Traditional Country Club bash has wild history
By SHELLY COKER Staff Reporter
According to the tradition, to make the most of Country Club week at the University of Kansas, a student must go out every night to drink beer at least three bars, and still be able to wake up early enough to pick-up registration materials at Hoe auditorium on his assigned day.
COUNTRY CLUB WEEK activities might include traveling to Lone Star or Clinton Lake to catch some rays in the afternoon, going to Johnny's Bar for a game of pool and to hear Willie Nelson on the joke box playing "Space Invaders" or pinball at Mr. Bill's, drinking
schooners at Lousei's West, or sitting in the backyard outside the Wheel. But after midnight it's the Mad Hatter, the Sanctuary, or Gammons, for non-stop disco tunes.
Calvin Klein jeans, gold chains, Danskin Leetards, and silk shirts flash under disco lights with couples moving to the music. As they swing and turn to the continuous beat, they sing the words of a Michael Jackson tune, "Leave that book up on the shelf, and just enjoy yourself."
Buttondown shirts and khaki shorts make the afternoon scene with topsiders and a crowd of fans.
The reckless tastes of Country Club week are captured in the lyrics of a KU song from the 20s:
"Mush and milk and sunflower seed, that's the stuff on which we feed. We're the hot stuff of creation, we're the Kansas aggregation, . . Rock-Chalk, Jay-Hawk, KU."
IN 1890 an all-male KU cheerleading squad adopta lo "mush and milk" chant to cheer
Twenty-five years later, another all-male cheerleading squad led the University in rallies, bonfires, and general hail-raising before the 1915 K.U.N.-Brasaka football game. But these ac
tivities failed to generate full campus participation.
The men "realized that a potential source of noise-makers was being neglected, and publicly accused the women at the University of failing to comply with the K.U. team," according to the Daily Kansan.
One woman, Elizabeth Morrow, led the cheers for the football team, and the women were
The women planned a special rally that same day "for women only" to be held in Fraser theater. About 600 women filled the theater while numerous "male student gawkers" hung on the floor.
granted a special section at the gamed the next day to prove that KU women have as much spirit as men.
There was, however, one stipulation. The campus health service issued a warning for the women to "dress warmly and behave sensibly so they may avoid colds."
Prevention was the general mood of the campus in the early 1900s. One chancellor said in his convoction address, "We want the young people to have a good time and to have a clean, healthy, college life. My
Legislature to review landlord-tenant reforms
see TRENDS back page
By TAMMY HARBERT
Staff Reporter
Although the landlord-tenant self-held
merchant, the last tenant, and the last
tenant's account session are in read-
died.
The self-help allows tenants to make repairs needed to maintain health or safety if the landlord, after notification of the needed repairs, could be deducted. The repairs could be deducted, within limits, from the rent.
Repairs for which the tenant could be reimbursed would include only those for which the landlord is responsible under the 1975 Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.
Those responsibilities include following building and housing codes that affect health and safety; maintaining plumbing, wiring, heating, ventilation, sanitation and all appliances supplied by landlords; and supplying running water and reasonable amounts of hot water.
But tenants and other proponents say it is needed to get repairs done when management fails to fix the problem.
MOST LANDLORDS oppose the amendment to the building permit rules and will depress the apartment industry.
The issue of self-help has come up in the legislature every year since passage of the 1975 Kansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, John Solbach, Democratic state representative for the 45th District, said. But last year was the first time a candidate had to answer the bill Solbach sponsored almost made it to the floor for a vote by the full House of Representatives.
After the bill died last session, it was sent to interim Judiciary Committee which has been shown to be ineffective.
"The intern session is cooler because you are not as rushed," Solbach said. "There is no soo
He said the judiciary committee would decide if the amendment was needed and report its findings to the Legislative Coordination Council (LCO) as soon as it has the option of proposing a bill next session.
The committee held public hearings in late June to get information from both sides of the issue. The committee will meet in the fall to decide whether to sponsor a bill.
SOLBACH SAID he thought landlord lobby job was had been responsible for killing his bill.
He said he was optimistic that a new bill, perhaps not as offensive in landmarks, would be approved.
Arthur Douville, Republican representative from the 20th District, another member of the committee, said he had reservations to a self-hep bill. He said the committee would not come up with as strong a bill as the one last year, because it would not have much chance of passing.
Landlords would be out in force again next year to lobby against the bill, he said.
Jack Brand, representative of the Lawrence Apartment Association, said he hoped another self-help bill would not be introduced, but was not sure if landlords would lobby as strongly
He said if the legislature passed such a bill, the renters would be the ones to pay for it.
"Really, what self-help does is raise rents," Brand said. "It spread the cost of the compainer's repairs to all of the tenants in the apartment complex."
BRAND CONDUCTED a survey of 653 apartment units in Lawrence for one year. He says the results back up landlords' contemptions that self-help raises rents. The number of requests for repairs made by tenants varied and did not correlate with the age or condition of the building. Variances from tenant to tenant occurred in the same apartment, he said.
