University Daily Kansan / Friday, August 29, 1986
7
County will provide emergency services
By KIRK KAHLER
Staff writer
BY KIRK STAFF CONTENTS
Emergency medical services at certain KU athletic events will be provided by Douglas County because of an agreement reached yesterday between the county and the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation
The Douglas County Commission unanimously voted to sign the contract that calls for the county to supply ambulances, physicians, nurses and emergency technicians to be stationed at the events.
The events served will be football, men's basketball and the KU Relays. The county also will provide service for the Kansas Shrine Bowl and any state high school playoff game. The Shrine Bowl is an all-star game for high school players.
The county will begin providing the service at KU's first home football game Sept. 13.
Ted McFarlane, director of the county Department of Emergency Services and Emergency Preparedness, said the contract would benefit both the county and the University.
McFarlane said the county would benefit because KU partially would finance the purchase of new emergency equipment, which the county could use in areas other
than KU sporting events, such as disaster readiness.
The University will pay about $18,000 a year for equipment and personnel costs for three years.
Micrariane said the new program would allow the emergency staff to perform their duties better because they would be working with familiar personnel.
In the past, he said, the staff worked with doctors who were attending the events. Many times these people were not familiar with emergency situations, he said.
McFarlane said the new staff would specialize in diagnosing and treating internal injuries using emergency room nurses who were used to working with one another.
Student Health Service at Watkins Memorial Hospital, which formerly provided the service, decided not to because of insurance and personnel shortages, said Gary Hunter, assistant athletic director.
Hunter said he agreed that the University would benefit from the service because the county was in a position to provide comprehensive care for fans.
Included in the list of necessary equipment are two heart monitors and five paramedic kits.
Staff Writer Although students might not notice significant changes in the green and white buses rumbling through campus, the Lawrence Bus Company's office and garages stirred with their usual activity this summer.
By BETH COPELAND
Duane Ogle, president and general manager of the company, 841 Pennsylvania St., said about eight new drivers would be shuttling students and Lawrence residents this fall.
He said the employee turnover rate was routine. "We lose from five to eight employees every year," Ogle said. "With the short work year, drivers find steadier work, and they leave."
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
STUDY SKILLS PROGRAM
Buses change to fulfill new needs
The buses do not run during the summer
Wednesday. September 3
Finally, although no new routes have been added, an existing route was extended so that students and faculty of Haskell Indian Junior College could have access to bus service.
It was a financial crunch in the late 60s, prompted by student unrest and refusal to ride buses, that threatened the company with bankruptcy. Ogle has been the owner since the company began in 1954.
The University has contracted bus service from the company since the early 1970s. Before that the company served Lawrence and the campus independently.
Last year, about 6,000 students bought bus passes during the fall semester. The cost is deferred by the Student Senate, which allotted $277,980 this year for the service, according to Charles Bryan, KU on Wheels coordinator.
Ogle said that the cost of adding new routes would make bus service unaffordable to most student passengers.
With a $160,000 price tag for a new bus, Ogle said, it pays to keep the existing buses in top condition. He estimated that total maintenance costs averaged $80,000 a year.
A second change may be noticed on the buses themselves. Of the 21 operating buses, most have been painted and have had minor repairs done to them.
SAVE
faculty, and they can't afford to spend $60 for a bus pass," he said.
7:30 to 9:00
YOUR MONEY,
CLIP A COUPON!
14
COLONY WOODS APARTMENTS
24th and Ousdahl South of Gammons (on the bus route)
Entertainment arts
Voices blend in song of sweet success Days of doo-wop ditties end as quartet broadens its style
Fred Sadowski/KANSAN
Staff writer
By SALLY STREFF
The group Harmonic Function has been around the University of Kansas in one form or another for a long time.
"They were butching Boardwalk," explained Wall, a Parkville, Mo. graduate student, I said. This song was one of my favorite songs. Can I tell you the words?"
Four years ago, a group of Templin Hall residents sat in a room trying to remember the words to "Under the Boardwalk," a song by the Drifters. Marty Wall walked in, and Harmonic Function was born.
The members of Harmonic Function, including Wall, are Lennie Wesley, Wichita senior; Steve Smith, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, and Rich Turner, Kansas City, Kan., senior.
Although members of the group have come and gone since its founding, the group's style of music has stayed the same.
Its popularity also has grown.
Harmonic Function performed as an In-Between-Act at last spring's Rock Chalk Reve and received standing ovations on two nights.
Since then the group has been flooded with requests to perform,
John Allison, executive director of Rock Chalk Revue last year, said that as soon as the group auditioned he knew they would be a hit. Even so, he wasn't prepared for their huge appeal.
Members of Harmonic Function, though they will not label their musical style, do admit that they follow the style of such 1960s harmonizing groups as the Tempations and the Drifters.
"The type of music they sing is not exactly what most college students listen to," he said. "Maybe that kind of music is making a comeback."
