From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 5, 1973:

• The city was scheduled to complete its acquisition of the 20-acre Naismith drainage ditch park within a week or so, according to City Manager Buford Watson. The $88,500 purchase from Four Seasons Inc. had been delayed largely due to late approval of a $44,250 federal grant being used to buy the flood plain area. The area to be acquired ran south from 23rd Street to the south city limits and was roughly bounded by Florida Street on the west and Arkansas on the east. There were no immediate park development plans for the area, Watson said today, but the grassy areas were to be kept mowed and there was probably going to be some tree trimming and path maintenance.
• In the usual annual weather-in-review article, a weather-watcher said that 1972 had been “shaken up seasonally.” Kansas University senior and weather observer Ted Stimach explained, “Summer came in June rather than July and August…. Fall came early and winter came very early.” The year had been colder than average (but only by one degree) and wetter than average by more than two inches. The hottest temperature recorded in Lawrence had been a steamy 99 degrees on Aug. 21 and the coldest had been 8 below zero on Jan. 15.