UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kanans editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of writers of the paper.
MAY 1. 1979
U.S. 40 needs repairs
While the University of Kansas had to be happy with the Kansas Legislature's approval last week of a budget of more than $220 million for KU, local government leaders got something of a surprise in the form of a financial package that could lead to major improvements of a seven-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 40 west of Lawrence.
That stretch of highway is narrow and exceedingly dangerous, and is in bad need of widening and other safety improvements.
The approval of the road relief package was not a complete success for the Lawrence area, however, as Gov. John Carlin's recommendation that the money should be granted specifically for each project, including the U.S. Highway 40 project, was ignored.
THE LEGISLATURE, however approved a $35-million package that did not mention specifically any
particular jobs. That will be left to the Kansas Department of Transportation, which will be free to allocate the funds for the projects it chooses.
But the strong support of Carlin for the U.S. Highway 40 project should be enough to provide for the necessary improvements. At least that is what area leaders are hoping.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine any road project that would need improvement more than the stretch of U.S. Highway 40 that has been the subject of all the debate. And with the firm support of city and county officials added to Carlin's rather substantial clout, there should be no problem in obtaining the necessary funds.
The state transportation department cannot and should not turn its back on the U.S. Highway 40 project. To do so would be an invitation for more accidents on that dangerous stretch of road.
It is sad, unfortunate and disgusting that a public official—a city attorney no less—thinks that people from certain ethnic backgrounds readily tolerate crime.
Prosecutor's proposal is deplorable
Roeland Park City Attorney Frederick K. Cross has been asked to resign because of offensive and prejudicial remarks directed at foreign students and Mexican Americans.
In a memorandum dated Feb. 15, Cross proposed to a municipal judge a program that would clear the records of first-offender defendants by establishing a statute and deplorable provision in the proposal; Cross, as the city prosecutor, could exclude at his discretion from this policy "persons who are foreigners and where the ethnic background of the defendant is such that they are not citizens."
Cross had justified this "eligibility requirement" on the basis of his experience with defendants in shoplifting cases, which, according to Cross, involved a disproportionate number of African and Asian students and Mexican-American women.
THE REMARKS led to a drive by Mexican-American and other minority leaders in the area to our city, where an annual gathering, attended by between 200 and 300 people, the council voted to ask Cross for his resignation. A investigation of the city's court is expected.
The reaction to this event for some may be "So what?". For most of us, no doubt, this is a situation in which the city attorney must suffer the consequences of being prejudged. The fact that the city attorney is a public official being subjected to an accusation of racism by frenzyed minorities.
But there seems to be more to this incident than superficial reactions.
Ex-inmate says death penalty wrong
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the recent letter that appeared in the Kansan by Rhonda Richardson, attacking your paper's approval of Gov. John Carlin's decision to veto the death penalty bill. The letter showed such ignorance of contemporary corrections that I feel obligated to express the true state of affairs. As an inmate for three years under the warden, I had a chance to make corrections. I feel that I am in a unique position to shed some light on the current death penalty controversy.
UNIVERSITY DAILY letters KANSAN
Richardson's assertion that only 10 percent (at best) of the violent criminals respond positively to rehabilitation is totally absurd, and I challenge her to cite evidence supporting this ridiculous figure. He has also indicated that we necessarily high, from 50 percent to 60 percent, but the cause of this should be placed squately on the shoulders of our barbaric corrections system, where it belongs. When we, as citizens of the state of Kansas, pack 1,800 into a facility with 200 inmates, only can be aggravating a serious problem.
It is difficult to describe the problems that face a parole, after he has spent years of his life having virtually every decision made for him.
But even under these dehumanizing conditions, significantly more than Richardson's 10 percent are able to lead productive lives after release. Several men, with whom I am personally acquainted, have taken on the academic challenge of a university after release. I am a devoted student in being throughout the state in meaningful and productive jobs, supporting families and leading positive wholesome lives.
The task of having to decide everything from when and where to eat, to budgeting a family's income, is an extremely difficult hurdle to cross, when for years, the only responsibility one had was counting the days on a calendar.
From my experiences of living with other convicted felons, I readily agree that there are those who will never be able to function in a free society. But to call for the elimination (permanently) of these men is, in effect, to deny them the reasonable solution to the problem is to invest the money in our correctional system so that we can attempt to get a firm grip on
To be more specific in my response to Richardson's call for public-sanctioned murder, I can only try to relate my own experiences with convicted murders. In this case, even most, are cold-blooded killers is an expression of ignorance about these people. The vast majority of murders are intra-family affairs that exploded in a heat of passion. And for most of these men, 15 years of confinement, the minimum time that could have been spent in the degree of felony murder, is more than sufficient to keep them from killing again.
exactly who the "lost causes" are. We would then be in a position to deal with these men accordingly, and give badly needed assistance, and become positive members of our society.
