4
Wednesday, January 26, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Comment
Opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Kansas or the School of Journalism
Airport issue returns
In 1967, a bond issue to pay for improvements at the Lawrence Municipal Airport was defeated by a vote of 6,727 to 1.788
In 1973, a similar bond issue was defeated by a vote of 4.408 to 1.641.
DESPITE THE support of a great number of community business and political leaders, who spoke of the necessity of a better airport if Lawrence wanted to be a growing and vibrant city, the bond issues didn't even come close to passing. The voters just didn't think the airport improvements were worth the money.
In 1977, improving the Lawrence airport is once again being proposed. The city and the University are working together to get funds from the Federal Aviation Administration that would pay for about 90 per cent of the improvement costs—about $2.4 million.
The KU Endowment Association, which owns the airport land and has been renting it to the city for $1 a year, has agreed to sell the 117 acre site for $1 an acre and an additional 211 acres for $350,000 if the city succeeds in getting the FAA money. The city will use the FAA money, plus another $240,000 or so of its own funds, to buy the Association land and improve the landing strip to make it long enough for light business jets.
ANYONE WHO has flown from Lawrence to Kansas City will probably agree that certain airport improvements are justified—for the sake of safety if nothing else. But if the city wants to get air travel with) and if the city is forced to try yet another referendum (and it may well have
to) there are some very good reasons for voting it down for a third time.
Supporters of airport improvement have traditionally spent a lot of time discussing Progress and Growth. But one can't help thinking about what the obsession with Progress and Growth has done to this country—and to Lawrence—over the past few decades. And one can't help thinking about 23rd Street.
Whether better airports bring more jobs is debatable. Shipping and transporting of goods are the domain of trucks and trains. Lear jets bring businessmen to meetings and football games, and that's not quite the same thing. Airports are for travel, and Lawrence will never compete with KCI or Toneka.
AND EVEN if the flying businessman did bring jobs with them, those jobs wouldn't necessarily decrease unemployment in Lawrence. They might just cause more job buntlers to move to Lawrence; increasing the unemployment rate leaving the unemployment rate unchanged.
There are better ways to spend the tax-payers' money. Ways that would improve the quality of life, perhaps, or would solve problems in the streets, rather than in landing private jets.
Maybe that's what the voters were thinking about the two times they voted down airport bond issues. And maybe that's why the city leaders were forced to try to find a way to get around having a referendum if they were to accomplish their desires.
Because maybe they realize people might think and vote that way again.
A look at the world's political and economic situation 10 years ago reveals a number of nations embroiled in domestic and international disputes but a world undergoing a technological and imperialistic conditions that had been in existence for decades.
World calm likely to be broken
During 1967 it was Vietnam and the Middle East's Six Day War that captured the headlines. Elsewhere, Africa was becoming a more distinctly independent entity, Indira Gandhi had been prime minister of India for little more than a year and Mao Tse-tung ruled supreme in the People's Republic of China.
How quickly the world revolves. Today, although 1977 has been greeted in an atmosphere of relative stability, changes of overwhelming world importance to occur within the Carter administration will thus can expect that a date for black majority rule in out Africa will have been set, an accord will have been reached in the Middle East, the European Economic community will have consolidated and united its current divergent ambitions and Chairman Hua Qingping has stepped China through numerous domestic disputes to economic and political power.
IF JIMMY Carter's inaugural call for nuclear disarmament and his dispatch of
Vice President Walter Mondale to European summit meetings are any indications of future trends, Americans can rest assured that Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance are competent and determined to cool the rhetoric about climate change in reducing tensions by encouraging bilateral andrilateral agreements.
economic recessions there, has undoubtedly hoisted the country's prestige as a champion of the Western world and the developing nations.
In the Middle East, 1777 has begun
on overseas bases and hoped
casefires holding out hopes
In Egypt, a recent shift in its interests has brought demands for parliamentary democracy, a balanced mixed economy and equable relations with the United States. Iran, too, holds out hope for Carter's favor though it must quickly halt its repressive and damaging programs of political coercion and press
negotiations between Israel and the Arab states will not bring the United States or the Soviet Union to loggerheads and that oil price increases will be kept to a minimum. For the moment, the spitting of the OPEC nations has halted global oil production power of its members and led each country to reassess its role as a major oil exporter.
Paul Addison
Editorial Writer
SAUDI ARABIA'S split with the group, prompted by fears of possible Communist political victories in France and Italy if large price increases had led to
censorship before it regains the respect of the Western world.
end. For them, the real test will come in the future when whites will have to live as equals in harmony with their black countrymen.
Likewise India, a country desperately in search of direction and help. But the nation's recent attempts to initiate strong central government overstepped the narrow boundary between democratic strength and dictatorship.
FOR WHITE South Africans and Rhodesians the end of their minority rule is in sight and no good will come from violently resisting the inevitability of the
In spite of the current relative worldwide harmony, Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that monitors liberties around the world, recently reported that less than 20 percent of the world's population, some 796 million people, live in 'free lands' where government control is unrestricted and mate in choosing their leaders and have freedom from over government censorship.
