Home winning streak ends for KU women
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MONDAY • DECEMBER 7 • 2015
‘THESE NEW KIDS ARE GOING TO TURN AROUND’
Town hall on jail set for tonight Public can weigh in on proposed expansion, mental health center By Conrad Swanson Twitter: @Conrad_Swanson
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
TODD “LEAPER” WILLIAMS CHEERS ON the Kansas University Jayhawks at a recent football game. For the past 45 years, Williams has worked as the team’s equipment manager and one of the team’s biggest supporters.
‘Leaper’ knows Jayhawk football inside and out By Conrad Swanson Twitter: @Conrad_Swanson
D
espite Kansas University’s football team completing its 2015 season without a win, Todd “Leaper” Williams doesn’t let anything dampen his spirits. Instead, he holds his head high and earnestly looks toward next season with a positive attitude. “We’re going to be really good,” said the KU equipment manager. “We’re going to have to work a little bit harder and go from there.” Up or down, thin or
flush, Leaper, 62, has seen all kinds of seasons in his lifetime and through his 45 years with KU’s athletics department. Leaper was born and raised in a home that lived and breathed Kansas University athletics. The athletic department’s revenue-generating vehicle, the Williams Education Fund, was named after his father, uncle and grandfather. Old family photo albums show dinner parties with the likes of Bob Billings, Olin Petefish, Wilt Chamberlain, Arthur C. Clarke and Truman Capote in attendance. And although Leaper, one of four sons, was left
with a mental development impairment due to anoxia — a lack of oxygen to the brain — at birth, he grew up cheering for the Jayhawks alongside the rest of the family. “When it comes to walking into a room and knowing who 500 people are, he’s extraordinary,” said Leaper’s younger brother, Sean Williams. “But when it comes to making change for a dollar, he’s just not very good at that.” Growing up as an avid sports fan, Leaper immediately began memorizing the names of local and professional athletes, game statistics and more, Williams said.
Only in Lawrence A Monday feature highlighting behindthe-scenes stars and unsung heroes who make Lawrence a special place to live. To suggest someone for a feature, email news@ljworld.com. Put “Only in Lawrence” in the subject line. “He knew everybody on the Chiefs, the Kansas City Athletics and everybody on KU’s teams,” he said. “He can still rattle off everybody on the 1968 Orange Bowl team.” Leaper was so passionate about sports, in fact, that in 1970 he approached the football team’s thenequipment manager, Ray Coughenour, to ask Please see LEAPER, page 2A
Douglas County officials will host another town hall meeting tonight to offer several updates on the county’s potential jail expansion and mental health crisis intervention center projects. During the meeting, officials working on the project will explain a few of the conclusions they’ve reached so far, said County Administrator Craig Weinaug. The project team, largely consisting of representatives from criminal justice consultants Huskey & As- Weinaug sociates, Kansas University, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and Sheriff Ken McGovern’s Office, will provide updates on the county’s need for crisis intervention training and the schedule for a crisis center, Weinaug said. Near-capacity inmate populations at the Douglas County Jail were one of the catalysts for the organizations coming together to look into providing better services for people with serious mental illness. As the project has progressed, increasing emphasis has been placed on providing better mental health services for the entire community. Please see JAIL, page 2A
Superintendent search process focus of meeting Doll leaving district in June By Rochelle Valverde Twitter: @RochelleVerde
Lighting the season
At a special meeting tonight, the Lawrence school board will review the process for hiring a new superintendent and decide whether it will spend about $30,000 to employ a search firm to do so. School board President Vanessa Sanburn called the meeting last week. The board will review a summary of the procedures and search options for hiring a superintendent. David Cunningham, SCHOOLS director of human resources and legal services for the school district, will present the summary. The summary includes 16 “essential steps,” the first of which is determining whether to hire an outside executive search firm. The alternative is a search organized and conducted by staff in the district’s human resources department. If a firm is hired, the district’s HR staff would provide support. Lawrence schools Superintendent Rick Doll announced on Nov. 23 that he will
Jason Divad, left, rides a unicycle while Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, right, readies a gathered crowd for the lighting of the Hanukkah Menorah during a celebration at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., on Sunday evening, Lawrence resident Neil Salkind lit the first candle to begin celebrating the eight days of Hanukkah. Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
INSIDE
Sunny & mild Business Classified Comics Deaths
High: 57
Low: 33
Today’s forecast, page 8A
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8A, 2C Sports 6A Television 7A USA Today 6A
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1C-4C, 8C 8A, 2C 1B-8B
Employment boost The Lawrence chamber of commerce says 484 new jobs are the result of its efforts to attract new companies this year. 5A
Please see SEARCH, page 2A
Vol.157/No.341 24 pages