IN 1977

Rains and the county fair were expected to give local farmers a few days off … just to sit back and watch their corn grow, quipped Earl Van Meter, county extension agent. He said the recent rains would be beneficial to ripening crops, especially corn, and he said the county might have its best corn crop in some years.

Douglas County Commission chairman Pete Whitenight urged the County Appraiser’s Office to move full steam ahead and even hire extra people if necessary to avert an increase in local property taxes. Whitenight said property valuation needed to be updated as soon as possible to assist in the levy-setting process.

The city of Lawrence joined the Kansas Public Service Gas Co. in intervening against a Federal Power Commission order that would bar new natural gas hookups in eastern Kansas.

Eudora residents spent a relatively cool and quiet night as power in the town was knocked out from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. while Kansas Power and Light workers exchanged the city’s main transformer for a larger model to upgrade the power potential in the community. Fortunately, the heat had abated, and air-conditioning was not badly needed for most.

IN 1962

The city commission accepted the low bid by Chuck Belote of Lawrence, a hospital anesthetist, for local ambulance service. Belote was given exclusive rights to the service on the basis of rates submitted to replace Capitol Ambulance of Topeka.

Parallel parking was going to be tried along both sides of the 1100 block of Massachusetts Street to see if it might be practical in other downtown sectors. There were numerous skeptics.

IN 1902

On Aug. 13, 1902, the Lawrence Journal reprinted a comment in the Topeka Capital concerning a Federal government representative involved in locating post offices in the state. The Capital said, “A government sphinx is in Kansas for the purpose of locating the public building in Lawrence and Hutchinson. He listens to everything the people have to say concerning sites, but lets loose of very few words himself. He is a new proposition to Kansas, and the people find it a hard matter to understand him.” The Journal commented further, “The complaint isn’t exactly that; the agent talks a plenty. The kick that is made is because he doesn’t say anything.” Eventually the new post office was located on the northwest corner of Winthrop (now Seventh) and Massachusetts streets.