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Friday, February 24, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Guard was a security risk
Every once in a while you have to sit back and ponder life's worth. The answers you come up with will vary, depending on your mood. But one thing should be clear: Human life is more valuable than a machine.
In Kansas City, Kan., 18-year-old Patrick Sills was shot and killed Saturday night after he broke the plexiglass on a video game. A security guard, who was filling in for the Fun Factory's regular guard, allegedly chased the youth out of the video arcade in Indian Springs Mall and, while trying to budefur him, shot Sills in the neck.
David Dancy, 37, was charged in Wyandotte County District Court with voluntary manslaughter, and now is out on $10,000 bond.
But the ease is riddled with questions that should be answered in the investigation.
answered in the call.
No one seems to know who the security guard was working (or when) the time of the shooting. He is an employee of a security company, but neither the company nor the arcade could verify which he was working for at the time of the shooting.
Police said that the guard had a permit to carry the gun. But what authority does he have to use it? His use of the gun during the apprehension seems excessive. Was it necessary to keep the gun drawn during the handcuffing?
What authority do security guards have? Were the proper procedures followed regarding the chase and particularly the gun?
gun?
Intian Springs Mall has a strange history. A few years ago, rats broke out at the mall among the teen-agers who hang out there. But how far should security guards go to control unruly behavior?
behavior
Obviously, Sills should have been required to pay for the broken video game. But his life was far too great a price to pay.
Jill Jess for the editorial board
Standing up to Khomeini
In view of Ayatollah Khomeini's insane threats against Salman Rushdie, it is important that the world take a strong stand and show Khomeini that terrorism won't be tolerated in the civilized world. The 12 European Common Market nations and U.S. bookstores are taking those steps.
and U.S. bookstores are taking on the European nations have withdrawn their embassy officials in Iran; and in response, Iran called home its diplomats in Europe. B. Dalton and Waldenbooks bookstores also have taken a positive stance, placing Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" back on their shelves.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with Muslims being offended by the book, just as there is nothing wrong with Christians being offended by "The Last Temptation of Christ."
There is something wrong, however, when the leader of a nation employs terrorism to get his way. Many believe Khomeini is using the controversy to rally his people, who recently lost a war to Iraq.
recently have known that although Khomeini's animal-like tactics are nothing new, they have thrown another obstacle in Iran's path toward re-establishing normal relations with the Western world
If Iran is to be accepted back into the fold of international relations, it must learn to deal with other nations and other people on the terms established by accepted international popegs.
Such rules do not include death threats.
Many Muslims, of course, do not believe in taking the law into their own hands and think that by writing letters to the publishers of Rushdie's books and demonstrating publicly, they can better make their opinions known.
Of course, the controversy has dramatically increased the demand for the book, which otherwise would have been in the $2 racks by next year. Such a large readership can serve a positive purpose, showing an uninformed world why Muslims find the material so offensive.
Khomeni's actions, unfortunately, shed bad light on the Islamic faith.
It is unrealistic to expect shopping mall bookstores, such as B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, to take all the heat, risking the lives of their employees and patrons for the First Amendment. They should not be forced to be the lightening rod for this attack
But they have acted bravely in putting Rushdie's book back on the silt.
It is crucial that someone stand up to Khomeini
Mark Tilford for the editorial board
News staff
Julie Adam . . . Editor
Karen Boring . . . Managing editor
Jason Meyer . . . News editor
Deb Guiver . . . Planning editor
James Farquhar . . Editorial editor
Elaine Sung . . Campus editor
Tom Simson . . Sports editor
Janie Swahnowski . . Photo editor
Dave Eames . . Graphics editor
Noel Gordon . . Art/Film editor
Tiglah Gordon . General manager news adviser
Business staff
Debra Cole. Business manager
Pamela Noe. Retail sales manager
Kevin Martin. Campus sales manager
Scott Engleman. Marketing manager
Michelle Garland. Promotions manager
Brad Lennah. Sales development manager
Linda Prop. Product development manager
Debra Martin. Asst. production manager
Kim Coleman. Co-op sales manager
Curt Grossley. Glasses dealer
Jeanne Hines. Sales and marketing adviser
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Censorship: Every writer's secret dream
one famous writers have rallied to the defense of Salman Rushdie, the author who has been sentenced to be burned off because he wrote a book
that offended Muslims The writers have decried the death threat of Ayatollah Khomeini, the strange old bird who rules Iran.
Besides decrying the threat, they have expressed deep distress, horror, anger, indignation, shock and outrage at efforts to censor Rushdie's novel.
I'm not sure if all of them are really that worked up. Any self respecting writer is expected to at least pretend that he's in a tizzy when something like this happens.
In fact, I suspect that, down deep, many of them envy Rushdie. I sure do.
Until a week or so ago, at least 99.9 percent of the world's population had never heard of Salman Rushdie or his current book. Or any of his previous books.
He was known to some admiring book critics and literature professors. But as far as popular success goes, any movie star could write her memoirs, list all the leading men with whom she had tumbled about a stairwell and get on more best-seller lists than Rushdie.
But suddenly, riots were erupting in countries where his book wasn't even being sold, and rioters were dying.
