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Thursday, February 21, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Water problems
Lawrence city commissioners should take action to ensure safe water for mobile home residents
The residents of Green Acres Mobile Home Park, 1045 E. 23rd St., need help. And the Lawrence City Commis-
help. And the Lawrence City Commission can assist them if the commission members can muster enough courage to take action.
For more than two years, residents of the park have suffered from an inadequate water supply. During cold weather they sometimes do not have water at all, and residents have told the commission that they sometimes do not have enough water pressure to wash dishes or bathe.
The problem was compounded when the Health Department advised residents not to drink tap water in the park because the lack of pressure created the potential for bacterial contamination.
A water line that is too small to service the park has been identified as the source of the problem. Simply replacing the $ ^{3 / 4} $ - inch water line now supplying water with a 2-inch line would solve the problem.
But owners Wade and Joann Qandil have delayed the project, claiming they were told the pipe could not be replaced when the temperature is below 40 degrees. But Jim Boyd, general manager for W.A. Dunbar & Son, the Qandil's contractor, told reporters the pipe could be replaced with the temperature as low as 15 degrees.
Residents have turned to the city commission for assistance. But the commissioners have balked at the prospect of revising city ordinances to force the Qandil's to replace the pipe. They claim the city does not have the authority to require that the pipe be replaced.
But a memo from Rod Bremby, assistant city manager, to Mike Wilden, city manager, suggests that a revision of the city code could remedy the problem
Julia Pitner, director of Consumer Affairs Association Inc., said in a letter to the Human Relations Commission of the City of
Lawrence that at this time there were no state or local laws regulating mobile home parks beyond requiring the homes to be secured and skirted.
"If a mobile home has a ceiling that is caving in, no toilet, no running water and/or leaking gas lines (actual complaints), it is all right as long as it is secured and skirted," she said
But the city does have an ordinance pertain to the licensing of mobile home parks. However, in a memo to Bremby, Roger K. Brown, assistant city attorney, said it had never been enforced.
Chapter XI of the Lawrence City Code requires that mobile home parks be licensed. And section 11-113 of chapter XI states that "an adequate supply of pure water, furnished through a pipe distribution system connected directly with the city water main, with connections to each lot or unit shall be furnished."
But commissioners refuse to take action because, they say, the definition of adequate water sumly is not clear.
If there is a potential for bacterial contamination, the water supply clearly is not adequate.
Commissioners should have the fortitude to amend Chapter XI if they feel it is not specific enough. Their job is to protect the people of Lawrence. The commissioners have before them an opportunity to do just that.
Legitimate concerns have been expressed that taking such action could result in increases of lot or trailer rental fees, which would hurt people who could not afford them
But as Bremby said in his memo, "The benefit, assuring a minimum standard of housing for a segment of the population with severely limited housing options, may be worth the risk."
It is worth the risk
Rod Griffin for the editorial board
Anti-war graffiti
The appearance of anti-war slogans and body outlines drawn on campus last week sparked a copycat action this week when war-related racist comments were scribbled anonymously outside the Kansas Union, Vandalism, for whatever reason, is wrong.
The KU maintenance staff is busy. They have enough work to do without having more foisted on them by the antics of nocturnal scribblers who seem to get some sort of a kick from stating their case anonymously on walls and pavement.
not see anything.
Anti-war graffiti has questionable merit.VOICE, the legitimate peace movement on campus, has conducted its campaign with openness and dignity. Unfortunately their good work is undermined by the actions of the vandals because there are plenty of people only too keen to lump all peace protesters together and condemn them as a group. Stating a case means being prepared to stand up for it. Skulking around under cover of darkness does not command respect
Students who had early classes last week probably saw the slogans that were being scrubbed away (with varying degrees of success) by KU maintenance workers. The chances are that the majority of students did
Slogans such as "Stop the Bombing" and "They could be bringing your loved one home in a body bag" are impassioned and emotive messages designed to make people think twice about their attitudes toward the war. But what authority do they have when the authors do not have the courage to make themselves known?
Vandalism is a criminal act. Defacing private property in the name of peace just provides ammunition for those who want to criticize the peace movement. Unfortunately, it also provides an example for other cow-ards who want to spout their own dubious viewpoints and hide behind anonymity.
The anti-war slogan makers seem to have caused more damage than they intended. Irrespective of the fact that their actions created a lot of unnecessary work for the maintenance workers, that the majority of students did not get to read their messages, that it encouraged racists to follow their example and that the legitimate aims of the public peace groups on campus were tarnished, they actually achieved nothing positive.
Clare McGinn for the editorial board
Peace movement's work undermined by vandals
Editorials reflect the opinion of the University Dialy Kanse editorial board. Editorials appear in a box on the left side of the page. Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the board but not necessarily the opinion of the signed authority.
Opinions expressed in guest and staff columns and cartoons are solely those of the author or artist. Views expressed in columns and cartoons are not necessarily shared by the Kansan.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Defending a politician
Being a native Wyandotte Countain, I was utterly offended by Clare McIntimin's Feb. 19 editorial concern that she would sell her tablet outside the county courthouse.
