10A
Friday, December 8, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Ex-Jayhawk plays to win as entrepreneur
By Rich Cornell Kansan staff writer
As a forward with the Kansas basketball team, Chris Piper played with unequaled determination in front of thousands of fans.
As an entrepreneur, he works with the same determination in a quiet warehouse north of the Kaw River.
Piper is pleased with his decision to buy Screen-It Graphics, 315 Northeast Industrial Lane. Other than playing forward with the Chicago Bulls, he cannot think of a better way to earn a living than working for himself. And Piper realized years ago that he would never play for the Bulls.
"There comes a time when you've got to face reality, and my reality was there would be no pro basketball," he says.
So, with financial help from a local businessman, Piper took over Screen-It Graphics only weeks after graduating in Spring 1988 with a business administration degree.
Piper's company has designed 80 logos for squeeze bottles since he bought it more than a year ago. Rich Cornell/Special to the KANSAS
Soon after that, he bought our his partner, taking full ownership of the house.
"It's been a real learning experience," he says. "You're definitely not prepared for the business world."
His company produces specially printed T-shirts and plastic squeeze bottles. Looking across the room at the orange, red, blue and yellow bottles on the shelf, Piper says he now realizes how much owning a business entails.
He employed six people when he started, but during the busy summer months this year he needed 26, he says. The responsibilities of liability, taxes and employees surprised Piper when he started.
"You don't learn that in school," he says.
Rich Cornell/Special to the KANSAN
Piper keeps track of the company's finances and seeks new clients, he says. He has emphasized the production of squeeze bottles for local businesses and the printing of bottles for nationwide companies. For example, Screen-It Graphics printed this year's World Series bottles.
"When I had classes, I made it a rule not to take any before 10:30," he says.
Waking up early presents another challenge.
"I'm not going to go out and be a computer technician because people think that's a neat thing to do," he says. "I don't need the glamour. I need to succeed. Whatever I do, I want to succeed at it."
Because he does not crave recognition, Piper never wanted a high-profile job.
"I can make as much money here and be my own boss."
Piper's mother, Bonnie Stephenson, says her son has always been that way. He learned the value of independent determination from his family.
"We're all very determined people," she says. "I think he was born with determination. He does his best, and it still isn't good enough."
The first KU graduate from his family, Piper did not understand why he received so much attention during college basketball years, Stephenson says.
Stephenson says Piper is a private, humble person. He doesn't often share his thoughts, even with her.
"I've watched him get asked for autographs, and he would ask, 'Why do you want mine? I'm just Chris Piper,' she saves.
She likes her son's sense of humor. In junior high school, his imitation of a dog on the Saturday morning cartoon, earned him the nickname "Snaggle."
People often do not recognize his humor, Piper says, and expect him to be humorous.
"A lot of times I have to let people know I'm joking." he says.
His subtle approach to humor carries over into his leadership style. He emphasizes the importance of
Piper considers providing a steady income for his employees an important measure of business success.
In addition, he wants further growth.
"I think success is building," Piper says.
Kansas' co-captain do so during the 1987-88 championship season.
Former Kansas coach Larry Brown says he enjoyed watching Players from an average, unrecrimited player, the leader of a championship team.
"he was kind of shy at first," he said, "and hard-worked" kid who gets everything wrong.
His former coach and teammates know he can build; They saw the
Brown says he likes Piper's attitude.
"Dealing with me, you've got to have a great sense of humor," he
Brown says his outbursts and perfectionism never faded Pipei, who placed tougher demands upon himself than anyone else could.
more he teaches them, Brown says. From Piper, he learned the importance of unselfish players who use all of their abilities. Now coaching the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, he wants more players like Piper. "I learned to learn from him."
"I learned to keep looking for guys like him," he says. "I look for guys who sacrifice to help other kids do what they do well."
Piper also taught his teammates Guard Jeff Gueldner says Piper showed him that hard work could make him important to the team. He was a key player in the game of the NCAA tournament during Kansas championship season.
He says he models himself after Piper's dedication both then and now.
"He doesn't like people to outwork him and takes it personally if they do," Guiderl says. "If he goes and sits at Robinson, he's really intense."
Forward Mark Randall says Pip-
example made him a better
defeat.
"He typifies a lot of the things I want to be when I graduate."
In a game against Notre Dame.
"He's probably the best post defensive player I've ever played with or played against." Randall says.
One time, Piper's example was not enough, and he had to remind Randal.
when Randall failed to tell Piper a certain Notre Dame player was screening him, Piper's defensive assignment easily scored.
After that mishap, Randall says, Piper grabbed him, yelling that he had better remember to warn teammates about screens. With the look in Piper's eyes as a reminder, Randall never forget again.
Piper shows the same competitiveness as a businessman.
"Pipe's going to keep pushing and keep pushing," Randall says. "He's going to work until he's satisfied."
"He might never be totally satisfied." he added.
Piper says he hates to lose more
than anything in the world
"I won't play racquetball because I'm no good at that at all."
He even got annoyed when he could not ski as well as his girlfriend, he says.
