Allen County Community College’s production of “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” by Alan Ball is a laugh-out-loud romp through the lives of five bridesmaids all relating their lack of luck in the world of love.
The bride, who is never seen, is supposed to be the golden girl among them. Her younger sister Meredith, played by Nachele Gonsalez, has always walked in her sister’s shadow.
Indeed, the stage set — Meredith’s bedroom — was her sister’s not so very long ago.
Aside from a single wall with a few incongruous posters, the room is perfectly peach. It could be any girl’s room from ages 13 to 30.
The only one who hates it is Meredith, who flaunts her leather jacket, hard rock music and edgy posters as a pennant of difference.
IT IS INTO this scene, in which a flock of flamingos could go unnoticed, that walk the five disgruntled bridesmaids.
Dressed in southern country frilly peach frocks with outlandish straw hats on their heads, the women all seek out the bedroom as a refuge from the party going on downstairs.
First in is Savannah Haner as shy Frances, who speaks, like the Muppet Grover, without contractions.
“I do not smoke cigarettes,” she tells Meredith, who offers one. “I am a Christian.”
Third up is Trisha, the brassy “loose woman” of the group played with aplomb by Lindsey Jarvis.
“I looked out during the ceremony and I think half the men there I must have slept with,” she tells her friends. Trisha has never been ashamed of her behavior, though she admits she has never known “love.”
The women gossip about the bride’s poor taste in hats, in dresses and in treatment of her husband.
While referencing a man, Tommy Valentine, that all of them — save virginal Frances — have shared, his greatest casualty walks in.
Georgeanne, in her mid-thirties and with a failing marriage, walks in sotted and sobbing.
“I was walking down the aisle and the first thing I saw was the back of his head. Those two little points where his hair comes together on the back of his neck,” she weeps. She is a wreck, perfectly played by Desiree Mason.
Valentine was, Georgeanne says, “the best sex I ever had.” She sees him as a representation of her lost youth and beauty.
This is a woman, Trisha points out, not in love but obsessed. When Georgeanne retorts she is hurt, Trisha tells her, no, “You’re being really dramatic and self-indulgent.”
Enter into the mix Mindy. Paige Schauf plays the totally together lesbian sister of the groom.
While preceding whispers might lead one to believe Mindy will be a butch dyke, she is actually a product of charm school, which she loved.
“Those girls are better than drag queens,” she tells the shocked women. “Hell, they ARE drag queens!”
When asked why she ditched the reception, she replies, “Why would I go out there? It’s just the same old relatives who’ve been embarrassed by me my entire life.”
ACT II begins with the women musing on “how makeup is always named after food” while giving Frances a glam makeover so she can flirt with the bald bartender, whom she has taken a shine to.
“He offered me a drink, but I told him I do not drink. I am a Christian,” she conspiratorially tells the other girls.
Throughout we learn of the tangled lives of the characters, their influences on each other and the impact made on them all by Tommy Valentine.
The play, though labeled “for mature audiences” is not raunchy.
It is more a matter or content topic that made Director Terri Piazza add the designation.
“It’s like PG-13,” she said, noting her family had seen “Yes Man” recently and found its language much worse.
Granted, though, Piazza cut most of the “f-bombs and G-Ds” out of the play’s script, she said.
Their lack doesn’t harm the performance.
Indeed, the audience was bursting forth in laughter throughout the performance.
The dialogue is current, the story universal.
Who hasn’t been scorned by the one they love? Who hasn’t been afraid to love deeply?
That these women find a bond through their common experiences shows that even failed romance can have a redeeming side.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
ACCC raises $1M
Allen County Community College exceeded its goal of raising $1 million by another $419,209.61 when its five year “Million Dollar Gateway to Education Challenge Grant” campaign ended Sept. 30.
“I think that’s tremendous,” said Senator Derek Schmidt, keynote speaker at the ACCC Endowment Association luncheon Thursday.
He noted that Johnson County Community College had raised a similar amount of money — “but that’s to be expected in Johnson County,” he said. He praised Allen Countians for giving above and beyond expectations in a county with a small population and modest means.
“I might have a new idea for state budgets,” he quipped. “We’’ll just abolish the Department of Revenue and put you guys in charge,” he told assembled donors.
The Endowment Association also welcomed three new scholarships to its ranks.
Vicki and Gary Curry established the John Lugo Scholarship; the Herynk family, Joe, Jeff, Ann Donaldson and Angie Larson, established the Rollin and Rachel Herynk Family Scholarship; and Ginny Hawk founded the Eloise Maple Music Scholarship in honor of her mother, who played piano.
In all, 165 scholarships were awarded to deserving ACCC students. There are 170 named endowed scholarships at the college, said Director of Development Cindy Adams.
Adams noted the initial goal for the college had been just $350,000. The money was required to match a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education in 2004. At the time, ACCC was the only community college in state so awarded.
The DOE gave the college five years to match the funds. Instead, the endowment board decided to challenge themselves to raise even more, almost $700,000, to reach a $1 million goal.
By January of 2007, the community had raised the required match. By the end of the five year time frame, the $1 million mark was surpassed.
Unveiled at Thursday’s lunch was a plaque listing those who donated $500 or more to the campaign.
“During this campaign we’ve established 50 new endowed scholarships,” Adams said.
Adams noted the beauty of endowed scholarships is that only the interest portion of funds are spent, preserving the principal so that scholarships can be awarded in the future.
SCHMIDT spoke to the crowd of 250 about his own experience at Independence Community College.
“I am a community college product,” he said.
“Until 1986, ’87,” he said, “I didn’t think I needed college.” Schmidt said he planned to become a farmer once he finished high school.
“My mom suggested I expand my options,” he said, “but I told her I had it under control.”
Schmidt, who did not have a farming background, had inherited 80 acres from his grandfather, he said. He made a deal with his mother that he would farm — plus take classes at the local community college in Independence.
“I didn’t do very well at farming,” he said, “but I had a good year at ICC.
