4A
Monday, September 25, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: LIQUOR LICENSE
Bakery should not be exception
The Lawrence City Commission should not allow the new Wheatfield's Bakery to serve liquor.
Wheatfield's Bakery originally was not intended to sell alcohol. However, the owners of the bakery, who also operate Free State Brewery, recently have decided to add beer and wine to their menu. This decision conflicts with a city ordinance prohibiting alcohol sales within 400 feet of churches and schools.
The new bakery will be located at 904 Vermont St., placing it within 400 feet of two churches and one elementary school. The commission has scheduled a public hearing for Oct.18 to discuss the issue and to consider the bakery's request for an exemption from the ordinance.
Certainly the bakery owners did not have bad intentions when they decided to serve alcohol. They are just doing what business owners do — attempting to maximize profits.
Unfortunately, their business practices would violate an ordinance
Business interests should not usurp the the safety of children or the interest of a sensible ordinance.
enacted with good reason. Alcohol and children do not mix. Customers who have been drinking may do behave inappropriately in front of children walking to and from school.
More importantly, wherever alcohol is served, there is the threat of drunken driving. This creates an obvious danger to the safety of children walking to the school located near the bakery. Police have enough difficulty enforcing schoolzone speed limits without adding alcohol to the mix.
Finally, it's simply not a good idea to expose children to alcohol consumption every day.
If the owners wanted to serve alcohol at their new bakery, they should have chosen a different location.
If Wheatfield's is granted an exception from the ordinance, a safe and positive environment for school children would be jeopardized.
MARK POTTER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: OUT TO LUNCH
Open lunch hours help students
Chancellor Robert Hemenway's announcement that the University of Kansas' academic, departmental and administrative offices now will be open during lunch is another welcome change under the recent wave of campus reforms.
Until now, the majority of the offices on campus were closed from noon to 1 p.m. This 'closed for lunch' policy has inconvenienced many people who need the noon hour to get things done on campus because of their busy class and work schedules.
This announcement is one of many changes suggested by the chancellor's task force to make the University more student and faculty friendly. The development is particularly appealing due to the large number of students and faculty who will benefit.
Most faculty members work from 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and many students take class half of the day and work the other half. For these people, the only opportunity to take care of personal business is during lunch. If offices are closed, then students and faculty have to neglect their professional or academic tasks to take care of their personal business.
Inconvenient hours gratefully are a thing of the past for KU offices another good change made by Hemenway
Of course this does not mean that the faculty does not get to eat lunch.It just means that faculty will have to stagger lunch breaks so that people will be available to work in the offices during lunch.
The change is another good policy inspired by Hemenway's goal to streamline and economize the University of Kansas for the benefit of students and faculty.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Jeff MacNelly/CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Vandals need to forget chalk, remember respect
Lesbians rule. Pikes blow. A second wife is a whore. Listen to Bill Clinton's speech. And Rice is coming. These are not random thoughts by a disgruntled columnist, they are messages that can be seen on sidewalks on this campus.
I was naive enough to think that since everyone at the University of Kansas is a high school graduate, students would no longer feel the urge to deface property so selfishly. But with the recent onslaught of vandalism and chalk writings on campus, I have been proven wrong. During the past month, there have been more messages left by late-night phantoms than there should be in an entire college career.
I sympatize with groups or individuals who are trying to get messages out to the public, but no message, statement, cause or gripe should be expressed on sidewalks. This campus is one of the most beautiful in the nation, and some students are trying to give it a black eye by defacing it with a can of paint or piece of chalk. Although the spray-painted messages are far more serious crimes than chalk
STAFF COLUMNIST
messages, the chalk messages are just as annoying to students and maintenance. If one person writes something on the sidewalk, suddenly every person with a cause and a piece of chalk thinks another message needs to be scrawled in front of Wesco Hall.
too. Although it is a creative way to express a message, the use of chalk is snowballing. Our campus looks more like a doodle pad than an institution of higher learning.
This vandalism could have a major effect on the recruitment of high school seniors. Think of a soon-to-be Jayhawk visiting the campus with parents. The campus seems great, the people are friendly, and the school is first-rate. They look down while on the campus tour and notice that the
Wesco sidewalk looks like a New York subway wall — this is not the best way to get a person to come to KU.
Students need to take pride in everything about KU. Even a simple carving on a desk in a classroom affects the way people perceive this University. If alumni were on campus and saw the state the sidewalks are in now, they would be embarrassed.
Vandalism makes a lasting impression on visitors. One can of spray paint can distort a person's opinion about a campus. A chalk message can do the same.
If you have a message and a burning desire to share it with the rest of the campus, please find some other means. The sidewalks of KU are not a classroom chalkboard. Alternatives such as advertising with fliers or in the Kansan have worked for groups in the past. This campus is not a billboard. Please have some respect, and don't treat it like one.
