Lawrence Journal-World 04-06-11

Page 1

SWEET DREAMS

WIN-WIN

Business booming at new Eudora bakery

FSHS, LHS baseball both earn victories

Pulse 10B

Sports 1B

L A W R E N C E

JOURNAL-WORLD

®

75 CENTS

LJWorld.com

WEDNESDAY • APRIL 6 • 2011

Few voters, surprises in elections Experience sways voters for City Commission

Tuesday’s winners

Lawrence City Commission ● Bob Schumm ● Mike Dever

Lawrence school board

● Hugh Carter

● Rick Ingram ● Shannon Kimball

● Randy Masten ● Keith Diaz Moore

By Chad Lawhorn

New school board majority shares ideals By Mark Fagan

clawhorn@ljworld.com

mfagan@ljworld.com

Experience seemed to matter Tuesday to the voters in the Lawrence City Commission race — or at least to the ones who showed up. Voters gave big victories to Bob Schumm and Mike Dever, the two most seasoned candidates in the field. Hugh Carter, a political newcomer but the son of a former Lawrence mayor, also won a spot on the commission with a third place finish. “I think voters liked that I had both busiDever ness experiNick Krug/Journal-World Photo ence and City Hall experi- CITY COMMISSION CANDIDATE BOB SCHUMM leans over to kiss his wife, Sandra, upon her arrival at the Douglas County ence,” said Courthouse on election night Tuesday. Schumm was the top vote-getter in the City Commission race and, along with Mike Schumm, a Dever, earned a four-year term on the commission. Hugh Carter won a two-year term. longtime downtown restaurant and Visit LJWorld.com/elections for detailed maps of election results in Douglas bar owner who County. Click on “results” next to each race and you’ll see a precinct-bypreviously Carter served on the precinct breakdown of votes for each candidate. commission in the early 1980s and early 1990s. But mainly voters liked to stay home. Turnout countywide was estimated at 13.3 percent, and several precincts in Lawrence had single-digit turnout totals. “This election was not a manBy Mark Fagan months after a presidential election, date by the public to do anything mfagan@ljworld.com when the county’s voter-registration special,” Schumm said. “You rolls had extended to more than can’t read a mandate into any of Fewer than one in seven registered 84,000 people. this.” voters in Douglas County cast ballots This time around, many of those Unofficially, Schumm took the in area elections that ended Tuesday. names have dropped off the eligibletop spot in the election with That’s after 65 polling places had voters list. 5,428 votes. Dever, the owner of been open for 12 hours Tuesday, Heading into Tuesday’s voting, a Lawrence-based environmenwhich was a day after advance voting Shew had carried hopes of posting tal consulting firm and the lone closed a 20-day run that had includturnout of nearly 20 percent, which incumbent in the race, finished ed special Saturday-only vote-aheadwould have been equal to the rate just 16 votes behind to take secof-time events in Lawrence, Eudora, from 2007. But Shew had figured on ond place. Carter, a Lawrence Baldwin City and Lecompton. relatively strong advance-voting financial adviser and former Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo Not that Jamie Shew is complaintotals — 1,051 people had cast ballots member of the Lawrence-DouMIKE RUNDLE, LEFT, AND SCHOOL BOARD ahead of time, either in person or by ing. glas County Planning Commis“It’s good,” said Shew, who, as CANDIDATE RICK INGRAM, with his daugh- mail — as being an indication of sion, garnered 3,910 votes. county clerk, is the county’s chief ter Zanna Ingram, 8, watch election active voter interest. Schumm and Dever both will elections off icial. “It’s a good returns during an election party at Instead, the higher-than-normal receive four-year terms on the turnout. You would want better, but Pachamama’s Alton Ballroom on advance voting in precincts in eastcommission. Carter will receive Tuesday. Ingram was top vote-getter in it’s a pretty good turnout.” ern Lawrence didn’t continue on a two-year term. Final unofficial tallies show that the school board race. Election Day, Shew said, leaving him That trio held the top three 13.4 percent of the county’s 80,042 to speculate that 13 percent may be spots as soon as vote totals startregistered voters cast ballots for percent from city and school board the base rate for people voting in area ed being released around 7:30 Lawrence City Commission, elections two years ago, but Shew elections. Please see CITY, page 2A Lawrence school board and other cautions against reading too much — Schools reporter Mark Fagan can be reached area races. into the numbers. Back then, of at 832-7188. That’s up from the turnout of 12 course, the election came just five ● For the results of other area races, see page 6A.

Find detailed results online

Voter turnout hits 13 percent in county

Lawrence school board will enter the next school year with a new majority of members, a group intent on improving communication with the public, increasing informationgathering from the public and perhaps even soliciting budget ideas, suggestions and other advice from Kimball the public. Four new members won election to the seven-member board Tuesday and will begin their four-year terms July 1: ● Rick Ingram, a pro- Masten fessor of psychology at Kansas University, received 3,650 votes. ● Shannon Kimball, an attorney — now stay-athome-mom — Diaz Moore who served on the Lawrence Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force, received 3,517 votes. ● Randy Masten, a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer now pursuing a doctoral degree at KU, received 3,506 votes. ● Keith Diaz Moore, an associate professor and associate dean of graduate studies in the School of Architecture, Design & Planning at KU, received 3,467 votes.

Shared traits Results remain unofficial until certified by Douglas County commissioners, who meet at 9 a.m. Monday to review vote totals and consider 107 provisional ballots. But the four winners will be expected to remain there. “All of the top four candidates, we embrace a sense of community participation, and taking seriously the task force report that has the process and communityparticipation aspects in it,” said Please see SCHOOL, page 2A

Newly released FBI file shows numerous threats on abortion doctor By Roxana Hegeman Associated Press

WICHITA — Federal authorities investigated numerous death threats over the years against a late-term abortion provider who was eventually shot to death, including a 1999 letter that claimed a group of militant

Tiller

abortion opponents meeting in Las Vegas paid a woman $25,000 to kill him. Nothing came of that investigation and several others into threats against Dr. George Tiller, who was gunned down at his Wichita church in May 2009 by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder. The investigations were

Low: 47

Today’s forecast, page 10A

under rules that prohibit disclosure of grand jury proceedings. Those documents mostly cover cases in which the U.S. attorney’s office declined to prosecute or cases in which federal investigators could not identify suspects. Nearly all were more than a decade old. As one of the few doctors in

INSIDE

Some sun

High: 70

disclosed in 287 pages of documents released this week by the FBI under a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press. The documents released to the AP are heavily redacted and aren’t related to Tiller’s death. Nearly half of the pages in his FBI file remain secret, partly

Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings

6C 1C-4C 9A 2A 10A, 2B

Food Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll

10B 5C 5A 8A 2A

Puzzles Sports Television

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

5C 1B-7B 5A, 2B, 5C

the nation to provide late-term abortions, Tiller had long been a target of both peaceful and violent protests. He was shot in both arms in 1993 by activist Rachel “Shelley” Shannon, and his clinic was bombed in 1996. The clinic has been closed since Please see TILLER, page 2A

COMING THURSDAY We introduce you to the couple who will be leading the upcoming United Way campaign.

Vol.153/No.96 26 pages

Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org


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.