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The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 4

Location:
Salina, Kansas
Issue Date:
Page:
4
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Monday, December 12,1988 Opinion The Salina Journal I 1 1 he Journal Founded in 1871 HARRIS RAYL, Publisher KAY BERENSON, Editor SCOTT SEIRER, Managing Editor JIM HAAG, Asst. Managing Editor BEN WEARING, Asst. Managing Editor MATHEWS, Senior Associate Editor MARY JO PROCHAZKA, Associate Editor BRET WALLACE, Associate Editor Funds for roads Hope quickens that the Legislature will pass a highway improvement plan next session. The Special Committee on Transportation last week endorsed a 10- year road improvement plan with a $2.7 billion price tag. That may sound like a lot, but Kansas needs to make that sort of major investment in its future by building better highways.

The program would be funded with a combination of increased fuel taxes, registration fees and a half- cent increase in the sales tax. The most troubling element in that mix is the sales tax increase. Because those with lower-incomes typically spend a larger portion of their income on taxable items than the wealthy do, a sales tax takes a larger share of income from the poor than from the rich. Kansas' sales tax is particularly regressive because it taxes food and other essentials that many other states exempt from sales tax. Still, a sales tax increase may be the only feasible way to fund a road improvement plan.

And there are some valid arguments in support of sales tax funding. It's tempting to say that roads should be paid for entirely with user fees. But it's not so easy to decide who should pay the user fees. Fuel taxes can be nearly as regressive as a general sales tax, es- pecially in rural areas where many residents must drive long distances to relatively low-paying jobs. Besides, improved highways benefit entire communities, not just those who drive on the roads most often.

Better roads make towns more attractive to industry, perhaps creating better jobs for residents who seldom use the highways themselves. Road improvements may bring more travellers to town, creating revenue for motel and restaurant owners, who may or may not drive much on the new road. A sales tax increase would at least spread the burden of paying for the system over a larger segment of the population than a fuel tax increase alone. That's a sensible approach. So is the committee's suggestion that projects be selected by the secretary of transportation based on various priority factors, including the economic development value of a project.

That approach may be the only way to avoid a political pork barrel battle that could doom the road plan again, as it did in the special session. It's vital that a highway improvement plan be launched soon before Kansas falls any further behind. The plan endorsed last week is a major step toward the road program the state desperately needs. What others say Those 'two'drinks State Rep. Jayne Aylward, R-Salina, has demonstrated the classic symptom of the problem drinker.

That symptom is denial. First, the denial is that drinking is a problem. Next, the denial involves how much was consumed. (Recently) she was involved in a head-on collision east of Salina, after which she was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Aylward afterward admitted that alcohol has been a problem in her life, that she had undergone treatment for what she described as her "disorder," and that she was going to seek more treatment.

She said, in effect, that she had been a backslider in her attempts to deal with alcohol. Finally, she said, "I had a couple of drinks. I didn't think I was impaired, and I was mistaken." The tipoff in that statement is her claim to having had a couple of drinks. For reasons that are difficult to understand, problem drinkers always have their problems after having not one drink or 17, but just two. When the lab reports came back on Aylward's blood-alcohol test, it revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.27, more than times the legal level for intoxication which is 0.1.

Aylward's situation is particularly distressing for her because she has spoken to public groups against drinking and driving. Well, she should continue to do so. And she should support efforts to lower the legal definition of being under the influence from 0.1 to 0.05. So far she has not indicated support for this proposal. Aylward was lucky.

Her car wreck did not result in serious injury. She is positioned, with her seat in the Legislature, to do something positive about a problem with which she herself has now become all too familiar. We wish her luck. Ottawa Herald The Doles: in or out? Watch for a hidden message to Sen. Robert Dole as George Bush, fills out his administration.

The key question is this: Will the President-elect include Sen. Dole's wife, Elizabeth, on his staff? Until (recently), Mrs. Dole was being rumored as the Bush choice for U.N. ambassador. As a prelude to all this, Mr.

Bush met with Sen. Dole to ease the hard feelings that erupted during their battle for the Republican presidential nomination. Was this only window-dressing, or are the two old enemies really trying to get along? (Last week), editors from Kansas and Missouri held their annual fall meeting in Kansas City. One of the speakers was Barry Massey, an Associated Press reporter from Washington, D.C., who specializes in stories that affect Kansas and Missouri. After his talk, he invited questions.

We asked Mr. Massey if he expected Elizabeth Dole to get the U.N. post. His reply was enlightening. Mr.

