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Retired Lawrence police officer honored for saving baby By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
When a panicked family ran up to him with a baby that had turned blue and wasn’t breathing, retired Lawrence Police Sgt. and part-time Nebraska Furniture Mart security guard
Low: 19
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE
LHS wrestling team started success early The Lawrence High School wrestling team is ranked No. 1 in Class 6A and several top wrestlers among the weight classes. Coach Pat Naughton said a lot of the team’s success is the result of several Lions wrestlers come up through the local Sunflower Kids Wrestling club. Page 1B NATION
Payroll tax extension signed into law A standoff with House Republican leaders formally ended Friday, when Obama signed a bill that extends for two months a Social Security tax cut for employees and unemployment insurance benefits that had been jeopardized because of a weeklong impasse. Page 6A
“
QUOTABLE
Let’s just say this was a bad idea and move on.”
— U.S. Rep. Timothy Bishop, D-N.Y., who is criticizing the federal government for spending as much as $1 billion to construct a new Bio and Agro-Defense Laboratory in Manhattan, Kan., to study animal diseases. Page 3A
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scene. His employer last week gave him an award for saving the baby’s life on Nov. 19. “It’s a good feeling,” Warren said, adding he knew that there was no guarantee of a good outcome. “I’ve seen things go the other way with small children, and it’s very traumatic for everybody.”
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Even while the family around him was panicking — the child’s mother was fainting on the floor — Warren was calm and began administering infant CPR. The security force at Nebraska Furniture Mart is trained in CPR, Warren said. He relied on that Please see BABY, page 2A Warren
City urged to allow potbellied pigs
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curity desk and started CPR. When the baby came to, another person showed up and See Mark Warren in action at identified herself as a registered LJWorld.com. nurse. She continued to monitor the baby, which was resuscitated and breathing by the time Mark Warren took action. paramedics arrived, as WarWarren calmed the father ren started to corral the many down, laid the baby out on a se- family members away from the
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Commissioners likely to consider issue next month By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Having a pig as a best friend is great, Lawrence resident Ehren Penix can attest. Now, he just wants it to be legal. Penix is lobbying Lawrence city commissioners to change the city’s animal code to allow for potbellied pigs as pets, They’re including really gentle his nearly and really 1-year old 70-pound good comfriend, panions. Starky. They tend “They’re to bond with really genone certain tle and really good person or compananimal in ions,” Petheir lives.” nix said of potbellied pigs — Lawrence resiin general. dent Ehren Penix “ T h e y
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tend to bond with one certain person or animal in their lives. If you become that person to the pig, you will become his best friend forever. That is certainly what Starky has become to me.” Whether Lawrence City Hall will bond with potbellied pigs, however, is an open question. City Hall staff members have been rooting around on the issue, but haven’t yet offered a recommendation on whether the city code should be changed to al-
Special to the Journal-World
EHREN PENIX WANTS THE CITY OF LAWRENCE to change the city’s animal code to allow for potbellied pigs as pets, including the 70-pound Starky, who he says has formed a deep bond with him. low the animals. Cynthia Wagner, assistant city manager, said if the city does decide to allow potbellied pigs, ownership should come with several regulations. Her suggestions include:
Ownership only for purposes as a pet, not as a
Pets allowed under Lawrence’s animal code
Domesticated dogs
Domesticated cats
Domesticated rodents
Domesticated European ferrets
Rabbits, a limit of three in a residential
area
Birds, as long as they are not protected by state or federal law
Nonvenomous snakes less than 8 feet
long
Nonvenomous lizards
Turtles
Amphibians
Fish
Invertebrates
Domesticated hedgehogs
Please see PIGS, page 2A
No go on Christmas snow By Alex Parker aparker@ljworld.com
If you were dreaming of a white Christmas, well, keep dreaming. The weather won’t cooperate for a winter wonderland on Christmas Day, as temperatures in Lawrence are predicted to creep near 50 degrees, with a high of 48 and a low of 25. It’s a far cry from 2009, when a Christmas Eve blizzard dumped 8.5 inches on Lawrence. “The forecast for the next seven days is dry,” said Matt Wolters, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka. “The storm systems will pass to the north and south of Kansas, so there really isn’t a very good chance for precipitation in the next seven days.” Wolters said the outlook is for a warmer winter this year, but there isn’t much data to point to whether the area will get much snowfall. Last December brought less snow than normal, and 16.8 inches of
snowfall in January accounted for most of the area’s precipitation, Wolters said. As people on Massachusetts Street wrapped up their Christmas shopping Friday afternoon, they said the warm temperatures were like coal in a stocking. “It’s always fun to have a white Christmas,” said state Rep. Paul Davis, shopping bags in hand. “It’s an added dimension of the season. If it means we’re not going to have any ice, I’m OK with it.” “It’s a little lame,” said Jenny Lane, who recently moved from Lawrence to Lenexa. “I’d definitely prefer snow. ... It’s traditional.” The 2009 blizzard, she said, “was so much fun.” Her 6-year-old daughter, Samantha, said she’d prefer a snowy Christmas. But she’s not shedding any tears. “I get to play on the computer,” she said. As for Santa, Samantha doesn’t think the lack of snow will affect his deliveries. “It’s not going to be as slippery,” she said.
Down to the wire
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
TAYLOR SCHREINER, Lawrence, left, and her mother, Brenda Schreiner, look at a children’s alphabet book as they shop for last-minute Christmas gifts Friday at The Toy Store, 936 Mass. “We’ll be out tomorrow, too,” said Taylor, of their Christmas Eve plans.
Cancer fighter receives musical surprise ———
Woman gets ‘great birthday present’ from caroling visitors, family
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By Aaron Couch acouch@ljworld.com
John Young/Journal-World Photo
BECKY WISDOM, CENTER, IS SURPRISED by Christmas carolers Friday as she answers the door to her southwest Lawrence home.
When Becky Wisdom looked out her front door, she saw dozens of smiling people clutching sheet music. “I wondered, ‘How did this all happen?’” Wisdom later said. Wisdom turned 69 on Friday and has been fighting liver cancer. Her friends were there as a
surprise. The crowd burst into the “Happy Birthday” song and followed it up with Christmas classics such as “Silent Night” and “Jingle Bell Rock.” After a few minutes, they were invited in from the cold, but they continued to sing. Her son and grandchildren stood next to her, catching Wisdom’s infectious smile.
The singers included children and adults, not all of whom knew Wisdom personally. Some just wanted to do a little good. Brandy Hurrelbrink organized the singing, corralling people via Facebook from Wisdom’s quilting club and three area churches: Clinton Parkway Assembly of God Church, First Please see CAROLING, page 2A