4
Thursday, November 19, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tobacco woe
If a spaceship from another galaxy were to land on Earth today, what would its crew think of a habit shared by 54.5 million people?
First, a large leaf is picked from the ground. It is then dried and chopped up into tiny pieces. A piece of paper is wrapped around the product to form a small cylinder, about the size of a pencil broken in half. It is then set on fire, where consumers willingly breathe the smoke.
Smoking
As part of the Great American Smokeout today, an estimated 23.5 million people will quit breathing smoke emitted from dried leaves. Most will resume the practice tomorrow. Because they're addicted.
The harms of tobacco have been documented for years. Smoking significantly increases the chances of lip and lung cancer and threatens the health of unborn babies. Second-hand smoke is hazardous to the health of those who don't succumb to the habit.
But tobacco is addictive, smoking a habit. Today millions of people are boldly going to kick that habit.
If you smoke and are refraining today, you deserve commendation for taking your health into account. You deserve to splurge: A special lunch, a favorite magazine or a long-distance call to a close friend would reward the day-long strain.
If you don't smoke but have friends who are quitting today, your support could prod smokers to quit another day, then another, then another. Buy him a Coke. Clip a cartoon.
He deserves a boost.
Source: Centers for Disease Control
High stakes
If there were no bad news, everyone would be happier. Everyone includes President Reagan and his White House health policy working group.
However, simply denying bad news when it really exists doesn't make it go away.
The AIDS epidemic has slowed down drastically, according to a White House report. The Centers for Disease Control beg to differ. So does common sense.
The White House estimates that there are 680,000 infected people in the nation. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control estimated 1.5 million infected people. Common sense recognizes that AIDS has become a heterosexual disease in Africa, that children in the United States are now being born with the infection, and that 25,000 of our citizens have died since 1979.
AIDS seems to be leveling within high risk groups, but the number of new cases in San Francisco and New York remains constant, according to a professor at the University of California Medical Center.
Some experts have conceded that the total number of AIDS cases might be inflated. But as the University of California professor suggested, revising an estimate downward would tempt people to belittle the seriousness of the disease.
The White House wouldn't want to do that, now, would it?
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
News staff
Jennifer Benjamin ... Editor
Jul Warren ... Managing editor
John Benner ... News editor
Beth Copeland ... Editorial editor
Sally Streff ... Campus editor
Diana Kabertline ... Sport editor
Din Ruttimann ... Photo editor
Bill Skeet ... Graphics editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Bonnie J. Hardy...Business manager
Robert Hughes...Advertising manager
Kelly Scherer...Retail sales manager
Kurt Messeramith...Campus sales manager
Greg Knipp...Production manager
David Dornitt...National sales
Angela Clark...Classified manager
Ron Weems...Director of marketing
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and less than 200 words and must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University of Kansas, please include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position.
Guest shots should be typed, double-spaced and less than 700 words. The water will be photographed.
can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Fint Hall. Letters, guest shots and columns are the opinion of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University Daily Kansan. Editorials are the opinion of the Kansan editorial board.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters and guest shots. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom. 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
The University Daily Kansan (USPS 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stairer Fint-Hall Law, Kansei, Kan. 6045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and Wednesday during the summer session. Second-class postage is paid in Lawrence, Kan. 6044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $40 in Douglas County or county. Student subscriptions are $3 and are paid through the student activity fee.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045.
Dismal day relays biting message
It was a cold rainy November day when my mother and grandmother chose to take me to Kansas City to take care of the belongings of my sister, Marissa, in on a north Kansas City hospital the previous week.
I didn't really want to go, but I did because I wasn't going to the funeral.
First, we went to the hospital to pick up his clothes and personal items and get his car.
I tried to change his flat front tire in the freezing drizzle while my grandmother went inside to sign the papers and clean up after her son as she had for 30 years.
When she returned, empty-handed, her facade of strength disappeared. She got into our car, and my mother went in to deal with the hospital people.
Soon, my mother returned in a fury and drove us to the funeral home where the clothes were sent by mistake. There, we discovered that some of his belongings were lost in the shuffle.
Eventually, I got into the car with her after I gave up on the last stubborn lug nut. For the first time in my life, I didn't know what to say to my grandma. So I said nothing.
My mother didn't care who was to blame. She just tried and took the small suitcase, which they did.
She, too, said nothing when she got back. She just slammed the door and cussed them under her breath. My grandma picked through her only son's things in silence while we went in search of a tow truck to get the tire changed. After about an hour, we finally found a filling station that had a service truck that wasn't on a call.
Tim Hamilton Staff Columnist
But, by the time we got there and waited in line.
the man behind the counter told us that the truck was out and he didn't know when it would be back. Apparently, no one had told him that we called.
My mother broke into tears on the spot, in front of the other cold, wet customers. She asked the attendant whether he knew of another station that had a door. He shook his head. She cussed, loud this time.
Then the old man who had been waiting on his car in the shop spoke up.
"Life's rough, hon," he mocked, as my mother turned and rushed out the door.
