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NEWS / TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known."
QUOTE OF THE DAY
— Walt Disney
FACT OF THE DAY
Disneyland used to deny admission to long-haired male guests.
www.snopes.com
KANSAN.com
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Featured video kansan.com
Student chefs gain attention
Video by Becca Harsch
Nancy Greigio and Nina Riley's cooking blog earned them an appearance on "Jayn's Kitchen." The two KU students will be on the show on Channel 6 tomorrow night at 6:30.
Students attended the Grad Finale at the Kansas Union to prepare for graduation.
Featured video kansan.com
The record for most points scored in Allen Fieldhouse is not held by a Jayhawk, nor by a Jayhawk opponent. In the 1950s, Allen was used for NCAA tournament games. Oscar Robertson scored 56 points in Cincinnati's defeat of K-State.
What's going on today?
Student Health Services hosts a Wellness Fair, "Preparing for a Healthier U," from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Watson Library lobby.
The Human Resources and Equal Opportunity offers a time management workshop at 9 a.m. In Room 204 of Joseph R. Pearson Hall.
Trombonist Ron Barron performs at 7:30 p.m. in the Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall.
If you would like to submit an event to be included on our weekly calendar, send us an e-mail at news@kansan.com with the subject "Calendar."
WEDNESDAY
Milton Wendland presents the seminar "Falling from Kansas: On Aliens, Witches and the Sinhomosexual" at 3:30 p.m. in the Hall Center.
Reza Aslan presents "How to Win a Cosmic War; God, Globalization & the War on Terror" at 7 p.m. in Hansen Hall of the dole Institute of Politics. (International Program)
SATURDAY
This American Life's host and producer Ira Glass discusses journalism and storytelling at the Lied Center beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32 for Adults and $16 for students.
Asher Roth will perform at 10:00 p.m. at Liberty Hall. Buy tickets at the SUA office or Liberty Hall.
THURSDAY
Student Union Activities hosts the 2nd International Film Festival at 7 p.m. in the Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union.
The KU School of Music celebrates African-American music at 7:30 p.m. in the Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall.
SUNDAY
■ KU Opera presents "The Rake's Progress" from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Robert Baustian Theatre in Murphy Hall.
KU School of Music presents the Celebration of Chopin's 200th birthday with pianist Steven Spooner from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Lied Center.
FRIDAY
Engineering Expo from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Eaton Hall
KU baseball vs. Eastern Michigan at
p.m. at ponglund Ballpark
MONDAY
The KU School of Music presents the Trombone Choir from 5 to 6 p.m. in Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs offers an Asian Traditional Dance and Modern Dance Practice Tutorial in recognition of Asian American Week from 6 to 9 p.m. in Robinson Center.
ODD NEWS
Spatula-like surgical tool found in woman
PRAGUE—It took five long months for a Czech woman to discover the reason for her pain: Doctor's left a foot-long medical tool inside her abdomen.
This month, doctors at a clinic in the southeastern town of Ivancec discovered their colleagues had forgotten to remove a spatulalike surgical instrument from the woman following gynecological surgery in September.
Clinic head Jaramir Hrubes blamed "a series of individual failures" and said four employees had been punished.
Top regional official Michal Hasek apologized Zdenka Kopeckova, 66, and said Monday that the region, which is in charge of the clinic, plans to compensate he
CT24 news television reported that the woman, who complained repeatedly to her doctors about the pain, plans to sue.
Ohio man creates entertaining igloo
AQUILLA, Ohio — It's quite the man cave.
His four-room creation has 6-foot ceilings and an entertainment room. He powers the TV with an extension cord plugged into an outlet in the garage. He also ran wires for cable television with surround-sound stereo.
Grey says candles help add ambiance for nighttime get-togethers with friends, and the freezing temperatures mean that the beer never goes warm.
Associated Press
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Small town politics, lifestyle deter new family
HAZELTON, N.D. — A tiny North Dakota town's promise of cash and free land lured only one family from out of state. Now, Michael and Jeanette Tristani and their 12-year-old twins are trying to move from the town without a traffic light back to Miami.
Tired of crime, traffic, hurricanes and the high cost of living in Florida, the Tristanis moved four years ago to Hazelton, an dwindling
town of about 240 that has attempted to attract young families to stay on the map.
"We don't have to look over our shoulder to see who's going to rob us,or jump out of the bushes to attack us."
