Lawrence Journal-World 11-21-12

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VARSITY HOUSE

A history lesson in giving thanks

City will accept $50K settlement on own terms ————

Commissioners want payment to be made before deal is finalized By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo

ANNIE SHEW, A FIRST-GRADER AT KENNEDY SCHOOL, REACTS after realizing she forgot to draw glasses on a picture of her brother in her “I Am Thankful For” book Tuesday at the school. At right is her teacher, Rebecca Hout. Students were studying Thanksgiving and making drawings that will be distributed to Meals on Wheels clients on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday. AT TOP: Gavin Osburn, a first-grader at Kennedy School, colors a turkey in class Tuesday.

Teaching kids the ‘whole story’ behind Thanksgiving can be tricky By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com

Children in Rebecca Hout’s classroom spent much of this week doing the same thing schoolchildren throughout America were doing: learning about the Thanksgiving tradition and holiday. Hout, who teaches first

grade at Kennedy School, had her pupils make picture books describing the things in their life for which they were thankful. They read those famous short passages from the diary of William Bradford, leader of the Puritan colonists in New England, describing that first Thanksgiving feast in 1621. Some of them also

made Thanksgiving decorations that will be delivered to area seniors through Meals on Wheels. But one thing her students didn’t do was dress up like Indians and Pilgrims and play out the characters that have long been part of the American psyche. “I remember doing that,” Hout said, recall-

ing her own education, “and I remember wearing a Pilgrim costume, and it was fun, but it was characterizing a culture. I think it teaches kids to stereotype Indians. The whole story is so complicated, we don’t get into it that much. It’s just too much for first grade.” Please see HISTORY, page 2A

Lawrence city commissioners Tuesday agreed to a proposed $50,000 settlement to end a dispute over whether the old Varsity House was improperly moved to make way for an apartment complex. But first they sent a message to Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel, the builder accused of improperly dismantling the CITY old home at COMMISSION 10th and Indiana streets: Show us the money. Commissioners unanimously insisted upon new terms for the proposed settlement, adding a clause that would require Fritzel to provide the $50,000 by the first week of January, or else the city would refuse to issue an occupancy permit for the approximately 50-unit apartment complex that Fritzel hopes to begin leasing at the start of Kansas University’s spring semester. Fritzel had proposed that he would have until the end of 2013 to come up with the $50,000 payment and that the city would issue his project an occupancy permit before the settlement was finalized. Commissioners were in no mood to do that.

“I wouldn’t dream of allowing occupancy on this project until this matter is dealt with,” City Commissioner Aron Cromwell said. “And ‘dealt with’ means that we have the money.” Fritzel didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting, but Paul Werner, Fritzel’s architect for the project, said he believes Fritzel will accept the new terms. “We all want to put this behind us,” Werner said after the meeting. “I’ll be very surprised if we are not in agreement with what has been proposed.” The proposed settlement still calls for Fritzel to donate $50,000 to the Douglas County Community Foundation, with the money earmarked for a historic preservation purpose. But commissioners deleted a provision that would allow Fritzel and longtime Oread neighborhood property owner and historic preservationists Carol von Tersch to determine what projects the money could be used to fund. Commissioners instead said the money must be donated to the Douglas County Community Foundation with the stipulation that the City Commission will have the final authority over what historic preservation projects it will fund. Please see CITY, page 5A

KBA hires former Payless executive as new president, CEO By Matt Erickson merickson@ljworld.com

Cantrell

The Kansas Bioscience Authority Board of Directors has hired Duane Cantrell, a former president of Payless ShoeSource, as its new president and CEO.

Cantrell is currently managing partner for the retail consulting firm Genus Consulting in Topeka, where he lives. He is also chairman of the Kansas State University Foundation Board of Trustees. Born in Kansas City, Kan.,

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Cantrell is a lifelong Kansas resident. He graduated from Kansas State in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He said after his hiring was announced Tuesday that he saw the job as an opportunity to give back to the state

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he’d always called home. “I care very deeply about the state and the health of the state,” Cantrell said. Lawrence attorney Dan Watkins, the chairman of the board for the state-funded KBA, said Cantrell became a candidate for the job after he

provided consulting on the strategic planning process that the board undertook this past summer. “He’s a strategic thinker, and he’s got strong executive experience,” Watkins said af-

Group protests Kobach Opinion Puzzles Sports Television

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Children of undocumented immigrants rallied Tuesday, calling on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to resign and drop a lawsuit that seeks to end a program that would allow them to stay in the country. Page 3A

Please see KBA, page 2A

Vol.154/No.326 36 pages


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