L A W R E N C E
JOURNAL-WORLD
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75 CENTS
TUESDAY • JUNE 7 • 2011
LJWorld.com
Brownback to pray for nation at Texas rally By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
Brownback
Perry
Hot and windy
High: 92
Low: 71
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE Good Samaritan helps after theft When a woman’s wallet was snatched out of her cart at a grocery store, another shopper paid for her purchase while the police were taking statements. That act of kindness prompted Judy Crumet to “pay it forward.” In addition, store personnel chased the reported thief, who was arrested soon afterward. Page 3A SPORTS
Aldrich appearance makes for happy camp Cole Aldrich is back on campus for summer school and to work out with the current Jayhawk basketball team, but he took time Monday to drop in at the Bill Self basketball camp. Page 1B MISSOURI RIVER
SW Iowa town at risk of levee failure Crews scrambled Monday to protect Hamburg, Iowa, from the swollen Missouri River, but local officials said it’s unclear whether they’ll be able to prevent the river from leaving the community under several feet of water for weeks. Page 5A
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QUOTABLE
It was tragic. It was wrong.” — Former Arts Commission member Lon Frahm, of Colby, who resigned his position and criticized Gov. Sam Brownback’s continuing assault on the arts. Brownback has now appointed a new chairwoman of the commission and shut down the group’s Facebook page. Page 3A
T O P E K A — Gov. Sam Brownback plans to attend a daylong Christian rally of prayer and fasting in Houston that organizers say is aimed at helping the country during its “historic crisis.”
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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Puzzles Sports Television Vol.153/No.158
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nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy.” The organizer of the event, which is called The Response, is the American Family Association. On its
website, the AFA states its mission “is to inform, equip, and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture, and give aid to the church here and abroad in its task of fulfilling the Great CommisPlease see BROWNBACK, page 2A
DUIs, poor marksmanship, even blindness won’t prevent permit renewals; GOP officials defend state law By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
A Kansas law that allows the blind and others with serious physical infirmities to carry concealed firearms in public places remains on the state’s books following the 2011 legislative session. And now the state’s elected official responsible for overseeing the concealed carry program is declining to answer questions about the provision. In February, the JournalWorld reported that changes to the concealed carry law had removed the state’s ability to deny a license based on a person’s physical condition and had removed all requirements that people seeking to renew their license pass a test where they hit at least 18 of 25 targets with a firearm. At the time, a spokesman with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who oversees the concealed carry program, expressed surprise that the state no longer had such legal authority but said the issue would be researched further. This week, the attorney general’s office confirmed that the state no longer has
Richard Gwin/ Journal-World Photo
JOHN GEERY, MANAGER at Jayhawk Pawn and Jewelry at 1804 W. Sixth St., shows a gun to a customer on Monday. Changes to the state's concealed carry law now prohibit the Attorney General's Office from denying the renewal of concealed carry permits on the basis that the applicant can no longer safely handle a gun. But Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said now may be the time for lawmakers to review the law again. the ability to deny renewal applications based on concerns that the applicant can’t safely handle a firearm. The office also could not point to any efforts that Schmidt made to get the law changed during the recent legislative session. “The state’s lawmakers have balanced various public policy interests in crafting the concealed carry law, and the attorney general will administer it
as it is written — now and in the future,” Jeff Wagaman, deputy chief of staff for Schmidt, said in a written statement. Schmidt — through Wagaman — declined to comment on why he did not seek a change in the law and declined to answer whether he thinks the lack of testing has weakened the law. The top Democratic lawmaker in the Kansas House, however, said he
thought lawmakers needed to conduct a more thorough review of the state’s concealed carry law, which has been modified several times since its passage in 2006. “You certainly hope it doesn’t take some kind of tragedy to get people’s attention to see that we perhaps have made some mistakes in how we’ve changed this law,” said House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence. “I
think we do need to look at the law in a comprehensive way.”
