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Monday, February 5, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Wartime evolves into peacetime
Proposed defense cuts may be hard to swallow, but they are necessary in wake of global change
Nobody likes to be out of a job, but with the growing peace movement in Eastern Europe, a growing military no longer is needed.
As expected, President Bush and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney have proposed cuts in the armed forces. Before his State of the Union address, Bush proposed a plan to limit U.S. and Soviet troops in Europe to 225,000 each.
Cheney's cuts would hit in the backyard of every congressional district — including those in Kansas. On the list to be phased out are the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant near De Soto and the Parsons Army Ammunition Plant. In addition, Kansas National Guard forces would be trimmed by more than 2,000 troops
The initial response by congressmen, businessmen and community leaders is that the cuts will damage local economies. People who perform supporting roles such as food service and retail sales will be put out of work. Though such damage to local economies will be hard to take, the United States cannot use this as a roadblock to prevent military reductions.
States and communities will experience a loss in revenue and tax dollars with fewer people on the payroll and the security of
government contracts. However, the managers of the munitions plants indicated that defense contracts accounted for 20 to 30 percent of their production. It is safe to assume that new contracts from the private sector can be found.
Similar closings after World War II aided the production of agriculture products when chemical plants lost government contracts.
People of this state and of this nation need to wake up and realize that the world is changing from a military community to a peaceful community where battles will be fought with economies, not guns.
There can be a peace dividend for the United States if it decides to trim the military budget. Closing Naval bases in California and Pennsylvania, Army bases and Air Force bases elsewhere will create a savings that can help close the budget deficit.
The United States must fall in line with the Soviets in changing its economy from military-based to peace-based. Contractors, businessmen and Kansans may not like it, but the benefit will be peace and a balanced budget to last into the next century.
John P. Milburn for the editorial board
"...WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS A NASAL BLOCKADE!..."
Housing squabble
$200 fee is too much for RAs to pay to work
Students living in residence halls have to pay a $200 contracting fee. That is nothing new.
But starting this spring, all resident assistants who are in charge of a wing will have to pay that same contracting fee. Needless to say, some don't want to.
Why should RAs have to pay the $200? Jean Morrow, assistant director of residence life, said department officials sought to have all students in student housing pay the fee eventually.
Some residence halls currently have RAs in
charge of two wings. Those people will not have to pay the fee, but within a year the housing department will have converted all the halls to one RA per wing, so each RA will be forced to pay the fee.
The truth is that RAs have never had to pay to work. RA candidates and veteran RAs will be hit with a $200 bill this semester if they want to return in the fall. Why, in a time when the number of RA candidates is declining, would housing impose a fee that might deter qualified candidates?
Liz Hueben for the editorial board
Other Voices
The Tiananmen Square massacre doesn't matter anymore.
President Bush's veto of a bill allowing political asylum to Chinese students studying in the United States is proof of his demented interpretation of American ideals.
This veto is a slap in the face to Chinese students. The students at
Tianmen Square died for democracy. By vetoing the Chinese students' visa bill, the Bush administration is essentially disregarding the deaths of these students in favor of a self-serving economic and political foreign policy.
▶ From the Kansas State University Collegean, Jan. 26, 1990.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Column rebuked
Recently, Chris Evans wrote a column entitled "KU Republicans use sex to sell politics." A more appropriate title would have been "Staff columnist uses triviality and misrepresentation to demean student political process."
On Thursday, Jan. 25, Chris called asking for some information for an article he was writing. It was to be about a flier posted on campus which advertised our next meeting. Apparently, a student had brought one of the filers to Chris wondering about its relevance. I explained to Chris that the quote, "Sex and politics are a lot like you, you don't have to be good at them to enjoy them," was from former Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona. It was designed to grab the students' attention and encourage involvement, not to offend anyone. The filer succeeded.
Needless to say, I was appalled when I read his column. I could not believe the deliberate misrepresentations Chris made to myself and to the readers. When I was interviewed it was for an article not a column. However, even if he did represent the obvious that Chris had already made up his mind and was unwilling to give College Republicans a fair hearing. As well, be then misrepresented and misquoted
elements of our telephone conversation. This was not the work of a professional.
