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SATURDAY • MARCH 5 • 2011
House speaker banning union official from gallery ‘I guess if he had his way, he would build a moat around the Capitol and only allow people in who agree with him’ By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
ONLINE: Watch video of Tunnell and union supporters at LJWorld.com
T O P E K A — House Speaker
O’Neal
Cooler
High: 42
Low: 24
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE KU closes out season at rival Missouri With a victory today in Columbia, the Jayhawks can wrap up an undisputed Big 12 title, but that won’t come easy playing against Tigers, who are 17-0 at home this season. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. Page 1B
Mike O’Neal on Friday said he was banning a union official from the House gallery over a dispute stemming from last week’s protests. O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, said Bruce Tunnell, executive vice
president of the Kansas AFLCIO, encouraged workers to be disruptive while the House voted on an anti-union bill. And, O’Neal said, Tunnell removed his lobbyist identification badge during the protest.
“That is not appropriate,” O’Neal said, adding that Tunnell would be prohibited from the public viewing gallery for the rest of the legislative session. Tunnell denied he removed his ID badge or did anything inappro-
Child rapist to serve 2 life terms
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Board chairman defends expenses
If ever paroled, Donald Brown will be subject to electronic monitoring for the rest of his life
By Christine Metz cmetz@ljworld.com
Clarke, had asked Kittel for his client to be eligible for parole after 25 years. “It is a very severe punishment and is sufficient,” Clarke said when asking for a 25-year sentence. Brown tearfully apologized for his actions and to the victims. The family chose not to attend the hearing, McGowan said. “I have committed terrible sins. I’ve hurt many people. I’m very sorry
TOPEKA — Stays at the RitzCarlton, limo rides and a milliondollar life insurance policy were among the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s expenses that had the Senate Commerce Committee asking questions Friday morning. In its third hearing on KBA spending, the state committee continued to grill the KBA about staff salaries, bonuses and expenses — CEO and President Tom Thornton’s in Democratic and Republican particular. “It just leaders say Sen. seemed very Susan Wagle’s flagrant in a inquiries into the time of need,” KBA could said committee jeopardize chairwoman Sen. Susan efforts to get Wagle, R- the National Bio Wichita. and AgroWagle is ask- Defense Facility ing for an audit of the agency, built in Kansas. and the Com- Page 2A merce Committee has proposed a bill that would change how the KBA is governed. Among Wagle’s concerns was a letter sent by Melissa Lynch, the former executive assistant of Tom Thornton. Lynch, who in 2006 was the first employee other than Thornton hired to operate the KBA, wrote that she left after 16 months because she was uncomfortable “with how
Please see RAPIST, page 2A
Please see KBA, page 2A
By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
Lawrence High boys’ dreams over after loss The Lawrence High boys basketball team couldn’t overcome a 22-2 run and suffered a season-ending sub-state loss to Leavenworth, 63-50, on Friday night. Page 1B
“
QUOTABLE
For the Vietnamese, the Hoan Kiem Lake turtle is the most sacred thing. He has helped the Vietnamese to defeat foreign invaders and also helped the country to have peace. I hope he will live forever.” — Retired state employee Nguyen Thi Xuan, 63, who traveled from a suburban district to try to get a glimpse of a rare, ailing giant turtle that is considered a sacred symbol of Hanoi. Page 7A
COMING SUNDAY Kansas University’s new athletic director, Sheahon Zenger, is taking the Jayhawk message across the state.
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Douglas County District Judge Peggy Kittel on Friday sentenced a Lawrence man to serve a prison term of 50 years to life for raping and sexually molesting two girls. “It was certain in this case that the defendant had a fiduciary relationship with these children,” Kittel said before sentencing Donald L. Brown, 33. “They were placed in his care by the parents of the victims to spend time with and basically babysit these children.” Brown had pleaded guilty in January to eight charges, including Natasha M. Brown three counts of is serving more child rape for having sex with the than two years for not reporting two girls from 2008 the sexual abuse. to 2010. The Topeka girls, who now are 9 and 11, would frequently stay at Brown’s northern Lawrence home in between school and church activities. “The request is that Donald Brown never get out of prison,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Amy McGowan, who prosecuted the case. Kittel granted McGowan’s request to have Brown serve two life sentences back to back. On each sentence, Brown will not be eligible for parole until after serving 25 years. McGowan had asked for one life sentence for each victim in the case. In December, Kittel sentenced Brown’s wife, Natasha M. Brown, 34,
Please see UNION, page 2A
Senator calls KBA spending ‘flagrant’
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SPORTS
priate. A video taken of the protest shows Tunnell leaving the gallery with his ID on. He accused O’Neal of going after labor unions as Republican leaders are doing
Interference?
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
DONALD L. BROWN ADDRESSES the court shortly before being sentenced to at least 50 years in prison for sexually assaulting two young girls at his Lawrence home from 2008 to 2010. The girls are now 9 and 11. to serve more than two years in prison after a jury convicted her of two counts of child endangerment for not reporting the sexual abuse. The girls’ family met the Browns through Heritage Baptist Church, which is northwest of Lawrence. According to evidence at Natasha Brown’s trial, the girls told their parents last May about Donald Brown. Lawrence police officers later arrested the Browns. Donald Brown’s attorney, Michael
HOOPS HISTORY
Original basketball rules on display at museum By Bill Draper Associated Press Writer
KANSAS CITY, MO. — An unabashedly fanatical Kansas University basketball fan helped unveil the game’s original rules Friday on Missouri soil, but James Naismith’s creation will be in Kansas City less than three months before heading to its permanent home in Lawrence, Kan., in June. David Booth and his wife, Suzanne, purchased Naismith’s “Original Rules of Basket Ball” in December for $4.3 million in a Sotheby’s auction with the intent of eventually putting them on permanent display on the Kansas campus. But f irst, they’re on display through May 29 at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where the nearly 120-year-old document is more than two centuries younger than the eight huge Jan Leyniers tapestries that adorn the giant hall’s walls. They were officially unveiled Friday afternoon in a ceremony attended by Booth family members, members of the Kansas athletics staff and the media.
Museum director Julian Zugazagoitia said having the rules displayed at Nelson-Atkins will bring a whole new audience to the facility to see not only the basketball documents but the works of art spread throughout the museum. Zugazagoitia, who has been director of the museum for six months, said he has been fascinated by Kansas City’s love of all sports — especially basketball. “Here you have a game that was invented, the man lived to see it go to the Olympics, which was also an amazing feat, and what a better thing than someone that is also so close to home,” he said. Naismith penned the 13 rules on Dec. 21, 1891, for the YMCA training school in Springfield. His boss had given him two weeks to come up with a new indoor activity for his gym class, and he wrote down the rules on the eve of that deadline. He gave the list to his secretary, who typed them up on two pages that Naismith pinned on a bulletin board Please see RULES, page 4A
AP Photo
JULIAN ZUGAZAGOITIA, from left, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Sarah Rowland; Suzanne Deal Booth; and David Booth unveil James Naismith’s original rules of “Basket Ball” at the museum Friday in Kansas City, Mo. The Booth family purchased the rules for more than $4 million, for eventual display at Kansas University.