Outdoors: KU Med treats victim of snake bite at Lone Star

A Lawrence woman bitten by a snake Saturday night at Lone Star Lake was in fair condition Monday at KU Med, Kansas City, Kan.

At about 10:30 p.m., the woman, Margorie Freeman, flagged down a Douglas County Sheriff’s officer driving through the Lone Star campground, a sheriff’s report said.

Freeman told the officer she had been bitten by a snake. She was taken by Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital and then transferred to KU Med.

The type of snake that bit Freeman was not known, a KU Med spokesman said. Fang marks were visible, however.

Jenny Pramuk, a Kansas University graduate student in herpetology, said the most common venomous snake in Douglas County was the copperhead.

Other poisonous snakes found locally are the timber and the massasauga rattlesnakes, she said.

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Case solved: Coroner says asphyxiation cause of KU student’s death

A Kansas University student apparently died of asphyxiation while inhaling nitrous oxide with a plastic bag over his head, according to an autopsy report.

The body of Benjamin E. Hartter, 22, Morrill, was found March 19 in the basement of a dental clinic at 316 Maine. He was lying on the floor near nitrous oxide and oxygen tanks, according to the autopsy report.

Toxicology tests on Hartter did not detect nitrous oxide, but detection of the gas can fail, coroner Dr. Erik Mitchell, Topeka, wrote in his report.

Hartter worked part-time in the dental clinic shared by Drs. Thomas Rainbolt and John Wulfkuhle. Hartter was last seen alive at the clinic at 5:20 p.m. May 18, the report said. He shared the responsibility with other employees for turning on and off the nitrous oxide and oxygen tanks.

“In view of the finding at the scene of a bag about the head, the asphyxial mechanism, likely to follow stupor if nitrous oxide is used, is the most probable course of events,” Mitchell wrote.

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Death: Elderly diploma recipient dies days after presentation

Lonnie Corbin, 87, died Saturday, just days after fulfilling his lifelong desire of getting a high school diploma.

Corbin, father of Sharon Engelbrecht and Karon Thoren, died at Eudora Nursing Center. His twin daughters presented him the honorary diploma Wednesday.

“(It was) one last thing he wanted, and I had such a warm feeling to be able to do that for him,” Engelbrecht said.

Engelbrecht worked with Lawrence High School Principal Dick Patterson to obtain Corbin’s degree. A federal initiative, passed two years ago, allows World War II veterans to receive honorary diplomas from their respective high schools. Corbin left school one semester short of graduating, after being drafted by the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Fort Robinson, Neb., where he trained dogs for war.

Services for Mr. Corbin will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Memorial Park Cemetery. His obituary appeared in Monday’s Journal-World.

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Gasoline Prices: Pump Patrol seeks best deal

The Journal-World has found a gasoline price as low as $1.25 at several Lawrence locations.

If you find a lower price, call us at 832-7154. Be prepared to leave the name and address of the business and the price. Or visit the Pump Patrol message board at www.ljworld.com/section/gasoline.