The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 3

fife Salina Journal ijAjLl5 Friday, June 9,1995 A3 aims to connect bird watchers to environment Wyoming woman builds Artwork at Salina park I By DAN ENGLAND The Salina Journal isn't a typical Salina park wjth slides, swings and screaming kids. Artist Lynne Hull isn't your typical environmentalist. two seem to be a perfect match. the artist from Laramie, took ajlook around Lakewood Thursday. She is using her residence, sponsored by the Salina Arts and Humanities and the Land Institute, to build artwork focused on the park's feathered friends.

creates pieces of art designed for use by birds in their natural habitat. created a "bird screen" for use near the east parking lot at the end of a BRIEFLY ssing man's body recovered near river A body found along the shore of the Marais des Cygnes River this week has been as that of an Ottawa who disappeared two months ago. he body recovered Tuesday night was identified through a defltal exam as that of James P. Heth, 21, who was last seen April 9 when he left his home to go to a stoJrX said Capt. Brad Gilges of the: Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

Heth's death was being investi- gafHd as a homicide because a preliminary exam showed he had been shot, Gilges said. Authorities determined the body had been at the site for to nine weeks and had been unger water for part of that time. Tqpeka teens admits killing mom, sister TOPEKA A Topeka teenager has pleaded guilty to killing his! mother and sister and will sei)ve at least 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole, under terms of a plea agreement. Christopher Rice, 17, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the Sept. 6, 1994, death of his mother, 37-year-old Jayne Rioe, and reckless second-degree mujder in the death of his sister, 13-jjjear-old Leslie Rice.

Formal sentencing was set for July 14. iSawyers for both sides are have the teen-ager placed in thegLarned State Security Hospital fonmentally ill patients. According to court documents, told police he and his mother had argued before he got a softball bat and struck her with it. He alsoiadmitted strangling her with plastic aquarium tubing and stabbing her with two steak knives. Leslie Rice was strangled when she walked in on her brother, the documents said.

Judge takes motion on blackmail charge TOPEKA Legislative immunity is absolute as it relates to speech occurring in the legislative process, a lawyer told a state court judge on Thursday in arguing for dismissal of a blackmail charge against state Rep. Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls. However, an assistant attorney general said the charge against Neufeld, which grew out of an alleged threat made at the end of the 1994 session against Rep. Richard Alldritt if he didn't vote a certain way, should stand because legislative immunity is not interided to protect felony acts. Jujige James Buchele of County District Court tookiunder study the arguments he heard on a motion by Neufeld's attorney to dismiss one count of blackmail filed a year ago by former Attorney General Bob Stephan.

Ottawa intervenes in utility case hearings OTTAWA Ottawa city officials said this week they have filed a petition to intervene in hearings on controversial natural gas contracts between Western Resources Inc. and Kansas Pipeline Partnership. Mayor Matt Matthews said Wednesday the action was taken because of concerns that agreements between the two companies could affect the price of natural gas purchased by the city and its residents. The Ottawa petition is scheduled to be considered next week at an administrative meeting of the Kansas Corporation Commission. I Frjom Wire Service Reports TOMORROW'S HEADLINES trail near the prairie.

A person can stand behind the screen, made up of branches and fence posts, and hide from a bird's view. This gives the person a chance to observe a bird without spooking it. "The birds may see you," Hull said. "But even if they do, if they feel as if you are contained within a space, they'll be less concerned." Ivy Marsh, a founder of the Smoky Hill Audubon Society, said the screens could help a bird watcher feel more connected with the environment. "It enables us to enjoy them without disturbing too much, which is really our goal," Marsh said.

"We just love to go birding, but we don't want to bother their habitat." Hull is almost finished with a goose perch, a triangle-shaped nest made of branches and cattail leaves. "This will give the geese, if they come, someplace to go," Hull said. "I've made these before, but not with these nice cattail leaves." Hull, glancing at the murky Thursday sky, said she would install her nest when the weather cleared up. "Any bird can use it, especially other waterfowl," Hull said. "But it's designed for geese." Hull got her ideas from talking with Salina residents.

"I don't think it's appropriate for me to tell people what they need," Hull said. Lori Hall, Lakewood Lodge supervisor, said she was hoping to get some Canada geese by July. She is working with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to obtain some young geese. "We used to have some by Red Fox lake, but they went away," Hall said. "We have a pretty good chance of getting some from the department." Hall said Hull's work blends well with the natural environment of Lakewood.

