4A
Wednesday, January 24, 1996
OPINION
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
VIEWPOINT
Gambling prompts hypocrisy
Here it is again: Super Bowl Sunday. USA Today analyst Danny Sheridan predicts there will be $5 billion bet — illegally — on the game. Only $70 million will go through Nevada authorities, the only state where this type of betting is legal.
So, gambling is wrong in Kansas, right? That depends. Gov. Bill Graves announced last month that the Woodlands racing track in Kansas City, Kan., needed to add slot machines to compete with the Missouri riverboats. Sensing loss of potential tax revenue from the shutdown of the track, Graves is attempting to find any manner in which to save money from fleeing the state coffers.
If you want to know why it's legal to place bets, euphemistically called gaming, at a race track but not in your local office pool, look no further than the mighty dollar. Or, more appropriately, the tax dollar.
Since the government can get its share of your big win at the track or riverboat, legislators make it legal to play. But since they can't collect from the winnings of a bet amongst
THE ISSUE:
Illegal gambling
Legislators say gambling among friends is immoral, yet they want to legalize other forms to fund their programs.
friends, gambling suddenly becomes an illegal activity.
Government shouldn't be so blatantly hypocritical. It is placing a label of immorality on betting only if it can't get its cut. Government often acts in such a manner. Cigarette manufacturers are under fire from the Clinton administration for causing lung cancer and negatively affecting the nation's youth. Yet, one of the big proposals in paying for the first lady's failed health-reform bill was the so-called "sin"-tax revenues taken from — you guessed it— cigarette sales.
The absurdities are plenty when government needs cash. But the real question is: How is this going to affect the KU student? That's simple. When the Jayhawks start March Madness, make sure you put those tournament brackets away.
THOMAS PATTISON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Inauguration lugs big price tag
Chancellor Robert Hemenway sees next month's inauguration as an avenue to voice his aims for the future of the University of Kansas. Gov. Bill Graves, Sen. Nancy Kassebaum and other dignitaries will be present, but the event carries a $27,500 price tag upon its back which could be spent on improving more pressing campus problems.
The University's argument for the inauguration is that the funds for the event were allocated from contributions to the Kansas University Endowment Association, money given to the University by private sources that can be used in any way. Officials have attempted to hold costs down; the average college inauguration nationally costs $50,000.
This event marks the first inauguration at KU since 1981, and administrators say they see $27,500 as an investment that could pay large dividends in the future. By inviting political and business leaders, endowment gifts could outnumber expenditures several times over.
THE ISSUE:
Inauguration funds
The money funding Hemenway's $27,500 inauguration could be spent to improve problems on campus.
But considering the financial state of the institution, Hemenway would have better enforced his ideals by downsizing the event. Attracting larger numbers of National Merit Scholars to the University has been stressed throughout his term. Twenty-seven $1,000 scholarships could be set up with this endowment money, attracting more National Merit and highly qualified students.
Hemenway could have made a strong statement to students, faculty and the state of Kansas by denouncing an elaborate ceremony and ordering that the money be spent to help the University.
JOHN WILSON FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Shaun Trimble / KANSAN
Congress neglects citizens in midst of budget battle
It happened again. A couple of weeks ago, while doing my routine grocery shopping, I found myself cringing as I neared the checkout counter.
I had stocked my cart with the barest of necessities, but I was still dangerously close to going over my weekly budget.
With my 4-year-old daughter sitting cross-legged in the cart, I pulled a couple of items out of the cart — Crisco and a TV Guide — and held them in my arms until the clerk gave the OK to go ahead and have them scanned.
I meekly handed my bottle of Crisco back to the clerk and wondered when my husband's financial aid check, held up by the government shutdown, finally would be processed so that I could avoid future humiliation.
As the neon green numbers on the register flashed $51.12, it became embarrassingly apparent that I would only be able to keep one of them. I chose the TV Guide (less fat grams).
It would be 10 more days. Ten more days of stalling creditors and jugging bills. Ten more days of spaghetti and beef stew.
With all of the hoopla about who last touched some dusty documents of Hillary Clinton's and with politicians bickering incessantly, it is becoming clear that those on
My problems, however, are minor when compared to those of one sad family in Chicago. Their horrifying morning began with sirens screaming and smoke and flames choking every hallway in their dilapidated building.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Capitol Hill still are painfully out of touch.
And as they stood huddled and frightened in the window of their sixth-floor apartment, waving for rescues to save their lives, the mother made a desperate decision.
She jumped. Soon after, her 11-year-old daughter followed.
The other children were also saved, but their mother died a terrible death on the pavement below.
a fireman on a ladder one floor below them reached out and caught her.
Their building was scheduled for an inspection that would have revealed its sorry safety equipment. Smoke detectors were not in working order and fire extinguishers were missing.
The government shutdown put this inspection on hold.
I have been watching the Senate Whitewater hearings, which are costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Men with impressive titles sit in dark, wood-paneled rooms, questioning, yielding time to one another and questioning some more.
