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Thursday, February 15, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Prop 13
Hayden's plan does not cure tax ills incurred by smaller businesses and homeowners
Although Gov. Mike Hayden has finally come up with a plan to ease the pain reappraisal has inflicted on property owners in Kansas, Proposition 13 does not go far enough for the problem to be considered solved.
Proposition 13 is Hayden's plan to roll back property taxes by about 20 percent with the option to vote to forgo the cut available to taxing districts.
In Kansas, according to Hayden's recommendation to permanently reduce local property taxes, 99 cents on every dollar of revenue from property tax is spent by local government. So where will the money come from to support these local governments?
That is a question Hayden has yet to answer Perhaps some revenue assistance should come from taxing inventories. Inventories were cut from the tax rolls last legislative session, making big business the recipient of substantial tax cuts.
Taxing inventories would help create more
revenue for local government. Corporations, such as Boeing Co. and other aircraft manufacturers, are getting a big financial break and sitting on a lot of unxtaked inventory. Farm machinery and heavy industrial machinery should go on the tax rolls as well.
Local governments are faced with needs for capital improvements, such as deteriorating schools and infrastructure. Without some revenue increases, roads and buildings will go unbuilt and unrepaired.
The Legislature was wrong last year to give all the tax breaks to large corporations without thinking through the impact that reappraisal could have on small businesses and homeowners. Legislators cried about the circuit breaker but did nothing to increase it. A true solution to the reappraisal enigma must include answers to questions about every aspect of the tax. Proposition 13 is a step to ease the problem, but it is not a solution for the future as Hayden would have us believe.
Liz Hueben for the editorial board
Members of the editorial board are Richard Brack, Daniel Niemi, Christopher R. Ralston, John P. Milburn, Liz Hueben, Cory S. Anderson, Merceda Ares, Angela Baughman, Andras Caveller, Chris Evans, Tiffany Harness, Stephen Kline, Camille Krehbiel, Melanie Matthes, Jennifer Mc and Scott Patty.
Briefly stated
Student safety once again has become a concern of local government. The study to build sidewalks along Emery Road is a move to improve overall safety in the area. If they are installed, pedestrians and drivers alike will breathe a sigh of relief. Regardless of the cost to the city, sidewalks must be installed soon. Rock Chalk Jayhawk, boo KU! The tradition
of Kansas basketball has been violated and commercialized. The KU flag emblazoned with the J.C. Penney logo is too much. Corporate sponsorship is fine, but put a sign elsewhere in Allen Field House. Cheerleaders and the Athletic Department need to reconsider the flag that is waved in the arena where our traditions of class and excellence are carried out.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Clarification
Because of a production error, information in the Feb. 14 editorial regarding Lobby Day training was incorrect. Training will be held at 7 tonight at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Joe Clark is naive
Joe Clark does not mind showing the public how shallow-minded he is when he makes statements like, "Most Black people do not live in Africa." Did it occur to him that he could find out what the population of Africa is compared to the Black population in the rest of the world before he made his speech? The Black people living in China, Japan and the Soviet Union, if there are any at all, may not be from Africa, but their ancestors were. Does Joe Clark know that civilization started in Africa? How can he say that address his mother one time or another infers that person is a savage? If Joe Clark is not a savage himself, why did he have to carry a baseball bat with him when he was a school principal? I wonder if he does not carry one with him now. What he badly needs is a simple lesson in history and geography.
I was alarmed and insulted when I read the story "Blacks aren't Africans" in the Feb. 6 Kansan. Of course, any Black person not born in one of the African nations is not an African. Joe Clark does not understand that when the Black people living in the United States want to be called Black-Americans they are simply aligning themselves with their cultural heritage but not stipulating that they are Africans. He is probably one of those people who does not know that Africa is a nation of people and not just a continent.
Joe Clark wants to be addressed by the color of his skin, rather than
by his ethnic heritage. I think that it should be the reverse. What bothers me is that people still listen to him. This is a time when the Black people living in the United States should try to find out who they really are. They can do so only by aligning themselves with mother Africa — the nucleus of all the Black people of the world.
What most people don't know is that Africa is the most beautiful continent in the world. It is also the richest continent in mineral resources. The Western world would not survive without Africa. Those people who think that Africa is a dark continent should ask the white people living in South Africa what they are doing there.