Massey pointed out that the U.N. appointment could be a signal of Mr. Bush's attitude toward Sen. Dole. If the new president chose Mrs.

Dole for the U.N. job or for some other high post in his administration then the chances would be good that the two old enemies truly had buried the hatchet. But if the new president excluded Mrs. Dole from his administration, that could be a signal that the feud was still seething. Emporia Gazette Drunken legislator Salina's state Rep.

Jayne Aylward wasn't exactly conducting state legislative business after she got into her car (recently) after admittedly boozing it up too much. But if she learns anything from her subsequent accident and prosecution on drunken driving charges, she certainly ought to extend her experiences into state legislative business. (appeared) in court Friday to answer the drunken driving charges, after an accident in which, fortunately, no one appears to have been seriously injured. She has already admitted that she a drinking problem "disorder" she quaintly calls it. But because of the actions of her colleagues in the Kansas Legislature, there will be little Senate coalitions could freeze out the citizens First of two TOPEKA Republicans in the Kansas Senate outnumber the Democrats 22-18, but power here is now moved as much by geography as it is by the muscle of mathematics.

Coalitions, within and beyond party structure, have become the new channels for the flow of influence. The triumvirate selected to manage the Republicans in the Senate is an example. It represents a noble, fragile alliance among representatives of cities, suburbs and the rural areas. Never before have Republicans managed a group that involves such diverse philosophies and regions. The president is Bud Burke, 54, a pragmatist whose 9th district covers a glittering spread of suburban growth in southern Johnson County.

The vice-president is Eric Yost, 33, a progressive young maverick who represents much of traditional Wichita, the state's largest city. The majority leader is Fred Kerr, 47, who represents a farm community of counties in south-central Kansas. These men have represented basic, longstanding conflicts among rural, urban and suburban interests and have argued forcefully their fundamental differences in the Senate for years. But now they have agreed to a common charge first to resolve conflict among the disgruntled and dissident in their own party, and second, to seek carefully some common denominators with Democrats across the aisle. "The urban legislators must understand the problems of rural areas and the rural legislators need to do the same for the says Sen.

Ross Doyen, a Concordia Republican who was Senate president from 197684. Sen. BUI Morris, R-Wichita, agreed. "He (Doyen) is right. The issues are too great, starting with highways (Morris is chairman John Marshall HARRIS NEWS SERVICE of the Senate Transportation Committee), and going down a list of other pressing matters." "From a partisan view," Kerr says, "we should redouble our efforts to work for a solution among rural and urban interests.

But the great array of issues from education and taxes through reappraisal and transportation must be resolved with statewide solutions." This is a careful way to say that the Republicans, after a furious, January denunciation of Democrats, must find some way later on to accommodate them. "The Republicans' 22-18 majority is really a margin of one vote," says Senate Minority Leader Mike Johnston, D-Parsons. "They can afford only one defection and still maintain a majority of 21." It is a matter of mathematics, reinforced by geography, that the role of Democrats in the Senate will be nearly equal to the Republicans. Their thin edge on the Senate floor will be reflected in the smallest of GOP margins (6-5) on 11-member committees, down from 7-4 when the party's Senate majority was 24-16. "This means that Republicans and Democrats need to act in concert on many issues," Johnston says.

"The Republicans realize that with only a few changes in votes over the state, this could have been a very different Senate." Of the 827,000 votes cast in Senate elections last November, less than 900 (one-tenth of one percent) decided two races in favor of Republicans: 640 votes in the 22nd district, Junction City, and 241 in the 37th, whose population center is Hays. Those votes are. one way to consider the difference between the current GOP majority and a 20-20 tie in Senate party membership. No Democrats were elected by such slim margins. To these narrow numbers is added the push and pull of rural, urban and subf urban coalitions that, Johnston says, "will be more important in the Senate than eve 1 before.

The divisions among regional ests will make straight party votes very difficult to command. "This goes to the essence of a senator's, responsibility, which is to represent the district ahead of the party," he says. A question in aU of this change is, where do the people fit in? The political parties were once the citizen's leverage in government. But now that leverage, in terms of party majorities, has become more a margin in math than a reflection of real influence acquired at the polling place. Thus emerge the coalitions, of government by geography, of new alliances within the traditional party process.

