Unattended candle causes apartment fire

A fire started by an unattended candle caused about $37,000 in damage late Saturday to a second-story apartment at 1414 W. 24th St., fire officials said.

The blaze started shortly before midnight Saturday when there was no one home inside the apartment, said Mark Bradford, deputy chief of Lawrence/Douglas County Fire & Medical. The candle had been left on a living room table and apparently burned down and ignited the table, Bradford said.

The fire set off a smoke alarm in a neighboring apartment, and the neighbor called 911, Bradford said. No one was seriously injured.

About 15 firefighters were on the scene for about an hour and a half, Bradford said.

Bradford estimated damage at $25,000 to the building structure and $12,000 to the contents.

Tonganoxie

Pizza-delivery driver robbed on first day

In his first day on the job, a pizza-delivery driver in Tonganoxie was robbed and beaten with a pipe, Tonganoxie Police said Sunday.

The victim, a 27-year-old Tonganoxie man, told police three men pulled him from his vehicle shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday outside Gambino’s Pizza, 420 Stone Creek Drive. They struck him twice in the head with a pipe — once above his eye and once in the back of the head — and stole $50 in cash and five checks, he told police.

Police are looking for three white male suspects who were in a four-door, light-colored Honda Accord with dark primer-type paint on the passenger-side fender.

Anyone with information about the crime can call the Tonganoxie Police Department at (913) 845-2311.

Staff positions filled at sheriff’s office

Leavenworth County Sheriff Dave Zoellner announced this week that he had filled two positions on the Sheriff’s office management staff.

Ron Cranor, a 31-year veteran of the Kansas Highway Patrol, was named undersheriff. Cranor, who has lived in Tonganoxie the past 32 years, retired from the KHP in 1990 with the rank of major. Shortly after his retirement, Leavenworth County Sheriff Terry Campbell appointed him undersheriff. Cranor kept that position until 1999.

Leonard L. Ayres, a veteran of the FBI, was named the Sheriff’s Office executive director. In 1962 Ayres opened the FBI resident agency in Leavenworth, and he stayed there until it closed in 1980. He then relocated to the FBI’s Kansas City office, where he became the information systems administrator.

Ottawa receives 100K to fund scholarships

Ottawa University has received a $100,000 donation to fund scholarships, the university announced last week.

The gift is from the Goppert Foundation, established in 1959 by Clarence H. Goppert, a Kansas and Missouri banker.

The foundation created a scholarship fund at OU with a $200,000 gift in March 2003. The new gift will increase the amount in that fund.