Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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(Photo Illustration by John Thelander) Parking 22

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A growing trend allows students to show individuality by Robin Harnden Oomphy. Papa. CJaneGo. No, this was not computer lingo or a secret code that few people understood. In fact, words such as these Were dear to at least 46,500 Kansans, according to Kansas Department of Transportation records. They were creative combina tions of letters, found on the back (and front) of everything from pickup trucks to convertibles. They were personalized license plates. Requests for personalized plates don ' t follow any boundaries, said Ken Clark, public information officer for the Kansas Department of Transportation. We get all kinds. Stephanie Bowersock, senior in marketing, sported Oomphy on her car for a year and a half. Everybody who sees me in my car asks me what it means, Bowersock said. A friend of mine and I were looking through a dictionary in high school for a word that begins with double `o ' and found ' oomphy, ' she said. It means obnoxious energy, and it ' s been my nickname every since. People bought personalized license plates for all kinds of reasons: for advertising, attention or just because it was fun. (Photo Illustration by Greg Vogel) They had to pay for this kind of fun, however. A set of personalized plates — one for the front and one for the back — cost $40 on top of registration fees. People who chose to buy a plate were required to buy two of them. There ' s really no special reason for it, except that it was a state law, Clark said. I just think it ' s a fun, new idea that gives character to a car, Bowersock said. It helps to know something about th e person in it. You see a car driving down the street, and you wonder if it ' s a friend of yours. With a personalized plate, there ' s no question, she said. AirHare was the creation of Brian Rock, freshman in interior architecture. He drove a volkswagon convertible. I just wanted to set my car aside from everyone else ' s, he said. I just wanted to be different. People always say, ' Oh, yeah. You ' re the guy with the AirHare tag, ' Rock said. One time, when I was snow skiing, someone on the slope yelled `AirHare he said. They figured if they just yelled ' Brian, ' I wouldn ' t know who they were yelling at. One appeal personalized plates had was originality. Nearly every combination of letters was unique. This was because no duplicates on the same type of vehicle were allowed within a county. Personalized plates could be used on just about any type of vehicle: autos, trucks under 16,000 pounds and motorcycles. People in my hometown recognize me because of my tags, Rock said. The option to buy a personalized plate has existed since 1975 for Kansas residents. Most likely, the idea originated from other states, Clark said. Not just any word or combination of letters could be molded on a set of plates, he said. Anything obscene or profane — or construed to be — was not allowed. A special committee was responsible for deciding whether or not a request could be granted. Jane Grant, senior in got the idea for her personalized tag from her first grade reader. It said CJaneGo. It was kind of an impulse thing to get personalized plates, Grant said. I was standing in line to pay (my registration fees) and decided to go ahead and do it. She said people usually notice the tags. Every once in a while, I see people look at it and try to figure it out, she said. And gas station attendants always laugh at it. People relate it to me now, she said. Vehicle registration officials expect the trend to personalize tags to continue to grow as more people strive to show their individuality on the bumpers of their automobiles. Car Tags 21

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adjust to a problem that seems to have no solutions by Judi Walter Buying a $22 parking permit didn ' t guarantee anyone a parking spot. If anything, it guaranteed frustration. In the fall of 1986, K-State ' s campus had 10,000 parking places. Some of the parking problems were due to the fact that the campus police sold 15,000-16,000 permits. By simple subtraction, the average college student can see the number of permits exceeded the number of parking places by 5,000-6,000 spots. Charles Beckom, superintendent of the K-State Police, said the oversell was justified by a high rate. Not all students needed parking at the same time, he said. But some students became tired of hassling with the problem. a parking place took anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. I ' d rather spend the extra time getting some exercise by walking rather than driving around looking for a parking place, said Diane Meredith, junior in marketing. Students found the parking frustrating for other reasons also. Leslyn Rockenbach, freshman in journalism and mass lived in Ford Hall. Her assigned parking lot was B-3, more commonly known among students as Egypt because of its distance from the residence halls. Rockenbach, like others, concern for her safety when parking there at night. Winter seemed to aggravate the already existing parking problems. More students and faculty brought their cars to campus because of the cold weather. Snow piles caused people to park incorrectly. This caused a chain effect. With improper parking, fewer places were available. Jacque Ediger, junior in found herself arriving on an hour early in hopes of a spot. In some aspects, I have to my class schedule differently because of the parking problem, Ediger said. Beckom said the parking problem was very complex. He saw it as a two fold problem. There was a user problem and also a resource problem. People wanted to park as close as possible to where they were going, often breaking the parking rules, Beckon said. Beckom said the department work ed hard to diminish the look of a big city. They wanted students to see more prominent aspects of the University and the landscaping not walls of concrete. He said he believed it was distracting to have a lot of parking facilities. Students can help ease the problem in several ways, Beckom said. One way is to return to the use of bicycles. There are many to riding bikes. Both time and money are saved and one ' s health can benefit as well, Beckom said. Students serving on committees to discuss possible solutions could help solve the parking problem as well as take a more active role in decision making, he said. In a mere two hours, from 6 to 8 a.m., the K-State Union parking lot fills to capacity as students fight for a place to park. (Photos by John Thelander) Parking 23