The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 39

The Kansas City Star Vol 113 Friday November 6 1992 No 50 A Capital CitiesABC Inc Newspaper JAMES HALE Publisher and Chairman of the Board WESLEY TURNER Executive Vice President GEORGE BURG Assistant to the Publisher and Associate Editor JAMES SCOTT Vice President and Editor Editorial Page JAMES PAYNE Vice President Finance CLARK LAMBERT Vice President Information Management (Copyright The Kansas City Star Co 1992) WOODWORTH General Manager BRISBANE and Editor CAMPBELL CirculationOperations ROWE JR Advertising ROBERT President and ARTHUR Vice President DELL Vice President RALPH Vice President Missouri Democrats return For instance there was a strong pro-choice effort to elect a governor who would hold the line on further legislative attempts to erode rights Carnahan and Wilson particularly benefited from that effort which also saw candidates across the state disavowing their right-to-life positions Carnahan bravely promised during the campaign to lead the people in resolving financial dilemma and the voters responded They were willing to let their state leadership look for solutions Voters also rejected the fighting attitude of Webster and Steelman regarding court-ordered desegregation of schools They chose a good team in Carnahan and Nixon for bringing an end to the desegregation cases in Kansas City and St Louis without compromising the purpose of the plans Republicans in their primary fights for attorney general and governor decimated the current and future leadership of their party and general election voters finished the job But Missouri Democrats should have learned from the last 12 years that the voters automatically be in their camp How well the Democrats work together and how well they respond to the mandate for change will determine how they fare in the future The Democratic sweep of state offices in Missouri starting with the newly-elected governor Mel Carnahan returns the leadership of state government to its traditional Democratic roots Only the office of state auditor remains Republican the election for it is two years away Its occupant Margaret Kelly was turned aside by state Sen Roger Wilson in her bid to move into the lieutenant office In the attorney race Democratic state Sen Jay Nixon won over David Steelman Former Democratic legislator Bob Holden secured the office and udith Moriarty the Pettis County clerk won secretary of state The voters have reversed the political power situation Carnahan the lieutenant governor is the only Democrat now holding state office Bill presidential victory undoubtedly had an effect on major races in Missouri But more than coattails account for these victories Carnahan won the office over Attorney General Bill Webster with the biggest margin of votes in at least two decades Voters were tired of business-as-usual they were seeking a change in Jefferson City on many issues LETTERS TO THE STAR Remember United Way WHERE TO WRITE Letters The Kansas City Star 1729 Grand Ave Kansas City Mo 64108 Letters must include the signature work and home telephone numbers and address although the telephone numbers and street address will not be published All letters will be verified before publication and are subject to editing for length and clarity babies and their elders when winter gets fierce just as social service agencies concentrate most on the needs of the very young and very old who are not quite able to fend for themselves United Way helps support those social programs The Heart of America United Way has about two-thirds of its goal of $33 million with about a week to go People are being generous They need to make one final effort Nature reminds the city that easier to plan for trouble than deal with frozen pipes a dirty furnace untuned cars The United Way reminds the city it is also easier to be prepared for human trouble As the Heart of America United Way heads into the homestretch the seasonal winds conspire to remind Kansas City what the annual campaign is all about Whether to work or school or the store no one is really ready for the wind-chill index Neither are the homeless and unemployed who work harder just to keep even in the winter United Way helps them Handy homemakers mend the roof now to keep dry caulk the windows and weather strip to save heat likewise preventive health care saves pain and money United Way funds that Families take extra care to protect their Changes in Kansas By far the most striking surprise in the Kansas legislative elections was the defeat of House Speaker Marvin Barkis a Democrat from Louisburg That Republican victory plus the defeat of other Democrats gives control of the lower chamber to the Republicans after two years of Democratic domination This change alters the dynamic of the relationship with Gov Joan Finney a Democrat Unofficial returns from the general election on Tuesday show Republicans won 66 seats in the 125-member House That is somewhat fewer than normal in the Republican state but more than the 63 seats the Democrats had for a one-vote majority in the 1991-92 Legislature Republicans fared better than they had expected in retaining control of the 