Multimedia Reporting (Noland-Volek)

For local retailers such as The Village Witch and Fun and Games the Halloween season is a time for boosts in sales. Next to Christmas, the National Retail Foundation says Halloween second in retail sales according to a 2006 press release.
The Village Witch earns approximately 40 percent of its yearly sales in the days preceding Samhain, which is the Celtic New Year celebrated on Oct 31. The Village Witch is a specialty store that carries handmade jewelry, stones, handmade bath and body supplies, books on Wicca and witchcraft and more.
The Owners Kacey Carllson and Kerry Johnson have seen an increase in business since their move to the N. Lawrence location in August 2006. Johnson said that since the move, she and Carllson want people to know what the store is about, instead of as a metaphysical store.
“We are a Wicca and pagan supply store,” Johnson said.
Wicca is a belief system that an individual has. Johnson said that almost everyone that ignores the remainder of the holydays, of Wicca, observes Samhain, which is one reason that sales increase during this season. She said other reasons are that there are no festivals going on so people are stocking up and the store is receiving new merchandise.
In addition to merchandise, The Village Witch offers classes to clients and anyone interested in learning about Wicca. Carllson offers the class Magicians Boot Camp and has taught the class for 20 years. Carllson said the class applies science, with theories and physics, to magic and Wicca. Basics to Wicca, the class taught by Johnson, is a first for the store and Johnson. Carllson talked Johnson into being the teacher of this class. Johnson proceeded to research all the materials needed for the class.
“Since the research is done now, it would not difficult to set up another class,” Johnson said.
Fun and Games earns approximately 75 percent of its yearly sales during September and October. Fun and Games primarily carries costumes and makeup, which targets towards theatre groups through the remainder of the year.
Gwen Billings, assistant manager and mother of the store’s owner Kyle Billings, said that the owners are hoping to see an increase in business because of the store’s new location at 1601 W 23 St. She said that customers had a difficult time finding the store’s downtown location, but the store is always open year-round.
“Halloween is our main season,” Gwen Billings said.
Kyle Billings said the store receives approximately 90 percent of its merchandise during the Halloween season and it lasts the store most of the year. He said that the top selling costumes seem to coincide with the popular movies of the year. Because of the variety of this year’s movies, he guessed at what this year’s top seller would be.
“The big thing seems to be pirates. Pirates always seem to be a big seller,” Kyle Billings said.
He said customers spend an approximate average of $35 to $40. Customer spending varies with people who come in to buy that last thing they need to complete their costume, or people that come in and spend $100 to buy everything they need in one trip.
Tammy Faries, Garnett Senior, enjoys Halloween and spends an average of $45-$50 each year on her costume. She said that she thinks there is a good selection of Halloween merchandise in Lawrence, even though she usually goes to Fun and Games for her Halloween needs. This year her and her friends are going out as gangsters. She said her favorite costume was the mermaid costume from last year, even though it was a little constrictive.

Tammy Faries

“Anytime just to have fun and be out of the normal, regular clothes is a good time,” Faries said. “I wish we could do Halloween four times a year.”

Ted and Shirley Coulter, senior residents of Lawrence, are unable to clear off their sidewalk, driveway and stairway of the snow during the winter because they both use walkers and other health ailments. All they are able to do is place salt on the areas close to their house that they are willing to go. They have eight grandchildren, a few are able to come and clear off snow from their walkways but not always.
The Coulters mobility is often restricted during the winter because the snow and ice make conditions unsafe for outdoor activities. According to them, they do not want to take the risk of driving when snow covers the streets, parking lots, and driveways. They drive when the streets no longer are icy, but they do not stop anywhere to get out and walk because of icy patches in the parking lots.
“I can’t risk falling. One fall is all you need,” Shirley said.
The city of Lawrence and Douglas County Senior Services are the new partners for the program Safe Winter Walkways, which will match volunteers with people in need of help clearing their sidewalks of the snow and ice. The program, which begins on October 16, ensures that senior citizens and people with disabilities who cannot afford their own snow removal will have the help provided in clearing their sidewalks.
The Safe Winter Walkways program ran during two previous winter seasons. The original partner, Roger Hill Volunteer Center, was unable to collaborate with the city in 2006, because they do not have the resources to reach the senior residents of Lawrence, according to Margaret Perkins-McGuinness who is the Volunteer Center Manager at Roger Hill. The city was unable to find a partnership last year so the program did not run, according Lisa Patterson, the communication manager for the city of Lawrence.
Patterson said that the program would promote safe walkways for pedestrians. She said that the program created 28-36 matches in 2005. The partners created this program with another goal in mind.
“There was a time when everyone knew their neighbors and lived in a neighborhood long term,” Patterson said. “This program attempts to connect neighbors so that they can learn who needs help and perhaps offer it all year long.”
According to the Coulters, their neighborhood is one that is stable because the people have lived there for years, with the exception of a few house rentals. The Coulters, married for 55 years, have lived at their residence for 36 years.
Kelly Jones, University of Kansas graduate student intern at Douglas County Senior Services, said that the company decided to become partners with the city on this program because people with the company felt it is an important project. Jones said volunteers could make a huge difference for seniors by clearing their sidewalks.
“If they fall, that could set them back in terms of independent living and health wise,” Jones said.
While the program only requires volunteers to clear only the sidewalks, Jones said that her clients told her that, a few of the volunteers have also shoveled their stairs and driveway. According to the program’s outline, applicants for volunteering and receiving the services sign a waiver that releases liability from both partners. Because of this, volunteers are clearing the additional walkways of their own will, which is helpful for the seniors and disabled communities’ ability to leave their residence during the winter.
The Coulters enjoy driving around Lawrence to view the scenery but during the winter, driving is only possible when the snow is off the streets and their walkways. Because their neighborhood is stable and the neighbors know one another, sometimes the Coulters will wake up and the walkways are clear of the snow and ice, Shirley said.
“It’s like a good fairy comes sometimes, and we think it’s our neighbor,” Shirley said.

