Page 4-Tuesday, January 24, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 94 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Secret vote rights upheld
There's no place like Kansas
there 's no place like Kansas
T HE MICHIGAN State Supreme
Court yesterday handed down a
decision which, while momentous,
should certainly surprise no one. The
Court ruled that the voters who cast
disputed ballots in last year's Ann Ar-
bor mayoral election do not have to
reveal for whom they voted; in short,
that the Constitution protects and san-
ctifies the right of secret ballots.
It was the only decision possible and
consistent with the foundations of
American law, yet the point is that at
no time should this revelation have
,been necessary. The votes themselves
are in question, and a recount of votes
subtracting those in question ought to
have been done.
The fact remains that, though the
voters were told that they lived in
Take from t
voting districts and were so certified
by municipal election officials, their
votes were never valid. The Daily's
suggestion, which seems as good now
as ever, is to have the voters actually
re-vote, by secret ballot, and have
there votes subtracted from the
respective totals of each candidate. An
argument may be raised that these
voters may in fact alter their votes to
swing support to their candidates, but
in fact there was never any injunction
to vote honestly in court except under
threat of perjury, which applies here
as well.
Yet no matter how this turns out, the
fact is that the Supreme Court has
taken a courageous step in defense of
basic liberation, the only step that
could be taken.
he poor
. . .?"
THE WAYS OF THE federal govern-
ment are sometimes difficult to
comprehend, but this time they simply
defy rational explanation.
A Treasury Department analysis of
President Carter's proposed 1978 tax
revisions revealed a disturbing and
almost unbelievable flaw: the rich will
pay less, while the working poor will
shell out a bigger hunk of their much
needed paychecks.
According to the report, the head of a
family of four who earns $100,000 per
year would have his/her income taxes
reduced by $240, while his/her Social
Security taxes would increase the
maximum $106, resulting in a net
savings of $134.
On the other hand, a family head:
with three dependents who earns $5000
per year would receive no income tax
cut, while suffering an increase in
Social Security tax of $11.
When Carter proposed the new tax
plan, he promised it would reduce
taxes for 90 per cent of the nation this
year. The only problem is that the 10
per cent who won't benefit from the
proposal includes those who need help
the most.
The problem here is not one of poor
intentions; we don't believe Carter's
goals are to make the rich richer and
the poor poorer. It is probably the
"result of inadequate preparation and
:failure to scrutinize the more subtle
;aspects of the plan. Nonetheless, it is a
"serious error, and one that cannot go
unrectified. Before the proposal is
;even considered by Congress it should
be pored over for similar inconsisten-
cies, after which all such problem
areas should be corrected by amen-
dment. Many people in this country are
badly in need of tax relief, but those
who make over $100,000 per anum are
certainly not in that category.
By JAY LEVIN
For those of you worrying about the state
of the State of Kansas, relax. It's still there.
It's still there, in all its flat, sprawling
splendor - limitless horizons of level farm-
lands punctuated every so often by a grain
elevator, or maybe even a city. Kansas is still
there, and it ain't going nowhere.
Let me say that I'm hardly an expert on
the state of Kansas - or the Great Plains, for
that matter - never having visited the area
until last week. To me, Kansas was always an
out-of-sight, out-of-mind place. The Bread-
basket of America, as we were drilled in
social studies. The state where Dorothy and
Toto were swept off their feet by a swirling
twister, leaving behind their beloved Auntie
Em for a dizzying romp into the Land of Oz.
And when Glinda the Good Witch finally had
Dorothy tap her ruby slippers together three
times, we felt good - because Dorothy and
Toto were headed home to Kansas. Kansas.
Auntie Em and Uncle Henry. Kansas. It's
good to be home.
SO IT WAS in this mental frame that I ven-
tured last week into Kansas - not by a wave
of Glinda's wand, nor by a vicious funnel
cloud, but by a mundane combination of TWA
and Continental Trailways. I was bound for
Wichita in search of post-graduation employ-
ment, hoping that few other people would be
desperate enough to consider Wichita for any-
thing. Even Jerry Shirar told me that Wichi-
ta's no bargain, and Jerry Shirar should
know.
