Tonganoxie

Festival schedule set

Activities will take place throughout the Tonganoxie area today and Saturday for Tonganoxie Days.

The Leavenworth County State Barbecue Championship will be today at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds. Judging starts at noon. The Miss Tonganoxie Beauty Pageant also will be today at a time and place to be announced.

A variety of activities will be available Saturday, including a Friends of the Library 10K run/5K walk, arts and crafts booths downtown, and bands such as Cowtown Cloggers, Loose Gravel and Two Dollar Shoe Revival Story. Top callers from the Kansas State Auctioneer’s Assn. will call at a benefit auction at 1:30 p.m. The Tonganoxie Community Historical Society will have historical events throughout the day.

Courts

Preliminary hearing set in child molestation case

A 28-year-old Lawrence man accused of raping a 2-year-old child and molesting two other children appeared Thursday in Douglas County District Court.

The man’s court-appointed attorney, Greg Robinson, told Judge Paula Martin he received police reports from the case on Wednesday.

Martin scheduled a preliminary hearing for July 2.

The man faces one count of rape, three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and three counts of sexual exploitation of a child. The two other victims in the case are 4 and 6 years old.

The man remains in the Douglas County Jail on $100,000 bond.

The Journal-World generally does not name suspects in sex crimes unless they are convicted.

Environment

Land Trust to protect nearby native prairie

The Kansas Land Trust will dedicate a conservation easement to a couple concerned about commercial development west of Lawrence.

Doug and Ruth Ann Guess donated the 30-acre property in December. The prairie land is inhabited by the endangered species Mead’s milkweed and a riparian habitat that contributes to water quality.

An agreement with KLT gives it stewardship of the property and assures that it will be permanently protected from development.

“It will probably be one of the few green places left between Lawrence and Topeka,” Doug Guess said.

The dedication will be at 1 p.m. Saturday on the property, where there also will be a wildflower walk and refreshments. If it rains, the dedication will move to 1 p.m. June 28.

To get to the property from Lawrence, go west on U.S. Highway 40 to Stull Road. Go west on Stull Road to County Road 1029, then go north to County Road 1700. Turn west and the property will be about a quarter of a mile away on the left. A KLT sign will mark the location.