John Kuhn, Jamestown senior, grew up with his six siblings on the outskirts of Courtland, Kan. The approximate population of Courtland is 350. His father, Daniel, is a truck farmer. His mother, Carla Moore, teaches journalism at Salina Central high school. However, she stayed at home with John and his siblings when they were younger.
His siblings: Mary, 28, Clare, 26, Bernadette, 25, and Catherine, 23, have gone through college and Peter, 18, is now a freshman. Margaret, his youngest sister, is 12 years old. Throughout his childhood, he worked daily on the farm and is his motivation for the work he does academically, Kuhn said.
“Growing up on a farm was kind of strange. We didn’t have television as children and that, combined with not living in a town, made us a little weird,” Kuhn said. “Although, I hope, we’ve socialized a little more since then.”
The culture and population size of Lawrence are almost normal to Kuhn now. However, it took awhile to get used to being surrounded by the wealth and social statuses, he said.
“The thing I miss the most about home is the silence at night, it’s very different from the noise of the college ghetto,” Kuhn said.
His work academically, has earned him nominations for the prestigious Rhodes and Marshall scholarships. The Rhodes foundation gives 32 scholarships for Oxford University annually and Kuhn is now a finalist for this scholarship. The Marshall Commission gives 40 scholarships annually for any British university.
Three KU students are competing for both scholarships, including Kuhn. The two students he is competing with are both seniors from Leawood, Nicholas Barnthouse and Daniel Patrick Hogan. The two KU students competing for the Marshall scholarship are Cristina Fernandez, Washington, D.C., senior, and Katherine Sullivan who is a spring 2005 graduate from Lenexa.
Three of his teachers in the department of English wrote letters of recommendation for his scholarship nominations. Mary Klayder is a university honors lecturer in the English department. Klayder taught him in her English 105 class in 2004, and again the following semester. Since the classes, she has been his advisor and mentor, Kuhn said.
Professor David Bergeron taught Kuhn in a Shakespeare class; the class created an interest for Kuhn to change his major from biochemistry to English, Klayder said. Professor James Hartman’s graduate seminar on modern English grammar created a further interest for Kuhn in English and more specifically, the study of language.
“John is a passionate student, a voracious reader and thinker who questions his subjects deeply. I think that (his) energy and clear intelligence make him a great candidate for these scholarships,” Klayder said.
Bergeron said Kuhn has a sense of humor, intelligence, and writing style that made him an exceptional student in his class. Kuhn has a rare level of thinking that gives him the ability to learn details and theories both quickly and accurately which allows him to come up with productive questions, Hartman said.
“He has a restless intellectual curiosity, asking probing questions about the material and about our ideas,” Bergeron said.
Kuhn’s graduate project, when he begins graduate studies, includes researching different dialects and how they interact with the classes of society, and will begin with Kuhn researching the dialect of the 17th century. The way that people talk is the only form of discrimination that does not have legal protection, Kuhn said. There are laws preventing discrimination against things such as gender and race, but not against stereotypes that people have on the way people talk. Kuhn’s energy and mind for his project is contagious, Klayder said.
If Kuhn does not win either of the scholarships, he will apply for other graduate schools instead of being discouraged. The nominations are an honor and he was surprised when he found out, he said.
“I don’t think I’m going to get the scholarship(s) because it’s so competitive,” Kuhn said.
The Rhodes Foundation will announce scholarship winners on November 17.

Evondi Weston, 8, starts her bedtime routine at 8:30 p.m. She showers, gets her pajamas on, and brushes her teeth. Her mom and dad, Julie and Alex, tuck her in for the night. When Evondi gets up in the morning, she goes through her morning routine of getting dressed, brushing her hair, and brushing her teeth.
The Weston’s are one family of Douglas County residents who have health and dental insurance. Because of this, Evondi is able to visit the dentist on a regular basis of at least twice a year.
“I think it (going to the dentist) is pretty fun,” Evondi Weston said.
The children of families who do not have health insurance are not always as lucky as Evondi. By third grade, more than 50 percent of children experience tooth decay according to a Kansas Office of Oral Health report from 2004.

