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LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD ● LJWorld.com/local ● Friday, April 15, 2011 ● 3A
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READ ACROSS LAWRENCE
1 | LIBYA
Gadhafi defiant despite NATO airstrikes Moammar Gadhafi rolled defiantly through the streets of Tripoli, pumping his fists as he poked through the sun roof of an SUV on Thursday — the same day that NATO airstrikes shook the city. The alliance’s foreign ministers, while united in their aim to pressure the Libyan leader to go, argued at a meeting over whether to step up military operations that have so far failed to rout him. Gadhafi gave no sign that he’s willing to relent, despite two months of civil war and mounting international pressure for him to move aside. Instead, his loyalists pounded rebel positions in the besieged western city of Misrata with dozens of rockets for several hours, killing at least 13 people. The main target of the assault was Misrata’s port, the only lifeline for rebels who have been trying to defend positions in the city, Libya’s third-largest, against Gadhafi’s forces.
Couple recount friendships with Capote, Lee By Joe Preiner jpreiner@ljworld.com
ONLINE: See more about “In Cold Blood” and the Clutter family murders at LJWorld.com
A full room at the Lawrence P ublic Library was treated Thursday evening to a firsthand account of the lives of two great American authors. Garden City residents Bob and Kay Wells entertained a capacity crowd during the second event for the library’s annual Read Across Lawrence initiative.
The husband-and-wife duo was invited to speak in the library’s auditorium because of their known friendships with Truman Capote, author of “In Cold Blood,” and Harper Lee, the P ulitzer Prize-winning author of this year’s Read Across Lawrence book, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Both authors visited the area in the early 1960s following the 1959 murder of Herbert Clutter and his family on a farm in Holcomb. Capote’s book is based on the violent crimes and subse-
quent trial of perpetrators Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. During their time in Kansas, Lee and Capote became friends with a number of the residents, including the Wellses. Kay said that when they first found out Capote would be visiting the area, they were told he’d be traveling with his secretary. “First of all, we had no idea that Capote’s secretary was Harper Lee,” Kay said. “She’s very warm, she has a great sense of humor.”
World’s oldest man dies at 114 Walter Breuning, the world’s oldest man and second-oldest person, died Thursday. He was 114. Breuning died of natural causes in a Great Falls hospital, said Stacia Kirby, spokeswoman of the Rainbow Senior Living retirement home where he lived. Breuning had been hospitalized since the beginning of the month with an undisclosed illness. Breuning was 26 days younger than Besse Cooper of Georgia, whom the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles lists as the world’s oldest person at 114. In an interview with The Associated Press last fall, Breuning attributed his longevity to eating just two meals a day, working as long as he could and always embracing change — especially death. “We’re all going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you’re born to die,” he said.
By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
3 | CHICAGO
Obama restarts money chase President Barack Obama said Thursday that the 2012 presidential campaign will be about how to solve the country’s fiscal challenges without doing harm to “the America we believe in.” “We are going to be able to present a very clear option to the American people,” the president told Chicago hometown supporters in his first fundraisers since formally announcing his re-election last week. “We can get our fiscal house in order, but we can do it in a way that is consistent with our values and who we are as a people. Or we can decide to shrink our vision of what America is. And I don’t believe in shrinking America.” Bracing for a fight against re-energized Republicans determined to deny him a second term, the president sought Thursday to reanimate supporters who swept him into the White House in 2008 on promises of change — including liberals disappointed at his compromises with the GOP.
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
SOUTHWEST JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER KRISTIE WILLHITE-LAING LEADS her group in practice on Thursday for the 21st Annual Foundation Follies at Liberty Hall. The event is a variety show fundraiser for Lawrence schools and features the talents of school board members, administrators, teachers, staff and friends starting at 7 p.m. today at Liberty Hall. See video at LJWorld.com.
