QUARTERBACK PRAISE
FEAST DAY
Reesing, Whittemore excited about KU prospects
Hundreds enjoy free community dinner
Sports 1B
Lawrence & State 3A
L A W R E NC E
JOURNAL-WORLD ®
75 CENTS
LJWorld.com
-/.$!9 s $%#%-"%2 s
‘There has to be something a little bit better for these kids’
Keep your tree green — recycle it tion and should be set out by 6 a.m. the day of pickup. All artificial items, such as When your live-cut Christtinsel, lights and tree stands, mas tree branches are no should be removed. longer lovely, the city of In the past two years, Lawrence will recycle the city of Lawrence them. has helped residents The city will pick up recycle more than live-cut trees on two 4,400 trees. Fridays: Jan. 6 and The trees are Jan. 13. In the past, used for wildthe city has picked life habitat in a up trees on the two closed-down Mondays follandfill site lowing the holinorth of Lawdays, but this rence. year they’ve Trees can changed the be dropped day because off in McLouth Monday falls so at Rose Park. close to New Year’s Leavenworth JefDay. ferson Electric CoThe trees should be placed operative will chip the trees at the curb or alley for collec- into mulch. By Christine Metz
cmetz@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
JUSTINE BURTON HAS FOUNDED STOPGAP INC., which assists kids who age out of foster care by preparing them to live on their own as adults. Burton works out of her Lawrence home, where she is photographed with her dog Grizzly on Dec. 16.
StopGap aids transition from foster care to adulthood By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Lawrence resident Emily Jacobs, now 22, spent her four high school years in the foster care system, leaving when she “aged out” upon graduation. There S h e just wasn’t m o v e d out on her anyone own, but there for it’s been a me if my tough adjustment. car broke “ S u p down.” porting yourself — Emily Jacobs, isn’t easy,” 22, who spent four she said. years in foster Jacobs care before aging has been working out after high and going school. to Johnson County Community College on and off for the past few years. She said life’s little setbacks have thrown her off course a time or two. “There just wasn’t anyone there for me if my car
“
HOW TO HELP STOPGAP INC.
Volunteers are needed for life skills training courses, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning Jan. 18.
The organization seeks financial donations and will host
a fundraiser from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Jan. 18 at 23rd Street Brewery in Lawrence.
For more information, visit stopgapincorporated.org, or call 785-331-3545.
broke down,” she said. More than 1,000 Kansas teens between the ages of 16 and 18 were in foster care this past year because they were abused or neglected. Such teens can come with a variety of challenges that could make life outside of state custody difficult. They often have little work history, poor family support, no credit history and psychological issues resulting from abuse. That’s why former social worker Justine Burton founded the nonprofit organization StopGap Inc. in 2008. After a few years of building support, the group will host its first series of courses for teens in foster care who are getting ready for life on their own.
The five-week course, for those 16 to 18, will focus on topics like job skills, financial planning, education and a variety of other life skills. The program is needed, said Diana Frederick, executive director of the Douglas County Court Appointed Special Advocates. “We definitely see this as an area of concern,” said Frederick, who works with teens through her program. “That’s a very young age to be thrust on your own.” A 2010 study organized by the University of Chicago, the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Function of Former Foster Youth, shows that teens who age out of foster care do much worse than other young
adults in a variety of measures. For instance, former foster kids had a 7 percent chance of ending up in jail by the time they are 24, compared with fewer than 1 percent of those who weren’t placed in foster care. And a quarter of former foster care kids spend some time homeless as they get older. Burton, who runs the nonprofit on a shoestring budget out of her home, said she’d like to reverse those trends and see former foster care children become stable and productive members of the community. In the coming years, Burton said, StopGap will try to establish a transitional living program in the area that could house former foster care kids. “There has to be something a little bit better for these kids,” she said.
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
TORY RUNNELLS, LAWRENCE, works a Christmas Day shift at the FastLane Conoco on Sixth Street. Runnells, who opened the shop, said business was a little slow early but picked up around noon. “Batteries have been popular,” he said.
Not all workers get holiday off ————
Essential services — and battery sales — must be maintained on Christmas By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
I thought about all the wrapping paper flying all over in the houses that I passed coming in to work just before 7 a.m. on Sunday, Christmas Day. On the one day that this country comes closest to standing still, I’m going to work. And I’m — Reporter Shaun Hittle can be reached at not alone. Since I had to work, 832-7173. Follow him at I decided to catch up with a Twitter.com/shaunhittle. whole bunch of other people
who were at work, too, and give them a chance to talk a bit about the whole experience, or, at the very least, break up the boredom. For me — and several others I talked to Sunday — this was a matter of volunteering for a shift. After all, someone’s got to do it. Reporting is becoming even more of an around-theclock job than it used to be. You Please see WORKERS, page 2A
5 years later, murder case may get some resolution By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
A Douglas County judge is scheduled to sentence Major C. Edwards Jr. on Tuesday for his role in the 2006 shooting death of Lawrence hiphop artist Anthony Vital. It will presumably bring closure to a five-year legal drama in Douglas County, but some questions still remain about
A landowner found the body of Vital, 28, the next morning in his rural driveway west of Lawrence, starting a lengthy investigation by Douglas County Sheriff’s investigators. A key question during Tuesday’s hearing will be Edwards Jones whether Edwards, the only person convicted in the case, what exactly transpired the will be sentenced to serve night of Oct. 14, 2006. additional prison time or
INSIDE
Mostly cloudy Classified Comics Deaths Events listings
High: 48
Low: 22
Today’s forecast, page 10A
whether he will be released for the years he’s already served. “Major didn’t pull the trigger,” defense attorney Branden Bell said. “He shouldn’t be punished like he did.” Edwards, 32, of Lawrence, in March 2010 pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a plea deal that would shave four years from his prison sentence in exchange for
5B-10B 9A 2A 10A, 2B
Horoscope Movies Opinion Puzzles
9B 5A 8A 9B
Sports Television
1B-4B, 10B 5A, 2B, 9B
his testimony against his codefendant at the time, Durrell Jones, 24, of Kansas City, Kan. Edwards testified in the March jury trial that Jones shot and killed Vital to collect on a drug debt for PCP. Officers had arrested Edwards in Mississippi days after Vital was shot, but Jones did not publicly come into the picture until prosecutors filed charges against
both men in 2008. During the Jones trial, defense attorney John Kerns often referred to Edwards as “Frontpage Mage” for the amount of news coverage the case received, attacked Edwards’ credibility and accused him of trying to pin the shooting on Jones. Jurors were not able to reach a unanimous verdict Please see CASE, page 2A
COMING TUESDAY We’ll update you on some of the animals we reported on this year.
Vol.153/No.360 36 pages
Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org