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Mondav. November 5, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Annual Herp Auction raises $1,542
Reptile, amphibian fans come from afar for event for herpetological society
By Mike Brassfield
Kansas staff writer
Joseph Collins looked at the two long tables full of snake sucks, reptile teguis, frog T-shirts and slippers.
"This is a lot of stuff," said Collins, a KU zoologist. "We have over 300 items to sell here."
Collins was the auctioneer Saturday night at the 17th annual Herp Auction at the Big Eight Room in the Kansas Union. More than 100 people attended the auction, which raised $1,542 for the Kansas Herpetological Society, a non-profit organization involving snakes, amphibians and reptiles in Kansas.
”
This is a lot of stuff. We have over 300 items to sell here.
Joseph Collins KU zoologist
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Members of the society donated items to be sold at the autumn, which was part of the society's activities.
Kelly Irwin, a Kansas State University student and member of the society, said people from as far away as New Orleans and Albuquerque, N.M., had attended the meeting.
For three hours, herpetology fans bid on hundreds of books, pieces of original artwork, empty aquariums, a license plate that read REPTILS, a 1991 "Snake in the Grass" calendar and a table-cloth signed by everyone who attended the two-day meeting.
Nancy Schwarting, president of the society, said diversity of material being sold reflected the diversity of audiences.
"We have the whole spectrum of humanity represented here," she said. "We have teachers and students, zoookeeper and eccentrices. We have people who have Ph.D.s and people who have no education at all. The only thing they have in common is that they like snakes and reptiles."
Shwarting said the 229-member herpetological society worked with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to promote habitat preservation and management, as well as selling of native Kansas rentals and amphibians.
The society also conducts a "herp count," an annual census of snakes, reptiles and amphibians in Kansas that is used to document changes in their populations over time, she said.
The most feverish bidding of the evening was for an out-of-print hardcover edition of "Reptiles and Amphibians in Kansas," a book written by herpetologist Dr. Rachel Foster, who society members described as a legend.
Joseph Collins, KU zoologist, accepts bids on a snake squirt gun Saturday at the auction.
Local drug task force aiming at federal grant
By Jennifer Schultz
Kansan staff writer
The Mayor's Task Force on Drug Abuse will meet today at City Hall to complete its federal grant application, a community drug and alcohol abuse.
Sandy Praeger, the task force chairperson, said President George Bush had allocated about $40 million for drug education in his war on drugs.
If awarded, the grant would give Lawrence between $1,000 and $2,000 to help finance drug education programs for five years, she said.
Praeger said the task force was formed in 1986 in response to a national plea asking mayors across communities have drug problems.
To qualify for the grant, the task force needs to prove that it has active community support with its drug prevention and prevention programs, she said.
Praeger said the Lawrence school district, the University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Junior College and the business community all were working toward prevention of drug abuse.
If Lawrence is awarded the grant, the task force will hire a coordinator of drug education programs among different groups in the Lawrence community, she said. The task force also will use the money for a resource
center that will provide information about drug and alcohol abuse.
She said the task force began "just say no" programs in Lawrence schools to help students resist drugs and involved with drugs.
Student Senate passed a resolution at its last meeting to aid Lawrence's fight against drugs and alcoholism. The resolution endorses the Lawrence Coalition for Prevention, a subcommittee of the task force, and commits Senate to active representation on the coalition.
Mike Schreiner, student body president, said he hoped students would take action to fight drug abuse and representatives to serve on the coalition.
Kelli Rogers, KU student representative on the task force, said that in the past year the task force activities included assessing whether the city should have mandatory drug testing of its employees and top management officials. The task force decided against it.
She said the grant money would be used to prepare a plan for drug and alcohol prevention by identifying problems within the community and providing training and prevention methods.
Rogers said the drug problem in Lawrence was a complex issue.
"If it was easier to identify, it would be an easier problem to tackle," she said.
