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Monday, March 2, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
A tragic best seller
Today, one of the most-awaited books in American history will become available to the general public. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. But most of all, it will make you wonder whether Ronald Reagan and his staff are competent to run a small business, let alone a country.
The Tower Report, findings of the special board that looked into impropriety in the National Security Council and the administration's handling of the Iran arms deal, will be sold to the public starting today. The report tells of a president who was unaware of what his staff was up to, missing notes from key meetings and renegade staff members.
In discussing the president's role in the arms deal, the report says, "The president did not seem to be aware of the way in which the operation was implemented and the full
consequences of U.S. participation." That is definitely not what the voters of the United States expected from their leader.
The report also shows the activities of Lt. Col. Oliver North and then national security adviser John Poindexter in obtaining aid for the contrasts. The two were shown to have misled other government officials, to have destroyed valuable evidence and even to have threatened the president of Costa Rica to get his government's cooperation.
If Reagan is to have any effectiveness as a leader for the remainder of his term, he needs to become aware of every detail that goes on in the White House. Next, he needs to seriously question the performance of each of his aides, clearing out the renegade players.
Abuse of power
Kansas has been put in an embarrassing situation with the recent allegations of patient abuse at the Winfield State Hospital and Training Center.
The state has a moral and lawful obligation to protect and care for its citizens, primarily those who can't take care of themselves. Obviously, the state has failed in this instance.
Federal investigators accused the facility of violating direct orders from officials in the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. Federal officials also found instances where the hospital's staff members deliberately falsified injury and accident reports to cover up staff abuse of residents. And when staff members went to inform authorities of the wrongdoings, they allegedly were threatened by co-workers.
Although the state cannot be
directly responsible for these actions, it can be indirectly accountable for not having a system to check on the conditions of patients living in its facilities.
Lawmakers have ordered an emergency audit of the abuse-reporting system at Winfield to see why the system failed and what type of system would be necessary to protect residents from future abuse.
By taking Winfield's certification away, the hospital loses $700,000 a month in Medicaid funds, but it's the residents who lose the most.
Many mentally retarded citizens need state hospitals, but the Winfield State Hospital should be recertified only when conditions are perfect. A watchdog system should be established not only for Winfield, but also for all state-run institutions. One would hope Kansas would not be put in this type of situation again.
A true competitor
His desire to manage again was enormous. But his concern for his health and for the welfare of the team was even greater. So last week, after the first few days of spring training, Howser resigned once again as manager of the Royals. Billy Gardner, former Minnesota Twins manager who was hired to be the Royals third-base coach, will take over. Howser still will remain with the organization in some capacity, said Joe Burke, the club's vice president.
Last summer, Dick Howser stepped down from his position as manager of the Kansas City Royals after a malignant tumor was diagnosed in his brain. But, being a true competitor, he fought the tough battle to overcome his aliment and made a triumphant return to his team.
Although Howser decided
that he was not ready to resume his duties as manager for another season, he should be commended for the attitude and spirit he maintained while trying to combat a dreaded illness. He should serve as a prime example to others who are facing similar circumstances. He showed that just because a person is affected with a life-threatening disease, all hope is not lost.
Dick Howser embodies the spirit of a true competitor. He proved that although he may have been down in the late innings, he had enough determination and stamina to win the game. He has contributed a lot to the team, including a 1983 World Series championship. We wish him luck in life and in whatever role he may play in the Royals organization.
News staff
News staff
Frank Hansel  Editor
Jennifer Benjamin  Managing editor
Juli Warren  News editor
Brian Kaberline  Editorial editor
Sandra Engelland  Campus editor
Mark Sebert  Sports editor
Diane Dullmeier  Photo editor
Bill Skeet  Graphics editor
Tom Eblen  General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Lisa Weens. Business manager
Bonnie Hardy. Advertiser
Denise Stephens. Retail sales manager
Kelly Scherer. Campus sales manager
Duncan Calhoun. Marketing manager
Lori Coppel. Classified manager
Kunter Liemianski. Production manager
David Nixon. National sales manager
Jeanne Hines. Sales and marketing adviser
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Opinions
Life and times of an overweight man
I was a fat kid. Now, much to my displeasure, I am a plump adult. Not quite circus attraction material, but definitely not in the running for any "lean, mean machine" awards.
Bob Hart Columnist
Why do I, and millions of other Americans, do this to ourselves? Did we have unhappy childhoods? Are we lonely and insecure, using food as a much-needed friend? Do we have a death wish? Overeaters Anonymous, a non-profit organization patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous, is a firm believer in these theories. I am not.
Unlike a lot of overweight people, I am not puzzled by what has brought me to my current condition. I eat like a hog. No, make that a yard full of hogs. To be perfectly honest, I am amazed that I don't weigh more than I do. I'm certain that Robert Earl Hughes, that legendary "fattest man in the world," (nearly 1,200 pounds), wouldn't have been able to out-snort me at the all-you-can-eat Border Bardio buffet. And if that other Bob and I ever had met face to face for a cheap beer-guzzling contest, I know I'd have burped my way to victory.