Long-term care advocate’s service is tribute to wife By Micki Chestnut
4 | NEW YORK CITY
Special to the Journal-World
ABC cancels 2 longtime soaps ABC canceled two of its three soap operas on Thursday, consigning “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” — and Susan Lucci, daytime’s most famous actress — to television history. The move leaves “General Hospital” as ABC’s only daytime drama, one of only four that will remain on ABC, CBS and NBC’s daytime schedule. Soap operas have slowly been fading as a TV force, with many of the women who made up the target audience now in the work force. In place of the two canceled dramas, ABC will air shows about food and lifestyle transformations. 5 | KENTUCKY
Files show KFC founder got death threat As it turns out, Colonel Harland Sanders wasn’t the only one keeping secrets. Newly released documents from the 1970s show the FBI investigated a death threat against the iconic KFC founder and pitchman, creator of the secret recipe for the chain’s fried chicken. The warning came from someone identified as “The General.” A handwritten note addressed to Sanders and his wife told the restaurant entrepreneur from Kentucky that he was in “grave danger of being murdered.” Sanders died in 1980 at the age of 90 after being stricken with leukemia. His secret blend of 11 herbs and spices launched the KFC chain, and the recipe remains one of the world’s most enduring corporate secrets.
When Earl Nehring’s wife, Harriet Nehring, helped found Kansas Advocates for Better Care, little did he know that the agency’s mission to advocate for those in long-term care facilities would become very personal. After serving as KABC’s executive director for 15 years, pioneering for improved long-term care for elders, Harriet developed Alzheimer’s disease. Suddenly, her husband found himself looking to KABC not as the spouse of one of its key leaders, but as a caregiver in need of support. KABC armed him with the knowledge he needed to select the right long-term care facility when it came time, then monitor the level of care his wife received while in the facility. So when the organization asked Nehring, a retired professor of political science at Kansas University, to serve on its board of directors, he gladly accepted as a tribute to Harriet. Since then, Nehring, 90, has contributed so much to the mission of KABC that the organization selected him as its United Way
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
RETIRED LAWRENCE RESIDENT EARL NEHRING, a volunteer for Kansas Advocates for Better Care, was named volunteer of the year for the organization for leadership and board service. Roger Hill Volunteer Center Volunteer of the Year for Leadership/Board Service. “The most valuable part of volunteering is you feel like you are doing something useful for your community, and you have the satisfaction of helping the organization improve,” said Nehring, whose wife died in 2007. “Volunteering is a wonder-
ful way to meet new and different people. The people who get involved in nonprofit organizations are usually very interesting.” Others involved in KABC recognized Nehring’s connection to the cause. “Through his personal carePlease see VOLUNTEER, page 5A
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KU elects student leadership
Follies to raise money for schools
2 | MONTANA
The Wellses hosted dinners and social gatherings with Capote and Lee at their Garden City home. Pictures from the occasions lined a table in the back of the library auditorium. Kay talked about the ease with which Lee made friends in town and about how the two writers helped soften the mood in the city. “I was so scared,” she said of not knowing who the murderers were at the time. “I would turn
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Kansas University students on Thursday elected a senior from Lawrence to serve as their next student body president. “I’ve been a Jayhawk all my life,” said Libby Johnson, the president-elect, who attended Lawrence High School. “I’ve never known anything else.” Gabe Bliss, a sophomore from Olathe, was elected as student body vice president. The duo said they would immediately get to work on their platform issues, including bringing concerts to Allen Field- Johnson house (Louis Armstrong and Bob Marley have played at KU, Johnson pointed out), more environmentally friendly restrooms and Bliss adding a bike rental program for students. Bliss said the two of them didn’t have any top issues — a diverse group of students requires a diverse set of goals, he said — but one of the first orders of business will be to plan out which of their platform issues would take the most time and work on those first. They said they would also work to open more lines of communication with students. “Student Senate does amazing things on campus, but not everyone knows that,” Johnson said. About 20 percent of KU students voted in the election, and Johnson and Bliss, who ran as members of the KUnited coalition, said they were pleased with the higher turnout figures, which nearly doubled last year’s totals. They defeated Casey Briner and Josh Dean from the RenewKU coalition. Johnson and Bliss earned 3,111 votes to Briner’s and Dean’s 2,007 votes. “It’s exhilarating,” Bliss said. “We can’t put that into words.” — Higher education reporter Andy Hyland can be reached at 832-6388. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/LJW_KU.
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