Tuesday, April 18, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Pit bull laws are welcome
A community should have the right to regulate something it deems to be dangerous to the well-being of its citizens — even if what's being regulated is man's best friend.
The Kansas Supreme Court rightly decided last week that a community can impose restrictions on owners of pit bull dogs.
The court upheld an Overland Park ordinance controlling pit bulls, effectively giving legitimacy to similar laws adopted by the United States.
The ordinance defined the breed as dangerous and required the dog to be kept securely inside or leashed and muzzled outside. Owners also were required to post "Beware of Dog" signs on their property and to have $50,000 in liability insurance
A similar law exists in Lawrence. All dogs must be kept on a leash when outside. Also, owners of vicious animals must have an insurance policy of $50,000. Vicious animals are defined by breeding and other characteristics.
There is no doubt that local communities should have the right to place such restrictions on pit bull owners.
In the wake of the many horror stories we have written
at the mall, sometimes even adults, laws controlling
the breed are appropriate.
Jeff Euston for the editorial board
Life only score that counts
The tragedy at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, is something that Americans should react to as if it happened in the United States. It is a tragedy that should remind us that a sports game can be taken too seriously.
There are several factors that could be blamed for the disaster: stadium security, crowd control, stadium design, etc. But no one can deny that the root of the problem was the sheer chaos of the crowd.
Riots after sporting events are nothing new, even to college students in Kansas. Angry and ecstatic students combined to start riots that caused severe damage to an entire business district after a Kansas-Kansas State football game.
Hindsight is always perfect; let's hope it doesn't fade. Officials worldwide should be taking steps to make sure that this never happens again.
But fans also should remember this tragedy every time it seems so crucial for them to get front-row tickets to a game or to get the best seats in general-admission auditoriums.
After the Jayhawks won the NCAA Championship, several students were injured. Newspaper stands and cars also were damaged.
It is a bitter irony that a sporting event ends in a massacre. Loyal fans of every sport should mourn for the 94 people who died Sunday. It could happen anywhere and anytime that excitement for a game becomes more important than concern for human life.
Jennifer Hinkle for the editorial board
Other Voices
Bush responsible for his contra role
Declassified White House documents released during Oliver North's trial showed that President George Bush was intimately involved in bribing Honduran officials to support the contras, in defiance of Congress.
It's hard to imagine anyone defending Bush for lying to the American public during last year's campaign. Reporters who attempted to question Bush about his role in the scandal were met with shrill denials of any involvement in it.
Incredibly. Bush still clings to that denial.
"I don't like reading charges that I happen to feel are untrue, but I have to stand on that, and that just goes with the territory." he said Wednesday.
It's up to the press, who snoozed through much of President Reagan's assault on ethics, to pursue and publicize Bush's Iran-contra indiscretions.
And it's up to the public, notorious for its kind and gentle treatment of Reagan, to demand that Bush be held accountable for his odious activities.
The Daily Texan
News staff
Julie Adam...Editor
Karen Boring...Managing editor
Jill Jess...News editor
Dan Stever...Planning editor
James Farquhar...Editorial editor
Elaine Sung...Campus editor
Tom Simpson...Sports editor
Jane Swaltowski...Photo editor
Dave Eames...Graphics editor
Noel Gerdes...Art Features
Toni Elise...General manager news adviser
Business staff
Debra Cole         Business manager
Pamela Noe.        Retail sales manager
Kevin Martin.      Campus sales manager
Scott Freiger.      National sales manager
Michelle Garland   Promotions manager
Brad Lenhart     Sales development manager
Linda King        Production manager
Drake Martin.    Assist. production manager
Kim Coleman       Co-op sales manager
Curt Carder       Classified manager
Henry Hunt        Sales and marketing adviser
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MAILBOX
Graffiti are immature
As you probably know, last week was "Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week." That fact was made painfully aware to me as I walked around campus. I'm sure that I was not the only one who was disgusted with the pro-gay graffiti that decorated our sidewalks. My reaction was one of disgust — not because of the message, but rather because of the monstrous graffiti. My reaction would have been the same to any other message presented in this same manner.
I pay a lot of money to attend an institution of higher learning. I expect my studies to be conducted in an atmosphere free of both physical and blatant immunity. Graffiti is immature
Arousing dissurrounded was surely not one of the goals that you had at the outset of the week. How about showing some respect for the team? I would campaign in a more positive, mature manner?
What would your reaction be if the sidewalks of this beautiful campus were defaced with heterosexual propaganda? It would not enhance the message, I'm sure.
Noel Cooke Coffeyville freshman
Oldest trick in book
In a recent letter to the editor, Ben Casad make a good point about the ad hominem nature of accusations of homophobia. The assertion that such charges are an effective propaganda tool is correct, as is Mr. Casad's observation that injustice is occasionally done to persons with opposing viewpoints. However, the bulk of his contention raises some disquieting points that extend well beyond the question of homosexuality.
