4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ERIDAY FEBRUARY 9 2007
TRAFFIC INFORMATION BOOTH
Gatekeeper makes the cut Campus entrances highly guarded by booth workers
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Joyce Bledsoe has her day at a campus gatekeeper. Bledsoe has worked for the university for more than six years. I really enjoy my work. I really enjoy people. I make a difference. Bledsoe said,
BY BRIAN LEWIS-JONES
"I never laughed so hard in my entire life." Bleeed said.
When a group of girls drove on campus with a topless blow up doll hanging out the window of their Jeep Cherokee, Joyce Bledsoe; administrative assistant for the University of Kansas Parking Department, couldn't help but guffaw.
She has been working in the traffic information booths — the tiny outposts positioned at intersections around campus — for more than six years, helping people find their way.
"Helping people when they need help, I feel like that's a big asset to the University," Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe, who grew up on an 80 acre farm in Eudora, said drivers' inquiries ranged from directions to the highway to the best shopping areas in town. Before working at the information booths on campus, she was a custodian for more than 10 years in Murphy Hall and for the Parking Department, cleaning garages and offices.
Bledsoe is one of four employees who rotates between the booths every three weeks. One of the best parts of her job is greeting workers as they pass through daily.
She spends eight hours a day in one of the four booths on campus, counting the passing cars and
adorned with images of horses, American flags and panda bears.
keeping those without a proper permit off campus.
"They give us a lot of medical excuses," she said, such as a broken arm or leg.
Because the job was boring
"Ive lost count.
at times, one of the booth employes told Bled-soe that booth workers had to have a hobby to keep from going crazy.
Helping people when they need help, I feel like that's a big asset to the University.
Bledsoe passes the time by reading and sewing elaborate quilts
JOYCE BLEDSOE Administrative Assistant Parking Department
of how many I've made," she said.
Donna Hultine,
director of the
parking
department, said the
booths were built in the
1960's to help control traffic, flow on campus and to keep pedestrians safe.
the sign and go through."
"There are people who know it's restricted and try to get through anyway." Haltine said. "And then there are people who don't notice
She said visitors were often surprised to get a warning letter in the mail from the department. A second violation means a $50 ticket.
In one day, the two busiest booths — one by the Chi Omega fountain and another near the Kansas Union — could have 800 to 1000 cars pass through, Bledsoe said. The booth at Sunflower and Memorial Drive gets less traffic with more than 100 vehicles passing through last Thursday.
Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.
Edited by Stacey Couch
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Richard Norton Smith, presidential historian, gives a speech about 38th President Gerald R. Ford at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics on Thursday evening. Smith, who was director of the Dole Institute from 2001 to 2003, is currently a scholar-in-charge at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.
》 LECTURE SERIES
Speaker shares Ford stories Former Dole Institute director remembers late president
Norton said he met then-Vice President Ford when he visited the Harvard University campus while he was a student there.
Norton was greeted by the Smith couple in addition to a crowd of more than 200 people during the first installment of the Dole Institute's Presidential Lecture Series on Thursday, which featured a tribute to former President Gerald Ford.
BY TYLER HARBERT
"He said, 'We never even planned that;' Geraldine said.
The couple were admiring the glow of the sun shining on the United States flag in front of the Dole Institute when Norton came outside and greeted them.
"He chuckled and asked for a copy to display in his office," Norton said.
Geraldine Smith and her husband Glee remember one cloudless day five years ago, when Richard Norton Smith was the director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics.
"He was surprised there were enough Republicans at Harvard to even form a club," he said.
A Harvard student had drawn an unflattering cartoon of Ford, and because Norton was "an adolescent of annoying precocity," he showed the vice president the drawing.
Norton went on to become an intern at the White House and a freelance writer at The Washington
Post. From there, he took on speech writing for Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke before working for Senator Bob Dole.
As a historian, Norton has written five books and has been a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
Lacy said he was pleased someone so committed to the Dole Center could be brought in for the discussion.
With Norton's lecture, Lacy said the Dole Institute wanted to take a look at the significance of Ford's presidency. Norton not only knew Ford, but also delivered his eulogy
("He) is a nationally known and highly regarded presidential historian." Lacy said.
Norton said Ford's best moments as president happened off-camera.
"He was a driving force behind building and getting the Dole Institute off the ground," he said.
Kansan staff writer Tyler Harbert can be contacted at tharbert@ kansan.com.
Norton always wondered what Ford said as recently resigned President Richard Nixon waved goodbye on the steps of a helicopter. He had the opportunity to ask Ford.
"He leaned over in Mrs. Ford's ear and said, 'We can do it,'" Norton said. "He had to reassure his wife
before reassuring the country."
Edited by Kelly Lanigan