The group started as straight doo-wop, but members said their repertoire has increased. They take songs and twist them into their own style.
The original group consisted of 12 Templin residents who banded together to enter the hall's talent show.
"We bend cur voices, putting on a rough, guff edge," Wall said. "You're bending, shaping your voice, and you're a classical musician wouldn't do."
"The name Harmonic Function basically says what we do," Wall said.
"We sounded terrible," Wesley said.
After the contest, the group alternated between four and five members who performed over the next several years at campus functions, such as the annual Ellsworth Soul Food Dinner.
But they won the contest.
The singing group Harmonic Function is comprised of, from left, Steve Smith, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore; Lennie Wesley, Wichita senior; Rich Turner, Kansas City, Kan., senior; and Marty Wall, Parkville, Mo., senior. The group began four years ago. Harmonic Function has performed at various KU functions, but members say they are not concerned with making money.
Then group members decided they
wanted to audition for Rock Chalk.
"We decided it would be a great way to go out," Wesley said.
way to go out. Won't money!
Even before their performance at a Rock Chalk rehearsal enthusiasm for the group was high.
the group applauding. "At a rehearsal they exploded — gave us a standing ovation," Smith said.
Allison said, "These guys got up on stage and started singing. It got dead quiet. Pretty soon people were dine-ing in chair's, swaying. It was really old."
The five-song rotation the group sang at Rock Chalk included "Can't Help Falling in Love," originally recorded by Elvis Presley, "My Girl," a Temptations song, and "I'll Be There." "recorded by the Jackson 5"
"It was a completely, completely unexpected reaction," Wall said. "We never had sung for so many people ever had never sung for a white audience."
The Rock Chalk performance was a turning point for the group.
"The harmony was so sweet that we decided we couldn't drop it." West was.
Since Rock Chalk, Harmonic Function has sung at fraternity and sorority events, including a pre-Big Eight tournament party at Crown Center. It also hosts college reunions and business meetings.
But the Harmonic Function's members say they don't expect to increase either their success or their bank accounts.
Last week, the group performed at the Beach and the Boulevard event.
would show Carson a videotape of the groan
But members are not trying to become stars.
"If you want to be a star, this isn't
the place." Wall said. "I couldn't
They sing together because they enjoy it. When they no longer enjoy singing together, members said, the group will disband.
'The name Harmonic Function basically says what we do. We bend our voices, putting on a rough, graff edge. You're bending, shaping your voice, doing things a classical musician wouldn't do.'
- Marty Wall Parkville, Mo., graduate student
"We decided we weren't going to turn it into a job," Wall said. "I don't feel we ever did a job for the money."
Smith said that the group did not have a bank account, but that they split the performance money when they were paid.
"I've never called home for money since Rock Chalk," he said.
At a party after Rock Chalk, members of the group met an attorney for Johnny Carson who said he
care less about singing on Johnny Carson."
Smith retorted, "You would if they asked you."
asked you.
Turner said, "It's better not to think about it. Then we don't worry about it and we sing better."
Wall said he thought the group was popular because harmony was gaining followers and because audiences felt that the group enjoyed singing
"We say, 'Hey, we're Harmonic Function, we've been doing this for about four years, we really have a good time singing and we hope you
The group practices together about once a week. Sometimes they sing in stairwells and bathrooms because the acoustics there are good, Wesley said. Sometimes they practice in Templin's cafeteria.
Wesley usually sings middle range while Smith handles high harmony and some bass or lead falsetto. Wall sings high harmony and lead falsetto, and Turner sings bass harmony.
"We have good flexibility. You need that to sing harmony." Wesley
Members of the group suggest song possibilities to one another.
Smith sang in church choir from childhood. He and his older brother started a gospel group in high school
"We listen to a tape to get the basic harmony, then throw the tape out and add our own songs." Wall said. "All of us songs we know pretty well anyway."
Harmonic Function members come from different musical backgrounds. Wesley studied voice and classical music while growing up in a town housed to much of gospel. Now he sings with the KU Gospel Choir.
Turner played the piano while
Wall played the tuba on 12 yea-
but never received any voice
growing up. He now plays percussion, and he was a KU drum major in 1984.
Harmonic Function is planning more variety in the future, Wall said. Songs the group is working on include "Since I Don't Have You," a 1988 Skyliners' song, "Daddy's home." Hall and his band have contributed contemporary songs such as "Lost in Love," recorded by the New Edition, and a Beach boys song.
Members said they planned to continue Harmonic Function as long as they stayed at KU, but didn't think that they would revive the group later with other singers.
That doesn't mean the group's harmony will stop.
"Five, ten years from now we'll be able to blow a note and sing it just like we sang it yesterday," Wall said.
A new look
This is the first edition of the Entertainment & arts pull-out section.
Look for this section each week in the Friday Kansan.
Entertainment & arts will feature stories about music, drama and other forms of entertainment to be found on campus and in the Lawrence area.
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