Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Noland)

The paper will be made into such things as cat litter, insulation and paper towels. But before any of that can happen, members of KU Recycling must pick it up from campus, load it on a truck and take it to a warehouse on west campus. There, it is sorted, compacted, picked up by a contracted company and shipped out.

But toss a paper in the same container next semester and the route of the journey will be slightly different.

KU Recycling is moving from its old facility into the new facility operations building next door on Westbrooke Drive, which will allow the crew to receive and process larger amounts of material.

According to the KU Recycling Web site, the group recycled over 527 tons of material and from July 2005 to June 2006. To process that amount of material requires both ample space and a sizable workforce. The crew will have 5,000 square feet in the new building, twice as much as it does in its current facility.

“We’ll be able to process materials faster. Basically we’re expanding our capacity to handle material so we can handle more materials which will allow for future growth,” said Jeff Severin, environmental services manager.

This is the latest step toward improving KU Recycling, which reported revenues of $25, 400 from July 2005 to June 2006.

KU Recycling received a grant last year of $66,782 from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to purchase a new baler. A baler is a machine used to compact materials into bales so that they take up less space and are easier to handle.

Severin said the crew has purchased a baler and expects it to be delivered later this month.

The new baler is larger than the one the crew currently operates, so it will make larger bales and allow for the baling of more types of material, such as aluminum and steel cans.

The team currently bales only certain materials such as cardboard and office paper while others such as aluminum and steel cans are shipped out loose. Loose material takes up much more space than baled material and thus costs a lot more to ship.

“We’ll start baling all of our products rather than just what we’re baling now, which has been cardboard, chip board, shredded paper, and plastic bags,” said Tom Boxberger, warehouse manager.

The recycling team sells the material to companies, but some companies will accept only baled material because it saves space and is easier to handle.

“By baling it that cuts down on the work they have to do and also cuts down on the amount of money they have to spend in terms of shipping it. So they’re able to pay us more for a baled product than they are for a non-baled product,” Severin said.

Severin said although he didn’t know the exact impact the larger bales would have on profit because prices of material are based on the fluctuating market, he did expect an increase in revenue.

In September the team received $60 per ton of baled cardboard, but changes in the market have dropped that amount to $45 this month, Severin said. The larger bales of the new machine will probably earn a bit more. If bales are too small, a company will often combine them to make larger ones before taking them to a paper mill. The new baler will produce large enough bales that the companies can take them directly to the mill without combining them.

Keaton Krell, a KU Recycling crew leader, said the new baler will make bales of cardboard that weigh 1,000 pounds, significantly heavier than the 400-500 pound bales the current machine makes.

All revenue goes back into the program to pay for normal operational costs and also large purchases, such as the truck the program purchased in the spring.

The 35,000-square-foot building will also house the facilities operations shops, such as the electric shop and the preventative maintenance shop. KU Recycling will have 5,000 square feet of space in the new building, compared to the 2,500-square-foot building it is currently operating in. The shops will have 25,000 square feet, with the remaining 5,000 square feet to be used for storage.

The building is expected to be fully enclosed by the end of the year and crews will begin work on the interior by late January, Riat said.

Severin said he expects KU Recycling to be in full operation at the building by the middle of the 2007 spring semester.

Boxberger is the only full-time employee in the recycling program. He spends his time handling the materials in the warehouse while a group of about 13 students work part-time assisting him, either in the warehouse sorting material or by picking up the material from the recycling containers on campus.

Severin said he hopes to add one more full-time employee and possibly a few more students if necessary.

“Our student staff kind of increases with demand,” Severin said.

Doug Riat, director of facilities operations, said the project is being funded primarily by the Kansas University Endowment Association. He said the building will cost an estimated $3.2 million.

“Our shops have been in this building for as long as most of us can probably remember, so we have outgrown the space. The space is not adequate for a lot of the functions that we have to perform today in comparison to what they might have been 50 years ago,” Riat said of the move.

