KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3. 2010 / NEWS
LAWRENCE
3A
Pets both entertain and promote local businesses
BY SAMANTHA COLLINS editor@kansan.com
editor@kansan.com
Andrew Shank, assistant manager at Sunflower Outdoor and Bike, walks into the store every morning and is welcomed by a meowing sound coming from the speakers. His first step to opening the store is to let Stanley the cat out of the office so he can roam the building.
"Stanley knows which buttons to press in the office to work the intercom." Shank said. "It's sort of eerie to hear a deep meowing noise right at the first thing in the morning."
Permits are not necessary to house pets in a business and these furry friends both entertain guests and promote the store at a handful of locations in
Stanley the cat from Sunflower Outdoor and Bike shop downtown on Massachusetts Street walks around the store. Stanley was adopted by the owner from a shelter.
"People make an association with the store, they say 'Let's go to the cat record store.' Kelly Corcoran, manager of Love Garden Sounds, said. "They may not buy anything
Lawrence.
but we're on their radar."
"People seem to enjoy going into a store where they can shop and pet animals."
know about them."
Corcoran said Love Garden Sounds' store cats — Mickey, Roy, and Sam — provided a family-friendly environment. Families often come with their small children to play with the cats.
The Dusty Bookshelf also uses its feline resident to gain attention. In 1996, the used book store opened on 708 Massachusetts St. Alice, now an 11-year-old gray, tabby cat, became a resident three years later, after being a stray. Josiah Earle, assistant manager, said Alice became so popular that the store sold greeting cards and
In 2006, The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association conducted a survey that revealed people believed that having pets in the workplace improved relationships among employees and customers.
Love Garden Sounds, located at 822 Massachusetts St., opened in 1990 as a full-service record store. The store got its first cat 18 years ago, and has owned multiple cats from the Lawrence Humane Society ever since. Corcoran said that cats were "companions of the store" and were permanent residents. The company even advertisises on the its website that the store has two cats.
KELLY CORCORAN Manager of Love Garden Sounds
"People seem to enjoy going into a store where they can shop and pet animals," Corcoran said. "So we like to make sure people
T-shirts with Alice's photograph.
"She definitely affects business in a positive way," Earle said. "She has people who even come in specifically to say
hi to Alice."
He said Alice never leaves the shop. She eats, sleeps and enjoys constant love from customers all year long.
Like Love Garden Sounds,
Sunflower Outdoor and Bike, 804
Massachusetts St., also found its
furry companion at the Lawrence
Humane Society.
Shank said the owner's wife, Karla Hughes, found Stanley, now a 10-year-old tan, longhair cat, as an injured stray at the shelter about eight years ago. Stanley lives in the store with all the outdoor merchandise. Customers can also buy various merchandise including
T-shirts and water bottles with a photograph of Stanley's head on the front.
Shank said Stanley has no teeth, scars all over his body and a BB pellet in his head and one in his hip. He said the shop owner, Dan
"Stanley seems to have kind of a pre-Madonna. He's very temperamental; he's kind of a movie star. Like he could have his own trailer," Adam Hess, service manager of Sunflower Outdoor and Bike, said. "So, I think that his own T-shirt, the water bottle and Facebook is great; people seem to like that."
Hughes, thought Stanley's personality would work perfectly for a shop cat.
"People come in, they don't even look for a product or anything; they come into the door and say 'Where's your cat?' Shank said. "He has definitely helped Sunflower to build bonds with our customers."
Erica Eslinger, a junior from Overland Park, said she sometimes went to downtown Lawrence to specifically visit the neighborhood cats. But, she said she wasn't one of those crazy cat people.
"They are just so cute; my friends and I can't resist them." Eslinger said. "They remind me of my cats at home, so I love to stop by every once in a while."
Although customers enjoy visiting the animals in these establishments, others are not so fond. Lindyn Roush, a sophomore from Pleasanton, Calif., is allergic to cats and finds it difficult to shop in cat-friendly stores.