Piper doesn't want to lose in the business world either.
He says he wants to build a thriving, growing business in Lawrence, where he has lived since the third grade. Piper doesn't like to tell people he was born in Manhattan, Kan., and he says he cannot imagine another community where he would rather live.
Many Lawrence residents initially come to Screen-It Graphics because
they recognize his name, Piper says. He appreciates their help but wants people's business for other reasons.
"I want people to come to us best to provide quality of work and the type of people needed."
Although he strives to succeed, Piper says, he maintains a relaxed attitude about his business and everything else.
"I don't believe in serious customs," he says. "I wear shorts to work when it's nice. I like to enjoy things."
He smiles at that, remembering that, as the boss, he sets the dress code. No one will tell him to put on trousers and a tie.
Lawrence, KU offer help for rape victims
By Liz Hueben
Kansan staff writer
1.
One in four college men admitted having used sexual aggression with women, according to a survey cited in the pamphlet "Aquainautica." In Dating Dangerous" produced by the department of student life.
People could ask, "If it happens, what can we do?"
College women could ask themselves, "If it happened to me, what would I do?"
When a rape occurs, the victim might have a hard time adjusting to school, said Robert Turvey, of the Student Assistance Center.
There are a number of services and resources available to a rape victim who are directly related to KU, and are local service (see Directory).
He said one purpose of the center was to help students handle academic pressure after a trauma.
"We don't want a student who has been raped to have to run around and tell the story eight or nine times." "Turvey said.
He said the center would contact faculty and find out what could be done for the student to either receive incompletes for class grades or to finish the semester in some way after a break.
Turvey said that this could be done without the professor knowing exactly what happened and that faculty in general had been very responsive without asking too many questions.
He said that the number of students coming to the center after a rape had increased greatly this semester but that he did not think the incidence of student rape had increased.
"My sense is that students are more prone to contact someone about this than they were even a year ago. They usually ask the same questions, like 'Was this rape?' though," Turvey said.
Officials at the University of Kansas said they were trying to find the best way to handle the problem of date rape.
Robert Shelton, University ombudsman, said he had put together an informal task force in Spring 1989 to examine the ways to help improve the capacity for various parts of the University to assist rape victims and address rape issues.
Shelton said he did not have the power to appoint groups, but that an ambudsman, he had a responsiblity to govern the group has remained informal.
Danny Kaiser, assistant dean of student life, said that the code already covered rape but that it did not use the word because the wording is general enough to include all kinds of violent crimes.
One idea of the task force was to change the wording of the code of student rights and responsibilities in the law, the word rape or sexual assault.
The code's Article 22, section
RAPE COUNSELING AND SERVICES
Crisis Help/Counseling:
Douglas County Rape Victim Support Services 864-2345
University Counseling Center, 864-3931
KU Psychological Clinic, 864-4121
Watkins Hospital Mental Health, 864-9500
Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, 843-9192
Women's Transitional Care Services, 841-6887
Social Rehabilitation Services, 841-6541
Medical Help:
Lawrence Memorial Hospital Emergency, 749-6162
Watkins Memorial Health Center, 864-9500
Legal Help:
District Attorney. 841-0211
Academic Help:
Douglas County Legal Aid, 864-5564
Academic Help:
Student Assistance Center, 864-4064
Information on Banks/ Data Banks
Information on Rape/ Date Rape;
Douglas County Rape Victim Support Service, 843-9985
Leave Message
Department of Health Education, Watkins Memorial Health Center, 864-9570
A. 1, reads, "An offense against a student is committed when a student: Threatens the physical health of another person, places another person in serious bodily harm, or uses physical force in a manner that endangers the health, welfare or safety of another person."
Kaiser said he wanted to clarify the code so that students would know that Article 22 points precisely to rape as an offense.
Kevin Masten/KAN5AN
Muehlenhard, who is a member of Shelton's task force, said there were difficulties involved in decision to授奖 the University's power could go.
"The university only has jurisdiction over things on campus or during official University functions," she said.
Lawing said that to begin to
Muehlenhard said she would like
She said the task force had talked about putting a course like that into freshman/new student orientation.
Shelton said the movement to form the task force got started at KU because of the book "Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges Can Do," published by the Rape Treatment Center at the Santa Monica Medical Center in California.
He said he had toyed with the idea of an umbrella sexual abuse and sexual assault organization on campus that would include representatives from groups that currently worked independently on the issue.
to see a mandatory course at KU dealing with sexism, racism, violence against women, heterosexism and all kinds of bias.
Rape
LaFree said that at every point in the legal process, the stronger
"We ask where women were and what they were doing to make the men do what they do." she said.
In a telephone interview, LaFree said he found that jurors held prior relationships of the victim and the victim's sexual reputation to be more important in the determination of the case than either the use of weapons or prior record of the defendant.
▶ Continued from p. 2A
the various factors that influence jurors in rape cases.
He said that if as a whole, jurors' sex-role attitudes were not consis-tious in those of the victim, the jury would more likely to acquit the defendant.
