From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Feb. 26, 1976:

• The Douglas County Commission this week was presented with a bicentennial bell this week. The 200-pound bell, a project of the Douglas County Bicentennial Commission, had been designed and cast by James Patti and Robert Rose. Arthur Heck, county commission chair, accepted the bell on behalf of his fellow commissioners and noted that the the county was still deciding where the bell would be placed. It was tentatively planned to be anchored on the site of the new judicial and law enforcement complex then under construction next to the county courthouse.
• Two major business burglaries were reported today by Lawrence police. Guns and camera equipment had been discovered stolen from the Gibson Discount Center, 2525 Iowa, earlier today when a janitor found a broken glass door at the south end of the building. Police believed a burglar might have hidden in the store after closing and then broken the door to escape. A second burglary was reported at Alfie’s Fish and Chips, Sixth and Maine, where a person or persons had pried open a door to enter and take $524 in cash.