Friday, October 31, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Senior engineers Halloween bash
By Mike Perryman Kansan staff writer
When a University of Kansas architectural engineering student says he is going to throw a Halloween party, he really means it.
Justin Wiler, Los Angeles senior,
spent two months and about $1,000 creating his fourth-annual and final Halloween party.
The exclusive bash will consist of about 150 to 200 invites, a band, close to 15 pounds of roast beef, several plates of eccentric hors d'oeuvres, two kegs of beer, a series of mixed drinks, a giant gargoyle, a medieval guillotine, and one big bouncer.
Justin Wiler, Los Angeles senior, back, unwraps a tarp with Christine Oellkers and Chris Oelkers, Lawrence residents, while setting up for Halloween party at Willer's house. The party for architecture students has taken place the last four years. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
"This isn't your typical Halloween party," Wiler said. "It is a contrast to a collegiate keg party where we get to use the technical ideas we've learned in architectural engineering throughout the years and embody them in this form of artistic freedom, which happens to be a Halloween party."
Wiler, along with a few other architecture friends, spends countless hours every Halloween designing the party atmosphere of his West Lawrence house and planning how to accomplish engineering feats.
Jeremy Patnoi, Englewood, Colo., senior, and a key contributor to Wiler's Halloween parties throughout the
years, said they tried to think of new,
wild ideas every year.
"Every year we think up so many things that we want to do, and we only get to do about 50 percent of them," he said. "I sit down at my desk and design stuff and come up with ideas, but we just have to make sure we don't do anything that will hurt the place, because it's rented."
A life-sized, medieval guillotine with a real metal blade will crash down with about 130 pounds of pressure at every hour sort of as a reminder, not only of the time, but of a frightening Halloween atmosphere, Wiler said.
This year Wiler spent $100 for two bridges crossing a 150-gallon moat in his garage. He said that the water would be about 13 inches deep. The garage is lined with plastic and neon lights.
Perhaps the most amazing engineering feat the students accomplished was the creation of a $200 firefly-lit, forestlike atmosphere in the living room and kitchen.
"It took a little engineering," Wiler said. "But I took a photo-developing timer and wired several firefly-like lights, otherwise known as little wheat lamps, to the metal contacts on the timer so that every ten seconds, a different firefly lights up for a three-second interval."
Wiler has a friend that worked in the neon-lighting industry in Los Angeles
who helped him and his friends with the lighting above the forest, in the moat, and below the gargoyle.
He even has friends from Los Angeles who travel to Lawrence every year to come to the party.
Patnoi said that the neighbors and police have not had a problem with the party yet. In fact, neighbors come to the party every year, and Wiler's next-door
neighbor actually allows him to use his garage for a haunted house, Patrol said.
“One of the reasons we keep it extinct is because we put all of this money and time into it, and we don't want people to just come, get rowdy and ruin it,” he said.
"This is not just a Halloween party," he said. "Sure it takes a lot of time and money, but it's worth it. It's an art. This is like creating living, temporal art."
State begins tattoo and piercing licensing
By Sarah Chadwick schadwick@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Soon, tattoo lovers will be able to walk into a tattoo shop, gaze on the wall and find, among the hundreds of photos of skin art, a license ensuring that they have entered a safe place.
A state law enacted July 1, 1997, requires all tattoo artists and their facilities to be licensed for operation.
To get a license, the shop must be inspected for sanitation and sterilization practices. The facility inspections in Kansas began yesterday.
"Tattooing and body piercing have neither one been regulated in the past," said Val Hawn, office assistant at the Kansas Board of Cosmetology. "The goal
is to get everyone licensed, pass their exams and get their facilities licensed and inspected by the end of the year."
Regulations under the new law include using single use needles, gloves, ink cups and tubes, said Rogene Handlon, advisory board member of the cosmetology board and business manager for Fine Line Tattoo. The shops also must use an autoclave, a machine that uses steam and pressure to kill bacteria.
"There are other methods to sterilize machines, but they may not get it all," Handlin said, referring to bacteria.
Tattoo artists also are required to take a written exam that covers health and safety issues as well as other procedure. They must also perform a mock tattoo during an evaluation by the Kansas Board of Cosmetology.
The written exam and a copy of the new regulations book were sent to all known Kansas tattoo artists to explain the new law.
"So far, everybody is cooperating," Hawn said. "I think it will just give their profession a higher standard. So far on the exams they have had a pretty high pass rate. I think every one of them that we have contacted have been more than willing to help. They want to get rid of the reputation they may have had in the past, and this may help them do that."
In the past, it was the decision of the individual tattoo artists to keep up sanitation procedures. The customers had to take it upon themselves to watch the artist set up supplies and to ask questions about procedures, told Teddie Fisher, tattoo artist at Fine Line Tattoos,
1826 Massachusetts St.
"You have to make sure you are comfortable with the people when you walk in," Fisher said. "Watch them set things up. If a machine is already set up, you know it has been used. If the pigment cups are already out, they have been used. And everybody should be wearing gloves these days."
Handlon also warned against letting someone give a tattoo if it appears that he or she may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"I think because the inspections are coming up and people know about it, a lot of people will and already have made a big change in their process," Handlon said. "We're not there to close them down; we want to make sure they are doing things the way they should."
Residence halls sell candy grams
By Sarah McWilliams
mcwilliams@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Residence hall staff members are trying to make Halloween a little sweeter for a housing staff member whose son died in a fire earlier this year.
Munger's house accidentally burned to the ground Sept. 6 in a fire that started in the living room. His 5-year-old son, Thomas, died in the fire.
Resident assistanis at McCollum Hall sold Halloween candy grams this week to raise money for Art Munger, who has been a custodian for two years at Oliver Hall.
The funds raised from the candy grams will help fund medical expenses and new housing for the Mungers. By the middle of the week, residents had purchased more than 500 candy grams.
Shannon Seider, Rota, Spain, senior and resident assistant, said the candy grams, which include a Halloween card and candy, had been on sale for 25 cents through Wednesday.
Eric Grosspitch, complex director at McCollum Hall, said the housing staff at the residence halls, including resident assistants, heard about the accident from the custodial supervisor. Rob Williams.
McCollum Hall resident assistants, headed by Custar, decided to sponsor the candy grams as part of the hall's Halloween programming this semester in order to help out a fellow staff member, Grospitch said.
Munger, who is living at his sister-in-law's with his wife and three children, said he was thankful for the support that residents and co-workers gave him after the fire.
"They're more than wonderful," Munger said. "When I needed someone to talk to, the RA's were there to give advice. I can't put into words everything that everyone has done."
Brian Sturgeon, Burlington sophomore, and resident assistant at Oliver Hall, said residents had become good friends with Munger this semester.
"The day before the fire I was talking to Art and he was going to play on our intramural football team," Sturgeon said. "One day I saw him and he was high in hopes and the next time I saw him, his whole life had gone down the drain. It's hard to understand."
A committee of six resident assistants collected the candy grams Wednesday and last night and will finish distributing them today, said Brian Hupach, Hutchinson sophomore and resident assistant in McCollum Hall.
Sturgeon said the candy grams were a great idea. "I hope when people buy them they'll remember that they're doing something good for someone who really needs it," he said.
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OREAD
with illustrator Katherine Trueman-Gardner before the KU vs. ISU football game Saturday, Nov.1, 1997
Booksigning
The Big Blue Eggventure: The Hatching of Baby Jay
Mt. Oread Bookshop Kansas Union, Level 2 864-4431 www.jayhawks.com
11:30 a.m. - 12 noon
big blue egg is rolling through Mount Oread and Jayhawk fans are cheering!
Find out what all the eggcitament is about as KU fans of all ages celebrate the birth of Baby Jay.
A 32 page, full-color paperback children's book,
$12.95
National recognition doesn't come to those who
wait around.
We're firm believers in doing the job right the first time. That's why we take challenges and turn them into opportunities. It's your turn
The University Daily Kansan is accepting applications for the positions of Business Manager* and Editor
for the Spring 1998 semester.
Applications may be picked up at The Kansan Business Office, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Deadline for Business
-Flint Hall. Deadline for Business Manager and Editor application submission is
2457
Monday November 3, at 12:00 p.m.
*The Business Manager is responsible for the entire operation of The Kansan advertising department. Kansan, expedition is required.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN