INSIDE
Smoking ban Read why Commissioner Dunfield compared obeying the smoking ban to stopping at a red light.PAGE 9
'Voices Vanished'
An America Indian art exhibit will provide
insight into the lost culture of American Indians.PAGE 15
How to...
Planning formal dinner parties can be tough.
Read all about the does and don'ts. PAGE 27
Covenant against porn Read how one campus organization is using a program to prevent Internet porn addiction. PAGE 32
CONTENTS
Campus Briefs .2
Opinion .6-8
Sports .21
What's Happening .24-26
Crossword .28
Classifieds .31
Tell us your news Contact Donovan Atkinson or Matt Rodriguez at 864- 4810 or editor@kansan.com
KANSAN WEEKLY SUMMER EDITION
WEEKLY SUMMER EDITION
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2004
VOL.114 ISSUE NO.157
From the ground up
Students try to make old house a home
By Eric Johnson
ejohnson@kansan.com
Kansan Staff writer
"Things have been incredibly slow lately," Baker said as he searched for an evasive cordless drill. "It's hard because
The University of Kansas Student Housing Association, which owns the Sunflower House, 1406 Tennessee St. and another co-op house on 1614 Kentucky St., hired Chris Baker, Weatherby Lake, Mo., senior, to oversee moving and ensure progress on the reconstruction was being made.
Baker and a few other volunteers worked hard through the spring semester to make the house livable once again.
But when summer finally came, Baker found himself alone most of the time, staring at a badly beaten up house in need of some serious work.
For now, the house at 1033 Kentucky St. rests on four sets of railroad ties stacked three-wide and 16-high. Entering the front door requires a gymnast-like walk across a steel beam about 10 feet above the exposed concrete basement floor.
Once the former home of A.M. Wilcox, for which the Wilcox Classical Museum is named, it was donated by the Kansas Alumni Association after the lot where it stood was designated the future site of the Dennis E. Rieger Scholarship Hall.
Inside, the first floor is visibly uneven from room to room. Walls and ceilings are cracked and crumbling. One window is partially broken and others completely knocked out have been covered with plastic.
Until April, this house — named "Ad Astra" by Merz and other future residents — sat for almost a century at 1309 Ohio St.
"Welcome to my home," said Rachel Merz, Lawrence sophomore and future resident of Lawrence's newest co-op house.
Courtnev Kuhlen/Kansan
Christopher Baker, Weatherby Lake, Mo., fifth-year architecture and engineering student, sits atop one of the crossbeams supporting the weight of the Ad Astra house, 1033 Kentucky St. Sitting where front steps will eventually be, Baker was perched above the basement that he and volunteers have focused most of their attention on.
everybody goes home or has to get a full-time job during the summer so they can't get down here to help as often."
Volunteer Aaron Paden, Lawrence senior, said those who had been able to
help rebuild understand that they're not being paid like they would at a 40-hour-aweek job.
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