Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 1

II Mostly sunny I OllU SOlfS to War. ONAE Fewl Edition 50c Copyright 1999, The Arizona Republic 9 XSm lil 11,000 J' Am mMammmtimmmmKmmmnmmmmimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmiJLUi.iwim.AL AutajuMMaMiMK A on iris? EPUBOC Phoenix, Arizona www.azcentral.com 109th year, No. 351 Tuesday, May 4, 1999 nOi i cm uwo uj 1 a 4 .1 MM a 5k At least 32 people dead, hundreds hurt By Jason Collington f. and Roxana Heaeman and Roxana Hegeman "A Michael ChowThe Arizona Republic Julie Vega (left), mother of Nicholaus Contreraz, reacts as five murder counts are dismissed in the death of her son. No murder chames in Associated Press Tornadoes' tore through Oklahoma and Kansas on Monday night, wiping out whole neighborhoods, killing at least 32 people and injuring hundreds.

The funnel clouds ended 26 X' anch case i 1 A 1 Death toll Confirmed fatalities from Monday's tornadoes: OKLAHOMA Bridge Creek: 8. Midwest City: 4. Moore: 3. Oklahoma City: 8. Norman: 1.

Dell City: 2. KANSAS Wichita: 6. Source: Associated Press lives across a swath of more than SO miles in Oklahoma, devastating Oklahoma City along the way. At least 1,000 homes were destroyed in Oklahoma City alone, police said. Six people were reported dead in neighboring Kansas i ts By Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic FLORENCE First-degree murder charges were dismissed Monday against all five defendants in the death of a 1 6-year-old ward of the Arizona Boys Ranch, but three of the former employees still face child abuse charges.

The ruling by Judge Richard Fields of Pinal County Superior Court left a nearly packed courtroom in confusion as defendants and the family of Nicholaus Contreraz tried to sort things out. Contreraz died March 2, 1998, at a Boys Ranch boot camp in Oracle after days of illness, punishment and taunting, investigators concluded. His mother, Julie Vega of Sacramento, wept and hugged another son as the preliminary hearing ended. Vega said she thought the ruling was fair, although she nearly lost hope that anyone would be held accountable for her son's death when all felony murder charges were dropped. "I just prayed more and more that God wouldn't let this go unpunished," she said.

Michael Piccarreta, one of the defense lawyers, said Please see MURDER, Page A2 about 150 miles due north in Wichita. One person died when a building collapsed in Wichita, the MidAmerica News Network reported. In south Wichita, mobile homes were tossed into a lake and numerous homes were damaged. Fred Irvin of the Sedgwick County Please see TORNADOES, Page A2 Paul HellstemDaily OWahoman Rescue workers help a woman from the rubble of her home Monday in a subdivision of Moore, Okla. A massive tornado hit Moore after cutting a swath through southwest Oklahoma City.

lex off mine enaerim goes Filiberto's owners fined Posting seen as powerful tool, menace Last in a series SUNDAY: The national push to keep sex offenders from striking again. MONDAY: A neighborhood reacts when a sex offender moves in. TODAY: Keeping track of sex offenders on the Internet. 1.9 million and whereabouts of registered sex offenders. At last count, 15 states were listing sex offenders on Web sites, with more in the pipeline.

And where the states are lagging, counties, cities and even some individuals are setting up the lists. Arizona's system is scheduled to go online in January, but four cities Chandler, Tempe, Tucson and Yuma already list offenders- on their Please see SEX OFFENDER, Page A6 By Kathleen Ingley The Arizona Republic The eerie galleries of photos are just a few mouse clicks away on the Internet. Rapists, child molesters and flashers stare out from the screen. You can find their names, addresses, ages and descriptions of their crimes. There's the Chandler man who spent 10 years in prison for attempted sex acts with a 10-year-old.

A few more clicks lead to the Yuma man convicted of sexual abuse and attempted sexual assault, who was jailed two years ago for failing to register as a sex offender. You can check out molesters in Michigan, rapists in North Carolina and Alaska's us sex offenders. It's all part of a national rush to use the Internet to alert the public to the identities fulfill Keeping watch on sex offenders arents, By William Hermann The Arizona Republic The first criminal case against a Phoenix employer accused of hiring illegal immigrants was settled Monday when the owners of the Filiberto's chain of Mexican restaurants agreed to a fine of nearly $2 million. The penalty is "the biggest fine for a work site enforcement case in U.S. history," said Hank Woodrum, an assistant director of the U.S.

Immigration and Naturalization Service. "We've not had a case that approached the numbers of employees of this one," he said. In 1997, nearly 200 illegal immigrants were arrested when the INS raided 15 Filiberto's restaurants. The award-winning cafes are franchised by brothers Filiberto, Aurelio, Francisco and Reynaldo Tenorio-Quintero, all of Phoenix. All four pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants and one count of federal tax fraud.

An employee for the restaurants, Martha Idalia Rios, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to employ illegal immigrants. Neither the brothers nor their attorney would comment Please see FILIBERTO'S, Page A7 Arrestee tied to gun used in massacre i- jr." know when to snoop By Hank Hughes The Arizona Republic Your teen, the one living in the Abercrombie Fitch T-shirt or painting his fingernails black, seems to forever be behind the closed door of his room. Should you be worried? Depends, according to several youth counselors, parents and teenagers in the Valley. How are his grades? Who are her friends? What are their interests? If you can answer those questions to your satisfaction, your kid's probably OK. If you can't, you have a problem a relationship problem.

You need to become more engaged in your child's life, parents and counselors agree. "1999 is not a good time to not know what your kid's doing," said David Shuff, head counselor at Please see PMN1S, Page A5 INSIDE Michael S. GreenAssociated Press Columbine High School students arrive at Chatfield High School in Littleton, for their first day back to school since the shootings. Story, A4. Republic news services LITTLETON, Colo.

Jefferson County authorities Monday arrested a 22-year-old man they believe provided a semiautomatic pistol used by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in their lethal rampage at Columbine High School two weeks ago. The arrest came on the same day Columbine students returned to classes at another school. Mark Manes of Littleton was booked for investigation of providing a handgun to a minor, a charge that carries a maximum six years in prison, He was released on bond. D8 D7 D7 El A2 CL1 ALT. Astrology Bridge Business Chuckle Classified Lottery Montini Obituaries Opinions Prayer Puzzles Sports Television Weather B3 B67 B8 DAILY f- impending attack.

"He was horrified when it happened," attorney Robert Ransome said. "I would like to say he has followed the path of integrity from Please see ARREST, Page A4 The gun was one of four weapons Harris and Klebold used in the massacre that left 15 people dead. Police said they do not know if Manes knew what the gun would be used for, but an attorney for Manes said his client knew nothing of the Comics D4, CLII Dear Abby D7 Dr. Donohue D7 17.