Rumors of satanic activities unfounded, authorities claim
The Associated Press
Rumors of satanic cult activity, which authorities say are unfounded, have spread fear among parents and children in northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska but have lost steam since Halloween.
Area residents likely are more sensitive to such rumors because of the 1985 survivalist cult murders in nearby Rulo, Neb. one official said.
The latest rumors reportedly started in northeast Kansas.
Steve Holthaus, a deputy sheriff in Nemaha County, Kan.
A man named "Tiny," driving a black limousine, was said to be recruiting children in the Kansas counties of Nemaha and Brown as well as adjacent Nebraska counties. A girl died on Saturday dead of unexplained cases. According to the rumors, four children were to be sacrificed Halloween night, said
"We had all kinds of rumors, some of them just really bizarre," he said. "There just was no proof or evidence to substantiate anything like that."
On Oct. 19, satanic symbols were spray-painted inside the Nemaha, Neb. Christian Church during a break-in, fueling rumors there. Church board director Wyman Pryor said three local teen-agers were arrested later for vandalism, and they were motivated more by rowiness than satanism. They misspelled Satan as "Satin," he said.
Nemaha County, Neb., Deputy Sheriff Ron Caples said rumors of cross burnings in cemetery and kidnapping of children were rampant in the Peru, Neb, and Nebraska City, Neb, areas.
By Elicia Hill
Family Dav acquaints parents. children with KU museum
Kansan staff writer
Harriet Tubman was alive and well yesterday
Just ask the audience that watched Lawrence graduate student Eumice Stallworth as she performed a one-hit wonder of Art for Family Day activities.
Stallworth's performance, titled "Images," was a dramatization of the lives of five real and fictious
famous Black women and was also part of the "I Dream a World" exhibit events. About 200 people participated in events centering on the exhibit of 75 photographs of famous women that will continue until Nov. 18.
Family Day was an effort to make the museum accessible to the community, said Pat Villeneuve, curator of education at the museum.
There are a lot of people in the
community that have never been to an art museum," she said. "It's scary go with children, especially if you know nothing about art. Many people think children aren't welcomed in an art museum. We're trying to make everyone feel comfortable in coming here."
After families viewed the exhibit, instant photographs were taken of the children to help them relate to the exhibit photographs.
KU graduate students Brigid Murphy, Lawrence, and Debra Nelson, Ottawa, who photographed the children, provided a table full of props, such as a fireman's hat, a football helmet and a miniature piano synthesizer, that children could choose to represent themselves.
In addition to Stallery's dramatic vignettes, Jula Parks, professor of education at Washburn University, read stories and emphasized the
importance of passing on family history.
"The mementos of family, the letters, quilts and other artifacts are important to the value of our lives," Parks told members of the audience, who ranged from elementary school children to senior citizens "We come along, we come along, the first thing they want to see are letters because they tell
them what was happening within the family.
"Everyone wants to know where they came from, who they are and where they belong. Oral traditions can preserve that."
Andrea Norris, director of the museum, said she hoped that people would view art museums as a way to experience themselves and the world around them.
GO HUNGRY OR INCREASE REVENUE SOURCES!
Sean Williams endorses investment in the future.
Recruit businesses to Kansas, to create good jobs, to give us income, to give us tax revenues, to broaden the tax base, to give us $ for the services we want.
VOTE SEAN WILLIAMS, REPRESENTATIVE
46th DISTRICT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Pd Pol Ad by Sean Williams for the 46th, Tom Singleton, Tres.
MOVERS.
That's who we're looking for - people on the move. People who are motivated, enthusiastic and professional. People willing to tap the Kansas City and Lawrence markets for new business.
Work for one of the top college newspapers in the nation. The University Daily Kansan is now hiring Account Executives for the spring Business Staff.
Applications are available at the Kansan Business Office, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Informational Meeting: Thursday, November 8 at 7:45 a.m. in 100 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Application Deadline: Friday, November 9
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN