University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, August 21, 1974
7
Lawrence Commissioners Don't Fit the Stereotype
By SHARON WALSH Kansan Staff Reporter
City government, to many persons, means cigar-smoking politicians making decisions behind closed doors. Later, they are supposed to step out to make announcements to television commentators and insistent reporters.
But, on a visit to a Lawrence City Commission meeting, it is likely that you would be greeted by the mayor, who, although he is an African-American, was unlike a "politician" as anyone could.
Things become more and more curious when you realize that neither the commissioners nor anyone in the audience or Street suits or carries initial briefcases.
There are no flashing cameras or platitudinous speeches—just Lawrence citizens there to let the commissioners, who know how they feel about things, friends, know how they feel about things.
"Hi, George. Hello, Buford." said Ralph Hubbell when he stepped up to the
"I lived in this neighborhood since 1921," he said. "My mother lived there before that. It's our home and been our own little place." We were nice place. We want to keep it that way."
microphone to address city commissioners and the city staff recently.
Not an eloquent speech by most standards, but an effective one, as far as the listener is concerned.
for practical reasons. They want to keep commercially zoned lots out of their neighborhoods, or they want sidewalks and traffic lights for children at school crossings, or they simply want to express an interest about some issue that will affect their city.
People such as Hubbell, a retired police officer who has lived in Lawrence most of his life, have raised concerns.
Attendance at weekly commission meetings is unpredictable. Most weeks the fourth floor meeting room of the First Floor meeting room be the empty ten minutes before meeting time.
Then the audience begins to arrive-a
KU Janitor Is Bicycle Enthusiast
But some weeks the room is full to capacity, 30 to 40 people standing around the room.
'Gray Ghost' Led Cars Through West Coast Fog
lone representative of the Women's League of Voters, four or five members of a neighborhood association, several persons who have come to request funds for day care centers. They wander in and find a seat among the five or six rows of chairs.
By CLARK CASE Kansan Staff Reporter
Curritt said recently he was given the name, "the Gray Ghost of the West Coast," by Washington State police, who paid him to lead cars, while riding a bicycle, through the city. He told reporters that he heard he said they gave him that name because the motorists could see only the silver
The Gray Ghost of the West Coast is Ben A. Curtis, a 53-year-old night jacket at Aurora.
panels on his poncho, two red eyes and a big smile.
Curtit was born and raised in the state of Washington. When he was 15 to 16 years old, his lungs were severely burned by smoke from a grass fire, he said.
His doctor told him he would live only three months unless he immediately started exercising his lungs by riding a bike, a bicycle or a rowing machine or a bike. He was a unkempt special, he said.
The faint bell sounds heard before each recital are caused by the carilloner adjusting, not tuning the carillon, Gerken said. The pitch and tonal properties are designed to sound like an original beyond this stage becomes necessary only in case of excessive pollution or erosion.
Later, Curtit saved enough money to buy
Albert Gerken Plays the Carillon
Familiar Sound of Carillon Made by Closed Fists, Feet
The familiar sound of chimes that flows from the campanile has become an integral part of campus life for students at the University of Kansas.
A variety of music can be played on the carillon, he said, including familiar airs, show tunes, hymns and folksoires. By comparison, though, the repertoire of original compositions for other keyboard instruments far exceeds that available for
Albert Gerken, associate professor of music theory, is the University carillonne and is responsible for the music from the tower.
Gerken was an organ major at the University of Maryland and he springs up 1962缴缴缴缴缴缴缴缴缴缴缴缴纳 like it so much, he quit playing the organ and was hired to play the carillon at KU in
"I never intended to pursue it full time," he said.
There are 53 bells in the carillon. The smallest weighs 12 pounds and is 10 inches tall; the largest weighs 7 tons and stands 5 feet 9.
The carillon is played on a console that contains large wooden batons or keys that are pushed down with the closed fists. There are pedal keys for the feet. Most people who see the carillon think it looks a lot like an organ. Gerken said.
"I's a broad generalization, but playing the carillon is really more like playing piano because different types of sounds are induced by how you press the keys," he said.
"You have to learn how to play properly or you can do great damage to your hands."
ACCORDING TO GERKEN, learning to
play the carillon is not an easy task.
Gerken has performed over 700 recitals and performs throughout the year while classes are in session. Occasionally the carillon can be heard between classes or in
A practice studio half-way up the tower contains a duplicate of the carillon keyboard that is used for practice and for giving lessons.
He said bike riding saved his life. Even today, Curti's lungs have enough scar tissue to make x-rays read as if he has tuberculosis.
A hawthorne Flyer and to have a bike trailer specially built to fit the bike.
those who come consistently because they represent a group that is interested in city business and those who come because a particular issue is going to affect them.
Gerken instructs several classes in carillon.
When he started up the west coast, Curtit, his bike, trailer and supplies were in the city.
the late afternoon and early evening when it is played by students.
At first, Curtit used the bike only for hauling cookies and packages. But after the death his first wife, he decided he would take his children to, to Seattle, Wash. to see his mother.
A state policeman at Chelahis, Wash., paid him to load 15 cars through the fog to
Groups wanting to see the carillon or to hear a special recital may contact Gerken.
Curtit said a driver of a model A Ford who was impatient with the pace drove ahead in the fog and then ran into a Pacific Interstate Express truck. After that, no one was in a
He said that when they reached the truck stop, the women who ran the stop told him he could not enter because bums were not allowed. He said he told her he was not a butt, a hobo because he earned his way. He said the difference in difference and was in the process of throwing him out of the restaurant when the five truck drivers came to his rescue.
While on a long bike trip to Glade Park, Ore., by way of Sun Valley, Ida., he led a string of five transport trucks through a snow storm to a truck stop.
The police in small towns often did not appreciate his presence, he said. Within a few weeks, policemen in different towns gave him tickets for speeding, going too fast and running into traffic. He managed to successfully defend himself on all three charges in court, however.
Carlil said his next trip was from Glade Park to Denver. While he was in Denver, he drove through the city.
After her death, he set out on a trip from Pueblo to Olathe. Next he rode to Ottawa, where he suffered a nervous breakdown and spent the next 10 years in a hospital.
Curtt said he rode his bike from Denver to Pueblo, Colo. His wife, who had Bright's disease, rode in the trailer. She died in a Pueblo hospital.
After he left the hospital, he rode to Lawrence and got a job at the University.
He has been saving his money and now has made a down payment on a home at Ea New York St, which he plans to move into next month.
"We've tried to make it known that if people come to these meetings, they'll not be heard but also listened to," Mayor Rose said recently.
He now has a girl's bib that he rides to work, and he said he had put 1,300 miles on his bike.
Curtis said the first rule ever made concerning bicycles was that hard-surfaced roads were supposed to be for bikes. If a car was going in the same direction, it could get off in the mud to let the bike pass.
"Don't try to expect it now," he said.
From Page One
Inflation Hits . . .
At one time or another, the audience may include engineering consultants, lawyers, or an 85-year-old man who is back for the fourth time. He is trying to get the commissioners to change their minds about rezoning a piece of his land.
Ron Schul, secretary in the department of Germanic languages and literature, said research was conducted as much enrolment as expected, because of the population decrease and because the Bachelor of General Studies degree required a higher course, language, they had expected a large decrease.
Listening does not mean, however, that the commission can always comply with a rule.
He said the structure of German I to IV was changed about two years ago to give more flexibility and choice. There are also changes in the calendars of specific professions, he said.
Schul said that they used things as German films and the Oktoberfest to celebrate.
The curriculum has been streamlined, Zather said. There are fewer courses and less classwork.
"We are, quite frankly, experimenting," Zuther said.
THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT recently offered a course. The Literature of Baseball, which drew very well, he said, probably won't be awarded again soon, he said.
The department of English has also made some changes. However, Zuber said they might prefer to go down in enrollment than have a less than respectable program.
to take other classes from the teachers, Zuther said.
The department was planning to put out a course guide to be available at the time of release.
NORMAN YETMAN, chairman of American studies, said his department had to design more classes for freshmen and would be using them now, really in vogue a while ago, when students had a social science orientation. But students are more career-oriented today, he said.
The department is planning an Adventures in English course that would give a broad overview. It would present teachers on a rotating basis and thus attract students
"This would be positive publicity," he said.
He said American studies had available more faculty now and could offer varied courses. The undergraduate program has also been revised, he said.
Yetman said the department was trying to develop an integrated, team-taught American studies course to give an overview of the field.
No matter who is in the audience, the attitudes of the commissioners seem about the same each week—low-keyed, friendly and willing to pour a cup of coffee and listen as long as there is someone who has something to say.
The college also is offering more off-campus classes to increase its enrollment.
"We try to be open-minded about all opinions," Rose said, in the end we have to decide on the basis of what we believe is best for the city."
to most of the people Jack Rose Mayor is and City Manager Walter Watson is "Batter."
BUT THAT IS NOT TO SAY interest in city business is restricted to natives of Lawrence. Bruce Ericson, a newcomer to Lawrence and a local sign painter, recently wrote to the city business to tell commissioners his ideas for Lawrence's sign ordinance.
There are basically two groups of people who come to the commission meetings-
The commission has tried two ways of keeping the public informed of its business. First, in 1971 the commission began to publish its weekly agenda in the Lawrence Journal. Then it began to inform people by letter matters that would be of interest to them.
"WE TRY TO SEND the letters early enough so that people can get in on the decision making process at a time when things still can be changed." Rose said.
City commission meetings may not have the ear of the entire city, as town meetings once did in small communities across the country. But there are still people who are important to listen and to let city officials know their opinions about community matters.
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