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Mike Yoder/Journal-World File Photo
Robert Hemenway in 2008
Ex-KU chancellor Hemenway dies at 73 ——
Family, friends recall positive legacy left on university, students By Joanna Hlavacek Twitter: @HlavacekJoanna
Photos by Richard Gwin
SCHOOL CHILDREN PLAY IN FRONT OF THE MUSEO DE LA REVOLUCION, the former Presidential Palace in Havana. TOP PHOTO: A 1950s General Motors car is seen through a cutout in a home balcony in Habana Vieja where photographer Richard Gwin often sits to drink coffee and feel a bullet lodged in the hand rail.
Lawrence man fills us in on Cuba’s mystique
he Cuban balcony that Richard Gwin often takes his morning coffee on has an old bullet lodged in its railing. It is left over from the days of the Cuban revolution, so it is only natural that Gwin would ask the elder gentleman of the household what he recalls about those turbulent times. “I asked him what they did the day Fidel came to town,” Gwin recalls. “He
said the first thing they did was tear down the parking meters.” Huh? “I don’t know,” Gwin says. “I thought it was damn strange too. They just really didn’t like the idea of paying for parking.” That’s the thing about Cuba: Most of us Americans don’t understand it. But that’s what we love about it — the mystique — says Gwin, who is a
longtime Journal-World photographer. Thanks to a journalistic visa, Gwin has been to Cuba 16 times since the early 1990s. Soon, it will be easier for more of us to go. The United States and Cuba have announced a “normalization” of diplomatic relations, a stark reversal from the days when the two countries were bitter Cold War enemies. Please see CUBA, page 4A
Lawhorn’s Lawrence
Chad Lawhorn
Former Kansas University chancellor Robert Hemenway, who led KU to new heights in enrollment and research during his 14-year tenure, died Friday night at age 73. Hemenway, KU’s 16th chancellor, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease around 9 p.m. Friday in a Lenexa nursing home, with his large family gathered at his side. In addition to his legacy at KU, the former English professor also leaves behind a wife, Leah, and eight children. Recalling his father Saturday morning, Zach Hemenway said the chancellor had a “passion” for education that spanned a 55-year career in both teaching and administrative work. “He really instilled that in all of us — the value of learning and being curious and challenging yourself,” said Zach, who along with two of his siblings went on to attend KU during his father’s tenure.
clawhorn@ljworld.com
Please see HEMENWAY, page 6A
City’s per-capita debt, spending levels raising concern Report shows costs per resident at 10-year highs By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
The city of Lawrence’s per-capita spending and debt levels reached 10year highs in 2014, a trend that city officials are saying cannot be sustained over the long haul. Those numbers were part of an annual performance audit report that Lawrence city auditor
Humid
Michael Eglinski delivered to the City Commission last week. It examined the city’s current financial position and compared it with each of the previous nine years and with other cities of comparable size and demographics. Eglinski then calculated “benchmarks,” which are the median of all the comparable cities. Overall, he said, the
city’s financial position improved in 2014 from the previous year. “However, indicators for long-term liabilities and interest coverage are below the benchmarks and have worsened,” Eglinski said in the report. “The City added longterm debt in 2014.” The report showed that total city spending in 2014 was just under $1,400 per resident,
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and that total debt per resident reached about $1,100. Both of those were 10-year highs, even after adjusting for inflation. Meanwhile, total revenues per resident were slightly more than $1,000, slightly lower than the spending level and below the 10-year high mark set in 2010 when revenues were about $1,500 per resident. Most of the increase in debt in recent years was attributed to the $18 mil-
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lion renovation and expansion of the Lawrence Public Library and the development of the $25 million Herbert Rock Chalk Park recreation center. Lawrence typically issues short-term “temporary” notes during the construction phase of a project, then issues the
Rubber playgrounds? The city is set to install a rubberized play surface at two playgrounds. Page 3A
final long-term bonds when those projects are completed. So both the library and Rock Chalk Park projects were put into long-term bonds last year. “It’s certainly not sustainable,” Commissioner Matthew Herbert said. “A lot of deferred maintenance got taken care of all at once. You had a library that was 30 years out of date. You had a recreation Please see DEBT, page 2A
Vol.157/No.214 34 pages