Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, April 30,1998
CLO offers assistance to disabled
By Carl Kaminski
kaminski@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Students looking to make an impact on someone's life may find what they are looking for at Community Living Opportunities.
The group was established in Overland Park in 1977 by a group of concerned parents who wanted local residential services for their sons and daughters with developmental disabilities, said Arthur Chiu, director of community living opportunities, 2113 Delaware St. The parents wanted an alternative to institutionalization, he said.
with the organization after graduation.
The group's employees help 288 people with developmental disabilities in Lawrence and Overland Park learn social and living skills. The organization takes care of individuals in seven group homes in Lawrence, as well as several apartments and duplexes.
He said he wanted open-minded students who were interested in making a social impact.
Many of the people who the group works with live in areas heavily populated with University students, Chiu said.
Chiu said the majority of the group's staff in Lawrence were KU students, and that many of them, including himself, worked
"We've found that diverse talent from many different majors helped complete our mission," Chiu said.
"If I need to, I can take a week off and work more the next one," she said.
Annessa Staab, Lee's Summit, Mo., junior, found out about the group through cheerleading at the University. Staab said the group had offered a great opportunity, and working there had fit into her hectic schedule.
first arrived at the group home, she just sat on a couch all day, Staab said.
Staab is a substitute teaching counselor for the group. She works with the men and women at the center with projects such as art therapy and the Green Thumb Project, in which the developmentally disabled take care of plants in offices throughout Lawrence.
Today, Elaine is friendly and ventures out in the community with the seven other people she lives with, Staab said. Elaine greets friends with hugs and kisses, she said.
"Sometimes, it's really frustrating," she said. "They're adults, and they are set in their ways."
Chiu said a majority of the men and women came from institutional settings and signs of neglect often were visible.
Elaine Klocke, Lawrence resident, hugs and kisses Annessa Staab, Lee's Summit, Mo., junior. Staab has worked at the Ponderosa house for more than a year. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
Staab recalled a woman in her 50s named Elaine. When Elaine
One of the ways the center helps is through the art therapy program. Jamie Dawson, director of art therapy, said the goal of the program was to create as much art as possible.
"We always have people saying that it can't be possible," she said.
Dawson said despite the artists' disabilities, they still created amazing products.
Much of the artwork created in the program is displayed at the Riverfront Mall and in shows around Lawrence, she said.
The next two shows will take place May 2 at Big Brothers and Big Sisters, 733 Massachusetts St., and May 10 at Wheatfields Bakerv, 949 Vermont St.
With patience come rewards, Staab said.
"You get to see different sides of the men and women," she said. "They react a lot in the same ways as we do, they just may not be able to communicate in the same way."
Staab said one of the rewarding aspects of her job was taking the men and women out into the community.
The community responds warmly to the men and women, Staab said. No one has said anything negative, she said. It is good for the people in the community
to see that the men and women are just the same as everyone else, she said.
Students interested in working with the group can call Chiu at the Lawrence office, 2113 Delaware St., at 865-5520 or the Overland Park office at (913) 341-9316.
Land grants ease property owners' worries
By Graham K. Johnson
Kansan staff writer
When Greg and Jill Allen sold their 160 acre spread in southwest Douglas county last summer, they handed it over not only to the highest bidder but also to future generations.
The Allens ensured that the land would be protected from over development by obtaining a conservation easement. The easement is a legal amendment to the deed, which restricts the land's uses. The Allens worked with the Kansas Land Trust, a Lawrence-based, land-preservation, nonprofit organization to obtain and monitor the easement. The Allens' easement is one of four in the state.
Jill Allen, a 1979 KU graduate, said they wanted to protect the land as open space for the community to enjoy in the future and for the land's sake itself.
"We just wanted to see the land stay like
it was," Allen said.
The trust was founded in 1990 to promote land preservation and conservation throughout Kansas by way of land purchase, donation and easements, said Laurie Ward, executive director.
Ward said most of the trust's activities involved easements, which were volun-
Allen: Easement will keep developers away from land
ary agreements to give up certain land rights such as construction or farming.
When the property changes ownership, the land restrictions remain, she said.
Ward said the main reason people sought easements was because of environmental concerns.
"People just know that we need more open space on the earth," she said.
Greg Allen agreed. He said he was alarmed by the development growth in Douglas County and wanted to save the land, which is close to his heart. The Allens eventually sold their land with the restriction that new structures could be built only on already developed portions of the land.
The Kansas Land Trust is a member of the Land Trust Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based support group for land trust in the United States. Martha Nudel, communications director for the alliance, said that even though owners lose value on their property, there were tax benefits to donating land and to conservation easements.
"It can lower your income taxes and your estate taxes, and it can also affect your property taxes," Nudel said.
Nudel said the first conservation easement was made in the 1880s to protect parkways in Boston. But it was not until the Tax Reform Act of 1976, which formally
recognized easements, that the movement really took off. As of 1994, there were 1,095 land trusts in the United States, protecting four million acres of land. Nudel said.
