Lawrence: Candidate’s filing means city commission primary

A seventh candidate jumped into the race Friday for Lawrence City Commission, forcing a primary election Feb. 25th that will narrow the field to six.

Zachary Bassin, 23, Lawrence, is the latest person to file for the three at-large commission seats, but candidates still have time to file. The deadline is noon Tuesday.

Bassin wasn’t available for comment last night.

The other candidates are Lee Gerhard, Lynn Goodell, Dennis “Boog” Highberger, Ken McRae, incumbent Mike Rundle and David Schauner.

The top six vote-getters will compete in the April 1 general election.

Kansas City, Mo.: ‘Motor-home’ suspect gets 5 years for robbery

A 75-year-old man was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison for robbing a bank and using the money to buy a recreational vehicle.

George L. Curtis, of Independence, then used the RV to take his girlfriend and three of her relatives on a trip to Mount Rushmore, authorities said.

Curtis pleaded guilty in September to robbing Winterset State Bank in Harrisonville with a replica handgun on July 12, said U.S. Atty. Todd Graves.

Besides the five-year, three-month prison sentence, Curtis also was ordered Friday to pay full restitution to the bank and Trailside RV Center.

According to court documents, Curtis had a bank employee make out a $200,000 cashier’s check payable to him. He then drove to the RV dealership in Grain Valley and tried to use the check to buy a 40-foot recreational vehicle he had picked out earlier in the week.

When the dealership wanted a check for the exact purchase price, Curtis and a dealership employee went to Curtis’ Independence bank and had a cashier’s check made out to the dealership for $166,165, prosecutors said.

He was arrested July 14 in Sioux Falls, S.D., while on the vacation.

Kansas City, Mo.: Italian organ caps cathedral renovation

The final touch to a two-year, $7.5 million renovation project at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception has arrived.

A $430,000 Italian organ, originally built in 1967 for a Methodist church in Louisville, Ky., is in pieces on the cathedral floor. It will take workers from the Italian company that created the instrument six weeks to install and tune it.

The organ was used in Louisville until two years ago, when it was sold to the Roman Catholic cathedral and shipped back to Italy for restoration.

“It’s a real bargain,” said John Winkels, the cathedral’s director of music. “They really didn’t know what they had. It would have cost us $700,000 new.”

The organ and other improvements are expected to be finished in time for a Feb. 22 rededication of the cathedral, which was built in 1883.