Their search led them to a meeting with President Bush aboard Air Force One after he dedicated a youth center in Wichita and into the life of a wounded soldier, who survived because Alex’s body had shielded him from the blast inside the Humvee.

Roy Wenzl met the Funcheon family after he wrote about President Bush’s visit to Wichita June 15, 2007, during which Bush met with the Funcheons — Bob and Karen and their daughter, Gloria. The Funcheons said they wanted to keep their conversation with the president private and politely declined to talk to Wenzl.
But they also thought their story might benefit other soldiers and their families by underscoring how they wanted the war to be meaningful.

Over several months, Wenzl spoke with the family and with soldiers who had served in Iraq with Alex.
He read diary entries of Alex’s sister, the e-mails between Alex and his family, and accompanied Bob to the cemetery for one of his graveside talks with his son.

They shared intimate details.

Bob talked about the pain of never getting to meet the man his son eventually became.

Gloria talked about how her mother retreated to the bathroom every day and turned on the fan thinking no one could hear her sobbing.

On Kansas.com, you can read Wenzl’s  account of why he wrote the story.

It’s a story we hope resonates with readers as the country continues to debate the war in Iraq.

As Wenzl wrote on the online account, the story is “ not only about what people did and said, but what they thought about four men dying one day in a war where the purpose and meaning will be talked about for decades to come.”

Jean Hays

Some voters believe that the character of individuals running for office matters as much as their stance on issues.

One way to judge character is to determine how they have lived their lives.

Every election, we run background checks on all candidates. We check for bankruptcies, civil court cases, criminal charges and police reports. We find out if they have held the offices they claim to have held. When possible, we check the college degrees they list.

Usually voters don’t notice the background checks because we don’t find that much.

During the primary we found that two legislative candidates had financial problems. We reported on both.

During the general election, we recently reported on one candidate who had two DUIs, 59 housing code violations, one bankruptcy and seven women who had filed police reports complaining about his behavior.

We’re not the only ones delving into backgrounds. Political parties sometimes do opposition research. And this election a few candidates — or friends of candidates — have used private investigators to check into the backgrounds of opponents.

Our job is to provide information about the candidates. Whether any of that information matters is up to the voters.

This Sunday I  hope you’ll take a close look at the comics survey in our Arts & Leisure section and online at Kansas.com.

Every few years we survey readers to determine the popularity of current comics. It also gives readers the chance to check out new comics and see if any of them are good enough to replace the current lineup.

If you’re a regular reader of our comics section, this is your chance to tell us what you like or dislike.The survey will take only a few minutes to complete.

Here are some of the new comics that Lori Linenberger, our features editor, has picked out for your consideration:

Argyle Sweater: Launched in 2006, this is a situational comic featuring absurd but often cerebral humor.

DeFlocked: Four outcasts — a sheep, two dogs and an 8-year-old boy — are forced to coexist in American suburbia.

Family Tree: The Tree family — Maggie and Ames and their kids Twig and Ted — take on modern life.

Ollie and Quentin: Best friends Ollie (a seagull) and Quentin (a lugworm) go on adventurous romps together.

The Pajama Diaries: Jill, a young mom and career woman, records her family life in a day-by-day account.

Red and Rover: Ten-year-old Red and his dog Rover share their extraordinary friendship.

Scary Gary: Gary, a retired vampire, and his henchman, Leopold, move to the suburbs to seek a peaceful life.

Some employees may question whether this respects their privacy.

Salaries are personal. We understand that.

But public salaries also are public information and are paid for by public tax dollars. Taxpayers have a right to see where their money is going.

A few state governments, such as Georgia, Iowa and Missouri, have put salaries for state government employees online for all to see.

The state of Kansas plans to do the same through www.kansas.gov/kanview a new site designed to promote transparency in government and budgets.

There are several reasons for making the information available:

1. Government is one of the largest employers. Wages it offers can help influence the pay scale for the rest of the area.

2. Salaries are a large part of a government’s budget, just as they are for any private company. For example, the city of Wichita spends more than 70 percent of its general fund, which is fed by property taxes, on salaries.
Ed Flentje, a Wichita State University professor who served as interim manager, warned in his proposed city budget that the amount the city pays in wages is increasing faster than the amount of money flowing into the general fund. If that trend doesn’t change, the city will either have to cut spending or increase taxes within three years.
Recent elections indicated that taxpayers are expecting local governments to be more accountable for how they spend money. It’s hard to tell just where tax money is going, if salary information is kept secret.

3. Finally, it’s interesting. KU athletic director Lew Perkins is paid $646,281, with about 28 percent of that coming from the state’s general fund. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is paid $106,948. Here’s a question for the next dinner table debate — what makes an athletic director worth six times more than a state’s governor?

This year, the Wichita Eagle has a new reporter to help keep you up to date on the developments. Jeannine Koranda, who grew up in Prairie Village, joined the Eagle in December.

Koranda has a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois in Springfield. She spent a year as a reporter in Ireland and most recently worked in the Oregon bureau for the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash.

She joins David Klepper and Jim Sullinger of the Kansas City Star in reporting from the newspapers’ jointly operated Topeka bureau.

You may reach her at 785-296-3006 or jkoranda@wichitaeagle.com.