Presently, psychiatric and psychological staff at our state prisons is lacking in both numbers and training. For a facility of about 1,000 men, we had exactly one psychiatrist, one M.D., two psychologists and a social worker. When one steps to think about the need for rehabilitation of the state, it is the hope of rehabilitating the most needy people in our state, it shouldn't be surprising that more than half never make it on the outside.
If we would only invest the dollars necessary, we might be able to correct this giant deficiency in our society. With numerous and well-trained staff, those who could not be rehabilitated could be placed separately in a maximum security facility, where they could be helped could be given the assistance needed to become productive citizens.
But to think that putting men to their death will help is totally fallacious. As a deterent, the fact that every criminal who commits murder must mits his crime, and therefore faces no punishment, certainly breaks that argument. And the fact that many convicted murders eventually go on to lead productions that make their lives ridiculously unnecessary.
Positive rehabilitation may take further expenditures by our Legislature, but the rewards to us as a society far outweigh the benefits (if any) of putting men to death.
Robert Swanson
Robert Swanson Sarasota, Fla., sophomore
Kansan's coverage lacked investigation
I am writing in regard to the story by Bill margins in the Tuesday, April 17 issue of the *Teen Age* magazine that I do not investigate a story before publishing it then let me make the "modest proposal" that a future article in the Kanan may be to investigate environmental pollution and educate students in charge that during the winter of 1976 a KU professor did not use protective devices of sufficiently thick cotton material to prevent the expiration of air from the nasal aperture.
To the editor:
Richard Nixon is a nice man.
Idi Amin is deeply religious.
Spiro Agnew has a sweet face.
Herman Talmadge loves his monica.
Warren Burger is a jolly jurist.
OF COURSE
ANYTHING MORE
NEGATIVE THAN
THIS CONSTITUTES
THE FREEDOMABLE
JOURNALISM?
The Environmental Protection Agency has been asked to investigate. The two scientists who were part of the country in 1976, state the professor did not inform people of the potential hazard. Furthermore the professor did not inform that such forced expirations of air would occur.
Lawrence graduate student
This negligence released an excess number of bacteria and viruses into the atmosphere. During the intervening three months, 50% of all patients may have been affected by this negligence.
Laurino Oberdieck
In addition to the environmental pollution, the student said that the professor had $400, which he planned to use to bribe the people of Lawrence into alienation. He did not use the money for bribes although bribing the students was part of university practice among university professors.
"No attempt was made to sit down and explain things to each individual," the student states. "The people didn't know quite what he was doing."
'Clinic' can't justify performing abortions To the editor
I was disappointed by the story you published on the Fox Hill so-called "surgery" clinic. How the systematic murdering of innocent children can be compared to the practice of medicine is beyond my comprehension. Do cry waiting rooms cater to the needs of cared for tools designed for the preservation of life justify the existence of this "clinic"?
Does the removal of death from dark alleys into illuminated "operating rooms" and its institutionalization make it safer? What does nature in any way? The pleasant atmosphere and the intensive counseling available to the ones who put out the murder contracts just go to show that technology allows us to art we have perfected over the last 30 years.
As for the opposition to the clinic, the elected representatives of the people of Overland Park were loooped into granting the license for this business on the condition that no abortions be performed there. When the county revoked, the individual representatives were taken to court sued and defeated on the ground of discrimination!
The fact that you publish an ad for these firefighters is bad enough, but half a page of the story would be less appealing and is personally repulsive. Yes, attitudes have changed, all right. I, for one, am more
Carl J. Hahn III Emporia senior
Ads for 'Tan Man' disturbing to senior
To the editor:
The recent ads about "Tan Man" make me feel uncomfortable. They disturb me because I get the impression that they are mocking a disabled person.
I hesitate to make this objection because I know it’s just in fun, but still I feel ashamed to see such questionable ads. I don’t know how much I should spend their ad money more constructively.
Jane Rowland
Topeka senior
Because of his experience in Roaland Park, Church thinks Mexican-Americans condone theft. It would seem Cross thinks Chicanos do not have the capacity to become respectable citizens with professional employment, but only deceiving, scrappy, brown-faced scrougners.
CROSS" ATTITUDE is warped, to say the last, and is one that has ripped, and will ruin the fabric.
Rooland Park's city attorney is supposed to carry out justice. But justice often has been delayed, and a judge's decision
Individuals, regardless of color or ethnic background, who are caught shoplifting or stealing, will be subject to suffer the penalty for their actions. And if there are attempts to provide fair justice, law enforcement may intervene.
who objectivc fair treatment for all in any area of our society are only fur-
It is not suggested that anyone rush with open arms to embrace another in pretended concern. There are real differences in attitudes and values, but sincere attempts at understanding different peoples must be made.
some believe such a goal is too idealistic and unreachable. That is their choice.
