Author: Admin

New Lawrence City Manager Tom Markus began his talk to Lawrence Central Rotary on June 17 by detailing his experience in the job. Beginning his career in 1973, he weathered 11 years in Cook County, Illinois, several years in Minnesota and, most recently, the top city job in Iowa City, Iowa.

“In Cook County, I learned how to keep a moral compass; in Minnesota, I was working in a state governed at that time by wrestler Jesse “the body” Ventura; in Iowa, I learned about life in a university town,” he said.  “All these experiences have shaped me, made me more patient and calm.”

But he knows he’s going to need all his experience and patience and a calm attitude in his new job. Markus said when he came to Lawrence he had an ambitious 100-day plan. “But I didn’t realize how complex Lawrence is.”

Now he is working to balance expenses and revenues in light of  the city’s potential for a $1.3 million deficit in 2017. He said some of the options are to raise revenue or cut expenses, but his preference is a middle ground of mixing and matching from both options.

“It’s close to the bone on decisions here,” he told Central Rotarians.  “The city has to provide core services such as police, education.  That’s essential.

“Federal and state government have shed their support for certain services which means we are going to have to handle them locally. Although,” he said “that’s not bad because the distance from services support can be too long. When it’s local, common sense can come into play.” He believes the new city commission has a good impact on budget planning.

“What I’m trying to do is figure how to settle the controversy, avoid polarization, and get to the middle,” he said.

Megan Scheibe of the Lawrence Humane Society said she always has loved animals and proves her point by currently being the adoptive “mother” of four pets.

Speaking at Lawrence Central Rotary on June 8, she said the Humane Society nurtures the human-animal bond by providing shelter, care and advocacy for abused and homeless pets.  In 2015 the Lawrence Shelter took in 3,571 pets including 2,186 strays and 851 that were surrendered by their owners. Dogs made up 1,611 of the received animals, cats were 1,883 and there were 74 others.

When an animal comes into the shelter there is an intake exam . Workers get as much information as possible and give the animal a medical check.  They prepare a behavior evaluation making sure the animals are happy, healthy (mainly  in the case of dogs) and what their personalities are like—if they are high energy or would be better off with an older family. They also see if surgery would be necessary.

“The place for a pet is in a home, not a shelter,” Scheibe said “and we work hard to place them.”  The number of adoptions is on the increase with over 2,000  in 2015. “We don’t keep them any longer than necessary,” she said.  The holding period for strays is three days minimum and for surrenders there is no hold. Others are handled case by case.  The average length of a stay is 27 days, with dogs averaging a 15-day stay.

The shelter staff also does cruelty investigations, 24 hour injured or ill pickup, community outreach education and low-cost micro-chipping.

“We can always use help,” she said. “We train volunteers, have a fostering program, encourage adoptions and are always very happy to accept donations.”

Melissa Fisher Isaacs, the information sources coordinator for the Lawrence Public Library, took the Rotary Four-Way test as her model and related it to  aspects of the library when she spoke to Lawrence Central Rotary on June 1.

“Is it the Truth?” Isaacs quoted the statement: “Google will get you 100,000 answers; a librarian will get you the right one.”

“Librarians help you get true, reliable information,” she said. “This year the Lawrence Public Library has answered 70,000 questions so far. Library information is vetted and reliable.”

“Is it Fair to all concerned?” 

Isaacs said the internet is necessary to daily life anymore and 88 percent of people in  Lawrence have it but there is a digital divide—and there are those who don’t have it.  So the public library offers help in using the computer and offers internet resources. Currently, they are sponsoring coding workshops for elementary school teachers, a filmmaking series and thousands of  book titles.

“Will it build Goodwill and better friendships?”

Joining a group builds goodwill and friendships. Isaac repeated the quote that joining a group “boosts your life expectancy as much as quitting smoking.”

The Lawrence Public Library offers book clubs, book talks, free meeting rooms, a sound & vision studio and several programs including one on genealogy.

And, finally, “Is it Beneficial to all concerned?”

The Lawrence Public Library is open to everyone and, currently, in the town of 90,000, there are 75,000 people in Lawrence who have a library card.  The library offers free yoga classes,  and programs that promote public health. It sponsors walks, free summer lunches for children and inexpensive lunches for adults.

Isaacs closed by saying the library staff is doing a community needs assessment to see in how many other  ways they can best serve the community.

A link to a PDF of Melissa’s complete comments is available here – it’s an interesting read!

Republic of Korea Army Captain Hosub Shim spoke on the history and security challenges of modern South Korea.  Captain Shim is a graduate and former teacher at Korea’s national military academy.  He also took an MA degree from Waseda University in Tokyo and is presently working on a Ph.D. in history at the University of Kansas.  Historically Korea has been invaded and occupied many times by powerful neighbors, including China and Japan.  However, Korean culture has survived and in South Korea, the people have prospered and built a powerhouse economy.The partition of Korea in 1945 was a defining moment in the history of the country.  The ensuing war between North and South devastated the peninsula.  The Korean War was also a Cold War

The partition of Korea in 1945 was a defining moment in the history of the country.  The ensuing war between North and South devastated the peninsula.  The Korean War was also a Cold War showdown with China and the United States engaged in combat in support of their respective allies.  Open combat ended after bitter fighting only to be replaced by a contentious ceasefire that is still in place.  North Korea continued to exist as a closed society with a one-party system dominated by the military and a ruling family.  Most of the people of the north live in poverty and suffer periodic famine and other material shortages.  In contrast the South is a democracy and boasts one of the strongest economies in the world.  Captain Shim illustrated the contrast by sharing a nighttime satellite photograph of the peninsula that shows the South full of points of light and the North almost totally dark.Captain Shim believes the biggest threat to the region is the present unstable regime in the North and their continuing development of nuclear capability.  The North continues to make threats and initiate provocative incidents.  South Koreans welcome the presence of U.S. military forces as a deterrent but the nuclear threat makes the status quo untenable.  Captain Shim belies it is essential for the United States to make a diplomatic neutralization of the North’s nuclear capability the highest priority.  Despite all obstacles South Koreans long for a reunification of the country some day.

Captain Shim believes the biggest threat to the region is the present unstable regime in the North and their continuing development of nuclear capability.  The North continues to make threats and initiate provocative incidents.  South Koreans welcome the presence of U.S. military forces as a deterrent but the nuclear threat makes the status quo untenable.  Captain Shim believes it is essential for the United States to make a diplomatic neutralization of the North’s nuclear capability the highest priority.  Despite all obstacles South Koreans long for a reunification of the country some day.