The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. Occasionally, we’ll also pick up columns from other nearby news outlets. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
The Lawrence Times does not publish staff editorials (unsigned opinion columns, usually about the topics we cover, that many news publications run).
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OPINION COLUMNS
Shawn Alexander: Say his name – Fred Harvey Smith (Column)
”Racial violence has been omnipresent in American history, and in far too many of the incidents, the perpetrators of the crime are acquitted or not even brought up on charges. When I think of such cases I am often haunted by the heinous murder of Fred Harvey Smith here in the land of John Brown in May 1936,” Shawn Alexander writes in this column.
Mike Warner: Voters have an experienced choice in this district attorney race (Column)
”Experience matters. … A poorly managed district attorney’s office undermines justice and wastes taxpayers’ money, and I want to end this,” Mike Warner writes in this column.
Tom Harper/Lawrence Times
Tom Harper: Keep City Hall in downtown Lawrence where it belongs (Column)
”Our city hall communicates strength and has an aura of permanence … City hall must remain in the heart of our city: downtown,” Tom Harper writes in this column.
Tom Harper/Lawrence Times
Tom Harper: Behind the brew – How KANbucha came to be (Column)
Elliot Pees, creator of KANbucha, recently gave Tom Harper a tour of his business and allowed him to document the weekly process of making 240 gallons of kombucha.
Shannon Portillo: Save KU’s centers that espouse values, help form leaders (Column)
”I benefit to this day from the strong networks I was able to build in spaces that students demanded. I hope that KU can continue to have those spaces of learning and connection for the students, staff and faculty there now,” Shannon Portillo writes in this column.
Bert Nash Center: Community Resource Fair to offer food, demos, dozens of agencies (Announcement)
”This will be the third year for the Bert Nash Center’s Community Resource Fair. And this year’s will be the most interactive one yet,” Jeff Burkhead writes in this Org Corner piece from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.
Tom Harper/Lawrence Times
Tom Harper: Don’t call it ‘flipping’ – Mike Randolph wants to revive old houses, create good homes (Column)
”Housing is a fundamental need, and Mike Randolph has been helping address that need in Lawrence for many years,” Tom Harper writes in this column.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Commissioner Amber Sellers: Participating in general public comment from an alternative location (Column)
”Lawrence is a city built on respect, inclusivity, and a shared commitment to progress. We are better than the behaviors we’ve witnessed in recent months,” City Commissioner Amber Sellers writes in this column.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Max Kautsch: KBI history offers ample reasons for Kansans to scrutinize Marion raid investigation (Column)
”The only reason the public learned what the KBI really knew about … who killed Nick Rice on the streets of Lawrence in 1970 was because those cases’ raw investigative files eventually saw the light of day,” Max Kautsch writes in this Kansas Reflector column.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Tom Harper: A welcome to visitors and new residents of Lawrence, and a PSA for townies (Column)
”Finally, information and a warning that turns this reflectional welcome post into a public service announcement … It is a very unsettling experience for both drivers to witness a car driving toward you on a one-way street,” Tom Harper writes in this column/PSA.
IAFF Local 1596: Lawrence city management’s proposed cuts threaten citizen and firefighter safety (Column)
”With Lawrence city management now recommending to staff each fire truck in the city with one fewer firefighter every day, the safety of the average citizen and the safety of first responders are now at risk,” Eric Lynch of IAFF Local 1596 writes in this column.
Shawn Alexander: ‘The Great Debaters’ and the University of Kansas (Column)
Many people are familiar with the film “The Great Debaters,” starring Denzel Washington as Wiley College’s debate coach. But the film omits KU’s role in Wiley’s rise in the debating world in the 1930s, Shawn Alexander writes in this column.
Brittany Hall: We have a duty to return an improved world to our children (Column)
”We are now engaged in a generational battle … for the right of everyone to succeed not in spite of who they are but because of it. And it’s a fight I want to take to the Statehouse in Topeka,” Brittany Hall writes in this column.
Suzanne Wikle: Legislature is out of touch with Kansas families (Column)
”The economic struggle faced by working Kansans today is in part because the majority of the Kansas Legislature has been focused on increasing the wealth of a few, maintaining the status quo for those with power and trying to divide us with social issues,” Suzanne Wilke writes in this column.
City of Lawrence
Dot Nary: And access for all – celebrating the City of Lawrence’s ADA transition plan (Column)
”I applaud the team of city staff, led by Evan Korynta, … for the considerable work that went into this (ADA Right-of-Way Transition) plan, and our city commissioners who have the courage and foresight to fund it,” Dot Nary writes in this column.
