Watergate reporter to speak at convention

Carl Bernstein, who gained fame as one of the Watergate reporters with the Washington Post, will be the keynote speaker April 15 at the Kansas Press Assn.’s 113th annual convention in Lawrence.

In the 1970s, Bernstein and Post reporter Bob Woodward broke the Watergate scandal and set the standard for modern investigative reporting. After leaving the Post in 1977, Bernstein went on to uncover several more important stories for Time magazine and ABC.

The convention will run April 14-16 at the Lawrence Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive. The convention also will include sessions on media ethics, news quality vs. profits, advertising sales, management and technology issues.

Students to compete in German contests

More than 400 high school students will be at Kansas University on Saturday for the annual Schuelerkongress, a series of German-language contests.

Schuelerkongress, which translates to “student congress,” includes contests in poetry recitation, prose reading and oral language proficiency, and cultural tests covering geography, history and cuisine.

Local schools represented include Free State High School, Lawrence High School, South Junior High School and Southwest Junior High School.

The event is sponsored by the Kansas Association of Teachers of German in cooperation with the KU Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.

Ginsburg to speak at KU School of Law

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will make her first visit to Kansas University next week.

Ginsburg will speak to two law classes, hold a question-and-answer session, have lunch with female law students and meet with faculty and alumni during a one-day visit Thursday. The sessions are not open to the public.

Steve McAllister, dean of the KU School of Law, said he spent several months working to get Ginsburg to campus. He said the justice is friends with Deanell Tacha, a Lawrence resident who is chief judge of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Ginsburg is the fifth justice to visit KU since McAllister became law school dean in July 2000. The others were Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, Antonin Scalia and former Justice Byron White, who died in 2002.

Ginsburg has served on the court since 1993.

St. Patrick’s day celebration Parade committee to hold charity auction

An autographed photo of Hilary Duff and a basketball autographed by Kansas University Basketball player Christian Moody are just some of the items up for grabs at the Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee’s Celebrity and Sports Auction.

The auction will be 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Liberty Hall, 644 Mass.

Money raised from the event will go to The Shelter Inc. and the Lawrence Youth Football Program.

“These organizations touch the lives of many children in our community and they need your help,” said Roger L. Browning, executive chairman of the Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, shown above right with former KU football coach Don Fambrough, this year’s parade grand marshal.

This is the 18th year for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Over the years, the group has contributed more than $290,000 to local charities.

The parade will be at 1 p.m. March 17, and shown live on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6.

March 11 is the deadline to enter the parade. For more information, go online to lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com.

Central Junior High principal to retire

The principal of Central Junior High School has announced plans to retire.

Ted Juneau, principal for 11 years, will step down at the end of the year, school officials announced Thursday.

He previously served as a division principal for four years and as a social studies and American history teacher and coach for nine years at Lawrence High School. Before coming to Lawrence, he taught at Topeka High School for nine years.

“I have great respect for Ted’s 33 years of service to public education,” Supt. Randy Weseman said in a statement. “He is a strong advocate for students, and has worked diligently with teachers, staff and parents to build great pride among the Central Junior High School Community.”

Juneau received his bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays State University and a master’s degree from Kansas University.

School officials said they planned to begin a search for Juneau’s replacement immediately.

Police catch thief on empty tank

The theft of a Jeep Cherokee early Thursday morning led to a police pursuit of a 20-year-old Lawrence man through the city and on Kansas Highway 10 to Olathe.

A 21-year-old Lawrence woman reported at 1:43 a.m. that her Jeep had been stolen from the 1000 block of Tennessee Street, said Lawrence Police Sgt. Dan Ward.

He said officers spotted the stolen vehicle at the intersection of 23rd and Alabama streets and attempted to stop the driver. But the man continued driving eastbound on 23rd Street.

Ward said the pursuit continued along K-10 reaching speeds as fast as 100 mph. But the pursuit ended in Olathe when the stolen vehicle ran out of gas, he said.

Ward said the police arrested the driver, who was booked into Douglas County Jail for aggravated burglary, felony theft, attempting to flee and elude law enforcement officers and reckless driving.

Traffic safety

Local teen released from hospital

A Lawrence teen injured Wednesday in an accident along North 1500 Road was treated and released from Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Douglas Ratliff, 18, was a passenger in a 2001 Ford Ranger pickup truck Wednesday afternoon that was traveling eastbound on North 1500 Road, said Douglas County Sheriff Lt. Kathy Tate.

Tate said the driver, 17-year-old Justin B. Scallorn, of Lawrence, lost control of the truck. The truck left the road and struck a ditch on the north side of the road, she said.

Scallorn wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the truck, Tate said. He was taken to the University of Kansas Hospital by air ambulance. A condition report on Scallorn wasn’t available Thursday.

Tate said the accident remained under investigation.

Attorney general’s office Kline’s office silent on cemetery inquiry

A spokesman for Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline declined Thursday to give any details on an investigation into allegations against Memorial Park Cemetery.

The Secretary of State’s office confirmed in late January that it had turned over its findings that Memorial Park was not complying with a state law that required private cemeteries to deposit 15 percent — or a minimum of $25 per plot — from burial plot sales into a permanent maintenance fund.

In January, a spokesman with the attorney general’s office said if the lapse continued for more than 90 days, the state could begin the process of putting the cemetery into receivership, which could mean the city would take over operations of the facility.

David Corliss, assistant city manager, said the city had not received any updates from the attorney general’s office on the investigation.

The investigation was sparked after several area residents complained of shoddy maintenance at the cemetery.

Kansas University

Pharmacy school ranks third in NIH funding

The Kansas University School of Pharmacy ranked third in the nation last year for research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the university announced.

KU received $13 million from the NIH during 2004. It has been ranked in the top five for NIH funding for six of the past seven years.

The amount was down slightly from the $13.6 million KU received in 2003, when the university ranked second.

Only the University of California-San Francisco and the University of Utah received more NIH funding.

Other Big 12 schools on the list were the University of Colorado (10th), University of Texas (19th), University of Nebraska (36th), Texas Tech University (38th) and University of Oklahoma (53rd).

In all, 64 schools received NIH funding for pharmacy last year.

Schools

South Junior High amassing chess honors

The South Junior High School Chess Club took second place in a tournament on a recent Saturday .

All 10 South students who attended won medals. The students are: Doug Rawlings, Jessica Newman, Nate McFadden, Adam Schwager, Sonal Chakrasali, Carl Peterson, Ben Preheim, Arianne Suchy, Sam Graham and Deawnna Montoya.

The club has won four trophies and numerous medals so far this year.

Clinic offering free exams for children

Parents who have questions about their young children’s seeing, hearing, walking or learning can bring them to a free examination March 18 in Perry.

Professionals in speech and language development, social skills, vision and hearing will screen the children.

The clinic is open to children younger than 5 years old. They must live in one of the following school districts: Perry-Lecompton, Oskaloosa, McLouth, Valley Falls, Jefferson County North, Jefferson West or Atchison County Community Schools.

To schedule an appointment, call the Northeast Kansas Education Service Center at (785) 863-3410. The clinic will be at Perry United Methodist Church.

County to offer emergency training

The Douglas County Community Emergency Response Team will offer training to people interested in helping out with community disaster recovery .

The emergency response team trains local citizens to put out small fires, provide basic medical aid, search for and rescue victims safely and organize volunteers to help with emergency response.

Training takes 20 hours. There are two options for training. People can go to an all-day training session, which will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 16, or take classes Tuesday evenings which will start March 22 and end April 12.

For more information or to register, call 832-5260 or go online to www.douglas-county.com/emergency_mgmt/certprogram.asp.