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TUESDAY • JANUARY 19 • 2016
BUILDING ‘SOMETHING BIG’
Mistakes in Bledsoe case may not be punishable ———
KBI re-examining investigation that led to wrongful conviction By Karen Dillon Twitter: @karensdillon
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
Board seeks $100K from city to fund affordable housing project
CONSTRUCTION IS UNDERWAY ON CEDARWOOD SENIOR COTTAGES, which is being built by local nonprofit Tenants for Homeowners and will feature 14 individual one- or twobedroom cottages. The project, located at 25th Street and Cedarwood Avenue, intends to meet a need for housing for middle-income seniors. At its weekly meeting today, the City Commission will vote on allowing the Affordable Housing Authority Board to put out a call for proposals for affordable housing projects.
projects, then take that recommendation back to the City Commission for final approval. Members of the advisory board The city’s newly established Af- are seeking a “shovel-ready” projfordable Housing Advisory Board ect that can be completed someis looking to use the $100,000 in time this year. its trust fund to finance its first “It’s a project we hope will reproject — one it hopes ally start something big,” will demonstrate what the said Douglas County Comboard does and what it missioner Nancy Thellman, wants to achieve. who serves on the board. City Commissioners will The nine-member Afvote today on whether the fordable Housing Advisory board can distribute a reBoard was established in CITY quest for proposals, put- COMMISSION July with the purpose of ting the call out for people overseeing the city’s housor organizations to submit their ing trust fund and recommending affordable housing projects for how that money be spent. consideration to be funded. The housing trust fund conThe board will select one of the tains approximately $100,000 By Nikki Wentling
Twitter: @NikkiWentling
— the amount left over from a previous housing trust fund created in the early 2000s. Thellman said there was discussion among board members about whether to spend the available money on a project this year or let funding accumulate and put it toward a larger effort. It was ultimately decided the board get started on making tangible progress, she said.
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Topeka — Westar Energy announced Monday it’s looking for customers to sign up for a “community solar” program that would enable them to buy a certain percentage of their energy from a solar array. The Kansas Corporation Commission recently authorized Westar to build a solar array, if the company can secure enough commitments by the end of March for the purchase of at least 1 megawatt of power — roughly enough electricity to power 164 homes. Westar spokeswoman
The additional cost for a household to receive about 15 percent of its electricity through community solar is about $10 per month at current electricity prices, Westar said. But the rates the company charges will be locked in place for the length of their enrollment, regardless of what happens to regular rates. Customers can enroll Travis Young/Special to the Journal-World by visiting Westar’s webWES MIZELL, WIND SITE MANAGER FOR WESTAR ENERGY, site, WestarEnergy.com/ unlocks the gate at the entrance of the Central Plains Wind communitysolar. Farm in this file photo from March 2014. New Westar The announcement of programs are aiming to make it easier for customers to buy the community solar proenergy from wind and solar sources. gram comes on the heels of another initiative WeGina Penzig said the com- anywhere in Westar’s star said is meant to make pany has not yet decided service territory would it easier for customers to where the solar array will be able to participate in Please see WESTAR, page 2A be built. But customers the program.
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Floyd Bledsoe is evidence to show the former prosecutor and law enforcement officials tried to put the wrong man behind bars. “It’s just kind of, unfortunately, one of those things,” Belveal said. “Mistakes just got compounded, but I think they were honest mistakes. I don’t think anybody did anything sinister.” After having served 15 years in prison, Bledsoe was released from custody in December after new DNA evidence and letters of confession from Floyd’s late-brother Tom Bledsoe emerged. Please see BLEDSOE, page 5A
Please see HOUSING, page 2A
Westar projects aim to make green energy more accessible By Peter Hancock
A former prosecutor, county sheriff and KBI agent likely made mistakes related to DNA and lie detector evidence in a 1999 wrongful murder conviction, but Jefferson County’s top prosecutor said he’s convinced they weren’t intentional. Questions about how certain pieces of evidence were handled in the 1999 murder conviction of Floyd Bledsoe have been swirling since December, when a Jefferson County court overturned his conviction and released him from prison. Jefferson County Attorney Jason Belveal told the Journal-World recently that mistakes were made in the case that convicted Bledsoe for the murder of 14-yearold Zetta Camille Arfmann. But Belveal said he doesn’t believe there
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Bus writers: Residents awarded free fares for transit stories By Nikki Wentling Twitter: @nikkiwentling
Lawrence resident Johnny Lyons says he’s a regular on “the Five,” as he affectionately calls it — the Lawrence Transit System bus that covers the city’s southeast corner by making a loop from East Hills Business Park to the Iowa Street Walmart. He hops on the bus from a stop on 23rd Street that’s close to his home off Ousdahl Road, and he takes the long route to his workplace
Remembering MLK Speakers at KU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day event urged taking action to make the world a better place. Page 3A
in East Hills Business Park, starting by going west on 23rd instead of east. It takes about an hour to go south down Iowa Street and then retrace the route, back past his home and on to East Lawrence. It’s Lyons’ way to prepare for the day. He’s a talker, and an observer, and has made many “bus buddies.” “I’m a very precarious person,” Lyons said. “I love people, I love talking and chatting them up.” Please see BUS, page 2A
Vol.158/No.19 28 pages