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Scott Kraft, senior editor for the L.A. Times, is scheduled as the featured guest for the 10th annual Huck Boyd Lecture in Community Media on Thursday in Forum Hall.
The event runs in conjunction with the opening of the Boyd Collection of Papers in the Special Collections Section of Hale Library. The dedication is planned to start at 1:30 p.m. in the Hemisphere Room on the fifth floor of Hale Library.
The Boyd Collection, which fills a 90-foot section of shelf space, helps document Boyd’s ownership and publishing work for newspapers in Phillips and Jewell counties, according to a press release by the K-State libraries.
Huck Boyd has a history at K-State, said Gloria Freeland, director of the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media. Boyd was a 1977 graduate and showed potential as a writer.
“He was a sports writer for the Collegian when I was an editor, and even then, I could tell he was going to go far,” Freeland said. “He was a really good writer.”
The lecture by Kraft is titled “Storytelling in Modern News.” Freeland said the presentation would have an appeal for a very large student audience.
“For those in journalism, he’s talking a lot about getting the story across, because no matter what type – print, broadcasting, radio – you’re always trying to tell the story,” Freeland said. “For those not in journalism, they would be interested to hear about his time in places such as Nairobi, Johannesburg and Paris.”
According to a press release by the center, Kraft was the senior editor for the L.A. Times from 1997-2008 and managed a 75-person news crew in 10 cities.
The events are both scheduled to take place on Thursday. The lecture is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in Forum Hall and is expected to last about 45 minutes. Both events are free to the public.
Mayor Bob Strawn vehemently objected to the city’s proposed renegotiation of a payment agreement with Farrar Corporation’s debt to the city, which was also discussed at the meeting.
“We are going to sap out $220,000 from the tax payers,” Strawn said. “I am strongly opposed to that.”
The Farrar Corporation owes $220,000 to the city of Manhattan. Due to the current recession, the owner Joe Farrar went to the city and asked to renegotiate the final payment. Working with Lauren Palmer and John Pagen, both city employees, the Farrar Corporation came to an agreement. That agreement must first be accepted by city commission.
The agreement states that Farrar will be forgiven the debt if they give 2.6 acres of their property to Manhattan Day Care and Learning Center (MDCLC). If the property cannot be used by the daycare, then Farrar Corporation must create 15 new jobs in order for the debt to be forgiven and the 2.6 acres will be given to the city.
The property to be given to MDCLC was appraised at $275,000. Strawn pointed out that the money owned to the city is tax-payer money and Farrar only will be giving up $55,000 in assets by this exchange, the rest comes out of tax payers pockets.
Jeff Rosenow, President of MDCLC, passionately pleaded for the commission to allow the transaction.
“Previously, we thought we had exhausted our options,” Rosenow said. “We thought this site was quite good.”
Rosenow said the site will allow the day care to increase in capacity from about 50 slots to 200 slots, making the day care sustainable. He said with the limited capacity now, it could not.
Commissioner Bruce Snead pointed out to those in attendance that the city had given MDCLC $100,000 to keep it from closing its doors last fall, but agrees with the decision to give the land to the day care.
“I think its the best possible solution for Manhattan Day Care,” Snead said. “It’s a critical step I hope we can take.”
During commissioner comments before voting, Strawn again voiced his annoyance with the commission in accepting the proposal.
“I swear, every possible social service that comes before this commission, they will always be passed,” Strawn said. “At some point, people are going to run out of money. So the people on fixed incomes don’t have to pay for this over and over and over again. I’m sick of this. I’m going to be on the back side of a 3-2 vote again.”
As Strawn predicted, the vote was 3 for and 2 against. The motion passed.
The commission also approved construction of Cox Bros. BBQ on McCall Road between Firestone Complete Auto Care and Freddy’s Frozen Custard. Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 requested to waive the building permits for the various projects scheduled over the next four years on improvements to the schools in the district, which was also approved by the commission.
The last item on the agenda was to appoint a representative to the chamber of commerce board. The commission appointed Commissioner Loren Pepperd with a vote of 3-1-1, with Strawn voting against and Peppard abstaining. Strawn thought a member of city commission sitting on a closed board such as the chamber violated the transparency policy adopted by the city last year.
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