EXIT STAGE LEFT
STEERING BEN?
Theatre Lawrence building saw share of drama A&E 1C
AAU coach reportedly took agent money Sports 1B
L A W R E NC E
JOURNAL-WORLD ®
$1.50
LJWorld.com
35.$!9 s -!9 s
Growth planned near Rock Chalk Park ——
Timing uncertain for residential, retail developments By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
LAWRENCE SWAP MEET CHAIRMAN JOE ARNESON, LEFT, AND GEORGE LAUPPE, right, one of the founders of the swap meet, confer at the event Friday on the Douglas County Fairgrounds. The event, which ends at noon today, is hosted by the Lawrence Region Antique Automobile Club of America.
Annual swap meet is greater than the sum of its auto parts
N
ow this is shopping. You grab a piece of merchandise off a hay wagon, and when you put it down, a little piece of it — perhaps a bit of grease or a flake of rust — is left on your hand. It is the Lawrence Region Antique Auto Club of America’s Swap Meet at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. And the surest thing about the event — which began Friday and ends at noon today — is that you never know what you may find on the hundreds of wagons and makeshift tables set up by vendors. “Some farmer may find a part in a ditch, and he’ll bring it in and try to sell it,” said Ralph Reschke, president of the club. “That’s no joke.” It is the type of place where one morning you can drop your kid off to work at a 4-H food stand that feeds the thousands of shoppers, and by that evening you’re leaving the fairgrounds with a trailer hauling an old
Lawhorn’s Lawrence
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Richard Gwin/Journal-World File Photo
Model A in bits and pieces that you announce to your wife as your next project. Reschke knows that for a fact. That was his first experience at the show more than 35 years ago. His wife gave him a pass on that one, but when he later brought home a Plymouth convertible, he got a sterner look. The Plymouth was missing its top, floor and engine, but other than that, it looked great to an old car guy like Reschke. And that’s the thing about this place, which has
VARIOUS CLASSIC AUTOMOBILE PARTS FOR SALE are displayed at the Lawrence Region Antique Auto Club of America’s Swap Meet in 2010 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. been described by some as a shopping mall for men. There’s a golden rule that — it has been suggested — makes men a bit different when they shop. “If you want to find a bargain here, the main thing is to know what you are looking for,” Reschke said.
evidently have known what they are looking for at the Lawrence Swap Meet. The event started with 10 to 15 vendors in a corner of the fairground’s parking lot and has grown to consume the entire 40-acre complex during the first weekend of each May. Now it is known as the
For 50 years, people
Please see SWAP, page 2A
By this time next year, when much of the Rock Chalk Park sports village is completed in northwest Lawrence, community leaders are hoping to have more than just a state-of-the-art athletics complex. They’re hoping — and planning — for the recreation center and sports facilities to be a magnet for residential and retail development around the Sixth Street and South Lawrence Trafficway intersection. It’s an area that has The area is been circled as a develop- on the burner ment hotspot right now for for years, but it hasn’t yet some folks. I reached criti- wouldn’t say it cal mass be- is on the front cause of the burner yet, but economy and other factors. I know that it’s There are coming.” signs, however, that heat — Kelvin Heck, commay be build- mercial real estate ing. A quick look around agent with Colliers the intersec- International tion shows at least three large pieces of vacant property being marketed by commercial real estate agents. “The area is on the burner right now for some folks,” said commercial real estate agent Kelvin Heck, whose Colliers International brokerage of Lawrence has all three listings. “I wouldn’t say it is on the front burner yet, but I know that it’s coming.” But Heck also is trying to temper expectations some may have that the area is poised to explode with new development now that Rock Chalk Park has gone from lines on
“
Please see GROWTH, page 6A
Brownback administration touts income tax collections By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Kansas Department of Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan says recent state tax collections show that Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cuts are working as economic stimulants. The state collected $25 million in individual income tax receipts last month, or 5.7 percent more than in April 2012. Jordan said Kansans were able to keep more in their pockets, contrib-
uting to economic growth that is offsetting the effect of lower tax rates. “We’ve p r e d i c t e d Brownback that a fiscal environment where Kansans get to keep and invest more of their paycheck would bring economic growth to the state,” Jordan said. But state Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, a
A&E Books Classified Deaths
Low: 47
Today’s forecast, page 10B
businesses. The recent revenue estimate from state officials and economic experts showed that individual income tax revenue will decrease to $2.4 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1 from $2.85 billion in the current fiscal year. That’s a drop of $450 million, or 15.8 percent. And Holland said Jordan’s claim that increased revenue was due to tax cuts undercuts Brownback’s call to extend the 6.3 percent state sales tax rate.
INSIDE
Warmer, rain
High: 64
critic of the tax cuts that Brownback signed into law last year, said it was too early for the Brownback administration to claim success. “Let’s wait until next year” to analyze the effect of the cuts, said Holland, the ranking Democrat on the Senate tax committee. Last year, Brownback signed into law cuts in state income tax rates and exemptions from income taxes for the owners of 191,000 partnerships, sole proprietorships and other
1C-8C 6C 1D-8D 2A
Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion
2B, 8C Puzzles 7D Sports 2C Television 9A
Join us at Facebook.com/LJWorld and Twitter.com/LJWorld
The Legislature reconvenes the 2013 session on Wednesday to write a budget and work on tax policy. In 2010, legislators approved a three-year increase in the state sales tax to 6.3 percent to avoid deep budget cuts as the state struggled during the Great Recession. The sales tax is set to decrease to 5.7 percent on July 1. But Brownback wants to keep the rate at 6.3 percent, saying the higher rate is needed to
balance the budget. He faces opposition on the left and the right. Democrats say Brownback wants the higher rate to provide more income tax cuts for the wealthy while saddling the rest of Kansans with a higher sales tax. Conservative Republican legislators say they won’t vote for the higher sales tax rate because they believe the budget can be cut further.
Helping animals 7C, 7D 1B-9B 2B, 8C, 7D
Operation WildLife is preparing for an upcoming fundraiser, which will contribute to saving the lives of young animals. Page 3A
— Statehouse reporter Scott Rothschild can be reached at 785-423-0668.
Vol.155/No.125 36 pages