CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, April 17, 1997
3A
Tax day a celebration at post office
Bluegrass, roadkill highlights of party
Lily Mason and Mike Randall, Lawrence residents, clog dance to the music of the Alfred Packer Memorial String Band. These festivities were held Tuesday night at the U.S. Post Office, 645 Vermont St., to entertain the people who had come to file their taxes late that night.
Steve Puppe/KANSAN
By Paul Eakins
Kansan staff writer
But in Lawrence, it's a tradition.
Roadkill stew, bluegrass music, dancing couples, and balloon hats and animals; not exactly what most people associate with tax day at the post office.
"It has a following." Rundle said. "There are some people that J only see on April 15."
Mike Rundle, Lawrence resident who helped organize this year's tax-day soieir, said that the all-volunteer event had been held for at least the last 10 years and that many people looked forward to it.
Onlookers filled the front hall and entryway of the U.S. Post Office, 645 Vermont St., on Tuesday night, the last night to file 1996 taxes without an extension. At times, they numbered as many as 60 or 70 people. As in past years, the office was open until midnight to accommodate last-minute filers.
The Lawrence event has gained national attention in the media. It has been featured on CNN and in The Wall Street Journal.
Local bluegrass bands, such as the Creek Bank Ghetto Boys, entertained the crowd, while several couples danced.
Road Kill Stew was provided by Michial Coffman, of Lecompton. The stew contained squirrel, rabbit, deer, moose and caribou meat, mixed with beans and spices. Coffman said that he had provided the stew for five of the last six years on tax day at the post office.
This year, there was a new feature: balloons. Bill Wachpress, Lawrence balloon shaper who works at parties, festivals and other functions, made balloon hats, animals, and anything else people wanted.
Wachsimp said that this was the first year that he had made balloons at the post office. He said that the event had gained popularity.
"A lot of people wait until the last minute to
pay their taxes because of this," he said.
Tym Morland, Grard junior, agreed.
"I was ready to pay taxes yesterday, but I waited just for the excitement," Morland said.
Andy Garlick, Litchfield, Conn., senior
said that he had heard rumors about the event, but was surprised when he arrived at the post office.
"It lightens the mood a little bit," he said. "It kind of gives you something to do."
Taxpayers arriving at the last minute were
At five minutes until midnight, a band played The William Tell Overture while the crowd clapped for those sprinting to mail their tax forms in time.
greeted by a standing ovation, as they have been in previous years.
KU Med Center researchers get the skinny on anti-fat drug
By Emily Vrabac Kansan staff writer
A new anti-obesity drug, tested by two researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center, soon should be available nationwide, after Federal Drug Administration approval.
The researchers, Carlos Dujovne, director of the University of Kansas Medical Center's Lipid, Arteriosclerosis and Metabolic Clinic, and Jolene Nutrition consultant at the clinic, have been involved in the development of the new anti-obesity drug
They have been performing the research for a pharmaceutical company.
Dujovne and Held are expecting the drug, called Xenical, to be approved by the FDA within several weeks. They researched the drug's effects on thousands of patients during a five-year period.
Dujovne said, "Our clinic specializes in drugs designed to prevent conditions associated with cardiovascular diseases. Anti-obesity drugs are actually becoming one of the highest-spectrum interventions to treat heart disease because of the effects on the body
— losing weight."
Xenical differs from other anti-obesity drugs because of its effects on the user.
"It's the first drug that rather than work on suppression of appetite, it works on absorption of fat," Dulove said.
He said that patients still had to modify their diets to lose weight but that the drug cut about 200 calories from patients' daily caloric intake.
All patients were educated about nutritional issues and weight-loss maintenance before they began the study. Patients were encouraged to diet with the intention of losing from a half pound to one pound a week.
The specific parameters of the study cannot be released until the FDA approval. Held said.
"We wanted to show that this drug works better than the maximum achievement of behavior modification alone." Held said.
She said the study's purpose was to establish a drug that would provide weight maintenance, not just weight loss.
Several sets of studies, each of which lasted two years, were conducted during the five-year
research period. Patients ate their own food and made their own decisions about what to eat.
Held said that for any anti-obesity drug to effectively maintain weight loss, patients needed to make lifestyle changes.
Many patients who use the drug now available, Fen-Phen, do not make those changes, she added.