The survey concludes the "requests for maintenance service are basically dependent upon the individual tenant's personality. Some tenants will make frequent requests for maintenance service regardless of the high state of upkeep and quality condition of their premises. The tenants will not make maintenance requests regardless of the condition of the premises."
BRAND SAID that self-help would simply encourage those tenants who complain all the time to use self-help to scare landlords into repairing every minor problem, which would drive landlords' costs up and force them to raise rents.
Sobach had he seen other surveys done in some of the 28 states that already have self-help courses.
"The evidence we have indicates the fears the landlords are have unfounded," he said.
Chuck ISAACSORNKMAN stu Lake, which is four miles west of Lawrence. The lake was dedicated July 15
A lone skier cuts a jagged path across a shimmering expanse of Clinton and will eventually cover an estimated 7,000 acres.
Ain't no cure for the summer blues
By LESLIE SPANGLER
Staff Reporter
Alaska or Wisconsin would have been a nice place to spend July. Any place under 95 degrees would have been a better place than sizzling-hot Lawrence.
Lawrence officially entered the heat wave that had engulfed the Western southwest of the nation on June 27. When it finally broke on July 21, Lawrence had brought 19 days of 100 degree temperatures. By the end of July, over 1,100 people, too many to handle, had died across the country because of the heat.
Joe Eagleman, professor of meteorology, said the heat wave was caused by a ridge in the jet.
stream that caused it to loop up over Canada. On the weekend of July 19 the jet stream moved into a more horizontal position, allowing cooler fronts to move into the area.
"For the heat wave to return and last another month would be unusual," Eaglerman said, "but it could happen.
"July and August are normally our hottest months anyway, but there is no way to predict the pattern of the jet stream more than five days in advance."
Eagleman said it would be next to impossible to predict the weather for August. Some meteorologists say temperatures could hit the
120 degree mark. Traditionally, August is the hottest month of the year.
Although the heat wave has broken recently, there is no foreseeable end to the drought. The first substantial rainfall in the area came on July 16, 2017, and the rain was the first rain since the last weekend in May.
Dave Smith, agricultural agent for the Dougela County Extension Service, said the corn crop in Kansas would be practically a zero yield because it has been enough rain for kernels to form on the ears.
"A lot of the corn doesn't even hawk on it," Smith said. "The hot drizzle winds hurt the corn as
The hot dry winds hurt the corn as see HEAT page 15
Although buildings at 706 Massachusetts St. offer an almost normal view from the front, a view from the rear of the buildings shatters the illusion. The businesses were destroyed September 20 in one of the many downtown fires in Lawrence.
Fires tormenting businesses
By KIRK TINDAL and HURST LAVIANA
Staff Reporter
If the Lawrence Fire Department isn't one of
it's a bad deal of practice. it can't have it hasn't
had all of practice.
Of the 98 businesses that occupied the 600 and 700 blocks of Massachusetts Street in January 1977, 24 since have been damaged or destroyed by fire. In all, downtown fires have caused nearly $1.5 million damage during the last four years. Chief Jim McJewain said there could be more.
"We'd like to say we could wave a magic wand and all the fires would be eliminated." he said. "But I don't think it's realistic to say that can or can't stop them." He added that to stop the fires because they're so diversified.
McWAIN SAID the downtown fires were caused by a wide variety of problems that ranged from a poorly-situated french frier to arsen.
"If there was one thing we could tie in on and say, 'This is really a problem,' we could go in and tear that one thing apart in every building. But there is no one thing. I think the key is to provide
Engine Ghaushessy, Lawrence building in-
spired, said old buildings made fires hard to
remain.
a system where small fires can be kept as small fires," he said.
"You are looking at a very old, established business district," he said. "A lot of those buildings are 75 or 100 years old. When they were few, were few, if any, building code regulations.
"As time goes on, buildings become more susceptible to fires. If you put a piece of lumber up and come back 75 years later, it's used up. There's a lot of timber on those floors and roofs, and when one of those buildings catches on fire, it's going to spread like nobody's business."
McSwain said that building age was a factor in
"There are a lot of things the owners could do to make them more fire-resistant, but it's expensive. But when you consider the loss from a fire, there's no comparison," he said.
OVER THE YEARS many owners have neglected their buildings, Shaughnessy said. They need preventative maintenance such as fire-resistant ceilings and floor coverings, he said.
the spread of fires, but insisted that it was not a cause.
"I want to emphasize that age doesn't start fires," he said. "Age is a handicap in extinguishing and controlling fires, but it still takes a spark."
In order to prevent those sparks, the city has adopted fire, building, electrical and plumbing systems.
Last year the City Commission voted to adopt a uniform mechanical code and hire a mechanical inspector, but later dropped the plan.
Although mechanical problems caused many of the downtown fires an electrical short in an elevator shaft started a fire at Quintanilla's Flea Market, 811 New Hampshire St., and a defective boiler caused a fire in a building at 746 Massachusetts St. owned by the KU Endowment Association. McSawain said a mechanical inspector could not have prevented all the fires.
"A couple of those fires are special," he said. One occurred at Pier 1 Imports, 738 Massachusetts Street, to catch fire line to contract and pull away from the building. The leaking gas eventually ex-
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