40-member Senate In the 1993 session they will have 26 members four more than in the last Legislature The Senate will have 19 new members although some of them have legislative experience from the House In the last session a rather unusual bi-partisan arrangement developed House Democrats teamed with minority Republicans to override some of vetoes Legislators put the public interest above partisanship Barkis and some other Democrats openly criticized the governor Now the Democrats have lost Barkis and are in a minority That opens the question of whether they will continue to oppose the govenor or having lost their majority side with her to thwart the Republicans If party-line voting occurs House Republicans would be unable to obtain the two-thirds majority necessary for overrides role though diminished will still be important Their opposition could be weakened by the loss of Barkis an experienced leader Barkis a 14-year House member who was thought to be looking toward a race for governor in 1 994 was taken out by Jene Vickrey a 33-year-old carpet layer who had never before sought public office The voters have changed the players for 1993 The governor and the Legislature face horrendous problems beginning with the disastrous 1992 school finance plan that especially concerns Johnson Countians paper and heard it on TV beginning to wonder if I should trust my own ears anymore Maybe I should rely more on the unbiased media Rick McGinniss Kansas City Weather is news The first thing I look at when getting The Star is the daily weather forecast How about putting it back on the left-hand side of the front page instead of in the sports section? Maybe there are other people who feel the same Give this some thought Virginia Tempel Higginsville Mo Up to citizens The recent editorial entitled debt baloney sure was On the subject of the terrible incident involving the death of the Japanese student this statement was made: Japanese were astonished that such a thing could happen In their country private handguns are The other thing different in Japan is that there are not large amounts of people with no respect for law or humanity who would rape murder and pillage in an instant if given half a chance (like in Los Angeles recently) Unfortunately since our government whose only real duty is to protect us has failed so dismally it is up to the individual to protect himself Words work with Saddam Hussein and they work with crack addicts either The only thing that works is staring down the wrong end of a gun I like this state of affairs The NRA like it either But not liking something keep it from being reality George KL Myers Kansas City The popular vote As with the majority of Americans I sat at home Tuesday night watching the election returns on television As the night progressed the count of the popular vote was very close between George Bush and Bill Clinton however Clinton held a substantial lead in the category of electoral votes If the president is to be truly elected by the people the current Electoral College system must be modified or abolished Some states are beginning to divide their electoral votes appropriately between candidates but a more obvious way is to determine the winner strictly by the total popular votes Though there are some faults in each plan I believe something should be done to more accurately determine the winner of the presidential election Jeff Johnson Overland Park A second look Regarding your Nov 4 frontpage headline rolls to victory Missouri once again goes with a it would be appropriate at the very least for you to take a second look at your definition of Sherrill Darrow Leawood Two is plenty This from FA Newsom in the Oct 31 Star listening to numerous politicians running for office I believe them without exception when they call their opponent a This from Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett: republican form of government is the highest form of government but because of this it requires the highest type of human nature a type nowhere at present existing" (Essays 1891 The Americans) Perhaps you could start a movement to limit this campaigning to one or two weeks in future elections Denzi! Parker Grain Valley Double loss Sitting quietly reading the paper out of my spouse's mouth comes this: I hate losing Barbara and Merleen Cornell Independence What to trust? Regarding your Oct 31 lead editorial I question the accuracy of the statement that Pat Buchanan allowed prime time to declare a I listened to that speech I could swear that I heard him say is a religious war going on in this time to declare a religious war in this And I thought he went on to talk about how traditional values and those who hold them are continually belittled I was pretty sure at the time that his point was that the war was already going on against these people not waiting to being waged by them Then again as many times as read a different account in the Find better ways I am writing in response to an article in The Star reporting that more and more people are buying guns for protection from criminals Instead of buying guns people should resort to other methods to protect themselves There are