Opinion
Kansan
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Jodie Chester, Editor
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Tuesday, October 13, 1998
Editorial
Traffic appeal must be denied; impact report should be finished
Last month, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard a landmark lawsuit. And unless the outcome affirms the U.S. District Court ruling, students could witness an increase in obscenities directed against their spiritual, moral and ecological environment.
The case involves the delayed construction of a highway officially known as the South Lawrence Trafficway.
Plaintiffs, who include Lawrence citizens and students of the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, have successfully delayed its construction. They are committed to environmental and cultural justice.
Even though one section of the highway now stretches from I-70 through West Sixth Street, Clinton Parkway and South Iowa Street, in 1997 U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Van Bebber halted the construction of a section connecting South Iowa Street with K-10 and dividing the Baker Wetlands and Haskell along already crowded 31st Street.
Until the Kansas Department of Transportation, Douglas County and the Federal Highway Administration, all responsible for the construction of the highway, release vital information concerning its impacts on the historically significant
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should uphold the previous ruling.
area, Van Bebber ruled that the remainder of the project must not be carried out.
Although KDOT, Douglas County and the Federal Highway Administration appealed the decision so they could finish the project cost effectively, Van Bebber's ruling should be upheld.
The engineers and planners have failed to express the full environmental costs.
Just as KU students probably would object if a project proposed the demolition of Allen Field House, the plaintiffs object to this proposed trafficway because it would desecrate a sacred land.
The plaintiffs say the finished trafficway would obstruct wetlands research conducted by KU, Haskell and Baker University students, and it would interfere with religious services held on Haskell property.
They call for more attention to be given to the effects the constructed trafficway would have on the cultural sacredness of the area through which it is to be built.
The trafficway is supposed to alleviate traffic congestion on 23rd Street, which some students think is burdensome, by providing through traffic with a direct, signal-free link from I-70 to K-10.
Van贝berb's ruling required that highway authorities spell out environmental and cultural costs in the form of a supplemental environmental impact statement, mandated by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act.
However, the appeal maintains that according a federal transportation act passed this summer, NEPA mandates do not apply to this portion of the trafficway because no federal money is being used to construct it.
Apparently, governmental agencies take responsibility for only monitoring investments instead of also guarding against an environmental catastrophe.
If highway authorities do not have to comply with a democratic policy that protects the people and environment from the adverse impacts of highway construction, what then is the policy for?
Ultimately, Van贝berb's decision should be upheld and the supplemental evaluation released openly. Then it can be decided whether the proposed last leg of the trafficway is appropriate.
Kris Olsen for the editorial board
Feedback Gay student's death sparks outrage, call for support
I try to rarely use the word "evil" in describing either people or events, so that the word carries added strength. What was done to Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo., was purely and simply an evil act perpetrated by evil men. While one suspect's father not surprisingly defended his son as the victim of an unwanted pass by a guy, and not deserving of the infamy he now finds himself at the center of, the fact is that Shepard was
I have been to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum several times and continue to be struck by the terrible evil that took place with almost an entire nation's consent — and the complacency of many other — only 60 years ago. That was evil on a national scale; this is evil by individuals. Nothing can change what has happened in either case. But what can be different is us. We can and should say — even shout — "Never again. Not here, not anywhere. Not to me, not to anybody."
tortured by his assailants, and spent four days on life support before he finally died.
Kansan staff
We need the support of all the allies we can get. We need leaders of the rest of the community to take a stand against bigotry, regardless of its origin. Most importantly, we need our families, our friends and our co-workers to express support, both personally and publicly. We're all in this together. Lincoln was right about a house divided against itself.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people demand justice, respect for our lives, and an end to the hatred that threatens us daily. But we can't win this battle against hatred alone.
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Broadon your mind: Today's quote
"The one who goes is happier than those he leaves behind." — Edward Pollock
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Student American tastes the bitter truth in college
Perspective
hate Coca-Cola and Nike, the U.S. military-industrial complex and all simple-minded people who live their lives in some sort of multimedia haze, too busy
1. The white man is evil.
He invades foreign lands, rapes, pillages, destroys the indigenous culture and maniacally replaces it with his own. As far as I know, he also was the first to do it.
absorbing the message to dissect it. These are the things that college has taught me:
Tom
Winter
opinion @ kansan.com
2. We are a product of our genes. All insecurities can be blamed on our genes. Therefore, if we can find some wav to
tweak them, we'll turn into aliens, which is what we all want anyway — to be three feet tall, too pale to go out in the sun and androgynous. I know these things. I watch *The X-Files*.
3. Politicians are sleazy, greedy, lying womanizers who are condescending in their approach to the public's intelligence. The men are, at least. The women have integrity.
4. All men are sex-craved, violent pigs who would rather put a gun to their opponent's head to get him to concede that he is right than admit that they may be wrong. I watch TV. I read the paper.
5. Christianity is more like an incredibly widespread cult than a religion. If you don't belong, then you are one of the people who is evil and must be destroyed in some wicked and brutal manner so God's children can frolic in the candy-cane fields of heaven.
6. Buddhism must be closer to the truth, because it believes people should spend more time being quiet, which is what we really want anyway — for religious nuts to shut their proselytizing mouths. It also came from somewhere else, which gives it validity.
the white population in terms of numbers. That will be the day when all men and women will be free, except of course the white man, who's going to get what's coming to him.
