Highway Patrol offers travel safety tips

The Kansas Highway Patrol has these tips for safe summer travel:

¢ Plan your trip and allow time for delays. Make sure you’re well-rested and comfortable with your route. For construction locations and weather information, call 511 or go to www.ksdot.org.

¢ Check your vehicle’s fluids, tires, belts, wipers and lights.

¢ Buckle your seat belt and properly secure children in safety seats.

¢ Watch the weather. Adjust your speed and following distance as necessary. Wet roads can be as slick as those covered in snow or ice.

¢ Don’t drink and drive, and don’t ride with someone who does.

¢ If you break down, move your car as far onto the shoulder as possible and turn on the four-way flashers. Stay with the vehicle, lock the doors and let down the windows. If you have a cell phone, dial 47 (HP) for the nearest Highway Patrol dispatcher or *KTA on the Kansas Turnpike.

Transportation

T offers discounts to frequent swimmers

The Lawrence Transit System is introducing a new program to give discounts to frequent users of the city’s swimming pools.

The new program will give swimmers the opportunity to purchase passes that will allow them to ride on the T an unlimited number of times during June, July and August. The Summer Splash Passes cost $25 for school-aged children and $50 for adults.

The passes are available for purchase at both the city’s indoor and outdoor aquatic centers, which both are on routes for the T.

Beautification program

Oread Neighborhood plans annual cleanup

The Oread Neighborhood Assn. will conduct its annual neighborhood cleanup Saturday.

The cleanup will start at 10 a.m. and continue until noon. Anyone wanting to help should meet at 9:30 a.m. at Yello Sub, 624 W. 12th St., for coffee and doughnuts. After the cleanup, Yello Sub sandwiches will be provided for participants.

Convoy

Annual tractor ride planned for Saturday

More than 100 tractors are expected at the second annual antique tractor ride Saturday from Ottawa to Wellsville.

The event, which starts at 10 a.m., is sponsored by the Power of the Past Antique Engine & Tractor Assn. It will begin at 1612 Davis Road in Ottawa, the site of the ATI Co. Anyone with a tractor that is from 1969 or earlier can enter. Registration begins at 8 a.m., and a free breakfast will be offered until 9:30 a.m. There is a $10 registration fee.

The tractor caravan will travel to Wellsville over county roads, which will take about two hours. Two trams will haul family members of the riders.

The caravan will parade down Wellsville’s main street, and then riders have a break for lunch. The caravan will then return to Ottawa.

For more details, call ride chairman John Pierson, (785) 748-0772; Penny Stoneking, (785) 883-4676; or Darlene Lister, (785) 746-5484.

Lawrence author to give reading today

Lawrence resident N. Barry Carver, a former Hollywood script writer, started penning short stories after surviving a legal battle with a movie studio he claimed stole portions of one of his scripts. After a brief hiatus from writing, he put together a story that his colleagues seemed to like. So he wrote another. And another. Eventually he had 52 that he pared down to 40-something for “Sunday Best,” his new book of essays. He’ll give a reading and sign copies at 8 p.m. today at The Cup, 4000 W. Sixth St.