Then the Ayatollah, who's pretty murderous for a holy man, ordered a hit on Rushdie. Some other franxians put a $3 million bounty on his assassin, the famous author was an instant international figure.
In Chicago, where Rushdie wasn't exactly a household word, his books were sold in a day or two. A friend of mine, who was not familiar
Mike
Royko
Syndicated columnist
with Rushdie's work, rushed to buy one.
"I wanted to know what the big fuss was all about," he said. "Now that I've read the book, I'm even more confused because I'm not sure what the book is about. It's just weird."
Terrified book chains have stashed the books in the back rooms, fearing that Muslims will blow their stores up if they see a window display.
And in some countries, publication of the book has been postponed or canceled for the same reason. But that's only making the book a bigger seller in places where it is available.
What it amounts to is that Rushdie has been given the greatest blessing any author can have. He's being censored.
Despite the outrage writers display at the mention of the word censorship, it is every author's dream to be a victim
That's because a sincere censorship effort can take a book that is just sitting there gathering dust and turn it into a big seller.
A new years ago, I discovered that one of my books had caused a flap in a small New England town. Some parents didn't want their high school students to wear black because they thought I didn't respect authority.
I called the parents and told them that I fully supported their efforts to have the book censored and I would gladly sign a petition to ban me.
And I asked them if they'd mind publicly condemning it for being obscene, erotic, filthy, perverted, filled with dirty words and deeds and a danger to public morals. It wasn't any of those things, but I figured we should go for broke
Unfortunately, the censorship movement didn't spread beyond that one town, or even the one school. It would have helped if they had had a book burning. I offered to send them a dozen copies so they could get a nice fire going in the house. But they were dashed. It takes more than a few irate small-town parents to get a lucrative censorship movement going.
But Rushdie has hit the jackpot. Other authors would be thrilled to have their books thrown out of a couple of bookstores, be damned by one or two preachers and pickedet by a few fat ladies, but Rushdie gets rioti diplomas exchanging indignant notes and a *multiple* quantity of letters. If you spread all those goodies around, there would be enough to create a dozen best sellers.
True, Rushdie has to endure the tension that goes along with a death threat. So, for a while, he will have to lie low in England. Although the Ayatollah has already rejected Rushdie's apology, maybe someday the contract on him will be lifted.
Then it unlikely he will be killed by any Muslims, unless he rides a cab in New York or Chicago, which is a risk many non-authors take every day.
■ Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
Citizens can do their part by recycling
Most of us are familiar with the 'fight or flight' phenomenon from Introduction to Psychology. If you recall, it's our instinctive response
to a threatening or dangerous situation. Although it's commonly associated with one-on-one confrontations, there is increasing evidence that we respond similarly to the environmental decay of
We are overwhelmed by constant news of the Greenhouse Effect, ozone depletion, rain forest destruction and the medical waste washing up on beaches. And the list goes on. It's not surprising that most of us have elected to flee from these threats and stick our collective head in the sand. To paraphrase a famous quotation, we have met the enemies and they are us.
In fairness, most people care about the fate of the earth and wish there were more opportunities to fight back effectively. Staging sit in protests at profit-motivated logging companies may bring media attention to the situation, and get yourself a free night at the library or a rational to the average person. (But what's rational about destroying 75,000 trees for the New York Times Sunday edition?)
The crisis of the environment demands more than awareness; there needs to be action. Fortunately, environmentally minded Lawrence would have an opportunity to express concern.
Matt
Logan
Staff columnist
Separate Out Recyclables from Trash, a Lawrence recycling group, and Environs, a campus group, are sponsoring "S.O.R. T. Saturation" from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 20th and Harper streets. Lawrence City Commission candidates should be on hand to discuss the this city's recycling program, encouraged to bring aluminum and steel cans, and hard plastic for recycling. All proceeds will go toward Lawrence recycling promotion.
No longer is recycling an activity reserved for occasional fund raising drives. The uniquely American throw-away mentality is literally burying this country in solid wastes. The proportions of the crisis are staggering. For example, the United States runs through 200 million aluminum beverage cans daily, enough to supply 15,000 men with 7 million tons of paper each year, or 580 pounds for every man, woman and child. But the question remains: What should we do with this trash?
For obvious reasons we cannot continue to dig holes in the ground and bury it. And we cannot assume technology will rescue us and develop a safe way to incarcerate the stuff. Instead we need to learn to use the three R's of solid waste management: recycle, reduce and reuse.
The production of a ton of recycled paper uses half the water, results in 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution, saves 17 pulp trees and requires half the energy of producing a ton of paper from virgin wood pulp. Realizing our trash is not waste, but rather a valuable source of raw materials is the first step in the right direction.
S O R T. Saturday is one small opportunity to become involved. Already, Environ has initiated a pilot recycling program on campus and fraternities and fraternities are doing some form of recycling
Most important, the City Commission assigned a citizens' task force to review feasibility of curb side recycling for Lawrence residents. If implemented, the city or a private contractor would pick up recyclables along with the daily trash.
we can make along with the daily tran-
Before it's too late, we must stop running from
the environmental menace we have created and
begin to fight the ignorance, inertia and apathy
that is at the core of the problem. Together we
can make a difference.
BLOOM COUNTY
- Matt Logan is a Topkea senior majoring in history and political science.
by Berke Breathed