Ambam Bichin-anu Cameroon, Africa senior
Don't go naked; play volleyball
I felt awful when I read Joseph Ramsey's column ("Sometimes you just have to run naked," Jan. 31.) Imagine, those boys having to run naked down Tennessee Street in an attempt to express themselves.
I want to invite them to explore the KU campus and the city of Lawrence. If they explored, they would find Robinson gym, where they could lift weights, swim, play basketball. They could go to the Jaybowl, and shoot pool, play video games or bowl.
Lawrence also has a number of public parks, most of which have swings, slides and merry-go-rounds. At least four of these parks are within five blocks of the Alpha Tau Omega house.
Now, about those "cold steel clothes." I wasn't aware KU had adopted a dress code. I haven't been sent home to change yet. Maybe the ATO's need to lighten up a bit and quit hiding their flowered underwear and wear it under their ripped jeans like the rest of us.
Lynette Alford
Lawrence Junior
News staff
News start
Richard Brack ... Editor
Daniel Niemi ... Managing editor
Christopher R. Ralston ... Managing editor
Lisa Meier ... Planting editor
John Mitburn ... Editor/editor
Candy Mennann ... Campus editor
Mike Considine ... Sports editor
E. Joseph Zurga ... Photo editor
Stephen Kline ... Graphic editor
Ken Benggala ... Art/Area Developer
Tom Elben ... General manager, news advisor
Business staff
Margaret Townsend ... Business manager
Tamir Rank ... Retail sales manager
Misey Miller ... Campus sales manager
Kathy Routh ... Real Estate manager
Mike Lehman ... National sales manager
Mindy Morse ... Co-op sales manager
Nate Stamos ... Production manager
Michael Mackenzie ... Assistant product manager
Carrie Stanine ... Marketing director
James Giannepp ... Creative director
Janet Rorholm ... Classified manager
Wendy White ... Tailored services manager
Hilary Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 113 Flint-Stuart Hall, Letters, columns and cartoons are the opinion of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University Daily Kansan. Editorials are the opinion of the Kansan editorial board
One of the many things that I like about attending the University of Kansas and living in Lawrence is the people. The residents, students, staff and faculty are a nice group of people to be around. Their collective actions make going to college here a pleasant experience.
Charity should begin in the Yellow Zone
I was surprised at how warmly my family was received when we moved here two years ago. Everywhere we went, people greeted us with a smile and said, "Welcome to Lawrence," with genuine affection. The local merchants also do a good job of making a customer feel appreciated. I consider a little thing such as personal attention as greatly enhancing the quality of life in a community.
Despite these positive attributes, we as KU students and residents of Lawrence can act better toward one another. I write this because sometimes I get funny looks for doing such a mundane thing as opening a door for someone. If such a small act raises eyebrows and generates a response of, "Huh? Uh, thanks," then tells me that people aren't seeing enough of it.
Well, maybe they should.
Steve Buckner
In Staff columnist
Therefore, I am calling on the University administration to declare Monday, February 19, 1990, as "Do Something for Somebody Day." Please reread that last sentence. I wrote "for somebody," not "to somebody." As we'll see, there's a big difference.
I don't think I'm asking for much. What I'm wanting is for people to look after one another. Open a door for someone instead of scurrying into a building. Smile and say "Hi" when passing a stranger on Jayhawk Boulevard rather than staring into space. Let someone go ahead of you in line if you sense they might be in a bigger rush than you are.
In other words, simple gestures.
The kinds of things that take so little effort but can make someone else's day.
Of course, as with any cause, you shouldn't expect miracles the first
time out. Old habits are hard to break, and there will be pockets of resistance. There is one problem area so big on this campus that a declaration of thoughtfulness would not begin to eradicate it.
If you haven't guessed what this area is, then you don't own a car. I'm talking parking, buddy.
Parking on this campus is akin to a military exercise. When I embark on "Operation Find Space" each morning, I haven't a clue as to what degree of rudeness I will experience once I get here. As in love and war, all is fair when it comes to waiting for a parking space in a Yellow Zone. There are no set rules of conduct.
However, the one understood rule of waiting for a parking space is "first come, first served." How come then, if I understand it and you understand it, the person waiting at the other end of the lot from me, someone who arrived 10 minutes after I had gotten there, doesn't understand it and takes the first space instead of letting me have it because the person leaving was parked closer to him than to me?