Third World, strong centralized and "non-free" governments have been deemed necessary to cope with multifarious problems of poverty, underpopulation, and overpopulation. The history of the 20th century is bespeckled by attempts to efficiently and effectively span the gap between extremes of subsistence and surplus economies in just a few short years. As 1977 gets under way, the question that should be confronted both before and after the war is whether a nation's future aims of political and economic independence are justified by the means used to achieve them.
Letters
Doctors should pay their way
To the editor:
The Kansan, with its new editorial policy of unsigned editors, promises to be a "constructive—not destructive" institution of community," Congratulations, Kansan, your first editorial
Federal pay raises fair
WASHINGTON — Congress will settle down before long to contEMPLATING a proposed $130 million federal government people
demns any increase for himself or anyone else.
The raises were recommended last month by a special commission headed by former governor Daniel Peterson. The pay increase recommended for members of Congress leaves me cool, but if the whole Peterson package is justified these raises may be justified.
THESE GASSY effusions have been arising since the Peterson Commission made public its report December 6. The petition is expected this season because of the generally low regard in which the whole of
TWO FACTORS compounded the problem. It suddenly became more advantageous for many top people to retire than to keep on working; they retired in while battalions, and they were not given the experience with them. The second factor, known as "om-
Probably no issue in public affairs kindles more demagoguery than the question of public salaries. The demagoguery exudes from both the private and the public swamps. On the one hand you have the common man, earning maybe $15,000 a year, who is not the bureaucrat better than be he and should 'be' paid any more. On the other hand is the political mountebank, playing to the grandstands, who proudly con-
James J. Kilpatrick (c) 1977 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc
successfully destroys your newfound credibility.
the federal establishment is held.
pression", worked to trap more than 20,000 officials in a position where they could get no further with substantial promotion.
The findings of the Peterson Commission, in my own view, abundantly support most of the specific salary recommendations 1976, the top people in our federal government got one token raise of 5 per cent. In this period, the cost-of-living index went up by 60 per cent; salaries went up by 68 per cent; earnings in the private sector increased by 70 per cent.
Bull moose in heat experimentally silenced
A roving clown visiting the University of Kansas last year told his audience that the whistle that signaled the end of class periods on campus like a bull moose in beat.
THE PETERSON recommendations would go a long way toward relieving this intolerable situation. Some of the proposed raises may appear generous; in terms of inflated dollars, the increases are no more than just.
That was probably one of the nicer things said about the obnoxious whistle during its 64 years of use.
be put to rest permanently. At last, unknown freshmen won't be jolted off the ground by a walking between Watson Library and Flint Hall. Nervous teachers in Wescow Hall will no longer shatter long pieces of chalk on blackboards as they paint them with bellowing. And, best of all, odd-hours classes and guest lecture
The plan would give members of Congress a raise from $44,000 to $75,000. It also is proposed to give the "members a $5,000 allowance for maintaining a second residence back with the homefolks. This seems a bit much. The Peterson Commission says it considered perquisites and made a "making report ignores congressional perquisites altogether. These perks are luxurious, and ought to be accounted for strictly.
cranky old thing has been silenced as an experiment to see whether the University can function successfully without all the commotion. And, lo and behold, classes are still running, teachers are still teaching students, still getting in and out of classes on time–without the rude prompting of a whistle.
murky depths of Watson Library might forget about the time of day.
But for the last three days, the
ADMITTEDLY, the thought of approaching a day of classes without the benefit of the help of professors, is the first, a little frightening. Students could easily picture long-winded professors lecturing for an hour and a half until they occupied hour-long class periods.
Without a whistle, students engrossed in a book—or sleeping for that matter—in a study carrel somewhere in the
will no longer be interrupted in mid-stream.
ONE CAN only look skyward and mutter a prayer of thanks.
the experiment is successful because the whistle have promised, the whistle will
Likewise, teachers without watches are at an obvious disadvantage. They subject students if they dare to run overtime, but they run the risk of losing their professional dignity if they must continually wake students to get the time of
Jerry Seib
Editorial Writer
Maybe, just maybe, KU can function without hourly reminders that it is time to build strategically located in key buildings would be helpful, as would an increased awareness on the part of professors that are aware of the time for the sake of students.
THOSE ARE still very real possibilities. But, after all, aren't the risks worthwhile if they are not surrounded areas of the city—can be spared the horror of listening to the animal sound that the whistle emitted? or can be mind of mind are priceless things.
Published at the University of Kansas daily August 13, 2014, www.ku.edu/publications/english/July-and-June-exec-saturday-Saturday and Holiday-Friday-Saturday.
Subscriptions by mail are $1 a member or $15 per person. Subscriptions by telephone are $7 a member or $15 per person. Subscription numbers 90 - 99 = semester, paid through the student activity fee.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
THE PACKAGE includes a superficially tough code of ethics, requiring financial statements, disclosures, dissavows of outside income, and all the rest. Maybe such a code would be effective, but I suspect it is mostly showiz.
