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Curbside recycling deal in works
Good times roll down Mass. Street
By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos
MUSICIANS AND THE MASSES gather Tuesday on Massachusetts Street for Lawrence’s annual Mardi Gras march. The group, performing such numbers as “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Down by the Riverside,” paraded through most of downtown and even into a few select restaurants during the noon-hour event. For a video and online photo gallery, visit LJWorld.com.
Lawrence city commissioners are ready to strike a deal to bring a citywide curbside recycling service to Lawrence — and a more convenient way for residents to get rid of all those empty glass bottles. On Tuesday, commissioners unanimously agreed to begin negotiating with Perry-based Hamm Companies on a deal that would allow the company to build a multimillion-dollar recycling processing facility that would serve a new city-run curbside recycling service. Based on proposals received CITY from Hamm, the city expects COMMISSION the new program to add about $2.80 to $3 per month for every-other-week service, which will include glass as part of the curbside recycling service. “We have such a reputation in Lawrence of being such a progressive community, but when people hear we don’t have a universal curbside recycling program, they are amazed by that,” City Commissioner Aron Cromwell said. Lawrence residents will have to wait a bit longer for curbside service, assuming Please see RECYCLING, page 2A
Water, sewer upgrades would tap wallets By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
A PARTICIPANT DRESSES COLORFULLY for Tuesday’s downtown Lawrence Mardi Gras march.
EMILY RUSSELL AND RAY REICH swing to some Zydeco music during a Fat Tuesday breakfast at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor, 1429 Kasold Drive. Along with bacon, beignets and plenty of beads, residents and guests at the Manor were treated to tunes by musicians Michael Bradley and Tommee Sherwood.
DISABILITY ADVOCACY
Stricter rules urged for seclusion and restraint By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
Parents of students with severe behavioral disorders offered graphic accounts Tuesday of cases when their children were subjected to harsh physical restraints or lengthy isolation to control their outbursts, and they
urged the Kansas State son had been carried Board of Education to by his arms and legs adopt stricter regulaspread-eagle through tions than the ones bethe hallways and, in one ing proposed. case, was pinned naked Kelsyn Rooks Sr., to the ground while one whose autistic son at- SCHOOLS staff member kneeled tends school in the on top of him to hold Blue Valley school district in him down and another stood Johnson County, told a hear- above “screaming at him and ing held by the board that his berating him.”
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Rooks, along with other parents and several disability advocacy groups, urged the state board to put stricter regulations in place, including a provision that gives the Kansas Department of Education a direct role in enforcing those regulations.
Leaky pipes and a growing city may end up costing the average Lawrence homeowner about $500 in extra water and sewer bills over the next five years. Lawrence city commissioners got the full pitch Tuesday afternoon for why water and sewer rates ought to rise to fix aging pipes and to build a new sewage treatment plant south of the Wakarusa River. Commissioners didn’t agree to any new rates, but kept the issue of a rate increase alive by asking staff members to bring back additional information in the coming weeks. “We have some facilities that are just worn out, or out of space,” Mayor Bob Schumm said. Two large projects stand out in the plan proposed by city staff members: construction of a $54.7 million sewage treatment plant along the Wakarusa River south of Lawrence; and $19.4 million to fix deteriorating sewer pipes. Work on the second sewage treatment plant would begin immediately in order for the plant to be operational in the next
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Tax plan advances
Vol.155/No.44 28 pages
Most of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan for further overhauling Kansas’ tax system clears a state Senate committee. Page 3A
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