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           To help those in need, the University is urging students and staff to donate unused and old items to a good cause. This year the University continues to promote the reuse of many items, including donated items, old office equipment, and unclaimed bikes and items left in the dormitories and on campus.

            As students begin moving out, they may be tempted to throw any unwanted items in the trash, but through the efforts of the Department of Student Housing and the Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP), there are more possibilities for students to donate these unwanted items. Throughout the residential dormitories and scholarship halls, the Department of Student Housing provides drop-off locations for these donations, including larger items such as bookshelves, appliances, carpets, and furniture. In addition, the ESP in conjunction with the Planet Aid organization provide yellow donation boxes around campus for people to donate clothing and shoes to a good cause. The donations received from these boxes are resold to support programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The items that are donated willingly through the residential dormitories are then donated to local nonprofit organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club, the Habitat for Humanity Restore and school districts, along with many others.

            If any items are left unclaimed in the residential dormitories, the Department of Student House staff decides if those items can be donated or trashed, said Kip Grosshans, associate director for administration of the Department of Student Housing.

            Any unclaimed bicycles left near residential dormitories or scholarship halls are dealt with in a more detailed way. Because students are urged to register their bicycles at the beginning of the year, it is easier to find the owner by locating the serial number. If the owner cannot be located or the bicycle is not registered, the Department of Student Housing will contact KU Public Safety, who will record the serial number and store the bicycle for up to 90 days. If the bicycle is not claimed by then, KU Public Safety will call the Lawrence Public Works Department, who will contact the Lansing Correctional Facility. There they will recondition and refurbish the bicycles, and send them back to the University. The University will then distribute these bicycles free-of- charge to children in the Stouffer Place neighborhood.

            "This has been a positive program -- particularly since there's 'no purchase required' for the unclaimed bicycles, and since local public safety staff have been able to provide free helmets along with the bicycles," Grosshans said.

            Captain Schuyler Bailey said unclaimed bicycles removed from campus buildings by KU Facilities Operations are held by a local tow service and then sold. He also said the unclaimed property that is turned into them at KU Public Safety is not only from the residential dormitories, but also unclaimed items turned into lost and found locations on campus. These items are kept for 90 days as well, and then donated to local nonprofit organizations.

            The lost and found locations are helpful to students. "I found an iPod mini and turned it into the Underground's lost and found," said Lucas Lux, Topeka senior.

            One last effort to reuse and donate items is that of the Surplus Property Recycling Program. If University departments wish to obtain new furniture or office equipment, they can request their old items to be picked up by ESP to be added to the current surplus inventory. A photograph of the item is placed on the surplus's website at http://www.recycle.ku.edu/surplus.shtml. Then, other departments within the University can buy these items at the Surplus Property Warehouse on West Campus.

            The Surplus will accept furniture and office equipment, including bookcases, filling cabinets, chairs, desks, tables, sofas, binders and ink cartridges, along with many other items. The Surplus then sells the items back to the departments and nonprofits at a discounted price.

For example, according the website, an AV cart can be sold for $24, ink cartridges can be sold for $1, and white boards can be sold for $1 per square foot (http://www.recycle.ku.edu/surplus.shtml).

            "Those prices are based on condition, how many of these [items] we would have in stock . . . the original price of the item," said Celeste Hoins, administrative manager of the Environmental Stewardship Program.

            If an item is not brought within two weeks by other campus departments, the item will then be available to local nonprofit organizations for redistribution. Hoins said the Surplus is not open to the public because of University policies. The University is not allowed to sell items to the public. One way the public can obtain surplus items is by buying them from the nonprofit organizations.

            As the school year comes to a close, University officials hope for more reuse and donate more old and unclaimed items.

            "One of our core missions is to reduce waste on campus through source reduction," Hoins said.

            Driving past a cow pasture in rural Lawrence, he noticed something lying in a ditch. He stopped to investigate it and discovered it was the murder weapon of a Granada killing four years ago. The criminal killed one person and injured another, and Dan Affalter, recently retired Lawrence police capt. of investigations, was at the center of the discovery.

However, the life of crime scenes and murder weapons was not as glamorous as it seemed. It involved many late nights, weekend hours and being on-call 24/7. Most importantly, it detracted from time with his family.

            "Time away from family was always difficult. I've been called out on birthdays and Thanksgiving dinners, and Christmas holidays. You can't count the number of times that I was not able to be at home," Affalter said.

            Affalter's interest in others' safety began when he was a young child. As a young boy scout, Affalter wanted to be a park ranger growing up. During his adolescent years, he worked as a janitor for the University of Kansas's Athletics Department. Before his involvement in the police department, he took numerous criminal classes through a community college in Wichita at KU.

            In March 1976, Affalter entered the police force as a patrol officer. Only two years later, he discovered his interest in detective work, and entered the Department of Investigations. He stayed there until his retirement in 2008.