"We don't have to look over our shoulder to see who's going to rob us, or jump out of the bushes to attack us." Tristani said. "Taxes are low, the cost of living is low and the kids enjoy school."
MICHAEL TRISTANI Hazelton resident
Michael Tristani, 42, said at the time the 1,800-mile move was "an answer to our prayers."
Rural communities across the Great Plains, fighting a decadeslong population decline, are trying a variety of ways to attract outsiders. But the Tristanis show how the efforts can fail even at a time when many people are desperate.
But the family also found a cliquey community that treated them like outsiders. "For my wife, it's been a culture shock," he said.
Besides cash and free land, Hazelton had little else to offer except elbow room. Surrounded by flat farm land and livestock, the century-old town boasts three churches, a bank, a grain elevator and a bar.
"It's been quite an experience, 50-50 at best," Tristani said. "It hasn't been easy. No one really wants new people here."
The Hazelton Development Corp., formed by a determined group of citizens, began running ads in 2005 offering families up to two free lots and up to $20,000 toward home purchases. Businesses were offered free lots
and up to $50,000 for setting up shop in the town.
Like many small towns across rural America, the once thriving farming community began shrinking as residents moved on or passed away.
the project to lure new residents, said Hazelton had hundreds of inquiries from around the world when the community's proposal made headlines across the country. Several families from other states visited the town but only the Tristanis made the commitment to move.
Tom Weiser
one of the city
leaders behind
"Not everybody fits in in a small town," said Weiser, who works as a baker at Wal-Mart in Bismarck, about 45 miles away.
Hay bales, a gas station and a graveyard greet visitors as they roll into Hazelton off the state highway.
2 for 1 admission tonight!!
Michael Tristani came from his native Florida wearing gold necklaces and a Rolex and driving a Lexus. He proved as foreign as a flamingo in a place where pickups, farm caps and flannel shirts are de rigeur.
"People thought I was a drug dealer" he said.
Tristani said he was prepared for Hazelton's bitter winters — when wind chills can reach 50-degrees below zero and snow drifts are measured in feet — but not the small-town drama.
"People prejudge you without getting to know you," jeanette Tristani said.
The couple bought a house built by students at an American
in Bismarck.
The home was moved to town and put on two lots donated by the city.
The Tristanis bought a third lot and were later given $15,000.
allege one of the owners drove by their house yelling obscenities and threatened to damage the family's new home.
"He appears to be out of control," The Tristanis wrote in court papers. "At times, it's difficult to understand the rest of the words he's using on my family due to his uproar."
Both businesses are now shuttered.
After his bistro failed, Michael Tristani said he began buying old houses in Bismarck, fixing them up and reselling them to earn money. Jeanette, 44, lost her job last year at a call center in nearby Linton when the business failed.
"Not everybody fits in in a small town."
The Tristanis say the family
Tristani, a former grocery worker, and his wife, a former real estate agent, opened a bistro and coffee shop. But within weeks of moving to the city, the couple petitioned for a restraining order against the owners of another coffee shop. The Tristanis
TOM WEISER Hazelton city leader
enjoys spending time together and has little to do with the locals. They relish trips to a Wal-Mart in Bismarck.
The couple's home in
Hazelton has been on the market since August, though the for-sale sign has been covered with snow for weeks.
School Superintendent Brandt Dick said losing the Tristani twins, a boy and a girl in the seventh grade, would be a blow to the shrinking enrollment.
Dick said there are 72 students enrolled at the local high school, and that the number is expected to fall to 31 in four years.
"We are declining in numbers and will continue to decline unless something changes," he said.
Jeanette said the main reason she wants to move back to the Miami area is to care for her elderly parents. Michael said he couldn't convince his wife's parents to join them in Hazelton.
Bev Voller, a member of the nonprofit development group, said the incentives were funded largely through private money, much of it from "an anonymous donor."
But, she says, "the cash thing is over now."
Kim Preston, a spokeswoman for the rural advocacy group Center for Rural Affairs, based in Lyons, Neb., said the offer of free land to lure new residents to wilting towns is a phenomenon that started in the past decade.
But the small communities that have had success are near larger communities, she said.
"The cold weather has them freaked," he said.
It's a 45-minute drive from Hazelton to Bismarck — in good weather. And the weather is often bad.
"For it to work,it needs to be no more than a 30-minute commute," she said.
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