Mr. Evans' actions are a symptom of today's political climate. He seeks to attack the trivial, while avoiding the important issues of the day, such as the environment, the budget crisis and foreign relations. Instead, he chose to focus on a flier designed to stand out on a bulletin board covered with a plethora of other advertisements.
I thought it was the job of the press to bring the important issues to the forefront. I believe any journalism professor would agree with me. Obviously, Chris does not know his job.
Sure, College Republicans like to have fun and we realize that his column was an attempt to make light of our organization. However, we do not appreciate the sexist remarks directed towards our members. They were not called for.
College Republicans are working toward a more prosperous future. No other organization on KU's campus has the access to elected officials that College Republicans do. We are a respected and viable force in Kansas politics. We have accomplished that by working for candidates and policies that we believe in. As well, we invite other students to attend our meetings and get involved with the political process, not by concentrating on the trivial.
John W. Birkhead
Overtand Park senior and executive director of the Kansas Federation of
College Republicans
News staff
Richard Breck ... Editor
Daniel Niemi ... Managing editor
Christopher R. Relation ... News editor
Lisa Moa ... Planning editor
John Milburn ... Editorial editor
Candy Niemann ... Campus editor
Mike Coomine ... Sports editor
E. Joseph Zurga ... Photo editor
Stephen Kline ... Graphic editor
Kris Berggulst ... AD/FEA manager
Tom Eben ... General manager, news editor
Margaret Townsend ... Business manager
Tamil Rank ... Retail sales manager
Nate Milner ... Campus sales manager
Kathy Stolte ... Regional sales manager
Mike Lehman ... National sales manager
Mindy Monroe .. Co-op sales manager
Holly Rushoff .. Production manager
Mindi Lund .. Assistant production manager
Carrie Stanina ... Marketing director
James Glasanapp ... Creative director
Jeremy Brounck ... Classified manager
Wendy Startz ... Financial manager
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing manager
Business staff
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McDonald's can afford to take the risk
American entrepreneurs take heart; the iron curtain is crumbling, and McMoscow wants your McMoney.
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opened this week, and Soviet customers marveled at the friendly workers, the clean atmosphere and short lines — short by Soviet standards because they actually moved, only a one-hour wait for a Big Mac. He added of qualification: "Your heart of the birthplace of communism. Lenin will not be happy. It's communism brought to its knees by a guy in a clown suit. Who could have predicted this?
At the grand opening of the Moscow McDonald's, the Western businessmen who spearheaded Ronald McDonald's front assault on communism heralded a new era of foreign investment in the Soviet Union. It's a great place to do business in a great new marketplace they said.
But it's not that easy. McDonald's didn't enter the Eastern European market with an MBA and a small business loan. It entered the market
Stan
Diel
Guest columnist
with a $50 million investment in capital equipment. The Soviet marketplace cannot be trusted to produce the number and quality of sesame seed buns and hamburger patties required to run the largest McDonald's in the world, a restaurant designed to serve 15,000 curious Muscovites a day.
McDonald's of Canada had to build its own food processing plant and train managers in the West. They had to convince their new Soviet employees to smile and say " Thank you." They had to explain the importance of keeping the restaurant clean — difficult concepts in a country where competition is rare and consumer goods are scarce.
There does seem to be irony in selling a Happy Meal to a Russian who has to stand in line for hours just
to buy a roll of toilet paper. And a Big Mac costs about $5, so it costs the average Russian two days wages to buy his family dinner at McDonald's. That's almost four times the cost of eating at a state restaurant.
McDonald's views the Soviet marketplace through rose-colored glasses. More than 90 percent of Western investments in the Soviet Union fail McDonald's, which is backed by a giant corporation, can afford to buy its way around the biggest problems, like workers who have learned that they are paid the same amount no matter how hard they work and no matter how little they care about quality. And if they lose money for a few years, then so be it. Keeping the market open for planned future expansion would be worth the loss. Even if the sale of Happy Meals doesn't go as expected, McDonald's will remain and expand.
decidedly against anyone who invests in the Soviet Union and doesn't have the time and money to do it right. The Moscow McDonald's was in the planning stages for 14 years. Most entrepreneurs can't afford to wait 14 years to get their ideas off the ground.