“It was a transformative experience,” he said, leading him on to further studies at the University of Kansas and to his current political career.
“What that year at community college gave me was the ability to see where I was heading, without giving up where I’d been.”
Schmidt told scholarship recipients that Kansas — and the world — no longer runs on “a cement mill economy” but has become “a brain economy,” where education is the key to success.
“I think that’s tremendous,” said Senator Derek Schmidt, keynote speaker at the ACCC Endowment Association luncheon Thursday.
He noted that Johnson County Community College had raised a similar amount of money — “but that’s to be expected in Johnson County,” he said. He praised Allen Countians for giving above and beyond expectations in a county with a small population and modest means.
“I might have a new idea for state budgets,” he quipped. “We’’ll just abolish the Department of Revenue and put you guys in charge,” he told assembled donors.
The Endowment Association also welcomed three new scholarships to its ranks.
Vicki and Gary Curry established the John Lugo Scholarship; the Herynk family, Joe, Jeff, Ann Donaldson and Angie Larson, established the Rollin and Rachel Herynk Family Scholarship; and Ginny Hawk founded the Eloise Maple Music Scholarship in honor of her mother, who played piano.
In all, 165 scholarships were awarded to deserving ACCC students. There are 170 named endowed scholarships at the college, said Director of Development Cindy Adams.
Adams noted the initial goal for the college had been just $350,000. The money was required to match a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education in 2004. At the time, ACCC was the only community college in state so awarded.
The DOE gave the college five years to match the funds. Instead, the endowment board decided to challenge themselves to raise even more, almost $700,000, to reach a $1 million goal.
By January of 2007, the community had raised the required match. By the end of the five year time frame, the $1 million mark was surpassed.
Unveiled at Thursday’s lunch was a plaque listing those who donated $500 or more to the campaign.
“During this campaign we’ve established 50 new endowed scholarships,” Adams said.
Adams noted the beauty of endowed scholarships is that only the interest portion of funds are spent, preserving the principal so that scholarships can be awarded in the future.
SCHMIDT spoke to the crowd of 250 about his own experience at Independence Community College.
“I am a community college product,” he said.
“Until 1986, ’87,” he said, “I didn’t think I needed college.” Schmidt said he planned to become a farmer once he finished high school.
“My mom suggested I expand my options,” he said, “but I told her I had it under control.”
Schmidt, who did not have a farming background, had inherited 80 acres from his grandfather, he said. He made a deal with his mother that he would farm — plus take classes at the local community college in Independence.
“I didn’t do very well at farming,” he said, “but I had a good year at ICC.
“It was a transformative experience,” he said, leading him on to further studies at the University of Kansas and to his current political career.
“What that year at community college gave me was the ability to see where I was heading, without giving up where I’d been.”
Schmidt told scholarship recipients that Kansas — and the world — no longer runs on “a cement mill economy” but has become “a brain economy,” where education is the key to success.
Dinner and drumming will benefit ACARF
When Tori Smith’s drumming circle teacher, Karen Jesseph, asked the group if they had any suggestions for performance venues, her thoughts immediately went to an upcoming benefit for Allen County Animal Rescue Facility.
Naturally so.
Smith is the daughter of Michelle Diebolt. Her granddad, Don Diebolt, has done much of the construction work on the new shelter. And Art Chapman, who works at the LaHarpe lumber yard, is head of the non profit board.
“I’m really excited about the animal shelter,” Smith said. “I’m thinking about it all the time.”
Her mom agreed.
“She’s really taken an initiative in it,” Diebolt said. “She’s the go-to person at Lincoln Elementary” for all things ACARF, Diebolt added.
The fifth grader said she plans to volunteer at the shelter once it opens.
“I’ll clean cages and put out food and interact with the animals,” Smith said.
She already does some of that with her various pets. Smith has a cat and two dogs at her mom’s home in LaHarpe, and a cat and a number of ducks at her dad’s in Iola, she said.
Smith’s concern for stray animals came from her family, Diebolt noted.
“My brother (Mike Diebolt) was big into it,” she said. When Mike Diebolt was killed six years ago in a plane crash, Smith inherited his love of animals, she said.
ONA CHAPMAN, head of the student ACARF group at Iola Middle School, credits Smith with involving the drumming circle in the April 9 fundraiser.
The group, plus the IMS Bucket Brigade, will perform at the pulled pork dinner at the LaHarpe VFW post.
The event is an effort to raise funds to purchase needed cages for the shelter. Large dog cages (which have separate areas to house two dogs) run $4,000. Josh Oberley of Modern Woodmen will match funds raised up to $2,500 to help purchase cages, Chapman said.
Proceeds form the dinner itself will go toward the shelter’s spay and neuter fund, so that animals can receive those necessary surgeries before they are adopted out.
In addition, a raffle of handmade quilts and a microwave will be conducted at the dinner.
Dinner tickets cost $5 and include a pulled pork sandwich, hot dog or chili dog, two sides and iced tea. Raffle tickets are extra.
Tickets are available at Jump Start, Classy Attic, Diebolt Lumber, or from Chapman at the middle school. They may also be purchased at the door the night of the event.
The dinner runs from 5 to 8 p.m.; the drumming circle performs form 5:30 to 6:30.
Naturally so.
Smith is the daughter of Michelle Diebolt. Her granddad, Don Diebolt, has done much of the construction work on the new shelter. And Art Chapman, who works at the LaHarpe lumber yard, is head of the non profit board.
“I’m really excited about the animal shelter,” Smith said. “I’m thinking about it all the time.”
Her mom agreed.
“She’s really taken an initiative in it,” Diebolt said. “She’s the go-to person at Lincoln Elementary” for all things ACARF, Diebolt added.
The fifth grader said she plans to volunteer at the shelter once it opens.
“I’ll clean cages and put out food and interact with the animals,” Smith said.
She already does some of that with her various pets. Smith has a cat and two dogs at her mom’s home in LaHarpe, and a cat and a number of ducks at her dad’s in Iola, she said.
Smith’s concern for stray animals came from her family, Diebolt noted.
