The Corky that was pulled out of the Cottonwood River on Dec. 28 has been claimed by Michael Black, vice president of CoreFirst Bank and Trust in Emporia, as of last Thursday.
“Our marketing department purchased it as a joint promotion with ESU, and we had a local artist paint it,” Black said. “Shortly after it was complete, it was taken from in front of the bank and we have not heard anything about it until I noticed the picture of it being taken from the river.”
The recovered Corky was a part of the Corky’s on Parade fundraiser in 2005, during which local businesses and organizations bought 10 fiberglass Corky statues and had them decorated and displayed for homecoming week. The Corkys were then auctioned to raise funds for the Presidential Academic Awards Scholarship program, according to an archived pamphlet from Emporia State.
Two other Corkys were stolen from the first “class.” According to an archived ESU document, these were “Corky at Bat,” a baseball themed statue designed by Andy Kuhn, and “In Pursuit of Excellence,” a statue designed to honor student athletes designed by Alpha Morrow.
The Corkys were auctioned off as posters and signed by student athletes.
Gwen Larson, assistant director of marketing and media relations, suspected that the recovered statue was the Cubist Corky, based on an archived photo of the original and the photos of the Corky being pulled from the river.
“It is my personal belief that this is the statue recovered from the river,” Larson said. “If you look at the photo of the two firefighters in the water with the statue, you can see squares affixed to Corky’s head.”
The statue was damaged from the time spent in the water, and most of the adornments had been washed away, making it difficult to identify.
But the Emporia Police Department confirmed that the recovered Corky is the Cubist Corky, which was in the second “class” of the Corky’s on Parade auction.
The statues were insured for $1,500, stated Boyce Baumgardner, a former executive director for university advancement, in an interview with The Emporia Gazette.
“I find the Corky issue amusing and I thought we might use it for some type of marketing campaign,” Black said.
Health: MENINGITIS – BE AWARE; Do we really know how to recognise the symptoms of meningitis? We may think we do yet sometimes even professionals do not get it right. A new organisation has been established in Northern Ireland dedicated to helping sufferers and their carers and to educating the public and professionals to be proactive about this potentially fatal brain disease. SANDRA CHAPMAN meets its new regional manager Fiona Cunningham.(Features)
The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland) December 13, 2000 Byline: SANDRA CHAPMAN It’s a fact that a parent often accurately predicts meningitis in their child. Yet when they seek help they are met with medical staff who erroneously diagnose something else.
Tragically some children have died as a result.
If this seems incomprehensible to the rest of us then it has to be said that meningitis is an incomprehensible, fearsome illness, sometimes killing its victim within hours of striking.
Fiona Cunningham, who will be responsible for the newest meningitis charity in the province cites the case where a patient presented with an appendicitis-like illness with pain in the right side, only to discover he had, in fact, meningitis.
Others, she says, do not have an obvious tell-tale rash giving parents a false sense of security.
In one case an unwell baby had what looked like two blackheads on its cheek. The mother who thought the ‘blackheads’ were unusual took it to a GP who referred it to a hospital. Unfortunately it was too late to save it. Those ‘blackheads’ were the tell-tale rash.
Another case involved a student at Bristol University who had been out rowing one day. The next day she woke feeling painful and put it down to the previous day’s activity. It’s an assumption most of us would have made in the same situation.
She continued to feel unwell and in pain and because a student education programme had made them aware of the problem of meningitis she got out the advice card describing the symptoms.
When she realised she had six out of eight of the symptoms she immediately presented herself to the local casualty unit, an action which saved her life.
Fiona describes another case which ended tragically.
“It was during the last flu epidemic in January of this year and a young boy came home from school feeling unwell. His mum called out the GP who thought the child had flu, again a fairly natural assumption to make, and he prescribed rest and plenty of fluids.
“The next morning, when the mother saw the state of her son she had him taken to hospital where he was immediately diagnosed as having meningitis. He died soon afterwards. If the vaccination for strain C, his type, had come that little bit sooner he could have been saved.
“There is a lot of debate about the vaccine some of it controversial but this boy’s parents are convinced they would still have their son had it been available. It has to be remembered that this disease can kill in hours.” Fiona, a former nurse and with a lot of experience of different aspects of health care, is anxious that parents know the latest information on meningitis. website symptoms of meningitis
She says: “We now know that children of smokers are five times more likely to get it than children of non smokers. Overcrowding is a risk factor, which is why students can be vulnerable.
