CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, December 7, 1995
3A
Proposal leaves some in dark
Lighting upgrades omit Towers, Stouffer Place
By Sarah Wlese
Kansan staff writer
As the parking board's proposal to increase all University housing parking permits from $35 to $50 progresses toward final approval, some of those affected are concerned about what benefits they will receive.
The permit increase is part of the board's annual rules change and budget package for the parking department.
Upgrading lighting in parking lots on Daisy Hill and behind Joseph R. Pearson Hall to improve safety was the reason behind the proposed increase, said Ward Cook, Mission Hills sophomore and parking board vice chairman. Oliver Hall's parking lot also is included in the tentative lighting upgrades proposal.
However, there aren't any immediate plans for parking lot or lighting improvements at the scholarship halls. Jayhawker Towers or Stouffer Place. But those residents still would be paying more if the proposal passes.
James Parker, Lawrence graduate student and parking board member, said he thought improving safety was the top priority.
So, the Daisy Hill lots come first, he said.
"To me, it is important to get the improvements done when the time is right and the money is there," Parker said.
In the future, the $37,000 generated annually by the increase, plus about $63,000 from the parking department, would provide $100,000 in improvements to other University housing lots, Kearns said. Future projects now are unspecified.
That uncertainty is what bothers Jeff Stowell, All Scholarship Hall Council president. He said scholarship hall residents wouldn't mind paying more, if they were assured their lots would benefit.
"Before the rates jump, we want to see some kind of a proposal on paper," Stowell said. "Our concern is that we're being lumped into a group just because we live in University housing, and that there aren't any real plans for improvement in our area."
Kearns said that about two years ago, the scholarship halls saw lighting improvements. Paying more for the permit would help offset the cost.
Parker said the board decided to raise all University housing permits because every lot had problems from time to time as well as on-going maintenance costs.
"Trying to make a distinction wouldn't be fair to anyone," he said.
Nakeisha Childs, Jayhawker Tower Tenants Association president, said she didn't want to comment on the increase.
However, Towers residents have had problems finding parking spaces since part of their parking garage was closed in mid-July.
While Stouffer Place isn't scheduled for parking upgrades, the parking board has approved a request for more security on basketball game nights to keep out-of-town parkers out of the lots.
Anita Hintz, Stouffer Neighborhood Association president, said she thought many residents would support the increase.
"If residents could see an increase in security and what parking does for us, I don't think they'd be dissatisfied," Hintz said.
If the board's proposal is approved, relighting of the Ellsworth Hall lot, costing about $92,000, could begin as soon as July.
Kearns said that the parking department relights the lots at the same time they are resurfaced.
Daisy Hill, JRP and Oliver weren't on the list for resurfacing, he said.
Increasing rates is the only way to get immediate action, Cook said.
"If we wouldn't have done that, we wouldn't have been able to start in July." Cook said. "It might have been years before the lighting would be improved."
If the board's package is approved by the executive vice chancellor, the chancellor and the Board of Regents, the increase would go into effect July 1. 1996.
Renegade Theatre branches out
Troupe's old venue will become history show hits the road
By Tara Trenary Kansas staff writer
Pam Dishman / KAMSAM
The theater with solid black walls surrounding 60 red velvet seats and small carpeted stage was once a garage. It has been a theater for three years, but after many original performances such as comedy shops, poetry and fiction readings, amateur film showings and plays, The Renegade Theatre Company is moving its theatrics away from its home base.
The group rented the building at 518 East Eighth St. with the money they made from their performances.
Members of the Renegade Theatre have a dress rehearsal for their play "Dead Parents." They will perform this weekend and next at the Renegade Theatre, 518 East Eighth St., before taking their show on the road.
"The advantage of the building was always having a place," said Frank Doden, English lecturer and author of the group's last play, "Dead Parents."
But now it is time for them to move on.
Phil Brown, director of the group, said the group was reverting back to performances at different locations around town.
He said that when the group formed, it usually booked performances through the Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. Ninth St., or did comedy shops in local spots such as the Red Lyon Tavern, 944 Massachusetts St.
This is what they will begin to do again, Brown said.
final home show
But not without a final home show. Doden said that his full-length play, "Dead Parents," which is a discussion on the difficulties, demands and responsibilities of being a narrator, was their last performance.