“My brother (Mike Diebolt) was big into it,” she said. When Mike Diebolt was killed six years ago in a plane crash, Smith inherited his love of animals, she said.
ONA CHAPMAN, head of the student ACARF group at Iola Middle School, credits Smith with involving the drumming circle in the April 9 fundraiser.
The group, plus the IMS Bucket Brigade, will perform at the pulled pork dinner at the LaHarpe VFW post.
The event is an effort to raise funds to purchase needed cages for the shelter. Large dog cages (which have separate areas to house two dogs) run $4,000. Josh Oberley of Modern Woodmen will match funds raised up to $2,500 to help purchase cages, Chapman said.
Proceeds form the dinner itself will go toward the shelter’s spay and neuter fund, so that animals can receive those necessary surgeries before they are adopted out.
In addition, a raffle of handmade quilts and a microwave will be conducted at the dinner.
Dinner tickets cost $5 and include a pulled pork sandwich, hot dog or chili dog, two sides and iced tea. Raffle tickets are extra.
Tickets are available at Jump Start, Classy Attic, Diebolt Lumber, or from Chapman at the middle school. They may also be purchased at the door the night of the event.
The dinner runs from 5 to 8 p.m.; the drumming circle performs form 5:30 to 6:30.
Fundraiser successful
LAHARPE — Allen County Animal Rescue Facility took in $2,950 and fed close to 500 people during a fundraiser at the LaHarpe Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Friday night. Funds will go to the agency’s spay and neuter fund.
Josh Oberley of Modern Woodmen will match $2,500 of the proceeds to help purchase large animal cages.
Expenses were kept to a minimum with pulled pork and coleslaw donated by Iola’s Jump Start Travel Center, buns donated by Moon’s IGA in Humboldt and homemade desserts and sides brought by volunteers.
“At one point, we had people lined up down the street,” organizer Ona Chapman said.
The crowds kept flowing in, all the way through 7 p.m.
“We ran out of potato salad twice,” Chapman said. Buns, chili and “just about everything” were also gone or in short supply by night’s end.
Iola elementary schools’ Drumming Circle, middle school Bucket Brigade and Band entertained the packed Post throughout the evening.
At about 7, the crowds flowed across the street for shelter tours.
There, they were told the original plan of filling the space with “primo” two-sided Starlight kennels with a guillotine door between has been temporarily put on hold in favor of less-expenses box kennels available through Orscheln’s.
“We’re going to buy enough of these so we can open,” tour leader Jeanne Cloud told one group. “Orscheln’s has given us a wonderful deal,” she said.
The new kennels can be sponsored for $200 each. A plaque with a person or pet’s name will be permanently affixed to the kennels if so sponsored, Cloud said. A couple Starlight kennels already bore the name of the late Mike Diebolt, animal lover and ACARF supporter.
LOVE OF animals and understanding they are victims seemed to be the main motivation for people’s support of the new shelter.
“These animals add so much to our lives,” long-time ACARF supporter Ray Shannon said. “I think there’s an intense need,” to help them once abandoned, he said.
“It’s ridiculous how people dump dogs and cats,” agreed Gas resident Larry Robertson.
“We had one cat come last winter — it had been declawed.” Obviously, it was someone’s pet, Robertson said, but no longer wanted. Another of his cats “We got at the Iola Vet Clinic” Robertson said. it, too, had been dumped.
Erin Rhoads’ family also adopts foundling pets.
“My mom and dad have 80 acres outside of Neosho Falls,” she said. “Every one of their pets has been dumped — 15 years of pets. Right now, they’ve got a litter of kittens,” Rhoads said. The mother cat, ready to give birth, was dumped at their farm, she said. “They’ve had them all spayed and neutered,” Rhoads said of the kitten clutch.
Her parents’ Irish Setter cross was also an abandoned pet, she said. “It’s a beautiful dog.”
As a teenager, Rhoads used to work at Topeka’s Helping Hands Humane Society, she said.
“There’s a real need” for a local shelter, she said. “One of the big things when people are looking (to dispose of a pet) is where would we take them to be responsible?” she said. With no shelter, the side of the road is often chosen.
Rhoads doesn’t blame the animals. Pet-unfriendly rental policies often lead to dumping, she noted. “When people move they can’t keep their pets,” so they dump them, she said.
But the life of a stray isn’t healthy for anyone, she said.
“They can carry diseases; it’s not good for them.”
And she said, it’s not good for the community.
“There’s fifty thousand stray dogs in Neosho Falls” she said. “If you don’t have a place to put them, no one enforces catching them.”
THE ACARF shelter will open once enough kennels are purchased to line the walls, Cloud said.
“There is no one on the face of this earth more anxious to (see ACARF) open than this board,” she said.
Interviews for a shelter director will also begin soon, she said.
Josh Oberley of Modern Woodmen will match $2,500 of the proceeds to help purchase large animal cages.
Expenses were kept to a minimum with pulled pork and coleslaw donated by Iola’s Jump Start Travel Center, buns donated by Moon’s IGA in Humboldt and homemade desserts and sides brought by volunteers.
“At one point, we had people lined up down the street,” organizer Ona Chapman said.
The crowds kept flowing in, all the way through 7 p.m.
“We ran out of potato salad twice,” Chapman said. Buns, chili and “just about everything” were also gone or in short supply by night’s end.
Iola elementary schools’ Drumming Circle, middle school Bucket Brigade and Band entertained the packed Post throughout the evening.
At about 7, the crowds flowed across the street for shelter tours.
There, they were told the original plan of filling the space with “primo” two-sided Starlight kennels with a guillotine door between has been temporarily put on hold in favor of less-expenses box kennels available through Orscheln’s.
“We’re going to buy enough of these so we can open,” tour leader Jeanne Cloud told one group. “Orscheln’s has given us a wonderful deal,” she said.
The new kennels can be sponsored for $200 each. A plaque with a person or pet’s name will be permanently affixed to the kennels if so sponsored, Cloud said. A couple Starlight kennels already bore the name of the late Mike Diebolt, animal lover and ACARF supporter.
