TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has honored retired Associated Press newsman and former state ethics commission member Elon Torrence on his 95th birthday.
Torrence was introduced Tuesday in the Senate along with his wife, Polly. They live in Topeka.
Torrence worked in The AP’s Topeka bureau from 1946 until his retirement in 1982. He served on the Governmental Ethics Commission for 16 years, starting in 1994.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, and Sen. Vicki Schmidt, a Republican, praised Torrence for his service to the state.
Hensley noted that Torrence covered the case of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, whose convictions for the 1959 killing of a Holcomb family were the subject of Truman Capote’s book “In Cold Blood.”
Schmidt said Torrence has an amazing memory for important events.