A very ordinary woman is in the hot seat. She sips her water and struggles to recall ancient details.
She is asked to speculate on other points. And as senator after senator takes his turn firing inquiries, all I can think is: Don't you all have work to do? Don't you have a budget to balance? Don't we have an economy to jump-start—again?
I cannot imagine any of those crusty officials tolerating their families having to make the awful decision that mother did in Chicago. Couldn't a committee be set up to investigate how and why such a thing could happen?
They say they want to uncover atrocities, don't they? It is just downright mean to neglect citizens this way.
When election time comes, I will remember two things. The image of a terrified family one dark, tragic morning, and that misguided group of elected officials looking the other way.
Donna Davis is an Overland Park graduate student in education
Police could learn from helpful citizens
I am writing to express both disgust and appreciation. I wrote this letter after standing in freezing temperatures for 30 minutes while attempting to remove my car from a snow bank.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Less than five minutes after my accident, three men stopped to help. One of them called the KU police department. I realize that it is not the police department's job to help me, but when it is below freezing, being stranded becomes an emergency that calls for immediate attention.
The point I'm trying to make is that the people my parents' tax dollars support were unable to help in any way. These are the people who are supposed protect me and keep me safe. It is amazing that the University of Kansas can have such a fantastic parking enforcement squad that can be all over campus ticketing at any time, but its police department cannot make it to the Lied Center within 30 minutes to help people who are in need — there were many other people who also were stuck there.
Two of the men left but the one with the telephone waited with me for the police to arrive. After 25 minutes, we knew that they weren't coming. Thankfully,
another man arrived with a snow
shovel and dislodged my car.
The people who helped me were ordinary people who cared enough to lend a hand. Maybe the KU police department could learn a lesson from them.
Christa Jefferis Winfield freshman
How to submit letters
Letters: Should be double-
spaced typed and fewer than
200 words. Letters must
include the author's signature,
name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
All letters should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom,
111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Paul Todd, editorial page editor, or Craig Lang,
associate editorial editor, at 864-4810.
University stays open while rest of civilization remains inside
While a blizzard shut down most of the Midwest on Thursday, the University of Kansas kept its doors open. It was a surprising move.
The surprise came early Thursday morning as I learned that KU, unlike virtually every other civilized academic institution in the state, was holding classes. As I began my trek to campus from my humble apartment in Johnson County, I couldn't decide whose decision was more foolish. my at
took. my attempt to conquer a blizzard in my '85 Honda with 153,187 miles on it or the decision to hold classes.
Soon, I decided both decisions were equally foolish.
STAFF COLUMNIST
It wasn't long before I came upon a scene of smashed cars, the first of many I would see that day. In one nur-
ter-mile stretch, more than a dozen cars and emergency vehicles littered the opposite side of Kansas Highway 10. Under normal conditions, K-10 is the autobahn of Kansas. But on this morning it looked more like the Persian Gulf War's Highway of Death — a stretch of highway between Kuwait and Iraq covered with burned out vehicles that were bombed while trying to escape Allied forces.
Intermittent reports about the weather served to further illuminate the lunacy of the situation. A lead of one story began, "Huskies shouldn't even be outside in this weather." Other stories urged people to stay inside unless some dire circumstance required outdoor travel. If people did have to go outside, they should cover every inch of their skin, as 40-below-zero wind chills can freeze human flesh in seconds.
As this report would suggest, the truly unpleasant part of my journey was the walk from my car to class. After a mere 300-yard jaunt, I entered Stauffer-Flint Hall gasping in agony. A quick look in the restroom mirror revealed a face purple with frostbite and, most appealing, a chin coated with a generous layer of dripping slobber, the result of a momentary loss of facial muscle control.
Two factors led the administration to take the unnecessary risk of holding classes.
First, their rigid adherence to the inclemt weather policy prevented them from making the correct decision. The policy states that by 5:30 a.m., the executive vice chancellor will make a final decision about whether to hold classes.
Jeannette Johnson, assistant to the executive vice chancellor, said that at the specified time it was windy and a little snowy but it didn't look that bad outside. If the decision was postponed for an hour, it would have been obvious that every forecaster in the area was correct. A horrible blizzard was beginning. The administration shouldn't expect the unpredictable nature of weather to conform to bureaucratic constructs.
Second, the administration based its decision on the needs of the typical KU student living in Lawrence while failing to consider the circumstances of all KU students. Not every student has a short trip to class.
The worst crash I saw Thursday was on the way home. A minivan and a compact car were lying in the median, badly mangled. It was likely the bodies inside were mangled as well, or frozen by the time help arrived.
I paused to thank God that I had been one of the lucky ones that day.
John Hart is a Shawnee graduate student in Journalism
KANSAN STAFF
ASHLEY MILLER
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VIRGINIA MARGHEIM
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ROBERT ALLEN
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TOM EBLEN
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HEATHER NIEAHUS
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HUBIE
By,Greg Hardin