Lawrence community members visit graves of loved ones
Over this solemn holiday weekend, Lawrence residents stopped by Oak Hill Cemetery to visit the graves of loved ones who have passed.
Over this solemn holiday weekend, Lawrence residents stopped by Oak Hill Cemetery to visit the graves of loved ones who have passed.
The beginning of June will mark the 165th anniversary of the Battle of Black Jack, […]
Despite pouring rain for most of Saturday, dozens of community members stopped by The Lawrence Times’ party at South Park. Kerry Altenbernd spoke on abolitionist John Brown, among other attractions.
For years after Nick Rice’s death, his family fielded an untold number of letters, phone calls and the occasional in-person visitor telling them Nick deserved what he got.
KBI laboratory testing released 50 years after Nick Rice was killed revealed that a bullet found almost exactly where the teen’s body lay was fired from the gun of Officer Jimmy Joe Stroud. But a Lawrence police captain had tampered with that evidence, rendering it inadmissible.
There were so many questions surrounding Nick Rice’s death in Lawrence in July 1970, but most local media failed to ask them. Instead, false narratives were allowed to thrive.
Nick Rice was shot and killed in the 1200 block of Oread Avenue on the night of July 20, 1970 — an innocent bystander in a crowd of more than 150 protesters. These key figures were involved in Nick’s life, his death, and the subsequent investigation.
The KBI determined that Nick Rice was not the man who tried to torch a car on KU’s campus in July 1970. But following his death, local officials sowed doubt about that fact in public statements. Even five decades later, one former officer likened Rice to BTK or John Wayne Gacy.
Hours after Nick Rice was killed in July 1970, Lawrence police officer Jimmy Joe Stroud asked authorities if he’d be charged with shooting the teen. But then the coverup began.
Five decades later, Stroud still says “They didn’t have no evidence.”
Melinda Henderson was passionately involved in community affairs, most recently focusing on affordable housing and community issues. She died Tuesday at 68.
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