vibe | cm life starts year-long freshman project, 1B | fieldturf Installation in IAC should be done by Oct. 1, 11A
no more| Campus Conservatives RSO status revoked for unpaid fees, 3A
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009
Central Michigan Life
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
‘BOYZ’ of LAUNDRY
a vision for energy
Robert Kennedy Jr. coming to campus in November Speaker Series trying to stay afloat after hiatus By Amelia Eramya Staff Reporter
Ashley Miller/Photo Editor
Brighton junior Stephen Caverly, left, and Brighton junior Tom Anderson began their own business, Laundry Boyz. The two charge per the pound to wash and return customers’ laundry within 24 hours.
Student business aims for lemony fresh clothing By Nicole Burdiss | Staff Reporter
F
or Central Michigan University students, studying and enjoying college life can take priority over laundry. For two students, it is just the opposite. Laundry Boyz, a pickup and delivery laundry service, began this year under two CMU students and aims to take the hassle of doing laundry out of students’ hands. “My mom totally did my laundry growing up. College is a rude awakening,” said Tom Anderson, Brighton senior and Laundry Boyz co-founder. “We want to eliminate one worry (for CMU students).”
[inside] NEWS w Man bound over on Warriner Hall burglaries, 3A w EHS Building parking lot opening Sept. 14, 3A w Get Acquainted Day taking place today, 5A w Art department makes darkroom a computer lab, 7A w MSU professor proposes rutabaga as biofuel, 7A
sports w Andrew Stover breaks down the football team’s opportunities, 11A
campus vibe w South Park co-creator speaking at CMU next month, 1B
CM-LIFE.com w Check the Web site for a video on the spray park.
weather w Rain showers High 72/ Low 51
CMU
Caverly, Brighton senior and Laundry Boyz co-founder, said Laundry Boyz offers semester and year packages for laundry service starting this week, following in the footsteps of his father, who was in the laundry business in New York City. He started his business two years ago, and is now in the process of selling it. After transferring to CMU, Caverly realized a pickup and dropoff laundry service could work at Central. He said he hopes to expand and make a career out of the business, or eventually sell it like his father.
Service includes a Laundry Boyz laundry bag, dirty laundry pickup Wednesday nights and delivery of clean, folded clothes Thursdays. Supporting clean clothes Caverly got the idea to start Laundry Boyz when he was attending school at University of Arizona. Caverly’s friend ran a laundry pickup and dropoff business and Caverly decided to start his own version at CMU. A laundry | 4A
surplus sales
Impounded bike auction Friday It’s like a large campus garage sale By Jake Bolitho Senior Reporter
The Central Michigan University Police Department impounded approximately 100 bicycles this summer. But they will not be sitting around the Combined Services Building for long. The department transfers any unclaimed bikes to CMU Surplus Sales which, in turn, sells them at auctions every month, including one Friday. Bicycles are impounded if they are unregistered or attached to something other than a bike rack, including meters, light posts and trees, said CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley. “We keep them for 90 days minimum,” he said. Bicycles in very poor condition are usually dismantled rather than transferred, he said.
e r o t s k Boo
If you go... w What: Sales Surplus Auction w When: Noon Friday w Where: Lot 1, at the intersection of Bellows and Douglas Mike Viers, manager of University Stores and Warehouse Operations, helps organize the monthly surplus sale in the Auction Barn in Parking Lot 1, at the corner of Douglas and Bellows streets. The monthly sales also are used to sell other salvaged equipment and furnishings that have decreased in usefulness. Viers said it is a large campus “garage sale.” The auctions have experienced great success in the past, he said, with approximately 100 people showing up and waiting in line at each auction. “Everybody’s welcome to come ... usually, there’s
your
a pretty large enthusiasm for this,” he said. “Typically, people show up pretty early and, at the end, everybody’s happy.” Those interested in purchasing a bike can do so by cash or personal check. Some bikes in the past were sold for just a few dollars each, but sales vary. “The condition dictates what the sale price is,” Viers said. Surplus Sales plans to continue selling impounded bikes and other items every month as long as they are available. Each sale starts at noon and runs until 2 p.m. Auction profits are returned to the university’s general fund. Viers said the auctions are a great opportunity to give owners a new bike that would otherwise be left unused or eventually destroyed. “It gives them kind of a chance for a second life,” he said.
Robert Kennedy Jr. is coming to Central Michigan University in November. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy’s nephew, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium about the environment in a speech titled, “Green gold rush; A vision for energy, independence, jobs and national wealth,” as part of the Speaker Series. “He’s so much into the environment and it’s such a strong issue now,” said Bob Ebner, director of University Events. “He’s such a well-respected speaker for that topic.” The Speaker Series paid $35,000 to bring Kennedy to CMU. In 2009, he was named one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Agents of Change.” He serves as senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, president of Waterkeeper Alliance and is a partner in the clean tech work of Silicon Valley’s VantagePoint Ventures, according to a biography from the Speaker Series. Speaking up For more than three decades, the Speaker Series has given students, staff and the community an opportunity to network with speakers. Although the series experienced a three-year hiatus from 2003-06 and another hiatus in 2008-09, the committee is still functioning. “Speaker Series has had
the opportunity to bring speakers of national and international note,” said Jill TaftKaufman, chairman of Robert Kennedy Jr. the committee and professor of communication and dramatic arts. The most recent speakers were Salman Rushdie, who came to CMU in October 2008, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who spoke in April 2007. Rushdie was originally supposed to speak in the spring of 2008, but pushed his speech back to the fall of 2008 because of a book he was promoting. “The Speaker Series is meant to balance the academic part of learning,” said Paul Pridgeon, a Montgomery alumnus who was a student member of the committee in the fall of 2007. The Speaker Series leans more toward individuals with high education and academic background, Ebner said. “The enhancement they’ve offered by not only what they say, but the wealth of richness and experience they provide and demonstrate, have inspired us to think about the past, present and the future,” Taft-Kaufman said. The committee consists of eight faculty members from various departments and three students. The Speaker Series was funded by regular line-item budget until August 2003, Taft-Kaufman said. The committee was put on suspension because of budget issues. Since then, former University President Michael Rao, his office, the office of the Provost and various deans have funded the series.
A speaker | 4A
INSIDE, 4A
paige calamari/staff photographer
Yoshua Fruh, 4, of Mount Pleasant plays under a water umbrella Tuesday afternoon at the grand opening of the Island Park Spray Park. The park features 100 water activated sprayers and nozzles.
metro@cm-life.com
p o t s e on shop
www. ubookstor.ecom cm