Representative Mike Hayden proposes not only to provide more and better medical services to Western Kansas, but also to give to Kansas and this solution to an only inequity.
Editor Business Manager
Jim Bates Janice Clements
Anyone who has attended a class in a lecture hall on the second floor of Flint Hall will testify that any arrangement that provides a more civilized setting is well worth the effort. And anyone who has taken a course at Flint Hall or sure others that it is possible to function without an air raid siren ticking off the hours.
For those with nerves long
frayed by shock waves released
20 minutes past the hour every
hour the silence has been
golden.
But there is nothing to be gained by being captious. On balance, the new pay schedules are fair. Politicians and bureaucrats cannot validity ask for more; the taxpayers, in justice, should not provide any less.
Let's look at the facts, something it appears you have forgotten to provide your readers:
—The average cost to this state (we taxpayers) to educate one med student for one year is between $16.000 and $24.000.
The average doctor practicing in the Midwest his first year out of school makes, "I never had bad for beginning base, page 1."
—The average cost to this state to educate a student in another field (professional or graduate) is $20 per year, or less than 100h.
The American Medical Association is highly protective of the supply of doctors in the medical services market.
What Mike Hayden proposes is not blackmail to the medical students, but repayment to the citizens of Kansas. Hayden's plan would not require a cash contribution from the student. It would only require a simple contract. That, in exchange for one of the finest educationals one can receive (in the highest paid profession in the United States), the student after graduation either practice medical services, or begin repairing his "loan."
—Ten per cent of KU Med Center grads leave this state to practice.
a rate of $10,000 per graduate per year will, after eight years (200 grads per year), equal $18,000,000 for the Med Center. Not only will Kansas have a better Med Center, but it will also produce more and even more highly trained graduates.
But to begin this program at the medical school would be a fantastic effort to once again improve our standard of living in the community, and severe, the rewards are tremendous, and the costs are minimal. The folly here would be in once again allowing a tremendous step for Kansas to meet the ignorance of its beneficiaries.
This plan, already under way in several states, will not only provide these rural areas with medical services, but will also create for the KU Mecial Center a continuing endowment that at
James Cato 1st year law student
that I think is worth writing in about.
James Cato
Rush racism
An injustice has been committed. Whether a written law has been broken, or "merely" an ethical one, something else, and I'd be interested in suggestions and comments.
To the editor of big girl went through sorrowly rush recently. Her treatment as a person and as an issue was discouraged. She had glowing recommendations—reassurances that would reassure her of an invitation to the next set of parties. Excuses ranged from "I couldn't live with a black" (the only honest one) to "We were not in the position of being ridiculed by others." My right to meet this girl and decide for myself whether I wanted her as a sorority sister was denied the prejudices of others.
responsibility saddened me. They (my sorority sisters) went as far as to be angered when he called us, but But we called it as we saw it.
Nancy Tollefson
We shouldn't have not invited her back, just because she is black, just as we shouldn't have invited her back, just because black. It should have made no difference. College is not a place to drown in your parents' blood, but to own an organization ruled by its alums. The lack of moral
They are often run down by cars and are a hazard to driving. Pounds and humane shelters are swamped with dogs which must be put to sleep because of the lack of confinement in the part of owners. Good advice is given to pets the animals neutered as so not to add to exploding pet populations.
This letter is prompted by the extremely cold weather we are experiencing and by the thoughtlessness of some of the on-campus students at the University of Kansas. Quite often I visit KU and as I drive around the campus I am becoming more and more disturbed by the large numbers of others I see, so seem to be abandoned while others are just running loose. When I made inquiry, I was told most of them belong to students.
Those who want a dog have the duty to provide food, shelter and protection for their pet.
Owner problem
To the editor:
Mona Lefebvre
4545 Elevation Lane
Rt. 1, Topeka
Josh is the best speaker that I have ever heard. Audencies the world over have been overwhelmed by his dynamic, enlightened approach to Christianity. Josh became a Christian his sophomore year at Wheaton College when he set out to refute Christianity on an intellectual historical evidence to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Josh found that he could not disprove or refute Christianity. In fact, from the evidence he found, it was hard to commit intellectual suicide to not become a Christian.
Josh praised To the editor:
Josh McDowell is finally coming! I've never written a letter to the editor before, but now I have found something
So I want to encourage everyone to go hear Josh. You'll find that he won't shove you. You'll be amazed you'll enjoy him a lot. The impression he leaves on his audience, Christian or not, is positive and intellectually worth it. He will be worth checking out.
Letters to the editor are welcomed but should be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 400 words. All letters are edited and may be condensed according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. If a letter is not signed, KU students must provide their academic standing and homework; faculty must provide their position; others must provide their address.
Carol Douglass Wichita senior
Letters Policy
V
Sh a be min crow back regi his ciga He pinb