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SATURDAY • JANUARY 3 • 2015
Results are in: ‘Frozen’ is hottest library item
ENDANGERED?
By Elliot Hughes Twitter: @elliothughes12
In 2014, Lawrencians were treated to a newly renovated and expanded public library. And they sure did indulge. The Lawrence Public Library operated out of the new digs for only five months of 2014, but the public used it at a far higher rate than it did the year before. The total number of visits jumped 64 percent in 2014 and the library’s issuance of borrowing cards grew by 28 percent, according to marketing director Jeni Daley. So with all the foot traffic flying by, which items couldn’t stay on the shelves in 2014? Much of the most desired titles involved books that also took to the silver screen that year. “I am a little surprised about how we Donna Tartt’s “The like our media to be Goldfinch” was the crossed over,” said most checked out work readers services co- of adult fiction last ordinator Polli Ken. year at the Lawrence “So pretty much ev- Public Library. erything that we’re reading, we’re also watching. That’s just interesting to note.” There are some notable standalones, too, such as “The Goldfinch” — a “doorstopper” of a book, Ken said — taking the top spot among books. And to no one’s surprise, “Frozen” conquered the movies and was the most checked-out item of the year. Here are the rest of the Lawrence
Chip Taylor, an insect ecologist at Kansas University and founder of Monarch Watch, says a grassroots plan, rather than a top-down approach, is needed to save the Monarch.
KU expert questions putting Monarch on list what to do with their property,” Taylor said. “The real challenge is to get the message out and get the public involved. This really is the any advocates for endangered speway to go.” cies cheered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Taylor pointed to the controversy over the Service’s announcement this week that lesser prairie chicken that has been building it would take steps to protect the monarch but- over the past year. In March, the Fish and terfly under the Endangered Species Act. Wildlife Service listed the bird as threatBut at Kansas University, one of the counened under the Endangered Species Act. The try’s leading Monarch butterfly scientists and bird’s population has dropped 50 percent the founder of Monarch Watch was more because of a loss of natural prairie grass habicircumspect about government involvement. tat, scientists say. Chip Taylor, an insect ecologist at KU, said Kansas and other states that were affected he fears a Pandora’s Box could be opened even before the listing was official have filed if the federal government steps in and tells lawsuits. Kansas legislators filed a bill to preproperty owners they need to conserve certain vent the federal government from regulating vegetation to provide the critical habitat for lesser prairie chickens in the state. U.S. Rep. butterflies. Please see MONARCH, page 2A “Nobody wants the government to tell them By Karen Dillon
Please see LIBRARY, page 2A
Twitter: @karensdillon
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Race relations improving, but much work remains, official says By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Friends remember former school board member as strong and caring advocate By Chad Lawhorn Twitter: @clawhorn_ljw
Whether it was at her longtime post at the front desk of the Lawrence fire department or from her seat on the Lawrence school board, Alice Fowler often was working to help someone, said friends of the longtime community leader, who died on Tuesday. “She was a real advocate for anybody who she cared about,” said Rich Barr, who worked with Fowler for about 20 years at the Lawrence fire department. And Fowler cared about many, friends said. “She just knew everybody,” said State Rep. Barbara Ballard, who served with Fowler for eight years on
the Lawrence school board. “She will be missed because she was so reliable, would listen and would give you a perspective based on so much history.” Fowler, 80, died at her longtime North Fowler Lawrence home. She previously had served two terms on the Lawrence school board, from 1985 to 1993. Ballard and Fowler in 1985 became the first black women to serve on the Lawrence school board, Ballard said. Ballard said Fowler always was very concerned about schools in different parts of the city remaining equitable and ensuring that no one from
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any part of the city got left behind. “She understood that some parents were left out because they never really were encouraged enough to be involved,” Ballard recalled. “She always reminded us to not assume people didn’t care because they didn’t show up. She wanted to make sure we represented everybody.” Fowler also was well-known through her job as the secretary for the Lawrence fire department, a position she held for 20 years until her retirement in 1995. “I remember she kept us in line,” said Barr, the city’s former fire marshal. “She really was like a second mom to a lot of us. She really had a big
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Topeka — The head of the Kansas African-American Affairs Commission said she agrees in part with President Barack Obama, who recently said race relations in the United States are better now than they were a generation ago. But she said Kansas still has a long way to go to achieve the goal of equal opportunity for people of color. “We haven’t made many gains in the area of improved equity for AfricanAmericans in our state,” said Mildred Edwards, a former member of the Kansas Board of Regents who Edwards has headed the AfricanAmerican Affairs Commission since 2009. “I think by virtue of the history of the state of Kansas being a free state, we don’t have much of the overt practices of racism,” Edwards said. “We have covert practices, I think, and that’s really some of the subtleties that we’ve been trying to address through the commission.”
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Garden resolutions Check out a few ideas for new year’s resolutions geared toward people who like to garden. Page 8A
Please see RACE, page 2A
Vol.157/No.3 18 pages