University of Kansas campus at sunrise
Staff Photo by ALAN ZLOTKY
He hopes for best but prepares for worst
By SHIRLEY SHOUP
Staff Writer
Your life may be in the hands of Travis
Braun. At least indirectly.
Brann is coordinator of the Douglas County Emergency Preparedness Agency, by the county's emergency services division.
Whenever there is a tornado watch or warming Brann is on the job. "I am called at any time," he said. "I come in and activate the warning system and provide information necessary. Any time there is a severe weather event, watch or warm, we are operational."
Bells are challenge to the carillonneur
By TERRY DIEBOLT
Staff Writer
Playing the 53-bell carillon in the University of Kansas' Campanile presents some unique difficulties to Albert Gerken, carilloner.
The bells range in size from 12 pounds to 7 tons and to achieve a balance in the level of sound requires a deft touch on the lever. Gerken manipulates the pedals with his feet as he moves them.
"If you use equal force on the levers of a heavy bell and a small bell, the heavy bell will sound much louder." Gerten, associate professor of music theory, said. "To balance the heavier bell on the levers, you must raise it higher than the lighter one."
The bells in the 120-foot World War II Memorial Campanile, are played by clappers which are connected to cables that string downward into a control booth.
In the control booth, the cables are connected to the bank of levers and pedals, which resembles an organ keyboard.
THERE ARE 55 round, tapered six-inch oak levers and 27 foot pedals for Gerken to work with.
He said the weather affects the carillon.
Gerken, who has been the University carilloneur since 1963, performs weekly on the carillon.
"The carlson has to be adjusted before it can be played because the cables expand and contract according to the weather." Gerken said.
"In hot weather the cables expand and when the lever is struck, the clapper may not strike the bell. When cold, the cables shrink and the clapper will stay against the side of the bell."
He started playing the carillon as a graduate student majoring in organ at the University of Michigan, where a degree in carillon is offered. While there, Gerken studied under Percival Price, a leading carilioner.
Gerken prefers to play when the weather is cool. The cabin which houses the controls is heated but not air-conditioned. "It gets rather strenuous playing when the weather is hot," he said.
"SINCE MANY churches have a carillon and there was a chance that I would get a church job, I took up the instrument," he said.
Music that is written especially for the carillon is best, Gerken said.
He has composed music for the carillon and transcribes other works for the instrument.
"Any kind of song is difficult to transcribe," he said. "You remove the words and delete much music."
"The music that adapts best is classical in nature," he said.
According to Gerken, it also is difficult to transcribe music for the carillon because the instrument contains a sounding device that resounds longer than on other instruments.
"When you ring a bell, it keeps ringing." he said.
The carillon, which originated in Europe, was originally used for folk music, Gerken says. KU's carillon was built as a war memorator to former KU students who served during World War II.
GERKEN MAKES most of the repairs on the carillon for the University.
"Musicians tend to be least inclined toward mechanics, and if you travel around the country and see the 150 men in front of you will see what it mean," he said.
"Most of what I've learned about the maintenance of the carillon I picked up on my own," he said.
"I refuse to play on an instrument that isn't responsive."
Campanile
In the event a disaster does occur, Drumm says, "I stay here. I'm a coward." His role is administrative rather than that of command, he said.
"We insure that the Red Cross is notified if the situation calls for it. Then they activate their program," he said. "Providing shelter assistance is their job. My interest is to insure that everything is done. I would act and see that information was distributed."
BRANN SAID most of the effort in a disaster would come from established branches of government such as the police department. But he said he does have 51 volunteer ham radio operators and about 80 people who work "more or less directly for me."
When there isn't a local disaster to deal with, Brann spends his spare time as an amateur radio operator or taking mini-vacations. He said he finds things to keep him busy around home, too, since he lives in the country.
The major time-consuming work is establishing an administrative and comm-
During working hours Brann works on developing an emergency preparedness plan.
When County officials moved into the new
Judicial and Law Enforcement Center,
they opened a new courthouse.
has spent most of his two years as agency coordinator developing an emergency
BRANN WORKS out of an office which is part of the center. "It's supposed to be self-sufficient for 14 days," he said. The center has the power and communications equipment necessary for self-sufficiency, he added. "We have a stock of stock for 14 days and alarming facilities."
Although the agency functions under the assumption that a nuclear attack may occur, Bran says, "I feel it's possible, but I don't think it's probable. That's why the planning was expanded for natural and man-made disasters."
The operational emergency center is supposed to operate as a center for local government in the event of a nuclear emergency. It would be a focal point for local government, police and fire department officials.
