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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Friday, Jan. 17, 1986
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The Douglas County Commission has asked Lawrence and the other three incorporated cities in the county to decide whether there is a need for a countywide proposal that would place the responsibility of vicious dog attacks with owners.
Restrictions not enough
The pit bull breed needs to be banned.
Pit bull owners and breeders are quick to scream about their rights when communities seek to rid themselves of the dogs, claiming that one breed should not be singled out.
The commission, spurred by recent area pit bull terrier attacks, is correct in calling for measures regarding dog attacks, but simple restrictions are not the answer.
But pit bulls have succeeded in singling themselves out.
Granted, other dogs, such as German shepherds and Doberman pinschers, are sometimes involved in attacks on human beings. But the pit bull is by far the leading culprit in reports of mauling and killings.
And often, as was the case when three-year-old Robert Cole Corbidge was seriously injured by two pit bulls Dec. 2 in Eudora, children are the victims.
President Reagan's campaign to vilify Libya's Moammar Khadafy is misdirected.
There is no doubt that Khadafy has been a thorn in the side of every peace-loving nation. He actively supports terrorism, and there is good reason for alarm at the growing use of this form of violence to attract attention to the Palestinian cause.
The threat of fines and jail terms is seen as at least somewhat effective when dealing with most of the problems in our society.
But how does the owner of a pit bull explain that threat to a dog?
A half-dozen pit bull maulings were reported in the Kansas City area in the last year, and several communities in the metropolitan area have moved to ban the dogs.
County Commissioner David Hopper proposed that the owners of any animals with a vicious nature be held liable for any attacks.
But name-calling by the leader of one of the most powerful nations of the world will do nothing to fight terrorism. Instead, it will serve to legitimize Khadafy with the fanatical fringe of the Arab world.
More than Khadafy
Reagan's economic sanctions, aimed at lessening Khadafy's influence by hitting him at a time when Libya already is experiencing problems due to the oil glut, have not been well-received by other Western powers. They will, therefore, be of limited effectiveness.
Fines and jail terms also will only come after the fact. Robert Corbidge's parents probably have a hard time understanding that kind of logic.
Reagan's third tactic is to provoke Khadafy into another attack on Americans, thereby providing the United States with an excuse for military retribution. Now that all Americans have been ordered out of Libya, the setting is ripe
But a retaliatory strike would kill far more of the innocent than it would the guilty. Furthermore, such a strike would be as much in violation of international law as would the terrorist act itself.
for such an attack
During the administration's buildup of anti-Khadafy hype, some even suggested that Khadafy should be assassinated. Getting rid of Khadafy, however, will not solve the problem of terrorism.
The terrorism that originates in the Arab world is deeply rooted in a philosophy that few in the Western world understand. It is based on a fanatical commitment to the "Jihad," or holy war.
This terrorism only will be combatted when peaceful solutions to difficult problems have been found. The peace process that culminated in the Camp David accords in 1979 was more effective at the time than threats of military or economic action would have been.
The answer to terrorism is not to be found in the military or the economic realm, but in the political.
Call it Murphy's Law.
Shuttle troubles
The current flight of the space shuttle Columbia already had set a record for the most postponed launches 7. The crew spent their entire first day in orbit trying to fix broken equipment.
But the mission's attempt to capture once-in-a-generation close-up photos of Halley's comet was snarled by a more mundane problem — dead batteries.
Certain glitches are expected on the shuttle flights, which rely on complex, computerized equipment worth millions.
Apparently someone had
switched on the light intensifier, a kind of glorified flash attachment, to the shuttle's cameras when the crew was first preparing for launch five or six weeks ago.
What's worse, more problems may cause the scrubbing of a scheduled March 6 shuttle flight, which would have given astronomers an even closer look at the comet.
Drained batteries are something we might expect from harried commuters, but not from NASA technicians on jobs that cost thousands of dollars each minute. And certainly not on the rare opportunity to catch a comet for our scientific scrapbooks.
News staff
News staff
Michael Totty ... Editor
Laurea McMillan ... Managing editor
Chris Barber ... Editorial editor
Cindy McCurry ... Campus editor
David Giles ... Sports editor
Brice Waddill ... Photo editor
Susanne Shaw ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Brett McCabe ... Business manager
David Nixon ... Retail sales manager
Jim Williamson ... Campus manager
Lori Eckart ... Classified manager
Caroline Innes ... Production manager
Pallen Lee ... National manager
John Oberzan ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Tavern deserves federal support. too
Old Harry told me that he's closing his corner tavern for good in a few weeks. His regular customers have been aging or dying off, and the young ones have been moving to hangouts with ferns and females. His place could use a remodeling, but he can't afford it and no bank will make a loan.