The purists, the old guard, view this certain sadness that the majority, even if one or four, can no longer have its way. The new leaders view the change as an opportunity, a dismantling of old walls affll rules that stifled creativity and imagination. We shall see. The question for all of thenrfe whether this new politics will freeze the people out of government. If we are moving 6) legislation by ad hoc coalition at the expensje of party allegiance and influence, the procesjs must include some protection for the levelf- age of the people.

starting with highways (Morris is chairman Of the 827,000 votes cast in Senate elections age of the people. Beer-ad business may be going to the mo We may soon be observing a significant test On occasion. n( tVin tViot oVmm trt a "Vnil HVOr dtanrf tVlPrp a We may soon be observing a significant test of the loyalty that consumers show to a particular product. For quite some time, the people who make Bud Light beer have been using a dog in their TV commercials. They call this mutt Spuds MacKenzie, although we can't be certain that is his real name.

For all we know, it might be Spot or Fido or Shiphead. In show biz, assumed names are common. Anyway, this dog is described as a "party animal," and whenever the dog appears, three lovely young ladies sing and gush over him, while everybody becomes frantic and festive. These commercials have caused the consumption of Bud Light to increase, especially within the younger set. So a competitor, the maker of Miller Lite beer, is planning an advertising campaign to woo away some of the younger beer drinkers.

Miller strategy is to use not one, but three animals in its commercials, which indicates it means business. There will be a monkey, an elephant and a lion. These beasts will wear sunglasses and dance. An announcer, presumably two- legged, will say that in taste tests these "party animals" preferred Miller Lite. Never having worked in advertising, I'm not sure what all of this animal beer-selling means.

So I sought an opinion from Dr. I.M. Kookie, the famous psychologist and all- around expert on just about everything. "You want me to explain why young people drink beer because of that dog, Spuds MacKenzie?" Dr. Kookie asked.

Mike Royko TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES "You want the clinical, scientific explanation?" Yes. "Because they're stupid." But the dog must have some subtle, unique appeal. He's had a dynamic effect on the product's sale. Could it be that there are those who identify with his bland dumbness? "Like some little fat people have little fat dogs? And people with long noses get dogs with long noses? And people with flat faces buy dogs with flat faces? Yes, it's known that many people have dogs that look like them. So what you're saying is that maybe a dumb- looking dog can sell beer to dumb people.

Not a bad theory. I might write a scholarly paper on that for some professional journal. Then I can go on Oprah's show and talk about it." Fine, but what impact do you think this competing commercial will have with the dancing monkey, elephant and lion as its "party animals?" "I don't know about the elephant and lion, but the monkey will definitely sell beer." Why the monkey? "Because a lot of people subconsciously identify with monkeys." Is that a scientifically proven fact? "Sure, I said it, didn't You ever go to the zoo?" On occasion. You ever stand there a while and what the monkeys do? "Then you know that monkeys are thfe creeps of the animal world. Talk about scene gestures, disgraceful conduct, nothing worse than a cage full of monkeys.

If this guy Guccione from Penthouse Magazine is ever will be as a monkey." Then why do you think a monkey astji "party animal" will sell beer? "Have you ever seen a rock concert?" A few, out of professional curiosity. "Did you see the way the rock performed acted?" Ah, you mean the leaping about, the shaSr ing, wriggling, grabbing of crotches aril other gestures? "You got it. It's right out of the monkfejr cage, except the monkeys don't have guitaip and amplifiers and they do a better job picking the fleas off each other. Other thaji that, they carry on pretty much the same, and their lyrics make about as much So you're saying that many of the youjnjg beer drinkers will subconsciously identify thfe monkey with one of his or her favorite rook performers. "No doubt about it." But if that's the idea, why didn't the company just hire a rock star to do Qje commercial? "For one thing, a monkey works cheaper than a rock star." That's true.

"Besides, a monkey or a rock star hpjv many people can tell the difference?" more than a slap on the wrist that she could get even if convicted. The usual penalty is 48 hours in jail, a $200 fine, and 30 days of license suspension. Kansas, and the Salina district especially, will be more than curious to see just how Rep. Aylward treats the state's drunken driving problem when she next gets a chance to vote on tough controls and mandatory treatments. Two tough controls would be confiscation of the drunk's car, and suspension of a license for a year on first offense.

One treatment program would be a mandatory month-long drug-abuse hospitalization. Hutchinson News Doonesbury UOOKSUKBI HEY, LOOK CAN GO ID THE 6UYS AFTER. AU, I LACEY SENT ME HOME. WHAT 6OTA PATE HAP- THIS AFTERNOON P5NEP? CAVEN- PISH! JEREMY IT MAS. I CAV5NVI5H? I THOUGHT H5R.FIR5T PATEWITH ANOTHER.

HIM WAS CHANCE. A PIS- A5TBR! i.

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About The Salina Journal Archive

Pages Available:
477,718
Years Available:
1951-2009