4A Friday, December 1, 1995 OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN VIEWPOINT THE ISSUE: CAMPUS SAFETY Lots need improved lighting For residents of Daisy Hill and for those who park behind Joseph R. Pearson Hall, walking to their cars occurs under dim conditions. Because of the poor lighting in these lots, students must battle the legitimate fears that lurk in dark: empty parking lots. The University of Kansas should light these lots. Unfortunately, students are going to be asked to bear the brunt of the financial burden. The Parking Board and Senate Executive Committee recently approved next year's parking budget which includes raising the cost of a residence hall parking permit from $35 to $50. The increase will help pay for the half-million dollar price tag attached to the new lights. Additionally, the parking department has allocated $100,000 per year to help improve lighting on Daisy Hill. Ideally, the University would find a way to shoulder all of the costs of these renovations. But, as these funds do not exist, students, once again, will have to make the financial sacrifices. Consequently, if hall residents want their lots improved in a timely manner, the permit increase may be the only option. In some ways, the increases are reasonable. As hall residents will be the primary beneficiaries of the improved lighting, it does make sense that they should contribute to its costs. Additionally, increasing the permit fee creates a price comparable to the $53 price of non-residence hall parking permits. KU is also the exception in the Big Eight when it comes to the University's low price of residence hall parking permits The Parking Board should help finance the project to make parking lots safer for students. Still, if students are expected to pay for their own lighting improvements, some token dollars should be scraped from any other available source. The Campus Lighting Advisory Board, a committee of Student Senate, allocates $2 from student fees to pay for lighting improvements across campus. The University then matches the money raised by the board. The JRP lot is at the top of their special projects list for receiving funds. Because of the concerns raised by students about the inadequate lighting in this lot, the committee should respond by following through on its commitment to pay for these improvements in an expedient manner. Because Daisy Hill residents also pay student fees, it would be an appreciated gesture if the Board also offered some money to improve their lighting. Although the contribution might be minimal, the residents of Daisy Hill would know that their concerns are also heard by their student representatives. Students should not be asked to pay for adequate lighting that should accompany any parking lot that is routinely used at night. But if foregoing the permit increase means the lighting will not improve in the near future, then raising the cost appears to be the better choice. In either case, the students, as usual, will end up paying the price. AIMEE WITTMAN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD. Marko Fields / KANSAN Increased speed limits will mean increased fatalities The Autobahn is coming to Montana. Since President Clinton signed into law Tuesday new legislation to repeal the federal speed limit, states all over the country will be changing their highway signs. In Montana, beginning Dec. 8, the daytime speed limit for cars is declared to be no faster than what is "reasonable and proper" for road conditions. Kansas is raising the speed limit on interstate highways to 75 mph and to 65 mph on two-lane highways. The results will be devastating. The bill also kills the federal motorcycle helmet safety laws. Clinton admitted that he had serious concerns that the new law would increase the number of highway accidents, injuries and deaths. But, as he justified it, the new law will create more jobs and help strengthen our national transportation system. By signing this bill into law, Clinton has put a price on life. The initial federal speed limit law was set in 1974 to save energy. The following year, the number of highway deaths decreased by 9,000. STAFF COLUMNIST Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and safety activist Ralph Nader are warning that with the passage of this new law, we could see highway deaths increase by as many as 6,000 annually due to the increased speed limits. Though no one has said exactly how many jobs will be created by this new law, the question becomes, are we really willing to trade any amount of jobs for the possible loss of even one life? Apparently, we answered yes. Proponents say the federal speed limit law was the most ignored law in America. That may be true, but when the speed limit is 55, some of us, who realize we are not above any law, keep our speeds below 65. Now that the maximum speed limits in Kansas are going to be uped to 75, people will consistently drive 85. When everyone is bending and stretching the law, the solution is not to repeal the law, it's to prosecute those doing the bending and stretching. If we followed this backward logic in every similar situation, we'd be living in anarchy. People in America don't take driving seriously. We consider it a right, not a privilege. Adult drivers are irresponsible and bad enough, with their cellular phones and makeup mirrors, but we can't forget that we have children on the road behind the wheels of these death traps. In 1993, there were 8,888,633 drivers younger than 16 on the road. That's 8,888,633 kids who aren't considered mature enough to vote but are considered mature enough to handle an automobile going 75 on Kansas Highway 10. It's absurd. What it all boils down to is this: So that we can create more jobs, ease the Environmental Protection Agency's requirements for state emissions reduction programs and make it legal to drive a motorcycle without a helmet, we will kill Americans in violent, bloody car crashes. Obviously our value judgments are in serious need of reexamination. Nicole Kennedy is an Overland Park Junior In Journalism. THE COMPLETELY POINTLESS ADVENTURES OF BRIGG AND FRO Baywatch Life Guard Try Outs Event 1: The Beach Run 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. Correction: GOP women did stop sale of racist stickers All letters should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111. Stairer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Heather Lavenz, editorial page editor, or Sarah Morrison, associate editorial editor, at 864.4810. Contrary to popular belief, I know when to admit I'm wrong. A couple of weeks ago I ran a column about the recent convention of the National Federation of Republican Women. At that convention, some offensive STAFF COLUMNIST bumper stickers, bearing such bigoted slogans as "Work — It's the White Thing to Do" and "The Miracle of AIDS Turned Fruits into Vegetables" were sold. I blasted t h e organization for its apparent approval of these hateful messages. I also included the address and the telephone number of the National Federation of Republican Women so that those of you who also found the bumper stickers abhorrent could let them know how you felt about them. I didn't know you cared. Really, I was beginning to think that the only people who read my column were the handful of angry white males we hear from once in a while, sputtering and foaming over whatever evil liberalness I've just perpetrated. Well, just before Thanksgiving break I received a very nice letter from the National Federation of Republican Women. It seems several of my readers had taken the time to contact them, and they wanted to correct me on an inaccuracy in my column. It turns out that the bumper stickers in question, which were being sold by a vendor at the convention, were removed before the convention was over after a representative of the Republican Women received a complaint about them and then voiced her concerns to the vendor. I had written that the bumper stickers were sold with no outcry from convention-goers, based on information I'd read in the Albuquerque newspaper about the incident. The letter went on to apologize for any hurt feelings or offense taken by people who saw the stickers while they were being sold. I would like to offer my apologies to the National Federation for Republican Women for the misunderstanding. I thought that the source I was basing my column on was an accurate one, and I was mistaken. However, I do think the good ladies of the GOP should ask themselves one question: What is it about the Republican party that made the vendor think such messages would be welcome at the convention in the first place? Chris Hampton is a Lawrence graduate student in higher education. 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