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T H E I N D E P E N D E N T V O I C E F O R K A N S A S S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
kstatecollegian.com
vol. 124, issue 61
kansas state collegian
wednesday, february 27, 2 0 1 9
‘We would have given up’: The Dusty Bookshelf saved by community encouragement RACHEL HOGAN THE COLLEGIAN
As Manhattan slept through the early hours of March 2, 2017, the corner of Moro Street and Manhattan Avenue was lit up in lights and abuzz with activity as a fire raged inside The Dusty Bookshelf. But now, nearly two years after the fire gutted out the Aggieville cornerstone, the store announced in a Facebook post it’s upcoming reopening this spring. “It’s us,” the post reads. “The Dusty Bookshelf. And we’re (finally) coming home! Because of your loyalty, support, and general love for books, we wanted you to know that after two long and difficult years, the shop keys are back in our hands.” Diane Meredith, the store’s co-owner, said the doors may partially reopen within the next month to two months in order to make the increased rent payments for the store’s space. “It’s a lot of money so we are going to act very quickly,” Meredith said. “We might have to partially open before the store is completely done.” The fire, which began in the middle of the store’s renovations, caused about $822,000 in damages, leaving the building a “total loss.” The store has remained closed ever since, with the storefront surrounded by chainlink fencing for many months. The construction process to re-
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John Chapple | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
The Dusty Bookshelf, a bookstore in Aggieville, has been recovering from a fire that occurred in March 2017. There are now plans in place for it to reopen this spring. store The Dusty Bookshelf began last year. The monthly permit summary for April 2018, listed on the city of Manhattan’s website, includes documentation of a construction permit issued to Sherilyn and Roger Bender, the owners of the building. The permit, #29340, lists the contractor
New flooding resiliency plan focuses on prevention, informing residents
as RM Baril General Contractor Inc. The project valuation was estimated at $475,000. “We’ve built the structure,” Mike Hoover, president and owner of RM Baril General Contractor Inc., said in early February. “We rebuilt the structure to its existing
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shape in modern ways: a new roof, new railings and such, and enclosure. It’s ready for somebody to take over and finish.”
see page 8, “DUSTY”
Engineering tuition committee votes 15-5 against fee increase
NEWS
KSU Foundation brings new philanthropic endeavor to campus by Bailey Britton The Kansas State family will come together March 27 for All In for K-State, a new fundraising effort by the KSU Foundation. In a 24hour event, Eric Holderness, associate vice president of development for the Foundation, said the whole K-State family will come together to achieve one objective. That objective is to raise money for one philanthropic program, which will be announced March 1. “Other universities have day of giving events, but we aren’t going to do a typical one here,” Holderness said. “We were challenged by our board of directors and K-State alumni and friends to think about a giving day.” The event really started taking shape in July, Holderness said. Other universities such as the University of Kansas or University of Nebraska typically take a “shotgun” approach to giving days. This approach encourages alumni and others to donate to the school, but the donors choose where their money will go—K-State will have a different approach. “While this approach is great and the schools raise lots of money, the amounts distributed to the individual departments and programs isn’t as impactful,” Holderness said. “Our strategy is devised to be impactful. These investments by alumni and friends of the university will be invested in a singular, fundable idea.”
see page 4, “FOUNDATION”