THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12; 2009
NEWS
5A
Making a prank call
Comedian Kurz Braunohler, left, performs stand-up comedy with Kristen Schaal, more popularly known as Mel in HBO's comedy series, "Flight of the Conchords." The show took place Tuesday night at the Lied Center for the Student Union Activities' annual homecoming show.
Ghost town revitalized
STATE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PRESTON — Like hundreds of small towns across rural America, Preston has boarded-up storefronts lining its Main Street. The roof has fallen in at the longabandoned high school and peeling paint and broken windows disfigure once stately, now vacant homes. This central Kansas farming town of 170 people is dying but an Arizona undertaker has a plan to bring it back to life.
"What is happening to Preston is truly a godsend," said Mayor Wayne Scott, who graduated from the high school's last class, in 1966. "I don't know too many towns in rural America, across the country, that are having an opportunity like this take place for them. I personally consider it a blessing this is happening in our town."
For Mesa, Ariz. transplants Ken and Donna Stanton, Pratt County is the perfect place to build a mortuary and crematorium, the unlikely cornerstone of an ambitious community revitalization plan that features Old West-styled
Joining the couple are more than 30 relatives and friends who plan to establish their homes, businesses and a non-denominational church in the town.
building facades, old-time street lights and faxus-board sidewalks
For the couple, Preston has become a labor of love borne of deep-seated family roots. Donna
Stanton's late father, Don Cox, grew up in Pratt County, and her uncle, Dean Cox, still lives in Preston. The Stantons have taken family vacations in the town for 30 years.
"My father-in-law loved it here. He had a dream to see this little town revitalized and we kind of caught the vision," said Ken Stanton, 53. Many Preston residents left for jobs in bigger cities, and small businesses dried up. Preston is the latest Kansas small town to get the makeover treatment. The Kansas Farm Bureau started its Kansas Hometown Prosperity Initiative in 2008 to develop community leadership, promote small business entrepreneurship and engage youth.
NATIONAL
Gay-rights activists march in D.C. Protesters sought to overturn military's ban on open homosexuals
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Thousands of gay rights supporters marched Sunday from the White House to the Capitol, demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays to serve openly in the military and work to end discrimination.
Rainbow flags and homemade signs dotted the crowds filling Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House as people chanted "Hey, Obama, let mama marry mama" and "We're out, we're proud, we won't back down." Many children were also among the protesters. A few counter-protesters also assembled and the crowd stretched several blocks by the afternoon.
Jason Yanowitz, a 37-year-old computer programmer from Chicago, held his daughter, 5-year-old Amira, on his shoulders. His partner, Annie, had their 2-year-old son, Isiah, in a stroller. Yanowitz said more straight people were turning out to show their support for gay rights.
"If somebody doesn't have equal rights, then none of us are free," he said.
"For all I know, she's gay or he's gay," he added, pointing to his children.
Some participants in the National Equality March woke up with new hope, energized by Obama's blunt pledge to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military during a speech to the nation's largest gay rights group Saturday night.
For Lt. Dan Choi, the day began with a jog around Washington's memorials, calling cadence at 8 a.m. with fellow veterans and supporters before joining the march. Choi, a West Point graduate, Arabic speaker and Iraq war veteran, is facing discharge under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for revealing in March that he is gay.
He appeared later at a rally, wearing his Army uniform and a piece of black tape over his mouth.
"Many of us have been discharged from the service because we told the truth," he said. "But I know that love is worth it."
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday that Congress will need to muster the resolve to change the "don't ask, don't tell policy" — a change that the military may be ready for.
"I think it has to be done in the
out way, which is to get a buy-in from the military, which I think is now possible," said Sen, Carl Levin, D-Mich.
Obama's political energies have been focused on two wars, the economic crisis and health care reform, though he pledged
"Many of us have been discharged from the service because we told the truth. But I know that love is worth it."
"unwavering" commitment even as he wrestled with those problems.
500,000 people, Sunday's event was driven by grassroots efforts and was expected to be more low-key. Washington authorities don't disclose crowd estimates at rallies, though at least several thousand appeared to be in attendance.
Also among the crowd were a couple of noteworthy activists: Cynthia Nixon, a cast member from HBO's "Sex and the City" who hopes to marry partner Christine Marinoni next year; and Judy Shepard, who became an advocate for gay rights after her son Matthew was killed because he was gay.
"Since we've seen that so many times before, I didn't want it to happen again," he said. "We're not settling. There's no such thing as a fraction of equality."
March organizer Cleve Jones, creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and a protege of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk, said he had initially discouraged a rally earlier in the year. But he and others began to worry Obama was backing away from his campaign promises.
Many marchers were outraged after the passage of California's Proposition 8, which canceled the right of gays to get married in the state.
Unlike the first march in 1979 and others in 1987, 1993 and 2000 that included celebrity performances and drew as many as
LT. DAN CHOI Iraq war veteran
Kipp Williams, a 27-year-old San Francisco resident, said he moved to California from the South seeking equality but realized after Proposition 8 that
gay people are second-class citizens everywhere.
Contrary to the California Supreme Court's decision on the legality of the referendum, he said "there is no exception to the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution."
Sara Schoonover-Martin, 34, came from Martinsburg, W.Va., with her wife, Nicki, wearing matching veils and pink T-shirts that said "bride" and "I do". The couple eloped at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts earlier this year.
"When marriage is legalized in West Virginia, we will renew our vows and have our family and friends there," Sara said. "I'm angry
Gay rights advocates fill the west lawn of the Capitol during a rally in Washington Sunday. At least a thousand attended the march
ASSOCIATED PRESS
that it hasn't occurred quicker. This affects my life every day, 365 days a year."
The Americus City Council and Sumter County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously for the change last month, and the Americus and Sumter County Airport Authority approved it.
the benefits of marriage.
Some activists doubted the march would accomplish much. They said the time and money
A bill introducing same-sex marriage in the nation's capital also was introduced last week by the District of Columbia Council and is expected to easily pass.
NATIONAL Airport in Georgia named in honor of Jimmy Carter
Southern Field Airport in Americus was renamed Jimmy Carter Regional Airport on Sunday.
CRIME Man in Missouri accused of shooting three people
AMERICUS, Ga. — An airport about 20 miles from Jimmy Carter's hometown of Plains has been named after the 39th president despite some people opposing the change.
Josh Reyes is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and armed criminal action in the death of the new boyfriend. He has not yet been charged with the other deaths.
LEBANON, Mo. — A southwest Missouri man faces a murder charge after his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, her father and step-mother were shot and killed.
would have been better spent working to persuade voters in Maine and Washington state, where the November ballot will include a measure that would overturn a bill granting same-sex couples many of
Associated Press
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