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Thursday, September 16,1976
University Daily Kansan
Comment on
Kansas
Opinions on this page reflect the view of only the writer.
Staff photo by JAY KOELZER
Sunflower seesaw
(Note: Due to the important subject matter, today's lead editorial is two-faced)
I (love, hate) Kansas and I want to (stay here forever, get out as soon as I can.)
The open spaces are so (beautiful, desolate) that it makes me (cry, sick). The people are all (friendly, hicks) and the people into your business, you like to hut into your business).
Kansas has a (colorful, rather dull) history. The state has a heritage that should be (treasured, ignored). Such historical figures as (William Allen Coffman, James Giddins, and Toto) are the (state's contribution to the nation, not worth speaking about).
Each part of Kansas has its own (virtues, drawbacks). The east is (prosperous, pretentious) and the countryside there is (panoramic, humble, southeast remounds one of Ozarks because of its (wooded hills, sheer poverty).
The west is (the breadbasket of the world, practically a desert).
Culture is (flourishing, practically unknown) in the state and the citizens are (well, hardly) educated.
People from other states (just don't know, are right to laugh at) Kansas. If they only came here once, they would (know they're wrong, laugh even harder). Kansas is (much, little) more than they think it is.
(Remember, After all) there are many (better, worse) places to live than Kansas. (Colorado, New York) has mountains, crime and slums). (The coastal states, the Dakotas and Oklahoma) are (more, less) cultured than Kansas and offer (so many more, even fewer) things to do.
I shall (remember, try hard to forget)
my years here in Kansas. The sight of someone wearing a sunflower button obeyed me like me (smile postally, wince).
And when out-of-staters make fun of Kansas, I'll (argue with them, pretend I'm from Missouri).
By Jim Bates
Kansas, home of fried chicken restaurants, hand-dug wells, wheat fields and at least one good university, isn't always in the lightlamp of favorable public opinion.
By Jim Bentley
Editorial Editor
The Sunflower State often is the brunt of jokes from those who think we Kansans still travel wagon ruts and croon to melancholy harmonics around campfires at night.
FRED MADAUS, School of Business placement director, DePaul University majors who graduated last December or May and who reported placement stay in Kansas City metropolitan area.
BUT REGARDLESS of the image Kansas has in other parts of the country, Kansas ranks high enough in the minds of University of Kansas students that a good number of them stay here, or in the immediate area, after graduation.
It's difficult to determine why KU graduates seek jobs in management or placement director will say so. The best that can usually be is to determine how many new Kauas. A few examples:
Familiarity, friends hold grads
Martin Dickinson, dean of the School of Law, says that between two-birds and three-fourths of each graduating law class stays in Kansas or the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Dana Beilengood, School of Journalism placement director, says 53 of the 88 May journalism graduates employed by July 1 had jobs in Kansas or the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The reasons graduates aren't hopping the first plane out of here as soon as they receive their diplomas can only be at campus placement directors are similar.
ON TUESDAY, Donald Metzel,夹 the School of Engineering, spoke with a recruiter from Trane Co., an airline company. La Crosse, Wis. The recruiter told him his company rarely sought new employees for its East Coast offices from Mid-Atlantic. The recruiter didn't know why but experience has taught the company that college graduates everywhere are hesitant to pull
in Kansas is rarely as important as finding a job. Thus, hundreds of graduates, especially those in chemistry, engineering, architecture and other technical fields, are forced to leave Kansas each year to find jobs in their fields.
up roots and replant them hundreds of miles from their homes.
Home. That may be the key word, according to the speculations of placement officials. People are hesitant to leave their families, friends and familiar settings for parts
Ed Bruske, secretary of the
Mary Ann Daugherty Contributing Writer
Kansas Department of Economic Development, says Kansas is "one of the five slowest growing states in the union" in terms of job opportunities and progressive pay scales.
unknown. And there's probably something to be said for a local "connection," that gold star in the sky, that it can be included in a resume.
ADD TO that what Carryl Smith, acting chief of women, teaches students in business and townpeople" in Kansas, and there appears to be a strong inclination for young people to keep their Kansas residences.
THE NUMBER of jobs for those seeking professions such as law, business and journalism are adequate, he says. But for those requiring that require the presence of established corporations and
But to graduates, remaining
burgeoning industry, the job market is bleak.