"I DON'T THINK we're getting ready for a war," he said. "We know that man-made disasters are going to occur. Considering we are planning only for a war is ridiculous."
Brunn and his secretary are the only persons who work out of his office.
Civil defense is really the local government working under emergency conditions, he said. "It's the same people. They're just doing more work — or different kinds."
Bram said there were two types of shelter systems in Douglas County; nuclear and chemical.
The nuclear shelter has nothing to do with the tornado shelter plan, he said.
Bramn said no current figures were available on the number of nuclear shelters in the county, but the last shelter plan for the county, which is six years old, lists 40 shelters.
BRAANN POINTED out that that number included some shelters which no longer existed, such as the Bowersock Mill, and other similar ones, such as the law enforcement center.
Although the plan is old, Brann said it could still be used.
He said Douglas County has $22,000 shelter spaces, a number which far exceeds the population, including KU students. The largest number of shelters are situated on the KU campus, he said. The only thing the shelters lack is a food supply.
If the plan were implemented, Brann said he would inform the public as to where they should go. They would be asked to bring their own food supply and some water. He said the agency would also make an effort to provide water.
Bram said the agency doesn't really provide shelter in case of a tornado, but it does give a warning. The system in Douglas County gives a signal that is a steady tone
that lasts for three or more minutes, he said.
The nuclear attack signal, a nationally standardized d. signal, is an undulating tone lasting for three or more minutes.
ALTHOUGH THE agency doesn't provide tornado shelters, it will help organize and provide relief or temporary shelter for victims of tornados or other disasters.
Brunn said another of his jobs in the event or a disaster was to gather and distribute information. He would give the information to friends and family so that he could try to get relief funds for the affected area.
Brann is a retired lieutenant colonel.
Before he came to Lawrence, Brann taught senior high school military science in Arkansas. Brann came to Lawrence to visit his oldest son, who was a KU student. He said he had been familiar with the area and was ready to place a life to when he retired from the Army.
HE SAW THE AD in the Lawrence paper for the job as coordinator of the agency and
Bram said his wife, Margaret, was accustomed to his being called away at odd hours. "She's learned to take care of herself," he said.
And when the weather threatens a tornado, Brann said. "She does what I tell everyone else to do. She takes a flashlight, a powerbank and power-powered radio, and goes to the basement."
Local jazz is coming back strong
Staff Writer
Jazz is back
By PATRICIA MANSON
Jazz, which virtually disappeared in the 1960s and early 1970s, has made a comeback in recent years in Lawrence and the rest of the country.
Jazz's renewed popularity is reflected in the growing number of jazz clubs and festivals around the country. The 25th Newport Jazz Festival in New York, held in early July, featured more than 100 jazz artists and attracted 250,000 people. In the past two years Kansas City, the center of the jazz world in the '80s and '90s, has held many concerts by jazz violinist Claude 'Fiddler' Williams.
In Lawrence, Paul Gray's Jazz Place, 259 Massachusetts St., offers the live music of both veteran and newcomer jazz artists three nights a week.
IN THE PAST, Paul Gray's has featured such musicians and groups as the Tom Davis Quartet and trombonist Bromtin Hart. Some of the artists scheduled to perform this fall are Cat Anderson, trumpeter with the Duke Band, band, Jay McMann and Claude Williams.
Both McShann and Williams are Kansas City jazz musicians who have been performing since the 1920s. Williams played guitar with Count Bass's band in the mid '30s. Although McShann and Williams are not well known in the United States they are popular in Europe, where they often tour together.
Paul Gray, owner of the Jazz Place,
thinks that McShannon and Williams, as well
as other jazz musicians of the '30s, are
becoming popular once again.
"The old jazz musicians are coming back, Gray said," especially the black old back.
CLYDE BYSON, who plays saxophone with Paul Gray's Gaslight Gang, also thinks jazz is making a comeback. Bysum has been playing jazz since the 1920s.
People too young to remember old-time jazz now hear the music of Buddy Rich, Stan Keaton and Maynard Ferguson, he said. The musicians exposed to different kinds of music in their school bands. Organizations such as the Midwestern Music and ARU Center have student beds.
"I think with that much exposure it creates a lot of interest," Bysom said.
Despite renewed public interest in jazz, however, there aren't many places in Kansas City that feature jazz musicians. The Signboard Bar in Crown Center Hotel and the Club Swahili, 1658 E. 63rd St., are two establishments that do offer jazz
Gray formed the Gaslight Gang in 1963 after graduating from KU. The six-member
"KANSAS CITY has such a rich heritage in jazz. Byson said. It there's seemed to be a lot of it."