LOVE OF animals and understanding they are victims seemed to be the main motivation for people’s support of the new shelter.
“These animals add so much to our lives,” long-time ACARF supporter Ray Shannon said. “I think there’s an intense need,” to help them once abandoned, he said.
“It’s ridiculous how people dump dogs and cats,” agreed Gas resident Larry Robertson.
“We had one cat come last winter — it had been declawed.” Obviously, it was someone’s pet, Robertson said, but no longer wanted. Another of his cats “We got at the Iola Vet Clinic” Robertson said. it, too, had been dumped.
Erin Rhoads’ family also adopts foundling pets.
“My mom and dad have 80 acres outside of Neosho Falls,” she said. “Every one of their pets has been dumped — 15 years of pets. Right now, they’ve got a litter of kittens,” Rhoads said. The mother cat, ready to give birth, was dumped at their farm, she said. “They’ve had them all spayed and neutered,” Rhoads said of the kitten clutch.
Her parents’ Irish Setter cross was also an abandoned pet, she said. “It’s a beautiful dog.”
As a teenager, Rhoads used to work at Topeka’s Helping Hands Humane Society, she said.
“There’s a real need” for a local shelter, she said. “One of the big things when people are looking (to dispose of a pet) is where would we take them to be responsible?” she said. With no shelter, the side of the road is often chosen.
Rhoads doesn’t blame the animals. Pet-unfriendly rental policies often lead to dumping, she noted. “When people move they can’t keep their pets,” so they dump them, she said.
But the life of a stray isn’t healthy for anyone, she said.
“They can carry diseases; it’s not good for them.”
And she said, it’s not good for the community.
“There’s fifty thousand stray dogs in Neosho Falls” she said. “If you don’t have a place to put them, no one enforces catching them.”
THE ACARF shelter will open once enough kennels are purchased to line the walls, Cloud said.
“There is no one on the face of this earth more anxious to (see ACARF) open than this board,” she said.
Interviews for a shelter director will also begin soon, she said.
ACARF to open soon
LAHARPE — After years of fundraising and wishful thinking, Allen County soon will have a new animal shelter. The Allen County Animal Rescue Facility will open in LaHarpe, but not in February as originally thought.
“The city has told me it’s going to be the end of February before they can lay my sewer line and that’s the biggest hold up I’ve got,” ACARF director Art Chapman said. “The weather has a lot to do with it — it was holy terror to get the water lines laid in the last week,” he noted.
The delay has meant placing lost animals in private homes temporarily.
“A lot of ACARF members are fostering animals right now,” Chapman said.
One, Ray Shannon, had about seven brought to him recently. With an already full house, he’ll be taking them to the shelter in Topeka, he said.
“I wish we could get the shelter open immediately, but the weather has not been conducive,” Chapman lamented.
Despite the weather, progress continues.
Next week, carpet will be installed in the shelter’s office and conference room. Later, concrete floors will be etched and sealed.
Come March, Chapman said, the doors should be unlocked to the public.
“We may only be able to hold 20 dogs and 30 cats, but we’re going to open the shelter.”
ALTOGETHER, the ACARF shelter boasts 5,400 square feet. It’s divided into three main sections: intake and animal care; dogs; and cats.
The new building is state of the art, Chapman said, with fiberglass-paneled walls designed to withstand regular washing and disinfecting, extra-heavy insulation in both interior and exterior walls to dampen sound and boost efficiency and an in-ground hot-water heating system.
“We put heat in all the floors so that when the animals lay down they’ll be warm,” Chapman said.
“It’s a lot more energy efficient” than a standard heating system too, Chapman noted.
And, “eventually, we’ll have a shelter director.” For now, though, Chapman said, all the work will be done by volunteers.
Still needed are cages for the animals.
Each dog cage, which can hold two animals in two 4 foot by 5 foot pens, costs $4,400. Cat cages cost $350 apiece.
“If someone wants to purchase a cat cage they can have their name on it,” Chapman said.
“If someone wants to make a larger donation, say $10,000,” he continued, “they can put their name on a room. For $25,000 they can get their name on a larger room.”
“Larger rooms” include the main dog adoption room, which will hold 21 dog pens plus smaller puppy pens, a 30-dog stray intake room, where dogs will be kept until cleared for adoption, and a cat adoption room. Other rooms include cat and dog quarantine rooms, an exam room for taking blood samples and giving vaccinations, and cat and dog familiarization rooms, where potential adopters can spend time with animals in a cage-free setting.
Donations can be made in the name of a pet or a loved one, Chapman said. In addition, the non profit will take endowments, large donations where the facility uses interest while the principal donation continues to grow.
“If someone wants to leave an endowment to the shelter, they can specify where they want that money to go,” Chapman noted, such as only for medical care, or spaying/neutering, or for cats or dogs, he added.
They’ll also rent the conference room for birthday parties, Chapman said.
IF CHAPMAN’S suggestions seem like crass salesmanship, they’re not. The shelter needs another $150,000 to be completed. “It takes time to raise all the money,” he said.
To that end, a spring fundraiser is being planned with the help of Chapman’s wife, Ona, who works at Iola Middle School with ACARF’s junior members.
Last year, Iola Middle Schoolers sold lollipops and raised enough funds to pay for one side of a double dog pen.
This year, proceeds will go to the shelter’s spay and neuter fund, which will allow reduced price coupons for the procedures to be given out with each adopted animal, Chapman said.
In addition to lollipops, which still prove popular, a fund raising dinner at the VFW LaHarpe post is planned for April 9.
“They have a goal of $4,000,” Chapman said of the students.
To Chapman, student involvement means more than just another form of fundraising.
“It’s out goal to work with young people as much as we can,” he said, to educate them against dumping, the need for spaying and neutering and in proper care of pets, Chapman said.
He is hopeful that through such work, the future will be different for animals in Allen County. So far, he said, enthusiasm at the middle school in support of the shelter holds promise.
