THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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OPINION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
Freak storm prompts mixed responses
Sunday's wind storm blew hard through the city of Lawrence and the campus. Here's our run down of the good and bad of how the authorities and students handled the storm.
Good. Way to go Facilities Operations. With the hard work of all its employees, campus was cleaned up and made safe within 48 hours. At the peak of work on Sunday, more than 400 employees from ground and building crews were cleaning up and assessing damage. Workers stopped weekend plans and worked 10- to 12-hour shifts on Sunday.
Bad. Tornado sirens. The sirens went off late and students didn't have enough time to respond to them. Students said they didn't hear the siren wall.
Good. Classes were cancelled. Not only was this the smart thing for the University to do regarding safety and cleanup, but students got a surprise three-week and a mini-breather before Spring Break.
Bad. A poor job by the Public Safety Office in managing campus. Officers were incorrectly telling pedestrians that campus was closed. Their orders were to discourage students from being on campus, but The University Daily Kansan heard accounts from students about officers telling students they couldn't go on campus. Memorial Drive was blocked near Carruth
Issue: Official response to Sunday's storm
Stance: Overall, we applaud the University's and city's response to the unexpected damage.
and O'Leary Hall by an officer about 2 p.m. Sunday, but not on the Mississippi Street entrance. Officers later blocked both entrances.
Bad. Power outage. Students in the Oread Neighborhood didn't get power back until about midnight Sunday, and some not until Monday. Waiting to fix lines until the expected second storm, which never came, set the process back and left students in the dark.
Good. The office did cut down on campus foot traffic by Sunday afternoon.
Good. The Office of Admissions held special presentations for visitors who had campus tours scheduled for Monday. All of its staff was also working on presentations for the potential students and their families at the Visitor's Center west of Templin Hall.
Things get complicated during a fluke storm, and it's not easy to respond. Overall, the city and the University did a good job reacting to the storm.
John Jordan for the editorial board.
Free for All
ever happened to me.
Call 864-0500
I just want you to know I was really happy about having a day off because of the tornado, and it's totally ruined because the Cryptoclip clue is wrong again.
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
PAGE 7A
Somebody just delivered a UDK to my front yard. That's like the coolest thing that's
To the two girls who were taking stupid photos in Anschutz library when they thought no one was looking, I
No opinion page? I have opinions on days I'm out of school too, you know.
Kansas needs school funds; casinos are not the answer
Does anyone else think it's ironic that The Weather Channel is having Tornado Watch
Facebook, this is the worst day of my life. I just got dumped by two of my friends.
pretty sweet.
If I could get all my tests on Facebook, I think I would study a lot more. It would be much sweet.
COMMENTARY
this week
menus
Last week the editorial board suggested that casino gambling could benefit Kansas but that a casino shouldn't come to Lawrence.
But more casinos in Kansas will not help our state. To win at gambling, you need to understand the numbers, and they don't add up for this deal.
Kansas already has four casinos operated by Indian Tribes. Those casinos posted less than 1 percent growth last year, according to The Kansas City Star. Contrast that against the 15 percent growth experienced by tribal casinos nationwide last year.
While the gaming industry stagnates in Kansas,political lobbying for it has grown by leaps and bounds. Campaign contributions from the gaming industry have risen 300 percent in the past 6 years, according to The Wichita Eagle.
City that doesn't even exist.
Missouri made just over $400 million in tax revenue from 11 casinos last year, according to the American Gaming Association. The proponents of this bill have suggested that Kansas can earn $200 to $300 million a year on only two casinos plus slot machines at three race tracks. Of those three tracks, the Wyandotte County one would be in direct competition with one of the proposed casinos and track in Dodge
COURTNEY FARR
opinion@kansan.com
Bill 587 would put a casino in Wyandotte County and one in southeast Kansas. Trying to bank on the success of the Kansas Speedway and the surrounding area sounds great, but Kansas City already has a well established gaming industry. With four casinos in the area, the gambling market is at a saturation point — Kansas City residents don't need another place to throw dice or play slots.
If our representatives wanted to cash in on the gaming resurgence, we should have led rather than followed. Expanded gaming in Kansas 10 years ago would have been a great idea. Now, it's just bandwagon jumping. "Everyone else is doing it, so why not us" does not make good political reasoning. We don't let children use such logic and we shouldn't let our politicians either.
Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma all have gambling establishments. Our two casinos would be put in direct competition with
those in Missouri and Oklahoma. With the glut of casinos available in surrounding states, these establishments would predominantly attract Kansans. This is opposite of the way a healthy gambling industry should act. A casino should attract outside tourism and take more money from tourists than it does locals.
If gambling revenue comes mainly from our own citizens, other Kansas businesses will suffer. Every local dollar lost to a casino is a dollar that could have gone to a Kansas-owned business and generated tax revenue for the state.
Admittedly, Kansas needs money. All governments need, or at least want, more money than they have. Gambling revenue sounds great, hundreds of millions of dollars without more taxes. But their dollar estimates don't make sense given the state of gambling in the Midwest.
My suggestion to the legislators: Give up on gambling. Put your time and our tax dollars to work building a stronger Kansas economy that continues to grow. Don't saddle us with state-owned casinos designed to siphon money away from Kansas businesses.
