From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 18, 1970:

• The idea was still in its tentative stages, but city officials had recently consulted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a plan for a 35-acre riverfront park to be added to the Lawrence park system. The Corps was then working on the North Lawrence Flood Control Levee on the opposite side of the river from the proposed park.
• Local volunteers were pleased at the success of a recent campaign to send Christmas packages to servicemen in Vietnam. The volunteers had mailed about 40 packages on Dec. 7. So many items had been collected for the project that there were many extras donated to an American Legion project to provide gifts for needy families of veterans.
• American and South Vietnamese forces were scheduled to observe 24-hour cease-fires for Christmas and New Year’s. Neither announcement mentioned Laos or Cambodia, where American bombers were conducting heavy raids on North Vietnamese supply routes.