NOT SOON ENOUGH
LIFE, DEATH AND ART
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Legislators who cut budgets head to campuses Officials hope to thaw icy relations between higher education, Republicans By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Republican legislators who approved cuts to higher education and have warned that more cuts may be com-
ing will start touring universities this week in preparation for the 2014 session. Both sides — the legislative leadership and higher education officials — say they hope their somewhat
icy relationship of late will thaw outside the pressure of a legislative session. “I don’t know how the visit will turn out, but I think it’s an opportunity to share with each other our concerns,”
said Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita. “The legislators are concerned about the efficiency of tax dollars that are spent. They’re concerned about quality outcomes, and the
schools are concerned about the same thing, so hopefully the communication will bridge the gap that we have right now,” Wagle said. Please see HIGHER ED, page 2A
Retiring the red, white and blue
Wagle
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Questions may save the lives of abuse survivors ——
Questionnaire would help officials assess risk By Stephen Montemayor smontemayor@ljworld.com
John Young/Journal-World Photos
RALPH DALRYMPLE, OF RURAL LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, IS A 91-YEAR-OLD WORLD WAR II VETERAN who served as an Army combat engineer. He watches as torn and tattered U.S. flags are disposed of during a ceremony at the Fraternal Order of Police firing range in rural Douglas County. Dalrymple said he has attended these ceremonies for about the past 10 years.
Flags and the notes they strike E
very flag is inspected. On this day that means about 4,000 of them. They are in cardboard boxes stacked upon each other in a scenic little slice of western Douglas County. A few feet away are old tractor tire rims filled with wood and flames growing higher and higher. This is what a flag funeral looks like, in case you are wondering. America’s enduring symbol will go into the
Lawhorn’s Lawrence
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
flames by the thousands soon enough. But not before each one is inspected. Sometimes that
involves unfolding them. Some of the people who dropped off the flags at American Legion posts across eastern Kansas took the time to fold them in ceremonial fashion — all 13 crisp and precise folds. Even some of the handheld flags, the kind on a wooden stick that are just a few inches in size, were folded as if they had been handled by an honor guard. Each flag gets unfolded and looked at by the volunteers here because ... well, the flag
always deserves your attention. That, and sometimes they come with a note. And a note in a flag is almost always interesting. The volunteers here on this Sunday morning remember the note that was found last year. “I tell you,” said Ron Griffin, commander of Lawrence’s DorseyLiberty American Legion Post No. 14, “we all got a little bit teared up on that one.” Please see FLAGS, page 8A
Those on ‘deer list’ make most of roadkill By Stephen Montemayor smontemayor@ljworld.com
George O’Brien had just popped open a cold one and begun to get comfortable in his living room last Thanksgiving when the sheriff’s department called. “We’ve got a deer out here on 59 Highway,” O’Brien was told. At the scene, a deer lay on the side of the road. O’Brien
asked the deputy to hold down his truck’s tailgate and, using an old ski rope, pulled the carcass into the truck bed. He was just about to return home when another call came. By Black Friday, O’Brien had two deer destined to become burgers, sausage, tanned hides and coyote bait. “We don’t let nothing go to waste,” said O’Brien, a Lawrence resident, from his parent’s rural property just south of town.
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We don’t let nothing go to waste. Here where I’m out at, it all goes to a good purpose.” — George O’Brien, who’s on the Douglas County Sheriff Department’s deer list “Here where I’m out at, it all of volunteers called and offered goes to a good purpose.” the opportunity to pick up freshO’Brien is one of five county ly hit deer. residents on the sheriff’s departPlease see DEER, page 2A ment’s “deer list,” a rotating list
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A list of 20 questions could mean the difference between safety and injury or death for survivors of domestic violence. Area law enforcement agencies have been talking to the Willow Domestic Violence Center about a questionnaire that can be used by those who respond to domestic violence, be it police, the district attorney’s office or area counselors. Willow, which serves Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties, recently floated the idea of law enforcement using the Lethality Assessment Tool after Johnson County’s district attorney’s office saw the number of women and children who found counseling triple since the tool’s rollout there in 2011. “For (survivors) to see we are concerned about their safety really validates their experience as opposed to them choosing to sweep it under the rug,” said Becca Burns, Willow’s director of volunteer services. The questionnaire is divided into two sections, with a top section of three questions that are indicators of a high risk of homicide. A “yes” answer to any one of those three produces a score of six points, enough to require an officer to make a follow-up phone call to a Willow advocate. The second section, which includes 17 one-point questions, also counts toward that six-point threshold. Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said he will meet with Lawrence Police Department Chief Tarik Khatib and Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern this month to dis-
MAPLE LEAF FESTIVAL Thousands turned out in perfect conditions to celebrate the season at the Maple Leaf Festival on Saturday. Page 3A
Please see QUESTIONS, page 2A
Vol.155/No.293 40 pages