Recently by Ross Stewart

Wherever one goes this season there is bound to be bells ringing.  And it's not tinnitus, a ringing of the ears. It's Salvation Army bell-ringers.

But where does the money go from the red kettles?

83 cents out of every dollar goes directly towards programming.

"Sometimes I think people just think that when they give money to us it goes into this big pot," Aaron Smith, Salvation Army community relations director said. "And it doesn't. We use exactly what we get."

All of the funding for Salvation Army services comes from Lawrence and Douglas County. Though they do send out 10 percent of their earnings to the Kansas City division for support with training and insurance. 

The Salvation Army offers numerous programs including emergency assistance, lunches and shelter. They've been active in Lawrence for 120 years, and have changed with the needs of community.

"We've seen great depressions, wars, you know all of this stuff that is a big concern right now," Smith said.  "But we know how to adapt. If it's having a temporary shelter, if it's starting up a food program: wherever we see that need we work hard to fill that gap."

Lawrence has been affected by a shortage of volunteers, though the Salvation Army estimates they have 175 volunteers that cover multiple slots.

"There are 20 locations but we've never filled every slot. If we did it with separate volunteers that'd take 3,700 volunteers," Smith said.

With its ability to adapt to the needs of the community it monitors what other organizations in Lawrence are doing in order make the most services possible. If another group is focusing more on a program that the Salvation Army has done in the past they may very well direct those in need there.

"We work close with other organizations in town. We work hard to not duplicate services," Smith Said. "We all want to help people. I suppose some people could see it as a competition kind of thing but really it's not about that."

The Salvation Army has applied for a Home and Urban Development (HUD) grant that would allow them to change its strategy in coming years.

"I think all agencies have to get to the point where they specialize in something," Captain Wesley Dalberg, Salvation Army corps officer said. "Rather than trying the shotgun approach where we try to hit everything, we try to be everything to everybody. I don't think any agency can do that."

The plan is called five areas over five years. It includes a transitional housing program, a community food bank, youth and children programming, a focused emergency assistance program and a recovery and reintegration program for those who were in jail or prison.

If the HUD grant is approved the Lawrence Salvation Army plans on closing its shelter that started 20 years ago. The Lawrence community shelter would become the shelter in Lawrence, which will allow the Salvation Army to change for the community's needs.

"We want to make good decisions because they don't just affect us. They affect the people we serve," Dalberg said.

Video games are not given the prestige of sports, or the intellectual respect of games like chess.

But professional gamers make thousands of dollars when they win.

"If anyone thinks gaming doesn't do anything for people I guess they're wrong. It's done a lot for me. I've talked to a lot of little kids who look up to me and ask me how to get past that parent barrier. A lot of parents are like why are you playing games so much?" Leland Jones III, captain of team mobdeep, said.

Jones plays video games professionally. He's one of the top players in the country of Halo 3, a first person-shooter on Microsoft's Xbox 360. His team consists of four players he has selected himself. In tournaments teams battle 15 minutes for the highest kill count.

Jones's team, mobdeep, won the right to represent U.S.A. in Halo 3 at the 2008 World Cyber Games, which meant a free trip in Cologne, Germany. Mobdeep came in third at the tournament after Canada, first place, and France, second.

All four members of mobdeep received $2500, free video games, a medal and a certificate for coming in third. Even with the possibility of winning a huge cash prize the life of a professional gamer is not as simple as one would imagine. Jones quit his job at Pepsi when it would not allow him to take leave in order to compete in Germany.

"I was pretty upset with him because he let the job go to game. But also last year when he quit gaming I was giving him a hard time about that because so many more sponsors had come on this year. So it's kind of a back and forth. We're back and forth with it," said Angela Meyer, Jones's mother.

Being dedicated to your game at the WCG is necessary when there are 80 countries competing in 14 different games. A friendly and open upbringing in Johnson County could have something to do with Jones's success.

"I know his family used to give us a hard time, give me a hard time, about letting him play so much. I didn't have a problem with it because he always did his homework and he was always good in school," Meyer said. "He was pretty spoiled. We weren't rich by any means but he got to play a lot of video games and spend a lot of time doing that."

Professional gaming was exactly what Jones wanted to do. His brother was a star athlete when he was younger, and though Jones played sports he was never on the winning team. He wanted to find something that he could excel at as well.

"I was like you know what I've never been on that stage where everyone is looking up to you. I thought maybe gaming would bring me that enjoyment that I didn't have as a kid." Jones said.

Jones found after his first professional match playing Halo 2 that he could handle the competition. Then he made the choice to game professionally.

"Everyone in life wants to be on a pedestal and me going to my first event and playing against the best players in the world I saw how I stacked up against them and I was like man I can do this. I can be as good as these guys. That's the reason I started. I wanted to be the best. That was my chance," Jones said.

A bigger difference exists between playing video games as a hobby and playing them professionally than just cash prizes. Jones's family did not think that his choice to play games was the best after it went from a hobby to a profession.

"Everyone used to despise me for it. But my immediate family, my mom and my dad, used to think it was stupid, but then when I started making thousands of dollars and traveling for free they were like 'yeah I guess this is kind of cool,'" Jones said.

Even after a loss mobdeep is still confident in their abilities as a team. One would not think it, but communication is a big factor in how well professional gaming teams rank.

"That's what separates the really good teams from the mediocre teams. The really good teams can communicate with each other so that they're all on the same page," Jones said. "If you get that down there's really no stopping you."

Ian Schult, a mobdeep teammate, credits Jones on the team's communication skills. He credits Jones for pushing that sort of focus on the team. The way that Jones approaches playing is far from lackadaisical. He's studied how teams play.

"It's kind of like chess. You really have to know what the other team is thinking," Jones said.

The life of a gamer does not always mean playing video games all day long. Mobdeep practiced nightly for two to three hours via X-box's Internet based program called Live. The rest of the day for a professional gamer leaves itself to hobbies or free time.

"Most competitive players don't just sit at home and play, play, play, play, most of them actually go out and play sports," Schult said.

After returning from Germany Jones has had several calls about potential jobs spanning from running a gaming competition to training gamers on a new Sci-fi channel reality show. Jones's family is happy for him and his opportunities.

"I didn't tell my kids what to be. I wanted them to do what they wanted to do," said Meyer. "And I'm very proud of him."

Shawnee and Douglas Counties are trying to prevent the problems of the 2000 and 2004 elections from occurring again by redesigning their ballots with Design for Democracy, a branch of AIGA, the professional association of design.

The small changes on the ballots could keep the confusion that happened in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 from happening again.

The changes implemented are a result of findings by Design for Democracy. They took basic elements of design and applied them to voting. The hope is to make voting an easier and more comprehendible process. The changes should also help with several problems including residual vote loss.

Design for Democracy started as a project of Marcia Lausen's, University of Chicago Professor of Design, and her students. It was eventually picked up and endorsed by AIGA.

"I think what's kind of cool about it is that it came out of a professor and some students saying how can we take what we're studying and apply it to this other thing and make a difference," said Jamie Shew, Douglas County Clerk.

Though the changes from Design for Democracy could be considered small, they add up to a different looking ballot.

"In some ways it's simple. It's a changing things, you're changing your fonts and headings--that type of thing," said Shew.

However, the change in styles does not change anything else about the voting experience.

"Nothing changes about how you vote. You still use the ovals and that type of thing, which is what we do here in Douglas County. All it does change is the font style, what things are bolded, it uses a lot of principles of design like left justify," said Shew. "We used to center everything but research shows that people read left justify a lot easier. It uses shadings to highlight offices vs. candidates. It uses Icons."

These new designs boil down to helping the voter, which is the goal of Design for Democracy.

"A big thing for me is how do we make elections very usable, and user friendly," said Shew.
Shew is not the only county clerk or election commissioner in Kansas who's embracing this new design.

"I was really thrilled that we were able to get some real information that could make a difference for people," said Elizabeth Ensley, Shawnee County Election Commissioner.

The process of changing the ballot was time consuming but those involved believe they'll make a difference for voters. Design for Democracy didn't charge for discussions with Shew or Ensley on the ballots, only for the book that came out of the studies.

 "Just this year I've been in contact with two of their graphic artists. In fact we would meet every month or so over the telephone," said Ensley. "We would email them some of the work that we had done and they would respond to that and make additional suggestions. We didn't always agree on everything but we certainly did on the overall layout, the way it's left justified. It's a san serif style. All that was terribly helpful."

Design for Democracy wants to work together with county clerks and election commissioners because it feels that a dialogue is needed in order to attain the best results.

"Design does not happen in a void. Design is a process of trade-offs," said Jennifer Freidman Hewitt, managing director of design for democracy.

It wasn't as if county clerks or election commissioners hadn't been attempting to design the ballots in a user-friendly way--it just isn't their field of training.

"We always had tried but that's without being given any information, just guessing and trying to make distinctions trying to make it clear. We always did try to make it clear but this is just so much better," said Ensley.

In Shawnee County the changes had proved successful in trial runs even though county officials were hesitant at first in how the changes would go over.

"When you've been producing something like this for years, I've been here 16 years, so over a decade, making something look like that: it's so hard to change the way you look at it. So we tried it in the one election and got to thinking that it did look a lot easier to read," said Ensley.

The changes can also be seen as a way of retaining voters and getting them to complete the entire ballot without any confusion on when it's completed.

