Friday, April 21, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Crash delays group's visit
By Mindie Miller
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A reception for visitors from Lawrence's sister city of Eutin, Germany, was moved from Wednesday to today after a helicopter crash delayed the group's arrival in Lawrence.
Six members of the group, composed of 43 German firefighters and their families, were injured in a helicopter crash Tuesday morning south of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
The tourists were in a Kenai Bell 206 helicopter at the Grand Canyon airport at about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday on their way to a scenic tour of the national park. The helicopter lost power shortly after takeoff and crashed just off the helipad.
Bill Keel, Lawrence Sister City Advisory Board member and professor of Germanic languages and literature, said that the six injured people still were in a Flagstaff, Ariz. hospital yesterday. He said a few of the people probably would require lengthier treatment for broken bones.
Keel said 33 people arrived in Lawrence Wednesday night for
the Kansas leg of their trip. The University of Kansas' Max Kade Center for German-American Studies will hold a reception at 3:30 p.m. today for the group.
In addition to its Kansas visit, Keel said the group had about a 10-day stay on the West Coast.
"The Grand Canyon was to be one of the highlights of the trip, but it turned out a little bit differently," he said. "They're very lucky the injuries weren't more severe. We're happy they made it."
Eutin has been Lawrence's sister city since 1989. Keel said the University had had a summer language institute in Eutin since the 1960s, which served as the impetus for establishing the sister city relationship.
He said the notion of sister cities came about during the Eisenhower administration.
"Eisenhower felt that if citizens in different countries could, in effect, become like brothers and sisters by establishing a closer relationship, then world conflict might be avoided." Keel said.
Keel said the Eutin group was visiting Kansas to become more familiar with the state.
"It's also our way of showing our appreciation for what they've done in supporting the exchange programs on the German side," he said. "We know we can send our students there, and they're going to be in good hands."
Frank Baron, professor of Germanic languages and literature and director of the Max Kade Center, said the accident had received a lot of attention in Germany. Baron said there was a German television crew waiting at Kansas City International airport when the group arrived Wednesday night.
The group visited the state capitol building and the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, and the Kaw Mission historic site in Council Grove yesterday. Tomorrow it will be at the Eisenhower Center in Abilene, and Sunday it will visit the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center in Hutchinson. The Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical Department will hold a barbecue for the group Monday night. The group will return to Germany Tuesday morning.
Poetry from the heart
Alton Scales, director of Multicultural Affairs, recites one of his original poems about the evils of cocaine to students in a Survey of Black Poetry class. Scales was invited by a student in the class to recite his poems yesterday afternoon as a kickoff to the students' own recitations. Maryemma Graham, professor of English who teaches the course, said students had the option of writing a traditional research paper,
performing poems by a respected author or reciting their own original poems for a class project. "We use poetry to learn a new way to talk about things," she said. The students performed their poetry in front of classmates, guests and parents. The recitations were moved from their original location on Wescoe Beach to a classroom in Wescoe Hall because of the cold weather. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
Project to enhance downtown is underway
By John Auldlehmed
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The Downtown 2000 project is underway, with developers planning to break ground on a 530-space parking garage in July and the city of Lawrence issuing bonds to pay for it.
Although the rest of the project does not yet have starting and completion dates, Downtown 2000 will fill up the almostempty 900 block of New Hampshire Street with retail, office space, apartments, a new arts center and the parking garage.
Downtown 2000, a city project to enhance the downtown area, soon will fill up the almost-empty 900 block of New Hampshire Street with retail, office space, apartments, a new arts center and a $7 million parking garage. Developers plan on breaking ground in July. Photo by J.M.Dailey/KANSAN
And, through a special tax plan — in which the new taxes the area generates eventually will pay for the parking structure — the project will pay for more than half of its own cost.
Jeff Shmalberg, a member of the Lawrence-based development company 9-10 LC, has helped negotiate a three-way land swap and payment plan for Downtown 2000.
Firstar Bank, 900 Massachusetts St., owns land on both sides of the street, and 9-10 owns land on the east side.
Lawrence will wind up owning the land that will contain the parking garage and the arts center, and 9-10 will own land that eventually will be home to stores, apartments and maybe even a hotel.
Finally, 9-10 will build the $7 million parking structure, and the city will pay it back. "It's a win-win deal." Shmalberg said.
He said the parking structure was precast, like the one near the Kansas Union, and would take no longer than six to nine months to build.
"We're doing everything we can to speed that up." he said.
David Corliss, director of legal services for the city, said the parking structure was being paid for with tax increment financing — meaning the city will receive the property and sales taxes generated by the area and
That means the public initially will foot the $7 million bill, he said, but the tax plan would allow the city to pay back $4 million of that.
Shmalberg said the project started more than two years ago when he was looking for 20 parking spaces for another one of his developments, near Berkeley Plaza, which is on New Hampshire Street between 10th and 11th streets. But the scarcity of land downtown made it very expensive, he said.
"The only way to justify the cost of the land was to create some sort of revenue source." Shmalberg said.
The project then took on a life of its own, he said, with city officials, store owners and area residents all providing input.
"It turned into kind of a community project," Shmalberg said. "We just needed more parking downtown."
Earl Reineman, vice president of Weaver's Department Store, 901 Massachusetts St., said Downtown 2000 would fit in well with the rest of downtown.
"I've been really supportive of the project," he said. "I think it has gone through on its own momentum."
Reineman said the parking structure, the upper floors of which would be long-term parking, would give downtown employees a place to park and would free up spaces for customers.
"I think it will help strengthen this end of downtown," he said. "Parking is a really big thing."
Kansas alumnus speaks about culture in '60s,'70s
By Mike Hoffman writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
On the 30th anniversary of the Kansas Union fire, author and KU alumnus Brent Green returned to campus yesterday to discuss how the late '60s and early '70s affected the atmosphere of the KU campus. Green spoke to about 25 students in the Religious Studies class taught by Bob Shelton, associate professor of religious studies and University ombudsman.
"It's important for students to know more about the late '60s and the early '70s because policy-makers make decisions affecting their lives based on their selective reading of history." Green said.
He said that although no one knew for sure the cause of the April 20,1970 Union fire, there was a strong suspicion that students started it.
Green also said a popular slogan on campus then was "rock chalk, jay dove, stop war, try love."
He said a big influence on young people at the time was Mad Magazine because of its cynicism.
Green was promoting his latest novel, Noble Chaos, which will be available online and in selected book stores June 1. It is a historical account of a fictional KU student in the late '60s named Ryan Sterling. He defies authority, uses drugs and engages in promiscuous sex. The novel addresses the conflict the character has with his friends and society.
Green described the late '60s and early '70s as a time of extreme
"It's important for students to know more about the late'60s and the early 70s because policy makers make decisions affecting their lives based on their selective reading of history."
Brent Green award-winning author
activism. He said many people tried to discredit the era by saying it was just a time of adolescent rebellion and situational morality.
"They didn't protest against the violence in Vietnam and the violence against the environment necessarily because it was just good for them," he said. "It was about what was best for everyone else."
Green recalled student protesters being labeled "bums" and "snobs" by President Richard Nixon and his vice president, Spiro Agnew.
Katie Wyatt, Topea senior, said she enjoyed the presentation.
"I took it personally because I'm a student and I didn't know what happened here at that time," she said.
Shelton said that because of the nature of the class, Green was a perfect speaker.
"In this class, we study various nonviolent approaches to conflict," he said. "He's written quite a bit about that."
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