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University Daily Kansan/Friday, November 8, 1991
OPINION
Michael@PFIJUN.Darcy Kansan
Potential benefits
Responsibility is key to lower drinking age
The Lawrence City Commission has decided to talk about the possibility of lowering the legal drinking age for 3.2 beer from 21 years to 18 years. Although the commission can discuss the issue, federal and state lawmakers would have to make the decision for any change in the law.
The basis for the law change should not be local bartenders' opinions . Instead, there should be careful consideration of what the consequences might be.
The change has the potential to have
some good effects. It could help end some of the confusion that 18-year-olds may feel. Society gives 18-year-olds more responsibilities, such as voting, and if they are male, registering for the draft. But they are told they are still too young to handle the responsibility of drinking alcohol.
If the drinking age is lowered, other actions should be taken along with it. More education programs should be enacted to inform people about the effects of alcohol and what can happen
There also should be stricter enforcement of drunken driving laws. Tolet any person, regardless of age, drive while intoxicated is giving them a license to hurt themselves and others.
when too much is consumed.
Lowering the drinking age is a good idea but only if precautions are taken to guard against abusing alcohol, something from which no age group is immune.
Amv Francis for the editorial board
Save the children
Kansas City watch groups are admirable
The recent child abductions and molestations in East Kansas City prompted swift responses from members of the police force and the community. It is true that the prime suspect, William Alvin McClinton, was apprehended in Springfield, Ill., last week, so this particular case is now considered closed. But one arrest does not a safe community make.
The harsh, indisputable fact is that McClinton is not the only individual in Kansas City committing this type of crime. It also is obvious that these perverted acts are not limited to metopoli-
tan areas such as Kansas City. They happen in small towns, and they are perpetrated by ordinary people. Unfortunately, crimes against children are a frequent and unpredictable occurrence.
But out of this tragedy some good did result, as evidenced in the safety measures that were implemented. Parents organized into watch groups with commendable quickness — this was an essential part of their effectiveness. But the groups, and thus the precautions, cease to be effective if people relax too much. No one is advocating living in
fear or restricting children to indoor areas, but common sense and minimal precautions can have a great impact.
Everyday safety measures do not have to be expensive or time consuming, but a certain amount of community cooperation is necessary. And this active participation has already happened, to the credit of the concerned parents. But these precautions must be continued with equal vigor to preserve the well-being of children.
Ellen Kuwana for the editorial board
Editorials reflect the opinion of the University Daily Kansan editorial board. Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the board.
Opinions expressed in guest and staff columns and cartoons are solely those of the author or artist. Views expressed in columns and cartoons are not necessarily shared by the Kansan.
Editorial board members are: Benjamin Allen, Kevin Bartels, James Baucom, Michael Dick, Amy Francis, Clarissa Jackson, Ellen Kuwana, Holly Lawton, Holly Neuman, John Noltsmeyer, Karen Park, Jennifer Reynolds, Jennifer Tanous, Jose Vasquez, Julie Wasson and Franklin Williams.
There is something about scum that, once brought to light, causes it to multiply. Take the recent debacle of the Clarence Thomas hearings. Day after day, details of pornographic movies, stories of sexual harassment and wild charges of fabrication were dragged into the news on a new at the sight of so many elected officials disgracing themselves on national television.
Americans should not glorify North, Nixon
Just recently, the horrid spectacle of seeing Oliver North's face plastered everywhere has become a reality. Olie has a book out now about the good old days when he was a hired lackey for William Casey, Robert McFarlane and Ronald Reagan. Olie has become a little bitter about those times.
This has got to be one the few countries in the world where an admitted participant in a conspiracy can make money peddling his story to the public he knowingly defrauded. Indeed, the parallels to Watergate run deeper than one might think. Another old fraud, Richard Nixon, has made money off of his stint as crook-supreme during his presidency.
