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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOL.117 ISSUE 16
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
10
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 1A
BUSINESS
Enterprising graduates open up shop after school
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
Everything was going well for Michael "Woody" Woodring. He had just opened The Bull, 1344 Tennessee St. It was opening day, a Thursday in February. The sun was shining and it was 70 degrees. There was only one problem: Nobody showed.
Nobody showed "This isn't going to work out," he said at the time.
But two hours after he turned the neon signs on, the bar was packed.
Woodring opened The Bull, formerly Bullwinkle's, after taking control of the bar in mid-January. He graduated from the University of Kansas last December.
Brothers Jon and Paul Peach and Phil Peck opened Pita Pit, 1011 Massachusetts St. on Jan. 20. Jon graduated from William Jewell in 2001. Paul transferred to Arizona State after attending the University of Kansas for a year. He graduated in 2004. Peck graduated from ASU in 2003.
The three were sitting together a couple summers ago, brainstorming, trying to figure out what to do with their lives, Jon said. A Pita Pit had been successful on the ASU campus. After talking for a month about opening a restaurant, the friends went to a bank to discuss their options.
Jon said they were rejected by 25 banks and were told that a majority of new restaurants failed.
"There was a point when this wasn't going to happen," Jon said. Paul made a final call to another bank.
"You graduate and you're trying to figure yourself out," Jon said. "And we took on a $250,000 project."
"The banker believed in us, he took us under his wing," Jon said.
project. Unlike the Pita Pit owners, Woodring didn't have to struggle to secure a loan to open The Bull. He was eating lunch at The Wheel when he overheard the owner, Rob Farha, talking to someone on the phone about Bullwinkle's being for sale. Woodring walked outside and called his dad.
The three secured the loan, but there was some initial nervousness about opening a business.
UNDERAGE DRINKERS GET BEER WITH EASE
》 NIGHTLIFE
SEE GRADUATES ON PAGE 4A
Weeknights don't stop crowds from gathering at The Crossing, 618 W. 12th St., where they filled the deck Tuesday night. The bar is popular among college students, including some who aren't 21. Aaron Blair, manager of The Crossing, said the bar has received at least 10 minor in possession citations since the beginning of the semester.
Students find ways to drink illegally at bars and parties
BY DAVID LINHARDT
A young man with wide, unfocused eyes who was holding a cup of beer bolted down an alley behind a house as a Lawrence police officer's flashlight beam followed him.
His girlfriend hissed his name and told him to stop running. "Austin! Austin, get back here!"
Austin. Neal. "Get out of here! Go home!" the officer shouted to the running man and to the small crowd that was now scurrying from a broken-up house party.
The officer knew that some of the young people fleeing the party could be underage drinkers.
It was the weekend in Lawrence and for some students that means alcohol
It's something most freshmen find out quickly: Consuming alcohol in Lawrence often doesn't even require a fake ID. To prove it, Sheigh pulls out his own driver's license and holds a constantly full cup of beer in his other hand.
Being underage never stops them, Sheigh said. Employees watch the door and sometimes check IDs. But Sheigh never needs to use a fake ID.
"Even the cops know we drink"
he said. "Everyone knows."
He won't be 21 until 2008. His friends Cole and Jess seem ner-
Blair said that The Crossing wasn't supposed to serve patrons who weren't yet 21, but that underage drinkers inevitably slipped through.
He said that when the bar got busy, things got confusing. Bartenders could serve a patron of legitimate age, who could turn around and give it to an underage friend.
That's what it means for Sheigh. Thursdays or Fridays, the 18-year-old freshman gathers up his friends from their residence halls and they all walk to The Crossing.
Or sometimes underage patrons
simply walk up and buy beer themselves. Sheigh and his friends usually do that, though they said it was easy to get fake IDs if necessary. The general chaos of a bar on the weekend also helps savvy underage drinkers slip in.
Aaron Blair, manager of The Crossing, said the popular bar had received at least 10 minor in possession (MIP) citations from Alcohol Beverage Control since the semester began.
"When I want beer, I can get beer here?" She said.
On Friday night, The Crossing's patio was stuffed with young patrons. A marching pep band stopped by after 10 p.m. to blast cheering drinkers with rousing anthems.
Eric, another 18-year-old freshman, admitted to buying alcohol at The Crossing, but he also said venues like it were important to the student community.
SEE UNDERAGE ON PAGE 4A
vous as Sheigh and others loudly admit to being underage. The Crossing's employees are busy elsewhere.
New group to defend, safeguard Gl rights
BY ERIN CASTANEDA
Four KU students appeared on the cover of the September issue of Veterans of Foreign Wars magazine, but what spawned from the photo shoot was an idea for a group at the University of Kansas called the Collegiate Veterans Association.
Dan Parker, McPherson sophomore, Evan Hoyt, Neodesha sophomore, Charlie House, Garnett junior, and Ben Lockwood, Prince George, Va., junior, were all featured in an article titled "From Combat to College: War Veterans on Campus."
During the shoot, Parker and Hoyt discussed how there was no social support system for veterans on campus. From there, the University group, which was approved recently by the Student Involvement and Leadership center, was born.
"The club provides one voice that's been missing on this campus for a long time," Parker, the group's president, said. "We are a non-partisan group. We are not pro-war, we are pro-veteran."
Parker said he wanted the club to mobilize the veteran base, so it could become active in protecting veterans's rights. The group will help cut through red tape and provide a central point of contact, Hoyt, the group's vice president, said.
index
Parker said the government did not always keep its promises to veterans. For example, Parker said the Montgomery GI Bill, which is an educational and financial benefit for veterans, was not always paid on time, setting some students back.
Parker also said that because the U.S. department of Veterans affairs, which hands out the GI Bill, lacks enough resources, his tuition isn't even close to covered. He said during the last five years, the GI Bill had only increased about 15 percent, a minimal percentage compared to the amount tuition has increased at the University.
VETERANS
SEE VETERANS ON PAGE 3A
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© 2008 The University Daily, Kansan
Freshman student senate election winners announced; five beat out 28 other candidates
Five freshmen cast their lots with Student Senate on Wednesday after two days of elections.
Mason Heilman of Lawrence, Adam McGonigle of Wichita, Scott Toland of Iola, David Wilcox of Manhattan and Alison Zeiger of Los Banos, Phillipines, won the spots set aside for freshmen after a one-and-a-half week campaign encompassing 33 candidates.
Andrew Payne, Garden City senior and Student Senate Executive Committee chairman, said 2,702 votes were cast during the voting period on Tuesday and Wednesday. Each student is allowed to vote for five candidates,
making the actual number of students voting difficult to know, though likely substantially less.
Payne estimated about 700 students, or 15 percent of the freshman class, voted. He said voter turnout was similar to last year's freshmen elections.
Heilman studies political science and education and is a member of the Marching Jayhawks and the First Baptist Student Fellowship. He is interested in politics and hopes to pursue a career in the field. He said he wanted to make sure freshmen were aware and informed of everything available to them.
SEE ELECTIONS ON PAGE 3A
Scott Toland (left), Iola freshman, David Wilcox, Manhattan freshman, Ali Zeigler, Philippines freshman, Adam McGonigle, Wichita freshman, and Mason Heilman, Lawrence freshman meet after the results of the freshman Student Senate elections were announced Wednesday evening at the Kansas Union.