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‘Just wonderful people’
AG issues opinion on guns at polls By John Milburn Associated Press
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
BARBARA MOZINGO AND HER HUSBAND, GEORGE BOWEN, pictured recently in Lecompton with Laura Pate, Mozingo’s daughter, have been traveling the country in their RV assisting various people in need. They are trying to build interest locally in opening a “storehouse,” which would provide furnishings to homeless people who are making the transition into new lives.
TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued guidance Wednesday on how the state’s concealed carry law applies to buildings used as polling places on election days. In an opinion issued at the request of Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Schmidt said voters with permits to carry concealed firearms must Schmidt comply with regulations that applied to the specific location before an election. That means if voters are allowed to have a concealed weapon in a building before the election they will be allowed to carry concealed guns when voting. Please see GUNS, page 2A
Area couple travel the country, lending a hand to those in need By Giles Bruce gbruce@ljworld.com
LECOMPTON — Richard Olson isn’t sure where he’d be had he not met that nice older couple at a campground in Minnesota. At the time, Olson and his family were living in a tent in the woods, sneaking into the showers at the park in Cloquet, Minn. That’s what he was doing one day in June when he met Barbara Mozingo, who was hosting the grounds for the summer with her husband, George. The couple let the family stay at their campsite, drove them to appointments and, eventually,
‘Storehouse’ meeting scheduled To learn more about how the “storehouse” concept could be used to help the homeless in Lawrence, attend an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 5 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1245 New Hampshire St. For more information, contact meeting organizers Laura Pate at 812-219-6440 or laura@zingostores.com and Barbara Mozingo at 218-340-4890 or onthegomo@earthlink.net.
helped them get cellphones, jobs and a place to live. “They’re just wonderful people,” Olson, 47, said of Mozingo and Bowen. “If it wasn’t for them, we’d probably be in a very bad situation right now.”
The Olsons aren’t alone. For about the past five years, Mozingo and Bowen, both 74 and retired, have traveled the country in an RV, helping homeless campers. They estimate they’ve assisted about two dozen people with getting
back on their feet, often giving them nothing more than encouragement and emotional support, without asking for anything in return. “We get hugs a lot,” said Mozingo, as she sat in a recliner in the back of her RV on a recent day in Lecompton, where she and Bowen stay every year for the holidays with her daughter, Laura Pate. “They cry often and say, ‘We wouldn’t be here if not for you.’ But they’re the ones who did the work.” Now they hope to assist the downtrodden closer to home. They are trying to Please see COUPLE, page 2A
Remedial education crucial to success, report says By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Sometimes state leaders complain about providing remedial education to college students, but a recent report says that basic instruction is crucial to the progress of thousands of Kansans and the state in general. For many, remedial or developmental education provides a path to
higher education and out of poverty, said Brian Inbody, president of Neosho County Community College. “It is at the heart of the community college mission,” Inbody recently told the Kansas Board of Regents. “If you are ready to make a change in your life, we are going to meet where you are in your life. And if you can prove
Business Classified Comics Deaths
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which statistics are available, 38 percent of firsttime, degree-seeking students attending Kansas community colleges enrolled in developmental courses during their first year at college. Seventeen percent of university students enrolled in developmental courses during their first year. The most common remedial course Please see REMEDIAL, page 4A
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yourself, you can move on,” he said. Developmental education refers to coursework offered at a post-secondary institution that usually involves intermediate algebra, fundamentals of English or reading. Students usually enroll in the classes to prepare for more rigorous collegelevel courses. In academic year 20102011, the most recent for
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Too many people think developmental education is a dirty word. It’s not.”
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It feels good to have people in your life like that.” — Kidney recipient Mike Brungardt
Brother’s kidney donation tops man’s blessings By Elvyn Jones ejones@theworldco.info
Health and family will top many lists of blessings this Thanksgiving. For 42-yearold Mike Brungardt, of Baldwin City, the two are the same. Brungardt will enjoy his Thanksgiving dinner with his wife, Jill; 17-year-old son, Jake; 15-year-old daughter, Libby; and other members of his Baldwin City extended family with a new lease on health thanks to a kidney he received last spring from his
— Regents Chairman Fred Logan
$5 million bond The man suspected in the deaths of a southeast Kansas woman and her three children is being held on a $5 million bond. Page 3A
Please see BROTHER, page 2A
Vol.155/No.332 36 pages