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Wednesday, October 1, 1975
University Daily Kansan
Trash woes eased
The members of the Kansas Board of Regents should be commended for their recent decision to authorize a planning request of $100,000 to convert Lawrence's trash into fuel for an electricity-generating plant at the University of Kansas. The use of trash to heat the University would solve problems for both Lawrence and the University.
Using the trash for fuel would make trash less of a headache for the city of Lawrence. Between 100 and 180 tons of trash must be buried each day in the present Lawrence landfill, and another must be selected to be placed the present landfill besides fuel. The result is endless search for suitable places to dump waste material.
How much better it would be to have a permanent facility to receive the trash and a facility that also would use it in a beneficial manner. Although it is true that some residue would be left from trash burning, it would be less troublesome to dispose of than the original mountains of trash created daily in the city. In addition, the use of instead of coal as fuel would result in cleaner air because pollutants from a trash-burning plant could be removed from the air more easily than the pollutants from a coal-burning plant.
The major benefit for KU would be a steady, cheap source of fuel to heat
campus buildings. Recently, Chancellor Archie R. Dykes presented the Board of Regents with statistics indicating the cost of energy consumption at KU had been because of higher fuel prices, even though energy consumption had been reduced.
Unfortunately, the future holds little promise for stabilization of fuel prices. For example, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has slapped a price increase of 10 per cent on every barrel of oil, and the producers of uranium, the fuel of nuclear power plants, have banded together in a uranium cartel with higher prices for uranium as a result. Barring the formation of a trash cartel in Lawrence, the use of trash would help the University escape from this steady spiral of fuel price increases.
The consideration of trash as a fuel source also is indicative of the development of an ecologically responsible attitude toward pollution caused by human beings. Instead of shoving the problem of trash under the carpet—or into the landfill, the Institute for Environmental Regents are attempting to deal with it in a positive, creative way. They all deserve a round of applause for their efforts.
Paula Jolly Contributing Writer
James J. Kilpatrick
Death story has happy ending
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- Freddie Lee Pitts and Wil伯林 Lee went to prison in 1963, charged with two murderers they shot. Ten days ago, after more than 12 years behind bars, most of
them spent on death row, a pardon from Gov. Reubin Askew set them free.
There is a story here of pride and shame, of dedication on the one hand and stubbornness on the other. It is a sad story and
only because happiness is relative, like other conditions of mankind, is it possible to say ending a happy story.
The shame is a Southern shame, the stubbornness a
Stereo world
Audio cult seeks status, good sound
There is a place in Kansas City, Mo., just across the state line on Westport Road, that sells stereo equipment. Its facade appears no different from the other buildings on the street and you have entered the special world of the stereo buff.
Actually, the inside looks like no store at all. Rich, dark, wood plating and plumbing, thick carpeting, upholstery, mirrors and expensive. An indirect lighting system enhances the appearance of wealth and mystery. The effort to display the merchandise in a favorable attitude will be less important, there are few whose living rooms look that good.
The store is divided into small rooms where each type of equipment is displayed. In one room, banks of receivers and amplifiers glow flourescent blue, green and red. To the right and up some with enough knobs and dials to do justice to any recording studio.
And yes, there is background music from the most expensive equipment on display. Would you watch it?
Southern stubbornness.
Southerners know these things.
I know them. I am a Southerner
and I love the South. But the
Pitts Lee case in Florida, like
yea. The Pitt case some years
earlier is not a matter not for regional pride but for regional shame.
This is the environment of the stereo buff, the high fidelity freak. The name of the game is sound, recorded as closely to living sound as possible, and more people are playing this game all the time.
The American Heritage Dictionary's definition
for the word "cult" is a "system or community of religious worship," or "obssessive devotion to a person or ideal." That definition accurately describes those people who will run over their grandmothers to hear better sound. The cult of these high fidelity afficionados is growing at a time when the economy is having a hard time supporting other lavish expenditures.
It's hard to find any figures nationally that relate to the growing popularity of stereo components. Lawrence挛挛说 there is a marked increase in demand for stores, equipment, machinery, and other devices.
David Olson Contributing Writer
Paul Dahlstrom, manager of RMS Electronics, says over-all sales volume has decreased in the past several years. That isn't bad, considering the data from 2016 and 2017, when positives during our recent economic woes.