"I normally just endure my allergies because usually you are with other people in the store, you usually don't want to be there,"
Roush said. "So you just have to sneeze and deal with the itchy eyes."
Earle said that he heard a few complaints from customers with allergies but that it hadn't been a big issue for the business.
"People kind of say 'Oh, we can't stay here long because I'm allergic to cats.' Earle said. "People just steer clear of the cat or her green chair. But, it's never been an issue. She has got a lot of fans, regardless."
Edited by Drew Anderson
Website warns to always think before you tweet Social networking users often put up too much information on their current whereabouts.
BY BRENNA LONG blong@kansan.com
Brandon Volz might be at Allen Fieldhouse tonight, but he isn't going to tweet about it.
Pleasedobme.com,awebsite started in February, warns people about posting locations on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social networking sites. The website was started by a company called
For instance, to encourage people to discuss the online privacy issue.
"I have posted that I was at a game before and hadn't really thought about it," Volz, a senior from
er's whereabouts and, in time, each other's favorite spots.
"I'm a big fan of social media," Do said. "It is a great way to share what you do."
But she said she understood the security risks every time she tweeted.
"You need to know what you are getting yourself into," she said.
Julie Fugett, an information security analyst at KU Information Technology, said she thought
"You need to know what you are getting yourself into."
Topea said. "Now thinking about it, it seems silly."
The website points out to social networking users that they wouldn't tape a sign on their front door saying 'I'm not home,' so why put it on the Internet. A rolling feed on the site shows how frequently people make their whereabouts known, calling attention to hundreds of recently empty homes every hour.
Megan Do, a junior from Wichita, had never used Foursquare and was concerned about it after stumbling onto Pleaserobme.com. Foursquare is a site that allows people to "check-in" to locations they visit. Friends learn each oth-
MEGAN DO Wichita junior
Pleaserobme.
com made
good points
and helped her
prove her advice
on security.
"It's a graphic, striking example of what I tell people every day," she said.
Fugett said people had asked her if the site might have provided potential robbers with too much information, but she said she thought it would mostly be for awareness.
Students need to understand the features and possible risks of the programs and devices they use, she said. Instead of just clicking "OK" on applications, take a second to think about what personal information they might be releasing.
"I think it definitely makes an impression on people," she said. "It makes people stop and think."
"Social networking gives you much less privacy, but people are
friends knew via Facebook that she was camped out in the library working on homework. Lund, a senior from Lawrence, keeps her privacy levels high on Facebook because she doesn't want everyone knowing her status or personal information.
Last week, only Ashlee Lund's good friends knew via
"I figure if people really need to know, they can ask me in person,"
Illustration by Drew Stearns/KANSAN
Lund said.
The more technology advances the more users have to be aware of security concerns. Users need to make conscious choices and be aware, Fugeti said.
Edited by Kate Larrabee
View a KUJH video about this story at kansan.com
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Vitter is a professor of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M University. Formerly he was provost at Texas A&M and dean of the College of Sciences at Purdue University, the release said.
A question-and-answer session and reception will follow his presentation to students, faculty, staff and the public. The presentation will begin at 4 p.m. in the Adams Alumni Center and will be available on the provost's website through a live Web stream.
Associated Press
A rally organizer, Joelle Gamble, said students of color were tired of seeing injustices dealt with lightly.
Final candidate for provost announced
Students chanted "We want diversity for university" during the rally Tuesday.
University officials announced Tuesday in a news release.
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the vacant provost position, will visit campus Thursday and participate in a public
in a public forum
Students protest racism on campus
didate for
month by UC San Diego students that used ghetto stereotypes. Students also protested last week after a noose was found in the library. This week, officials at UC Santa Cruz found an image of a noose drawn on the inside of a bathroom door.
Jeffrey S.Vitter, the final can-
LOS ANGELES — About 200 students rallied at UCLA to protest recent racially tinged incidents and an intolerant atmosphere at University of California campuses.
It follows an off-campus "Compton Cookout" party last
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