LAWRENCE&STATE
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD ! LJWorld.com/local ! Sunday, March 11, 2012 ! 3A
BRIEFLY
Police looking for armed robbery suspect Lawrence police are searching for a suspect in an armed robbery that took place Saturday evening on Iowa Street. Sgt. Troy Squire said an unknown man entered ProCuts, 2500 Iowa, about 6 p.m., armed with some kind of handgun, and demanded money. The staff gave him an unknown amount, and he fled on foot; he was last seen headed east on 25th Street. Officers searched the area to no avail, and detectives are now handling the case. Witnesses described the man as wearing jeans and blue sweatshirt with a green scarf or ski mask covering his face. Anyone with information regarding the suspect is asked to call the detective bureau at 830-7430 or the anonymous tips hot line at 843-8477.
Shots fired after Wichita concert; 1 killed WICHITA (AP) — Wichita police aren’t identifying a person who was killed by gunfire after a hip-hop concert in the city’s Old Town district. The Wichita Eagle reports five people were shot early Saturday morning after a concert at Doc Howard’s Lounge featuring Pleasure P. Police exchanged gunfire with a man after chasing him into a parking garage, but they’re not saying if he’s the one who died. Witness Michael Turenne told the newspaper he was walking his dog when he heard what he thought was a vehicle backfiring, but instead it was gunshots. He estimated more than 1,000 people were milling about Old Town after the concert when the shots rang out in the middle of what Turenne called a hostile crowd.
MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM
Sheriff warns of effects from cuts By George Diepenbrock gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
McGovern
As advocates ask state legislators to spare the state’s mental health system from further cuts, they argue taxpayers will still bear the costs as more mentally ill individuals will end up in county jails
or correctional facilities. “It’s like squeezing a balloon full of water,” Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center CEO David Johnson said. “It doesn’t really get smaller. It just goes some place else.” Johnson, who leads the Douglas County agency, said
community mental health centers statewide have experienced $59 million in cuts since 2008 because of the state’s budget crisis. Included in that, mental health reform grants were cut by $20 million, and nearly $10 million was cut in 2010 because of Medicaid rate reductions.
Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern in February urged support of funding the state’s community mental health system when he testified before a House committee on a hearing about the social services budget. Please see CUTS, page 4A
State contest puts calculated moves to test Chess competition draws almost 600 students By Chansi Long clong@ljworld.com
ONLINE: See the audio slideshow at LJWorld. com
Nearly 600 students participated in the Kansas State Scholastic Chess Championships at the Kansas Union on Saturday. Lucas Dryer, a fifthgrader from Olathe, was among them. Dryer was decked out in KU gear (his dad’s an alumnus) and after his first game, he gravitated toward his parents and shared the news. Big grins immediately stretched across their faces. Lucas won his first game in about 20 minutes, but the games can last an hour. Near the end of Lucas’ game, things tipped in his favor when he was able to pin his opponent’s queen to his rook. Then later, when Lucas took down his opponent’s queen, he knew that he had clenched the
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
WICHITA 10-YEAR-OLD NICHOLAS MILEHAM not only waits for his opponent to make a move but also to show up for the game during the Kansas Scholastic Chess Association Championships on Saturday at the Kansas Union on the Kansas University campus. About 600 Kansas students from kindergartners to 12th-graders competed in the annual state competition. game, so it was no surprise when he won. Lucas, 10, has been playing chess since he was 4. His grandfather is from Bulgaria, a country
where chess flourishes. Lucas has watched his grandfather play since he can remember. Later he began competing with him. They still play
together today. “He wins sometimes, but usually I win,” said Lucas. His parents, Jeff and Helena, have a profound
respect for chess. They study the game, reading books by Susan Polgar, a Hungarian-American Please see CHESS, page 4A
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