And Lawrence is a college town, a perfect target for stereo sales. It exemplifies the expanding market for stereo equipment -youth. Those with a 30 or 36 CD player satisfied to listen to their AM car radio or a cheap
record player. Once the stereo bug bites, there is nothing else that will do.
Another reason for the growing cult of audiophiles is a wide variety of equipment at a wide price range. One can be a member of the cult by forking over $200 for an all-in-one compact system. Or, those who have an oil-rich shiek for an uncle can go all out for the tailor-made system of their choice. A custom system may cost more than the one used in the amplifier, a tuner, loo-reel or cassetteds, a noise reduction system, two turntables and at least four speakers.
This leads to an important question: Why in the world would anyone want to pay that much money just to listen to a few tunes? The answer of course is that there aren't many $10,000 systems around. The stuff is dear serious about the whole thing, and any moment is ready to talk your ear off given half a chance.
Another aspect, one that members of the cult are less likely to admit, is that stateres represent status. A new system is something to lure your attention to over admire your intelligence and good taste.
First, the purchase of a good system can be regarded as an investment. The intelligent buyer will make a purchase that will last and retain its value for years to come and entertainment aspect. One can stay home and hear sound reproduction equal or better than a live concert. Listening to tunes also is cheaper than going to a movie, a restaurant or a zoo. This is essential to one's social life, but that's another story.
because they like to listen to good music. That's not a bad reason at all, really.
Like all cults, this one has a specific language to master. Watts per channel, tracking force, antisake, cueing, midrange, wooper, tweeter, signal to noise ratio, dBs, demodulator, and left and right channels are only a part of the growing field. To be effective, the cult must have a working knowledge of these other terms or face serious loss of respect in the eyes of peers.
The cult of stereo buffers even has its own special interest magazines, designed solely for the audience of high fidelity music. One such magazine is Stereo Review, which is filled with technical jargon and the nuts-and-bolts explanations of the electronics involved.
For the less scientifically minded, there is Rolling Stone, with its album reviews and the news of what's latest in the world of stereo equipment. Rolling Stone even publishes something called "Ears Only," devoted to stereo lovers. Samples of this music are provided in a helpful hints for helping your stereo system from audio burglers ("Get a big, loud, brutal dog" or "a simple, official-looking notice stapled to the front door which reads, 'Quarantine, contagious meningitis.'") and a feature on stereo "Systems of the Stars," where the interested reader discovers that Phebe Snow listens to a transistor radio.
The cult of audifolios has one redeeming factor in that people of many different tastes have a talent for singing. Could a country-and-western buff and a classical music lover get together on any other basis?
The Pitts-Lee story began on a hot summer night in Port St. Joe, a small permiln town of the Gulf Coast. At a Mo-Jo service station, an argument developed when two black women sought to use a restroom at the Pitts-Lee. He was then 28, was working as a wood pulper, Pitts, then 19, was a private in the Army. They are black. Perhaps that goes without saying.
By the way, some people buy stereo systems
LATER THAT NIGHT the two service station attendants disappeared. Two days later their bodies were found 14 miles behind them, and they head. They were white. Perhaps that, too, goes without saving.
Pitts and Lee had been among those at the station at the time of the argument. To make a case against him, they get at the happier aspects of the tale, they were arrested and charged with murder. They "confessed." A publicly appointed lawyer pled them before a jury at a mercy hearing brought in a verdict of death.
EXCEPT FOR THE "confessions," there was no substantive evidence against them—no fingerprints, no gun, no ballistics test, no stolen money recovered. The chief witness for the bury story time after time. But the 1983 verdict stood. It stood even though a white man, Curtis "Boo" Adams, who several
months later was imprisoned for robbery, confessed in 1964 that he himself killed the Mo-Jo victims. The Pitts-Lee prosecutors stubbornly refused to believe Adams' account.
Years passed. The Pittte-Locke case dragged through appellate courts. At last came a retrial in 1972. Again the case was heard by an all-white jury in Florida by the prosecutor structure black malesmen from the panel), and again the verdict was death. The story might have ended there.
But opposed to the shame and the stubbornness were the pride and the dedication. Southerners had take pride in what happened.
**C OURAGEUS**
NEWSPAPER reporter, Gene Miller of the Miami Herald, never gave up. Miller is one of the country's top crime reporters. He early became convinced that Pitts and Lee were innocent. His newspaper was owned by 10,000 people up the case and stood behind him all the way. Miller worked for nine years to keep the case alive.