"People don't always read all the information but at a glance they should be able to tell what it is they are asked to make a decision on," said Ensley.

When in a rush people may misread a ballot or not finish filling it out, this is something else that Design for Democracy tries to change.

"One of the major things in election research that they look at is residual vote. Which is, a person walks in and they vote for president and they move down the line then they drop off somewhere. So do they still vote for county clerk while they vote for president? Or do we lose them. And if we lose them is there something in the system that caused that to happen. Is something impeding their vote?" said Shew.

The changes are being tested in this area, and the reaction is looking positive.

"The interesting thing that comes out of a lot of the research is that counties that have implemented or redesigned their ballot that's easier to use have less fall off on the residual vote," said Shew. "There's a theory, and you know this is all really new so it will take some time to go through it, but the theory is that it's easier to read it's easier to use so people continue to vote the ballot."

Both the commissioners commented on a pleasant experience redesigning the ballot and with the overall focus of AIGA and Design for Democracy.

"They want to be able to get the information out and get people to be able to use it," said
Ensley.

The changes are not glaring but they add up to a cleaner more efficient ballot and those who have made the changes are happy with their work.

"We've had a close relationship with them and it's been very helpful, very much a success," said Ensley. "We're rather proud of our ballot."

Heath is in the barn again mixing up the medicine. The sun's steadily setting: he's got the Bunsens burning.

He goes and adjusts the levels and releases a steady stream of wort.

In the backyard of a normal looking home just east of downtown Lawrence something is brewing--beer.

The craft beer industry has grown 12% the first half of 2008 and grew the same percentage the year prior, from 2006 to 2007, according to the Brewers Association. The increase from 2006 to 2007 was just short of one million barrels of beer--jumping from just over seven million barrels to a little over eight million.

"Since 2004, dollar sales by craft brewers have increased 58 percent," Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association, said in a Brewers Association press release. "The strength of this correlates with the American trend of buying local products and a preference for more flavorful foods and beers."

Barnyard Brewing, operated by Mike Hummell and Heath Hoadley, started late July as a home brewing project planning to go full-blown microbrewery. A microbrewery makes less then 15,000 barrels a year, and can legally sell the beer it produces, something a home brewer cannot legally do. Hoadley, an experienced brewmaster, brews 47-gallon batches of beer in a barn in the backyard of Mike's home. The two are looking for investors.

"I think we're making something that will be known nation wide in 10 years. I really believe that," Hummell said.

Many microbreweries are known for their often-zany beer flavors but Barnyard doesn't want to start out that way.

"It isn't about what we like. It's about making sure that we have an accessible product," Hummell said. "If it was about that we'd be on our third batch of IPA," Hoadley said.

Their plan involves making a golden ale, a wheat beer, and an Irish red. From there they're planning to expand to other varieties of beers.

"Any microbrewery can offer any amount of beers. Our plan is to have the first three be very accessible beers that won't shock or scare people away. Three beers that are good high quality beers and then we can hit them over the head with some heavy-duty beers," Hummell said.

But the road to starting this microbrewery has not been the easiest.

"The SBA will not give us their stamp of approval because we're going to sell alcohol," Hummell said.

SBA, or Small Business Administration, places its stamp of approval on business plans. Banks then look upon the plan more favorably when it is used to try to attain a loan. The SBA gives business plans credibility.

"To do the full blown brewery, microbrewery and bottling operation for Barnyard beer we're looking for $300,000," Hummell said.

Even without the SBA or a significant bank loan the two continue on experimenting with flavors and batches.

"I like to work backwards. Get the flavor in my head. This is what I want. Well, how would I get this flavor?" Hoadley said. "I've done it three different times now with three different recipes."

With all the experimenting in the backyard some neighbors showed concern.

"Sometimes I'd be out here 1:30 in the morning; burners would be on; I'd be clanking around," Hoadley said. "They see the barrels and the burners and think you're cooking meth."

It's a reasonable assumption. With huge gleaming stainless steel barrels, a set gigantic Bunsen burners, a huge walk in freezer and the repugnant smell of old yeast coming out of the red barn it could be easy to confuse what was going on with the drug trade. Hummell eventually spoke to all his neighbors and eased their worries.

"I can see where over the course of a couple of weeks they had seen things happening out here where they could think something weird was going on," Hummell said. "It's not a still. We're not going to blow up the neighborhood. It soaks grain and boils."

Hoadley studied to become a brewmaster at several places including the Sieble Institute of Technology in Chicago and Doemens Academy in Munich.            

 "I love working with my hands. Crafting something sharing something that puts smiles on the faces of others," Hoadley said. "There's nothing better than handing somebody a beer and having their eyes light up a little after they're tasting it saying 'woo damn'."