I turned around to face the man, who was dressed in a three-piece suit and overcoat. It took all of my self-control to keep from putting him in the hospital and me in jail, where Uncle Mickey spent quite a few years.
We went to the Pizza Hut down the street to eat and try to calm our nerves. We passed the time by looking through the yellow pages for stations and staring out at the rain.
Our orders were mixed up and came out separately, so we ate individually. That delay turned out to be our only blessing of the day, as many from the service station called the restaurant.
He heard my mother mention pizza while we waited and tracked us down at the restaurant and told us he had the truck. We gave him directions to Mickey's car, and he said he would take care of the tire for us.
With that bit of encouragement, we headed across town to Mickey's apartment to see what needed to be taken away.
When we got there, the locks had been changed and we couldn't get in. We couldn't find the manager or anybody else who worked there.
So we sat in the hallway, half-awake. The numbness had now spread from our fingers and ears to our heads.
Finally we knocked on the door of Mickey's neighbor, who answered reluctantly. He and his family were gathered at the supper table, plenty of smiles and food.
He made a hooting:
Then he shut the door, with no condolences, and forgot about the relatives of the drunk who was his former neighbor.
On the way out of town we stopped to get a look at the man who apologized for the trouble and retreated the way.
As I followed my mom and grandma back to Lawrence in my uncle's car, I thought about the day and the people we'd seen.
Most of them reminded me of my uncle — an alcoholic, methadone-using ex-convict who weighed like a ball and chain on those who loved
They didn't do much for my impression of humanity. But neither did Uncle Mickey.
Tim Hamilton is a Wichita senior majoring in journalism
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Spoiled students
Hello from Africa. I am a University of Kansas exchange student in Nairobi, Kenya.
You might say I'm writing a letter to scold all of those students who complain of waiting two or three hours in lines, complain of macaroni and cheese or Grade-D, but edible residence hall food or even go as extreme as complaining about getting caught for shoplifting a small item and the hassle it causes you for such a petty item.
Ostracize your system no longer! Take for granted no longer your macaroni and cheese, your Grade-D, but edible food, your two- or three-hour line or your lenient judicial system.
Now imagine a place where the same meal is served three times daily, where it takes five weeks and 15 buildings each week to get a student ID card. Or imagine a place where if you are caught stealing you are publicly beaten and burned to death and then left to rot in your there with someone standing and to all the women out who come to complain that they are of a place to worry about whether your husband will sell you up before he leaves town on business.
It's hard to imagine to some of you who are smothered in the spoiling arms of Mother
My statements are not hyperboles. If anything, I am being too brief in my comparisons. I am always too brief in my comparisons.
student gone patriotic, but then again, I really love to.
Barbara Stanislav, Kenya, Africa, special student
Private interests
A recent editorial discussed the methods employed by STOP, Stand Together Opposing Pornography, to enlist support in an attempt to stop pornography distribution. The editorial chastised it for using scare tactics, but commended its goal: "Battling to end pornography is a noble and worthy cause."
I fail to see the nobility in preventing others from pursuing their private interests. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution gives us all the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If it makes me happy to look at a little bare flesh in my own home, I may do so.
The First Amendment provides us all with the right to free speech. STOP has the right to express its view of pornography. But by the same token, pornography is a form of expression, and is similarly protected. The fact that it may be offensive to some is beside the point. Clearly, expression cannot be regulated simply because some people find its subject matter offensive.
One reason offered for the eradication of porn is the rare instance of child molestation that may have resulted from the making of child porn. Child porn is illegal and measures are being taken to stop it through the proper channels; it cannot be used as an excuse to abolish adult pornography. Besides, it is not the average buyer who purchases this sort of porn, nor is it available in the video or magazine stores that these groups attack.
Another reason offered is the supposed crime
associated with pornography distributors.
Crime is no more associated with the pornography that is distributed in a certain district than the distribution of distribution center in the same neighborhood.
It would be interesting to see this group's reaction to a group opposed to the proliferation of religious tracts. If pornography bothers you, you are free to choose not to purchase it. Similarly, you are free to choose not to accept religious tracts if proselytizers bother you.
STOP is attempting to impose its narrow views on the public. It is simply because an opposing group dislikes it. Attempted censorship of pornography disregards the right to free expression and the right to pursue personal affairs, and can never be considered a "worthy cause."
Paul Dupuy Jr., Orange, Calif., junior
Longstanding loyalty
The service on Veterans Day, Thursday, was referred to in the Friday Kansan as the second annual Veterans Day memorial service.
A Nov. 10, 1947, article in the Kansan described ceremonies to honor students and alumni who served in World War I and II. The ceremonies were proposed and organized by the Kansan.
In the mid-1950s, the University Veterans organized ceremonies for Veterans Day 1954, 1955 and 1956. Chancellor Murphy spoke at the event and indicated that it would be an annual event.
It probably isn't too important to keep track of which annual ceremony it is, but let's give credit to the students of the 1940s and '50s for their activities on the Veterans Days of their time.
John M. Nugent, University archivist
BLOOM COUNTY
bv Berke Breathed