From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 28, 1972:

• Members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission voted 5-3 this week to deny a commercial rezoning request for the Sunset Drive-in Theater on West Sixth Street. Drawings shown at the meeting by Jack Brand, attorney for the applicant, Commonwealth Theaters, showed a large one-floor building for stores placed close to the rear of the 14.7 acre site. Commissioners had voiced concerns over placement of the building and drainage issues. Area residents had objected to the idea of more commercial zoning along Sixth Street. “Do we have to have strip development on all the arterials in town?” queried L. L. Houston, 712 Wellington.
• Twenty-nine cars of a 50-car Santa Fe freight train derailed early today in a rural area east of Melvern. One train had apparently gone off the rails and pulled the other 28 with it, according to a Santa Fe supervisor. Several of the cars had been destroyed by fire ignited from volatile materials the train had been carrying — specifically, propane naptha, fuel coke, and asphalt. Flames as high as 30 or 40 feet had been witnessed at the site before the fire had been brought under control.