UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, September 11, 1996
7A
Hazardous materials removed from campus
Items recycled by independent contractors
By Dave Breitenstein
Kansan staff writer
Even though KU's nuclear reactor has been removed from campus, many hazardous materials have yet to be disposed of.
"Every department with hazardous materials comes to us to have them removed," said Mike Russell, director of the department of environmental health and safety. "Once we know what they
want removed, we schedule an appointment for pickup."
Russell said chemical and radioactive materials were removed from campus every 90 days by independent contractors. He said the University had spent between $80,000 and $100,000 each year on hazardous material disposal costs.
Some examples of hazardous materials include flammable solvents, corrosive materials, fluorescents, carbon 14 and chemicals used in DNA studies. Russell said energy in 50 percent of the items could be reused by creating items like asphalt or supplementary fuel sources.
Different departments contact environmental health and safety to have waste
Russell said that few materials found their way into local landfills and that other materials were removed by oxidation and incineration.
removed, including the chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology, biology, engineering and geology departments.
Russell said his department had disposed of the nuclear reactor in Burt Hall in 1994. The hall now is used for office space.
While Russell usually does not deal with such dangerous items, he said all materials were removed carefully.
"All types of chemical compounds must be disposed of properly," he said. "Call us and we'll tell you what to do with it."
Department of environmental health and safety employees take all hazardous waste to storage, where it is labeled and later removed. Russell said between 50,000 and 70,000 pounds of hazardous material were disposed of each year.
Kandi White, business manager of the biology department, said that last week
environmental health and safety removed many chemicals from laboratories.
"It's brought to my attention, and I call E.H.S. to coordinate a pickup," she said. "We dispose of radioactive sources from discarded equipment. Asbestos is removed from older equipment."
White said environmental health and safety recently removed many unidentified chemicals. Chemistry students examined many of the chemicals and labeled them before they were removed. But some chemicals were not identified The chemicals had to be removed to make space for an office.
The department of environmental health and safety does not charge departments for removing hazardous materials because the jobs are funded through the University.
Gina Thornburg/KANSAN
The University of Kansas has many chemicals removed from various departments every 90 days through the department of environmental health and safety.
Ike's workplace becomes antique mall
Bids too low to save creamery plant where Eisenhower worked
The Associated Press
ABILENE — The bids weren't high enough to satisfy the owner of a creamy complex where Dwight Eisenhower once worked, so the owner plans to turn it into an antique mall.
Photographers, reporters and curiosity seekers outnumbered bidders at Monday's auction of the Belle Springs Creamery complex near Abilene.
Owner Gordon Engle said the highest bid, $7,000, was too low for him to accept.
The creamy, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, brought Eisenhower's family to Abilene from Denison, Texas. Eisenhower's father, David, was hired in 1902 as plant foreman and Dwight and his brothers worked at the plant while they were in high school.
At its height, the creamery was the largest business and employer in Abilene. It produced butter, ice cream and ice and was a significant supplier of eggs and poultry. The company had more than 200 collecting points, and its products were bought and used all over the United States.
Before the auction, Engle's father, Ken, told how a young Eisenhower took a deadly chance at the plant in 1906. He was working on the ice tank, where water was frozen in long, narrow steel cans. A bolt came off and dropped to the bottom of a water-filled ice can. Because no one else was around Eisenhower dove into the narrow can and retrieved the bolt.
"He could have become frozen or stuck in that can," Engle said. "And
nere would have been no General or President Eisenhower.
Ken Engle even read a letter from John Eisenhower, Dwight Eisenhower's son.
"The Belle Springs Creamery has a secure place in Eisenhower family lore. Naturally, I hope that someone finds a practical use for the creamery, but that may not be possible in this day and age. If the building itself does not survive, at least it will live on in photo albums of folks like you."
Bidding started at $2,000. After 20 minutes, which included a five-minute break to allow bidders a chance to talk with the Engle family, auctioneer Bob Wilson ended the auction.
"I'm not disappointed," said Engle, 32, who lives in Dallas. "I will make a fortune out of this building. A year from now, I won't kick myself that this building was sold today so someone else could do what I am going to do."
Love cruises e-mail lines
By Megan Jordan Kansan staff writer
Students at the University of Kansas don't have a love affair with e-mail, but they admit that it helps keep the fires burning in long-distance romantic relationships.
"It's not the same as a phone conversation," said Kristin Borel, Leavenworth junior. "I don't like not hearing his voice."
Tegan Swearing, Seattle freshman, agreed that e-mail can be too impersonal.
"I like snail mail," she said. "It's like being more in touch with the person because you can see their handwriting."
Although she would prefer to talk on the phone, Borel continues to use e-mail. She said she didn't use it as much as last year
when she had an addictive relationship with her computer.
"I would check for new messages like every 15 minutes," she said.
Despite communication by computer, both Borel and Swearing said their phone bills are still high.
"Our e-mails are just quick little notes," said Swearing. "They are just like, 'Hi, I'm calling you tonight.'"
Both students said e-mail had made it easier to coordinate telephone calls with their boyfriends.
E-mail may not be first choice among some students, but new accounts are opened every day.
Wes Hubert, assistant director of academic computing services, said 15,000 people have accounts on the falcon system. Of those, 90 percent are student accounts.
"We had so many accounts on falcon, and instead of expanding, we created a new computer system," Hubert said.
This new system, called eagle, opened two weeks ago and has 2,000 accounts.
Hubert said e-mail is rapidly changing to address complaints.
"Until fairly recently e-mail has consisted mainly of text, but it is now possible to include attachments, such as pictures or possibly, depending on your computer, recorded voice," Hubert said.
Multimedia e-mail is still far from perfect but will improve as network connections become faster, Hubert said. The Computer Center has the capabilities to send photo attachments but has no plans to offer audio attachments.
Pick up a catalog or call 864-4440 for information. Enroll any week day of the year 8am to 4pm.
Stop by Independent Study's Student Services, Continuing Education Building Annex A, North of the Kansas Union.
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