Dujovne and Held said that Xenial had minimal side effects.
Dujovone said, "If you eat a lot of fat, you may have gastrointestinal side effects. The side effects only happen when people abuse the drug intake."
Dujovne said he did not know how much the pharmaceutical company would charge for the drug.
He said the gastrointestinal problems were uncomfortable but not life-threatening.
"There aren't any magic bullets," she said. "All of these drugs are going to work as part of a lifetime intervention program."
Held said that once the drug was approved by the FDA, it would be available to patients and pharmacies within a few months.
Held said this medication was not a cure for obesity.
Peace Prize nominee to address Environs
Bv Ed Miller
Special to the Kansan
David Brower, a forefather of the environmental movement and twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, will speak at KU Environs' 1997 Earth Week Lecture. The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union and will be free.
"We don't get many Nobel Peace Prize nominees rolling through here," said Deborah Snyder, a secretary for the Environmental Studies office. "People should take advantage of this."
Charles Benjamin, legislative coordinator for the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club, said he looked forward to the speech.
"This is an opportunity to hear someone who's been a standard setter, someone who's devoted his life to make us aware of our human impact on the natural world," he said.
Brower, who served as the first executive director of the Sierra Club from 1952 to 1969, founded the League of Conservation Voters as well as Friends of the Earth. His accomplishments include assisting in the prevention of dam construction in the Grand Canyon, as well as leading successful efforts to establish national parks and seashores such as
Kings Canyon, the North Cascades,
the Redwoods, and Cape Cod.
"He talks the environmental talk and walks the environmental walk," Benjamin said.
John Clark, professor of environmental studies and history, said he had seen Brower speak before.
"He's been quite an influential individual and he hasn't done that by being passive," Clark said. "His opinions are in-your-face opinions."
Brower has co-written several books, including the recent Let The Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run.
Jason Daniels, Colby sophomore and a member of Environs, said he hoped to have Brower sign his copy of the book at the book signing at the Centennial Room after the lecture.
"He's one of the keystones in the foundation of the environmental movement — a pretty dedicated and intense person," Daniels said.
Andrea Repinsky, Olathe senior and Environs event coordinator, said that Brower's fee for the evening was $5,000. She said the money would go to the Brower Fund, which provides grants to grassroots environmental campaigns.
Repinsky said Brower would speak primarily about his concept called CPR for the Earth, which stands for conservation, preservation and restoration.
Residence halls to pick permanent senators
By Harumi Kogarima
Kansan staff writer
The Association of University Residence Halls is hoping to become a more informed organization.
After the recent change in the Association of University Residence Halls' constitution, the association will elect permanent hall senators to attend AURH meetings on a yearlong basis.
Randy Timm, assistant director of the Department of Student Housing and AURH coordinator, said that the current general assembly was open to all residents, but different floor representatives attended the assembly every meeting because they were not elected members. AURH members had to reexplain basic information about each issue to the representatives before they voted.
"We have to retrain and reeducate people every time," Timm said.
AURH will elect one hall senator per 100 residents from each hall. Only one resident assistant from each hall can be a hall senator. The senators will serve on seven committees led by AURH chairpersons.
Hall senators and AURH executive board will hear new ideas about hall improvement from residents and bring the ideas to Student Senate meetings.
Starting this fall, residence hall senators and presidents must discuss hall improvements with Student Senate before taking action.
Under the association's old constitution, residence hall floor representatives and hall presidents voted on the issues at the biweekly general assembly.
Student Senate administers $3,000 to AURH every year, Timm said.
Issues that have been discussed at assemblies have included recycling and replacement of laundry machines in residence halls.
Laura Bennett, Shawnee junior, and new president of AURH, said that because hall senators would be fixed members, they would be more informed to discuss issues at the meetings.
"We will have more educated voters and the process will go much faster," Bennett said.
Timm also said that hall senator positions will give students opportunities to increase leadership abilities.
Bennett said that if residents wanted to suggest ideas, they could contact their hall representative or AURH members, or express their ideas at Student Senate meetings.
"We will find out next semester if this really works, but I believe we are on the right direction," Timm said.
Recently, AURH elected new AURH executive members, who will begin working at the end of this semester.
Timm said that some hall senators would be elected in the spring and others would be elected during the fall semester.
All hall senators will be determined by September8.
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