MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4,2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Will Behne, Leavenworth sophomore, takes his swing at Phi Kappa Tau's K-State car in front of Stauffer-Flint Hall. In order to send terminally ill children to camp, members of the fraternity accepted donations Friday from students wanting to get out some aggression toward their purple foes.
Students destroy K-State clunker to help support children's camp
By Todd Rapp
trapp@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Armed with sledgehammers and baseball bats, students and faculty bashed one of the many K-State cars in town this weekend in the name of school spirit and charity.
The car, parked in the lawn in front of Stauffer-Flint Hall, was the target of Phi Kappa Tau's Car Bash to raise money for The Hole in the Wall Gang Camps.
A 1987 Geo Storm was painted purple with "K-State" written in white spray paint. Donations of different amounts got students different number of swings at the car.
"Our main goal was to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Gang and school spirit for KU," Tony Vhanek, vice president of Phi Kappa Tau, said.
Vyhanek, Overland Park senior, said the car bash was fairly difficult to organize, because they had to find a donor of the
vehicle, remove all the glass and fluids, then get it up on campus.
Vyhanek said the bash was successful. The Car Bash raised approximately $400 for Phi Kappa Tau's philanthropy.
Justin Talley, treasurer for Phi Kappa Tau, said the camps were for terminally ill children. Each child attends the camp free of cost, but it takes between $2,000 and $3,000 for each child to go. The camp sites are built through donated materials and funds, Talley, Overland Park junior.
said.
At the end of the day, the car's roof was beaten level with the hood, the engine was ripped apart, and both bumpers and the driver side door had been knocked off. Students broke a bat and a sledgehammer.
"One of the guys said 'you swing like a girl;' then I beat the crap out of the car after that," Jennifer Hefel, Derby sophomore, said.
—Edited by Matt Norton
Greens begin series to discuss poverty
By George Schulz
gschulz@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Focusing on poverty issues, a month-long series of KU Greensponsored discussions began yesterday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
The forum, entitled "Discussing Poverty: Unveiling Myths and Questions, Providing Facts and Solutions," will continue running 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays until Dec. 8 at the hospital. 325 Maine St.
Mark Horowitz, co-coordinator of the Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance, spoke to a group of about 20 people yesterday afternoon at the forum's first discussion, "Understanding Poverty."
"The bottom line is, what are we starting to see?" he said. "Poverty is on the rise."
He told the audience the economic landscape in the United States had shifted radically in the early 1970s.
The gap between the rich and poor grew larger, and average wages compared to the cost of living began to drop. He said today's average American citizen working 50 hours a week for minimum wage with no vacation would still be living below the poverty line.
Horowitz cited the increase in global trade and the flight of jobs from the United States to other countries, such as Mexico, as reasons Americans were struggling to compete successfully for well-paying jobs.
Horowitz said he wanted the alliance's efforts to pressure the city to implement a living wage for Lawrence workers to help alleviate poverty on a local level. The
alliance, formed two summers ago, is pushing for a $9.39 minimum wage plus health benefits.
The minimum wage would apply to companies that receive tax abatements from the city to locate in the Lawrence area.
Horowitz said the alliance formed after American Eagle Outfitters sparked local controversy in 2000. The city offered it a 10-year, 80-percent tax break with no incentive to pay Lawrence workers enough to keep them above the poverty level.
He said more than 80 other cities and counties in the country had living wage ordinances in place. He denied that a living wage would discourage investors from moving to Lawrence.
"If you take a look at the studies, they do not show declines in investment or jobs in cities with living wages," he said.
Horowitz used U.S. Census Bureau statistics and information on poverty recently published in The New York Times to explain the alliance's position.
Organizers for the forum said poverty discussions were beginning to address the issues they were concerned about when they began organizing for the forum
"We knew welfare reform wasn't working for a lot of people so we wanted to do something about it," said Amanda Harrison, Lawrence senior, who helped organize the forum.
Jessica Cook, Topeka sophomore, concurred.
"I find the issues fascinating and they touch a lot of facets of the community," she said. "It's going to take dialogue on these issues to get change."
Edited by Amy Schmitz