"You have to really look before you see it, it works so well," Hall said. "A lot of the stuff we do just stands out. I've learned some things about birdhouses and other things we do around here," Hall said there was little chance of Hull's work being vandalized. "The things that don't look natural, like the more traditional birdhouses, they get vandalized," Hall said. "But the items that look natural aren't even touched." A bird memorial at Bill Burke? Hull has written a proposal for Bill Burke Park.

She would like to move the dike to restore part of the river to an oxbow state, where a stream bends into a shape. "The river bent that way before they diked it off," she said. "I would like to see it in its natural state." Lourie Journal Jack Favre, 760 Highland, stands next to his van that was damaged during Thursday morning's storm. Favre said he was up with his family when the storm roared through Salina about 12:30 a.m. Jn addition to the damage to his vehicle, Fovre said the maple tree that fell on the van was home to a family of squirrels.

"Now, they don't have a place to live." Storm inflicts damage at Bunker Hill FROM PAGE 1 "We probably had a couple of hundred gallons of water on the floor. We're still mopping up," Gleason said Thursday morning. Nearby, at Cross Seed an empty grain bin was overturned and moved more than 100 feet to the south and east. It missed a house by inches. "It was definitely the hardest wind I've seen in awhile, and it lasted for an extended period of time," owner Dale Cross said.

"I think it was fortunate no one was hurt. Metal can be straightened out." Officials in Wilson and Dorrance reported numerous broken windows and tree damage from the hail and wind. Vera Ehrlich, Wilson city clerk, said windows were shattered in city hall and a city- owned vehicle. She was on the telephone Thursday to the town's insurance company. "There was a roaring sound when the storm came through," Ehrlich said.

"I covered my head and said, 'Please go Farther east, in Ottawa County, emergency management director Janice Davidson said there were reports of golf ball-sized hail near Ada. Pea- and marble-sized ice was reported in other parts of the county. Her biggest concern, though, was the rain. Delphos and Tescott had about 3 inches; Minneapolis had less than 2 inches. It all came in about IVz hours.

Dale Cross said Bunker Hill had more than 2 inches of rain in 27 minutes. Abilene recorded more than 1 inch. Vonada said 4 inches were reported at Walker to the west. A creek flooded briefly at Beverly at about 4 a.m., but the water stopped short of the town's firehouse. Vonada said the danger didn't pass with the storm.

Creeks and rivers are almost full and the ground is saturated. "We get another shot of heavy rain, and we're going to flood everything," said Mike Stewart of the National Weather Service in Wichita. Two weeks ago, Davidson said, the flood- plagued town of Tescott had high water, but no homes were flooded. She wondered Thursday morning whether the region will be as lucky the next time. "We've just barely sneaked by, but the next time it's going to be a close call," she said.

Vonada, a veteran of the 1993 floods, expected to spend Thursday night on storm duty. "Everything is soaked up. Here were go again," he said. More beds needed for state prisons Journal 825-6OOO Categoiv 6006 Call after 7:30 p.m. Kansas inmates getting younger, staying longer By DAVID CLOUSTON The Salina Journal As a provider of housing, Charles Simmons is finding that his guests increasingly are checking in for long-term stays, and fewer of them are checking out.

That puts the state in a squeeze, said Simmons, the new secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections, the agency that oversees Kansas prisons. On a visit Thursday to Salina and Hutchinson, Simmons' message was that Kansans should be prepared'for the need to build more prison cells. Simmons spent Wednesday meeting with Senate Ways and Means Committee members and came away with a commitment for $4.2 million to renovate buildings at some state prisons to get 463 more beds. The state hopes to gain another 192 beds by putting two prisoners to a cell in some areas at the El Dorado State Prison. The problems facing the state prison system are well documented.

At the end of May, the state held 6,819 inmates and had beds for just 79 more. Thus, the prison system was 98.9 percent occupied. Meanwhile, the state parole board is releasing fewer criminals before they've served all of their sentences. Five years ago, the board paroled 56 percent of eligible inmates. In April, the figure was just 15 percent.

Many of those released were let go under a retroactive provision of the 1993 Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act. The law allowed inmates held for certain offenses, such as crimes involving property burglary and so forth to be released early. Journal photo Charles Simmons says the state's prison system is operating at almost 99 percent capacity. Those who remain in prison are murderers, sex offenders, armed robbers and others guilty of harming people. To qualify for federal crime bill money, the Legislature increased the amount of time criminals must serve before being eligible for parole.

