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RUNNERS-UP: Free State High girls place second at state swimming. 1B L A W R E NC E
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Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Putting taxes to the test
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Project looks at the alumni who died
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or those born decades after the Vietnam War, it’s hard to comprehend the social and political upheaval of the era. College campuses, including Kansas University, played a large role in the American public’s response to the war. They became hotbeds of resistance where many in danger of being drafted organized massive protests. Others went to fight. This project re-examines this period of our cultural and political history by taking a look at 59 men who attendRead about each ed KU during a time of KU student who widespread uncertainty, died in the war. Pages 10Athen shipped off to fight 12A and perish in an unpopular war in an unfamiliar land. These stories were produced by seven students from The William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kansas University who have been brought together to explore significant but under-reported statewide issues. Funding for the project was provided by the Clay Blair Family Foundation, which supports educational opportunities throughout Kansas. l Cliff Cushman was a KU track star and Olympian. Page 9A l Hal Mischler volunteered for a dangerous, secret war. Page 9A
t is time once again to try to answer the question that just never goes away: Are taxes too darn high here? Whoa, let’s not all talk at once. Instead of people pounding tables and throwing coffee cups, I thought we would try to look at some numbers. Don’t worry, I’ll do the arithmetic. (They’re big numbers, so I’ve already added extra beads to my abacus.) But before we get into the numbers, here’s a reminder of why now might
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Please see TAXES, page 4A
Dredging may not halt state water woes A U.S. MARINE south of Khe Sanh, Vietnam, carries a flag found on the body of a slain fellow Marine in this June 17, 1968, AP file photo.
By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
State water officials in Kansas are preparing to launch a $20 million project to dredge sediment out of the John Redmond Reservoir near Burlington, about 80 miles southwest of Lawrence. But John Redmond is not the only reservoir in Kansas that is filling up with sediment. By the end of this century, researchers say, the state’s 24 fed-
eral reservoirs will have lost more than half their original capacity, and dredging them all will not be a viable option. “Restoring the original volume of the 24 at the end of the century, at today’s prices, would cost $13.6 billion,” said Jerry deNoyelles, deputy director and senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey, located at Kansas University. “And where Please see WATER, page 2A
KU professors defy militants in Nigeria from half a world away By Ben Unglesbee bunglesbee@ljworld.com
The region of Nigeria where Boko Haram militants have become a terrifying part of daily life, most recently by kidnapping more than 250 girls from a school in the village of Chibok, was also once home to Nana Asma’u, a princess, poet and scholar who taught other women about Islam.
To Beverly Mack, a Kansas University professor of African and African-American stud- Mack ies, Asma’u represents everything Boko Haram fears as they see girls and young women becoming educated. In the 19th century, Asma’u composed poems
A SIGN IN KANSAS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR BEVERLY MACK’S OFFICE reads, “Educating girls is a human right.” The sign was part of a demonstration in downtown Lawrence to raise awareness of the more than 250 Nigerian girls kidnapped by militant group Boko Haram.
to help w o m e n learn the Koran as well as historical narratives and other Ajayi-Soyinka s c h o l a r l y w o r k s . Mack, who spent years translating the works of Asma’u, notes that there is nothing historically Please see NIGERIA, page 8A Ben Unglesbee/Journal-World Photo
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Forfeiture funds The recent rise in drug forfeiture money seized in Douglas County last year meant a rise in training. Page 3A
Vol.156/No.143 42 pages