Jerry Shirar, let it be known, was the very
first Kansan I met on my trip. We com-
menced our brief comaraderie in the drab bus
depot in Kansas City, Mo., waiting four our
Silver Eagle Coach to zip up across the state
line. Jerry Shirar has blond hair, a fair com-
plexion and a demeanor as bland as the Wich-
ita skyline. A farm boy from the college town
of Lawrence, Kansas (Kansas' answer to Ann
Arbor), Jerry Shirar was a sophomore at the
State University at Pittsburg - "the largest
Pittsburg in the country," he boasted.
PROTEST I DID at that ridiculous asser-
tion, but this Jerry Shirar was a coy fella. Pit-
tsburg, Kan. is the largest of its kind in the
country, he told me, only because of a techni-
cality. Pittsburg, he said, is distinct from
Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh, by the last letter.
Picky, picky, picky.
Despite that first surly episode, Jerry
Shirar and I hit it off like a couple of crows in
a cornfield. He filled me in on what like is like
in Kansas - the paucity of discos in Pitts-
burg, the archaic liquor laws, the dull towns,
the boring western half of the state, the flat
terrain, the conservative facade.
His lulling voice was like liniment for my
mind as our coach sped along the Kansas
Turnpike on a clear, star-studded evening.
"KANSAS ISN'T BAD, really," I remem-
bered Jerry Shirar saying somewhere be-
tween service plazas. He had been in Kansas
City that day to take an eaxm for his broad-
caster's license. Kansas City, he said, is as
metropolitan as you can get around these
,here parts. But despite KC's relative glitter
and glamor, Jerry Shirar said he'll take the
state of Kansas anyday.
Jerry Shirar disembarked in Lawrence
(his Mom was waiting for him at the depot in
the family truck), so I lowered my head and
closed my eyes for the rest of the trip, stirring
only to take a peek at Topeka, Emporia and
El Dorado - the largest settlements before
Wichita, but tired-looking places nonetheless.
No sooner had ,l dozed off again when we
began passing the Taco Grandes, Burger
Kings, Arby's and McDonalds which sig-
nalled our entrance into Wichita.
Wichita itself isn't bad. A spotless town, it
has a big, new arena and some glossy build-
ings, as well as one of the world's largest
calders. Like the Emerald City of Oz, it rises
out of relative nothingness - an urban oasis
in the land of wheat. It shelters a quarter
million souls - half of whom stroll about
wearing ten gallon hats - and spills into the
prairie with little regard for political juris-
dictions.
DESPITE ITS SIZE, Wichita does leave a
lot to be desired in the way of thrills. There
aren't any. My host and hostess, reporters
who were schooled in Ann Arbor, frequently
lamented over Wichita's unexciting, unen-
lightened, non-exhilarating veneer. The
place, they said, is a frightful drag.
The whole state of Kansas, in fact, is
somewhat of a drag if you consider one sole
statistic: tourism dollars. Kansas, I was told,
ranks 50th amiong the states in the number of
dollars spent on tourism. That's understand-
able. The state's level terrain ensures that
skiers will stay away; there are no big oceans
show me what was good and exciting about
Wichita. We ended up eating two meals at the
Looking Glass,,.a trendy "club" with trendy
prices and a trendy clientele situated on not-
so-trendy Douglas Avene - Wichita's main
street. The looking glass might have well
been located in Ann Arbor, New York,
Berkeley or any other city where trendiness
runs rampant. Trendy decor, trendy chicken
cordon bleu, trendy breadsticks, trendy
menus. We had a very trendy time. Trouble
was, after dinner on Friday night, we left the
trendy Looking Glass only to set foot outside
on Douglas Avenue, where a cavalry of cars
were screeching their tires and burning their
fuel in an all-out attempt to out-race one
another. Dozens of cars, driven by dozens of
high school students who had nothing better to
do than drag on Douglas. That, Iwas told as
we walked away from the Looking Glass, is
the real Wichita.