Probably because the offending person looks at waiting for parking in a militaristic sense, too, by seeing
the opening in his sector and answering some inner order to "take that hill," or in this case, parking place.
So if "Do Something for Somebody Day" is a success, perhaps we can raise the stakes and see if we can get the Parking Department to declare all Yellow Zones as Demilitarized Zones by publishing enforceable rules of decorum when waiting for a parking place. I realize it's asking for a lot, but it's time that civility returned to the parking lots.
In the meantime, if anyone out there wants to extend "Do Something for Somebody Day" to the Yellow Zones, good luck. I hope your faith in mankind is rewarded. For now, I'll settle for some stranger on Jayhawk Boulevard saying to me, "Hi. Hey, didn't I take your parking place this morning?"
Eventually, who knows? If I ever am treated politely in the parking lots, I'd probably mutter, "Huh? Uh, thanks," once I was revived, and you'd never have to open another door or be ignored on the street while I was around.
> Steve Buckner is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
Conservation can delay global disaster
The incompetence of the oil industry and the unsoundness of U.S. energy policy were put on graphic display last week. It seems that the crew of the American Trader oil tanker had a mishap with an anchor that resulted in a 300,000-barrel oil spill into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California
The incident mirrored last year's disaster in Prince William Sound, but the amount of crude spilled by the American Trader is minute in comparison to the amount of damage done by the Exxon Valdez. In light of these two environmental crises, it does not take a Nobel laureate to conclude that the status quo of the oil industry is flawed.
In Washington, D.C., the Congress is considering oil-spill legislation that has been stalled there for almost 15 years. The version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives would require oil companies to build double-hulled tankers for transportation of oil on the high seas. The Senate's version, however, lacks this provision. The question is now in conference committee where an army of oil industry lobbyists is
Dan Grossman
Staff columnist
pulling every string to ensure the defeat of the double-hull provision.
But even if such a proposal becomes law, it is evident that Congress has missed the point. Continued extraction, transportation and consumption of oil will result in the poisoning of air and oceans. The spills in Alaska and California serve to remind us of this fact.
Oil sinks killing marine life indiscriminately, acid rain makes thousands of lakes uninhabitable, global warming and the greenhouse effect can all be attributed, in part, to a dependency on petroleum and other fossil fuels. Scientists may bicker about the magnitude of these problems, but they are nearly unanimous in agreeing that, if current trends continue, the result will be less than desirable.
In 50 to 75 years the Earth will have no more oil. Sometimes before that the United States will deplete its domestic $\tau$serves and become entirely dependent on foreign countries for petroleum. This too will be undesirable because complete dependency probably will lead to war. With nuclear weapons, war would definitely be undesirable.
'Continued extraction, transportation and consumption of oil will result in the poisoning of our air and our oceans.'
Considering the undesirableness of this hypothetical, what can we do to avoid it? It is clear that we need to find an alternative to petroleum. But the amount of money being spent by the federal government on energy research cannot pay for two Stealth bombers. And most of that money is allocated to researching nuclear energy, which poses two additional problems.
First, nuclear energy produces radioactive waste that is fatal to humans who come into contact with it for 25,000 years.
Second, nuclear energy is a centralized source. That is, we can heat our homes with nuclear energy, but technology has yet to produce an automobile that can run on plutonium.
Aside from spending more money on energy research and allocating it more wisely, we can postpone the impending doom by conserving our present resources. By setting aside the American urge to consume, we can reduce the amount of gasses released into the atmosphere, prevent and future dependency on foreign oil and decrease the number of oil tankers on the high seas with incompetent crews.
Yes, conservation is contrary to the American ethic of unbridled consumption. But, as Mikhail Gorbachev would say, survival supercedes ideology. Conservation will buy us time. Inaction will hasten disaster.
> Dan Grossman is a Denver senior majoring in political science.
CAMP UHNEELY
LESSEE... YEH I CAN GIVE
UP THAT... AND I CAN GIVE
UP THAT... AND I DON'T
EVEN USE THAT... NOR
THAT... AND...
BY SCOTT PATTY
I USE THE
MAKE-UP
So MY BEAK
LOOKS
SMALLER.
WELL MAYBE
YOU CAN GIVE
IT UP FOR
LENT.