Legislation also doubles the amount of time violent repeat offenders spend in prison. All of which is important, because an April 1989 federal court order dictates how many prisoners the Department of Corrections can handle at any time. "We've been going up the last five months at an average of 90 a month. That's 450 inmates we've gained in the system since January 1," said Simmons, who formerly was the department's chief lawyer. Simmons said the state eventually might need to build three new cell houses at El Dorado, at a cost of $27 million or more, to add 768 beds.

The addition would likely be financed by bonds rather than a state general fund appropriation, he said. There might also be some federal money available. Prisoners, meanwhile, are typically younger and harder to deal with. As of Dec. 31, 39 percent of the state's inmates were between the ages of 16 and 29.

The number of inmates over 40 was 23 percent. One reason for his stop in Salina, Simmons said, was to meet with John Burchill, director of Saline County Community Corrections, about revisiting the issue of community corrections supervising prison parolees. The state wants community corrections programs to provide house arrest and electronic monitoring of parolees. A Salina advisory board that oversees the community corrections program rejected such a plan earlier this year. The board said the intent of community corrections was to supervise offenders diverted from going to prison, not those being released.

Simmons said Salina's was the only community corrections program in the state that did not agree to the plan. Simmons said he was "disappointed" by the decision. "The state system has no electronic monitoring, no house arrest program," Simmons said. "Rather than duplicate those, since the state is already funding community corrections, we thought it would be a good way to share resources." Hull would like to build a memorial for the migratory bird across from the dike. "The migratory bird is losing tion all over the world," she said.

"Salina is linked to the north and south with the birds that they share with the city." Hull also is thinking about building a "raptor roost" for the park. She gives hawks and other birds of prey a perching alternative to electrical lines. "What happens is the birds are all right if they stay on one line, but when they take off, their wings touch a second line and they get a shock," Hull said. Bob Ash, parks superintendent for the Parks and Recreation Department, said he liked Hull's proposal, especially the dike changes. "It would have to be cleared through other departments," Ash said.

"But these things wouldn't cost a whole lot of money. It's interesting." Kansans anxious to fight crime Residents would pay higher taxes By The Associated Press TOPEKA Most Kansans believe the decline of the family structure is one of the primary causes of crime, a survey released Thursday showed. The survey, conducted by the Koch Crime Commission, also indicated that a majority of Kansans are willing to pay higher taxes if the money goes to police departments to fight crime. The survey is part of the Koch Crime Commission's effort to re- form the criminal justice system. The commission was founded by millionaire Bill Koch, formerly of Wichita.

Koch said at a news conference that when he formed the commission in February 1994, he wanted to know what Kansans thought about crime, the police, the court system and corrections. The survey indicated that 62 percent of Kansans believed the decline of families is the primary cause of crime. Other reasons given included drugs, lack of personal responsibility and unemployment. The results were based on responses from 1,000 Kansans contacted by telephone between Feb. 10 and Feb.

18. Half the respondents Were from rural areas. "Surprisingly, most people are willing to pay more taxes for the criminal justice system," Koch said. When asked how much more in taxes they would be willing to pay, 24 percent said they were prepared to pay up to $50 a year, while 32 percent would be willing to pay up to $100. Another 8 per- cent would be willing to pay more than $100.

The survey also showed: Sixty-six percent of all respondents trust their local law enforcement officials, while 13 percent of the rural respondents and 8 percent of the urban respondents said they did not trust local police. Sixty percent of respondents indicated they are confident in law enforcement's ability to handle crime. Seventy percent believe criminals are treated more fairly than victims by the criminal justice system. Only 37 percent of urban residents believe children are safe in public schools, while 59 percent of the rural residents believe children are safe in school. Eighty percent of rural residents feel safe in their own community, while only 63 percent of urban residents feel safe in their hometowns.

Veteran skydiver dies at age 96 By The Associated Press WICHITA H. Truesdell "Smitty the Jumper" Smith, who made his last parachute jump at age 91, has died. He was 96. Smith died Wednesday in a Wichita nursing home. Smith pursued his hobby for 62 years, making 221 jumps.

His parachuting and personality made him the subject of newspaper and magazine stories and landed him a spot on the "Tonight" show when he was 81. "He was outgoing and gregarious," said Jerry Smith of Wichita, his son. "He loved people. He pretty well pioneered the sport of parachute jumping." The elder Smith drove a gaudy red, white and blue station wagon, and sometimes dressed in similar fashion, promoting himself as "The World's Oldest Skydiver. "He used to embarrass my mother to death," his son said..