many reasons why people should protect themselves in other ways One is that more home and business owners are buying guns which in turn makes the police very edgy because there is a possibility that an officer could get killed by a civilian who they thought was a burglar There has also been an increase in deaths of robbers killed by clerks of the stores they were robbing This is because the stores have been robbed before and to feel safe the clerks have bought guns for protection Police say that guns give a false sense of security That is if a mugger has a gun to your head there enough time for you to get to your gun so you could defend yourself If you reach for your gun the person is just going to shoot you Some of the solutions to this problem are spending close to the same amount on an alarm system as spent on a gun Or if a person can afford it they could hire a private security company to patrol their house report suspicious activities and pick up their mail when on vacation If you still think that a gun is the protection for you then ask yourself if you could actually bring yourself to kill someone even if you could avoid it? Jimmy Tompkins Shawnee Stay in the ditch I see in The Star that Sen Nancy Kassebaum has sponsored a bill requiring locomotives to have ditch lights mounted on both sides of the locomotive to illuminate the ditches on each side of the tracks President Bush has signed it Guess they figure people are going to drive in the ditches i nstead of crossing the track Could be rough going but safer than being hit by the train at the I crossing Emmett "Red" Clouse i Sedalia Mo Whopping increase One article in The Star on Oct 28 should have been read by everyone regarding higher education Anyone reading the comparisons between Missouri and Kansas schools would be in for quite a shock especially the Missouri taxpayers It is understandable that a small increase in tuition could be made for a number of reasons but a better than 8 percent increase in Kansas and a whopping 156 percent in Missouri sounds like a bunch of politicians at work What really surprises this individual is how officials in Missouri can account for charging $1000 more for tuition than Kansas The schools are not that much better As a matter of fact Kansas State University had more students offered Rhodes scholarships than any other Big Eight school Would anyone like to have a breakdown on how their money is spent? Harly Schmidt Kansas City Farewell to the chancellor private institutions of higher education Although voters turned down a 1 99 1 proposal for a $385 million tax package for education strenuous efforts in support of it as chairman of Missourians for Higher Education helped spread the word about the plight of many institutions In the spring Central Missouri State University honored Mann with the James Kirkpatrick Excellence in Governance Award He has also been involved in numerous other state and national organizations and boards David Buie MCC board president described Mann as an outstanding educator and praised him for his contributions to development at the college noting the unprecedented growth in the last 10 years at MCC Listing his accomplishments is only a nominal way to mark the departure of Bill Mann from the Metropolitan Community Colleges The main point is that he will be missed difficult to imagine this educator as an observer rather it seems proper that he will retire to another important role in the community If in education that will be all to the good William Mann has made his mark not only as a most able college administrator but as an exemplary advocate for higher education across Missouri When he finishes his work as chancellor of the Metropolitan Community Colleges in December Kansas City will bid farewell to a real educational leader Mann will be honored for his 1 5 years of service by the MCC Foundation-Alumni Association at a reception and dinner Nov 18 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel He will be succeeded by Wayne Giles executive vice chancellor of MCC Mann came to the college system in the fall of 1977 as vice chancellor for administration and was named chancellor in 1981 He guided MCC through a period when the student population grew considerably students are also less traditional Physically two colleges were built from temporary housing several campuses have been added and Penn Valley has had major rebuilding All this was done during some of worst years for funding higher education Shortly after Mann arrived here Missouri cut $233000 from the state funding a pattern that was repeated during the rest of his tenure Mann became a leading spokesman for tax reform and more support for all state and OPINION If you have a comment or suggestion about the Opinion pages or if like to leave a message for a columnist or cartoonist call 889-7827 and enter a 4-digit number: I RECTORY Comments on Opinion pages 1730 Yael Abouhalkah 1731 Jean Haley 1732 Virginia Hall 1725 Lee Judge 1737 Thomas McClanahan 1738 Bill Schorr 1740 Laura Scott 1734 Robert Sigman 1735 BillTammeus 1721 Stephen Winn 1739 BIBLE VERSE The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Psalm 1 45:9.