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Voters going to polls today urged to bring photo ID By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Brownback
Voters going to the polls today to participate in either the Republican or Democratic primary must bring one item with them to allow them to cast their
ballots: a photo ID. For many Kansans, this will be the first election under a new requirement that voters present a government-issued photo ID, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is urging voters to remember.
But election officials say people who don’t have the required ID or forgot to bring it with them can cast provisional ballots. They would then have seven days to present proper ID to have their vote counted. Officials are predicting
a low turnout at the polls, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In the Republican primary, Gov. Sam Brownback, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the billionaire Koch brothers, and Kansans for Life have been working to
defeat a group of Republican senators who they say have been obstacles to their agenda. Brownback said he got involved “because of the alliance in the state Senate between Democrats and some Please see VOTERS, page 2A
Painting himself into a corner Special to the Journal-World
ADAM LEONARD, 11, displays his ribbon-winning wall hanging, which recently turned up missing at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
Thefts of fair items dash boy’s hopes By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
LAWRENCE RESIDENT JORY WATKINS stretches to put a white coat of paint on the north side of a building Monday at 1401 Mass. Watkins said he appreciated being on the shady side of the building during the afternoon heat.
Thrill-seeking a common motive behind home invasions, expert says
Mostly sunny
High: 96
By George Diepenbrock
Low: 65
gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Today’s forecast, page 10A
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INDEX Business 6A Classified 6B-10B Comics 9A Deaths 2A Events listings 10A, 2B Horoscope 9B Movies 4A Opinion 8A Puzzles 9B Sports 1B-5B Television 4A, 2B, 9B Vol.154/No.220 20 pages
The thrill of entering a home while residents slept or just plain cowardice are likely motives in a recent string of Lawrence aggravated burglaries, a psychologist said. Lawrence police last week arrested 31-yearold Ronald Kenneth Brooks Jr., and he was charged with entering two northern Lawrence homes while residents were sleeping between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. July 31. Officers caught him near the two homes. But for weeks, dozens of Lawrence residents had reported similar crimes to police. They said they had awakened in their homes and discovered a burglar inside. Or they’d awakened and discovered that items were missing. Often, police said, the burglar would enter the homes through an unlocked door or an open garage. The crimes were dif-
ferent from a common night auto or garage burglary or breaking into an empBrooks ty residence. Brian Russell, a Lawrence psychologist and attorney, said the suspect or suspects may not so much have been after valuable items but may have wanted to experience entering someone else’s home with people inside. “There are certain people who do crime primarily for the thrill, at least the act itself,” he said. The suspect also might have only needed a small amount of money to support a drug habit and worked to try to steal a small amount at a time. “It’s important to keep in mind: Criminals are almost always cowards,” Russell said. “You can have somebody who went
in there to steal something. Then they get in there and somebody detects their presence, and they immediately turn tail and run because they want to be able to do this again tomorrow.” There was one report of a suspect breaking out the rear glass door of an east Lawrence residence and stealing a TV inside. But typically in the recent burglaries only smaller items that could fit into a backpack or bag were stolen, if anything at all. About $1,900 worth of electronics were stolen in one July burglary, and other times a suspect ran before taking anything, often when residents awoke inside. Russell said one danger is that some criminals start with more petty acts like shoplifting before working their ways to more dangerous crimes. No assaults were reported in the recent string of aggravated burglaries. “It could be that our police did a nice job of
catching somebody who was on the upswing of an escalating thing,” Russell said. “You get away with something enough times, you start to get bold.” Brooks had a 2004 drug conviction and spent time in federal prison for assaulting a mail carrier in Topeka in 2008. Another man, William D. Washington III, 32, of Lawrence, was arrested June 9 after a similar home burglary was reported in west Lawrence, but he has not been charged with any other burglaries. The aggravated burglaries also did not stop after Washington was arrested, so police said there could be more than one suspect involved. None has been reported since Brooks’ arrest. Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman, said detectives were still following leads in the case and trying to determine if either Washington or Brooks could be tied to any of the other burglaries.
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Adam Leonard spent a couple of months working on his Christmas wall hanging. The 11-year-old boy learned his skills from his grandmother, Cathy Miles, and through the Maple Leaf Quilters Guild. He was able to earn a reserved grand champion ribbon for his project at last week’s Douglas County Fair, but when a family friend went to pick up the wall hanging last weekend, it was Please see FAIR, page 2A
Restaurant inspection results online In July, the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s food inspectors visited 26 Lawrence restaurants, finding 47 critical violations, which are violations of the food code that could cause a foodborne illness. As part of a continuing Journal-World project, we’re collecting data from all Lawrence restaurant inspections and entering it into a searchable database and online map. To check the most recent inspections, visit LJWorld.com/restaurantinspections. — Reporter Shaun Hittle can be reached at 832-7173. Follow him at Twitter.com/shaunhittle.
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