“People can get meningitis from different types of viruses, such as the one that causes mumps. Those with tuberculosis (TB) which is on the increase are vulnerable too.
“If people are carrying the bacteria at the time, and it is more common in people than they generally believe, and their immune system is low they can develop the disease.” The National Meningitis Trust was set up 14 years ago by the same man who set up the Meningitis Research Foundation which already operates in Northern Ireland and which supports research.
With around 140 cases a year being diagnosed here (about 10 per cent of victims will die), Fiona is anxious to get the Trust up and running.
She says: “I am trying to identify the needs of this community, develop links with the health care people and the Trusts and provide meaningful support for those who get the disease and their carers We will be setting up support groups and providing an educational service.
“I think parents are already aware that symptoms can be different in each case so we have to define that for them even more. The case of the child who presented with what looked like a classic case of appendicitis is one example of how a wrong diagnosis can be made.
“We already do a lot of work with students. The student rower whose life was saved because she had a card with the symptoms on it had the rash on her legs. But it is babies under a year who are most vulnerable because their immune system is not very advanced.” Fiona deals with the media criticism of the new vaccine which some parents allege has made their children ‘ill’. website symptoms of meningitis
She says: “The English press has attributed 12 deaths to the vaccine, but seven of those cases died from the B strain of the illness for which there is no vaccine, two were diagnosed as sudden infant death syndrome and the rest were due to other causes. Parents we know who have lost children certainly support the vaccine programme.” Fiona’s hope for the new year is that the Trust’s efforts will contribute to a greater awareness of the problems associated with recognition of this serious illness and that families will get the support they need. “There is so much work to do and I’m looking forward to getting started,” she says.
The charity’s 24-hour helpline is 0845 6000 800.
Just what are meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia?
Meningitis is inflammation of the meninges, the linings surrounding the brain. It can be caused by bacteria and viruses Septicaemia is blood poisoning caused by bacteria entering the bloodstream and multiplying uncontrollably.
Viral Meningitis: is more common than bacterial meningitis. It is rarely life threatening but it can make people very weak. It can be caused by many different viruses. Some are spread by people coughing and sneezing, or through poor hygiene, or sewage-polluted water.
Bacterial meningitis /meningococcal septicaemia is less common but is very serious and needs urgent treatment with antiobiotics. It is mainly caused by the meningococcal bacteria but can also be caused by the pneumococcal, Hib and TB bacteria amongst others. E.coli and group B streptococcal bacteria can also cause meningitis in new-borns.
The meningococcus has three main groups A,B and C. Group A rarely causes disease in the UK. Of all the cases in the UK, group B acounts for upwards of 70 per cent, group C accounts for up to 40 per cent and is the main cause of clusters or outbreaks of the disease.
Vaccination: The introduction of a new C vaccine will significantly reduce its incidence in the UK as it gives long-term protection and will be given as part of the childhood immunisation programme, along with the Hib vaccine which protects against Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis.
There is also a vaccine against meningococcal groups A and C which can be given to people travelling to areas of the world were these strains occur. It is effective in about 80 per cent of those who receive it but is not effective in children under the age of 18 months.
There is no vaccine against meningococcus group B which is still the most common group causing meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia.
The National Meningitis Trust is funding research looking for a vaccine for this strain.
How to recognise the symptoms BABIES high temperature, fever, possibly with cold hands and feet vomiting or refusing feeds high pitched moaning, whimpering cry blank, staring expression pale, blotchy complexion fretful and floppy with a dislike of being handled difficult to wake or lethargic the fontanelle (soft spot on babies’ heads) may be tense and bulging ADULTS high temperature, fever, possibly with cold hands and feet vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea severe headache neck stiffness (unable to touch the chin to the chest) joint or muscle paints, sometimes stomach cramps with septicaemia dislike of bright lights drowsiness fitting, confusion and diorientation Both adults and children may have a rash. It may start anywhere on the body as a cluster of tiny blood spots which look like pin-pricks in the skin.
If untreated these blood spots will join to give the appearance of fresh bruises. Do the glass test. If the spots remain when you press a glass against them, seek help immediately.
Do not wait for a rash. It may be the last symptom to appear and in cases of meningitis without septicaemia may not appear at all.
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NEW YEAR CHALLENGE: Fiona Cunningham wants the public to have a clearer understanding of how to recognise meningitis symptoms
