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WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 12 • 2015
Mayor’s status unknown as city OKs $207M budget
Gov. Sam Brownback said Kansas law requires districts to spend twothirds of their funding in the classroom, but only a handful of districts meet that target.
Brownback urges schools to move money into classrooms By Roxana Hegeman Associated Press
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
LAWRENCE VICE MAYOR LESLIE SODEN reaches over to grab the gavel to conduct Tuesday’s Lawrence City Commission meeting after it was apparent that Mayor Jeremy Farmer would not be attending. Farmer resigned from his position as executive director of Just Food on Monday, when it was revealed that the local food bank owed about $50,000 in back payroll taxes. Farmer’s status with the commission was unclear Tuesday.
Absence follows Just Food resignation By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Four of the five Lawrence city commissioners gave final approval Tuesday to a $207 million city budget for 2016, but there remained a cloud of uncertainty about the status of Mayor Jeremy Farmer, who was absent from the meeting without explanation. Farmer’s absence came one day after he resigned “by mutual agreement” with the board of directors from his regular job as executive director of Just Food after the nonprofit local food pantry learned that about $50,000 in federal pay-
roll taxes had not been remitted to the IRS. Farmer did not return phone messages from the Journal-World on Tuesday to answer questions about Farmer whether he intends to remain on the commission. Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard said she had not spoken directly with Farmer, but she was informed that he would likely be absent from Tuesday’s meeting. That left Commissioner Leslie
Soden, who serves as vice mayor, to chair Tuesday’s meeting. “I was prepared in case he arrived and decided to resign,” Soden said after the meeting. “I had a speech ready in case he did that because I try to be prepared.” Earlier in the day, however, Soden told the Journal-World that she would understand why he might resign his seat. “Serving as the mayor is a large responsibility, so I certainly understand if Jeremy needs to step down to have adequate time to handle his personal obligations,” she said. Please see CITY, page 6A
DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSION
Large turnout expected for meat shop case Secretary of state opposes local chef’s business plan
By Karen Dillon Twitter: @karensdillon
A permit for a specialty meat shop — one that’s opposed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach — is expected to be the big draw at the Douglas County Commission meeting today. Brian Strecker, a wellknown Lawrence chef who ran the kitchen at Pachamamas for 13 years, would like to build a 640-squarefoot building for a business called The Burning Barrel on 30 acres to process al-
ready slaughtered and disemboweled hogs and beef in northern Douglas County. The shop would be located at 292 North 2100 Road, about four miles west of Lecompton, and would use locally raised animals to make hams, sausages and other cuts of meat. The business would provide employment for up to four people. Strecker told the commission he would not process more than four hogs a week.
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that the business might expand in the future. Kobach, who owns 160 acres and a one-bedroom home nearby, is one of the leading opponents of the business. Kobach is not a resident of the area. He has said “the hog processing plant” would ruin the bucolic beauty of the Please see COUNTY, page 4A l Commission slated
to approve budget. Page 3A
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Please see SCHOOLS, page 4A
Former FSHS swimmer killed in K-10 accident By Conrad Swanson and Caitlin Doornbos Twitter: @conrad_swanson; @CaitlinDoornbos
A 19-year-old Lawrence man who was known as a talented swimmer at Free State High School was killed in a car accident Tuesday afternoon on Kansas Highway 10. Hunter Cade Robinson was driving westbound on K-10 around 1:15 p.m. when he stopped his van along the south shoulder, just west of Kansas Highway 7, said Technical Trooper Tiffany Bush of the Kansas Highway Patrol. Robinson left the van and stepped to the front of the vehicle before entering the highway’s right lane of traffic for an un- Robinson known reason, Bush said. There, he was hit by a westbound 1999 Chevy Malibu. Robinson was pronounced dead at the scene, Bush said. The driver of the Malibu, Cristal M. Howey, 42, of Gardener, was not injured in the crash, according to the KHP’s online crash logs. Howey’s passenger, Donnie Ray Brown Jr., 30, of Kansas City, Kan., was taken to Overland Park Regional Medical Center for a possible injury. Please see ACCIDENT, page 2A
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The shop has raised the ire of some Lecompton residents and neighbors. They fear that obnoxious odors comparable to a hogprocessing plant or Kobach rendering plant would permeate the area and that truck traffic would crowd the highway. They also raised concerns
Wichita — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback urged school districts on Tuesday to move more money into the classroom and hold down the administrative costs of running their schools. The Republican governor’s comments came after he addressed educators at a training session in Wichita and lauded the Kansas Reading Roadmap initiative, a program that aims to improve reading levels in grades K-3. Districts across the state are grappling with cuts under SCHOOLS a new funding formula purported to give schools more choice in spending. Brownback signed a bill in April that dropped the state’s old funding system and substituted it with block grants. Supporters said those would provide more stable funding for schools, but many school districts have reported their funding was
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Bond concerns Citing funding problems, Moody’s Investors Service has scored KPERS bonds lower than the state’s overall rating. Page 3A
Vol.157/No.224 36 pages