From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 26, 1985:

• Organizers were elated over the success of the third annual free Christmas Day dinner at the Flamingo Club, 501 N. Ninth. Over 500 Lawrence residents had attended the dinner, including individuals, family groups, the young and the old. In addition, 178 meals had been delivered to homebound people. Earlier in the day, Fred Pence had delivered 300 poinsettias from his greenhouse to be given away to the dinner guests.
• After suffering through a cold Christmas, with a high of 18 and a low of 3, area residents were greeted by a day of temperatures above 40 degrees. The month’s cold weather was not as extreme as it had been in 1983, when Lawrence had experienced its all-time record low of 16 below zero.
• A traffic control booth near the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art had been destroyed when a vehicle had hit it. The vehicle, which had left the scene afterward, was assumed to have been large, judging from the amount of damage and the fact that the booth had been pulled from its foundation.