From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Oct. 24, 1972:

• The biggest item on the next agenda for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission was a request for a rock quarry. N. R. Hamm Quarry Inc. had requested a permit for a rock quarry of about 200 acres to be located 1 1/2 miles north of Pleasant Grove and a half-mile east of U.S. 59. “We’re going to have to get a couple more chairs,” commented planning director Dick McClanathan, who was apparently expecting a large turnout of residents opposed to the plan. A follow-up article later this week revealed that the proposal had been “buried under an avalanche of neighbors’ protests” and had been defeated by the commission. About 80 of the concerned residents had presented a petition with 143 signatures and were present at the meeting to witness the planners vote 5 to 2 against the plan (with one abstention). Hamm had argued that the limestone was a natural resource that ought to be used and that the dust wouldn’t go beyond 100 feet from the site. Opponents responded that the quarry would alter “the most beautiful approach to Lawrence” and would cause traffic problems, dust, injury to hens and dairy herds, and a decrease to land values in a developing residential area.
• Cloudy weather was hanging over the Lawrence area and a drop in temperatures signaled the approach of late fall. Overnight lows this week were dropping to the upper 30s. A notice appeared in today’s newspaper reminding local residents that “studded snow tires may legally be driven in Kansas on or after Nov. 1, until April 15.”