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Wednesday, April 20, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Opinion
Speed limit should be lower in neighborhood next to KU
Residents of University Place Neighborhood — bordered by Louisiana Street on the east, Naismith Drive on the west, Sunnyside Avenue on the north, and 19th Street on the south — are attempting to get their neighborhood speed limit lowered to 20 mph. The area is sandwiched between 20 mph zones, on the KU campus and on 19th Street near Lawrence High School
In an area full of pedestrians, drivers must be forced to maintain a safe speed. But in the neighborhood between the University of Kansas and 19th Street, motorists are allowed to drive 30 mph, and many take the liberty of driving faster. This dangerous situation should be corrected.
Neva Entrikin, chairman of the University Place Traffic Commission and resident of the neighborhood, said that motorists should not be allowed to speed through the area between the slower zones.
"Here we are squeezed between two 20 mph zones. People can get in our neighborhood and drive faster," she said.
About 40 elementary school students live in the neighborhood, and excited children just released from school don't mix well with speeding cars. In addition, many KU students and staff walk through the neighborhood several times a day.
University Place Neighborhood residents met with the city traffic safety commission April 11, and the commissioners approved the proposal to lower the neighborhood's speed limit to 20 mph. It is now up to the city commission to accept this recommendation.
City commissioners should heed the request to protect people walking through University Place Neighborhood. There is no reason for an area full of pedestrians to be a speedway between two slower zones.
Alan Player for the editorial board
Who is he to judge what and when a gap occurs? Thanks to Speakes, the public can now add "Presidential Quotations" to the debate arena that includes the argument of who really wrote William Shakespeare's plays.
Speakes stuck foot in mouth
You don't have to be a fan of President Reagan to feel angry at Larry Speakes and his revelations about "filling the gaps" for the president whenever he thought it was necessary.
The idea of a presidential spokesman creating quotes for the chief executive is an outrage for whatever reason Speakes can come up with. No excuse can justify his actions.
culture up with Well. When Speakes took it upon himself to put words into the president's mouth, he did more damage to himself by putting his foot into his own mouth.
Perhaps he really did the public a favor with his confession and people will now believe only what they see and hear. Secondhand information may become a thing of the past
Secondary information The U.S. public deserves straight talk from the Oval Office and nothing less. As for Speakes, perhaps he would do better finding an occupation that is better suited for his self-admitted talents — as a ventriloquist. However, it might be difficult to figure out which one the dummy is.
Van jenerete for the editorial board Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board
Generalizing is unfair to all races
Accusing all whites of being racist fuels anger and brings more problems
I, too, have walked across parking lots and heard car doors being locked. I too have walked down the street and not been spoken to by people who passed me. Recently, I tried unsuccessfully to convince an elderly white man to let me use his phone to call for help when my car had broken down. And on my last birthday, the only card I received was from my parents. Unlike Richard Felton, however, I am white. And, unlike Felton, I failed to attribute any of these instances to discrimination of any kind.
it is not unusual for people to lock their doors before leaving parking lots, nor is it unusual for people sitting in their cars to lock the doors at the approach of a male of any race. It is also to be expected that some people will be hesitant to open their doors to strangers, whether white or black. As for not being spoken to by people on the street, it has been my experience that few people are willing to take the time to speak to someone they don't know and probably will never see again. And as to those blacks who have not received birthday (or any other kind of) greeting cards, I result sympathize but hardly think this is the result of any kind of racial discrimination.
David Melton
Guest Columnist
Before going any further, I would like to first comment on the short pop quiz that began your column. I found it to be offensive, but I was even more offended by the answers that you provided. One of my best friends of eight years is black, and he is not an athlete, politician, public figure or entertainer of any kind. He has been to my house many times, and my parents have accepted his presence in their home without a second thought. But according to you, deep down, I know that my parents really don't want him in their home. How dare you intimate that my parents and I are racists! Perhaps you will find this difficult to believe, but neither my parents nor I ever took into consideration the fact that my best friend's skin was a different color than ours. And, yes, I do know what apartheid is and where it is practiced.
Other Voices
In fact, I even know what the differences are between the contrasts and the Sandinistas, what Oliver North did, who's running for president, where the capital of Missouri is, and where the location of the Soviet Union is (although I have no idea what most of these things have to do with racism). I am not ignorant, and neither am I a racist.
It is not my intention to convince you or anyone else that racism does not exist. It does, and it is a problem, one which is contributed to in large part by ignorance. But not ignorance of state capitals and government scandals. Rather, ignorance of the causes and forms of discrimination. Writing an inflammatory column in which you seemingly accuse all whites of being racists, whether they are not or not, and竭尽 all effort anyone who attempts to point out that blacks are not always discriminated against can only serve to anger and frustrate and will only contribute to the problem.
David Mellon is a Shawnee Mission sophomore majoring in English.