Source:United States, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Starting this fall, DCDC signed agreements with the Lawrence school district to provide mobile dental care to some of the local elementary schools. Julie Branstrom, executive director of the Douglas County Dental Clinic (DCDC), wants the clinic to reach and provide care for the children who are unable to see a dentist on a regular basis.
Branstrom said the focus of the program now is on the local elementary schools that have the highest percentages of low-income families. So far this fall, the clinic provided services for students at several elementary schools: Prairie Park, Kennedy, and Hillcrest. Schwegler Elementary is in the program and the clinic will visit on December 4 and 6 to provide services to the students who qualify. Families that qualify for Medicaid, Healthwave, or the district’s free/reduced lunch program are eligible for the DCDC’s services.
The hygienist that holds the Extended Care Permit (ECP) is Ginny Clark and the ECP allows her to perform screenings, cleanings, fluoride applications, and sealants to qualifying students at the schools without dental supervision. She also teaches the students personal oral hygiene. Branstrom said the reduced-cost for a cleaning plus fluoride is $47 and the cost for sealants is approximately $20 per tooth. Clark will not seal a tooth that has obvious decay and the student should see a dentist at the clinic.
The DCDC bought the mobility equipment with a grant provided by the Delta Dental of Kansas Foundation, Branstrom said. She did not reveal the amount of the grant. Branstrom hopes to provide, eventually, mobile dentistry to all local elementary, junior high, and high schools because oral health is important to a person’s overall health.
“Pain and infection hamper a student’s ability to learn, socialize, and respond enthusiastically to new ideas and information,” Branstrom said. “In short, when oral disease goes undetected and/or untreated, the student’s ability to learn is curtailed.”
Angie Koenig, the R.N. for both Schwegler and Langston Hughes elementary schools, is in charge of scheduling appointments for Schwegler’s students to receive dental care during school hours. Koenig said the clinic would spend approximately 20 minutes per student, and with her scheduling the times the students will not miss too much time in class. She says oral care is important and needs to start before the student begins school, and a child’s learning suffers when oral hygiene is unavailable.
“When a child has a toothache, their mind is with the tooth and with the pain. They can’t concentrate in class,” Koenig said.
Branstrom, Koenig, and Julie Weston said the mobility program is a good idea because it allows accessibility for the students to receive the preventive oral care treatments. Lawrence families now have the ability to have their children seen by a dentist when before they may not have had that option. Julie Weston said that not everyone is at a place in his or her life to either afford health insurance or lack the time and transportation needed to receive the care they need.
“The populations of kids that I teach often don’t get to the dentist or the doctor. Bringing the dentist or the doctor to them is a great idea,” Julie Weston said.

Members of the Lawrence School Board approved changes to curriculum for next year at the junior high and high schools. A few of these changes include two new courses, P.E. Plus and Health 9 and an Intro to Work and Family course that replaces the Family and Consumer Science course.

The P.E. Plus is a year- long elective course for eighth and ninth graders. The proposal for the curriculum changes states one-third of America’s youth are at risk for obesity and recent studies show a correlation between academic success and physical fitness. Julie Miller, physical education teacher at West Junior High, said that the junior high age is when kids stop being as active and this course gives them an option for staying physically active throughout the school year.

Source: http://www.nap.edu

“For a lot of kids today, the only exercise they get each day is in their physical education class,” Miller said. “While it's important to get them moving and increase their level of physical fitness, it's equally important to make exercise fun and enjoyable so it's something the student will want to continue after they leave our class.”

Source: National Association for Sport and Physical Education & American Heart Association. (2006). 2006 Shape of the nation report: Status of physical education in the USA. Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

Anne Hawks, Lawrence public schools science, health and p.e. specialist, said junior high students must take one semester of physical education each year, but the school’s concern with the rising percentage of students at risk for obesity caused the school to rethink its physical education programs. The pre-requisite for the P.E. Plus course is students must make a grade of a C or higher in their previous p.e. course.

Ann Bruemmer, Lawrence public schools division director of curriculum, said students need additional physical fitness opportunities.

“We know that healthy living is critical today and offering more opportunities to be physically active is a plus,” Bruemmer said.

Hawks said eighth grade students must fulfill a health requirement. The curriculum changes will require students Intro to Work and Family in eighth grade. The Health 9 course is an elective and if ninth grade students take the course it will fill the physical education credit students need in high school, Hawks said. Fulfilling the physical education credit in the ninth grade will free up scheduling in high school, which allows students to take other elective courses, Hawks said. The Intro to Work and Family course teaches the introductory material that is in the Health 9 course, Hawks said.

Patrick Kelly, Lawrence public schools career and technical education specialist, helped create the curriculum for the Intro to Work and Family course. The course will teach students how to develop a life plan for achieving individual, family and career goals and ways to make ethical decisions, Kelly said.

“The curriculum focuses on wellness goals and decision making,” Kelly said.

Bruemmer, Hawks and Kelly based the curriculum changes proposal on the Kansas Model Curricular Standards for Health Education. According to the model, by the end of eighth grade students should understand the basic concepts of health promotion and disease prevention. Some standards include nutrition, personal health, mental and emotional health, family life and sexuality.