"It's a broad comedy. It's silly," said
Doden. "There's a little something 'or everyone.'
He said that performers and directors were also co-authors because of their close involvement with the play.
Whinery, Kansas City, Kan., senior, and Renegade actor, said that he enjoyed helping with the writing and that performing was good experience for his communications major.
This is why Scott Whitery got involved with the group.
"Acting is my thing," he said. "It's
what I want to do."
Chris Englert, Renegade actress with a theater and philosophy degree, started with the group after she saw a comedy shop put on by the group and liked it.
"It's fun," she said. "I don't think I'd do this much work if I didn't enjoy it."
"Dead Parents" will premiere this Friday at 8 p.m. Performances will be on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 17, and the cost is $7. Call 842-8808 for reservations.
Students with children maximize holiday time
By Rufus Coleman Special to the Kansan
While hundreds of students are piling into cars and onto airplanes to go home for the holidays, Kathie Pelan, Lawrence senior, will be cleaning house.
Not only will she be cleaning her house, but she also will be making Christmas dinner and decking the halls with decorations for her two sons and her daughter.
Single with children Married with children
1990 615 1,612
1991 621 1,651
1992 710 1,562
1993 614 1,330
1994 583 1,143
"Christmas break is a time to get things done that you put on the back burner." Pelan
This chart shows the number of non-traditional students. A listing of what qualifies as a non-traditional student. The chart shows the number of single parent non-traditional students.
said. "As a homeowner, I have to get repainting done, clean my carpets, see my family, decorate the house and put on Christmas dinner."
She said that during the regular school year, she didn't have time to do the normal things that came with a family. While she studies, her husband usually takes charge of the children.
Pelan said she didn't know what she would do if she didn't have her husband. During the school year, she spends some time with her 11-year-old son by studying at softball games or going with her 14-year-old daughter to the park. But her husband spends a lot of time with the kids. He helps her get through the year.
Non-Traditional Students
Christmas break give her a chance to make up for lost time. But she said she also enjoyed getting out of school earlier than her children.
She said she couldn't to school and taking care of her children alone.
"I just use my time to be with my family," she said. "And I relish the time when they're in school and I'm not."
"When you're a single non-fraditional student, there is nobody there to do it for you," she said.
Dena Koehn, a single parent of a 4-year-old boy, said the hardest part of the holiday was planning and budgeting everything. The Kansas City, Kan. junior began saving money and buying Christmas gifts last summer.
She has to plan for Christmas and her son's birthday, which is Dec. 5.
"It's a huge financial burden, and I have to
but get excited about the break."
One of the highlights is being able to take time off from her psychology studies and enjoy more time with her son, she said. After Thanksgiving break, Koehn spent time with her son putting up the Christmas tree.
Mary Ellerd, Lawrence graduate student, is going to enjoy the same quality time with her children, but she hasn't seen her two sons since she came to KU. One son lives in North Carolina and the other lives in Florida. She hasn't seen either in two-and-a-half years.
The 42-year-old normally spends her holidays in Lawrence with her husband. She came back to school after 10 years of working on her own. She said things were different living off of loans and support from her husband. Support from OAKS, Nontraditional Student
"In my family it's a tradition to put up the Christmas tree the first weekend after Thanksgiving," she said. "My son couldn't wait."
"Once you're an adult, Christmas loses its luster, but with a child you have to try and make it magical," she said. "And it gets to where I can't help
This will be her son's first Christmas at the University of Kansas. One of the things Koehn said she worried most about during the break was trying to pass on to her son the Christmas traditions she grew up with.
do some huge budgeting to buy presents and do some of the little things that come with Christmas," Koehn said.
Kathie Polan
Lawrence senior
Organization was also helpful.
She hasn't been able to see her sons because of her financial situation.
"It was never, opportune for me to see my family during the break before," Ellerd said. "The whole time I've been back to school, I've had no self income. I've borrowed money and haven't had very much time or money to do much of anything on the breaks other than read and saw."
because books and fabric are cheap."
Ellerd said her first holiday season at KU, while it wasn't her first away from her children, seemed like her longest and most unpleasant. The winter of 1993 was the first snow the Florida native had experienced.
"During that first snow, I raised up my long distance bill and called up everybody," she said. "I got homesick, and I was excited about the snow. I called up everybody to tell them I was getting snowed on."
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