From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Nov. 14, 1973:

• The state environmental health department was about to set a precedent by holding a public hearing on the air pollution emitted by the Cooperative Farm Chemical Association. Up until now, the state health department had granted exemptions from air pollution standards without public hearings and without disclosing facts about the extent of pollution. At the upcoming five-day hearings, the CFCA and 96 other firms were to be considered for variances, a process called “a sham” by George Coggins, Kansas University law professor and chairman of the Kansas Sierra Club. “Five days is not enough time to adequately hear 97 cases and the division of environmental health did not release enough information for the public to understand what was going to be covered in the meetings,” Coggins said. “The department did not state which standard was violated, or the effect on health of the violation, or even why the variance is sought…. A variance is a license to pollute and should be allowed only where absolutely necessary. However, the division of environmental health is handing them out like they were popcorn.”
• The Kansas quail and pheasant hunting seasons had opened the previous Saturday and the general opinion was in favor of a bright outlook for the hunters. Multiple reports of plentiful quail had come in, with one hunter remarking, “The only reason I didn’t do well was because I shot lousy. The birds were there.”