Same-sex marriage focus of debate at KU

Two national experts on same-sex marriage will be featured during a debate Thursday at the Lied Center.

The debate, centered on the question “Should the government support same-sex marriage?” begins at 7 p.m. and is sponsored by Student Union Activities. Tickets are available for $5 with a KU ID and $8 for the public at the SUA box office, on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union.

On one side will be Jonathan Rauch, author of “Gay Marriage: Why it is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America.” He is a columnist for the National Journal.

He will face off against Genevieve Wood, vice president for media at the Family Research Council, a commentator on CNN, FOX and MSNBC.

For more information, call 864-SHOW or visit www.suaevents.com.

Arts

Haskell group to attend national museum opening

Haskell Indian Nations University President Karen Swisher on Monday will lead an eight-member delegation to Washington, D.C., for the formal opening of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

The group is scheduled to take part in a procession Tuesday that’s expected to include 15,000 American Indians in ceremonial dress.

“Other Haskell students, faculty and friends will be attending on their own,” said Haskell spokeswoman Lori Tapahonso. “Haskell and the Lawrence communities will be well-represented.”

The 250,991-square-foot, $219 million museum will house the world’s largest collection of Indian artifacts, including a Haskell sculpture, “Comrade in Mourning,” that the university lent the museum for its opening year.

The Haskell delegation is expected to return to Lawrence on Wednesday.

Fund-raiser

10,000 recordings on tap for Audio-Reader benefit

More than 10,000 albums, CDs and tapes will be on sale Friday and Saturday at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds as part of the second annual “For Your Ears Only” benefit for the Kansas Audio-Reader Network.

The sale will offer a sneak preview from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, with a $5 admission fee. Admission is free from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Most albums will be priced at $1, and most CDs will be $2.

Last year’s sale raised more than $10,000 for Audio-Reader, which is a radio reading service of newspapers, books, magazines and other materials for the visually impaired.

Sesquicentennial

Third group of settlers found town ‘barbarous’

With the city celebrating its 150th birthday this weekend, the Journal-World is taking a look at early-day life in Lawrence:

While most of the members of the first two settling parties of the New England Emigrant Aid Company stayed in Lawrence, many of the third party, which arrived in October 1855, did not.

Richard Cordley wrote in “A History of Lawrence, Kan.,” that some members of that party “expected to find an earthly paradise.”

“When they came and found only a few tents and a few thatched hovels, their disgust knew no doubts,” he wrote. “They were looking for hotels with all the modern conveniences, and expecting to find good positions waiting for them in large business establishments.

“After exhausting their vocabulary in denouncing the leaders who had ‘deceived them’ and induced them to come to such a barbarous place, and the people of Lawrence for not providing for them in a more appropriate way, they turned on their heels and ‘went back to their folks.'”

Lawrence resident tapped for state board

Topeka — A Lawrence man has been appointed to a board that establishes license standards for adult care home administrators and considers complaints against them.

William Boldridge, administrator of the Valley Health Care Center in Valley Falls, was named by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to the Board of Adult Care Home Administrators.

Also named were Topekans Wanda Bonnel, an associate professor of nursing at Kansas University’s School of Nursing; Marian Heusted, a former supervisor at the Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center; and Patricia Maben, a former director of the state’s long-term care program and now an independent consultant for long-term care facilities.

High school engineering contest set at KU

Registration is open for the 17th annual Kansas University School of Engineering High School Design Competition.

The event begins at 9 a.m. Oct. 25. High school students from across Kansas and the Kansas City metropolitan area will create a device that can crawl the length of a 25-foot-long horizontal cable and back. The crawler must be less than 12 inches long, must not touch the floor and cannot use a rocket propulsion system.

Participating students also may take tours of the School of Engineering facilities, and lunch will be provided. Teachers must accompany all teams.

To register, contact Jennifer Schmitendorf before Oct. 8 at jschmit@ku.edu or 864-2931.