LAWRENCE&STATE
WORLD BRIEFING 1
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD ● LJWorld.com/local ● Saturday, July 23, 2011 ● 3A
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1 | NORWAY
Police: Bomb, shootings kill at least 80 A Norwegian who dressed as a police officer to gun down summer campers killed at least 80 people at an island retreat, horrified police said early today. It took investigators several hours to begin the realize the full scope of Friday’s massacre, which followed an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven and that police say was set off by the same suspect. The mass shootings are among the worst in history. With the blast outside the prime minister’s office, they formed the deadliest day of terror in Western Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings killed 191. Police initially said about 10 were killed at the forested camp on the island of Utoya, but some survivors said they thought the toll was much higher. Police director Oystein Maeland told reporters early today they had discovered many more victims and the death toll could rise even more. A suspect in the shootings and the Oslo explosion was arrested. Norwegian national broadcaster NRK identified him as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik. NRK and other Norwegian media posted pictures of the blond, blue-eyed Norwegian. A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks. “It seems it’s not Islamic-terror related,” the official said. “This seems like a madman’s work.”
Mover run over by truck —————
Lawrence man was working in K.C. Staff Report
A 27-year-old Lawrence man died Thursday from injuries sustained when he tried to stop a moving truck from rolling down a hill near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Fredrick D. Simmons had been part of a crew unloading furniture from the back of a
box-style moving truck Thursday afternoon when the truck’s parking brake “let go,” sending the vehicle rolling downhill, said Capt. Steve Young, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department. The man, who worked for Lawrence-based Professional Moving & Storage, had run after the truck and tried to jump in, but was run over by
one of its rear wheels. He died at an area hospital. “We are sad about the loss of our employee after a tragic accident and pray for the family,” said Bobby Jones, the company’s president. Jones said he could not comment about the circumstances of the accident because it remains under investigation.
Please see GARDEN, page 4A
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2 | WASHINGTON, D.C.
Ban on openly gay in military ended
Al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia vowed to keep most international aid workers out of the country despite a worsening famine and the U.N. warned Friday that 800,000 children could die in the region from starvation. Frustrated aid groups said they want to deploy more food assistance in Somalia but don’t yet have the necessary safety guarantees to do so. The anarchic country has been mired in conflict for two decades and its capital is a war zone. The renewed threat from al-Shabab means only a handful of agencies will be able to respond to the hunger crisis in militant-controlled areas of southern Somalia. The largest provider of food aid — the U.N. World Food Program — isn’t being allowed inside.
kbritt@ljworld.com
Please see CHALMERS, page 4A
House Speaker John Boehner abruptly broke off talks with President Barack Obama Friday night on a deal to make major cuts in federal spending and avert a threatened government default, sending already uncertain compromise efforts into instant crisis. Within minutes, an obviously peeved Obama virtually ordered congressional leaders to the White House this morning for fresh negotiations on raising the nation’s debt limit. “We’ve got to get it done. It is not an option not to do it,” he declared. For the first time since talks began, he declined to offer assurances, when asked, that default would be avoided. Moments later, however, he said he was confident of that outcome. At a rebuttal news conference of his own a short while later in the Capitol, Boehner said, “I want to be entirely clear, no one wants default on the full faith and credit of the United States government, and I’m convinced that we will not.” The two men offered sharply different accounts of the compromise efforts so far and who was at fault for the collapse. “I’ve been left at the altar now a couple of times,” Obama said wryly. “It’s the president who walked away from his agreement,” Boehner contended.
Militants vow to block aid groups
By Karrey Britt
she had to go out of town for those services. “They are so important because they make you feel more normal,” she said. Chalmers attended the event along with his parents, Ronnie and Almarie Chalmers, and older sister Romeka. “Just to see the project is amazing,” Chalmers said. “It’s to help people with cancer in their everyday life — just to help them survive.” He wanted to help cancer patients because a longtime
Chalmers extends a hand to community
Boehner, Obama trade blame in debt talks
3 | SOMALIA
Garden project is learning experience On a recent hot, muggy evening, Katie Hall’s hands, legs and feet were covered in mud as she watered and pulled weeds in the Community and Learning Garden near Free State High School. Sweat was trickling down her face. The FSHS senior is among four students who spend at least two hours a day working in a huge garden, which is full of plants that are about to produce food or already have. “Check out this watermelon,” Katie said enthusiastically. There’s also corn, banana peppers, jalapeño peppers, butternut squash, zucchini, eggNow, it plant, can- may not be taloupe and the prettiest cucumbers growing in garden in the first-year Lawrence, but garden. Soon, there it is a garden could be a that is whole lot of producing.” tomatoes. Katie is quick to — Laura Priest, admit that agricultural education they planted teacher and FFA too many sponsor tomato plants and too close together. It’s just one of many lessons that she’s learned from the project. “It’s kind of messy,” she said about the garden. “When I look out and see all of the weeds, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God,’ but everything’s still alive and that’s good, considering these hot, dry conditions.” Katie’s mother, Susan, and fellow student gardener Christy Wagner soon join Katie in tackling the weeding and watering. “For a first-year garden, I think it is doing absolutely fantastic,” Susan said. “I think it gives these girls a way to really see the fruits of a garden. The rows aren’t perfect, and, yes, there are weeds in it, but it shows them how hard the work really is.” Maintaining the 60-by-60-foot plot has been quite an undertaking for just four FSHS students, which includes Kayla Gore and Cheyenne Patton. Besides planting, weeding, watering and harvesting the school garden, they also help supervise four nearby garden plots that are being grown by members of the community. Laura Priest, who oversees the student gardeners as agricultural education teacher and FFA sponsor, commends the girls for their accomplishments.
2 | WASHINGTON, D.C.
The ban on gays in the military has stood for nearly a century. In 60 days, after decades of discharges, lawsuits and lobbying, that will change. On Friday, President Barack Obama fulfilled a 2008 campaign pledge, formally ending the ban. After meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, the joint chiefs of staff chairman, the president certified to Congress that repealing the ban would not jeopardize the military’s ability to fight. “As commander in chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness,” Obama said in a statement. “Service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country.”
FREE STATE HIGH SCHOOL
Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photo
FORMER KANSAS UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL PLAYER MARIO CHALMERS SHAKES HANDS with Michael Douglas, 13, of Wellsville, after the grand opening ceremony of Mario’s Closet at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Chalmers’ foundation donated $25,000 to the LMH Endowment Association to help establish the specialty shop for cancer patients. Michael, who has a rare lung disease, is one of Chalmers’ biggest fans. After a story about Michael appeared in the Lawrence-Journal World in 2009, the Miami Heat flew Michael and his family down to see Chalmers in action.
Mario’s Closet at LMH provides specialty items for cancer patients By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
Former Kansas University basketball guard Mario Chalmers already is a hero in Lawrence. He made that miracle three-point shot that led to KU’s 2008 national title. But he’s also a hero off the court. Last year, his foundation donated $25,000 to Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association to establish Mario’s Closet, a specialty shop for cancer patients. On Friday, Chalmers, who
now plays for the Miami Heat, celebrated the grand opening of the shop along with about 200 people from the community, including cancer survivors. “It’s just marvelous,” said Lawrence resident Dianna Nelson of the shop that offers wig and salon services, mastectomy bras and prostheses, cosmetics, skin-care products and more. Nine years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer,