Eudora resident arrested on rape, battery charges

A 46-year-old Eudora man was arrested Wednesday on warrants charging him with rape, aggravated sodomy and battery.

He is being held in the Douglas County Jail on $60,000 bond. Eudora Police and the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office were releasing few details about the incident, other than it occurred at a Eudora residence on Sept. 22.

The victim of the alleged rape was a female. Her age wasn’t released.

The charges state the sexual assault victim was incapable of giving consent to the suspect because of a mental deficiency, possibly caused by alcohol or drugs.

During his first court appearance Thursday, the suspect blamed the incident on his son, who is listed as the victim of the battery. The Journal-World doesn’t generally publish the names of sex crime suspects unless they have been convicted.

The suspect also asked for a bond reduction. Judge Robert Fairchild denied the request.

“You’re talking about two of the most serious charges you can be charged with,” Fairchild said. “Sixty thousand dollars is very reasonable.”

Kansas University

Interim director named to lead research institute

Steven Maynard-Moody, professor of administration at Kansas University, has been named director of the KU Policy Research Institute.

Maynard-Moody has been interim director for three years of the KU agency known until fall 2001 as the Institute for Public Policy and Business Research.

Maynard-Moody earned a strong recommendation from a search committee, said Jim Roberts, vice president of the KU Center for Research. Roberts touted Maynard-Moody’s leadership as interim director.

The vision Maynard-Moody is implementing has expanded PRI’s research focus beyond the state’s borders and generated more faculty involvement in the center, KU officials said.

Awards

KU professor honored for work with disabled

A Kansas University professor has won a major national award for his contributions to advancing the understanding of intellectual disabilities.

The American Association on Mental Retardation named Michael L. Wehmeyer its 2003 Education Award winner. The award will be presented in May at AAMR’s 2003 convention in Chicago.

Wehmeyer is the director of the KU Center on Developmental Disabilities, associate director of the Beach Center on Disability and associate professor of special education.

Wehmeyer was one of the first proponents of what he termed self-determination — that people with intellectual disabilities could and should determine how they live their lives.