When he told me his troubles, I asked him why he didn't call the White House and ask for a subsidy.
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"The government doesn't subsidize taverns. Why should they?"
There's a valid reason why they should. It's called fairness.
I don't understand how this form of welfare works, but it amounts to a
will be able to afford to take up smoking. That assures the cigarette industry of future customer-addicts.
handout of taxpayer's money to support those who grow tobacco, which helps keep the cigarette price down. If the price stays down, young people
Mike Royko Chicago Tribune
Ah, you are saying that it wouldn't be right to subsidize a tavern because taverns sell something that can be harmful to the user.
That's true. But on the other hand, you can order a ginger ale from Harry, and he'll be just as cordial host. And you can sit there for half the day, listening to the jukebox, playing his faded old pool table, and
One might make a case that Harry holds a moral edge over those in the tobacco business, who can't survive without millions of addict-customers. And, it appears, without the help of the federal government.
That's why it seems unfair for Harry to go out of business. Sen, Jesse Helms, the right-winger from North Carolina, can talk for hours about those poor 'l' tobacco farmers in his state, who will have to take up some other line of work if Uncle Sam doesn't help them out.
And Helms will successfully go in and bend President Reagan's arms until he gets the kind of handout he wants. Take away those student loans, says Jesse, but don't mess with my tobacco farmers.
Well, what about Old Harry? If Jesse Helms' farmers can get a handout from the taxpayers for the pur-
using his washroom, which is cleaned at least once a week.
pose of creating tobacco addicts, why can't Old Harry get a handout to draw an honest beer?
I explained all this to Harry, but he said: "Nah, if I called the White House, they'd just think I was a nut."
That's probably true, Jesse Helms can go in there and argue for hundreds of millions of handouts to people who are in the lung cancer business.
But if Harry called, the Secret Service would probably come around to check him out.
COME AND GET IT, KHADAFY!!!
So I made one final suggestion to Harry.
I told him to drop a note to Naney Reagan and congratulate her efforts to dissuade young people from using drugs and becoming addicts.
And to end the note by saying: "P.S. Hey, Nancy, when Jesse Helms comes to the White House, what do you say to him about addiction?"
"The Cubans are now the backbone of the Sandinista army. Their advisers are found everywhere."
U.S. may be forced to war because of Marxist threat
"They aren't just admvers," said Elliott Abrams, assistant secretary of state for American affairs. "They seem to be in combat. too."
Nicaragua was barely touched during President Reagan's meeting with Mexico's President Miguel de la Madrid earlier this month.
The main issue discussed was economic hardship, one of the many plagues faced by the Central American region.
Mexico, along with Colombia, Venezuela and Panama — the Contadora nations — fear guerrilla warfare in the region. The Contadora's principal interest, as well as the interest of other non-communist Central and South American countries, is peace.
U. S. intelligence personnel have confirmed that 3,000 Cuban military advisers are in Nicaragua.
They see the conflict between the United States and Nicaragua as the biggest danger. To them the threat of further violence exceeds the threat of Marxism.
Marxism, however, is a growing threat to peace and freedom that can't be ignored. The Marxist Sandista regime in Nicaragua is being fought by rebels the United States supports. Supporting the contras is the alternative to intervention with U.S. troops. However, little is known about what the rebels actually plan to do.
The conflict is important to the surrounding countries because, by geographic circumstance, they're involved.
The fact is, though, the Sandinista government is a finger on one arm of the Soviet international network, via Cuba, dedicated to violating human rights and expanding communism.
They are important to the conflict because it is the non-communist countries the United States wishes to protect by its involvement in the area.
It is easier for the United States to fight communism there because the conflict doesn't occur on or very near U.S. boundaries, in contrast to conflicts in Panama or El Salvador.
The link between the Sandinistas and the seizure of the Palace of Justice in Colombia in November has also been confirmed. Guns found at the site bore serial numbers identify
Evan Walter Staff columnist
ing them as part of the Cuban shipment to Nicaragua.
"More than the material well-being the revolution could have brought or can offer," Ortega said, "is the moral satisfaction of the people."
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega seemed untroubled by the financial hardship of his people.
That's how it is with Marxism — patriotism over health and prosperity. Democracy promises otherwise.