Guest artists perform on Friday nights and on Saturday nights the Gaslight Gang plays. For $4, a customer can listen to jazz music or soft drinks, soft drinks, popcorn and cheese he wants.
Paul Gray's caters to jazz enthusiasts, offering all types of jazz, from the Dixieland music of the Gaslight Gang to the jazz violin of Claude Williams.
A jam session is held at Paul Gray's every Thursday night from 8 to midnight. There is no admission charge and anyone can play. The jam sessions are popular with KU students, Gray said, and attract large crowds.
"Anyone who wants to can sit in and play," Gray said. "We usually have a full
Gray gave up the jazz circuit in 1971 and bought a music store in Lawrence. In 1974 he made his debut as a drummer.
"We PLAYED from coast to coast, Miami, Chicago, New York and Canada for a year."
Gray said he returned to Lawrence
and was told the town from his college
days and was tired of it.
None of the original members of Gray's band still play with the group. The band members now include Bysom on the saxophone, Johnny Moore on drums, Paul Miller on bass, pianist Mike Beiser, drummer Corky May and Gray on the trumpet.
"It's there," Byson said, "but you kind of
took in out-of-the-way places for
jazz."
"I're really a hard life," Gray said. "You're in a different town every night, or at least every week. The money's good and the food is great, but it' s difficult. Things often fail through."
Gray said he tries to present many different kinds of music at the Jazz Place.
"We have something to appeal to everybody," he said.
Bv TOM RAMSTACK
Humor lightens worknights
Staff Writer
The police and nightwatchman's prayer, according to one Facilities Operations nightwatchman, is "Please, O Lord, not on my shift."
During their lunch hour from 11:30 p.m. to midnight recently, five nightwatches sat around a table in the Facilities Operations building on Sunyside Avenue playing cards and recalling some of the stranger occurrences on the KU campus after dark.
"One watchman woke up two policemen with a flashlight who were sleeping in their car behind Allen. The cops then called the Facilities Operations forman to investigate a possible prowler in Allen Field House," one night watchman said.
Another night watchman told of the time a man working on some cadavers in the human anatomy lab in Snow Hall screamed when he heard a night watchman vawn.
When midnight arrived, the night watchmen picked up their portable time clocks and started on their routes of six campus buildings each.
THE PORTABLE time clocks are worn
with straps over the night watchmen's shoulders and are punched with keys at gunpoint.
When the night watchmen punch their time clock with a key, a record is kept of what happened.
The University of Kansas employs 20 night watchmen to cover seven routes of six buildings each, Edgar Martin, a Facilities Operations foreman said. Nine night watchmen and one foreman are working during any one shift.
The night watch begin their route at 10 p.m. and finish at 6:30 a.m. the following day during the week. On weekends they work slightly longer hours.
MARTIN SAID that the night watchman's duties included watching for fire hazards, making sure the inside and outside doors to each building were locked, turning off lights and notifying the police if they suspect a prowler is present.
The night watchmen must also keep written reports of anything unusual when they are sent in.
Some of the nightwatchmen are students working the $3-en-hour job.
One of the night watchmen, Michael Morrill; 31, had murphy Hall as part of his crew.
One night watchman has a master's degree in meteorology, another is a graduate student in herpetology and one is a woman.
Sometimes, he said, students are found sleeping in rooms or hallways.
"Murphy and some of the other buildings are not that hard to break into if you want to," he said. "Watchmen have found paper wads in the locks of doors in Wescow."
"When there's a jury the next day in Marvin the students will often sleep on the bed."
BUT MORRILL SAID that the few times he has called the police were usually because someone was in the building studying after the doors had been locked.
"People are sloppy with keys. I was training a guy who used to work for the
Last spring, Morrill said, there were several items stolen from Murphy by a suspect.
library," he said. "One day I noticed a master key to the library on his personal desk."
"One time some keys were stolen from an annex building beside Haworth. When the police investigated the crime the last week, they found that they were reported missing on Friday."
PERHAPS the worst problem for night watchmen, Bill did said, was lack of safety at his job.
1. round a man in the sawdust engineering room in Murphy, where they make props, welding near open cans of oil base paint and sawdust. Given some of the fire traps around here, I'm surprised none of these things around here have burned down," he said.
Morrill, who has been a night watchman for four and a half years, also includes Green, Robinson and Learned Halls and the atomic reactor building in his security
``I can prevent one fire every 11 years or
one crippling accident every four years, my
parents say.``