KU Recycling will continue to use the old facility for storage of recycled material, Boxberger said.

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A group of students and professors at the University of Kansas, including biochemists and molecular biologists, are inching closer to creating a vaccine that could prevent dysentery and other severe intestinal illnesses.

The National Institutes of Health recently approved funds that will help the team reach its goal. Some members of the team have been working since 1995 to find a vaccine that, if proven effective, could prevent high death rates in developing countries, where the infection is most prevalent. Dysentery, a severe form of bloody diarrhea, can be fatal. According to the World Health Organization's Web site, of the 164.7 million cases of shigellosis, an infection that causes dysentery, 163.2 are in developing countries. Each year, an estimated 1.1 million people die from the infection.

“It certainly could save a lot of lives and it certainly could save a lot of misery for people traveling to other countries or people living in other countries where these organisms are really common,” said Bill Picking, associate professor of biological sciences and leader of the project.

Picking and his group, consisting of three graduate students, three undergraduate students and a research assistant, spend time each day in their lab in Haworth Hall, trying to understand the workings of the bacteria Shigella, the cause of Shigellosis.

“The World Health Organization has set a number of goals to target its eradication in the next 10 to 15 years. We’re hoping that with this vaccine we can actually get that done and eliminate it as a problem,” said Aaron Markham, a graduate student in pharmaceutical chemistry.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, Shigella bacteria cause abdominal pain, cramps, diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and bloody stools. Water or food contaminated with feces containing Shigella is a major cause of illness, usually brought about by unsanitary food handling. Approximately 300,000 cases of Shigella-related illnesses occur in the United States each year. That number is much higher in developing countries, especially Africa.

The bacteria attack cells in the large intestine and begin to grow once inside the cells.

“The goal of the lab is to understand the mechanism ultimately so we can either create a drug that will help, but preferentially a vaccine,” Picking said.

Picking’s team is attempting to identify proteins that would make good targets for a vaccine. Dr. Russ Middaugh, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and a partner in the project, works to make the proteins stronger, an essential part of finding a vaccine. Proteins must stay intact to ensure proper working of a potential vaccine. The vaccine would need to be durable enough to survive in places such as rural Africa where refrigeration isn’t an option and quick transport is almost impossible.

Picking said that Shigella bacteria are most common in areas with contaminated water and little medical care. But he also said the disease is found in the U.S, most often affecting children who transfer germs hand-to-mouth.

Wendy Picking, a partner in the project, said the team will know the cost of the vaccine and how long it will be effective only once a vaccine has been created. She wouldn't comment on the amount of the recent funds from the National Institutes of Health.

Although the National Institutes of Health has agreed to fund the group’s work, Picking said he doesn’t expect to see any of the money until the spring.

“It’s a relatively slow process. You have to show them enough preliminary data and enough promise that they think, ‘OK, yes, this might work.’ Then they give you the money to do it,” Picking said.

In the meantime, funds previously received from the National Institutes of Health are paying for the team's day-to-day expenses, which include staff pay and supplies.

The team hopes it will be able to begin testing on mice in the summer, the first step toward the long-term goal of human testing. The animal testing will take place at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland. The funding from NIH is for a two-year period, known as a “pilot study.”

Middaugh said the team will begin work on higher animals if the mice testing is successful.

“The fact of the matter is, there are no great animal models. They’re really more a system that we use to develop the vaccine. We don’t pretend that what we see in animals is what we’re going to see in humans. We know that often is not the case,” Middaugh said.

If the drug succeeds at all levels of animal testing, Picking said a company may be interested in taking over the research.

“The initial research on vaccines typically occurs at academic labs like this one. But ultimately for it to turn into a real vaccine that really gets on the market, a company at some point needs to take that over because it just takes too much money, hundreds of millions of dollars,” Picking said.

Picking has been pursuing a vaccine since 1995 yet, in a sense, the project is just beginning.