The thrust of Casad's argument is that homosexual marriages are invalid because they specifically deny the traditional family structure. It should almost go without saying that such a position has repercussions outside of the issue of gay rights. Heterosexual couples have been known to decide against having children (thus, presumably, making them nontraditional and thus unwelcome for marriage), have made such a choice, yet we are married not only in the eyes of God but also under the laws of the State of Kansas.
Perhaps, on the other hand, my wife and I should not be married (had we been forced to sign a commitment to reproduce, we might well not be). After all, like homosexuality, childlessness was a matter of choice for us. What then of people who marry with the full intent of having children only to discontinue that one or both? Should compel them to divorce on the ground that they have been robbed of "one of the most important and unique elements of marriage"?
Maybe heterosexual couples who seek permission to wed should not only agree to reproduce but also prove themselves capable! is this really your position, Mr. Casad?
Two obvious lessons may be learned from this debate. First, it is dangerous to attempt to reduce a question as controversial and complex as homosexuality to single issues or positions founded on a faulty logic such as accusation of homophobia from the gay-rights position or dishonest and self-serving responses from the anti-gay stance. Second, it is essential to recognize that one of one's position, including possible unintended side-effects. An ill-considered approach leaves one open to the oldest trick in the book for destroying a thesis: reduxio ad absurdum.
Bryan Whitehead Lawrence senior
Not homophobia
I am writing in response to the April 12 guest columnist, Shannon I. Tauscher. First of all, I do agree with her statements concerning the homophobia problems not just here on this campus, but everywhere. People are just naturally afraid of anything that they don't understand and think it is fair to give that whouver purposely did not wear jeans on "Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day" is homophobic and ignorant. I, for one, did not wear jeans on that particular day because I am not gay. She is guilty of the ignorance she so freely credits to others that assumes that everyone only wears jeans. That's an inaccurate and unfair statement. That's as she well as others like she should re-evaluate their definition of homophobia.
Belinda Edwards Dallas sophomore
If I did not believe in an absolute truth, I might agree that homosexuality is only an alternative lifestyle. But absolute truth does exist and says homosexuality is unnatural. Leviticus 18:22 calls it "it an abomination." Romans 1:26 calls it "a degrading passion." Call it any pleasing euphemism you like, homosexuality is a sin.
The questions sound "stupid" because no one asks people why they're normal: "Why aren't you schizophrenic? Are your brain chemicals balanced well?" Sounds stupid, right? Abnormality, not normalcy, excites questions. Homosexuality is unnatural.
For those who dismiss the Bible's authority, apply your scientific reasoning. If humans evolved by chance and instinct, where did homosexual drives originate? In sexism efforts expended reproductively is somatic (to stay alive). Why did humans, so supposedly
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have evolved farthest, develop drives neither reproductive nor somatic?
I'm not telling you how to run your private
website but please don't try to tell my homeocosu-
lity.
Carma Paden Overland Park senior
Faulted logic
I am heterosexual. I am not homophobic, if that means unreasonable fear of homosexuals. I have a close friend who is bisexual. I am not offended by homosexuals. However, I was offended by the advertisement in the April 10 Kansan. "Questions for Heterosexuals."
The logic of Ben Casad's homophobic attack on gay marriages in the April 13 Kansan is faulted.
Casad argues that procreation is the justification for a marriage relationship, and that therefore a gay or lesbian marriage is illegitimate. By this logic, Casad must also delegitimize heterosexual relationships that, for whatever reason (choice, age, biological limitations, etc.), do not result in the production of children.
What Casad's narrow worldview does not allow him to see is that there are many legitimate benefits to a sexual relationship, offspring being only one of them. Nor does he recognize that a play or lesbian relationship in children through adoption or other means.
A person's sexual orientation does not determine that person's ability to be a mature, nurturing parent. There are many people who are involved in gay and lesbian marriages who have lived in an environment for our next generation than many people could in heterosexual marriages.
Denying a person's rights because of his or her sexual preferences is not only homophobic but it also leads to fear, distrust and hate. It is important for people to be aware of social fabric that Casad pursues to defend
Marc Becker Lawrence graduate student
Don't stereotype
Shannon Tauscher misses the point in her column regarding "Wear Blue Jeans if you're Gay Day." She says that every year students are faced with this day and a subsequent challenge and that many students fail this challenge because they want to wear jeans on the day, as I understood it, to was to support for gays and lesbians. I chose not to wear jeans on this day precisely because I don't support gays and lesbians, not because I hate or fear homosexuality. This "Wear Jeans Day" is pointless because we can't be bothering something I don't want to support, and if I don't wear jeans I am accused of homophobia by people like Ms. Tauscher.
Games of this sort are not played in other areas of conflicting beliefs. Can you imagine the Young Republicans holding a Wear Jeans if You're Republican Day and announcing that anyone who don't wear jeans that day was a flaming liberal? What about everyone else? There are other ways to win support for your cause without resorting to stereotyping those of us who do not share your beliefs.
Elizabeth A. Shear Lawrence freshman
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed