Lawrence Journal-World 11-16-13

Page 1

CLIFF HANGER

LOSS FOR BIRDS

Top hoops recruit Alexander picks KU Sports 1B

Free State falls to Olathe North, 22-18 Sports 1B

L A W R E NC E

JOURNAL-WORLD ®

75 CENTS

3!452$!9 s ./6%-"%2 s

Setting the wheels in motion

LJWorld.com

Advocates for poor criticize DCF reserve ————

Literacy program calls attention to $48 million By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos

ABOVE, MOTORCYCLISTS JUMP CONSTRUCTED DIRT HILLS inside the Douglas County Community Building during warm-ups for ArenaCross competition Friday. AT RIGHT: Joshua Crumet, 5, of Kansas City, Kan., waits next to his 50cc motorcycle before his race. Fifteen groups of competitors range from professional racers on 450cc bikes to 4- to 6-year-old riders on 50cc bikes. There is also an ATV competition. The event continues today with amateur heats beginning at 4 p.m. and professional races at 7:30 p.m.

Lawrence murder case shines light on caregivers By Stephen Montemayor smontemayor@ljworld.com

At the center of Lawrence’s second homicide of 2013 were, allegedly, a man’s concerns over his wife’s ongoing health problems. Larry L. Hopkins, 67, is scheduled to return to Douglas County District Court on Wednesday for a hearing that will determine COURTS whether a mental health evaluation will find him competent to stand trial in the Nov. 5 shooting death of his 61-year-old wife, Margaret.

TOPEKA — Groups that help the needy and children are upset that the Kansas Department for Children and Families has a reserve of $48 million in a program designed to help the poor. The issue most recently came to light when DCF said it was taking $9 million in federal funds, under a program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, to pay for a childhood literacy program pushed by Gov. Sam Brownback. Brownback DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said the agency had $48 million in reserve funds. “It appears that they are not spending adequate money on the core responsibilities for TANF,” said Karen Wulfkuhle, executive director of United Community Services of Johnson County, on Friday. TANF is a federally funded program designed to help needy families achieve selfWhen opsufficiency, according portunities to the U.S. Department of Health and Human come up and Services. States receive we see it is an block grants to design appropriate and operate programs aimed at the purposes of use of money, we do a lot of the program. The four purposes of programs.” TANF are to provide assistance to families so that children can be — Theresa Freed, cared for; reduce depen- spokeswoman for the dence and promote job Kansas Department of preparation; prevent and Children and Families reduce unplanned pregnancies and encourage formation of two-parent families. Wulfkuhle and others who advocate for the poor say that with as much need as there is in Kansas, there shouldn’t be a $48 million reserve in TANF. “We have fewer dollars that are being invested in our poorest families to meet their basic needs,” she said, citing child care and job training, in addition to cash assistance. But Theresa Freed, a spokeswoman for DCF, defended the agency’s use of TANF funds. “When opportunities come up and we see it is an appropriate use of money, we do a lot of programs,” she said. “We certainly don’t want to just dump

serving as her primary caregiver despite his own health history that includes heart problems and at least one recent stroke. Area health care service providers say the Hopkinses fit a not-uncommon profile of a caregiver reluctant to ask for help and a patient who fell into an age gap keeping her from some services. Though providers describe this area as rich with health options, they also deNick Krug/Journal-World File Photo scribe waiting lists — mostly LARRY L. HOPKINS of Lawrence attends his first court appearance in due to depleted funding — and age and income requirethe death of his wife, Margaret, on Nov. 6. ments as obstacles for some For years, Margaret Hop- before knee problems fur- in need. kins suffered from arthritis, ther immobilized her. NeighPlease see HOPKINS, page 2A diabetes and nerve damage bors recalled Larry Hopkins

Please see DCF, page 2A

City commissioners to consider donation of land for nature park By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

Central Lawrence may become home to the city’s newest nature park. City commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday will consider accepting a donation of about eight acres of property that includes a large pond and hardwood forest on the former site of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in the Pinckney neighborhood.

“It is just a perfect place,” said John McGrew, leader of the Outside for a CITY Better Inside COMMISSION organization, one of the leading advocates for the project. “It could be a jewel of a nature park.” Lawrence-based Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center owns the

Rain possible

Shaw, who died in 2010, was the longtime CEO of Bert Nash, which has its headquarters just a couple of blocks away from the proposed park site. “It would be a very fitting tribute,” David Johnson, the current CEO of Bert Nash, said. “Sandra really was a leader in the idea that good mental health is fundamental to good health in general. This park would promote that.”

INSIDE Business Classified Comics Deaths

High: 70

property, and it is proposing to donate the back half of the site to the city. Bert Nash still has plans to eventually use the front half of the site to house a new medical office building that would provide space for both Bert Nash and the Heartland Community Health Clinic. Both Bert Nash and Outside for a Better Inside are asking the city to name the park the Sandra J. Shaw Community Health Park.

2A 1C-6C 11A 2A

Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion

12A, 2B Puzzles 5C Sports 4A Television 10A

along the Kansas River. McGrew said the park also could incorporate some of the interesting history that has happened at the site. The large pond was created as early settlers mined clay from the site to make many of the bricks used on Lawrence’s older streets. The city also once played host to a community zoo, McGrew said. “I’m thrilled about the

Secret balloting still alive 5C 1B-12B 12A, 2B, 5C

Low: 49

Today’s forecast, page 12A

McGrew said his organization would work to raise more than $100,000 in grant money and private funds to build a trail around the multi-acre pond. Eventually, he hopes city officials will be successful in finding grant funding for at least two additional trails that would go through adjacent Burcham Park and Constant Park, which would link the new park to the downtown via a scenic route

Join us at Facebook.com/LJWorld and Twitter.com/LJWorld

Members of the Kansas University employee and faculty senates have grappled over the past several weeks with the issue of secret ballot voting. So far it has survived. Page 3A

Please see PARK, page 2A

Vol.155/No.320 30 pages


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.