MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Cigarette taxes
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
the state would not lose money because consumers could not afford to keep buying the cigarettes.
"Pretty good research says that if people want a pack of cigarettes, they're going to buy them no matter the cost," he said. Corbin said his committee had originally proposed a higher tax increase than the final compromise.
Corbin said that at the time of the bill's proposal, almost 70 percent of Kansans polled supported the tax increase. He said that reflected the number of nonsmokers in the state who wouldn't mind being taxed on something that would not affect them.
One student echoed Corbin's sentiment, saying he hadn't changed his behaviors since the taxes had jumped.
Shelby Massey, Amarillo,
Texas, freshman, said he had
noticed a difference of as much as
one dollar in price between Texas
prices and Kansas prices. Before moving to Kansas, he said he had paid $3.25 per pack for Camel Lights, but his loyalty to the brand had driven him to pay as much as $4.25 per pack at gas stations in Kansas.
than that of Kansas.
Raising cigarette taxes in Kansas could push consumers to seek other places to buy their cigarettes, Courtwright said. According to his department's data, 60 percent of the Kansas population lives within a 30-minute drive from a neighboring state. He said legislators had considered the possibility of consumers commuting to border towns or Native American reservations to purchase cigarettes, where state and federal tax laws do not apply. Legislators considered that cheaper states such as Oklahoma, with a 23-cent tax, Missouri, with a 17-cent tax, and Colorado, with a 20-cent tax, could draw consumers, subtracting money that could potentially be directed into the State General Fund. Nebraska tacks a 64-cent tax to each pack of cigarettes, an amount slightly lower
Terri Roberts, of the Kansas SmokeLess Kids Initiative, Inc., said her group had lobbied to raise the tax to deter smokers because of health reasons. Higher prices would cause fewer young people to take up the habit, cutting future state Medicaid costs in the meantime because many of the state's current Medicaid patients have smoking-related health problems.
The campaign data says 26.1 percent of Kansas youth and 21.1 percent of adults smoke — specifically,412,000.Kansas has the 15th-lowest adult smoking rate in the U.S.
Cigarette specialty stores such as Smoker Friendly, 3010 Iowa St., have kept a steady sales pace so far through the tax increase. Nick Jacob, sales clerk and Lawrence junior at Johnson County Community College, said customers who said they would quit smoking once cigarettes reached a certain price would probably find other ways to continue the habit.
"Usually what they'll do instead of quitting smoking is smoke a cheaper brand," he said.
Jacob said the recent closing of the Smoker Friendly store on 23rd Street was not related to a loss in profit. The 23rd Street location had served as a temporary location to keep the business going after a fire next door to the Iowa location had caused a hiatus in business.
Cheaper brands have been the answer for Bill Lamb, Overland Park junior. He said he wouldn't go across lines to buy cartons of cigarettes, because a stock-pile of cigarettes would tie him to the habit.
Lamb said he had switched to Doral Lights, a less-desirable brand, which costs about $2.30 per pack. Previously, he smoked Parliament Lights, which cost as much as $4.30 at some gas stations.
"I would like to quit anyway," he said. "And I'm too lazy to go anywhere distant to buy cigarettes."
— Edited by Ryan Malashock
Indonesia
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
"Any government that says they can provide complete protection from terror is lying," said Francisco, who has studied the relationship between protest and repression.
"Not even Nazi Germany could completely eliminate terror," he said.
Francisco said terror groups had almost limitless options when choosing the time method, location and strategies of a terror attack.
He said states often could not overcome these overwhelming
informational advantages making it extremely difficult to prevent acts of terror.
Terror groups strike not only to instill fear, but also to mobilize people in support of the terrorist group's goals, Francisco said.
"They are usually extremists whose goal is to mobilize people," he said. "If you can't mobilize people and you still have an extreme goal, about the only way to do it is to commit an act of terror."
The Associated Press contributed to this story
Edited by Lauren Beatty and Amanda Sears
people were able to find seats because fans were taking up more space than was allotted for each game attendee.
"You have a row of 20 seats and you have 16 people sitting there," he said. "You want them to squeeze together and they won't do it."
Seating CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Konzem said reserved seats would help ease the problem because each person would be assigned a seat in the reserved seating sections.
After developing the plan. Konzem approached student body president Jonathan Ng to find out how students would receive the reserved seating plan
Ng said the consensus from fel
low student senators was positive.
low student semesters was posite Ng said the plan did not put those who still wanted to camp out at a disadvantage because the seats allotted in the plan were not the best seats in the fieldhouse.
"But it's not the worst seats where you don't want to reserve them," Ng said.
Student basketball fans offered mixed reactions.
"For $10 extra I should be seeing myself on Sports Center at 10," he said.
Brian Buck, Mission senior, said the additional cost would be too much for the seat he would receive.
But Bart Winter, Sioux City, Iowa, graduate student, said the plan would benefit him because he usually didn't have time to camp out for games.
"It's good because I'm a big
As Ng predicted, some fans still want to camp out.
sports fan," he said, "but I'm so busy with graduate studies."
"Camping out is part of the experience," Jeff Smith, Fort Worth, Texas, freshman, said.
Students can pay $10 for a reserved seat at six games: UCLA, Arizona, Missouri, Texas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. All other games require a $5 fee for a reserved seat. Ng said reserved seating for the six games was more expensive because these were consistently the most popular games and higher attendance was expected.
Hesaid proceeds from reserved seating fees would be divided equally between the Athletics Department and Student Senate.
Konzem said the department would evaluate the seating plan
Richard Konzem senior associate athletic director
"You have a row of 20 seats and you have 16 people sitting there. You want them to squeeze together and they won't do it."
as the season progressed and increase or decrease the size of the student reserved seating section depending on the students' responses.
"It's a trial plan," he said. "If something happens and it doesn't work, we'll make adjustments."
Edited by Lauren Beatty and Nicole Roché
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