Former council member tapped for mayor’s post

Topeka — The Topeka City Council on Tuesday night chose former council member James McClinton as the city’s new mayor.

McClinton beat out 38 other candidates to replace Butch Felker, who resigned in November as mayor of the state’s capital city.

McClinton got four of the nine votes on the first ballot at Tuesday night’s council meeting and improved to the necessary five votes on the second ballot.

McClinton will be sworn in as mayor Tuesday night and will serve until April 2005.

His candidacy was opposed by the interim head of Topeka’s YWCA, Annette Beck, who noted allegations that McClinton struck his teenage daughter with a belt.

But McClinton said he’s never been tried or convicted for any law violation.

Felker’s resignation ended efforts by Shawnee County Dist. Atty. Robert Hecht to remove him for violating campaign finance laws.

Project to count birds in backyard habitats

Bird lovers across America can help bird research Feb. 13-16 during the 2004 Great Backyard Bird Count.

Participants are asked to count the birds in their back yards, local parks or other natural areas during one to all four of the count days.

The project, sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is designed to help researchers track the number and distribution of wild winter birds.

For more information, visit www.birdsource.org/gbbc.

Fund seeks gifts for KU Heritage Garden

The Historic Mount Oread Fund is working with Kansas University to build a Heritage Garden on the west side of Lippincott Hall between Jayhawk Boulevard and Mississippi Street.

The fund’s past president, Craig Patterson, donated money to restore a stone bird bath that was given to the university as a gift from the Class of 1903. It rests in the space where the garden is planned next to a stone bench given by the Class of 1914.

Anyone who knows of other class gifts should contact Marilyn Gridley at 842-7956.

The fund advisory board will inventory gifts and try to fund restorations.

Any gifts in storage or obscure locations may be relocated to the Heritage Garden.