LAWRENCE&STATE
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD LJWorld.com/local Friday, September 7, 2012 3A
Kindergarten teacher takes prize Educator at Kennedy School wins local Horizon Award
2 additional home burglaries reported ———
Incidents are latest in string of dozens this summer
By Alex Garrison acgarrison@ljworld.com
Second-year kindergarten teacher Lauren Mitchell got a surprise from her colleagues, students and family Thursday afternoon. Her reaction, to everyone packed into the Kennedy School gym, was short and sweet: “Wow, I feel like I’m at the Academy Awards!” she said. “Thank you.” Mitchell was this year’s Lawrence Horizon Award winner. It’s a prize given to young teachers who show a lot of promise. Lawrence public schools Superintendent Rick Doll presented the award, which came with $250 from KU Credit Union. Describing Mitchell, he said to the assembled elementary students: “She’s extraordinary; that means some-
Lawrence Police Sgt. Trent McKinley. The resident was not able to describe
By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
KENNEDY SCHOOL KINDERGARTEN TEACHER LAUREN MITCHELL gets a hug from her husband, Phil, after receiving the Horizon Award Thursday in the school’s gym. The prize is meant to honor young teachers who show promise. thing really special.” Mitchell graduated from Kansas University and has taught at Kennedy since last year. “She inspires her fellow colleagues and goes the extra mile in sharing new and innovative
teaching strategies,” Kennedy Principal Cris Anderson said in the nomination for the award. Doll described her as a “natural” teacher. The district will enter Mitchell into a statewide Horizon Award contest,
to be determined later this year. She may have been surprised, but now she’s ready. “I like competition,” she said.
Two home burglaries were reported in Lawrence Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. About 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a call at the Legends Apartment complex, 4101 W. 24th Place. A male resident of an apartment reported that he returned home to find a person inside his apartment. The suspect fled, and nothing was taken, said
the suspect. About 2:40 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a call at The Reserve apartment complex in the 2500 block of West 31st Street, McKinley said. The apartment was occupied by Please see THEFTS, page 4A
— Reporter Alex Garrison can be reached at 832-6314.
Insurance company accuses apartment owners of fraud By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
LANCE ROBINSON, of Export, Pa., is in Kansas, after traveling through dozens of states to promote the creation of “Brother to Brother Day,” which would be a national day of recognition for military, police, fire and medical emergency personnel.
An insurance company alleges the owners of the former Boardwalk Apartments committed fraud in claims they submitted after a deadly 2005 fire destroyed one building at the west Lawrence complex. The allegations from State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance Com-
pany of Ohio come as part of a lawsuit the Boardwalk owners filed in January claiming State Auto should have paid an additional $1 million in claims to cover business income losses due to the fire. But attorneys for State Auto allege Boardwalk owners “purposefully delayed” rebuilding the Please see LAWSUIT, page 4A
Patriot traveling country to promote day of recognition for uniformed personnel Just A Few Of Our Many Styles Now On Sale!
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By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
In the days following 9/11, tributes were common for military members, police, fire and emergency medical personnel across the country. But now, 11 years later, Lance Robinson can tell you how the attitude has changed. “There is a lot of apathy because the war on terror has drug on for so long,” Robinson said. “There are still a lot of patriots and a lot of Americans who care, but there are some people who are really tired of hearing about it, too.” Robinson ought to know. Robinson has traveled to 25 states since September of 2010 to raise awareness for a new day of remembrance he hopes to establish: Brother to Brother Day. “There have been various people who have tried to raise awareness or tried to raise money, but nobody actually has tried to create a day to honor all the people who serve us.” Robinson, who hails from Export, Pa., has been in Lawrence since last week to drum up attention for the Brother to Brother Day. He received a proclamation from the Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday, and recently rode his bicycle from Lawrence to the Capitol in Topeka to gain attention for the event. Robinson will be hosting an event at 2 p.m. Monday at the Lawrence Visitors Center, 402 N. Second St., to briefly honor uniformed personnel.
Sept. 10 is the day Robinson hopes Congress eventually will declare as a national day of recognition for military, police, fire and medical emergency personnel. Robinson said he’s not looking for the day to become a national holiday. He said people shouldn’t get the day off, but rather ought to go about their daily routines, with one exception. “My goal is that when we see someone in uniform that day, we’ll stop and give each other a handshake of honor,” Robinson said. Robinson began his quest by walking from his Pennsylvania home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in 2010. But the 54-year-old machinist, who served as a Marine in the 1970s, said he had a calling to do more. “It started out as something I just wanted to do privately,” Robinson said. “But I felt like the mission needed to continue.” Robinson proceeded to walk to 18 state capitals in the eastern United States. After taking a brief break, Robinson started back up in March, this time using a combination of a car and a bicycle to travel to state capitals. He said traveling through some of the larger cities on foot or bicycle became too dangerous, so he began driving. But he said he generally stops quite a few miles away from a capital city and Please see BROTHER, page 4A
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