Mannequins, cadavers among items found by mowers at KU
By Carey Stuckey Special to the Kansan
T. J. Reyes mows the grass on the hills of the University very carefully.
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He and other landscape workers from facilities operations take caution when mowing the grass on the campus hills. They never know what they'll find.
Mannequins haven't been the only stiffs lounging around the hills of the University.
Reyes, a main supervisor of grounds in facilities operations, thought that it was funny and let the two mannequins sit in the truck all day.
"We've found cadavers dressed up like sunbathers at Potter Lake," said Wayne Reusch, supervisor of physical plant in facilities operations.
One time during the summer of 1986 when Reyes and his co-workers were mowing the KU grounds, they found two mannequins in the bushes.
Almost every fall during football season the crew spends time fishing goal posts out of Potter Lake. Each goal post is very expensive and the Athletic Department is happy to reuse the salvaged ones, Reusch said.
"You'd be surprised," he said of the goal posts. "They float."
But the real hazard is the actual mowing.
Reyes said that mowing the hills could be dangerous, especially when it rains. This is why facilities operations trains some employees to use lawn mowers, especially
They mow across the slope of the hills, not up and down. This method reduces the chance for mower slippage, Reyes said.
the rider mowers, properly.
"You can't go down the hill with a mower," Reyes said. "Because there's no holding you back!"
The force of gravity is often too much for the rider mowers to bear, said Randy Russell, another main supervisor of grounds in facilities operations. He said that one time a rider mower "fell off the land and slid into the water at Potter Lake."
Pam Confer, a utility worker at KU, laughed as she was reminded of a similar incident at Potter Lake when a lawn mower fell into the water.
Angered professors and students often "chew out" the workers for making too much noise while mowing. Reyes said that two years ago an angry student came running out of the west door of Fraser Hall and threatened a temporary worker with the weedeater the temp had been using.
"When they pulled it out it was still running," she said.
When they aren't mowing, the grounds crew also has to pick up trash three times a day all across campus. The landscape crew consists of 22 full-time employees, five student workers and 10 temporary employees in the spring.
"If we didn't pick up trash for one week, everybody would raise hell 'cause it would look terrible." Reyes said. "It looks like the students are neat, but they're not."
Since
"We Care For KU"
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April 20, 1994 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • INSIDE KU
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