LAWRENCE&STATE
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD LJWorld.com/local Saturday, March 17, 2012 3B
BRIEFLY
KU editing teacher wins award, $10,000 A Kansas University associate professor of journalism has been honored as the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Journalism and Mass Communication Teacher of the Year. The Scripps Ward Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards competition is a national competition that seeks to honor the best work in the communications industry and journalism education, according to a statement. Doug Ward, a former staff editor at The New York Times who teaches editing courses at KU, will receive $10,000 and the Charles E. Scripps Award. The award will be presented Aug. 9 in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication at the association’s annual conference in Chicago.
Capital murder charge filed in girl’s death TOPEKA — A 28-year-old Topeka man has been charged with killing an 8-year-old neighbor girl whose family said she was sleeping when she was snatched from an apartment. The capital murder charge filed Friday against Billy Frank Davis Jr. gives Shawnee County prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty. Davis was found hiding in a creek bed Tuesday morning, just hours after Ahliyah Irvin’s body was found. Davis also is charged with rape of a child, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, burglary to a residence and criminal damage to property.
Breaking Common Ground Program uses public lands to grow food By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
About two dozen garden enthusiasts gathered Friday near John Taylor Park in North Lawrence to break ground on the City of Lawrence’s Common Ground program. “This is a great day,” City Commissioner Bob Schumm said while holding a shovel to help plant the first potato. “It’s a labor of love for me. There’s nothing like fresh food out of your garden.” The Common Ground program allows nonprofit organizations and community groups to lease city-owned properties that are vacant or under utilized for growing fruit and vegetables for sale or donation. In its inaugural year, the program features five garden sites:
Seventh and Walnut streets near John Taylor Park. This features a children’s discovery garden that Ballard Community Center will help with and a community garden where residents can rent plots. About one-third of the plot also will be used by local farmers. Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
1304 and 1315 Pa. These plots will be HAYLEY LUNA PLANTS A POTATO as T.J. Everett, left, and Lawrence City Commissioner community gardens Bob Schumm look on. They helped officially break ground on the city’s Common where residents can Ground program Friday near John Taylor Park in North Lawrence. Everett and Luna Please see GARDEN, page 4B are members of the student garden project at West Middle School.
House OKs budget By John Hanna Associated Press
TOPEKA — A proposed $14.1 billion budget for Kansas received first-round approval Friday from the state House after members decided to boost spending on mental health services and help public schools cover unanticipated costs. The House considered numerous amendments to the budget, drafted by its Republican-dominated Appropriations Committee, then advanced the entire bill on a voice vote. A final vote Monday will determine whether it moves to the Senate. The Appropriations Committee stuck closely to many of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s spending recommendations as it sought to ensure the state would be left with a comfortable cushion of cash reserves next year, while leaving room for significant income tax cuts. “It’s a budget that mirrors, by and large, big pieces of what the governor did,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Marc Rhoades, a Newton Republican. “I would call it responsible.” The House’s proposed budget is likely to cut overall state spending by about $600 million, or about 4 percent, and could leave the Please see BUDGET, page 4B
SATURDAY COLUMN
Capital campaign will play critical role in KU future By Dolph C. Simons Jr.
Next month, Kansas University and KU Endowment Association officials will kick off the public phase of Far Above: The Campaign for Kansas, the university’s fourth capital campaign. Program for Progress, the university’s first such campaign, was launched in 1964. The public goal was around $18 million, but the campaign eventually raised $21 million. At that time, this was the largest capital campaign of any state-aided university west of the Mississippi. The drive was headed by the late Stanley Learned, a Lawrence native and the chairman of Phillips Petroleum Co. The next campaign was called Campaign Kansas and was started in 1987 with a goal of $150 million. This, too, was a successful effort, eventually raising $262.9 million and creating a foundation for giving to KU that continues today. The late Jordan Haines, a Wichita banker, chaired that campaign.
The most recent campaign, KU First, was launched in 1998 with a goal of $500 million. It ended in 2004 having raised $653 million. This drive was chaired by Forrest Hoglund, a Texas energy executive. Although no goal has been publicly announced for the Far Above campaign, it is likely to top $1 billion, somewhere between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion. This sounds huge, and it is. However, all money given to the university over the past three, four or possibly five years will be counted toward the campaign goal. This would include the $300 million-plus contributed for the National Cancer Center designation for the KU School of Medicine, money contributed to KU Athletics and other millions given or pledged to the KU Endowment Association. Chances are, the campaign will have $500 million to $600 million already in the bank, leaving only $500 million or $600 million to raise in the next
four or five years to top the $1 billion or $1.3 billion target. The endowment association, over the past few years, has been raising in excess of $100 million a year, so without any
COMMENTARY major added effort, and with the normal input of gifts and pledges, Far Above appears to be an almost guaranteed success. The drive has been postponed too long! One of the nation’s most respected professional fundraisers told this writer several years ago that KU had “left millions of dollars on the table due to not having a capital campaign organized and under way years ago.” Although it appears a target of $1 billion or more looks to be almost automatic, there is concern by many that a much larger goal should be set to try to generate true “added” or “new” dollars, not just dollars that seem relatively automatic.
NUTRITION for the
SENIOR ADULT Tuesday, March 20 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Program to be held at Brandon Woods 1501 Inverness Drive, Lawrence Join Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Brandon Woods at Alvamar for a free program for the community. Topics include special nutritional concerns for the older adult and tips for shopping and preparing food for one or two. Light refreshments served. Due to space restrictions, advance enrollment is required. Please call Brandon Woods at (785) 838-8000 to enroll.
BRANDON WOODS B AT ALVAMAR
This year’s effort will be headed by three couples: Kurt and Sue Watson of Andover, Tom and Jill Docking of Wichita, and Mark and Stacy Parkinson of Washington, D.C. Kurt Watson is a former endowment association chair. Tom Docking is an attorney and Jill Docking is a financial adviser and former member of the Kansas Board of Regents. Parkinson is a former Kansas governor. It’s an impressive array of leaders. However, it’s unfortunate Far Above is behind schedule. This is due to a combination of reasons. The last three to five years of Chancellor Robert Hemenway’s tenure presented problems, and the Lew Perkins years at KU Athletics had a negative impact. Following Hemenway’s retirement, an interim chancellor was in office and time was then required for an assessment of how Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little would be accepted by alumni and friends and the effectiveness of her leadership in a capital campaign.
Also, there was much concern about who could be recruited as a highly respected, vigorous, effective fundraiser to chair the drive. All of these situations combined to stall the campaign. There’s no question that a capital campaign is needed if the university is to take advantage of its opportunities and improve its academic stature. For several reasons, some due to the university itself, state funding does not meet the needs. Also, added dollars alone will not guarantee a better academic institution. This is where vision and leadership is critical, particularly entrepreneurial leadership from Strong Hall. Where funds from Far Above are allocated also will play a critical role in whether the university uses these dollars to get the best results. New buildings attract the most attention and they are a sexy, attentiongrabbing part of the campaign, Please see COLUMN, page 4B
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