Lawrence bank robber sentenced to prison

Topeka  A man who robbed a Lawrence bank last year was sentenced Thursday to 52 months in federal prison without parole.

Stephen A. Young, 48, Lawrence, also will have to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Rogers ordered.

Young pleaded guilty Feb. 8 to one count of bank robbery. On Sept. 29, 2001, Young robbed Douglas County Bank, 3101 Iowa, of an undisclosed amount of cash.

Leawood senior elected to lead KU student body

Kansas University students have elected a new student body president for the 2002-2003 school year.

Jonathan Ng, Leawood senior, will be the new president. His running mate, Loren Malone, Tulsa, Okla., junior, takes the vice president’s seat. Ng and Malone were candidates for the KUnited coalition and received 2,297 votes.

The next closest candidates  Karen Keith and Kit Brauer of the Delta Force coalition  received 1,493 votes.

Two referendums on the ballot passed. One asked whether students supported a $5 per semester fee for the newspaper readership program. It passed 3,543 to 383.

The second referendum asked whether students living in greek housing should be able to vote in the off-campus senator classification. It passed 2,372 to 1,475.

County, area escape thunderstorm damage

A Thursday night thunderstorm that blew through Douglas County left rain but no reported damage.

Lawrence received a little more than half an inch of rain in a 45-minute period, said Wes Etheredge, a meteorologist with WeatherData, a private forecasting service in Wichita. Thunder and lightning were accompanied by peak wind gusts of 40 mph, he said.

But neither Douglas County nor surrounding counties reported any damage from the storm.

Counties in the southern part of the state weren’t as lucky. Heavy flooding occurred in Butler County, Etheredge said. The Wichita area saw quite a bit of hail, and two tornadoes touched down  one in Newton, the other near Pretty Prairie, he said. Both twisters were short-lived and didn’t cause any significant damage.

Organization seeks pledges for annual fund-raiser

As it faces potential funding cuts, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County is appealing for pledges to make its 11th annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake fund-raiser a success.

The economic downturn has resulted in the loss of a few major foundation gifts, executive director Jane Pennington said.

Bowl For Kids’ Sake  which will be from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 20 at Royal Crest Lanes, Ninth and Iowa streets  is the group’s largest fund-raiser.

Proceeds support the organization’s mentoring work.

If you would like to register to bowl or make a donation, you can do so online at www.bfks.kintera.org/

douglascountyks.