“That whole process, going all the way to market, could take 10 years. It’s a very long, very expensive process, getting a drug from the laboratory out onto the market,” he said.

The discovery of the desired vaccine would open doors to making similar vaccines against other types of organisms that share the same type of molecular mechanism as the one Picking is studying. Other illnesses that share the same mechanism include cystic fibrosis and more common ailments caused by food poisoning, such as salmonella, Picking said.

“It could lead to vaccines that could greatly impact the people in this country,” Picking said.

There are only two other institutions in the country that are searching for a vaccine to combat Shigella bacteria, Picking said. These are the aforementioned Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the University of Maryland Center for Vaccine Development.

“We collaborate with both of those groups. It’s pretty much a sharing situation,” Picking said.

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It's dinnertime, and Patricia Cole sits on Marvin's bed, rubbing his back, telling him he needs to eat. They're having lasagna and cottage cheese tonight, his favorite. But Marvin refuses to get up and join the others in the kitchen. It's only a small challenge for Patricia, but it's one of many she faces each day while working with three men with severe mental disabilities.

"The satisfaction of it is to see these guys learn," Patricia said. "I like seeing them grow."

Patricia lives with her husband, Jim, and three of her four children. Together Jim and Patricia work with the disabled men everyday, all day. They feed them, they bathe them, they teach them. The company they work for, Community Living Opportunities (CLO), is a non-profit organization that cares for people with severe disabilities.

Earlier this month, Douglas County commissioners approved a plan that allows CLO to build three homes on a 40-acre farm between Baldwin and Eudora. CLO named the property "Midnight Farm" after it purchased the land, which already included one house, in 2005. Construction probably won't start until 2007, but fundraising for the new additions is now underway.

Marvin continues to avoid his plate of food, which by now is cold. He makes a loose fist and repeatedly hits his bed. The rhythmic pounding of his hand against the plastic bed cover grows louder. This is normal behavior for Marvin. Patricia stands, leaning against the counter, eating from a small bowl of salad left over from dinner. She's not hungry. Earlier today she went to the hospital to visit her mom, who had surgery to remove her gall bladder. It's been a tough day.

"I think my eyes are bigger than my stomach," she says.

"You better start eating," Jim says with a smirk. "You're feeding two now."

Patricia found out earlier this month that she's pregnant. This child will be her fifth, but the first with Jim. Patricia's past has been a complex one, and not just because she's moved from Missouri to Iowa to Oklahoma to Texas, back to Oklahoma and then, finally, to Kansas. It's not just because of the ten years she spent receiving public aid in Iowa, barely having enough to survive.

"I had more worries then than I ever had before," Patricia said.

Those obstacles were only part of the story.

But despite her troubled past, Patricia gives back to the community. She and her family came to Kansas to take the job at CLO. The family lives on one side of a duplex while the three clients live on the other side. This type of teaching method, called the family teaching model, allows the clients to experience the support and care of a family.

The new homes that will be built at Midnight Farm will feature families like the Coles. One such family already occupies the house that was on the property before the purchase of the land. Midnight Farm will also feature a barn and a swimming pool. Clients will be able to ride horses and spend time with other farm animals. Although Patricia's clients don't have these things, they do live in a supportive environment that allows them to grow and become more independent.

The things that matter most to Patricia are the same things that have made her life complicated: her children. Without them, life would be simpler, but it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying.

Married at age 16 and a mother at 17, Patricia realized early in life that she could ultimately depend on no one but herself. Her first marriage fell apart, partly because of the father's drinking problem. Soon after, Patricia got involved with a man who told her he was sterile. That relationship ended, too, but three months later Patricia realized she had been lied to. She was pregnant.

The next piece of the twisted puzzle came 11 years ago with the birth of Patricia's daughter, Elizabeth. To this day Elizabeth thinks that Jim is her biological father. After all, Jim has been the only real father she has known. The truth is, though, Elizabeth's father is not around.