For students, ACARF offers junior memberships for $5. Adult membership runs $25. You do not have to live in Allen County to be a member, Chapman said.
CHAPMAN noted that across the country, more and more people are surrendering their pets because of the economy.
To keep people from dumping animals once the shelter opens, there will be no outdoor pens at ACARF, he said. “There will be adoption and surrender fees,” he added.
Chapman said it’s important to know the history of an animal, whether it has bite issues or will chase cats if a dog, or perhaps doesn’t like children and will scratch them, as is common with cats. Such information is not available with strays, or pets dumped in rural areas. That lack of data leads to a longer lag time before an animal can be adopted and perhaps replication of already-received vaccines, adding to expenses.
“We would hope that the surrender fees will not stop people from bringing their animals in,” Chapman said, noting animals will not be turned away.
“If we can get the cities or county involved, I’d like to have some strong anti-dumping laws with a stiff fee” instituted, Chapman said. Currently, there are no such fines in Allen County. Because of that, “We have a very serious problem in Allen County with dumped animals,” Chapman said.
And, though not yet opened, ACARF is already at work combating that issue.
The organization already posts lost and found animals at its Web site, www.acarf.com, including photos. It will continue to do so once doors are unlocked, Chapman said, noting the Web site will be a primary source of information for members and the public about the organization.
Contact Chapman through Diebolt Lumber, 620-496-2222, or art@dieboltlumber.com to post a pet or for more information. “Just write lost pet” in the subject line, Chapman advised. Chapman can also be reached on his cell phone, 620-496-7711.
Chapman will also offer groups or interested people tours of the ACARF facility. While he notes his volunteer efforts can keep him away from his work at Diebolt Lumber, his boss, he said, supports the effort.
“Don’s on the ACARF board,” Chapman said.
“The city has told me it’s going to be the end of February before they can lay my sewer line and that’s the biggest hold up I’ve got,” ACARF director Art Chapman said. “The weather has a lot to do with it — it was holy terror to get the water lines laid in the last week,” he noted.
The delay has meant placing lost animals in private homes temporarily.
“A lot of ACARF members are fostering animals right now,” Chapman said.
One, Ray Shannon, had about seven brought to him recently. With an already full house, he’ll be taking them to the shelter in Topeka, he said.
“I wish we could get the shelter open immediately, but the weather has not been conducive,” Chapman lamented.
Despite the weather, progress continues.
Next week, carpet will be installed in the shelter’s office and conference room. Later, concrete floors will be etched and sealed.
Come March, Chapman said, the doors should be unlocked to the public.
“We may only be able to hold 20 dogs and 30 cats, but we’re going to open the shelter.”
ALTOGETHER, the ACARF shelter boasts 5,400 square feet. It’s divided into three main sections: intake and animal care; dogs; and cats.
The new building is state of the art, Chapman said, with fiberglass-paneled walls designed to withstand regular washing and disinfecting, extra-heavy insulation in both interior and exterior walls to dampen sound and boost efficiency and an in-ground hot-water heating system.
“We put heat in all the floors so that when the animals lay down they’ll be warm,” Chapman said.
“It’s a lot more energy efficient” than a standard heating system too, Chapman noted.
And, “eventually, we’ll have a shelter director.” For now, though, Chapman said, all the work will be done by volunteers.
Still needed are cages for the animals.
Each dog cage, which can hold two animals in two 4 foot by 5 foot pens, costs $4,400. Cat cages cost $350 apiece.
“If someone wants to purchase a cat cage they can have their name on it,” Chapman said.
“If someone wants to make a larger donation, say $10,000,” he continued, “they can put their name on a room. For $25,000 they can get their name on a larger room.”
“Larger rooms” include the main dog adoption room, which will hold 21 dog pens plus smaller puppy pens, a 30-dog stray intake room, where dogs will be kept until cleared for adoption, and a cat adoption room. Other rooms include cat and dog quarantine rooms, an exam room for taking blood samples and giving vaccinations, and cat and dog familiarization rooms, where potential adopters can spend time with animals in a cage-free setting.
Donations can be made in the name of a pet or a loved one, Chapman said. In addition, the non profit will take endowments, large donations where the facility uses interest while the principal donation continues to grow.
“If someone wants to leave an endowment to the shelter, they can specify where they want that money to go,” Chapman noted, such as only for medical care, or spaying/neutering, or for cats or dogs, he added.
They’ll also rent the conference room for birthday parties, Chapman said.
IF CHAPMAN’S suggestions seem like crass salesmanship, they’re not. The shelter needs another $150,000 to be completed. “It takes time to raise all the money,” he said.
To that end, a spring fundraiser is being planned with the help of Chapman’s wife, Ona, who works at Iola Middle School with ACARF’s junior members.
Last year, Iola Middle Schoolers sold lollipops and raised enough funds to pay for one side of a double dog pen.
This year, proceeds will go to the shelter’s spay and neuter fund, which will allow reduced price coupons for the procedures to be given out with each adopted animal, Chapman said.
In addition to lollipops, which still prove popular, a fund raising dinner at the VFW LaHarpe post is planned for April 9.
“They have a goal of $4,000,” Chapman said of the students.
To Chapman, student involvement means more than just another form of fundraising.
“It’s out goal to work with young people as much as we can,” he said, to educate them against dumping, the need for spaying and neutering and in proper care of pets, Chapman said.
He is hopeful that through such work, the future will be different for animals in Allen County. So far, he said, enthusiasm at the middle school in support of the shelter holds promise.
For students, ACARF offers junior memberships for $5. Adult membership runs $25. You do not have to live in Allen County to be a member, Chapman said.
CHAPMAN noted that across the country, more and more people are surrendering their pets because of the economy.
To keep people from dumping animals once the shelter opens, there will be no outdoor pens at ACARF, he said. “There will be adoption and surrender fees,” he added.