He also said the reverse was true. He said a sex-role conservative juror would more likely indict the defendant if the victim was also sex-role conservative.
the prior victim-offender relationship, the more likely it would be that the case would drop out of court.
"You'd think knowing the attacker would be good, for identification purposes," LaFree said. "But no matter how slight the relationship between the victim and the offender, it has a detrimental effect on the victim's ability to get a guilty verdict for the defendant, even if it was someone who just checked you out at the grocery store or a cab driver."
Lawing said the legal system tended to place the blame for a man's actions on the woman.
remedy the court situation, society needed to redefine rape. She said a society was needed that valued women enough not to let rape cases disappear in the legal system.
The RVSS booklet lists four main advantages or benefits to the victim who reports a rape:
▶ The assaultal probably has attacked others and probably will attack others if he is not stopped.
The report may help substantiate the survivor's report and may protect others from having the same thing happen to them.
There are, however, some advantages to reporting a rape and following through with the trial.
► The victim will become her own advocate and defender. The act of reporting helps her regain control
over her life and lets the assailant know that she is not powerless to do something about the assault. ▶ The report will help victims become eligible for financial compensation from the state to cover any medical or psychological assistance they receive as a result of the attack. The report will ensure that initial visits for examination at the hospital will be paid for by Douglas County.
The victim is protecting herself against further harassment by the assault.
Lawing said she admired any woman who went through with prosecution.
"I have great respect for every woman who has taken the legal route because in rape cases you feel like a martyr," she said.
Fate of Flint Hills remains uncertain
Kansan staff writer
Ranchers, government oppose each other.
By Jim Petterson
Kansas staff writer
A red-tailed hawk, started by an approaching car moving slowly across Fox Creek bridge, screeches and swoops low across the gravel road, shattering the vast stillness of the rolling Kansas Flint Hills.
The hawk perches near the top of a great cottonwood tree and looks north across the 10,894 acre Z-Bar Ranch, oblivious to the emotional battles being waged to determine the future of the ranch.
The National Audubon Society signed an option to buy the ranch in July 1988 and wants to transfer control of the ranch to the government. The society would like to see the ranch managed by the National Park Service as the "Flint Hills National Monument."
The ranch is about 20 miles west of Emporia in Chase County. Two small towns, Strong City and Cottonwood are within a few miles of the ranch.
Ron Klataske, regional vice president of the Audubon Society, envisions the proposed monument as an opportunity for people to see and learn about the natural history of the prairie.
"I see as the monument's most important value, the educational and inspirational value of giving people the opportunity to see the native grasslands of the Flint Hills," he said. "I was inspired by it, to learn about it and give appreciate the cultural legacy of ranching and farming in this area."
Corrals near the barn would be perfect for demonstrations of ranching activities, he said. Cattle grazing could continue on thousands of acres, and other tracts of land could be used for hiking, camping, horseback riding or the reintroduction of native wildlife such as antelope, bison and elk.
Local community leaders support Klataske's vision of the monument as an educational tool. They also see it as a chance to pump some economic life back into the aling Chase County economy.
Local ranchers oppose monument
Some ranchers are still angry over a 1977 attempt to create a Prairie town, in a proposal the government would have ranches to sell about 150,000 acres of
But many Flint Hills ranchers, backed by the two largest Kansas agricultural organizations, the Kansas Livestock Association and the Kansas Farm Bureau, are fighting the proposal.
Flint Hills land for a national park. The proposal was abandoned in 1890.
Opposition to the monument is centered on two arguments. First, local ranchers say, the government already owns too much land that should be in private hands, and it should not acquire any more.
Ranchers say they also fear that, if the government buys the Z-Bar ranch, it will use eminent domain, the government's right to takeover private land for public use with fair compensation, to expand the boundaries past current Z-Bar property lines.
In the early 1970s, at the height of the original prairie park dispute, ranchers and other Flint Hills residents organized and formed the Kansas Grassroots Association. Rancher Chuck Magathan now heads the organization.
"We're just a group of farmers,
ranchers and just about anyone that
has a concern for the Flint Hills and
them in private hands," he said.
Magathan said the group opposed the monument proposal because members were worried about the National Park Service someday trying to enlarge the park by acquiring more land.
"They say the monument will be just 10,000 acres, but past history of the park service shows it has a history of making monuments and parks grow to much larger sizes," he said. "We don't want the government coming in and taking 100,000 and 200,000 acres."
One Chase County rancher, whose property borders a portion of the Z-Bar Ranch, echoed Magathan's fears of government control of the ranch.
"The conservationists have been wanting a prairie park for years." Carol Jory said. "Eleven thousand acres is really a come-down from the more affluent acres. I kind of wonder if they will allow it, big enough with all the recreation they have projected for it. I just don't see how it would be enough."
Gary Burch, another Chase County rancher who owns land adjacent to the barn, said he thought the monument should do little for the local economy.
"The park won't save local businesses," he said. "Tourists just need to flock in here to see grass they can drive through for miles."
Bruch said he was opposed to the monument proposal because he had worked hard to build a good life in Chase County and didn't want to jeopardize it.
"Things get started and just don't
See FLINT; p. 11A