Category: News

Tim Laurent, of the Lawrence Parks and Rec Department and Chad Towen, facilities operation supervisor for Rock Chalk Park, said the new Rock Chalk Park “engenders pride.” And then they proceeded to show their pride by presenting an impressive array of facts and figures about the new facility to Central Rotarians on November 19.

“Lawrence has needed this for a long time,” Laurent said. The project began in 2006 with a study, surveys, committee meetings and public meetings that extended into 2009.

In  2011 the Lawrence City Commission conducted study sessions involving the City, Kansas University and private citizens.

Rock Chalk Park opened in October of this year and includes a 10,000 seat track and field venue, women’s softball and soccer areas, eight lighted tennis courts, five miles of trails,  and an 18,000 square foot recreation center. There are full-size gyms, volley ball courts, half-court gyms, an indoor turf area, fitness, dance and meeting rooms, and a weight room, among other things. Hyvee runs a small grocery market there.

Laurent said in the first month 53,000 visits were logged in to Rock Chalk Park.

“We want to encourage tournament use but we  can host everything from big crowds to small birthday parties,” Towen said.  “There are no fees for local residents. We want to keep local activities local.”

Chad Lawhorn of the Lawrence Journal World specializes  in keeping an eye on what’s going on in Lawrence. He told Lawrence Central Rotarians on Nov. 11 that one of the biggest issues currently with the Lawrence City Commission is the loss on the ballot of the police department consolidation and expansion.

When he was asked what contributed to the loss he said there were three reasons:

The first was the controversies over Rock Chalk Park, resulting in a loss of trust in the electorate.  The second was the fact that people don’t want taxes raised and the third was the location of the proposed new facility.

“I think,” he said “that the issue could have survived one or even two of the questions in voters’ minds, but not all three.

“City commissioners still believe there’s a need and are going to continue to work on it.  In the next election, three of the five commissioners are up for re-election and there may be some changes. Several people who have not served before are considering running. The Commission wants to rebuild trust with the voters, so it’s going to be an interesting time.”

In other issues he said the momentum of the city seems to be moving south. There is property for development along south Iowa street and the Southwest Traffic way is now a going concern. “There is a lot of vacant space there that realtors are looking at,” he said.

He discussed the pros and cons of  online newspapers and ended with a question about his column. He was asked what his wife thinks of mention of her in his writing. “When she quits laughing, I quit writing,” he said.

Central Rotarian Jim Evers introduced local Salvation Army Lieutenants Marisa and Matthew McCluer by describing the Salvation Army as an “amazing organization.”

Jim, who was a volunteer on the Salvation Army board before becoming development director for the group in Lawrence, has high praise for the work the Army does.

The McCluers described the history of the Army which started in the 1800s in England and came to Lawrence in 1886.

“It started out,” Matthew McCluer said “as an evangelical part of the universal Christian church, preaching the gospel outside of churches in order to get people back into churches.”

But then, he said, it didn’t do much good to send people into churches when they were hungry with no place to live. So the Salvation Army began to focus on more than just preaching. “The credo became ‘soup, soap, and salvation.’ ”

Salvation Army help has always been individual as well as general. After the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, the then director of the Army (and daughter of the founder) gave the organization’s entire budget to help recovery.  After the 9/11 disaster, Salvation Army members provided shelter and comfort  to recovery workers, giving them places to rest and taking care of their feet, sore from walking through the burning rubble.

Marisa said the Salvation Army helped her family when she was a child and she was anxious to continue the work.

In Lawrence, the Salvation Army’s weekly food program serves about 12,000 meals a year.  Special Services provides what people need when they need it. “But we don’t just serve as a band-aid,” Marisa said.  “We want people to have a plan to break their cycle of poverty.

“We collaborate with other agencies. For instance we work with United Way to help get kids back into school and provide what they need.”

During the holidays they work with numerous community agencies to help the approximately 700 families who need assistance. Saying the Christmas donations provide 30 percent of their yearly budget, they thanked Rotarians for donating and for ringing bells during the holiday season.

The Mcluer’s passed out a flier that has all the upcoming Salvation Army events that volunteers are needed for.  Take a look and help a great local organization.

Central Rotarian Jim Peters introduced KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little by listing all the areas she oversees and likening her to a CEO of a big company.

Speaking at the Oct. 1 meeting, Gray-Little talked about her responsibilities which range from  dealing with the budget to working to prevent sexual assaults on campus to wondering what to do with the old rails for a trolley car that were unearthed recently during street repaving near the chancellor’s residence.

“We are very concerned” she said when talking about state finances.  Twenty percent of KU’s budget comes from the state, the rest from tuition, research grants and other sources.  “Working with the legislature is very important,” she said, and with the regents. “The regents are my bosses,” she said.

The regents are considering developing a performance funding proposal, which, without additional funding, has not been a success in several other states.  “This is a concern,” Gray-Little said.

KU is establishing a task force to deal with sexual assault on campus.  When incidents are reported, there is  a robust policy for investigation, she said.  “If the incident has also been reported to the police, we work together with them. “ In 2013 there were 12 cases of sexual assault reported, two were dropped and six resulted in expulsion from the university.

She also talked about campus construction, with new residence halls going up and construction soon to start on an energy environment center and a health building, roads being repaved and trees planted.

She said perception and reputation are important to a university and discussed research and acting on recommendations from committees and alumni.

She took questions from the audience about a variety of subjects including distance learning,  (“KU wants several options,”) and working with international students.

And no one said a word about football.