Chapman said it’s important to know the history of an animal, whether it has bite issues or will chase cats if a dog, or perhaps doesn’t like children and will scratch them, as is common with cats. Such information is not available with strays, or pets dumped in rural areas. That lack of data leads to a longer lag time before an animal can be adopted and perhaps replication of already-received vaccines, adding to expenses.
“We would hope that the surrender fees will not stop people from bringing their animals in,” Chapman said, noting animals will not be turned away.
“If we can get the cities or county involved, I’d like to have some strong anti-dumping laws with a stiff fee” instituted, Chapman said. Currently, there are no such fines in Allen County. Because of that, “We have a very serious problem in Allen County with dumped animals,” Chapman said.
And, though not yet opened, ACARF is already at work combating that issue.
The organization already posts lost and found animals at its Web site, www.acarf.com, including photos. It will continue to do so once doors are unlocked, Chapman said, noting the Web site will be a primary source of information for members and the public about the organization.
Contact Chapman through Diebolt Lumber, 620-496-2222, or art@dieboltlumber.com to post a pet or for more information. “Just write lost pet” in the subject line, Chapman advised. Chapman can also be reached on his cell phone, 620-496-7711.
Chapman will also offer groups or interested people tours of the ACARF facility. While he notes his volunteer efforts can keep him away from his work at Diebolt Lumber, his boss, he said, supports the effort.
“Don’s on the ACARF board,” Chapman said.
Ambition kept Cheung focused
Being “the only Asian in my class, all through school,” helped Kiang Yien Aaron Cheung try harder to succeed, he said.
“That’s been a character building exercise all my life.”
That, and his parent’s admonitions.
“My mom told me my job is to go to school; her job was to work to put me through school. My job was to learn, to excel, to do the best I can.”
Cheung took it to heart.
“I was pretty self-motivated, I guess.”
Cheung attended Iola’s McKinley and Jefferson elementaries and Iola Middle School before attending IHS. He was always focused on achievement. “My thought was, it’s a small town. If I can’t make it here, I can’t make it anywhere.”
Still, he credits those who taught him over the years.
“I had a lot of great teachers and I probably wouldn’t be here without them,” he said.
Cheung stayed busy in high school, participating in track, cross country, basketball, iClub (varsity sports club), National Honors Society and Future Business Leaders of America. In addition, he’s helped out at Iola Middle School through a mentoring class at IHS.
Out of the academic realm, Cheung has taken private piano lessons for 14 years. At recitals, he does well, he said.
Cheung is also an artist, and was honored earlier this year with a “Best Painting” award in the “Kansas: As Talented As You Think” contest for his painting of a bicycle propped against a parking meter. He worked from a photograph he had taken in Lawrence, he said at the time.
Cheung intends to continue his hobbies, plus sports, “on the side. I’ll just focus on my studies,” when attending the University of Kansas, where he will major in electrical engineering, he said.
“I’m interested in technology,” he said of his choice. “I wanted to do something that’s really helpful to the world.”
Cheung hopes to apply his creativity in the field, and noted “I don’t plan to stay in Kansas. I’ve always had the intention to go either to the east coat or the west coast. California’s probably my dream state, but it’s probably too early to say.”
He plans to go on to graduate school after completing studies at KU.
“I’d like to attend graduate school where I intend to live; I always thought that would be a good idea,” he said. Then, “I’d like to get into a large company and find stability in a good job.”
Besides his teachers and parents spurring him on, Cheung noted “I’ve had a lot of role models” including older sisters Megan, who is pursuing a career in textile design in New York City, and Christy, a junior in chemistry at KU.
CHEUNG’S family is originally form Hong Kong, he said, but has been in Iola about 25 years.
His mother, Sharon, was an accountant, and his father, Paul, an aeronautics engineer when they moved to Wichita 27 years ago.
There, they opened a Chinese restaurant.
“It was tough in Wichita for them, competition-wise,” Cheung said. Then, he said, “Someone told them ‘You should come to Iola, there’s no Asian restaurants here,’” so the couple moved.
It was the right choice, Cheung said.
“It wasn’t until we go to Iola that we go stable.”
The family has run China Palace for 27 years, Cheung said. Despite their training in other careers, both his mother and father came from restaurant families, he said.
“My mom’s family had a big restaurant in Singapore and my dad’s dad was a famous baker in Hong Kong.”
Cheung’s grandfather, Shu Wan Cheung, came with his wife, Sau Fong Wong, to help Paul and Sharon with China Palace in Iola.
Cheung’s grandfather died 14 years ago, but his grandmother remained with the family.
When his grandfather died, his baking secrets went, too, Cheung said. “He never had time to teach anyone,” he said. “It’s lost recipes.”
Cheung himself does not cook much, he said.
“I can, but I don’t prefer to.”
An aunt and uncle, both siblings of his father, also live in Iola these days, Cheung said.
That has led to a larger extended family with young cousins in Iola’s middle and elementary schools.
As advice to the next generation, Cheung said, “Remember what you’re there for in school. Set strong goals and just work hard for them. You can see your hard work pay off.”
While Cheung said he was often bored in Iola, there are ways to stay busy and stay out of trouble.
“That’s why I stayed in as many sports as possible,” Cheung said.
For those who still have years to put in, he advised, “Remember your values. Stay involved. Make the best of your situation.”
Cheung noted that “the hardest thing is finding your passion.”
He found his early, though, with a few odd ideas along the way.
“I think I wanted to be a tornado chaser when I was young; that’s one of the funny things I wanted to be.” Cheung said that was a short-lived fancy, born of seeing the movie “Twister.”
Mainly, he knew he wanted to excel academically.
“I like challenges. I like competition — I always have. That’s what draws me into engineering,” Cheung said.
“I saw (school) as more than grades; I just thought I should really learn,” he said. “I saw there was always going to be more competition with each successive level.”
CHEUNG is looking forward to his summer before beginning at KU this fall.
“At the end of June we’re gong to China and the World Expo in Shanghai, so that’s exciting,” he said.
Then, it’s back to Iola, where he’ll “help out at the restaurant, of course” before beginning his new life at KU.