            "The actual investigations and the work in the cases were always my favorite part of the job, being involved in the 'who-done-it' . . . and bringing that individual to justice was very rewarding," Affalter said.

            Because most of Affalter's career was spent as a detective, it detracted from family time.

            "When I first married him, he worked from 4 in the afternoon till 2 in the morning, so pretty much when the kids were little, I was raising them without him," Diannia, Dan's wife, said.

            The long hours and 24/7 on-call requirement did not end there though. It lasted his entire career as Dan moved into various positions in the Investigations Department. He worked in the narcotics unit, as a sergeant in Investigations, and as a lieutenant in Investigations, which was later reclassified as captain in 2004.

            As Capt. of Investigations, Affalter supervised crime scenes such as murders, stabbings, gangs, robberies, rapes, crimes against the elderly and natural deaths.

            "People die every day, and you have to figure out how they died--the cause and manner of death," Affalter said. 

            Capt. Tarik Khatib, a former coworker of his, enjoyed working under Affalter from 2002-2008 in the Investigations Department. Khatib recalled his first case in which Affalter stepped out of his comfort zone. It was a double homicide case in 2002, and Affalter backed away and allowed Khatib to manage the case for the first time.

            "He was the kind of supervisor that would let you explore your abilities. He wouldn't micro-manage you. But at the same time, you knew he was always going to be there to step in if it looked like you were going to trip," Khatib said.

            Affalter's hard work resulted in many awards throughout and after his career with the Police Department. In recent years he received the Meritorious Service Award and the Star of Excellence Award, both for his overall performance in the Police Department. His hard work resulted in solving 100 percent of his cases.

            In addition to his hard work with the Police Department, Affalter was an avid volunteer in the community. He was a scout master for his son Danny's Boy Scout troop, the regional coordinator for the Hunter Education Program, which teaches safe hunting procedures to first time hunters, and volunteered on the board of directors for Shelter Inc., a company that provides programs to children.

            Affalter retired from the Police Department in December 2008. His retirement now allows him more family time. With more free time, Affalter said he hopes to spend more time hunting, fishing, riding his motorcycle and time with his family.

            "When I'm here, I try to take him hunting, fishing, [and] take him outdoors as much as possible," Danny, Dan's son, said.

Despite all the hard work and lost family time, Khatib, Diannia and Danny all agreed he seemed happy with his job.

"He lived for police work . . . He dedicated absolutely his whole adult life to police work," Khatib said.

            For Lawrence resident Sarah Landry and neighbors, the injury of a teenage boy was more than enough an indication that the city's infrastructure needed to be addressed. Landry and other North Lawrence residents expressed concern before the 2006 incident involving a bump near the Massachusetts Street bridge happened, but no one did anything about it until afterwards.

            Landry is one of the nearly 29,000 Lawrence residents who supported ballot question No. 1 in the November 2008 election to increase the city's sales tax. A portion of the increased sales tax will affect the City of Lawrence and its citizens by providing the city with improved and maintained roads and infrastructure. Lawrence residents approved three sales tax increases equaling a 0.55 percent increase. Effective April 1, 2009, the sales tax in Lawrence will be 7.85 percent until it expires in 10 years.

           David Corliss, Lawrence City Manager said the increased sales tax for street maintenance is what the Lawrence residents wanted improvement on. He said in the 2007 Citizen Survey, street maintenance ranked the highest in the city service that should receive the most emphasis.

            Although the tax increase will cost more for the people of Lawrence, the impression received by visitors will improve. Landry said from her experience, the potholes give a bad impression to visitors of Lawrence. In addition, Lawrence will be a safer place to drive. Accidents like the one in Landry's neighborhood could be prevented.

            Not only will the sales tax increase affect Lawrence residents, but it will also affect those receiving the tax increase money. The city's Public Works Department will receive 30 percent of the generated revenue, and will then be able to improve the city's roads and infrastructure.

           Mark Thiel, Assistant Public Works Director in Lawrence, said the department is expecting a $300,000 profit from the increased sales tax. With the projected money in sight, the department has already planned out where the money will be going. During the remainder of the 2009 year, repairs will begin in late May or early June on 19^th Street, and repairs on Kasold Drive will begin in 2010.

            The department will also use the generated money for street maintenance, which among others includes crack sealing, micro-surfacing and gutter repairs. Thiel said $4.3 million will be allocated for that part of the budget. 

            Another way the city will be affected by the sales tax increase is by their relationship with the public. Thiel said the approved tax increase proves that there is an overall trust from the public that the city will use the money well.

            When asked about the sales tax increase, Thiel said "it means we're doing a good job and have done a good job in the past."

           Landry said the city needs to repair and maintain not only main roads, but smaller roads as well. She also said she believes the city would pay more for the street's repairs in the end, if the issue is not addressed.

           "The need [for road improvements] exceeds the burden it would place in my pocketbook," Landry said.