Trial delayed for man facing alcohol charges

A Shawnee man charged with providing alcohol to his stepson, who was convicted a year ago for killing a Lawrence woman in a traffic accident, won’t be tried for five months.

Lawrence Rieke, 53, was scheduled to be tried Wednesday in Douglas County District Court on six counts of providing alcohol to a minor. His attorney, John Ivan of Merriam, requested the additional time granted by Judge Robert Fairchild.

The trial was rescheduled for Jan. 20, 2003.

On Sept. 16, 2000, Rieke allegedly provided drinks to Sean Scott, then 16. They were in Lawrence for a Kansas University football game.

Later that day Scott was driving east on Kansas Highway 10 when he collided head-on with a car driven by Felicia Bland, 39. She died in the accident.

In August 2001 Scott was sentenced to two years of intensive probation for involuntary manslaughter.

ECKAN announces new county coordinator

The East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corp. announced Thursday that it had hired a new coordinator for its Douglas County office.

Deborah S. Hamlin is set to begin her duties on Tuesday. She will be the third person this year to lead the Lawrence office.

Hamlin has a bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver.

She most recently worked for the State of Oklahoma’s Office of Juvenile Affairs. She also has been a shelter counselor at the Cleveland County Youth and Family Center, Norman, Okla., and a juvenile probation officer for 1st Judicial District Juvenile Probation, Golden, Colo.

Hamlin’s predecessor, Joyce Molina, had been director since March 28 but said at the end of last month that ECKAN executive director Richard Jackson had fired her. Six months earlier, Jackson fired Eve Cofer, who had directed the office for eight years.

ECKAN provides services for low-income people in eight counties.

ABC finds violations during Lawrence patrol

Alcoholic Beverage Control agents working last weekend in Lawrence busted dozens of liquor law violators, the office announced Thursday.

Agents issued citations for 54 violations: 19 for minors in possession of alcohol, 28 for possession of false identification, six for furnishing alcohol to minors and one for possessing an unregistered keg. Keg registration is a new requirement passed by the Kansas Legislature that became effective July 1.

The weekend citations were issued as part of stepped-up enforcement in the area after agents arrested a Kansas University student Aug. 20 on suspicion of manufacturing false IDs.

ABC director Robert Longino said several of the IDs seized during the weekend appeared to have originated with the so-called “ring” that agents broke up last week.