He had help. Warren Holmes, a polygraph expert, labored with equal dedication. Phillip A. Hubbard and Irwin J. Block, attorneys, gave their time and their hearts. Hundreds of white students were justice remedied, contributed to a defense fund. Finally Governor Reubin Askew taken his attention to the case. Askew read the complete record, mastered the facts, studied the fimsy evidence and reached his conclusion of innocence. With the guidance of three members of his cabinet, the full pardon came down.
'TAKE YOUR PICK... I SHOOT YOU EXTRACT YOUR POISON
SPEND 100 GRAND AND 6 MONTHS ON A COMPLEX PLOT...
OR YOU SIMPLY SLITHER UP AND BITE JACK ANDERSON!'
Business of football bores fans
By DON SMITH Assistant Campus Editor
Pro football used to be the only game in town on Sundays in the fall. Maybe it still is. But its reign is coming to an end. America's pro football fans have had enough.
In fact, it might be advisable for the National Football League Players Association and the National Football League Management to note the public's changing attitude about pro football. There would be no need for hassling with contract negotiations between both sides couldn't depend on the fan's dollar in team coffees.
Pre football no longer appeals to American sports fans as it did simply, as with anything that oversold, enough is enough.
Pro football fans are tired of the instant replay. The replay used to hold the attention of fans who enjoyed seeing a play twice. But now it isn't twice that the replay is shown. Now replays are shown three, four and five times.
Pro football fans have had enough Sundays dominated by two, televised doubleheader games. Sometimes, to make matters worse, the games are unreal mismatches.
Pro football fans are tired of paying excessive prices to see games. A family of five can count on spending at least $35 in tickets for entertainment. And that's just for the tickets. Parking, gasoline.
food, beverages and programs are extra.
Pro football fans are tired of football 12 months a year. Unlike baseball or basketball fans, football fans don't receive playoffs as they are over in December, preparation for the Super Bowl begins. As soon as the Super Bowl is over, preparation for the Pro Bowl begins. As soon as the Pro Bowl is over, the draft is conducted.
Following the draft, preparation for spring and summer as those practices end, the regular season begins. It's a 12-month schedule and, unfortunately, the press reports it
Pro football fans are tired of the type of football that teams are playing. It isn't an offense-oriented game anymore: it's a game of defense, and that has meant more field goals. In fact,
the field goal problem grew to such an extent that a year ago the goal posts were moved back 10 yards, from the goal line to the baseline. To discourage field goal kicking Yet, who are the perennial leading point scorers? They are Roy Gerela of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jan Stennerud of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jim Turner of the Denver Broncos. They are a point and field goal kickers.
Americans are tired of watching and attending what are essentially business events on Sunday. That's what pro athletes do, hearing about deprived players and yet wonder how that can be true when the average player makes $40,000 a year in salary and benefits. They are tired of working with owners who say they make no money, yet raise ticket prices almost every year.
letters policy
The Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor, but ask that letters be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 300 words. Afterward, students receive condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment, and must be signed. KU students must provide their name, year in school and homework; faculty must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address.
The interest of Americans in pro football has exceeded the saturation point. The fans have had enough. Dropping pro football is no longer so many cities attests to this. Pro football isn't fun anymore.
The decreasing popularity of pro football will continue as long as the players, coaches and staff take on their roles so seriously.
Pro football once was a game. It was a Sunday afternoon at therium where small towns and schools Gradually, it has become a major part not only of American sports but of American life.
As sports columnist Art Spander has written, "Surely, it must change again. The NFL has an idea whose time has passed."
THE PARDON MEANS no particular political profit to Askew. Hubbard and Block and Holmes never can be compromised, but she has written a book, "Invitation to a Lynching," that doubleday will publish in October, but his royalties will just about cover his typewriter ribbons. Those who fought for Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee fought for the rights of love of two obscure black men as such, but for love of justice and right conduct.
When I first wrote of the Pitts-Lee case four years ago, I remarked that, compared to the bright plumage of an Angela Davis or a Bobby Seale, poor dwarfs are not dwarfs. They never became a cause celebre. Two sparrows may sell for a farthing, said Matthew, but God marks their fall. This time, mortal hands lifted a couple of sparrows up to let them live again.
(c) 1975 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.
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