Resident checking mail victim of hit-and-run

A rural Lawrence man was injured Saturday night when he was struck by a vehicle while checking his mailbox. The vehicle did not stop, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Wayne A. Beiser, 48, of Jefferson County, was transported to University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. Hospital officials said Sunday they could not confirm or deny he was a patient there.

Beiser had stopped his own vehicle in the southbound lane of Wellman Road to check his mailbox, the patrol report stated. Another vehicle approached and swerved to miss Beiser’s unattended vehicle but struck Beiser and the mailbox, according to the report. The vehicle then fled the scene.

The Highway Patrol had no description of the fleeing vehicle.

New official at Baker to manage enrollment

Baker University has hired a new vice president for enrollment management.

Louise Cummings-Simmons will start July 1. She worked at Baker after graduating from the university in 1978, and was an admissions counselor, assistant dean of students and director of admissions until 1989.

She currently is director of admissions at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Cummings-Simmons will take over duties previously held by Annette Galluzzi, vice president of marketing and communication. Galluzzi will concentrate on marketing, public relations and publications in preparation for Baker’s 150th anniversary and accompanying capital campaign.

Fire damages second-floor apartment

A fire Sunday night damaged a vacant, second-floor apartment at 800 N.Y.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical responded to the blaze shortly after 9 p.m. and put out the fire. The cause was under investigation, Battalion Chief Jerry Karr said.

The apartment hadn’t been occupied for three or four months, Karr said. An apartment below the fire, which was occupied, sustained water damage, he said. Nobody was injured, and no damage estimates were available Sunday.

Area residents awarded for rural preservation

Two of the 10 recipients of the 12th annual We Kan! awards presented at the 2004 Kansas Sampler Festival earlier this month were area residents.

The awards recognized a dedication to sustaining and improving rural Kansas communities, said Marci Penner, Kansas Sampler Foundation director.

Local recipients include:

• Paul Bahnmaier, president, Territorial Capitol Museum, Lecompton, for “Keeping History Alive.”
• Judy Billings, director, the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, for “Bringing Communities Together.”

The festival began in 1990 when Penner and her husband, Mil, held a book-signing party at their farm. They invited representatives of places honored in their book, the Kansas Weekend Guide.

The following year, the couple played host to the event and called it the Kansas Sampler Festival. The two founded the Kansas Sampler Foundation in 1993.

Vacant apartment fire called ‘suspicious’

A carpet and wallboard fire in an apartment at Berkeley Flats was under control within five minutes, but it’s being deemed “suspicious” by Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical officials.

“It’s suspicious and under investigation because it was a vacant apartment,” Chief Bill Stark said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 6 p.m. Saturday to the apartment at 1125 Ind. Occupants of the surrounding apartments were initially evacuated, but the fire was under control so quickly that officials didn’t have to notify the whole complex.

Damage was estimated at $1,000, Stark said. No one was injured.

Hearing-loss fair today

A fair scheduled for today will inform participants about hearing loss.

The event, at 1 p.m. at Babcock Place, 1700 Mass., will include information about and demonstrations of listening devices, sign-language demonstrations and discussions by pharmacists concerning what medications affect hearing.

The fair is sponsored by Self Help for the Hard of Hearing, a Lawrence group for people who have difficulty hearing. The group meets the third Monday of each month.