No matter how far he gets, though, he will always remain influenced by “Culture, family, situation — that’s always built character.”
“That’s been a character building exercise all my life.”
That, and his parent’s admonitions.
“My mom told me my job is to go to school; her job was to work to put me through school. My job was to learn, to excel, to do the best I can.”
Cheung took it to heart.
“I was pretty self-motivated, I guess.”
Cheung attended Iola’s McKinley and Jefferson elementaries and Iola Middle School before attending IHS. He was always focused on achievement. “My thought was, it’s a small town. If I can’t make it here, I can’t make it anywhere.”
Still, he credits those who taught him over the years.
“I had a lot of great teachers and I probably wouldn’t be here without them,” he said.
Cheung stayed busy in high school, participating in track, cross country, basketball, iClub (varsity sports club), National Honors Society and Future Business Leaders of America. In addition, he’s helped out at Iola Middle School through a mentoring class at IHS.
Out of the academic realm, Cheung has taken private piano lessons for 14 years. At recitals, he does well, he said.
Cheung is also an artist, and was honored earlier this year with a “Best Painting” award in the “Kansas: As Talented As You Think” contest for his painting of a bicycle propped against a parking meter. He worked from a photograph he had taken in Lawrence, he said at the time.
Cheung intends to continue his hobbies, plus sports, “on the side. I’ll just focus on my studies,” when attending the University of Kansas, where he will major in electrical engineering, he said.
“I’m interested in technology,” he said of his choice. “I wanted to do something that’s really helpful to the world.”
Cheung hopes to apply his creativity in the field, and noted “I don’t plan to stay in Kansas. I’ve always had the intention to go either to the east coat or the west coast. California’s probably my dream state, but it’s probably too early to say.”
He plans to go on to graduate school after completing studies at KU.
“I’d like to attend graduate school where I intend to live; I always thought that would be a good idea,” he said. Then, “I’d like to get into a large company and find stability in a good job.”
Besides his teachers and parents spurring him on, Cheung noted “I’ve had a lot of role models” including older sisters Megan, who is pursuing a career in textile design in New York City, and Christy, a junior in chemistry at KU.
CHEUNG’S family is originally form Hong Kong, he said, but has been in Iola about 25 years.
His mother, Sharon, was an accountant, and his father, Paul, an aeronautics engineer when they moved to Wichita 27 years ago.
There, they opened a Chinese restaurant.
“It was tough in Wichita for them, competition-wise,” Cheung said. Then, he said, “Someone told them ‘You should come to Iola, there’s no Asian restaurants here,’” so the couple moved.
It was the right choice, Cheung said.
“It wasn’t until we go to Iola that we go stable.”
The family has run China Palace for 27 years, Cheung said. Despite their training in other careers, both his mother and father came from restaurant families, he said.
“My mom’s family had a big restaurant in Singapore and my dad’s dad was a famous baker in Hong Kong.”
Cheung’s grandfather, Shu Wan Cheung, came with his wife, Sau Fong Wong, to help Paul and Sharon with China Palace in Iola.
Cheung’s grandfather died 14 years ago, but his grandmother remained with the family.
When his grandfather died, his baking secrets went, too, Cheung said. “He never had time to teach anyone,” he said. “It’s lost recipes.”
Cheung himself does not cook much, he said.
“I can, but I don’t prefer to.”
An aunt and uncle, both siblings of his father, also live in Iola these days, Cheung said.
That has led to a larger extended family with young cousins in Iola’s middle and elementary schools.
As advice to the next generation, Cheung said, “Remember what you’re there for in school. Set strong goals and just work hard for them. You can see your hard work pay off.”
While Cheung said he was often bored in Iola, there are ways to stay busy and stay out of trouble.
“That’s why I stayed in as many sports as possible,” Cheung said.
For those who still have years to put in, he advised, “Remember your values. Stay involved. Make the best of your situation.”
Cheung noted that “the hardest thing is finding your passion.”
He found his early, though, with a few odd ideas along the way.
“I think I wanted to be a tornado chaser when I was young; that’s one of the funny things I wanted to be.” Cheung said that was a short-lived fancy, born of seeing the movie “Twister.”
Mainly, he knew he wanted to excel academically.
“I like challenges. I like competition — I always have. That’s what draws me into engineering,” Cheung said.
“I saw (school) as more than grades; I just thought I should really learn,” he said. “I saw there was always going to be more competition with each successive level.”
CHEUNG is looking forward to his summer before beginning at KU this fall.
“At the end of June we’re gong to China and the World Expo in Shanghai, so that’s exciting,” he said.
Then, it’s back to Iola, where he’ll “help out at the restaurant, of course” before beginning his new life at KU.
No matter how far he gets, though, he will always remain influenced by “Culture, family, situation — that’s always built character.”
'Arabian Knights' shines on ACCC stage
The Near East comes to Iola tonight through Saturday when Allen County Community College presents “Arabian Nights.”
The production, directed by Tony Piazza, is a 1992 adaptation of the 1,200 year-old tale of a Persian king and his story-telling queen.
ACCC’s version was written by Chicago theater director Mary Zimmerman. “Her forte is taking classical pieces and reinventing them,” Piazza said.
In “Arabian Nights,” a king, angry over his wife’s infidelity, has been bedding and beheading virgins as an expression of his rage. Each girl is given just one night with the king.
Thus enters Scheherezade, a girl of learning who has studied poets and past kings. On her chosen night, she pleads with the king to say one last good-bye to her younger sister. As her farewell, she begins to weave a tale.
Intrigued, then mesmerized by the story, the king is startled when she stops the story without telling its end. Asking her to go on, she says she cannot, for it is daybreak and time to die.
He spares her life.
She continues the next night, finishing one tale and beginning another, and so it goes for 1,001 nights, until the king has lost all traces of his anger, Piazza said.
“It’s about how art can heal people,” he said. “She heals him of his vengeful nature and his hurt.”
