Police seek suspects in pizza delivery attack

Lawrence Police are trying to identify a group of young men who they say beat, kicked and robbed a Pizza Shuttle delivery driver early Thursday after calling him to a vacant home.

The attack happened shortly after 2 a.m. in the 3700 block of Overland Drive after the 21-year-old driver arrived. When he got out of the car and asked the men if they’d ordered a pizza, he was struck from behind, then punched and kicked as he lay on the ground, said Sgt. Dan Ward, a police spokesman.

The driver’s girlfriend said she was told he may have been hit on the head with a board. He suffered a concussion and facial injuries and underwent a CAT scan, she said.

Police said the suspects took about $65 of the driver’s tips and pizzas valued at $13. They found a bag containing about $100 of the store’s money at the scene.

Historic preservation

Former KU prof to give address to alliance

Architect Dennis Domer will speak at the Lawrence Preservation Alliance’s annual meeting at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke’s A.M.E. Church, 900 N.Y.

A former architecture professor at Kansas University, Domer founded the Center for Historic Architecture and Preservation at the University of Kentucky in 2001. He is co-editor of “Embattled Lawrence: Conflict and Community,” a collection of essays.

Church members will serve a biscuit-and-gravy breakfast, starting at 10:30 a.m.

After Domer’s remarks, alliance members will elect officers for the coming year.

Crime

Driver pulls over, truck rolls into buffalo statue

A drunken driver’s pickup truck collided with a concrete buffalo statue early Thursday along Clinton Parkway near Lawrence Avenue, police said.

The driver, a 22-year-old Lawrence resident, had stopped his truck in the 2200 block of Marvonne Road because he thought he was being pulled over by a police officer. The officer actually was chasing someone else, but when the man stepped out of his truck, it began rolling and collided with the buffalo, causing minor damage.

Another officer who saw the truck hit the buffalo stopped and saw the driver peeking out from between two nearby houses.

After chasing the suspect, police arrested the man on suspicion of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

The buffalo, shown above, lost its tail in the accident.

Lawrence resident’s son found dead

The son of a Lawrence woman has been found dead in the forests of Washington state.

Authorities found the body of James V. Spotts III, 52, on Monday in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness, part of a national forest near the Canadian border, roughly 230 miles northeast of Seattle.

Though he had previously lived in Tonasket, Wash., a small town relatively close to the forest in which his body was found, Spotts recently had been living in Kansas. His mother, Mary Jo Spotts, resides in Lawrence.

Spotts left for a hike Sept. 11 and was reported missing by a friend Sept. 18 after not having returned as scheduled.

Authorities began to search the area on foot and horseback, and were drawn to Spotts’ body by the barking of his dog, a Husky mix.

A cause of death has not been determined.

Read Mr. Spotts obituary here.

KU graduate now university president

A Kansas University graduate has been selected president of Upper Iowa University in Fayette.

Alan Walker, who received his doctorate in educational policy and leadership from KU in 1999, will be formally inaugurated at the school Oct. 8. He took office July 1.

He previously was vice provost for academic affairs at Western Michigan University. Upper Iowa University has an enrollment of about 4,000.

Series to feature Brando

The Lawrence Public Library’s fall film series will feature the early works of Marlon Brando.

On the first four Friday nights of October, the library will run a Brando film starting at 7 p.m. The screenings are free and open to the public, and free popcorn will be available.

The films shown will be: “The Men,” Oct. 1; A “Streetcar Named Desire,” Oct. 8; “The Wild One,” Oct. 15; “On the Waterfront,” Oct. 22.

Brando died on July 1. Considered to be one of the greatest actors of his generation, he appeared in more than 40 feature films.