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Decades later, son discovers how his mother actually died By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Peacefully in her sleep. That’s how Brian Torres, now 30, believed his mother, former Lawrence resident Nilsa Sanchez, died more than 20 years ago. But Torres last week found
a 2009 Journal-World article detailing his mother’s unsolved murder. “It was a bit of a shock,” said Torres, a construction worker who lives in Dallas. “I was up all night.” Torres was 7 years old in August 1989 when his mother’s strangled body was found
stuffed into a 36-inch-wide culvert under North 1400 Road near Stull, west of Lawrence. Following child abuse allegations earlier that year, state officials removed Torres from the home he shared with his mother in the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Street. At a foster care home in
Lawrence, relatives told Torres that his mother, then 37, died of natural causes. No one then, or ever, told Torres it was a murder, he said. Shortly after his mother’s funeral, Torres was adopted by relatives in Pennsylvania.
Torres
Please see MURDER, page 2A
Sanchez
Colorado business buying Knology
Display of strength a stone’s throw away
By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
ONE OF THE CROWD FAVORITES FOR SHOWMANSHIP, ADAM NELSON throws during the Kansas Relays Men’s Elite Shot Put event on Eighth Street between Massachusetts and New Hampshire streets on Wednesday. The downtown shot-put circuit, popular in Europe, made its U.S. debut last year in downtown Lawrence. See more coverage in Sports, page 1B.
Please see KNOLOGY, page 2A
Teachers ask district for $3,250 pay boost By Christine Metz cmetz@ljworld.com
Teachers in the Lawrence school district would like to see a $3,250 raise next year. That was the offer made Wednesday night by members of the teachers’ union, the Lawrence Education Association. The union asked that the school district keep in place the one-time, $1,000 bonus given to teachers last year and add another $2,250 to that amount. David Reber, the union’s lead negotiator, said that salaries in the Lawrence district continue to be lower than those of surrounding districts, such as Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission. “It has been quite some time since there has been significant new money added to the (base salaries),” Reber said. Last year, the school district
agreed to boost teachers’ base four qualifies for the free or resalaries by $250 and then add a duced lunch program. Currently, one-time payment of $1,000. one-third of the Lawrence teachAt the very least, Reber said, ers’ salaries fall in this range. the teachers would like to see In coming years, Reber said, the the $1,000 in their paychecks this union would like to re-examine the year, or else they would be tak- teacher pay scale, which is based ing a pay cut. on a teacher’s level of education To cover the estimated $3 mil- and years of service. The scale lion needed for the incould be a “little smoothcrease, the district can er” and not have so many draw upon its special “discrepancies,” he said. reserve fund, Reber said. Also Wednesday, the The fund, which can be teachers’ negotiating team used only for health-reasked that the district prolated expenses, has a balhibit “bullying of one proance of $7.8 million and fessional employee by anSCHOOLS has grown by $2.7 million other.” The request was in in three years. response to an incident in which a To provide perspective on how group of teachers attended a meetteacher salaries compare with the ing and provided feedback, which rest of the world, the negotiating a district administrator was unteam highlighted the positions on happy with and reported back to the pay scale below $42,643, the the teachers’ principal. threshold for which a family of Negotiating team member Eliza-
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Lawrence customers of Knology should expect to start seeing changes to their cable, Internet and phone services in the next 90 to 120 days following the announcement that Knology has agreed to sell itself to a Colorado-based company. Englewood, Colo.-based WOW Internet Cable & Phone announced Wednesday it had reached a deal to purchase West Point, Ga.based Knology, including its cable, Internet and phone operations in Lawrence.
beth Gabel said there have been too many incidents where teachers have been reprimanded for giving their opinions and have lost trust with the administration as a result. “Who do they trust to tell?” Gabel asked. “That is the problem. Who can they trust?” Members of the district’s negotiating team balked at putting such language in the contract. School board member Bob Byers said it is not the first time he has heard of such a complaint, but no one ever provides the specifics needed to take action. But he agreed discussions need to start about putting a process in place to address such issues. “It does color negotiations,” Byers said. “It always comes up in some way, shape or form.” — Reporter Christine Metz can be reached at 832-6352.
Executive has ties to Lawrence By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Lawrence’s largest cable and Internet service provider soon will be getting a new name, but one name in the organization may sound familiar to Lawrence residents. When Englewood, Colo.-based WOW Internet, Cable & Phone announced on Wednesday that it had reached a deal to buy Please see EXECUTIVE, page 2A
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