It is now time to tighten smoking laws
It makes your clothes stink. It stains your teeth. It fouls up the air. And it kills. Smoking is neither glamorous nor fashionable anymore.
In a chorus of support, cities and airlines nationwide are imposing smoking restrictions in enclosed public places. Currently, there are 400 municipalities and 41 states enforcing a smoking ban in one form or another. Last Thursday, Edward Koch, mayor of New York, announced that the Big Apple was ready to put the Clean Indoor Air Act into effect.
The law essentially squashes smokers' claims of having a "right" to smoke.
smoke.
It's like the old saying, "My right to swing my fist ends at the beginning of your face." Smoking in public is on the same level as burning incense in public and even running around nude. They are all personal habits which can be done in private but seriously affect others when done in public.
All eyes will now be on the largest city in the country to gauge the practicality and effectiveness of such a law. The 60 days Mayor Koch has allotted as a breaking-in period will be a tough challenge for smokers and non-smokers alike. If the law is successful, expect other
Smokers, your days are numbered. This is an idea whose time has come.
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K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Thanks for everything
Twyla Bogaard Student and staff member
I am very proud to be associated with a university that can turn out a championship basketball team (Thanks, Larry Brown), put on an exhibit of art by anthropologists in a historically significant restored campus building (Thanks, Ann Cobb), and provide a department of special collections in Spencer Research Library where one may go and experience firsthand the twinkling of burned gold on a leaf from a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (Thanks, Ann Hyde).
Great job, 'Hawks
Dear K.U. beloved:
Congratulations on your monumental NCAA
1984 victory!
I say “monumental” because you did it against the odds: unranked, the losesting champion in NCAA history, eight-point underdog. These uncompensatory terms are courtesty of the Associated Press dispatch datedlined Kansas City, Mo., April 5. The wonder of it all is that the news made the pages of the Manila Bulletin and the Manila Chronicle, two major dailies here that normally do not devote precious space to events less monumental than the NBA, World Series, Wimbledon, Kasparov. . .
I was there in 1957 when KU nearly won with Wilt Chamberlain, a co-resident of Car-
ruth-O'Leary Hall. There was this supposed-to-be victory bash with Louis Armstrong and company blowing live, unexpurgated jazz. At the breaks, we were listening to the radio coverage of the game that was being piped through the public address system. Then came the unbelievable end. But we stayed until the team came home — walking tall to the resurrecting paan, "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Judging by the score and history — KU's second national — you did it with patience. Patiently, we Jayhawkers in the Philippines await the coming to Lawrence of the third, the fourth, the fifth . . . even if it takes forever.
Mabuhay!
Maro L. Santaromana KU graduate 1957 Manila, Philippines resident
Get tough on smokers
New Yorkers woke up one fine day last week to discover that their right to smoke around others in public buildings and many places of business had been revoked. I applaud this new regulation and think that the administrators of KU should learn from it. There is enough evidence now to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that smokers damage not only their lungs, but also the lungs of non-smokers such as myself. By pushing cigarette smokers onto the street, the city of New York minimizes the risk to non-smokers in the enclosed environment of buildings.
As a student here at KU, I am forced by necessity to enter many buildings on campus. I am in Wescoe most of the time, taking classes and also teaching Spanish five days a week. The smoking that goes on in the hallway pollutes the entire building. As a result, the air
in Wescoe is not safe to breathe. The University should correct this problem by taking steps similar to those taken by the city of New York. It may be in the University's best interest to do so. I can foresee its lawsuit in which some cancer patient seeks to prove the University negligent in allowing the air in buildings around campus to become polluted. Sound far fetched? I don't think so. KU should get tough on smokers.
Matthew Killoran Lawrence graduate student
Jeans Day proves little
This letter is in protest of April 13's Wea Jeans Day, a part of Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week. What useful purpose did this serve? It only created confusion and a false sense of support for the homosexuals' cause because many merely were unaware that it was Wear Jeans Day. Some of the people that wore jeans don't like wearing shorts, sweatpants or anything besides jeans. Does this mean that they are in support of homosexuals?
There is nothing wrong with homosexuals or any other group standing up for themselves. But, to show true support, something unique should've been worn, instead of something that almost everyone wear. Wear Jeans Day didn't accomplish anything, because it didn't show who really supports homosexuals. It only misrepresented people who don't support homosexuals and exaggerated the number of gay supporters.
Homosexuals won't eliminate prejudice and discrimination by falsely representing the amount of support that they have. To achieve their goal of eliminating prejudice and discrimination, they must create real support, not an illusion.
Robert Schluben
Lenexa sophomore
BLOOM COUNTY
CAMPAIGN IN CONFUSION.
POOLS PLUMMETTING ...
DREAMS PRIBBULING
DEBRAILLY DOWN DA PAIN.
e 1985.Washington Post Co
by Berke Breathed