alumni news
26 KU LAW MAGAZINE
Kelley Sears, L’74
Marie Woodbury, L’79
Medallion honorees The law school honored recipients of the James Woods Green Medallion at a dinner on May 5 in Lawrence. The medallion, named in honor of the law school’s first dean, recognizes those whose cumulative contributions to the school exceed $25,000. This year’s honorees are pictured above with their medallions. Recipients Shannon L. Spangler, L’87, and Michael Spangler; and Roger Johnson, L’67, on behalf of the Arne L. Johnson Family Trust were unable to attend the ceremony.
Steve Puppe
so-called “bread and butter,” the KBI also assists local law enforcement agencies with cases involving kidnapping, rape, methamphetamine, and cybercrimes such as child pornography and identity theft. The more complex the case, Welch says, the more likely local law enforcement will call the KBI for help. As of 2007, 73 percent of all Kansas law enforcement agencies had 10 or fewer full-time officers, and 52 percent had five or fewer, according to the Central Registry of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC). Welch always did his best to support those struggling agencies via the KBI. During his tenure, the bureau created two additional forensics laboratories, in Pittsburg and Kansas City, and opened another regional office in Pittsburg. The KBI also achieved National Forensic Accreditation on its first try, beating even the FBI to that elusive pinnacle. In response to the brutal rape and murder of Pittsburg State University student Stephanie Schmidt by a convicted rapist, the KBI helped Kansas become the first state to put photos and addresses of registered sex offenders on the Internet. These accomplishments were shepherded by Welch, ever an advocate for the people of Kansas and the state’s law enforcement community. After 25 years in the FBI — some of it spent as the top agent in Wichita, Kan. — and eight years as director of the KLETC before joining the KBI, Welch knew almost every sheriff and police chief in the state. “I don’t think that there is any law enforcement person in the state of Kansas who has more respect from law enforcement people than Larry Welch,” says Bob Stephan, the former attorney general who appointed Welch KBI director in 1994. “I mean he is on a pedestal that is so high it’s almost unbelievable.” Welch often called on his admirers to lobby their legislators for additional resources. The news media were also frequent allies when meth labs, for example, were ravaging Kansas communities and the KBI needed more agents to wage the battle. Of course Welch himself wrote letters to governors, attorneys general, legislators and others to advocate the bureau’s mission. His KU Law education helped prepare him for that task. “I certainly learned a way of thinking and a way of writing – how to use the fewest words to say the most,” he says. “And I know it gave me more confidence.” Welch highly recommends law enforcement as a career option for law students, whose degrees would serve them well in the field or in administration. “My dad was a very quiet-spoken man who seldom gave me advice. When I was in law school, he told me, ‘Find a job that you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’ I didn’t really appreciate what he meant at the time,” Welch says. “But it turns out I did that three times. I was very, very lucky.”