Fewer denials The changes, which took effect in 2010, removed a phrase from the law that gave the state the right to deny applicants a license if they “suffer from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a weapon.” The original law Please see GUN, page 2A
City to consider stricter environmental regulations clawhorn@ljworld.com
It will be the natural environment versus the business environment at Lawrence City Hall today. City commissioners at their weekly meeting are expected to debate a proposed addition to the city and county’s comprehensive plan that would allow for local environmental regulations that are more strict than federal and state rules. Members of the city and county planning department are recommending approval
of the new Environmental Chapter of Horizon 2020 as a way to “strive for CITY the sustainability of COMMISSION our physical environment.” But two of the city’s largest business groups are urging commissioners to send the plan back for more study. “If this gets approved, we think you’ll see a large amount of red tape and a
large amount of restrictions on what and where you can build in this community,” said Luke Bell, director of governmental relations for the Lawrence Board of Realtors. The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce also is asking the city to send the plan back to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission for more study and more input from stakeholders. The Environmental Chapter would not technically create new regulations, but instead would direct staff
members to begin working on creating new codes for a variety of areas. Planning Director Scott McCullough said the chapter calls for entirely new policies to be created for 35 different environmental topics and for new rules to be added to 89 existing regulations. McCullough listed six entirely new regulations that would be significant: ● Codes that would limit what type of development could occur near streams. ● Local protections for wetlands that would be in addition to the state and fed-
eral protections for wetlands. ● Regulations aimed to protect woodlands and urban forests. ● Ordinances that would protect undisturbed and undeveloped pieces of plant and wildlife habitat. ● Codes that would protect prime agricultural soils from development. ● Regulations that would reduce the amount of mercury emitted by industrial producers. “If you are a developer or Please see CITY, page 2A
Tributes to deceased are trending on social media sites By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com
Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org
back will pay his own expenses. Perry, who has reportedly been considering a presidential run, said on the event’s website, “Right now, America is in crisis: we have been besieged by financial debt, terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters. As a
Right to concealed carry shall not be infringed
By Chad Lawhorn
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Brownback accepted an invitation to the Aug. 6 event at Reliant Stadium from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, according to Brownback’s spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag. Both Perry and Brownback are Republicans. Jones-Sontag said Brown-
The day Amy Spencer, along with her husband and two children, died in a plane crash in Jefferson County earlier this year, friends and family were already memorializing Amy on her Facebook page wall. “We will miss you and your family. May you rest well in God’s hands,” wrote one of Amy’s friends. And three years after the death of Lawrence resident Jana Mackey, Kelly Tyrrell
still posts messages in memory of her childhood friend. “Today would be a good day to remember you, and your bright warm smile,” Tyrrell recently posted. The posts become a living, online obituary, a trend seen locally and nationally, said Molly McHugh, a junior staff writer at Digital Trends, which operates a mediatrend monitoring website. New sites, such as 1000memories.com, have even popped up that cater to helping friends and family maintain a social media
afterlife for loved ones. “It’s been interesting to see,” said McHugh of the trend’s evolution. She Mackey noted several positive aspects of the online interaction between the living and the deceased. For instance, it can provide a bridge for those who may not be able to travel to a traditional memorial location.
That was the case with Tyrrell, who lives out of state and wasn’t able to attend Mackey’s funeral. But the trend has forced social media sites to examine how to handle protecting the deceased, in what at times has led to awkward and griefcausing moments. McHugh cited instances where people find out first online that a relative or friend has died, or cases when the deceased pops up in the “people you may know” section. To address such issues,
Facebook developed a memorialized account option. A close friend or relative notifies Facebook of a death, and the account is frozen to friend requests or other changes, while still allowing friends to post on the deceased’s wall. Tyrrell said she’s glad such an option exists, as it allows her to remember her friend. “It just feels good,” she said. “It feels like she hears me.” — Reporter Shaun Hittle can be reached at 832-7173.