Jenny Wildeke is an Evergreen, Colo.
senior in Journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Lawrence resident applauds kind act
I have worked at the University of Kansas for almost 19 years. I have enjoyed and appreciated the quality of students. I have seen many changes, but I have always been able to brag to my family and friends that KU students are some of the very best.
Tuesday morning when I came to Blake Hall in the rain and on crutches, I found the tile of the entry way to Blake dangerously slick and determined that it was unsafe to try and get to the door. A young man was standing there and, immediately noting my dilemma, came and took me by the arm. Another young man came and took my other arm and they escorted me safely into the building. This gentle and generous act again reminds me that there is so much good going on that we don't hear about. I didn't get the names of these two young men, but I hope they read my
letter and know how much I appreciate their act of kindness.
Forever I will appreciate the many terrific students with whom I have contact. These two young men are an excellent example of most of our students. I salute them for being what really makes KU a great institution.
Klissa Ruesschhoff Lawrence resident
Confederate flags are a symbol of hatred
With the present social consciousness focused on acts of racism, I wish to share my views on racism with you. It seems that there is a lot of ignorance spread across this university. I want to draw attention to those of you who display rebel flags on your bumper stickers, from your windows and t-shirts. I have even seen a flag in the window of a campus fraternity.
Displaying the confederate
flag is like telling the world you are a racist. It is saying to the world that African-Americans are not equal and should be again repressed into slavery. It is saying that you believe you are better than African-American. It is saying that African-American do not deserve the right to vote. Are you really as ignorant as your symbol portraits you to be?
I do not want to go into a major discussion about this issue. I only wanted to make a plea to those of you who do not consider yourself to be racists. Please do not continue to display signs of hatred.
The fraternity mentioned above runs the risk of being black-balled as a racist organization on campus. So, do yourself a favor and reevaluate your stance. Be an organization aimed at establishing communal harmony, not racial hatred.
Robert Mitchell Canton, Ohio, senior
Students should remember "we" instead of "me" to solve things
Students protested proposed cuts to student financial aid by marching to Rep. Jan Meyer's office last week.
When word spread that Congress was considering cutting student financial aid, I too was shaking in my hair.
my loan-burdened boots.
STAFF COLUMNIST
But as I thought about the march and about how cuts could affect how I would pay for school, I was reminded that people become politically active only when a proposed budget cut or congressional bill threatens to dip directly into their pocket-books.
It is no surprise that it took proposed cuts in student financial aid for most of us to suddenly care about the budget debate in Congress.
Few students have followed the proposed Medicare cuts. It would be hard to find many who are concerned about the welfare reform bill passed Wednesday in the Senate.
This is a "me" society. It always has been. Democracy focuses on the individual, and so we turn inward.
Although bills are passed and proposals are made daily by the nation's lawmakers, our ears only perk up when we see how an issue will affect us.
If we can't see how a new law or a budget cut would affect our lives, we skim over articles and say, "Well, they're cutting welfare now." Our thoughts on the subject end after we turn the page.
This behavior is part of a scary trend in this country — a trend that starts on the basic level of our existence.
We are isolationists. Public transportation is dying because we travel alone in our cars.
We avoid the city bus to avoid interacting with strangers. We don't want to sit close to strangers; they might invade our personal space.
Rarely do you see strangers chatting as they wait in line at McDonald's for their morning coffee and biscuits.
We brush past each other on the sidewalk while rushing to class. Time management has cut out a leisurely approach to life.
This all may seem insignificant, but this behavior illustrates our mentality. We are busy people. We just don't have time to stop and chat or to follow the progress of a congressional bill that doesn't affect us today.
The result is apathy. How many times have we heard someone say, "it's not my problem?"
Whether we like it or not, we are a community. We're stuck with each other, for better or worse, for richer or poorer.
And it is naive to think that the passage of the welfare reform bill or the proposed cuts to Medicare don't affect us financially today or won't affect our standard of living tomorrow.
Any one of us could fall on hard times. We may need welfare. We all are going to get old, and we might need Medicare, so it should matter to us that Medicare funds might dry up in 20 years.
Although marching to Meyer's office was a good start, we still need to look beyond our four walls. Our unwillingness to get involved in issues prevents us from solving our societal ills.
Nicole Kennedy is an Overland Park Junior in Journalism.
KANSAN STAFF
COLLEEN MCCAIN
Editor
DAVID WILSON
Managing editor, news
ASHLEY MILLER
Managing editor, planning & design
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
News & Special Sections ..Desrae Allison
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Associate Editorial ..Sarah Morrison
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Wire ..Robert Allen
On-line coordinator ..Tine Passett
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STEPHANIE UTLEY
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MATT SHAW
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JAY STEINER
Sales and marketing adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
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Business Staff
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Krista Nye
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SUBJECT TO CHANGE
By Shawn Trimble