ACCC’S production of the piece is non-stop. One story leads to the next, characters overlapping, for stories within stories, all told with the constant threat of Scheherezade’s death in the background, imagined as a curved knife wielded by the petulant Garrett Skidmore against the throat of Paige Schauf, who plays the leading role.
About mid-way through her tales, the enchanting Schauf asks the king’s opinion on a tale, thus opening him up to the story’s effects.
Costuming is rich as the culture it represents, with brocades and silks and gauzy veils. Terri Piazza, with Nancy McEndree, were in charge.
Many of the actors play numerous roles, donning burkas, veils, hats or robes to differentiate the characters, all which represent aspects of human nature.
Elizabeth Otto plays a vain young woman who tries to entrance a virtuous merchant, Sean Swanson. When he refuses her offer, she plots against him, tricking him into marrying the deformed daughter of a local sheik.
Infidelity makes an appearance in the story of a jester and his wife.
Desiree Mason, as the jester’s wife, takes a slew of lovers, then hides them all in the bathroom when her husband comes home unexpectedly.
Jon Eddy, as the husband, discovers them, but rather than confront the obvious, in jester-like fashion he proclaims them returned saints and takes them to see the caliph.
This opens the door to a handful of even more absurd tales, culminating in the hilarious story of the embarrassed bridegroom, whose wedding feast had effects that were more than his guests could handle.
Chris Yackle plays the affected bridegroom. His facial expressions lead the audience to laughter.
Through all the tales, Isiah Smith is regal, playing perfectly the role of caliph Harun al Rashid, judging his subjects with calm fairness.
The final stories speak of love and doing what’s right, often against one’s own will.
Lindsey Jarvis as Sympathy the Learned is a commanding presence, while Jon Eddy, Jamarious Wicker and Christopher Haynes play wise men bested by her knowledge with grace, dignity and just a touch of humor, truly sage indeed.
PIAZZA and some of his students saw “Arabian Nights” last year in Kansas City, he said, and thought it an apt piece for the troupe.
“I like it because it’s a group/ensemble play,” Piazza said. “It’s an interesting theatrical presentation.”
“Arabian Knights” is getting more attention as the U.S. remains embroiled in wars in the Middle East, Piazza said.
“All theater is a look at the culture of place,” he said. And even though “the plays were originally written in 800 AD ... it’s kind of like visiting another country.”
That said, Piazza noted the play is not a political piece.
“People love, yearn and feel wherever they are — they’re all people.”
“Arabian Nights” plays at 7:30 p.m. tonight through Saturday at the Allen College Theater.
The production, directed by Tony Piazza, is a 1992 adaptation of the 1,200 year-old tale of a Persian king and his story-telling queen.
ACCC’s version was written by Chicago theater director Mary Zimmerman. “Her forte is taking classical pieces and reinventing them,” Piazza said.
In “Arabian Nights,” a king, angry over his wife’s infidelity, has been bedding and beheading virgins as an expression of his rage. Each girl is given just one night with the king.
Thus enters Scheherezade, a girl of learning who has studied poets and past kings. On her chosen night, she pleads with the king to say one last good-bye to her younger sister. As her farewell, she begins to weave a tale.
Intrigued, then mesmerized by the story, the king is startled when she stops the story without telling its end. Asking her to go on, she says she cannot, for it is daybreak and time to die.
He spares her life.
She continues the next night, finishing one tale and beginning another, and so it goes for 1,001 nights, until the king has lost all traces of his anger, Piazza said.
“It’s about how art can heal people,” he said. “She heals him of his vengeful nature and his hurt.”
ACCC’S production of the piece is non-stop. One story leads to the next, characters overlapping, for stories within stories, all told with the constant threat of Scheherezade’s death in the background, imagined as a curved knife wielded by the petulant Garrett Skidmore against the throat of Paige Schauf, who plays the leading role.
About mid-way through her tales, the enchanting Schauf asks the king’s opinion on a tale, thus opening him up to the story’s effects.
Costuming is rich as the culture it represents, with brocades and silks and gauzy veils. Terri Piazza, with Nancy McEndree, were in charge.
Many of the actors play numerous roles, donning burkas, veils, hats or robes to differentiate the characters, all which represent aspects of human nature.
Elizabeth Otto plays a vain young woman who tries to entrance a virtuous merchant, Sean Swanson. When he refuses her offer, she plots against him, tricking him into marrying the deformed daughter of a local sheik.
Infidelity makes an appearance in the story of a jester and his wife.
Desiree Mason, as the jester’s wife, takes a slew of lovers, then hides them all in the bathroom when her husband comes home unexpectedly.
Jon Eddy, as the husband, discovers them, but rather than confront the obvious, in jester-like fashion he proclaims them returned saints and takes them to see the caliph.
This opens the door to a handful of even more absurd tales, culminating in the hilarious story of the embarrassed bridegroom, whose wedding feast had effects that were more than his guests could handle.
Chris Yackle plays the affected bridegroom. His facial expressions lead the audience to laughter.
Through all the tales, Isiah Smith is regal, playing perfectly the role of caliph Harun al Rashid, judging his subjects with calm fairness.
The final stories speak of love and doing what’s right, often against one’s own will.
Lindsey Jarvis as Sympathy the Learned is a commanding presence, while Jon Eddy, Jamarious Wicker and Christopher Haynes play wise men bested by her knowledge with grace, dignity and just a touch of humor, truly sage indeed.
PIAZZA and some of his students saw “Arabian Nights” last year in Kansas City, he said, and thought it an apt piece for the troupe.
“I like it because it’s a group/ensemble play,” Piazza said. “It’s an interesting theatrical presentation.”
“Arabian Knights” is getting more attention as the U.S. remains embroiled in wars in the Middle East, Piazza said.
“All theater is a look at the culture of place,” he said. And even though “the plays were originally written in 800 AD ... it’s kind of like visiting another country.”
That said, Piazza noted the play is not a political piece.
“People love, yearn and feel wherever they are — they’re all people.”
“Arabian Nights” plays at 7:30 p.m. tonight through Saturday at the Allen College Theater.
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