Advance primary voters continue turning out

Many Douglas County registered voters have been going to the polls this week to cast advance ballots for Tuesday’s statewide primary.

“We had 90 so far for today,” Douglas County Clerk Patty Jaimes said late Friday afternoon.

As of about 4:15 p.m. Friday, 490 voters had cast ballots in a voting booth that has been set up since July 24 at the courthouse. Another 286 advance ballots have been returned by mail, Jaimes said.

Advance voting for Tuesday’s primary election will continue from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday and from 8 a.m. to noon Monday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 11th and Massachusetts streets.

Regular polling places will be open election day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Advance ballots will be counted with the other ballots after the polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Teens injured at Clinton Lake

Two teenage girls were injured Thursday afternoon in what Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks said was the summer’s first boating accident at Clinton Lake.

Valerie Tignor, 15, Topeka, was operating a jet ski with a passenger, 14-year-old Shade Hoback of Overbrook, said Wildlife and Parks conservation officer Aaron Henrichs. A 21-foot-long pontoon boat pulling Tignor’s mother on an innertube drove by, and when Tignor turned to watch her mother, she turned the jet ski into the boat, Henrichs said.

Both girls were thrown into the boat and then into the water, he said. The girls were taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released.

Tignor’s mother was cited for allowing her daughter to operate a jet ski under the legal age.

Neither the driver of the pontoon boat, Gerry Ortega, 59, Topeka, nor any of the six passengers was injured.

The wreck occurred about 1:45 p.m.

Former KU swim champ raising funds for charity

A former Kansas University swimming champion is challenging corporations and individuals to help increase his contribution to Special Olympics Kansas.

Brent Barnes will contribute $1,000 to the organization when he participates in this weekend’s Missouri Valley Swimming Championships in Lenexa. The 43-year-old is asking individuals and corporations to match his donation based on his 50-meter open free performance at the swimming championship. For example, if he places first, a donor would match $1,000; second place, $750; third place, $500; and fourth place, $250.

Barnes graduated from KU in 1980 as a Big Eight Champion and former KU record holder. He is president of Globus Communications and lives in Tokyo.

To match Barnes’ contribution to Special Olympics Kansas, contact Alexandra Kuebler at (913) 236-9290 or (800) 444-9803.

ECKAN seeks school supplies

The East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corp. is taking applications for school supplies until Aug. 9.

Applications may be submitted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ECKAN Center, 1600 Haskell Ave., No. 197. Applicants must meet the federal poverty income guidelines.

ECKAN also needs donations of school supplies for low-income families. Needed supplies include No. 2 pencils, pens, notebooks, notebook paper, colored pencils, crayons, markers, erasers, rulers, etc. These supplies can be dropped off at the ECKAN center.

For more information, call 841-3357.