ABA president says law has capacity to heal

Being an attorney is an honorable choice, the president of the American Bar Assn. told Kansas University law students Wednesday.

“Lawyers are healers,” Dennis Archer said. “Our words, our ability to comprehend issues and offer suggestions takes the rage and frustration and anxiety out of a person.”

Archer spent the day visiting law classes and meeting with faculty. Archer, the first black person to hold the ABA position, is a former Michigan Supreme Court justice and former mayor of Detroit.

He also gave students a list of practical suggestions, including keeping a clean desk and always returning phone calls.

Archer also urged students to consider working in the area of legal services for the poor. He said he knew many attorneys at big firms who weren’t happy.

“You will make a lot of money, but let me tell you — you will not have time to spend it,” he said.

Crime

82-year-old’s purse taken outside Kohl’s

For the third time in less than a month, someone has snatched a senior citizen’s purse in broad daylight. This time, police have surveillance images they hope will help catch the thief.

The victim in the most recent case, an 82-year-old Perry woman, told officers a man grabbed her purse about noon Wednesday as she walked out of Kohl’s Department Store, 3240 Iowa.

The man, who was wearing a yellow and black Windbreaker, left in a black, four-door car driven by another person.

A parking-lot surveillance camera captured images of the suspects’ car leaving the scene. Police posted photos on their Web site, www.lawrencepolice.org.

Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to call CrimeStoppers, 843-TIPS. Callers remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.

The circumstances are similar to two other recent purse snatchings: Feb. 3 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 325 Maine, and Jan. 26 at Dillons, 3000 W. Sixth St.

Kansas University

Award-winning columnist to speak in Lawrence

Pulitzer Prize winner David Broder will be in Lawrence next month to speak at the Lied Center, Kansas University officials announced Wednesday.

Broder, national political correspondent for The Washington Post and a syndicated columnist whose work appears in more than 300 newspapers, including the Journal-World, will speak at 7:30 p.m. March 17.

The lecture, “The Political and Economic Challenges in 2004,” is the Anderson Chandler Lecture presented by the KU business school.

Broder also appears regularly on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Washington Week in Review.”

The lecture series is named for Chandler, a KU graduate and longtime Kansas banker who lives in Topeka.