It's to the credit of the economic development department that it has recently made industrial growth in Kansas one of its top priorities. Bruske says Kansas needs more industry to diversify its large number of agricultural centers.
Progress is being made, and its effects on the job market, especially in the technical fields, should be realized soon. In recent weeks such firms as Gates Philadelphia; Gates Rubber Co., Inc.; of Denver, and Western Publishing Co., Inc. of Racine, Wis. have shown keen interest in setting up shop in these areas. Many of the many officials have no doubt done their best to woo them.
IT'S IMPORTANT that Kansas continue to encourage its young people to practice
their professions here. As the state's economy continues to recover from the recession of a few years ago, Kansas officials should do all they can to attract those in industry, business, education, science and the arts to do business in the state.
Economic development is important not only for the continued prosperity of our state but also for the general happiness of our educated people, who prefer to make where they have some loyalty to the distant state. Rightfully, Kansas deserves to benefit from their education.
Kansas should be proud KU graduates want to settle in the state, for their inclinations indicate there must be more here than chicken restaurants and harmonicas.
It would be foolish to prove them wrong.
Bible Belt gets 'screwed'
There are times when being from Kansas can be embarrassing. Our supposedly more sophisticated countryside areas have every right to call our state hopelessly provincial and anachronistic when, for instance, we forbid them their martins while flying at 40,000 miles away to more exotic destinations.
THE LATEST example of how we are regarded by our countrymen is by far the most important reason I could receive. In a way it's as laugable as our liqueur laws. In another way it's a serious and a calculated move to curtail our dormitory rights to a free press.
The distinction that Kansas received, according to the defense in the Screw magazine (billed as the World's Dirtiest Newspaper) obscenely case in Wichita this summer, was that federal prosecutors chose Kane of 50 states as the most likely defendant in a conviction under the 103-year Old Comstock Act. The act provides penalties of up to five years in prison and $5,000 in
fines for mailing any "obscene,
lewd, lasciivious, indecent,
filthy or vide article, matter,
thing, device or substance."
John Fuller Contributing Writer
The defense has a good case for its belief. The Supreme Court's 1973 Miller decision said that "community standards" should define what is and is not obscene. Therefore, Screw, a
successful and hirud sex journal with but seven regular subscribers in Kansas at the time of the indictment in 1974, could be prosecuted in Wichita because through Kansas in the mills.
obscenity.
The burden of proof is placed on the defendant to establish his innocence.
THE GOVERNMENT established its case by underhanded means worthy of the most stiff-necked and parochial Kansan. A New York postal inspector sent six completed subscription forms to Screw and its sister Splinter. Its kister insisted that these postal inspectors. They mailed the forms off to Screw and Smut who in turn began sending them to the magazines.
The inspectors then mailed their copies unopened back to New York and the crime was established. An assistant U.S. attorney took over the case in 2014, and it must be remembered that the Cornstock Act doesn't define obscenity.
IF KANASS was like most states, the case probably would have been thrown out of court. But, of course, Kansas must live up to its dearly cultivated image as a Bible Belt hot-bed of uptight and obnoxious self-righteousness.
The jury was composed of eight women and four men. Their average age was older than most people, their most part, from small rural communities. One woman juror had to be replaced by an alternate because she couldn't itself look at the evidence.
"IF DECENCY is dead, ladies and gentlemen, please tell me!" the prosecutor said.
sometimes involves the toleration of things we hate. You can't, he said, take freedom away from Al Goldstein, the publisher of Screw, and give it to someone else. He told me a story about a swop who swept little by little, he said, one book at a time, one film at a time and one newspaper at a time.
His impassioned plea fell on deaf ears. As Bertrand Russell said, for those who can't do the impression thing is for them to be good.
The jury took 17 minutes to be good and return a guilty verdict for Goldstein and his codefendant.
The jury's fear, misunderstanding, ignorance or self-righteousness—whatever force motivated them—isn't anything to laugh about. Not being able to buy a drink on an airplane is one thing, a minor inconvenience at worst.
Kansas has dull politics despite past
There was a time, in the 1890s, when the politics in Kansas were something to talk about. MARY ELZMABETH Leeser wrote that farmers that they should "rabbit corn and more hell."
