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Friday, November 11, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Scrap failed Secure Shuttle and give Tipsy Taxi new life
The shuttle program, which was designed to give students free, safe rides home after they had been drinking, is failing not only because of low ridership but also because of the inherent problems it has with where and how people actually use it.
Student Senate is wasting our money on the inefficient Secure Shuttle program.
on Wheels. With so few riders, the average cost of the shuttle is $37.50 a rider, said Chris Shirling, administrative assistant of Student Senate.
Secure Shuttle starts at Johnny's Up and Under, 401 N. Second St. and stops at Bogarts of Lawrence, 611 Vermont St.; the Eldridge Hotel, 710 Massachusetts St.; the corners of Seventh and New Hampshire streets; 10th and Massachusetts streets; 14th and Tennessee streets; 14th and Ohio streets; 12th and Oread streets; and the Kansas Union and Watson Library. The shuttle then goes to Gammons, 1601 W. 23rd St., and takes the students home.
will arrive at each location.
Secure Shuttle averages only about 11 to 15 riders a week, according to Scott Russell, transportation coordinator for KU on Wheels.
The shuttle runs from midnight to 3 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday, but very few people know that, nor do they know when the shuttle will arrive at each location.
Has Student Senate forgotten Secure Shuttle's predecessor Secure Cab, commonly known as "Tipsy Taxi?" Secure Cab came and picked students up when they called it. Senate discarded that program because the cab company raised its rate from $2.50 to $4 a rider, only to spend an average of $37.50 a rider with the shuttle program now.
There can be life after death. All it may take is the signing of a card.
a rider with the snorkel. Obviously, Secure Shuttle is not practical for most students, nor is it cost efficient. Few people use it, and it costs too much money. Student Senate should look at forgetting Secure Shuttle and look into reinstating Secure Cab as a practical, effective and cheaper way of getting students home safely.
Christine Martin for the editorial board
a card.
A KU student who died last week after a liver transplant didn't have the opportunity to be an example of this philosophy, but at least he had a chance. Many people on organ-donor waiting lists suffer and die needlessly because of the shortage of people willing to donate organs.
Donors can be life-savers
Americans have many different reasons for not pledging their organs after their deaths, but the reasons for pledging an organ far outweigh feeble reasons for not wanting to donate.
or people through 8,500 to 10,000 patients who die in hospitals each year potentially are suitable donors, the number of actual donors has remained relatively constant at 2,500 to 2,700 a year for the past decade.
organ far outweigh recent needs. Some say they are too old. But even a 65-year-old with many age-related diseases still may have healthy organs to contribute
Some fear their organs may be taken when they still have a chance to live. But "brain death" must have been diagnosed before any organ donations will be considered. Every attempt is made to save a dying person before organs are taken.
Some vain people say their bodies will be disfigured when a physician takes the organs. But doctors use standard operating procedures when removing organs, and all wounds are closed so the person can still have an open casket funeral service.
The reasons for offering to donate organs after death are numerous. First, and most important, donating organs is giving life. It shows that the person who has died had enough respect for other lives to give part of themselves so that other people have a chance to live.
People who want to donate organs should tell family members of their decision. If someone wishes to pledge organs, he or she should ask family members to abide by that wish.
Deciding to give organs after your death should be a simple choice to make. Once the choice is made, the process of getting that decision on paper is even simpler.
getting that decision on paper.
In many states, including Kansas, a signature on the back of your driver's license is all it takes. The Midwest Organ Bank in Kansas City, Mo., also has information on organ donations.
What happens to a person's body after he or she dies will mean more if parts of that person help others to live. The donor will be remembered as a life-giver, and the recipient will be proof that the donor was a life-saver.
Julie Adam for the editorial board
News staff
News staff
Todd Cohen ... Editor
Michael Horak ... Managing editor
Julie Adams ... Associate editor
Stephen Wade ... News editor
Michael Merschel ... Editorial editor
Noel Gerdes ... Campus editor
Craig Anderson ... Sports editor
Scott Carpenter ... Photo editor
Dave Eames ... Graphics editor
Jill Jesse ... Arts/Features editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Greg Kripp...Business manager
Debra Cole...Retail sales manager
Chris Cooper...Campus sales manager
Linda Prokop...National sales manager
Missara Smith...Promotions manager
Sarah Higdon...Marketing manager
Brad Lenhart...Production manager
Michelle Garland...Asst. production manager
Michael Lehman...Classified manager
Jenn Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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How Mike Lost.
No time to waste for Decision '92 Bush's campaign shows how to get elected by ducking issues
No one paid closer attention to the just-completed presidential election than I did, and for good reason. By the time 1992 rolls around, I will be old enough to run for this nation's highest office. And since the Rev. Jesse Jackson says the next presidential race already has begun, I had better not waste any time plotting my run for the White House. To guarantee a victory four years hence, I plan to follow to the letter George Bush's blueprint for success.
for success.
Like the president-elect, I won't make the mistake of tainting my political fortunes by getting myself elected to any position of authority between now and November '92. There might be a House seat in the offkey, may be an ambassadorship, perhaps a cushy job in the United Nations abstaining from apartheid condemnation. If I am chosen for a job running an important agency, I'll insist on heading the CIA, where disgruntled employees can't rat on me in their memoirs without getting censored by the agency.
censored by
Compare that stering record of accountability with that of loser Michael Dukakis. He foolishly rat for the governorship of Massachusetts and won. That meant he had to spend the past 10 years proposing legislation, speaking up at meetings and balancing budgets. The only thing George Bush has ever had to keep balanced are the headphones he wore at the U.N.
wore at the U.N.
