Friday, May 7,1999.
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Local students walk a day in officers' shoes
By Katie Burford
Kansan staff writer
Although Sarah Rooney is only 15 years old, she's already considering her future career. These days, she's thinking about basketball or law enforcement.
To find out more about the latter, the Central Junior High freshman choose to spend yesterday's Career Day at the KU Public Safety Office.
"I was curious to learn more about investigating crime," Rooney said.
Rooney and five of her classmates got to see first-hand what it was like to operate a radar gun, stop a car for a traffic violation and investigate a crime scene.
Verle Creek, 15, said his favorite part of the day was when he and his schoolmates helped an officer comb the Oliver Hall parking lot for cars that had been broken into the opposite night.
"He told us to look for cars with broken antennae," he said.
"Sure enough, we found two with missing antenna and they had been broken into."
Six cars in all had been burglarized in the lot. Several students went with the officers as they notified the car owners.
Josh Smith, 15, asked if he would receive credit for attending the session if he was hired as an officer after high school graduation.
The group had lunch with officers at the Kansas Union and later sat in on a training session about diversity
Most of the department's top brass was on hand at the Public Safety Office to present the students with a certificate commemorating the day.
"We hope we have sparked your interest," he said.
Lt. Schuyler Bailey offered students the opportunity to do another ride-along with officers.
When Director Ralph Olpin asked if any of them knew how much a police officer got paid, the students shook their heads.
"It pays more than flipping burgers," he said. "And you get the gratitude of the whole community — well, most of the community."
As the students waited for rides to take them home, several agreed that the most interesting part of the day had been seeing speeders step on their brakes as soon as they caught sight of the public safety officers' cars.
"It was really funny." Smith said.
High school student Joe Sheilton listens to Lt. Schuyler Bailey as Bailey teaches about the police force. Students from Central Junior High spent yesterday with police officers as part of a career day. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
Edited by Kelli Ravbern
Renee Bunton, Haskell Indian Nations University freshman, dances to the beat of street musicians' drums. This informal group of drummer gathered recently on a Massachusetts Street corner to perform its music. Members are (from left) Matthew Brown, Kansas City, Mo.; Maes Loreg, Lawrence; and Isaac Dimmu, Leavenworth. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
Street musicians cite many reasons for playing downtown
Continued from page 1A
Since Erlinger's move from St. Louis to Lawrence, where he is now a KU freshman, he has received a much better response.
"We made something like $14 the first night we played in St. Louis," he said, "Our first night in Lawrence, we made $43.93."
Erlinger, whose musical taste ranges from old-time mountain music to early electronic music, said he and his friends usually jammed on bluegrass and delta blues tunes at their spot at 10th and Massachusetts streets. His friend Todd usually plays guitar, Jimmy's on the harmonica and Erlinger plays mandolin, banjo or guitar. Together, along with other various guest musicians, they make up The Jenkins Family.
"The best thing is that we meet a lot of interesting people," said Erlinger, describing some of their experiences. "One time we happened to meet a man from England who saw us playing and stopped to chat. He picked up the guitar and started wailing."
But handing your instrument over to the audience is not always wise. Ron Rainey, another local street musician and Lawrence resident, has been playing mandolin with his friends on Massachusetts Street for the past three years and has had a few problems.
"There've been instances where people randomly took out their frustration on us or tried to ease into our instruments and play them," he said. "Then, once they start playing, they won't give back."
But Rainey can't complain too much. He said that playing on the street could be
good practice for him; he also plays in a
good rock band called the Pale Mole Kines.
"It's nice to be able to practice and get immediate feedback," he said. "You have to really belt it out to beat out the traffic and the hum of downtown. You also have to be prepared to deal with people face to face."
And sometimes putting smiles on those faces can put bucks in a musician's pockets.
Josh Bowen, who often plays guitar with Rainey, said that during the years he spent in California in the early '90s, he could practically make a living carrying a guitar over his shoulder. One man even handed him $80 and bought him pizza for his musicianship one day. But California is far away.
"It's a different story making money in Lawrence," Bowen said. "It's harder
because there are so many college students
who don't have money in the first place"
who won't have money in the first place.
For Rainey, who works at the Glass
Onion, 624 W. 12th St., a restaurant that
closes during summer break, the money he
makes on the street can be the difference
between a healthy meal or a cheap snack.
"Sometimes during the summer, I might run out of money and, by playing, I can get enough for something to eat." Rainey said. "People don't like to see people on the street pestering them for money, but when you're playing music, at least you're doing something for it."
Aside from the money and regardless of the thrill of clapping and adulation, being a street musician can sometimes be entertaining for the entertainer.
"We've seen three fights, one racially motivated and the other two alcohol-and-female related," Erlinger said. "It's strange to watch fights and be playing fun music at the same time."
Bowen he saw a man thrown through a store window and was later questioned by a policeman as the suspect bodylauncher walked away.
"I've seen everything from fighting frat boys to horny girls go crazy; just about everything that drunk people on a Saturday night." he said.
The romantic picture of young artists just trying to make a living on the streets may not always hold up, but the musicians know there always will be someone to appreciate them.
At least Bowen thinks so.
"There's definitely a certain weird respect for the minstrel type," he said.
Edited by Jason Pearce
Social Welfare grads pledge to consider 'consequences' of future jobs
By Allan Davis Special to the Kansan
Some graduating seniors will work anywhere, for anyone, doing anything. All they want is a job.
But graduating seniors from the School of Social Welfare are taking a different course of action.
"We had graduating seniors sign a pledge stating that they will consider the environmental and social consequences of any career or job before accepting it," said Melinda Carden, Lenexa senior.
Carden said that 55 of the 62 students graduating with a Bachelor of Social Work degree already had signed the pledge, joining the Graduation Pledge Alliance. She said some of the seven others had called her and said they wanted to sign the pledge, so there would be almost 100 percent participation.
Erika Nutt, co-director of the Center for Community Outreach, said that the Graduation Pledge Alliance was important because it was a commitment to investigating the consequences of the jobs that students may take after they graduate.
"Clearly, there are many companies and organizations that are not socially or environmentally responsible," Nutt said, "Since I have taken the graduation pledge alliance, I will not seek employment by those companies.
"If more people would think about the consequences, either directly or indirectly, of the actions and policies of their employer, then the country would be a lot better off," she said.
Pledge signers received green ribbons to wear at graduation and a letter and a flier that discussed how to incorporate social responsibility into their job searches.
The Graduation Pledge Alliance started at Indiana's Manchester College and spread to several schools across the nation.
Nutt said that the Graduation Pledge Alliance at KU was initially the idea of Thad Holcombe of Ecumenical Christian Ministries and that the Center for Community Outreach took over the project last fall.
Carden said that Social Work Students Concerned About Retaining Ethics planned to continue social work students' involvement in the project next year.
- Edited Juan H. Heath
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