My brief stay in this strange state soon
EDITORIAL STAFF
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
Editors-in-Chief
JIM TOBIN
LOIS JOSIMOVICH..... ............... Managing Editor
GEORGE LOBSENZ......................... Managing Editor
STU McCONNELL.........,.................Managing Editor
JENNIFER MILLER.................. ......Managing Editor
PATRICIA MONTEMURRI.................. Magaging Editor
KEN PARSIGIAN....,........... .... . Managing Editor
BOB ROSENBAUM .............. Managing Editor
MARGARET YAO .. ... ....Managing Editor
SUSAN ADES JAY LEVIN
Sunday Magazine Editors
ELAINE FLECTCHER TOM O'CONNELL
Associate Magazine Editors
STAFF WRITERS: Susan Barry, Richard Berke, Brian Blan-,
chard, Michael Beckman, Lori Carruthers, Ken Chotiner, Eileen
Daley, Lisa Fisher, Denise Fox, Steve Gold, David Goodman,
Elisa Isaacson, Michael Jones, Lani Jordan, Janet Klein, Garth
Kriewall, Gregg Krupa, Paula Lashinsky, Marty Levine, Dobilas
Matunonis, Carolyn Morgan, Dan Oberdorfer, Mark Parrent,
Karen Paul, Stephen Pickover, Christopher Potter, Martha
Retallick, Keith Richburg, Diane Robinson, Julie Rovner, Dennis,
Sabo, Annmarie Schiavi, Paul Shapiro, R. J. Smith, Elizabeth!
Slowik Mike Taylor, Pauline Toole, Sue Warner, Jim Warren,
Linda Willcox, Shelley Wolson, Tim Yagle, Mike Yellin, Barbara
Zahs, Jim zazakis
Mark Anarews, Mike Gilford, Richard Foltman
Weather Forecasters
SPORTS STAFF
KATHY HENNEGHAN .................,........Sports Editor
TOM CAMERON. .., .... Executive Sports Editor
SCOTT LEWIS ............ Managing Sports Editor
DON MacLACHLAN....................Associate Sports Editor
JOHN NIEMEYER.... ........ .... Contributing Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Paul Campbell, Ernie Dunbar, Henry Engel-
hardt, Jeff Frank, Gary Kicinski, Rick Maddock, Brian Mar-
tin, Bob Miller, Brian Miller, Dave Renbarger, Cub Schwartz,
Errol Shifman and Jamie Turner.
to lure bathers; there are no pro sports
teams; there are few bodies of water; and the
state laws prohibit liquor-by-the-drink, unless
you join a special "club." The biggest attrac-
tion in Wichita seems to be something called
"Cow Town," and the postcard display in
Wichita's Airport looks as though it has been
untouched by human hands. Howdy Doody-=
Welcome to Kansas! Hi from Wichita! Wish
you were here in Topeka! They're all there, in
ample numbers. Apparently, some airport
people must be cognizant of the state's repu-
tation, or they wouldn't have displayed a sign
which welcomes travellers into Wichita in
several different languages. "Wilkommen a
Wichita," "Bienvenudo a Wichita" and some
such. Wilcome to Cosmopolitan Wichita, the
pulsating heart of Kansas. Oh, brother.
MY HOST and hostess, however, wanted to
came to an end. I was displeased with my in-
terviews, and resigned myself to the prospect
of never again having to set foot into Kansas.
Oh, well. Kansas, I found, was about as ex-
citing as I had expected. I didn't do much
sight-seeing, but then, there probably wasn't
much to sightsee. The weather was brisk and
the people friendly. Above all, there seemed
to be an air of statusquo which permeated
every inch of Wichita and environs. Dull?
Yes. Ugly? Parts. Invigorating? No. If I were
Dorothy, I'd have asked Glinda to wave her
wand and land me in Vegas. But on the other
hand, it must've felt good to get back to Aun-
tie Em. "
Jay Levin, co-editor of the Sunday
Magazine, was born and raised in New
York City, and considers Michigan a
western state.
4 _ _
s
I'm wir
f7OIJG
AfJ(Th~l,
IFH A COMWf?6$HALJ
1ZjRAP ME
I YOURW Vl!& 1 TOOUCH
T ()CH '('M ICAf 4O/NEY!
'ALA
JUl AV- I z -
8VT 13IAM
WIS06i
RAPED.
ih
1 0
REAJAAJT AI?4/s)AUl-
ML'<TO t NP 4pCHE oPAY FOR '6OUI
tARIfcrv4
a
/
7
a
CA&YT
A6oe-
llZ*%
CO ITWI
WAPE PAP!?K
RAPE EKA Up I
WH01
AT6l
3/E
let P.%,'
DUf E Il UIOMA J
P I I
_ ;.