Patricia miscarried five years ago, shortly after she married Jim. So although Patricia said she thought she was "out of the diaper stage," this baby, although a surprise, will be extra special because she and Jim will finally be able to truly call a child theirs. This comes after five years of marriage and 11 years of being together. Patricia plans to instill in her new child, like her other children, the same values that helped her become the person she is today.

Jim knows Patricia doesn't want her children to make the same mistakes she did.

"If you go out there and have a family at 17 years old and then you're forced to work at McDonald's for six bucks an hour, you're stuck in a rut," Jim said.

If you ask Patricia's oldest child, 19-year-old Andrew, it's easy to see what Patricia places emphasis on.

"School, no doubt. You have to go to school or nothing is going to happen," Andrew said.

Patricia credits her parents with allowing her to enjoy a positive childhood. Her parents didn't have much money, but they were always there for her.

"They were my rock when I was younger," Patricia said.

But Patricia also learned that she couldn't follow her parents' example of the mom staying at home to watch the kids while the dad went to work. Patricia knew she had to do something with herself and rely on nobody. So at the age of 25 and a mother of four children, she enrolled at a community college in Iowa and got her associate degree in psychology. In a sense, life was back on track.

Since then, Patricia has continued to stay on track. People like Patricia are vital to CLO, and even more vital to the clients. If fundraising and development go smoothly, the Midnight Farm will be home to three new families, plus the one currently living on the property. The plan originally called for eight houses, but because of opposition from neighbors, CLO lowered the number to four. Some neighbors said they thought the new houses would create traffic problems.

According to Jolene Peterson, director of day services at CLO and Midnight Farm project leader, the company is doing research on what grants are available and applying for those grants. She said fundraising for the barn, which will be used at times for such things as therapeutic horseback riding, will happen first. CLO might also receive funds from private donors, Peterson said.

As for Patricia, her days are spent taking care of her clients as well as her children. The past, both good and bad times, serve as constant examples that with decisions come consequences. But she wouldn't do anything differently if she could go back in time, fearing it would change her character.

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The future of Lawrence looks green after the city commission agreed to proceed with another stage in an ongoing project that plants trees around the city. On Oct. 3, the commission approved the $85,120 necessary to plant 448 trees between now and the end of March 2007.

"What you see in Lawrence is a really good job of incorporating trees to make it a pleasant place to live. Healthy trees don't happen by accident," said Kim Bomberger, a community forester in the Kansas Forest Service.

The newest effort is part of a project called the Master Street Tree Project, which aims to preserve and advance the natural beauty of Lawrence through the planting of trees on city and residential property.

According to Crystal Miles, horticulture manager for the Lawrence Department of Parks and Recreation, the ordinance was created at the request of the Lawrence Homebuilder's Association and the Neighborhood Resources Department to try to get street trees in neighborhoods in a consistent manner.

"This is our sixth year of doing this and for the most part it's worked out pretty well," Miles said.

The ordinance calls for one tree to be planted per 40 feet of street frontage in new residential areas. Homebuilders pay for the trees at the same time they pay for the building permits, prior to the construction of a house. Miles said the cost per tree this year was $190, compared to past years when the cost neared $225 per tree.

Pat Pinkerton, a project estimator for Shawnee Mission Tree Service, the company that will plant the trees, said most of the trees will be located just outside the city right-of-ways, about 20-25 feet away from the curb, toward the houses.

Pinkerton said his company will plant trees all over town, with the majority headed for locations in west Lawrence.

"Based on the specs and the contract, we have to have a third of it done by Thanksgiving, a third of it done by the end of the year and then the last third of it done by March 30 of next year," Pinkerton said.

The trees are considered medium or large and are classified as either canopy shade trees or ornamental trees. The ordinance requires that the canopy trees have a trunk caliper of two inches at the time of planting while the ornamental trees must have a 1.5-inch trunk caliper. Canopy trees can reach a height of 45 feet or more and ornamentals can grow to a height of 20 feet.

