On the Blvd
When duty calls, workers can't always stay home for the holidays
Christmas is work as usual for some
When you are settling down to Christmas dinner, spare a thought for Pete Eastwood.
Eastwood is a firefighter at the Lawrence fire station at 746 Kentucky St. and will celebrate Christmas Day on the job.
"Nobody with young kids wants to work on Christmas Day," Eastwood said. "The good thing is that families can come down and visit during the day."
On Christmas day, the firefighters take non-emergency work at a slower pace than usual, and the atmosphere at the station is normally more relaxed, he said.
"Those of us who are working usually have Christmas breakfast and dinner together." Eastwood said.
The firefighters cook their own turkey at the station and everybody helps with the preparations, he said.
Firefighters work a 24-hour day,and Christmas is no exception.
"It's not that bad on Christmas day," Eastwood said.
Firefighters spend the day performing their usual tasks, including maintenance of the fire engines, cleaning the trucks physical training and map tests of
Lawrence.
"We keep ourselves quite busy," he said. Christmas day is work as usual for the Douglas County ambulance service, 225 Maine St
"Christmas day is like any other," said Sean Gooding, a paramedic. "You have to be prepared to respond to an emergency."
Gooding said he would work a 24 hour shift on Christmas day and probably would celebrate with his family on Christmas eve.
"We don't lose the fact that it is still the holiday time," Gooding said.
mind as I really enjoy my job," he said.
Even though the KU campus will be nearly deserted, the KU police will be doing their jobs as well.
Sgt. Mark Witt said the KU police
Those of us who are working usually have Christmas breakfast and dinner together.
To celebrate, workers will decorate the station and cook a special dinner, he said.
Eastwood said he didn't mind working on Christmas.
"Somebody has got to do it, and I don't
PeteEastwood
”
worked through the holidays, though it operated with a smaller staff.
The officers work 12-hour shifts, and working through the night is probably the worst, he said.
"You sleep Christmas day and then have to work through the night," Witt said.
It's not just the emergency services workers who work on Christmas. Michael Blake will work Christmas at The Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts St. He works at
the reception desk and said he offered to work because he would be paid doubletime.
He said his family would come to Lawrence for the day so he didn't really miss out.
The Walgreen Drug Stores at 400 W. 23rd St. and 3421 W. Sixth St.also will be open. Shonda Bailey, cashier, said that this was the first year that she would work on Christmas.
"I wish I wasn't working, but we close at 5 p.m., so it's not that bad," Bailey said.
She said she would miss helping her mother cook dinner the most.
As in many previous years, Mike Martin, general manager of the Bismarck Inn, 1100 N. Third St., will work on Christmas. He said the main benefits of working Christmas were the peace and being paid time-and-a-half.
"I sure miss the food and opening presents, though," Martin said.
Martin said he usually went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas because they were one of the few places that stayed open.
Martin said some of the inn's customers were KU students who move in when the residence halls close.
"Normally they are international students who do not go home for Christmas," Martin said. "Some students will stay until the residence halls reopen."
—GARY McDONAGH
Good Luck on Finals Happy Holidays!
IMPERIAL GARDEN
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Lunch...$4.95
11:30 am - 2:30 pm
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Dinner...$6.95
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6th (Across from Dillons) • 841-10
2907 W. 6th (Across from Dillons) • 841-1688
≈Hill • December 6, 1995
Hawk Holidays
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