Police investigate city’s report of missing funds

City officials say they’re missing $4,500 in cash and checks, and police are investigating it as a theft.

The city’s finance director, Ed Mullins, reported to police in October that an audit found the money should have been deposited into city accounts during May 2002 but wasn’t. Most of the missing amount was in the form of checks payable to the city through the Parks and Recreation Department, Sgt. Mike Pattrick said.

The police report was made available to the public on Friday.

Mullins couldn’t be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Roger Steinbrock, a spokesman for the Parks and Recreation Department, said he didn’t know details of the case.

Two dissertation writers to be honored today

Winners of dissertation prizes awarded by the Graduate School at Kansas University will be honored today during the school’s hooding ceremony.

Pannirselvam Kanagaratnam, an electrical engineering major, will receive the Dorothy Haglund Prize for his dissertation, “Airborne Radar for High-Resolution Mapping of Internal Layers in Glacial Ice to Estimate Accumulation Rate.”

Christopher Wiethoff, a pharmaceutical chemistry major, won the Marnie and Bill Argersinger Award for his dissertation, “Structural and Functional Analysis of Nonviral Gene Delivery Systems.”

Both awards come with a $1,000 prize. The hooding ceremony is at 4 p.m. today at the Lied Center.

Boating safety in focus at annual ‘extravaganza’

An annual event today will emphasize boating safety — just as Kansans gear up for the summer boating season.

The fourth annual Boating Safety Extravaganza, sponsored by Division 31 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Eighth Western Rivers District, will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Checkers Foods parking lot at 23rd and Louisiana streets.

The event will feature informational exhibits on boating safety, including required equipment, public education classes, vessel safety checks, knot tying, environmental protection, fire extinguisher check and service, fire prevention and water rescue. In addition to the Coast Guard Auxiliary, other exhibitors will include the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Coast Guard and water-sport businesses and organizations.

Activities for children will include Coastie the Safety Boat and beach ball races. A children’s life jacket fashion show will include free life jackets (infant, toddler and child sizes only) to the first 100 participants.