But most potential Western investors don't have the advantage of a huge bankroll. They must deal with the reality of a market lost between government control and control by supply and demand. The odds are
But there is hope. The idea that the Soviet Union would allow such a venture would have been laughable only a few years ago. And as one views the pictures of the Soviet people solemnly sucking their "milk cocktails," and dissecting their "Beeg Mak Gamburgers," one has to wonder if there can be such a thing as "a little freedom." The people of Eastern Europe have shown, that in their eyes at least, being a little bit free is like being a little bit pregnant.
Ronald McDonald has established a capitalistic beachhead. The Golden Arches are aglow in Moscow; there is no turning back now.
Stan Diel is a Hutchinson senior majoring in journalism and economics.
Child-murderers showed boy no mercy
Editor's note: The sentencing of Johnny Campbell and Alicia Abraham was delayed from Jan. 18 to todav.
So perhaps you will permit us to continue giving you information
This morning in Chicago, Johnny Campbell and Alicia Abraham are scheduled to be sentenced for the 1887 torture and murder of Abraham's 4-year-old son, Lattice McGee. Campbell pleaded guilty; Abraham was found guilty by Criminal Court Judge Michael Getty.
You can expect court-appointed attorneys for Campbell and Abraham to tell the judge that their clients had unhappy childhoods and went on to live impoverished and unfuffilling lives. There is no tendency in sentencing. There's nothing with the attorneys making this argument; that is their job.
Lattie, who died after undergoing what Getty said was the worst torture he had ever heard about, will not be in the courtroom to tell his side of the story. All during that summer when Lattie was beaten, burned, starved and repeatedly hung upside down in a closet all night instead of being allowed to sleep, he did not get the chance to ask anyone for lenency or a moment of mercy.
Bob Greene
Syndicated columnist
about what happened to Lattie because he will not be able to respond to what is said in the courtroom on behalf of his killers. We spoke at the Cook County Medical Examiners who participated in Lattie's altercation.
"This one I will never forget," the pathologist said. "We're doctors, but listen, we're human beings.
One was the series of massive head winjuries that resulted when Campbell, 40, beat Lattie on the day he died. You may recall that, the night before, Campbell had hung the boy by his feet in the closet, stuffed a rag in his mouth and taped potato peelings over his eyes.
"Where do you separate the things to kill him? There were so many different ones."
The patologist said Lattice's body was broken in many places.
"There were several broken ribs."
he said. "The collarbone was completely detached, not just dislocated. Usually during an autopsy we have to cut the collarbone out. In this case it had been pulled away from the muscles; we just lifted it out. And the boy had a broken pelvis."
So on the nights when Campbell would hang Lattie by his feet in the closet, the boy had broken ribs and a broken pelvis.
"He had burns all over his body," the pathologist said.
"He also had pneumonia, severe enough to have killed him," the pathologist said. "It appeared he was never treated for it."
"His buttocks were burned, and his genitals appeared to be burned and tied. It appeared that there had been a ligature tied around his penis — either a string or a rubber band."
"There was massive infection from where the boy had been stuck with needles," the pathologist said. "The infection had spread to his bloodstream. There was a large abscess behind his neck and went onto his chest."
Testimony showed that Campbell had burned McGee's chest with an iron.
The pathologist said that the
CAMP UHNEELY
ligature could have been used to prevent Lattie from urinating, regardless of how full his bladder became. This would make sense in light of police reports indicating that one of the officers that infuriated Campbell was that, while Lattie was locked in the closet, he would urinate on the floor.
The pathologist said Lattie was so malnourished that the lack of food and water cold have killed him. He weighed 26 pounds when he died. Testimony indicated that he may have been fed only once a week.
"As I say, this one I will never forget," the pathologist said.
No one responded to Lattie's anguished pleading that summer, and his voice will not be heard in court when Campbell and Abraham are sentenced. Illinois has the death penalty. If it does not apply in this case, how bad does a crime have to be before it applies?
The sentencing hearing, with Getty presiding, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. today in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.
▶ Bob Greene is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
BY SCOTT PATTY