Car accident in Basehor kills one, injures one

Basehor — A Tonganoxie man died Saturday in the emergency room of KU Med where he was flown after suffering injuries in a two-car accident in Basehor.

Blaine E. Reed, 35, was not wearing a seat belt when he failed to stop for a red light and collided with a vehicle driven by Ronald W. Richardson, 54, Basehor, according to a report from the Leavenworth County Sheriff Department.

According to the report, Reed was westbound on U.S. Highway 24-40 about 5:40 p.m. when he hit Richardson, who was southbound on 155th Street.

Richardson’s vehicle caught fire but was quickly extinguished by a volunteer fireman who arrived at the scene. Richardson suffered burns to his upper body and minor injuries; he was transported to KU Med where he was in serious condition late Saturday.

Officials are investigating whether alcohol was a contributing factor in the accident.

Agencies responding to the incident included Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Department and EMS, Fairmont Township Fire Department, Lifenet Helicopter, Basehor Police Department and Bonner Springs Police Department. Kansas Highway Patrol assisted at the hospital.

Passenger dies six days after being in car wreck

A Lawrence woman who was critically injured in a traffic accident on March 1, died Friday at KU Med in Kansas City, Kan.

Judy Hadl, 80, was a passenger in a car driven by Julie Hadl, 57, Lawrence, when they were struck by another vehicle in the intersection of Crossgate Drive and Clinton Parkway.

Julie Hadl was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. She was released Wednesday. Judy Hadl was taken to LMH before being transferred to KU Med.

Jacob Baldwin, the driver of a Toyota 4-Runner that hit the Ford Contour the Hadls were in, was not seriously injured and wasn’t transported to a hospital, Lawrence Police said.

Moving car struck with orange paintball

A local public defender says he got a potentially dangerous surprise the other night while driving home to Topeka on the Kansas Turnpike.

Elbridge “Skip” Griffy IV said an orange paintball splattered onto his windshield about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday a few miles outside Topeka. He said it appeared to have been shot from a semitrailer.

Griffy pointed police toward the truck when he reached a toll booth, and he said officers found a paintball gun inside the cab.

Friday, a Kansas Highway Patrol dispatcher said the truck driver told authorities the paintball had been thrown by hand, not fired.

Griffy said he was surprised when he heard authorities let the driver go free.

“That must have been one sweet-talking truck driver,” he said.

KU Meeting to focus on aging center changes

Kansas City, Kan. — Kansas University officials have organized a meeting to discuss planned changes at the Landon Center on Aging.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Battenfeld Auditorium, in the KU Medical Center Student Center, near the corner of Olathe and Rainbow Boulevards in Kansas City, Kan.

Participants will include Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor for the medical center; Janet Murguia, executive vice chancellor for university relations; Barbara Atkinson, executive dean for the School of Medicine; and Randy Nudo, director for the Landon Center.

KU officials have proposed moving some clinical geriatric programs out of the center and to the KU Med hospital to allow the department of neurology to move its offices and research to the Landon Center.

Opponents of the move also have planned a meeting to discuss the changes. That meeting will be at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Harmon High School, 2400 Steele Road, Kansas City, Kan.

Area schools compete in chess tournaments

The Lawrence Chess Foundation is sending two of its teams to competitions in the next few months. The Quail Run School chess team will compete in the Kansas Scholastic State Chess Championship on Saturday in Garden City and in the National Elementary School Chess Championship May 9-11 in Nashville, Tenn. The Southwest Junior High chess team will compete in the National Junior High Chess Championship April 25-27 in Kissimmee, Fla.

Quail Run has won the state championship the last four years. Southwest has won two of three tournaments at the high school level; it is the only junior high to have placed first in the high school division.