I wasn't offended by her support for the separation of church and state. Yes, I agree the tablet should be moved elsewhere. Of course, any familiar with the political history of Wyandotte County might agree that we need all the help we can get — maybe the tablet is a good idea
What outraged me the most was McGinn's treatment of Commissioner Kay Nies.
McGinn portrays Nies as an uncarrying, tunnel-visioned, stereotypical politician, which is actually quite to the contrary. She has done much to improve Wyandotte County, from boosting economic development to reducing patronage jobs at the courthouse. She has tried to restore a respectable name to Wyandotte County politics.
- maybe the tablet is a good idea after all.
'Thank God for the American Civil Liberties Union!'
Perhaps McGinn should take a trip to Wyandotte County and see the reality. Just watch out for the fiery pit.
Sure Wyandotte County is not perfect, but Nies is trying to turn it around. Perhaps she didn't notice the tablet because she has been more concerned about the real problems of his crime, education and the economy.
Kansas City, Kan., freshman
Kim Bland
Angry with the ACLU
Words cannot express my appreciation for their tireless efforts to protect the civil liberties of porographers such as Larry Flynt and racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan in the name of free speech!
We should all be grateful to them for striving to protect drunk drivers from those pesky sobriety checkpoints and abortionists from those
Thank God for the American Civil Liberties Union! Where would we be without that dauntless band of crusaders?
antichoice do-goodies in the name of privacy. They remind us in all that only the woman who is pregnant can be put to rest, her fetus inside her is a human benefit.
Speaking of human life, we all know how the ACLU has been a champion of defending human lives, even lives that are rather difficult to treasure such as death row inmates. Just think, without the ACLU there might not be anyone to teach us that the survival of our children is important than the life of an unborn child . er . fetus . er . mass of tissue
Finally, we just can't thank them enough for protecting our public institutions from having things so hideously moral as the Ten Commandments being displayed. Naturally, we should have something a little more neutral in its place, something like "You're doing what How about that 'Piss Christ' that everyone was talking about. Now there's some real art."
Pornography, racism, abortion,
drunk driving, freedom from religion,
Thanks ACLU, for defending the
rights that make the United
States so great!
Thank God . . er . . uh . . thank goodness for the ACLU!
Lawrence graduate student
Tragedy-inspired comedy, fashions are chilling reflections of wartime
Hey, did you hear about the new condoms called Hussain's? (They're for pricks
who don't know when to pull out.)
or about how the Iraqis play Bingo? (B-52 . F-14 . etc.)
Well, I did. But I didn't really think these tragedy-inspired quwes were funny. I wonder whether the families of gulf soldiers laugh at such jokes and whether front-line soldiers break tension with similar anecdotes.
But certain news reports from the gulf made me realize some things about the value of comedy in the face of traedy
And gas masks also have inspired a
Debbie Myers Staff columnist
It seems soldiers invented a dance step called the "Gas Mask" during inspirational attempts at donning the protective gear in a hurry.
new emphasis in fashion as Middle Eastern retailers compete to sell the most attractive carrying cases for the masks. Children decorate their carrying cases and the masks as a way ofivity that emphasizes individuality.
Middle Easterners do not seem daunted that they have to carry such vital apparel; the life preservers and life jackets of bright colors and zany designs.
The thought of schoolchildren have
ing fun with a device that by its very presence means their lives are threatened is a chilling one. The Middle Eastern crazie for fashionable life-saving gear, along with humor might to humanity, seems appalling.
But I guess all these happenings are evidence of the human being's ability to adapt. In a prolonged war, life must go on.
And if it went on every day without making light of the incredibly serious situation we all must live with right now, we'd probably be decorating strait jacketts instead and telling the one about how many insane allied soldiers it takes to change a tank ring.
- Debbie Myers is a junior majoring in journalism.
I know I am, so am I
Other Voices
We all know the federal government has problems, but did you know that schizophrenia is one?
The government has become so outraged at its own behavior that it's
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department agreed to clean up the
Energy Department's uranium processing plant at Fernald, Ohio. The plant had released contaminants into the surrounding area over the years.
The EPA decided the department was dragging its feet. So it levied fines of $20,000 a week. The Energy Department has asked the appropriation to pay the fines, has put the money into an escrow account until the schizophrenia is cured.
This could be the beginning of a disastrous row. What if the government refuses to let itself have the power to govern themselves ground itself until it apologizes?
Our advice is to resolve the matter quickly — by turning it over to the government's Department of Redundancy Department
From the Commercial Appeal, Memphis
KANSAN STAFF
Editors
by David Rosenfield
Business staff
MINDI LUND
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
Editors Business staff
News... Melanie Matthes Campus sales mgr...Sophie Wehbe
Editorial ... Tiffany Harness Regional sales mgr...Carmen Dresch
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Pam Sollin Production mgrs...Rich Harbarger
Sports... Ann Sommerlath Kate Stader
Photography Keith Thorpe Marketing director...Gale Einbinder
Graphics Meissaa Unterberg Creative director...Chrisy Hats
Features JH Harrison Classified manager...Kim Crowder
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