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Wednesday, July 15, 1987/Kansan Summer Weekly
Men sweat, endure heights to break down smokestack
By JEAN KETTER Special to the Kansas
Special to the Kansar
Chimney mechanics can't be afraid of heights, hard work or getting dirty.
The four men who are tearing down KU's outmoded concrete smokestack work 10-hour days at heights of up to 250 feet, and when they finish a day's work, they say they're too tired for night life.
Don Stiener, a worker on the project, comes down at the end of the day with his tan skin paled from the concrete dust and his medium-length brown hair wind-blown under his dusty hard hat.
All the workers on the project are from Poplar Bluff, Mo., and stay in a Lawrence motel through the duration of the job.
"By the end of the day, I just want a shower, supper and a bed. I'm too tired to go out," the said Joe Whitlow, an officer on the project who quit last week.
The men, employees of Gerard Chimney Co. St. Louis, ride a chair hoist up the stack between 7:45 and 8 a.m. and work until around 6 p.m. Only Leroy Brower, project foreman, comes down to get the men's lunches. The men also keep a water jug on the platform.
There are no bathrooms at the top of the stack, so the men sometimes urinate over the side
"The men just have to do what comes naturally when it comes to
using the bathroom, but we always check wind direction." Whitlow sait.
Brower said the men remained on the stack all day because moving up and down the stack on the diesel-power hoist would be too time-consuming.
To break up the concrete, they use
so-pound jackhammers suspended
from the ceiling.
Although the job may look dangerous, Brower said he had seen few accidents in the 30 years he had worked in the field.
"Gerard Construction has a pretty safe record." he said.
But when accidents do occur, they are usually fatal or crippling because of the heights the men work at, Brower said.
Whitlow said that while working for another company in Terre Haute, Ind., he saw a man fall 200 feet to his death.
Brower said his men wore safety belts at heights of more than 30 feet because federal job-safety rules required it.
The platform they stand on, about the width of a doorway, is made of overlapping 2-by-10-inch boards resting on brackets. The brackets are attached to a cable circling the stack. The cable passes through pulleys to the ground so the platform can be loosened and lowered.
The chimney mechanics on this job earn $11.33 an hour and time-and-a-half for overtime.
"The men can earn $35,000 to $40,000 a year." Brower said.
Chimney mechanics don't just tear down chimneys. They also build, repair and paint chimneys and smokestacks, Brower said. He has worked all over the United States and in Europe and helped repair a 1,380-foot smokestack for a copper smelter in Madrid last year.
Whitlow has worked for many different chimney companies all over the United States. He once painted an 720-foot smokestack in Milwaukee.
"Every job is different. It never gets boring up there." Whitlow said.
Lining up there. *Whitlow said*
On June 3, the workers began
tearing down the KU smokestack,
which was built in 1922.
Brower said the original seven-week deadline won't be met for many reasons.
The men don't work on rainy or windy days, nor on the two days a week that the subcontractors clear the debris at the bottom, Brower said.
As the men progress toward the bottom, they have to break up thicker concrete and cut more reinforcement bars. At the top, the men could remove two or three tiers of $4\frac{1}{2}$-foot sections a day. Now they can only see one foot-wide section down a day, Brower said.
Workmen must also cut through an additional inner concrete lining that runs from 30 to 60 feet above the base of the stack.
KU student will march
By a Kansan reporter
A KU marching band member has been selected to play in the "We the People 200" parade on Sept. 17, in Philadelphia, Pa., celebrating the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
Mark Simerly, Lakewood, Colo., senior, will play in the Fanfare Unit of the parade, which is made up of brass and percussion, he said. Simerly plays the euphonium.
"It's the same as a baritone," Simerly said. "The euphonium is a concert instrument, and the baritone is more for marching bands."
He was nominated by Robert Foster, director of KU bands.
"Foster felt I had given service to the band," he said. "I guess he thought I deserved the nomination.
"I've spent four years in the marching band, and I was a high school all-stater. I'm pretty good, but I'm not the best at the University."
Simerly, a computer science major, has performed with the KU Marching Jayhawks, KU Symphonic Band and KU Concert Band.
The Fanfare Unit will take part in the parade's opening ceremony and introduce each of the parade's sections. The band will perform for an evening show to be broadcast nationally by CBS-TV.
"It's the same type of group that played at the Olympics and at the Statue of Liberty celebration," Simerly said.
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STUDENT INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
MARC, the association of local governments for metropolitan Kansas City, is now accepting applications for college credit internships for the fall and spring semesters. These are not "go-for" positions. MARC internships give inexperienced students the chance to perform the same tasks that are required in professional business and government positions. Internships are available in the following departments:
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT—Students in the fields of journalism, English, communications, and public relations will write articles and reports, work with the media, and plan and implement promotional campaigns. Contact Mary Beth Gordon.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL (816)474-4240
RESEARCH DATA CENTER (RDC)—The RDC houses the region's most comprehensive of economic and demographic information. Students in the business, economics, marketing, public administration and urban planning will assist in the development and marketing of the center's products and services. Contact Alice Watland.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT—Urban Planning students will collect and analyze local and regional demographic and economic data as well as assist small communities in developing and updating comprehensive plans. Contact Marlene Nagel.
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