The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 55

ThE COURIER-JOURNAL METRO KENTUCKY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1998 D4 Keofacky Kiegdom, S-TV so to court Park accuses station of giving inaccurate reports fm'-rmnt'-r-im tmmyiiMwwtiww.iwi'n m.i(i.ijiin iwt 'M i ij im 'I i 'r 1 IS IJ (M(rlBlttliii( ft By DICK KAUKAS The Courier-Journal A libel trial pitting Kentucky Kingdom, the state's best-known amusement park, against WHAS, the Louisville television station with the highest-rated local newscast, opened yesterday in Jefferson Circuit Court. In outlining their case to the jury, Kentucky Kingdom attorneys contended that WHAS had broadcast a series of inaccurate reports in 1994 and 1996 about a ride called Star-chaser. In response, WHAS contended the reports presented an accurate picture not only of the ride, which the park sold in 1996, but also of the controversy that ensued after an accident in which a girl suffered a lacerated liver in 1994. In his opening remarks to the jury, Edmund Karem, lawyer for Kentucky Kingdom, said the WHAS stories damaged the park's reputation and resulted in lost profits of about $800,000. Karem said several assertions in the WHAS reports about the ride and the accident were false.

For example, he said, the station repeatedly told listeners the ride "malfunctioned" and "state inspectors think the ride is too dangerous." Neither statement was true, Karem said. He also contended that WHAS should have tried to find out that one of the people it quoted as an objective source in the stories was actually related to a couple who had sued Kentucky Kingdom in a case that was later settled. The station did tell its listeners about the relationship in one of its final reports in 1996. Karem asked not only for actual damages but also for unspecified amounts to compensate the park for harm to its reputation, and for punitive damages. Schuyler Olt, lawyer for WHAS, said that he would show that the news stories about Starchaser were i 1 PHOTOS BY KEITH WILLIAMS; THE COURIER-JOURNAL WHAS-TV reporter Doug Protfitt kept track of proceedings yesterday as a libel trial pitting the station against Kentucky Kingdom got under way.

Ed Hart, former president and chief and talked about its function on the Eft 6 jm W. executive of Kentucky Kingdom, held a picture of the "dispatch tire" Starchaser ride. He is managing director under the park's new owners. Leader of Kentucky cult said killings 'a way of life' Mm- fi i cars on Starchaser collided, injuring Mary Noonan, who was then 7. WHAS broadcast stories about the collision for five days, according to court records.

Then in 1996, reporter Doug Proffitt did several follow-up accounts. Kentucky Kingdom was sold last year to Premier Parks but the local company that had owned it, Kentucky Kingdom Amusement continues to exist and has a financial interest in the operation of the park. Ed Hart, president and chief executive of Kentucky Kingdom before the sale, has stayed on as managing director under the new owners. Jefferson Circuit Judge F. Kenneth Conliffe said the trial is expected to last about two weeks.

The panel of 12 jurors and two alternates consists of seven men and seven women. next confronted Queen, who had just gotten out of the shower. Queen struggled, poured hot coffee on Ferrell and scratched his face. Ferrell said he kicked her when she was down and continued to beat her until she stopped breathing. The teen-agers then searched the house for money and stole some pearls and a hunting knife.

Then they met Heather Wendorf and their friends and fled to Louisiana. Heather Wendorf, who is expected to testify today, didn't know her parents had been slain until about 100 miles into the trip, Ferrell said. She was not charged in the deaths. Ferrell said the killings were a "rush." "To feel that fact that I was taking a life, because that's just like the old philosophy about if you can take a life you become a god for a split second," he said. "It actually kind of felt that way for a minute, but if I was a god, I wouldn't exactly be here, would against children where the child is deceased," according to the reprimand.

The baby allegedly died during a satanic ritual in Ohio, but Kentucky State Police were never able to substantiate that a child had died. "If we had a change in the statute that simply said, 'Any instance of the reported death of a child should be we'd be tickled pink," Walker said yesterday. But for now, according to a memorandum that Walker wrote last March 17, a client's disclosure of criminal acts to a psychotherapist is privileged. The clinic's lawyers have consistently advised Walker that if a as to Video confessions played for jurors weighing execution By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press TAVARES, Fla. Jurors considering whether to send Rod Ferrell to the electric chair saw two videotaped confessions yesterday of the vampire-cult leader matter-of-factly describing how he used a crowbar to beat to death the parents of a friend.

"Killing is a way of life; animals do it, and that's the way humans are, just the worst predators of all actually," Ferrell, of Murray, said in the confessions. Ferrell made the statements to investigators after he was arrested for killing Richard Wendorf and Naoma Queen in their home in Eustis, substantially true and accurate descriptions of what had happened. Olt and-Karem both said in interviews outside the courtroom yesterday that the park and the TV station had made unsuccessful attempts to settle the case. Olt said WHAS offered to produce some promotional materials with Kentucky Kingdom free of charge, but that wasn't accepted by the park, Olt said. He added that Kentucky Kingdom also made a settlement offer, which he characterized as "absurd" because of the amount that it sought, about two weeks ago.

