Lawrence Journal-World 06-10-11

Page 1

L A W R E N C E

JOURNAL-WORLD

®

75 CENTS

Cloudy, stormy

High: 84

LJWorld.com

FRIDAY • JUNE 10 • 2011

‘It seems to be picking up a little bit’

Low: 64

Today’s forecast, page 12A

INSIDE

CITY WATER

Rate hike likely with new intake ——

Kaw project would cost $6.8 million

Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photos

Sporting KC ties in home opener

ABOVE: A female tick scurries in a container. BELOW: Kansas University tick expert Greg Burg checks a white cloth for ticks after dragging it on the grass in a section of Lawrence’s Dad Perry Park. This method of collecting gives him an idea of how many ticks are in a certain square-meter area. See the video at LJWorld.com.

Sporting KC soccer played its first home game Thursday in the new Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., where cyclist Lance Armstrong made an appearance. The game ended in a 0-0 tie between KC and the Chicago Fire. Page 1B

An uptick in ticks this season

District lands new chief operations officer Tonganoxie school Superintendent Kyle Hayden announced his resignation Thursday to become chief of operations in the Lawrence school district, replacing Frank Harwood. Page 3A POLITICS

Gingrich’s manager, top aids quit The top staff of Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign abandoned their candidate Thursday, in a group resignation that followed a series of disagreements over the former House Speaker’s commitment to the GOP race. Gingrich said he will remain in the race. Page 7A

By Christine Metz

Tick tips

cmetz@ljworld.com

SCHOOLS

QUOTABLE

I always knew what I would be when I got out of high school: 30.” — Arthur Fratelli, a magician and “professional showoff” who performed Thursday at Lawrence Public Library. Page 3A

COMING SATURDAY It’s a moving event for anyone who’s ever participated. It’s Relay for Life.

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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll Puzzles Sports Television Vol.153/No.161

8A 5B-12B 11A 2A 12A, 2B 11B 5A 10A 2A 11B 1B-4B 5A, 2B, 11B 44 pages

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

With white athletic socks pulled tightly over his khaki pants, Greg Burg ventured down a grassy path in a central Lawrence park this week. Behind him, Burg pulled a white square cloth. He was collecting ticks. Every 10 meters, Burg stopped and picked up the cloth to examine it. He’d flick off the immaturesized ticks and keep one or two of the adults for specimens. Every single one of them was counted. “Three or four years ago, there was a couple hundred here,” said Burg, who is the director of Kansas University’s undergraduate biology program. On Wednesday, he recorded just 11 immature ticks and two adult females. The numbers are down from years past but up from 2010, when it was a slow year for ticks. While adult numbers have stayed about the same as last year, Burg said he has noticed a significant jump in the number of immature ticks (those that

Read up on how to keep ticks away, what to do if they bite and the different types of ticks. Page 6A haven’t reached adulthood). “It seems to be picking up a little bit,” Burg said. Eighteen to 20 times a year, Burg will stroll through the park taking inventory of the tick population. He’s done it for 10 years and so far hasn’t found any correlation between population size and weather patterns. He continues to study them anyway. “There’s a lot we don’t know about them,” Burg said. It’s about this time of year that people start noticing ticks, Burg said, even though the largest counts are often in May before adult ticks have attached onto a food source or died off. Of particular interest to Burg are the diseases that ticks carry. In Kansas, those illness-

es include Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis and tularemia. A small percentage of ticks in Kansas are infected with diseases, Burg said. “If I can get a sense of how the population changes and how many live for how long, it gives us a sense of what is out there and what the risk is for people to come in contact with them,” he said. The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department has had several more cases of tick-borne diseases reported in May this year than it did in May 2010, communication coordinator Lisa Horn

said. This May there have been confirmed cases of both ehrlichiosis and Lyme disease and a suspected case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Last May, there was just one suspected case of a tick-borne disease. For the record, Burg said he’s had two tick bites in the 20 years he has studied the creatures. Not a bad percentage, considering he handles hundreds of them each year. — Reporter Christine Metz can be reached at 832-6352.

● 13-year cicadas create small buzz in city. Page 6A

By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

Call it a $6.8 million reminder. Lawrence city crews on Saturday were forced to shut down the Kaw Water Treatment Plant near Burcham Park as the rising Kansas River clogged the plant’s lone water intake pipe. The city had to quickly increase the amount of water it was treating at the Clinton Water Treatment Plant in west Lawrence in order to meet the entire city’s needs. “We were fortunate this didn’t happen in Corliss July or August when we had customers using large volumes of water,” said Philip Ciesielski, city assistant director of utilities. The Kaw plant is designed to operate with two water intakes, but one of the water intakes has been inoperable for several years. City utilities department leaders have previously asked for funding for the project, but city commissioners have balked at the $6.8 million cost. City Manager David Corliss said he plans to recommend that the project be funded in the 2012 budget, but he said it will require a rate increase. “But I think one of our top priorities needs to be improving that intake on the Kaw River,” Corliss said. Corliss said adding a new Please see WATER, page 2A

IMMIGRATION

Kobach has hand in controversial Alabama law By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

TOPEKA — Another state, another law cracking down on illegal immigration with an assist from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Thursday signed into law a bill that both sides of the illegal immigration issue are calling the toughest in the country, surpassing that of Arizona. In addition to helping write the Arizona law, which caused a national furor, Kobach helped write the Alaba-

ma measure, which has re-ignited debate over how far states can go in fighting illegal immigration. When the Alabama Legislature passed the law last week, Kobach, a Republican and conKobach stitutional attorney, said, “Alabama is now the new No. 1 state for immigration enforcement.” The Alabama measure authorizes state and local police to ask about the

immigration status of people they stop. It requires public schools to determine the citizenship status of students. It also makes it a crime to knowingly rent housing to an illegal immigrant and requires Alabama employers to use the E-Verify database to see if their workers are citizens. In addition, it requires immigrants Please see ALABAMA, page 2A ● Read more about the Alabama law, page 8A.

This law undermines core American values of fairness and equality, subjecting both citizens and noncitizens alike to unlawful racial profiling, and does nothing to ensure the safety and economic security of Alabama.” — Olivia Turner, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama

Brownback: ‘Zero tolerance’ if KBA improprieties found By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

T O P E K A — Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday said there would be “zero tolerance” if any improprieties are uncovered at the Kansas Bioscience Authority. Brownback made the comment during his economic summit on the animal health industry held in Manhattan. The KBA is under investigation by the Johnson County District Attorney’s office,

although Brownback and Johnson County officials have refused to say what the probe is about. In Brownback addition, the agency is undergoing a detailed audit. The KBA is funded through tax dollars collected from the payrolls of existing bioscience companies. It is responsible for spending

$581 million to lure bioscience companies and research to the state. During the animal Thornton health summit, Wayne Carter, a vice president at Hill’s Pet Nutrition Center, said the KBA has been a valuable agency in helping grow research and lure investment. Carter said the recent con-

troversy surrounding the KBA has been a setback, and he told Brownback the state needs to “make sure we have an organization moving forward.” Brownback said he supported the mission of the KBA but that he would have zero tolerance of anything untoward or unethical. “That is a basic Kansas standard,” he said. “My hope is we get through this investigation and start moving this thing on forward.” Sen. Susan Wagle, RWichita, held committee

hearings during the recently completed legislative session in which she raised allegations of conflicts of interest and complained about salaries of KBA leaders. KBA officials have denied any wrongdoing. The agency’s former leader, Tom Thornton, left in April to work for the Cleveland Clinic. On animal health in general, Brownback said his goal was for Kansas to be the “global center of the animal health industry ... and we Please see KBA, page 2A


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