Farr is a Scott City senior in journalism.
▼ GUEST COMMENTARY
Storm prompts unexpected unity in the face of adversity
About seven in the morning, I woke up to thunder outside my window. My cats, unfamiliar with thunderstorms, began to get ruffled. At eight, the thunder was closer and there was no sleep for me. I fully woke up with a wall of wind smashed into the side of my apartment building.
I peeked through my blinds in time to see debris spinning around and a small tree next to my parking lot getting ripped out and tossed like a toy into the street. I calmly sat down on my bed and thought to myself "Huh, a tornado." As branches and rocks hammered against my windows, I turned on the television just in time to see "Tornadoes ravage Midwest" on CNN. Then the power cut off as a crash shook the building.
Five minutes later, I stood in front of my third floor apartment.
Not even a football field away, three other concrete columns had been reduced
He told me he woke up when his door flew open. Underneath his feet, the walkway had already buckled under the weight of the bricks. He was safe, but he was getting the hell out of there. Down on the ground, looking up at the third floor damage, the roof dipped precariously. Bit by bit,
to a pile of rubble. My neighbor was standing just outside his doorway; the bricks and wind had knocked the door in.
MARK VIERTHALER opinion@kansan.com
the other people in the building began to trickle out of their apartments, despite the tornado sires still blaring.
our eyes, we stood on the ground and gazed up at what looked like a modern art sculpture. At our feet were several shattered bricks and a mangled terrace. For a few minutes, only the pop of flashes, the click of camera phones and the whirring of digital cameras could be heard.
We had to leave. I was able to load my cats into their carriers and we were sent on our way. They weren't sure if we would be
Dazed, some of us still wiping the sleep out of
able to get back in. So, through the charity of one of my friends, I was able to sit in his living room and watch the damage unfold on the television screen.
I spent the day either in my car or glued to my computer and my friend's television. According to my landlord, the roof was unstable and there was a chance I would have to spend the night in a hotel. After what felt like one of the most exhausting days of my life, long hours of not knowing what was happening, I drove by the complex and there was a small piece of paper tacked to the first floor pillar. I could move back in.
By that point, it was 7 p.m., almost twelve hours after everyone in my building was put to the winds. Everyone was disheveled. Most of us hadn't showered. Five minutes after I moved in, the entire block lost power.
Below me. a crv rang out.
DOWN HERE, a crying king
"I f—ing hate this place!"
This was quickly followed with
weary laughter.
By then, it was almost pitch black out and the people moving back had become wraiths in the darkness. Somewhere in the darkness, a boom box came to life and began blasting Credence Clear Water Revival.
People began to sing along. One of my neighbors picked his way across the branches and bricks still littering our walkway and handed me a beer.
"Hey," he said. "At least we won."
Vierthaler is a Dodge City junior in journalism.
Spring break fling can be liberating
▼ COMMENTARY
COURTNEY HAGEN opinion@kansan.com
Spring break is so close that you can almost taste the sticky, sweet syrup of strawberry margaritas or feel the sting of fresh snow on skin. A 2004 article from American Demographics reported that 2.14 million college students traveled for spring break in 2003. If you are like millions of other college students across this nation, you will be hitting the road headed to exotic locales or if you are really lucky, hotspots like Omaha, Tulsa or Pittsburgh.
Getting away for spring break provides a much-needed reprieve from the daily grind of life at the University of Kansas. Whether you are headed to the beach or headed home, the break brings fresh opportunities your way.
Such flippancy offers no greater time to plunge into the deep and murky waters of spring break hook-ups. The hook-up waters are never tame or easy to navigate. You have to jump in feet first, holding your breath and hope you will wash up with the tide once the ride is over. In these waters anything (and almost everything) goes. When anything goes, go with it. What happens in Cancun or Aspen stays in Cancun or Aspen.
Everything blooms in the spring, so why can't your life love? Spring break is the international mating call for all single and frisky college students. It is also probably one of the only times in one's life when the phrase "I'm sooooo drunk!" can sum up so many ideas at all once and pass as acceptable communication between adults.
There is no better time to experience a new love or reinvigorate an old one, than during spring break, when the mood is a little lighter and the sun is shining a little brighter.
While true and honest love might not hit you like a bottle of Budweiser on the head, at least the relaxation and utter frivolity of the break can bring you some much needed passion. You might not find your future spouse or life partner, but at least you might have a nice little romp in the sand or snow.
After all, if your hook-up (or lack there!) goes awry, you always have the cushion of hundreds of miles to distance you from your "Girls Gone Wild" behavior.
Though the chance to carelessly dissociate yourself from your careless behavior comes at a price. With excess comes consequence. If you are smart and lucky, the only thing you will bring home from your spring break is a nice looking tan and some really cool pictures.
So with that said, pack your bags, because your next spring break hook-up is just a few days and a plane flight or a road trip away. Be careful, have fun, and most importantly, have a drink for me!
Hagen is a Council Bluffs, Iowa, junior in journalism and theater and film
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Jonathan Keating, Joshua Bickel, Nate Karlin,
Jason Sheaad, Patrick Ross, Ty Beaver, John
Jordan, Malinda Anderson
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