Ceremony planned for returning troops

A ceremony marking the return of a Lawrence-based quartermaster unit from Iraq is set for 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the U.S. Army Reserve armory, 2100 Iowa.

Open to the public, the ceremony is expected to last about an hour.

Members of the 824th Quartermaster detachment have been in Iraq since March. They returned Monday to Fort Riley.

While in Iraq, unit members worked on projects involving water quality and oil-field technology. Also, teachers in the unit helped start and run a school for Iraqi children.

Unit members from Lawrence are James Pilch II and Lori Arnold. Other members: Richard Medved, Patrick Lynch, David Raust, Michael Davis, Renwick Jones, James King, Dena Stephenson, Derek Lincoln and Kathy Riley.

Courts

Police chase described in KU robbery trial

Trial began Tuesday for a 23-year-old Tonganoxie man charged with robbing a Kansas University freshman at gunpoint and stealing her car from the parking garage of an all-female residence hall.

Witnesses in the trial of Jesse A. Plaster included a KU Public Safety officer who described chasing the car Plaster is alleged to have stolen at 70 mph up Indiana Street.

The trial was delayed momentarily when a spectator in the courtroom had a medical emergency that required ambulances to be sent to the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

The incident happened Sept. 27 at the parking garage for Gertrude Sellards Pearson and Corbin halls.

Police

CJHS student reports sexual battery

A 14-year-old Central Junior High School student is suspected of groping a female student in the school cafeteria and spitting in her food, according to a police report.

The incident happened Dec. 14 and was reported to police Thursday, a Lawrence police spokesman said.

According to a report, the 14-year-old girl said the boy approached her in the cafeteria as she was eating and touched her inappropriately. When she told him to stop, he spit in her food.

School officials disciplined the boy, and police are investigating it as a case of sexual battery.

6Productions

‘River City Weekly’ airs Vespers, parade

On tonight’s “River City Weekly,” revisit the Old-Fashioned Lawrence Christmas Parade, which was Dec. 4 in downtown Lawrence, and also the Kansas University Holiday Vespers, which was Dec. 5 at the Lied Center.

More than 120 entries were featured in the parade.

At Vespers, the University’s Symphonic Choir’s 225 singers and the Symphony Orchestra were featured under the direction of John Paul Johnson.

“River City Weekly” with host Greg Hurd premieres on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays with replays at 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Mondays, and 10 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays.