From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 24, 1974:

• Lawrence’s 11 new police cars arrived this week, with one of them sporting a new rooftop lighting system. The vehicle for the traffic and accident investigation unit carried a metal chest-type box atop the vehicle with a red and white flashing light which could be elevated seven feet above the car’s roof. Lt. Vernon Harrell said he believed the elevated lights would give motorists approaching an accident scene adequate time to avoid a dangerous stop, most notably at intersections where the terrain obscured part of the street. The unit also carried another type of light new to this area — a series of small bulbs or directional signals in the shape of an arrow. The elevated lights cost $700 and the directional arrow $125, compared with about $160 for the traditional “cherrytop” dual lights.
• The Old West Lawrence Association was planning to urge the Lawrence City Commission to purchase land north of Central Park to the Kansas River for parkland. About 40 persons at the OWL association’s recent meeting had unanimously passed the park extension resolution, urging the purchase of the land north of Central Park across Sixth Street between Tennessee and Kentucky streets. The purchase was desirable, the association said, “so that we might have an unimpeded view of the riverfront and an open space connection to the proposed riverfront park.”