Lawrence Journal-World 09-01-13

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‘Lawrence was an island for hot rodders’

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Statement missing from Stegall’s nomination documents By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

TIM WUDARCZYK, LONGTIME OWNER OF LAWRENCE’S A-1 AUTOMOTIVE, was heavily into the drag-racing scene that decades ago dominated a strip of land in west Lawrence that’s now known as Wakarusa Drive. The local racing culture drew people to town from a “130-mile radius,� he says.

Drag strip that became Wakarusa Dr. revs up a lot of thrilling memories Lawhorn’s Lawrence

Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

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his tucked-away west Lawrence location looks like the site of a crash: There’s a broken guardrail — a wooden one, no less — pieces of debris scattered along cracked asphalt, and just for good measure, an empty Budweiser can in the middle of the pavement. But don’t wait around this scene for a police officer or anyone else to re-

spond. It’s not that type of crash site. Instead, this little quarter-mile spot just west of Wakarusa Drive is where two cultures collided a generation ago: Lawrence’s white-collar growth machine and the city’s once thriving bluecollar drag racing gang. “It was a (expletive) hole, but it was a lot of good times,� Tim Wudarczyk said of the quarter-mile sheet of

asphalt simply known as the Lawrence Drag Strip. “We would run 300 cars through there on a Saturday night.� But those days are as gone as a new flathead Ford. Wudarczyk, who has owned Lawrence’s A-1 Automotive for the past 34 years, said he made the last pass on the drag strip in October of 1986. He Please see DRAG, page 2A

TOPEKA — In 2005, Caleb Stegall, who Gov. Sam Brownback has nominated to the Kansas Court of Appeals, encouraged “forcible resistance� to try to save the life of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who had been at the center of a national debate over the right to die. After the courts ordered removal of Terri Schiavo’s life support, Stegall — an attorney who was then editor of The New Pantagruel, an online Christian magazine — and his colleagues at the magazine issued an editorial statement: “It now appears that all legal recourse to save Terri’s life has failed. As Terri’s family and millions of people know, the State is wrong. There is a higher law. If lastditch efforts in the Florida Stegall Legislature and the United States Congress also fail, and the administration of Governor Jeb Bush fails in its duty to uphold the higher law, those closest to Terri — her family, friends, and members of their communities of care — are morally free to contemplate and take extra-legal action as they deem it necessary to save Terri’s life, up to and including forcible resistance to the State’s coercive and unjust implementation Please see STEGALL, page 7A

To read the documents, go to LJWorld. com.

3 new regents come on board during fight over funding for higher ed By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

TOPEKA — Three new members of the Kansas Board of Regents, who are expected to be confirmed this week by the state Senate, bring varied backgrounds to a group that is fighting for funding for higher education and facing criticism from legislative leaders.

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Shane Bangerter is an attorney in Dodge City and a founding partner of Reiben Bangerter Reiben; Ann Brandau-Murguia is a commissioner on the Kansas City, Kan., governing board; and Helen Van Etten is an audiologist with the Topeka school district. They were selected by Gov. Sam Brownback in June to serve four-year terms on the nine-

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member board, which oversees a system of 32 public higher education institutions, including seven universities, 19 community colleges, and 6 technical colleges. The three already have participated in a board retreat and will officially take up their duties once they are confirmed by

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Brandau-Murguia

Next step on Syria

Van Etten

Vol.155/No.244 32 pages

Congress has to decide whether to approve the president’s plan to attack Syria for alleged chemical weapons use. Page 7A

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