University Daily Kansan
Thursday, November 8, 1975
3
Pythons . . .
From page one
He said the appeal of a man-eating snake was based on the human curiosity for goke. "It dates back to the Roman Empire," he said. "Look at the attraction the lions and the Christians were. When people pass an accident, they’re always bitten by the blood and blood, I can’t change that and I’d be foolish not to take advantage of it."
Walls agreed that his exhibit was considered to be "hucksterism" by some people. He even acts somewhat like an old lady and uses his handle bar mustache and rapid speech.
"A newspaper in a small town once tried to expose me as a fraud," he said. "They ran a front page story and 1 ended up getting publicity from it because it
The snake exhibit is well-traveled. Before coming to Lawrence, Walls showed the
snakes in Texas and Louisiana. He said most of his stops were in small towns but he was also booked in larger towns, such as Dallas. The more remote areas of the country usually drew the largest gate, he said.
"The Southeast and West are my best regions," he said. "You get up north a ways and the people have less contact with snakes because it's too cold for them. Around here, nearly everybody has seen some kind of snake or another."
Walls' days on the road may end next year when he plans to retire to Texas. He wants to raise dogs at a kennel he built with the earnings he saved from touring with Big Pete and Carmeltita, he said. But he said he wouldn't give in the two snakes.
"I'm building a new house down there," he said, "and I want to create a natural habitat for them in the house. They're my pets."
The Bowersock Dam on the Kansas River is vital to the water supply of the city of Lawrence, and it's in serious need of repairs. The city staff will soon be consulting with the Kansas Fibreboard Inc., the company that is responsible for maintenance, to see what can be done to restore the dam.
A preliminary report prepared by Black and Vetch Consulting Engineers, Kansas City, Mo., indicated that damage caused by years of erosion could cost up to $75,000; $250,000 for poured concrete and from $100,000 to $125,000 for other maintenance.
City to consider dam restoration
The engineers found water flowing under and through the dam in several places.
Fibreboard, which is now out of business but which still holds the Bowersock lease, to review the lease and to try to work out an agreement about the needed repairs.
Mike Wilden, assistant city manager,
said the city would be meeting with Kansas
At the city commission meeting Tuesday night, City Manager Buford Watson said that although there was considerable activity in the area and occurred over a long period of time.
However, no guarantee exists that the recommended repairs would totally restore the dam to satisfactory condition, he said, but some action would have to be taken.
Watson said that even when Clinton Reservoir was finished, the city would still be dependent upon the dam to provide city water.
Other alternatives for repair of the dam will be investigated. he said.
been aware of for a long time—that there's water running under the dam, which has been happening for 10 or 15 years or longer." Hill said.
Stephen Hill, president of Kansas Fibreboard, said yesterday that this summer was the first time since his company had leased the city property several years ago that the water level was low enough to allow an inspection of the darn
Hill said no major repairs had been made during the two and one-half years his firm had undergone.
Watson said the last major repair work on the dam was done after the 1951 flood.
"The report just confirmed what we've
---