Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 5

Section Teacher denies having sexual relations with student PageB3 TRAIL APPLIANCES LTD. 1 8'- 'A Cr Classified 1 1 a Tbo 4 1 46" Oklahoma 1 vT 1 Calgarian's A W1 7 murd et i fv Mfmmm DON BRAID I () nsin oegi Name game gives city powers quite a jolt Police say unrequited love ipted promj AK Austi VMB Accused, Gary Daniel Wilson Texas slaying ERIC HANSON Special to the Herald HOUSTON, TEX. Now that Calgary has the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts, why shouldn't Edmonton be graced with get ready the Enmax Alberta Legislature? It's not as silly as it sounds, since Calgary's power company, Enmax, now supplies electricity to all government buildings, including the legislature. This is the wacky world of energy deregulation, which continues to produce results that baffle politicians. Monday, for instance, city council moved to "revise or augment" guidelines on the naming of public buildings.

fter sitting for nearly two years in a Texas jail, a Calgary man accused of a killing a friend and then dismembering his body, Those two little words express the anger some alderman feel at the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, which sold its name to Epcor, Edmonton's 1 'n -f v. 1 Tttf power company, Aid. Barry Erskine for $4 million. That decision can't be changed now, but aldermen might come up with something to guard the names of other civic buildings. It's unlikely we'll ever have, say, the Hooters Public Library.

The basic gripe about the Epcor deal is that the city owns the centre and also owns Enmax, which returns a huge chunk of its profits to city coffers ($29.9 million last year). "The centre is a member of the city family that now has a sign from a direct competitor on its building," says Aid. Barry Erskine. Victim, Marek Kosciukiewicz goes on trial for murder today. Gary Daniel Wilson, 34, faces a possible sentence of life in prison for the 1996 murder of Marek Kosciukiewicz, an oil company analyst.

Police in Fort Bend County, a Houston suburb, said Wilson wrote a letter to a relative describing how he killed Kosciukiewicz, 36, with a hammer, dismembered his body and then dumped the pieces along the road near Muskogee, Okla Investigators made a lengthy search along the highway from the Texas-Oklahoma border, but never found a trace of the victim's body or clothing. Kosciukiewicz was reported missing on June 17, when he did not show up for work. He was about to join his wife and two young children who had left a few weeks earlier for a visit to their native Poland. Detectives believe Wilson followed Kosciukiewicz and his wife, Alicja, to Houston from Calgary because he was infatuated with her. They had met several years earlier in a college class in Calgary and he befriended the couple, even helping them move to Texas.

Police said the woman did not return Wilson's attentions. Kosciukiewicz and his family moved to the Houston area and Wilson followed shortly after. He bought a small business, a gift shop, and also prepared to enrol in law school Kosciukiewicz apparently did not know Wilson had moved to Texas. Police said after Alicja Kosciukiewicz left for Poland with her children, Wilson called her husband, who thinking Wilson was still in Canada, suggested he come visit. Kosciukiewicz was killed in his suburban home and his van was later found at Houston Intercontinental Airport.

Police said Wilson also packed a suitcase for Kosciukiewicz in an attempt to make it seem like he had left the city on his own. However, Wilson soon became a suspect in the case and his whereabouts were unknown for nearly a year until he surrendered to Calgary police in May 1997. "Information had been obtained that suggested that an event had taken Chronology of a killing June 17, 1996 Marek Kosciukiewicz is reported missing in Houston, Tex. after he fails to show up for work. June 1996 Kosciukiewicz killed in his Houston-area home, say police.

His van is later found at Houston Intercontinental Airport. Summer 1996 Houston police launch murder investigation. Police later say suspect Gary Daniel Wilson, 34, wrote a letter to a relative describing how he killed Kosciukiewicz, 36, with a hammer, dismembered his body and then dumped the pieces along the road near Muskogee, Okla. Police never recover body parts. May 1997 Early on in the investigation police consider Wilson a suspect, however his whereabouts are unknown for nearly a year until he surrenders to Calgary police.

Suspect is subsequently charged with the murder of Kosciukiewicz. November 1999 Extradition proceedings launched soon after Wilson's arrest, however it was not until now that he is brought back to Texas. November 1999 to present Wilson held in custody pending his trial after bail bond set at $500,000. Tuesday, May 15, 2001 Murder trial of Wilson scheduled to begin. See BRAID, Page B2 I if- V- gation focused here.