It's hard to believe that politics in Kansas, now the most Republican state in the Union, are exciting or even interesting.
"Suckless" Jerry Simpson, a bankrupt merchant and farmers' candidate for Congress, is the nation's favorite "Suckless Socrates from Kansas," to bestowed upon him by the then-republican editor of the Empire Gazette, William Allen
Those were the days of the Populist movement in Kansas, when the "liberals" of the day were running against the Republicans in Kansas, hell.
THE POPULISTS swept the Republicans from office, but by
Carl Young Contributing Writer
That was the situation that moved White, called "Silly
1894, the Populist hail raisers had failed to better the state's economic situation, and they began to decline.
NOT BEING able to read what one wishes to read, no matter what the literary value is, is quite another. If juries like the one in Wichita, led by Bettie Barratt and bureaucrats, can become the arbitrators of what we can read, we're in serious trouble.
The fact that Kansas was chosen and proved to be a good choice for that kind of activity is important all kinds Kansas should ponder.
Willy" by the Populists, to write the editorial that brought him into national prominence. The editor wrote a satirical article that matter with Kansas? "
A few excerpts from that editorial: "What's the matter with Kansas? We all know; yet here we are at it again. We have an old moss-back jacksonian who snorts and howls because he is in a statehouse; we are running the old jay for governor. We have another shabby, wild-eyed, rattle-brained fanatic who has said openly in a dozen speeches that 'the rights of the user are
paramount to the rights of the owner; "we are running him for chief justice, so that capital will come tumbling over itself to get into the state. We have raked the old ash heap of failure in the boot skirt who has failed as a businessman, who has failed as an editor, who has failed as a preacher, and we are going to run him for congressman at large. Then we have decided to take practice and have decided to run him for attorney general. Then for fear some hint that the state had become respectable might percolate through the civilized portions of the nation, we have decided to send three bills to the legislature, telling the people thatabama is raising hell and letting the corn go to weeds . . ."
Although the Democrats have made recent gains in the state legislature and only recently have the Republicans been able to again elect a governor, the difference between a Kansas and an Illinois Republican is usually in party name alone.
emotion on the activities of Kansas politicians.
IT HAS been a long time since politics in this state were diversified enough to move an editor to write with such
Robert Docking, a Democrat, was re-elected time and time again to out-Republicanizing the Republicans. There are a few exceptions, but generally the Democrats serve as the Republicans.
THUS, THE choice they give voters is not one of liberal versus conservative, but conservative versus conservative.
You can't blame the two parties for being that way because most Kansans, for some reason, are just plain conservative about everything.
City gives Briton cultural shock
There's a sign on Interstate 70 that is on an otherwise undistinguishable boundary bourne and the Sundowner Slide.
What could the solid citizen do but ignore defense testimony by psychiatrist Walter Menninger, Dr. Wardell Pomeroy, and Dr. Stephen Repsports, and New Yorker magazine drama critic Brendan Gill? All three spoke on the magazines' behalf, saying that there was no evidence that pornography was harmful and that publications had plenty of political and artistic value.
By PAUL D. ADDISON
Guest Writer
It reads "Welcome to Kanaas," and for "me it marked the final stage of a long cross- journey to the University.
BEFORE ARRIVING,
Kansas meant little more than
the Wizard of Oz, enormous
cowboys and Indians. And the
How long are the people in this state going to let some of their lawmakers, prosecutors and rabidly fanatic special interests such as the Kansas Dry Forces dictate the state's policies and image? Surely the majority of Kansas aren't enough government as to allow the federal government to use the state as a tool or a pawn in its censorship efforts. Or are they?
When their sense of deceyn was being challenged, what could those citizens do but ignore defense attorney Herald Fahringer's plea for a free and unrestricted press.
Stepping out of a Greyhound bus, I immediately felt a heightening of my senses. The oppressive heat of the dry sun burned by flesh, my unattuned ears caught the constant sawdust and my unadjusted eyes squinted in the blinding sunlight.
Dean of Foreign Students' advance letter, which started out "Welcome to Mount Oread from a fellow Jayawkher"; didn't really prepare me for the destitles of the Kansas way of life.