But those who fail to reach out in everyday life to bridge the racial gap and, instead, display prejudice must share the responsibility for future racial turmoil.
The burden of renewed racial conflict rests with such people.
Disinvesting can influence apartheid
PROBLEM STUDENT
If the Endowment Association continues with its investments, it may become blood money in more than one sense. The Endowment Association should add its weight now to the growing nationwide movement to disinvest from South Africa.
To the editor:
In their letter of April 17th, Dough Gentile and Tom Wany misconceived the purpose of the present campaign against investments in South Africa.
Miriam Ericsson
Overland Park junior
One purpose, certainly, is for the University to set a moral example. As other writers have observed, this University does not need blood money.
The 21 million non-white cannot at present do anything to win their own freedom from apartheid. The repressive force available to the government is too great. But the withdrawal of U.S. firms from South Africa would weaken South Africa's ability to defend the whites in South Africa aware for the first time that apartheid can hurt their incomes.
With the government's coercive powers weakened and with support from white businessmen dwindling, the black majority would have a far better chance to put an end to apartheid. It is hoped that they could do so peacefully. The state has long been the greater repression, the greater will be the risk of massive eventual bloodshed.
But of even greater importance, disinvesting from the U.S. companies that operate factories in South Africa can contribute directly and meaningfully to the overthrow of apartheid. The U.S. companies do find it embarrassing to their corporate headquarters when they publicly sell their shares. To prevent further public sales, some of the companies and banks already have conceded that their policies were wrong and have promised to sever their South African ties. As one example, Polaroid, which made the film used in the infamous "passes" that all South African firms must carry, has closed its factory there.
As a second example, the major U.S. banks bailed out the South African regime with billions of dollars in loans after the Soweto massacres two years ago had plunged South Africa into an economic crisis. But in recent months, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citibank and several of the other big banks have declared that they will never again grant government funds for their investment. They had good reason to make that promise. They were facing the imminent loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of university and church investments.
The white-dominated South African economy depends upon the U.S. corporations and banks. They provide the high-techion infrastructure that South Africa needs, but it would not provide the capital required for industrial expansion. They provide the sophisticated hardware and computer systems that the South African army and police forces require to operate in the population—the 84 percent who are non-white—under surveillance and military control. They provide part of the taxes that pay for that costly repression. Without the U.S. government, the African the state would be markedly weakened; the state would be weakened.
UNIVERSITY DAILY letters KANSAN
S. African racism
mandates divestiture To the editor:
Corporations have emphasized that they aid the black population by creating jobs, and they pride themselves on training programs of opportunity for employment and equal pay.
The KU Endowment Association's disinvestment from corporations operating in South Africa is mandated by the gross employment of 10% white population, and it is mandated by the failure of U.S. corporations to provide a justification for operating in South Africa, in that they cannot significantly improve the majority's living and working conditions.
The fact is, however, that the disparity in white-black income, which is on the average 17.8 percent lower than in corporations' presence there. The fact is that the black population will not have equal opportunity in South Africa, regardless of their inherent in the policies of the white regime.
In 1972, it was reported by the Minister of Banta Administration and Development that 'the Banta (apartheid terminology) or Black Bantas' were a sack of their labor. That labor is regulated by statute; they cannot simply work at random and at will . . . they are not here . . . to acquire what you and I (South African whites) can acquire in the sphere of labor
Any attempts at "equal opportunity employment" by individuals are mocked by South Africa's complex apartheid system. The government's attempt to detain to encourage black education and training because the status quo allows corporations to exploit cheap, intimidated work.
In essence, the stalk realty of the situation in South Africa is that the interests of those who do not own land are
black population's demands. The black population demands subsistence level wages, yet the corporations insist on maintaining low wages to enhance profits. The black population demands education and training, yet education and training foster discontent and this, in turn, threatens the corporation'sitation and domination of the black worker.
The black population must oppose the white regime that oppresses them, yet the corporations cooperate with the South African government to maintain their foothold there. The black population demands total destruction of the apartheid regime to free itself from slavery and unbearable squalor. Yet the corporations remain vulnerable to imprints in their corporations. Clearly, it is absurd to argue that the corporations' interest is in elevating the black population of South Africa.
Disinvestment in corporations operating in South Africa is the only means by which the apartheid regime will be toppled. John Koehler, an American African Congress of Trade Unionists, stated recently, "The end of foreign investment in South Africa is, of course, a tactical question; it is a means of undermining the capital market so that such importance that there can be no compromise whatsoever about it from our point of view. Foreign investment is a pillar of the whole system which maintains the virtual control of the Black Workers in South Africa."
The Endowment Association is morally bound to disinvest in corporations operating in South Africa, considering what it knows about their operations. It could not flourish in the hands of South African oppressors if they were not nourished on our corporation investment there, whoever nourishes the corporations in South Africa could not do so morally responsible for the oppression.
Nancy Haskins Lawrence junior
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