University Daily Kansan, April 7, 1982
Page 3
Low-interest loans for housing lifetime goal of man in poverty
By SUSAN BROSSEAU
Staff Reporter
Huddled on a faded red couch, amid a collection of trash, dirty clothes and moldy books, an old man reads the science fiction fantasy of Ray Brad
Among Lawrence residents, speculation about that old man is at times equally as fantastic.
The reality of the man lies somewhere between the two.
For some residents, the man, Harry Puckett, is an eccentric millionaire who owns half of his lawrence. For others, he has hired him, the lawyer who has helped them buy their homes.
ruckett was born on a farm near Lone Star and moved to Lawrence when he was 9. Next month he will be 93, and he has spent most of those years painting and remodeling houses in Lawrence.
Even though he never charged more than $2 an hour for his labor, through this work Puckett has been able to buy and sell on contract or lend the money to purchase more than 270 homes, by his own accounting.
He has accomplished this through frugal living and hard work.
"I don't like to spend money on myself," Puckett said. "My idea was to accumulate something to help other people and to have the interest help
He spends less than $25 a month on food, he said, supplementing that expense with vegetables from his garden and other people's discarded food.
HIS CLOTHES, books and other possessions are also discards. His home is filled with a lifetime of this collection. He lived in the house he built for his mother in 1939.
His yard is littered with used lumber, plumbing fixtures, rusty tools and old
clothes hung in trees. It is cluttered, but appears to be arranged and orchestrated, as if there were some order to the disorderly picture. It appears that he has some intended purpose for every piece of wood.
Inside there is access to only two rooms—the kitchen and another room. The rest is used for storage. A narrow, littered path leads from the back door to the kitchen stove and then to the wood stove in the other room.
Soot clings to the cobwebs and obsures what once was paint on the walls. Mounds of clothes and paper reach to within a foot of the ceiling.
His water is from a well, his light from a lambert, his heat from a wood stove. His only utility is the gas for his cooking stove.
THE PEOPLE who do business with Puckett, however, overlook his manner of living. They look at the man.
One of those people is Ollie Farmer, who has bought six homes from Puckett.
"He's the nicest man you ever want to do business with," she said. "He helps low-income people buy homes. He charges lowest interest and keeps the payments small so poor people can afford it."
Puckett said he charges 6 percent interest on his loans and contract sales.
Farmer said there were times when she was ill and could not make the payments and Puckett was under understanding. For her money, she made reduced payments, until she was able to pay the full amount again, she said.
Puckett said, however, that many of these loans and contracts did not work out so well. His first loan, in the 1930s, was one such failure.
a young woman who was taking care of her mother had a small house in North Lawrence that needed repair.
Puckett said he lent her $400, to be paid back at $10 a month, for those repairs.
"She started seeing this boyfriend and drinking," he said. "I guess they became alcoholics."
After a while, he said, they wanted to "get their money out of it," so he bought the house from them for $800 and repaired it, he said the home for $800.
AS PUCKETT talked, he sat motionless. He held a garden glove in his swollen, arthritic hand. The skin on his face is remarkably thick, except around his water-blue eyes, which slant in an almost oriental way.
His wiry, grey hair is cut short and lies every which way, looking like a wheat field after a hail storm! beaten down in places and stand tall in
outher's. Puckett is still alert and bright, but he is no longer agile. His legs seem almost unable to hold his slight frame.
He is the picture of a poor man living in poverty, but it is a poverty of choice and of material things. He has a wealth of respect from his friends and his clients, as he refers to the people with whom he holds contracts.
When he was asked why he had helped so much, he recognized their importance and was evasive.
He said, "I know my mother had a hard time after my father went blind (Puckett was then 7-years-old). My mother kept a home for me. I felt I should keep one for her. I made up my mind when I was 15 that I would make a home for her. The last 23 years of her life she lived with me."
The sound of his voice conveyed the pride he had in the home he made for his mother. This was the goal he had established. In helping people purchase homes, he has repeated this achievement over and over.
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Bands hard to draw to KU
By JIM LEHNER Staff Reporter
Members of Student Union Activities and the Interfraternity Council are dealing with the perpetual question of how to get big jobs. The SUA program of Kansas, Irene Cart, SUA program director, said yesterday.
or out ones that haven't received the notoriety afforded other bands will steer away from Lawrence in fear that their albums won't get a release.
"I felt sorry for all the people who tried to make the concert a reality," she said. "They had an impressive line-up, but when the two major bands out of the show, it was as good as dead."
She said that the Interfraternity Council hadn't expected the cancellation.
She said that the issue was renewed after the cancellation of Hawkstock "82. Hawkstock is a benefit concert, sponsored by the Interternational Council. His goal is to fund the funds for the handicapped at KU.
Carr said that she was disappointed that Hawkstock '82 was canceled.
Securing a concert is never a sure thing because the participants may back out at the last minute for a number of reasons, Carr said.
Hawkstock '82 was cancelled last week when two of its headline bands pulled out.
"That's just the way the business operates," she said. "You're never sure what the bands are going to do. They have many things that they worked out for them and are always concerned by the changes that will come to see them and how they're able to project their product."
well-known bands touring the Midwest in April.
Randy Chilton, Hawkstock chairman for the IFC, said that just two hours before his organization planned to announce the concert lineup, Chris Fryzb, of New York and Contemporary notables, notated by the two headline bands, Cheap Trick and Three Dog Night, cannot appear.
Carr said that one problem in booking the Hawkstock concert or any other concert was the scarcity of
they skipped, she said.
Better offers don't just entail money for a performance, Carr said.
"Cheap Trick got a better offer so they skipped," she said.
"I don't know what it is, but in Kansas City, with the exception of the Rick Springfield concert, the Ruckers would like big concerts in Aarl." Carr said.
She said another criticism that came up when trying to book rock'n'roll bands was that Allen Field House had poor acoustics.
"I don't have any solutions for attracting the big names to KU I do feel that we have something unique to offer them, because they get to visit our fine campus, which I feel is kind of a bonus for them.
"That is another factor that must be taken into consideration," she said. "That particular area needs more study.
"We'll just have to hope for better luck in the future."
Chilton said he didn't object to the fact that the promoters canceled the event, because they did it all the time. However, because Hawkstow was an annual event, he said, "I would be in a awkward predicament."
She said that one of the bands that was supposed to perform in Hawkstock "banced because it got a more appealing offer.
money not a performance, Carr said. "Big rock bands would much rather show off their talents in Kansas City than Lawrence because of record companies that might promote their music," she said.
"I think Lawrence was prince for what we were planning," he said. "I believe in the show, and I really would also shouldve supported a show like that."
"And bands that are just starting
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