People who eat a lot, people who really like the taste of food and long for the sight of a big turkey dinner with all the trimmingss are, to me, more interesting — and certainly more fun to be around — than those skinny, carrot stick munchers ever will be. The old adage that fat people are "jolly" may be a sweeping generalization, but there's a grain of truth to be found in that stereotype. There is a certain zest for life that comes from devouring an entire Sarah Lee cheesecake. It's like saying, "Hey world, I'm alive and I feel great and boy, is this good!" Skinny people just can't understand.
So why is everyone, myself included, always whining about his or her weight and struggling to shed those extra pounds? Two reasons come to mind immediately.
1. Health. As we all know, overweight people are at a greater risk of developing heart disease. As a statistical segment of the population, their life expectancies are significantly lower than people of "normal" weight.
Those are scientific facts, and I haven't been able to come up with a good argument to displease them. But might I say that the ways in which a lot of people stick to their "normal" weights are far from healthy. Call me kooky, but I'd rather haul around some extra Bob than I would a) stave myself; b) force myself to vomit; c) swallow legalized speed; or d) drink banana/celery milk shakes all day.
2. Appearance. It's no secret that it's easier to get by in almost every aspect of daily life if you look good. And because someone somewhere
lecided that that "looking good" meant seeing thin, those of us who are not are not thin.
Well, hard cheese, right? That's just the way it is, as the song says. But don't you believe it. Not everyone ranks visible ribs as the number one requirement for attractiveness, I for one, always have been attracted to women who are larger than the one on the cover of Vogue. In the past, I considered a person's intelligence, sense of humor and treatment of others as part of what made that person attractive or unattractive.
A friend of mine, who knows that I am sensitive about my weight, wrote a song about me once. It's to the tune of "Just a Gigolo," and the first few lines go, "I'm just a buffalo/ And everywhere I go. I people hide the food they're eating." A lot of people wear this dress, but my similarly accurate description of their vices But not me I thought it was funny.
Thank God I'm so jolly
Mailbox
Satiric reply
Am I being satirical? You bet. To each his own, I always say. This letter is in response to John Benner's column, "Greek life anything but dull." Benner obviously needs attention, and he's going to get it. He can't expect to write a column like that and not receive either negative or positive letters in response. However, mine is neither of the above, but instead a letter of sympathy to all of the individuals who are not associated with the greek system. He has placed a rainy cloud over "your kind" and given umbrellas only to 'my kind.'
I live in one of those buildings which are called "fraternities" in Greece, and if you can believe it, I have yet to surrender my privacy. In fact, I have the option of socializing with my "huge group" or enjoying my privacy with a woman who has "huge ribbons." Living in a fraternity sometimes enables greets to view the outside from within. Have you ever driven past Joseph R.
Pearson Hall and watched all those guys playing basketball? You know what? They'll probably never go on to play professional ball, even though many of them are wearing high-tops. Kind of like the guys who "wear the sailors shoes but with no socks, and never go sailing." It's simply appalling!
Enough satire. Someone once said, "We mock what we don't understand." George Padapoulous, the Greek hired tour guide, once said, "The better the car a man has, the larger a hair ribbon he can get." How ironic that another Greece once said, "The more close-minded a man is, the less female intuition he receives."
Another view
Keith Puritz Prairie Village junior
katz
Alburtay says that Kansans, in essence, say "We should kill these criminals, but we aren't sure why." Deterrence is not necessarily the primary argument for capital punishment. I believe many Kansans know that murder in cold blood deserves an equal punishment if the suspect is proven, beyond any reasonable doubt, guilty.
Joseph Alburty's letter, "Thoughts on penalty," from the Feb. 20 Kansan begins with some convincing arguments against the death penalty, but it quickly sorets before it is half over.
He then states that economic unfeasibility and the potential for wrongfully convicted men to be put to death are two other arguments put forth by those "dissatisfied with the perfectness of the concept." First, Albury's reference to economic unfeasibility shows his misinformation. Even after court costs and arbitration of the sentence, the total is much less than a lengthy prison sentence. Taxpayers shell out an average of $20,000 per year for confinement of a convicted killer. The chance of a mistake could be greatly reduced by a conscientious jury.
Perhaps the most appalling feature of the letter is when it says, "Dealing
with murderers is a serious subject. A killer or repeated rapist is in himself a wretched creature. "Drug abuse and drunk driving are serious subjects, but the unlawful, brutal and cold snuffing of an innocent human life is the worst and most perilous to man. The punishment should reflect that. Killers and rapists are in fact wretched creatures.
Albury is correct in a sense because the average time served by a first-degree murderer is 10 to 12.5 years, according to an article in Newsweek magazine on Feb. 16. Thus, a "life" sentence would be more advantageous to the taxpayer than killing Kansans are not hypothetical. They themselves by the fact that a "life sentence" never means life. It means a few years, and then it's open season on the United States.
Brad Taylor Leawood sophomore
k. l. thorman
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed