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Saving the evidence ‘of those hearty folks’
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Child support scrutinized in tickets scam
By George Diepenbrock
gdiepenbrock@ljworld.com
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OREGON AND CALIFORNIA TRAILS ASSOCIATION MEMBERS explore wagon ruts of the Santa Fe Trail on Thursday near Baldwin City. The group is in Lawrence this week for its annual convention.
History draws ‘rut nuts’ to town By Adam Strunk astrunk@ljworld.com
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A party of 50 set out from Lawrence to travel the Oregon and Santa Fe trails. This group didn’t embark in search of a new life, however, but an old past. The Oregon and California Trails Association held its annual convention in Lawrence this week, to experience the Oregon and Santa Fe trails that pass through Douglas County and the area’s Civil War history. “Between 1840 and 1860, half a million people sold the farm and headed West,” association member John Krizek, of Prescott, Ariz., said as he walked a stretch of the Santa Fe Trail on Thursday. “We are trying to save the evidence of those
KERRY ALTENBERND played John Brown on Thursday at Black Jack Battlefield. hearty folks that built this country.” The group followed footsteps of both the settlers and militia who used the trails. These footsteps led them to Black Jack Battlefield, three miles east of Baldwin City. Jeff Quigley and Kerry Altenbernd of the Black Jack Battlefield Trust greeted them in period dress and recounted how John Brown and free-state militia captured pro-slavery Henry Pate’s encampment after three hours of fighting.
MARGE HARDING, of Oregon City, Ore., displays historic clothing at Holiday Inn Lawrence as part of the convention.
That personal connection to history is what draws many association members — who sometimes refer to themselves as “rut nuts” — to the tours. “They’re hungry for it,” said association board member Vern Osborne of Cheyenne, Wyo. Standing on old battle fields and treading paths of long-gone settlers also helped Charles Weickert, of Marysville, find the past he was searching for. “I’m becoming more interested in my ancestors and what they had to put up with,” he said amidst the sunflowers and switch grass growing in the wagon ruts. “It just helps me get back closer to the earth and what the Indians tried to tell us long ago: The earth is the Lord’s.”
As authorities seek to recover restitution from defendants convicted in the Kansas University ticket scandal, federal prosecutors are now eyeing two lump-sum child support payments former Williams Fund head Rodney Jones made before his guilty plea in the case. According to court records, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that two transfers Jones made in 2010 to his ex-wife totalling $100,000 were fraudulent based on the restitution and Jones forfeiture debt Jones owes Kansas Athletics Inc., its insurance company and the Internal Revenue Service. Jones was among four former athletics department employees and one consultant who pleaded guilty in the case and were sentenced to prison as part of a scheme to steal more than $2 million worth of KU football and basketball tickets and distribute them to brokers and others. Attorneys for the government and Jones’ ex-wife, Alanna Jennifer Jones, now a Missouri resident, in court filings have said Please see TICKETS, page 2A
Vive le Jayhawk!
“A lot of people say, ‘I don’t like history,’” said Altenbernd, dressed as John Brown. “That’s because history isn’t taught right. History lives, and that’s what we do here. We tell – Staff intern Adam Strunk can be reached at 832-7146. the story.”
KU administrative offices renovated for $155K By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
Since the occupants of Kansas University’s highest administration posts have arrived on campus, their office suites have seen more than $155,000 in renovation and
remodeling work. Jack Martin, a KU spokesman, said the renovations were necessary, noting the carpet was last replaced during the 1997-98 school year and had holes and stains in it, and workers were tripping over ripples in the carpet.
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The chancellor’s conference room was in need of a technology upgrade, he said. “The most advanced piece of technology in that room was a telephone,” Martin said. “The second most
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KANSAS GUARD NAADIR THARPE, left, and guard Niko Roberts, right, stop for a photo Thursday in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris with Roberts’ younger brother, Justin. The KU men’s basketball players spent a day in the French capital as part of their European trip. See story, page 2A.
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Drug search warrants
Vol.154/No.223 36 pages
The KBI has executed 10 search warrants to businesses following a seven-month investigation into the sale of substances containing a form of synthetic marijuana. Page 3A
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