Why are we so fascinated with knowing all the gory specifics of known crooks, just doing what comes as naturally to them as robbing passers-by does to street thugs? After they have been convicted and disgraced, why do we buy their stories? Surely no one is naive or stupid enough to believe that North was just a guy who was really dedicated to his job, or that Nixon actually had a presidential right to violate the law. Does Santa Claus drop
Kevin Bartels Staff columnist
presents in Ollie's stocking every Christmas?
None of this little screed will do anything to stop the release of Under Fire, Olie's autobiography, from filling the minds of Americans with almost as much poison gibberish as the Iran-contra hearings. We are used to swallowing up more lies, half-truths and malicious inuendos in a week than many countries receive in an entire year.
Maybe Ollie will once again infect the minds of millions of Americans who will see him as a champion of all that is noble, despite the fact that he broke the law and lied to Congress. The real tragedy about the whole era of Reagan, the arms-for-hostages deal and Oliver L. North is that many people saw the ex-Lt. Colonel as a hero. It is difficult, naturally, to say just what Olie was a hero of. A victim of the system? Hardly. I have just had a more disturbing thought, even a vision of sorts. There is a book in this vision. I can just make out the words on the cover. Gods, no! The title reads: Clarence, Anita and the Senate: Heighho, Silver.
Kevin Bartels is an English graduate student from Louisville, Ken.
Magic's charm sparkles in sickness and in health
David Goodman was in the eighth grade when he put a poster of Magic Johnson above his bed.
Born and raised in Los Angeles and now a KU player, Goodman had a wait-and-see attitude toward this young player for the Lakers from Michigan
Sure, Magic helped the Spartans win a national title in 1979, but you have to prove yourself in Hollywood where everything is diamonds and fancy cars.
Magic led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships and was the league's Most Valuable Player three times. The team also the league's career assist record.
After a few seasons, Magic did the impossible.
Magic guided the Lakers to their first NBA title his rookie year and then helped create a dynasty throughout the season. In the ballgame what Babe Ruth was to baseball.
So how can it be that Magic has tested positive for the HIV virus and is retiring from the game when he's only 32?
Today the NBA finals are seen all over the world, and the face of the game is characterized by defense and big plays. Magic and Bird brought to the game.
"They did that out of respect. Magic was just a genuinely nice person."
Magic, along with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, breathed life into a struggling NBA. The first time the Lakers won the title with Magic, the game could only be in some parts of the country on a tape delay.
"He was the first black athlete who had the potential to become a millionaire," Goodman said. "But he never forgot the community. Did you notice the media never asked him how he but it instead waited to ask the doctor?"
In the high schools around L.A.,
He captured the imagination of a city built on dreams that movie stars created and ruled, not basketball players.
Courtside seats began selling for $500 to $1,000 and it became fashionable to be seen watching the game with movie stars like Jack Nicholson.
emphasis switched from who made the best shot to who made the best no look pass.
"We all wanted to make the sweetest dish," Goodman said. "He made pro basketball in a team sport. I guess he will be James Worthy's team mug."
Goodman said that although he liked Kareem Abdul-Jabbar better, Magic's retirement was harder to accept because no one expected it.
"At least Karenen had his good-eye tour," Goodman said. "At first I thought it was a joke when my sister told me Magic had the AIDS virus. I was like, 'This is it? No more high-hiots? No more Magic?'
It seems impossible he has the HIV virus because Magicis, after all, of only a handful of athletes known patriots by their first name.
Names like Bo, Michael and Kareem.
"Athletes think they are indestructible," Goodman said. "It's part of their mystique. That's part of the reason why they can go into any bar and get any girl they want."
Magic is no longer indestructible.
Although he never suffered a serious injury during his entire playing career, today he is merely Earvin Johnson: a man with HIV.
Goodman isn't sure that Earvin's becoming a spokesman for education about the virus will make a difference. He too unreachable, like the president.
But in many minds, the fact that Earvin has the disease had brought AIDS closer to home. It's the first time one of our heroes has caught it.
Vulnerable to the world, he is now just a man named Earvin. But to us who remember him, he will always be... Magic.
Rob Wheat is an Overland Park senior majoring in journalism.
by Tom Michaud
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