Lawrence Journal-World 01-18-15

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BIG 12 DISAPPOINTMENT L A W R E NC E

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SUNDAY • JANUARY 18 • 2015

ANOTHER LOOK

PAUL BAHNMAIER, president of the Lecompton Historical Society, says that he and others are thrilled with the addition of new businesses in downtown Lecompton.

AT LECOMPTON

LJWorld.com

Quakes linked to fracking; now what? Kansas admits saltwater disposal is behind drastic seismic changes By Karen Dillon Twitter: @karensdillon

Kansas officials have been reluctant to link the mysterious earthquakes in south central Kansas to fracking, but last week they said for the first time the temblors are We can likely caused by dispossay there is a al of the waste water strong that is a byproduct of the oil and gas extrac- correlation ...� tion process. “We can say there is a strong correlation — Rick Miller, Kansas between the disposal Geological Survey of saltwater and the earthquakes,� Rick Miller, geophysicist and senior scientist for the Kansas Geological Survey, told the Journal-World.

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Nick Krug/Journal-World Photos

KEVIN DARK, OWNER OF BALD EAGLE SPEED SHOP, steps in after taking out the trash on Wednesday in downtown Lecompton. Dark, who grew up in Lecompton and who also flies refueling planes out of Forbes Field, opened his shop in February of 2014. Dark says on nice evenings in warmer weather, he and friends pick away at guitars and mandolins and invite members of the community to come hang out in the shop. To view an audio slideshow, please visit: www. ljworld.com/LecomptonRevitalized

Residents revitalizing tiny town that’s huge on history

T

hese days, the eyes of a nation are no longer on Lecompton, Douglas County’s tiniest town of about 600 people. But that’s OK, because there are plenty of eyes in Aunt Netters these days, scanning the chalkboard to see if a good breakfast skillet is the diner’s daily special or whether some other down-home creation is coming out of the kitchen. Today, about 160 years after the town’s founding, the issues have changed just a bit in Lecompton.

Sunny

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There were many times I thought this little town was going to dry up. But it has come back. The past year has been outstanding for us.� — Gary Kroeger, owner of Lecompton’s Kroeger’s Country Meats Back then, in 1855, the town certainly was making national headlines as the Territorial Capital of Kansas. Lawmakers and a whole bunch of Missouri sympathizers wrote a Constitution that would bring Kansas into the Union as a slave state.

When it was sent to Congress, all hell broke loose. There was a fight in the congressional chambers where one lawmaker pulled the wig off another lawmaker. But most importantly, it divided the Democratic Party over whether

High: 59

Low: 26

Today’s forecast, page 6B

Lawhorn’s Lawrence

Law enforcement training center hopes to survive By Sara Shepherd

Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

Kansas should be a slave state or a free state. It divided things so much that the Democrats ran two candidates for president that year. Neither of them won. Instead, Abraham Lincoln did, with a mere 40 percent of the vote because of the divided field. Then, hell turned to Please see TOWN, page 2A

Twitter: @saramarieshep

Kansas University hopes the Legislature will find another $3.9 million a year to offset lower-than-projected revenue for the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, which the university runs in western Kansas as part of its continuing education program. With the state facing a massive budget shortfall this year, that’s a tall order. But KU and center leaders say not getting the KANSAS UNIVERSITY money could put the center at risk for defaulting on bond payments and force “catastrophic program and personnel cuts.� “We’ve been able to survive up to this point,� said center director Ed Pavey. “But Please see CENTER, page 7A

INSIDE Arts&Entertainment 1C-6C Events listings Books 4C Horoscope Classified 1D-6D Movies Deaths 2A Opinion

Please see FRACKING, page 6A

2B, 6C Puzzles 8A Sports 2C Television 9A

8A, 5C 1B-6B 2B, 6C

Join us at Facebook.com/LJWorld and Twitter.com/LJWorld

High-tech courts Douglas County Courts are set to round out their move into the teleconferencing age by year’s end. Page 3A

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Vol.157/No.18 28 pages


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