"The answer to Central America's problem," President Reagan said in a weekly Saturday address last month, "is political and economic freedom, not Soviet tanks and ruthless regimes like the Communist dictatorship in Nicaragua."
When Congress returns Tuesday, legislators will consider what to do with Nicaragua. The Contadora nations want the United States to cease humanitarian aid. The president wants more. Obviously, many problems exist.
Communism must either be accepted or fought with strength. That is the main reason for the stalemate restiveness in Central America.
For one, as the Sandinistas become more powerful, the people more patriotic and Cuba more involved, fighting will intensify and a revolution will become more unlikely.
Second, the rebels we support are revolutionary. We don't know their philosophies as well as we know their combat skills. Are they equipped with the knowledge and the abilities to form a democratic government?
If worse comes to worse, and the communists become too strong — although they're really too strong already — the United States might have to forfeit its faith in the rebels and take arms itself.
With Cuba endangering the safety and freedom of Central America through the Sandinistas, revolution might no longer be the imminent threat. War would.
Mailbox
To each his own
In response to "Smoking industry twisting the truth" (Kansan, Jan. 15).
Apparently, Tim Erickson has never seen an alcohol advertisement. Why try to make tenuous connections between tobacco and heroin or PCP? Alcohol could easily be considered a "deadly drug." Certainly there are more deaths attributed to it than either heroin or PCP.
As for whether or not commercial drugs are advertised, Mr. Erickson only points out his own naiveate. How does Mr. Erickson presume doctors and vets are made aware of synthetic morphine or PCP? A glance through some topical trade journals ought to point out that indeed drugs with medical applications are sold commercially, through advertisement.
The difference between drugs such as alcohol or tobacco, and heroin or PCP is that the former have the sanction of a majority of our culture. Tobacco is a part of our culture because when Europeans "discovered" it, it was thought to be a harmless habit.
Today, in spite of tobacco lobbists, we know there is a correlation between smoking and respiratory-circulatory disorders. Mr. Erickson would like us to believe that this statistical correlation implies that anyone who smokes will be strenched with some life-shattering disease.
Mr. Erickson also seems to believe it is his duty to save the universe from smokers and smokers from themselves.
A noble sentiment? Perhaps, but not the foundation of American law. American law is not based on some abstraction of total security for the individual. It is based on a much more important abstraction of individual responsibility. Our government was based on the ideal that people can and must choose what they believe is proper. Fortunately, we don't need permission from Mr. Erickson to choose.
Yes, people will make mistakes. Many of them will even die as a result of their mistakes. Although it is painful, this is what responsibility is all about. Responsibility guarantees access to both success and failure. It is through this method that men learn.
No society can hold the hand of its citizens, like some omniscient presence, and guide each person to a richer, fuller life. It is up to the individual to realize his station in life and choose how he or she shall attain it.
Making mistakes is the thing that informs a person whether he or she has made a proper choice. So while Mr. Erickson screeches for the end of choice in this matter, let the rest of us choose as we see fit.
Thad Wooster
Salina junior
Bring back old KLZR
It was less than two months ago that I was surprised to read an article in the Kansan stating that KLZR 106 had signed a contract to join a national satellite network.
I didn't really pay that much attention at the time, as I've found KLZR consistently excellent for the last three years that I've been here at KU. I couldn't imagine that the station managers would be crazy enough to tamper with a good thing. Well, I was wrong. The new KLZR is here and no, it is not better.
When KLZR changed formats, they changed DJs. KLZR's DJs were some of the best in the business. They had lots of personality on the air, but they never got carried away and acted as if they were more important than the music (unlike the national DJs, who act as if they are the reason that radio was invented).
we consider the 'rhythm'. We change the duration. We already get four hit radio stations (Q104, B95, 97FM and Z299) that sound like clones, but KLZR's management has seen fit to give us a fifth clone.
The old KLZR played the hits and the local favorites such as Jason and the Scorchers, R.E.M. and Kate Bush, not to mention our requests. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I don't think I've heard a song on the new KLZR that wasn't in the billboard Top 40.
The old KLZR took chances on new and progressive music to provide an enjoyable and unique sound. But now, all the good features are gone, and we are left with obnoxious DJs (could they possibly be ex-used car salesmen)? who seem to feel that they are God's gift to the radio and a tute selection of music that seems to repeat itself every hour.
So, what are we, the suffering radio public, to do? It looks like we'll have to flip the dial, buy lots of prerecorded music, or just plain suffer until the management at KLZR has the good sense to bring back the Real Thing.
I want my old KLZR!
Keith Hayes Shawnee junior