8. Computers are evil and someday they will overtake humanity and turn us all into slaves. They will drink all of our whiskey and take all of our women. It would be better for all of us if we began burning them now to prevent future conflict. But in truth, once the computers take over, all of the disagreements among humanity will cease because we will realize that we are just a bunch of dirty animals whose only real desire is to copulate.
9. I've learned in my biology classes that a man is only slightly different than a rat, but mostly they are the same. It makes no sense — why we can slice Joey the rat but not Jimmy the bartender. This will always be one of life's great enigmas.
10. In the same realm, I have found out that carnivorous humans are destructive hedonists who have no regard for the sanctity of life or the fate of the planet. They say we could feed the world population with grain if we stopped using all of these fields to raise cows.
7. A good majority of the people in this country are oppressed because the minority with all of the spending power and impenetrable inner circles of white male fraternity has a profound control over the actions and thoughts of everyone else. But this system will soon be topped when the Hispanic-American population overtakes
11. Vegetarianism is pure and good and does not offend nature because the screams of dying celery cannot be heard as it slides into the acid vault of our stomachs. It doesn't matter that it is usually still alive as we consume it, unlike meat. You can't hide behind a dairy defense. Eating cheese kills millions and millions of helpless bacteria.
12. I've also found out in college that if you throw the word American behind anything you can make it politically correct.
Pretty soon there aren't going to be IBMs and Macintoshes, they will be IBM Americans and Macintosh Americans, especially after they start running things. We'd better get used to this now so we don't foul up and offend them after they control the Earth.
I've learned all of these things in college. This is what college has given me. Now I can go out in the world and be a good Student American. College has made me sensitive and understanding. It hasn't made me none too bright, but that don't matter, 'cause it's good eatin.'
Winter is a Blue Springs, Mo., senior in journalism and biology.
Lawrence's happenings inspire social commentary
In our times: thoughts about the University of Kansas. All quotes are from the University Daily Kansan unless otherwise noted.
After the Reign: in-depth story about the history of recent KU student body presidents. Interesting comments by 1984's anti-establishment president, Dennis Highberger: "I'd say student government was the best idea an administrator ever had because it gives students the illusion of power without giving them any actual power."
John Wilson
opinion @ kansan.com
"People pay attention to important things that
I congratulate Brandon Coppie on a solid piece of journalism. He captured the status quo expected of student government and then brought forth a different voice. Senators have often tried to convince me who has the power. Highberger says there is no point in kidding ourselves. Refreshing to hear these views stated in the media
■ Pizza deliverer robbed of seven pizzas, money. A pair of men allegedly smashed a 30-year-old pizza delivery driver on the head with a blunt object and stole seven pizzas. "The female suspect led the victim to the side of the building," said Lawrence police Sgt. George Wheeler. "He was then approached by two males and hit on the head with something like a rock."
It's not safe to be a pizza delivery driver in Gotham. If your neighbor offers you frozen pizza, be suspicious.
happen in their life, and students realize that Student Senate isn't going to do anything that really affects them, so they ignore it."
University recruits minorities at expo The Kansas minority affairs office organized an expo at the University Medical Center in Kansas City last week. Assistant Director of Admissions Robert Page Jr. said the event attracted high-ability African-American and Hispanic students from throughout Kansas City.
Give a pat on the back to the University for an attempt at diversity. 27,567 students attended KU in the fall of 1997 and only 5,639 were not white. A giant institution with a student body almost 80 percent white is ridiculous. If not corrected, we as students are not prepared to live, work, lead and
■ On the fraternity anti-alcohol front: Jennifer Kinney, assistant director for Greek programs, risk management and education, on fraternities phasing out alcohol in chapter houses: "We hear people say that we're just pushing the problem to the community. This will decrease insurance, provide for a safer environment and make the house nicer."
I pity the person who believes taking away alcohol at fraternity house parties will do anything but make people drive around liquored-up to find parties. This is also an issue with closing bars at midnight. It just begs drunks to parade around town looking for an angry fix. I hope that society doesn't believe decreased insurance premiums equal safer parties. Why not encourage parties close to campus and discourage night-time driving? Expand the night-time bus system. Expand Safe Ride. Advertise each to the student body.
Chancellor Hemenway on student alcohol use: "We don't want anybody to be physically harmed or mentally harmed. There's a lot of evidence that people's academic career has been jeopardized by the use of alcohol ... We know that most of the issues of violence and date rape increase with the use of alcohol."
On The Hawk closing time midnight debate: city commissioner Bonnie Augustine, "If these bars close at midnight, those patrons are going to go someplace else."
It was nice to see the Chancellor's thoughts. We've all heard the stories, and it is too bad something serious must happen for us to change our ways. Important speech on a public issue — that's what a newspaper is designed to do. Good reporting, Kansan.
Finally, somebody with power realized this truth. Has the city been under the impression that the drunks go home at midnight? Only Lawrence high school students have a curfew.
brow in the real world. Please, start more programs like this.
■ Police officer was struck by a man at Burrito King. A Lawrence police officer was assaulted and battered by a Lawrence man. The officer found the man passed out in the drive-through lane: "We found the individual on the ground next to the menu board, lying partially in the drive-through lane." Sct. Wheeler said.
Further proof to back up my anti-late night fast food stance. Dangerous stuff.
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Wilson is a Lenexa senior in journalism