"We checked out the information and were a resource for the Ford Bend police department. They played the lead role in the investigation and whatever they requested be done, we did it," said Rocks. Extradition proceedings were initiated shortly afterwards, but it was not until November 1999, after prosecutors assured Canadian authorities they were not seeking the death penalty in the case, he was brought back to Texas. Because prosecutors believed Wilson might flee if released on bond, they asked state district court Judge Thomas Culver to set bond at $500,000. Wilson's attorney, Mike DeGeurin, a prominent Houston criminal defence lawyer, asked for a lower amount and said Wilson would surrender his passport, remain employed and live under virtual house arrest at an apartment.

Culver denied the request and Wilson has been in custody since then. The trial, held in the Fort Bend County courthouse in Richmond, is expected to last about a week. If convicted, the penalty ranges from probation to life in prison. Wilson is not facing the death penalty because the slaying of Kosciukiewicz does not fall under the set of circumstances of a capital crime in Texas. Texas law allows for the death penalty when a murder is committed during the commission of another felony, for killing a police officer, murder for hire, multiple killings and the murder of a child.

JUSTICE Concern raised over psych test logjam Victim's wife, Alicja Kosciukiewicz. place down in Texas, just outside of Houston. It raised an alarm with the Houston police department and the city police here, since the victim, his wife and his friend had all come from Calgary and they worked for the same company," said Staff Sgt. George Rocks, commander of the Calgary police homicide unit. "The relatives of the suspect lived in Calgary, too, so that's why the investi TSUU T'INA RESERVE Cancelled talks spark resignation rumours JASON van RASSEL Calgary Herald Criminal defendants freed pending trial are waiting up to six weeks for psychiatric assessments in Calgary placing public safety and their own well-being at risk, say justice and mental health activists.

"If the person poses such a risk and we don't understand the root of the problem, there is a public safety risk," Shawn Howard, managing director of the Canadian Justice Foundation, warned Monday. "We need to understand quickly the type of people we're dealing with." Defendants receive court-ordered psychiatric assessments at the Peter Lougheed Centre's forensic psychiatry unit, which handles 850 to 1,000 active cases at any time. Officials at the Alberta Mental Health Board said waits of four to six weeks aren't unusual, but patients with the most pressing clinical or legal needs are seen first. "We triage them in terms of priority, we look at their clinical needs and we look at the legal mandate to get them in for an assessment," said Dr. Kenneth Hashman, clinical director of the forensic psychiatry program for southern Alberta.

teenage son, as reasons for his decision. On Monday, Tsuu T'ina tribal administrator Darryl Crowchild denied Whitney had stepped down. "You need to talk to him about that," said Crowchild. Question marks surround band chief's future about the chiefs possible resignation two weeks ago when Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault was in Siksika Nation to announce the first nations governance legislation initiative. "We haven't received anything official, but I know it's fairly widely speculated," Luff said.

Residents on the reserve were tight-lipped Monday. "It's in our best interests not to say anything. We are a large family and when people want information they're intruding on our family life," said a woman at the Tsuu T'ina Nation wellness office. Siksika Chief Adrian Stimson was surprised by rumours of Whitney's resignation. After meeting Friday, talks were to resume Monday afternoon.

When band members arrived at 1 p.m., the next three days of talks had been cancelled and re-scheduled for the end of May and beginning of June. "It's been a really confusing day. Nobody's communicating. There are no facts," said Lottie Many Wounds, who works in Tsuu T'ina health services and is a member of the grassroots task force that called for the open talks. No one in the band's administration offices was talking Monday about reports Whitney was going to quit before the end of his term, which ends in 18 months.

However, in a CBC report Monday, Whitney said he is tired of the responsibility and cited personal reasons, including the suicide death of his Calls by the Herald to band councillors, Whitney, and the band's counsel were not returned Monday. Glen Luff, a spokesman for the Department of Indian Affairs ROBIN SUMMERFIELD Calgary Herald Meetings about the financial state and social issues on the Tsuu T'ina Reserve were cancelled Monday amid rumours Chief Roy Whitney had resigned after 16 years at the helm. The reserve council had scheduled four days of "open-band" meetings to discuss, among other things, band finances on the troubled reserve that Roy Whitney and Northern Development in Edmonton, said his office hasn't received anything official from Whitney, but said he heard rumblings See WAITS, Page B2 See BAND, Page B2 borders southwest Calgary..