Pinkerton said the trees can only be dug and transplanted at certain times of the year.

"There's a lot of trees on this tree list that have to be dug in the springtime. Otherwise they'll die. So we have to wait on the last third of trees to install until spring when they can actually be dug out of the ground," he said.

The project makes it easier for homeowners to enjoy new, healthy trees without the hassle of having to plant the trees themselves.

"We install them and water them in. Then, basically, it's turned over to the homeowner and it's their responsibility to continue watering it," Pinkerton said.

If the tree dies within one year, the company is required by the contract to replace it. If the homeowner neglects to care for the tree and it dies, it is the responsibility of the owner to plant a new tree.

Fred DeVictor, Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department director, said the city provides the homeowner with the proper information necessary to maintain a healthy tree.

"Part of our program is to educate property owners after the trees are put in about how to care for them," DeVictor said. "I think it's a good program to try to make sure that street trees are planted in areas of town. Trees are very important. It's an investment."

Since the project focuses on newly developed areas, the trees won't be planted until after utility lines have been installed. Planning for the location of the trees should keep the maintenance of the trees low.

"Probably about 40 or 50 percent of the addresses that we're going to be installing these trees at already have an irrigation system which will take care of a lot of the watering for us and for the homeowners. So they won't have to actually hand-water them with the hose," Pinkerton said.

The plan includes different species of trees to ensure that the trees won't be susceptible to insect or disease damage that could spread throughout the entire tree population. Workers will plant a different number of species depending on the size of the lot and how many trees it requires. For example, a lot of 11-20 trees requires at least two species.

Bomberger said projects like this have helped Lawrence receive the honor of being a "Tree City USA" city for 28 consecutive years. The National Arbor Day Foundation awards the distinction annually to those cities that have community forestry programs that meet certain requirements, such as having a budget for the community forestry program of at least $2 per capita.

"It's really easy to think about trees when you're in Lawrence because there's so many nice specimens," Bomberger said.

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Sean Galloway, Sioux City, Iowa, senior, makes minimum wage working at Diane's Liquor, 1806 Massachusetts St. Galloway said the $5.15 per hour isn't much, but he isn't complaining.

"I think that it definitely should be a little higher but you take what you can get. I don't necessarily blame it on the businesses. It's the government that sets the minimum wage, not the business," Galloway said.

With textbooks, tuition and other expenses that come with being a student, it would be very difficult to live off minimum wage. According to Galloway, it's next to impossible.
Six states, including neighboring Colorado and Missouri, are considering raising their minimum wage. Kansas, however, is not.

In the past two or three legislative sessions, bills have been introduced to raise the minimum wage in Kansas but have quickly died, said Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence.

Sloan also said he didn't expect a better fate for any similar bill in the 2007 Legislative Session.

Missouri and Colorado will vote on the issue in November. If approved, Missouri's new minimum wage would be $6.50 while Colorado's would be $6.85, effective January 1, 2007.

Still, some students have jobs that pay well more than minimum wage. Maggie McCoy, Winfield senior, works 12 hours per week at the Kansas University Center for Research. McCoy said she earns $8.68 per hour.
"I started out at $8.20 an hour, which was very good for a campus job. And because I was looking for a job, I would have taken it regardless of the pay," McCoy said.

She also said she wouldn't be able to keep up with bills if she was paid less, but she understands why students take low-paying jobs.

"Minimum wage is better than no wage," she said.

Epic Apparel, a new clothing store at 11 W. 9th St., pays workers based on their experience. Manager Kate Turner said she pays employees between $9 to $10 dollars depending on their past involvement with fashion.

"Whether they came from a higher end fashion store or more of a corporate level is the consideration I take into play," Turner said.

Congress set the $5.15 minimum wage in 1997. Congress would need to pass a bill that would then require the President's signature to change the minimum wage.

Continue reading "No increase in sight for Kansas minimum wage" »

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