance" catalog, but the true intent is only thinly veiled.
Cheating promoted
J. Bunker Clark Professor of music history
I suggest the Kansan staff reconsider whether to continue the use of "Amersand."
To the editor:
Letters Policy
Letters must be signed and must include the writer's address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position.