lifestyles
ScottWorthington
Andy Rullestad
Stanley Roberts from facilities operations erases a chalk message from the sidewalk in front of Steuffer-Flint Hall. Several messages can be found each morning along Jayhawk Boulevard and throughout campus.
t didn't rain Sunday night, so the job of removing campus graffiti is Stanley Roberts' on Monday morning. It's still dark, and a full moon shines when Roberts fires up the truck
Roberts will need about 1,000 of the truck's 1,500 gallons of water and two hours to do the job, which entails finding graffi and washing it away with a high-powered水 hose.
Today isn't so bad. Someone with yellow chalk has written that "Columbus is a murderer" and "Columbus is not a hero," but only a few times. Roberts' nemesis, the man who decries divorce and remarriage in daily sidewalk messages, has only a few offerings.
Last Wednesday was different, Roberts says. That is when everybody with a cause and a piece of chalk mistook the campus for a canvas.
It's 7 a.m., chilly, and the defroster is slow.
"Wednesday, it took me all of four hours to clean it up," says Roberts, who has been working for the University of Kansas' facilities operations for about 10 years. "You can't really tell which days will be bad."
Roberts is one of four employees in the department who routinely purges the campus of graffiti. The process usually takes two to three hours. Roberts says,
It is also costly. Jim Richardson, director of facilities operations, estimates that it costs from $5,000 to $7,000 each year to remove campus graffiti. And that doesn't include water.
"It's really kind of a waste of time and resources," Richardson says.
Despite this, chalking messages on campus, as opposed to spray painting them, is not illegal, according to KU police. Spray paint stains, so it's a crime
But Roberts doesn't get caught up in the pros and cons of graffiti removal. He just does his job, which isn't so easy.
Each morning he drives a truck through campus, eyes alert for graffiti. When he sees a pastel message, he parks the truck next to it, unravels the thick, heavy water hose, washes the graffiti away and recoils the hose.
The problem is, the graffiti usually is spread out, so he has to repeat this process several times. And
maneuvering a huge water truck around students and landscaping is often difficult.
"It takes longer to set up for it than it does to get it off," Roberts says. "It's a lot of exercise."
The job is tough, but Roberts doesn't resent having to do it. In fact, if he met his nemesis, the man responsible for most of the graffiti, Roberts wouldn't take his chalk.
"I wouldn't go to fisticuffs," Roberts says, laughing. "I'd just tell him to write something else. I get tired of reading the
same thing every day."
"One good thing about it is that he usually puts it where it's easy to get it."
Richardson says campus graffiti will continue to be a problem until either steps are taken to discourage it or money is no longer spent to remove it.
Studies have shown that ignoring it just makes the problem worse, he said.
messages written by his archrival.
So far, daily cleanings have not been the answer. Roberts says he sees no end to the graffiti, especially the
when they can't stop him," Roberts says. Which may or may not be such a bad thing.
"Well, it's kind of like job security."
"If they can't stop him for this long, then they can't stop him." Roberts says.
Same old Stallone
Stanley Roberts uses up to 1,000 gallons of water and spends two to three hours each morning washing away graffiti.
Sly's 'Assassins' lacks originality
Sylvester Stallone Sly the action guy
By Bob Thomas The Associated Press
Producer Joel Silver and director Richard Donner, masters of the ultra-violent, have been to the well so many times that their films have the "been-there, done-that" look.
These are the men who gave you the "Lethal Weapon" trilogy, and Silver produced the three "Die Hard" action hits.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Now they collaborate on a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, "Assassins," with the obligatory car chases, explosions, cold-blooded killings and macho challenges. Even the plot is borrowed: the Western formula in which the brash young gunslinger comes to town hell-bent to dethrone the legendary desperado who is trying to go straight.
In "Assassins," Stallone is challenged by madman Antonio Banderas, who turns out to be the
Stallone has been at the top of the assassination profession for a long time — too long, he has concluded. He continues getting bigmoney assignments from the bosses at the other end of his laptop, but depression about his tasks shows in his hangdog face. And his timing is a bit off.
film's best asset. With his quicksilver moves, mischief-filled eyes and unruly hair, he creates a fascinating portrait of a No. 1 contractkiller wannabe.
Banderas and Stallone meet in a cemetery at the funeral of a notorious figure; both have contracts to kill the mourning, much-guarded brother of the deceased. The new kid wins the contest, and the rivalry is declared.
They meet again in a Seattle hotel for a case involving a computer disk. What's on the disk is unclear, but a lot of people want it. The seller is Julianne Moore, who
is just as shady as the two killers. She makes a handsome living selling secrets to international buyers.
The Seattle episode leaves a body count of two Interpol agents and four Dutch buyers and makes uneasy allies of Stallone and Moore. They decide to sell the disk to the highest buyer, picking a Caribbean island for the transaction. Banderas follows them, of course, and sets up the O.K. Corral climax.
Action fans will find plenty to engage them in "Assassins" and will no doubt welcome back Stallone to what he does best. Julanne Moore performs her duties with skill.
But it is the two-gun Banderas who contributes the most electricity. When Stallone hesitates at shooting Moore, Banderas counsels slyly: "Woman — it's not the same as killing a man. You have to pull the trigger a different way."
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OCTOBER 11, 1995 KU Life
Cultural Calendar EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Exhibition — Spencer Museum metals Show, through Oct. 20 at the Art and Design Gallery.
Exhibition — Kwakint Mask Exhibit, Oct. 15-28 at Spooner Museum of Anthropology.
Exhibition — Art Exhibit of Poetry and Paintings, through Saturday at the north side of the Union Gallery in the Kansas Union.
Exhibit — Bittersweet Reflections,
the work of Darlene Stringer, Oct. 15-
Nov. 25 at the Carnegie Arts Center of
Leavenworth, 601 S. Fifth Street, Leavenworth.
Lecture — Women Graduate Students: Getting a Grip on Grad School, 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union.
PERFORMANCES
University Theatre Series presents "The Bald Soprano" and "A Dozen Prima Donnas," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Tickets $5, $10 and $10.
Department of Music and Dance presents "The Music of Henry Purcell," 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Lied Center. Tickets are $4 and $6.
Department of Music and Dance presents a fall concert, featuring KU Percussion Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Free.
Lied Center presents "La Belle et La Bete" 8 p.m. today at the Lied Center.
Tickets are $8, $10, $16 and $20.
Lied Center presents "Five Guys Named Moe" 8 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Lied Center. Tickets are $15, $17.50, $30 and $35.
Gorilla Theatre Productions presents a performance workshop of Edgar Allen Poe, 8 p.m. tomorrow and Thursday at Border Star Elementary School, 6321 Wormall Road, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets are $7.
Kansas City Symphony presents a Casual Concert, Reel Music: Take 2,
8 p.m. Saturday at the Lyric Theatre,
11th and Central streets, Kansas City,
Mo. Tickets are $10, $19.
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