Karem agreed that both sides had made offers, adding that both sides "were far apart, and there was no movement from the positions," so a settlement couldn't be reached. The events that led to the lawsuit began on July 26, 1994, when two on Nov. 25, 1996. After the slayings, Ferrell; the couple's daughter, Heather; and three other members of their vampire cult fled to Louisiana. Ferrell, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree murders two weeks ago.

Prosecutors said Ferrell wanted to help Heather Wendorf run away and steal her parents' Ford Explorer. Ferrell made incriminating statements to detectives in Baton Rouge, where the teen-agers were arrested, and to the Lake County, sheriffs office. Ferrell told investigators that he and his friend, Scott Anderson, entered the Wendorfs' home through the garage, where they found a crowbar. Anderson is charged with being a principal to murder and is scheduled to be tried later this year. The teen-agers went into the living room, where they found Richard Wendorf on a couch watching television.

Ferrell said he beat Wendorf with the crowbar, then searched his pockets and found a credit card. He left it in December. This week, state Cabinet for Health Services attorneys are reviewing state laws that apply to the case, according to cabinet spokesman Gil Lawson. At issue is the fine line between laws governing patient-therapist, confidentiality and the therapist's obligation to report abuse. In March, a woman told Williams that she had killed an 18-month-old boy at some point.

Williams contended that she was required by law to report the neglect or abuse of a child. Walker said that did not apply because the child had reportedly died. State law, he said, "does not in any way impose a duty to report crimes otics and heart pills, he said. "It's scary what they could have done to themselves," he said. Because they are juveniles, the students' names were not released.

Their cases are being handled in the state's juvenile justice system, whose proceedings are closed to the public. The students were not arrested, Insko said. All six students were charged with possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and one also was charged with drug trafficking, a felony. In another case, Kentucky State ')- If --mill C.WJaaim.SA,U.,, Shanon Yohe, 17, a friend of Rod Ferrell, displayed a picture of herself Sondra Gibson, for the jury considering the death penalty for Ferrell in Kentucky weighs right to confidentiality, therapist's obligation to report child abuse INDIANA MORTGAGE FUNDING ASSOCIATED PRESS In the wedding party of his mother, the slayings of a Florida couple. YOU PAY $83.00 $163.00 $244.00 $325.00 $405.00 Hoosiers Helping Hoosiers Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky.

A state agency is trying to determine whether some laws need changing or clarifying because of a case involving a therapist who was punished for reporting a client's alleged crime. After the therapist told social-service officials that the client had confessed to killing a baby, they notified Kentucky State Police. The therapist, Vicki Williams, was then reprimanded by Robert Walker, who was her boss. At that time, Williams, a licensed clinical social worker, worked at Bluegrass East Comprehensive Care Center, a mental-health clinic. She said she YOU GET $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 child does not need protection "if it's simply a report of a homicide, then that's not reportable," he said.

Williams worked at the center's Jessamine County offices. Walker oversees offices in Fayette, Jessamine, Powell and Clark counties. The state sends patients to Blue-grass East Comprehensive Care under a contract, but does not manage the clinic. Walker said that in his 26 years director of the center, there were two occasions when clients said they had killed adults, and those statements were not reported authorities. It was unclear whether the client said she was the child's mother.

but did not sell them, Hensley said. At least three students swallowed pills, Phelps said. He said the girl who took the pills to school was acting "wild and wired up" when officers arrived. She didn't cooperate with them and was charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, he said. She and four other students were also charged with trafficking or transferring a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school.

Two students were taken to a juvenile detention center; the other three were released to their parents. Pavments based on 8.99 fixed note rale for 180 month term APR may vary depending on term amount. Credit approval required. Rates subject to change without notice 1810.000 APR 1 1.461. IS20.000 APR 10.81).

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11 Kentucky middle-schoolers charged with pill possession Associated Press Eleven students at two Kentucky middle schools have been charged with drug crimes involving the possession of pills at school. Six students at The Deming School in Robertson County were charged Tuesday; officials had confiscated 22 types of narcotics and prescription drugs from them four days earlier. The students all seventh- or eighth-graders had enough pills to fill "a nice-sized Tylenol bottle," said Robertson County Sheriff Randy Insko. They included Valium, antibi Police were called to North Laurel Middle School in London on Monday after teachers learned a group of sixth- and seventh-grade students, all 13, were passing pills around. Principal David Hensley said one of the students had taken the pills from her parents' medicine cabinet.

The pills appeared to include penicillin, muscle relaxants and vitamins, some of which were over-the-counter products and some prescription medications, Detective Jimmy Phelps said. He said the pills were sent to the state crime lab for analysis. The girl passed the pills around.