Ward said that even though the trust was the only one in Kansas and that the movement in Kansas took a while to get going, she was getting more interest and offers every day. Ward said several KU professors had talked with her about granting easements on their land.
But not all members of the trust are land owners with easements. Most, such as Elizabeth Schultz, are just citizens concerned about the environment.
Schultz, professor of English, said that although the only property she owned was a house in Lawrence, she wanted to help make sure open green space was preserved in the community.
"My life is enhanced and enriched by being able to visit natural sites in the state and throughout the world," Schultz said.
Alternative magazine adds Lawrence
By Marcelo Vilela
mvilela@kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
The Lawrence gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community gained a new voice in Lawrence this month.
"The goal is to provide more news and features from the Lawrence community," said Rob MacRae-McKie, Lawrence resident and manager of the Lawrence office. "One of our primary focuses is campus events, but we want people from the community to be aware that they can
The Liberty Press has expanded its Lawrence office and added a Lawrence section to the publication. The Wichita-based monthly magazine is the longest-running gay and lesbian publication in Kansas history. The Liberty Press has a circulation of 15,000 and has existed about four years.
contact us when something is going on."
"The magazine had always been distributed in the Lawrence community, but we didn't have enough people available in Lawrence to establish a presence," MacRae-McKie said. "We try to get community involvement and community news."
MacRae-McKie said that when several people from Lawrence started contributing articles to the Liberty Press it added to the magazine's process of creating a better distribution and advertising strategy.
MacRae McKie said he was concentrating more on article writing because he was resigning as office coordinator to move abroad. Kevin King, Topeka senior, Queers and Allies publicity director and the magazine's Northeast regional account executive, will fill the position.
This month's issue was the first to include the Lawrence queer community. It had the Pride Week events on the cover and articles about campus issues.
The next edition of the Liberty Press will feature the activities of Pride Week in the Lawrence section, MacRae-McKie said.
"Any type of queer business is a good idea," Shay said. "It helps the city to become more multicultural. There are never enough voices out there for our community, and we need publications that have different points of view."
Katie Shay, Lawrence freshman and Queers and Allies president, said the more queer publications there were in town, the better because the publication portrays the community's diversity.
Free issues of the Liberty Press can be found in the Queers and Allies office, 423 Kansas Union, and in local stores such as Arizona Trading Co., Teller's, Vibes and Paradise Cafe.
Symposium will examine Latino culture
By Lisa Stevens John
jlohn@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer.
The Hall Center for Humanities and the University of Kansas will sponsor "Latino/a Symposium" today, tomorrow and Saturday.
On Saturday, there will be four panel discussions and a reception with art exhibitions by Rocha Familia Art and music by Trio Atzlan.
Planned activities include a lecture tonight by Cherrie Moraga, Hispanic feminist writer, poet and teacher from San Francisco. Tomorrow afternoon's activities begin with an address by Chancellor Robert Hemenway, followed by a presentation and a panel discussion.
"This is the fifth annual symposium held at the University, and it's the first time that we've done a symposium on Latino topics," said Janet Crow, executive director of the Hall Center for the Humanities. "This program stems from an annual spring symposium held to reach out to the general community, even beyond the University."
The program was coordinated by Juan Velasco, associate professor of American studies, and John Augusto, associate director of the graduate school.
Velasco said 1998 was symbolic because it was the 100th anniversary of the Spanish-American War and the Treaty of Paris.
"It symbolized a moment when Hispanic and the Latino population became part of the United States, especially in thinking about Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cuban-Americans." Velasco said.
Velasco described the symposium as a way of revisiting the past.
"It's also a way of re-evaluating the present and looking at the future, especially keeping in mind that we're basically at the end of the millennium and the 21st century is approaching," Velasco said. "We look at how we can improve the interrelationships between Hispanics, whites and African Americans, not only from an ethnic point of view but also in terms of gender and multiculturalism."
Crow said the symposiums were designed to be as user friendly as possible so everyone would feel welcome.
"The programs have a lot of intellectual content, but you don't have to be someone who studies Latino literature or culture in order to be able to come and gain an understanding from the symposium." Crow said.
Today
SYMPOSIUM
Tomorrow
8:00 p.m. — Kansas Union Ballroom,
Horowitz lecture, "Sour Grapes: The Art of
Anger," by Cherrie Moraga
3:00 p.m. — Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union, welcome by Chancellor Robert Hemenway and keynote speech by Manuel Pacheco, president of the University of Missouri. Presentation will be followed by panel discussion about multiculturalism and education and a reception
Saturday
9. 00 a.m. — Kansas Room of the Kansas Union, panel discussion about Latino/a contributions in culture and literature
10:45 a.m. — Kansas Room of the Kansas Union, panel discussion about history and emigration
1:30 p.m. — Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union, panel discussion about economic, political and cultural impact in the Midwest
3. 15 p.m. — Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union, panel discussion on Latinas in culture and politics
5:00 p.m. Kansas Room of the Kansas Union, reception
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