4
1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Friday, September 25. 1992
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Perot wants attention more than presidency
We used to think Ross Perot wanted to be president but wanted it without having to work for it. But we were wrong.
Ross Perot doesn't want to be president. He just wants people to want him to be president. That may explain why Perot and his supporters continue to dance around his non-candidacy. This man desperately needs approval, the kind of approval he can get only if people demand to crown him king of the White House — just so he can say, "No thanks."
The Perot candidacy has been one of the strangest stories of this campaign. He came from nowhere, amassed a shocking amount of support, spent lots of his own money and then, when he started to slip a little in the polls, simply walked away. Now he and some of his key supporters are making noises again.
He complains that Republican George Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton are spending too much time on negative politics and not enough time on the economy, the deficit and America's future.
Neither candidate has an economic plan that is both politically marketable and remotely workable. But Bush and Clinton aren't trying to fix the economy; they're trying to win the White House. One comes before the other.
Perot is right on that point.
Now let's be fair. Perot does have a plan to end the deficit or at least he had one that he released after he withdrew from the race in July. His plan? Raise the dickens out of taxes.
Americans dearly love rhetoric about bitter medicine, belt-tightening and sacrifices, but their infatuation wears off quickly when they read the fine print. With his economic plan, Perot could not have won the presidency.
And he still can't
The Huntsville (Ala.) Times
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Environmental problems cannot wait for economy
Yes, it's another letter taking issue with a David Frankel column.
I understand his Sept. 23 defense of Bush's environmental records from the superficial, financial and statistical standpoint.
However, I'd like to address his "Bushian" treatment of the heated issue of logging jobs vs. wildlife preservation.
Frankei supports Bush's protection of jobs "at the temporary expense of the environment." There is no such thing as a temporary expense to the environment, and this is the type of long-term environmental issue about which Bush is continually shortsighted. In the amount of time required to repair the economy, several species of plants and animals could be obliterated by the logging industry.
I agree that economic recovery remains our priority, but it is in the best interest of the environment and the economy to cease the cutting of virgin forests. If forest destruction continues at the current rate, many loggers will lose their jobs eventually anyway.
The remaining pristine forests
can be preserved while using already destroyed areas to establish environmentally sensible tree farms (i.e. farms that use fast-growing native tree strains and soil erosion-prevention techniques) in which these loggers could work.
With efficient planning, such transitions could be made within the same amount of time it takes to crawl out of the recession, and temporary financial strains would be worthwhile in view of the resulting economically beneficial pulp industries.
Allowing current logging practices to continue is really a shortterm solution that will lead to future economic problems, as well as irreparable environmental damage
The candidates must realize that this issue is not a matter of preserving one or the other, but devising and supporting a way in which both can survive, because, in the long run, neither can survive without the other.
Money does grow on trees.
Tracy Floreani Austin, Texas graduate student
Tracy Floreani
Southwestern Kansas secession movement rooted in tax system
KANSAN STAFF
One would think that the screams coming from the southwest corner of the state would be confronted and answered by those calling Kansas home. To the contrary, the people of southwest Kansas have been continually laughed at and mimicked for finally putting their feet down.
"Now you two boys play nice together with your new toys!"
Nine counties in southwestern Kansas have made it known that their sole intention is to secede. As a native to that area I have a vested interest in what happens.
Of the issues at hand, taxes are probably the biggest fuel to the 51st state movement. In its last session, the Legislature reformulated financing of school districts. This formula contains a blanket-tax levy and removes some power of local school boards. This plan allows every piece of property in the state to be taxed equally. On paper that seems fair. However, land values in urban areas of the state are generally much lower than in the southwest corner.
The new levy will bring eastern Kansas taxes down in general, and in some places in southwestern Kansas they will nearly double. Many urban districts give tax abatements to large businesses to spur economic growth. These abatements make the new companies immune to property
entire geographic realm of the area is different.
They conquered what was supposedly wasted and made it bloom. They have used scarce natural resources to their advantage and for that they should be commended. They boast a wealth of economic success and opportunity and are part of a culture that exists from Texas to the Dakotas. However, it yet to be decided if they can endure the latest hammers thrown at them by their fellow Kansans. Southwest Kansas is not so selfish that it does not want to share its prosperity. The region has willfully paid its dues over time. And yet the residents of the area are asking Topeka, "What have you done for us?"
The nine counties that have overwhelmingly voted to secede, and several others, including several counties from the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, are potential partners in the creation of a new state. They have proved they can survive on their own. The issues are cut and dry in south-west Kansas. It is very easy for me to echo the anti-Kansas sentiment that has such deep roots back home. "To hell with Topeka! Let's secede." Peter McCormick is a Lakin senior majoring in journalism.
University treats students just like numbers
What's the deal here? I'm sick of it.
I'm a senior, and everywhere I turn
I know that by going to a big university such as the University of Kansas, I should expect occasional impersonal treatment. But enough is enough.