At first sight, Lawrence
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
HE TOLD them that freedom wasn't always putting up with things that we like. It
appeared to be a one-street town, fulfilling all the Wild West stereotypes, with saloons, a steamboat and sheriff driving up and down, I missed seeing horses tied to parking meters and John Wayne swaggering slowly down a hill. The distance were the twin towers of Fraser Hall and the five monolithic giants on Daisy Hill—my new home—faced against a colorful diving sun.
Ethan
Debbie Gump
Debbie Gump
Managing Editor
Yael Abuholikah
Jim Bates
Business Manager
Terry Jagnon
BECAUSE I'm British, the language presented little difficulty, aside from my endless attempts at imitation. For example, I have studied South American students, however, it was evident that the pronounced cultural and language difficulties led many to retreat rapidly back to the country of security of fellow countrymen.
After a couple of days' acquaintance with the campus, I was mildly confident I was easy to take on the town. It was quiet and peaceful, but distance I could hear the strains of laughter and shouting from
Is this, I shouted at a guy pretending to watch a Foosball game, the American idea of a good time. Why sure, he replied, this is the best bar in Lawrence. Everybody comes here.
the Hawk and the Wheel. Inside,
it was impossible to find a seat,
let alone talk.
DETERMINED to fulfill my own idea of a pleasant evening. I walked to a club only to be rapidly refuced admission for the party. I DL. it didn't matter too much, however, because the flashing neons of 32d Street's fast food kingdom beckoned. I'd heard about the delight of Mexican chilada and taco leave me but not unconvinced. It remained only to visit an all night restaurant and to sample the unlimited cups of coffee whilst watching a flow of student revelers saunter in after a party's partying.
So this is Lawrence, I mused. Ah well, only a couple of years till I graduate.
(Note: Addison is a graduate student from Lymm, Cheshire, in Great Britain.)
race, and Martha Keys was elected to the U.S. House. The state is becoming more urban, and the back-to-the-rural life trend may put a few liberals in the coffee shop next to the farmer.
Maybe those things will make Kansas something more than a one-party state, but I doubt that it will happen for a long time. The Republican and Democratic politics in Kansas for years, and probably will in the future; dull.
Farmers, who raise this state's most known product, are no longer excited by free silver coins; they want the Republican party to keep the federal government out of their business, to get the welfare rolls cleansed of ables and to keep price supports high.
BUT MAYBE things are changing in Kansas. Bod Dole barely mud-slud his way past Bill Roy in the 1974 senatorial
V
Kansas liquor laws unprofitable
Kansas is a state with many good attributes, but its liquor laws aren't among them. The laws make little sense and hurt the commerce of the state.
It is hard to argue with those who say drunkenness is harmful. Hundreds of drivers have been hit by drunk highways or by drunk drivers. Alcoholism has ruined countless lives, homes and families. Drinking cranked up the heat. This isn't being disputed.
THE NOTION being disputed is the one held by those who think the Kansas liquor laws somehow curb drinking, especially heavy alcohol. Don't someone intent on getting drunk can purchase liquor by the bottle almost anywhere in the state, and 3.3 states have the taconic or窜store,
Making the argument of those who contend Kansas shouldn't have liquor by the drink is even more ridiculous than the system of private clubs in the state.
pool records and set-up tables might be without work. The four qurors law do little to stop drinking by Kansans, but the laws do
Private clubs allow anyone 21 or older to buy drinks for a small membership fee. One person can pay for the paperwork, but that is the extent of the barrier to liquor by the drink. Perhaps dry forces are afraid liquor by the drink would cause unemployment and make making all the paper needed for membership cards, liquor
Greg Hack Contributing Writer
Kansas Constitution says, "open saloons."
cost the state business. Kansas City, Kan., and Wichita attract a few gatherers. A new convention city is greatly harmed by the fact they can't have, as the
Restaurants across the state could do more business if they could serve wine and bourbon, perhaps residents of, and visitors to, cities and towns near the state border almost invariably head for another city where they seek entertainment.
Despite the illogic of the liquor laws, they don't seem likely to change. Liquor by the drink has been presented to the voters and turned down. A plan that would have
allowed county option also was defeated.
THE LAWS don't stop drinking, and it is doubtful any laws can. An American's average alcohol consumption has never conformed to any law. In fact, it was possibly highest during Prohibition. But Kansas voters don't see that the state's business without providing any solution to the alcohol problem.
It's enough to drive a good man to drink.