Monday, April 26, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Senator's petition fights recreation center vote
By Heather Woodward
hwoodward@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
J. D. Jenkins, Nunemaker senator, began circulating a petition Friday in hopes that Chancellor Robert Hemenway would not sign the proposal for a $16 million recreation center.
Although students voted in favor of constructing a new center 2,817 to 1,238,the front letter of the petition claims that vote was misleading because only 20 percent of the student body participated in the election.The letter also argues that students did not understand the proposal.
"Students were misled about what they were voting for," Jenkins said. "I've talked to people who said they didn't realize what exactly what they were voting for and that was intentional."
In his letter, Jenkins wrote that posters about the recreation center led students to believe that the new center would be as big as Kansas State's facility when in
Jenkins said he hoped to have 2,000 signatures by Friday so he could send the petition to Hemenway as soon as possible.
Scott Kaiser, student body vice president and vice chair of the Student Recreation Task Force, said the task force already had begun taking steps to move ahead with the project.
"This is one of the biggest voter turnouts in the last five years," Kaiser said. "If there was ever an election to use as a gauge for what students are thinking, this is the one to look at."
Kaiser said he did not think the information presented to students about the recreation center was misleading and said the ballot included specifics about the project.
"This petition is an exercise in
"This letter is more misleading than anything the Recreation Task Force has done.
Scott Kaiser
student body vice president
misleading," Kaiser said. "This letter is more misleading than anything the Recreation Task Force has done. The new recreation center will put us on par with the other Big 12 schools."
Jenkins also filed a complaint with the attorney general last week because he wanted the Elections Commission hearings to be open to the public. Ann Premer, editor of the University Daily Kansan and Nadia Mustafa, Student Senate reporter for the Kansan also filed a complaint. Those complaints have been forwarded to Douglas County counsel Winton Winter.
—Edited by Amber Stuever
Construction alters downtown bus route
Two city projects on Ninth Street have forced minor changes in the downtown KU on Wheels bus route.
The construction of a storm water sewer and the replacement of a waterline between Vermont and Massachusetts streets on Ninth has closed the block.
Wayne Popp, owner of the Lawrence Bus Company, said the construction affected only the downtown route. Popp also said the stop located on Ninth and Massachusetts streets was the only one changing. The new stop is one block south at 10th and Massachusetts streets.
Charles Pirtle, of the Lawrence Bus Company, said they had added another stop to the downtown route. This stop is between Tennessee and Kentucky streets on Ninth Street.
Pirtle said about 50 to 100 people used the downtown bus route daily.
Chad Voigt, storm water engineer, said the projects would take about five months to complete.
"We're replacing the sewer sewer and adding new lines to extend it," Voigt said. "Realistically, the projects should be done in September, but these things are always subject to the weather."
Students with questions about bus route changes can call either KU on Wheels, 864-4644, or the Lawrence Bus Company, 842-0544, for more information.
— Heather Woodward
Students celebrate Earth
Former Sierra Club president talks to environmental groups
By Jennifer Roush jrush@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Despite overcast skies and cool temperatures, about 200 people celebrated Earth Day with members of KU Environments at the South Park gazebo Saturday.
Although Earth Day officially was observed Thursday, Environs celebrated Saturday to accommodate the schedules of their members and guest speakers.
Many KU and local environmental and social groups, such as the Environmental Studies Student Association and Amnesty International, had
information tables at the event.
Entertainment was provided by local belly dancers, and Casey Neill, a folk singer who has performed at Earth First rallies.
The keynote speaker at the event was Adam Werbach, former president of the Sierra Club. Werbach was the youngest president in the organization's 104-year history. He still serves on its board of directors and is the host of a new magazine show on the Outdoor Life Network, called The Thin Green Line.
He told the crowd that he was "sick of environmentalists" and that environmentalists needed to quit blaming others for the
werbach also said he did not like the book 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth because it ignored the fact that governments and corporations also must be held accountable for the destruction of the planet.
He suggested that people practice something he called radical localism. He urged them to resist corporate urban homogenization.
destruction of the planet.
I really hate the way Wal-Mart comes into a town and just ruins things," he said. "I can get off an airplane in any city and see the same Starbucks and the same Borders and the same Jiffy Lube. There's no sense of place."
At the conclusion of his speech, Werbach asked audience members to imagine that they were in a time machine and to decide when and where they would go.
Above: Nancy Schwarting, director of WildCare, shows off a Red-Tailed Hawk that her wild animal rehabilitation group is caring for. Schwarting and her colleagues put on an animal show by the South Park gazeebo on Saturday. Left: Kijah Bartlett pushes her own stroller during Saturday's Earth Day festivities at South Park. The festival had many activities for children including a coloring contest. Photos by Graham K.
Johnson/KANSAN
He then asked for a show of hands for how many people would go to the past. More than half of the crowd said they wanted to go back in time.
Werbach used that straw poll to emphasize his point about environmentalists being caretakers of the planet's future.
Many KU students who attended the event said they were impressed that Werbach had made such an impact on the environmental movement at such a young age.
"The challenge is not so much to be environmentalists but to be futurists," Werbach said. "We must protect the Earth for the next generation."
"I enjoyed his speech," said Dan Thalmann, Lawrence senior and president of the Jayhawk Audubon Society. "I'm happy to see younger environmentalists out there making a difference and getting involved."
Laura Fleming, Prairie Village senior, also was impressed with Werbach's remarks.
"I think it's really inspirational to see someone our age make a difference," she said. "It makes you see what a difference one person can make."
—Edited by Juan H. Heath
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