USA Weekend pulled from Sunday’s J-W

USA Weekend magazine will not appear in Sunday’s Journal-World because a racial slur inadvertently appears in the issue.

The newspaper decided to pull the issue because a photo illustration, accompanying an article about storytelling, contains the slur in randomly chosen text that was used for the illustration’s background.

The freelance artist who prepared the illustration was unaware of the offensive language, the magazine said in a letter to newspaper publishers.

The slur was noticed during USA Weekend’s printing run, said Marcia Bullard, the magazine’s president. It was corrected, but 327 of the 598 newspapers that distribute the magazine received copies containing the offensive word. The Journal-World was among them, and its managers decided not to distribute the magazine.

Crime

Brawl outside bar leads to arrest of 22-year-old

An unruly bar patron took a trip to jail after he brawled with bouncers and a police officer early Thursday, police said.

Lawrence Police were doing routine bar checks shortly before 2 a.m. when an officer spotted a group of people fighting as they came out of Fatso’s, 1016 Mass., said Lt. David Cobb, a police spokesman.

Bouncers later told police they had been trying to escort an unruly customer out of the bar when he began fighting with them.

The officer began pulling people from the melee and eventually, the customer began swinging at him, Cobb said.

The suspect, a 22-year-old Lawrence man, had a bloody nose and was treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, then booked into the Douglas County Jail on charges including battery on a law-enforcement officer. He had been released by Thursday evening.

Roads

Separate highway wrecks claim lives of pigs, cows

About 500 pigs died when a tractor-trailer overturned on an interstate on-ramp, snarling traffic for hours.

Hours after the Wednesday accident in Wichita, a herd of 100 cows that wandered onto U.S. Highway 50 in Harvey County near Burrton caused a five-vehicle accident, killing 19 cows. Two others were so badly injured they had to be destroyed.

In the Wichita accident, a tractor-trailer hauling 1,000 small pigs in multilevel pens flipped on its side about 1 p.m. The ramp onto Interstate 235 reopened about 7 p.m.

The truck driver and his passenger suffered only minor injuries.

Animal control officers herded the pigs through a chute to a small trailer, where they were taken to temporary facilities.

In the Burrton accident, the wandering herd of cows caused a crash involving three tractor-trailers and two cars. One person had minor injuries.

Recreation

Indoor Aquatic Center closed for swim meet

Public swimming will be limited this weekend at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center.

Because of the All-Stars Swim Meet this weekend, the competition pool will be closed from 4 p.m. today to 3 p.m. Sunday. Lap swimming in that pool also will be unavailable.

The competition features youth swimmers from the region. The public is invited to watch free of charge.

For more information on this weekend’s meet, contact the aquatics division of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department at 832-SWIM.