You might ask how I can formulate policies when I don't know what the issues will be come the next Iowa caucuses. The heck with politics. Who
Bill Kempin
Staff columnist
needs issues? I happen to know that my opponent Mr. Bush once ran on a ticket with a man who, as governor of California, tortured criminals who committed heinous crimes while away from prison. Even as you read this, a camera crew is scouring the countryside looking for polluted bodies of water in the president-elect's home region that are the result of abysmal environmental failures in the Bush administration. With Texas, Maine, Connecticut, Ohio, California, and the District of Columbia to choose from, they're bound to find at least one squall pond somewhere. Furthermore, my opponent is a card-carrying member of a public library containing literature dealing with subjects such as communism, promiscuity and sordid violence. Is this the kind of man that we want representing hard-working, mainstream Americans like you and me?
There will be flags to the left of me, flags to the right of me. The national anthem will be my campaign theme song. If Arnold Schwarzengereen and Chuck Norris support Mr. Bush, I'll ask Rowdy Roddy Piper and Big John Studd for their
endorsement and challenge the other side to a six-man tag team match. Disgustingly cut kids in super slow motion will move into my lap at every photo opportunity. So what if my opponent basks in his thousand points of light and hears the quiet voices no one else can hear. I'm borrowing my campaign slogan from that most populist of discount stores, Wal-Mart: You're always next in line with Bill Kempin.
Finally, I'll be sure to pick a vice president with a solid congressional background — the co-author of one whole bill in the last eight years. My vice president will be well-informed on the important issues of the day, by a governor or senator whispering in his ear right a reporter's pointed question. And in the final days of a hotly contested campaign going right down to the wire, my vice president will be out there in the heat of battle — chatting to pre-schoolers in ghost towns.
But wait a minute. Doesn't a mature, intelligent democracy like the U.S. deserve something better? Maybe the American people are correct when they say they want more than sarcasm, sound bites and Star-Spangled Banners. Instead of trying to appeal to the base instinet in people, perhaps I should strive to win 426 electoral votes by appealing to the highest common denominator
Bill Kempin is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
Here comes the judge
Mr. Compassion doesn't stop there, though. If one happens to enjoy basketball, one "must endure a season that has almost lost its meaning." The only thing I must endure is his article, or should I say death sentence. For those who have been supporting the team for years, and I can justly say I speak for thousands, we will
"endure" *nothing*. We will be there. So go sell your story to Kentucky.
Now presiding is the honorable (?) Judge Mark Tilford of the editorial board, a compassionate man, a man who would like to "ban (coach) down from any NCAA coaching position. Why stop there your honor, why not burn at the stake? After all, he committed such a heinous crime as lending a recruit the funds to go home to see his ailing grandmother. In his 2nd, editorial, Judge Tilford plays Mr. Omniscient, claiming that the staff "demonstrated an inability to run a clean program." And how does his honor know that? He doesn't need to. All he needs to do is point his judicial and follow the rest of the palebearers to the grave, ready and wanting to see the death of such a decadent sport, sponsored by such "guilty people."
Mark Hershman St. Louis senior
Anger misfocused
Some of Larry Brown's recent critics need to re-evaluate where their feelings of animosity are rooted. He deserves reproach, but not exactly for the reasons he is getting it
exactly for the moment.
Back when Brown left for more money to join the San Antonio Spurs, his fans were naturally disappointed, but seemed to "understand" why he went. As with many relationships, when one party exits, the other is going to be upset. I think that when Brown left, the KU community felt slighted, which was to be expected. But because he had built such a good team that went on to become national champions, everyone was too caught up in superficial niceties to admit negative feelings.
So now, when everyone realizes that Brown is a mortal capable of making mistakes, worship is no longer paramount. In fact, all of the derogatory comments made now are ironically contradictory to the praises of only six months ago.
ago.
Larry Brown did not deserve the "understanding" he received when he left. He built up a team, got a better offer, did not recruit, investigations were pending, and he left. This tells me something about him as a person, not a coach. In
fact, it seems he's a real chicken. He probably saw what was coming and split so he wouldn't have to take the heat, knowing full well that although he committed the infractions, punishment would stop here and not follow him to Texas.
Texas.
The NCAA should realize the injustice of the system and remedy it by punishing the violator, like the real world punishes a criminal. In the end, the innocent remainder of the sports program, as well as the school as a whole, loses put.
out.
So in this light, Brown's coaching abilities need not be questioned, but instead the enforcement of the NCAA regulations should be. Although I hate for it to be true, I'd be willing to bet that if every recruiting team were investigated, most, if not all, have committed infractions and will continue to do so. Not by any means do I think this is right. But to call Larry Brown despicable because he didn't run a "clean" program is ridiculous; to call him a weasel for when going it got rough is not.
weather for guns, with Brown if you will, but consider exactly from where this anger comes. Furthermore, the NCAA needs to re-evaluate its system of unjustly hurting the innocent while the guilty escape with only a heated press conference or two. One more thing: Coach Williams and the team, you have my sincere sympathies.
Jennifer Vanderhoof Olathe sophomore
BLOOM COUNTY
bv Berke Breathed