So I've decided to vent my frustration. That's about all I can do. The situation I'm about to explain to you is not the University's fault, but then again, it happened to me on campus.
My roommate and I decided to have our senior pictures taken for the 1983
SCOTT JHANNA
Business manager
BILL LEIBEINGOOD
Retail sales' manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing advise
PETER McCORMICK
There are many reasons why there is such a cultural and geographical division. For one, eastern Kansas sits in a geographic area known as the Midwest. The family farm, the Royals and Chicago are all terms I have become more accustomed to since my move to Lawrence. Southwestern Kansas is not the Midwest. I grew up with the Broncos, the ranch, Colorado Springs, Amarillo and Denver. There are many other stark contrasts between the two areas. For one, most of southwestern Kansas has at one time been under Mountain Time Zone. The people, the time and the
The division of the southwest and the rest of the state goes beyond the issue of taxes and schools. It is known that eastern Kansas always has considered anything west of Topekato be the boondocks, flat, dry and treeless. The opinion of eastern Kansans in southwest Kansas is at best, poor.
It is apparent that southwest Karsas taxpayers pump their fair share into Topeka. What they do not send to Topeka is an equal voice. Kansas bases their representation in the Legislature on population. This adds up to trouble for the people in that corner of the state. They, by no means, have the votes to stop or even challenge the rest of the state.
Before deciding on when to have my picture taken, I called the "Jayhawk" to find out the best time to have my picture taken. They said that it was best if I went to have my picture taken early, because many students wait until the end, and then the lines become very long. I took the advice.
ERIC NELSON
Editor
taxes, therefore, the tax base in urban areas is much smaller. Southwest Kansas' main tax bases are agriculture and natural gas. The gas companies and ranchers are not immune to property tax as are many large businesses in urban Kansas.
The school tax brings to surface another tax that sent southwest Kansan's reeling a few years ago, the severance tax. This tax also highly affects the gas industry. The severance tax and the new school plan appear to be selective taxes aimed at the gas-rich southwest. The oil and gas companies are being taxed to death, and a pullout by any of these companies would start a shriveling of the area economy.
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr  Angela Cleveron
Regional sales mgr  Melissa Teraff
Co-op sales mgr  Amy Stumbro
Co-op sales mgr  Amy Stumbro
Production mgr  Brad Braden
Kim Caxton
Marketing director  Ashley Langford
Design director  Judith Standley
Classified mgr  Judith Standley
GREG FARMER Managing editor
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Technology coordinator
Aust. Managing ... Aimee Brinard
News ... Alexander Biohmphot
Editorial ... Stephen Martino
Campus ... Gyley Otterberg
Sports ... Shelly Solon
Photo ... Justin Krupp
Features ... Cody Holt
Graphics ... Sean Tevis
I'm just glad that I'm graduating in May. I'm sick and tired of being treated like a number.
This is the first time something has made me so mad that I've actually written a column. What else can I do? There are many things I have to consider. I have to facehelps situations.
My roommate and I showed up at
**Letters** should be typeed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include a write signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University should be typeed, double-spaced and fewer than 750 words. **Guest columns** should be typeed, double-spaced and fewer than 780 words. The writer will be required to the Kansai reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can use plain text for all of these.
option. Evening is when I want to have my pictures taken. By going early, my roommate and I missed the lines filled with procrastinators, but I guess that doesn't matter if you are like us and don't have your pictures taken. This guy wasted our time. We all know it takes a while to get ready, drive on campus and have your picture taken. I looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. Now we will have to do it all over again.
GREG FEESE
Strong Hall just before 8:15 p.m. We discovered a photographer with all of his equipment packed up and ready to leave. He gave us a look of disbelief. "I've only had about seven people all evening," he said. "I didn't think anyone else was going to show up."
I don't care if this guy had seven or 700 people all night long. The low turnout of seven people is his problem, not mine. It became my problem because this guy was not going to take my picture. He was going home with his equipment, and I went home without my picture taken.
i. **me letter** Ireceived said 6 to 9 p.m.
not 6 p.m. to nobody-is here-so I-
mgoing-home o'clock. And on top of that,
that Tuesday is the only day during
the week that has evening hours as an
Greg Feese is a Leawood senior majoring in Journalism.
The envelope I received from Carl Wolf Studio Inc., enclosed with a "Jayhawker" letter, said the portrait studio hours are 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday evenings.
What really makes me mad is the fact that we showed up well before 9 p.m. We didn't show up at 8:45 p.m. we did! It matter; we showed up at 8:15 p.m.
Well, it was obvious this guy was not going to unpack his equipment and take our pictures.
My roommate asked, "Doesn't 9 o'clock mean 9 o'clock? If 9 o'clock means 8 o'clock, that means to me."
Loco Locals
By Tom Michaud
I