The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 3

THE SALINA JOURNAL Great Plains SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, A3 BRIEFLY Scottsville woman dies in car crash BELOIT A Scottsville woman was killed Friday afternoon when the car she was riding in was struck by another car at the U.S. Highway 24 and Kansas Highway 14 intersection. Virginia LeSage, 70, was in the passenger seat of a car driven by Robert M. LeSage, 62, Beloit, when the car attempted to turn left from U.S. 24 onto Highway 14, according to the Mitchell County Sheriff's office.

A car traveling the opposite direction on U.S. 24, driven by Carol A. Bingesser, 41, Beloit, collided with the LeSage car's passenger door. Virginia LeSage and Robert LeSage and the four people in the Bingesser car were taken to Mitchell County Hospital for treatment where Virginia LeSage died. The people in Bingesser's car were treated for minor injuries.

The hospital declined Saturday to release Robert LeSage's condition. Court TV to cover trial of Carr brothers WICHITA Court TV plans live broadcasts of the trial of multiple slaying suspects Jonathan and Reginald Carr when testimony begins in early October. The brothers are charged with abducting five people from an east Wichita home in December 2000, and fatally shooting four of them. The Carrs of Dodge City also are accused in the shooting earlier that month of Ann Wa; lenta, 55, who later died, All told, they are charged with '113 criminal acts, including capital murder. Prosecutors and po- lice say robbery was the motive for the crime spree.

The trial already was the topic this week of two seg- ments on Court TV, a cable net' work that reaches 70 million homes. And the Fox News Channel said Friday that it was sending a crew to Wichita to cover opening statements. Commission to name waste board member Saline County commissioners will consider an appointment to the countywide Solid Waste Management Committee and consider two proclamations during their meeting Tuesday. The formal meeting is 11 a.m. in Room 107 of the City-County Building.

Commissioners also meet informally from 9 a.m. until business is concluded Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Room 209 of the City-County Building. All sessions are open to the public. Although four positions are vacant on the Solid Waste Management Committee, only one person, Matthew Wagoner, has expressed interest in serving. Commissioners will consider appointing him to the committee.

The proclamations are for National 4-H Week, Oct. 6-12, and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is October. Commissioners to look at housing plan A light agenda is planned for the Salina City Commission's regular meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday at Room 107 of the City-County Building. Items include an amended preliminary development plan to allow construction of Golden Eagle Estates, an elderly housing facility near Magnolia and Belmont.

An open forum is planned for citizens' comments at 3:45 p.m. during a commission study session. McPherson College completes campaign McPHERSON McPherson College has raised about $23.5 million through its five-year fund-raising campaign. The private college used $13 million to remodel an administrative and classroom building and pay for six new buildings, including two residence halls and a fine arts center. The campaign also added $7 million to the college's endowment.

The rest went to the school's operat- Sing budget. From Staff and Wire Reports AMELIA EARHART The Journal wants to set the record straight. Advise us of errors by calling the Journal at (785) 823-6363, or toll free at 1-800827-6363. Corrections will run In this space as soon as possible. Mystery of missing pilot still alive Though Earhart disappeared in 1937, searches are ongoing By The Associated Press ATCHISON The head of a Maryland company says he plans to resume the search for missing pilot Amelia Earhart early next year.

Earhart's disappearance in 1937 at age 39 remains one of America's great mysteries and the subject of continuing searches of the Pacific. Earhart, a native of son, had set numerous flying records when she began her final flight May 20, 1937, from Oakland, Calif. She made it as far as New Guinea, where she took off on July 2 for tiny Howland Island on a flight. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, never made it to the tiny atoll southwest of Hawaii. She radioed she was running low on The Navy searched for her plane, but no trace has ever been found.

David Jourdan, president of Nauticos of Hanover, "We accomplished a tremendous amount, having covered two-thirds of our search." David Jourdan Nauticos Corp. president, talking about resuming the search for Earhart's plane told the Atchison Rotary Club recently that his team of deep- ocean explorers will search a section of the South Pacific using sonar equipment in February. Earlier this year, he led a 27- day search of waters within 100 miles of Howland that ended early because of equipment problems. The failure of two hydraulic motors on the sonar search system almost left the equipment 18,000 feet below sea level, dangling by a steel arm cable, Jourdan said. PRIDE DAY 'X.

MJ 1 4 Photos by RYAN SODERLIN The Salina Journal Pagan Pride Day participants walk the trails Saturday asj part of the activities at Thomas Park, Salina. Pagans celebrate Group gathers to offer thanks and have a good time By AMY SULLIVAN The Salina Journal The men in kilts who stood guard at the north entrance of Thomas Park Saturday were celebrating more than their Scottish and Irish history. It was Pagan Pride Day, the first one ever in Salina, and they were glad to be in the great outdoors. They took a nature walk along the park's trails, barbecued and listened to Sharon Goodwin talk of Reiki healing. Norman Thompson, Salina, was one of the four kilt-wearing men.

He was glad to see that more than 30 people, some of them young people, came to the festivities. "Everybody's just having a good time," Thompson said. Thompson, who's interested in Celtic mythology, was glad the day stayed peaceful, though he wasn't worried about his fellow Pagans. "I thought there could have been picketers or shouting from people driving by, but it's "I thought there could have been picketers or shouting from people driving by, but it's been quiet." Norman Thompson Pagan Pride Day participant been quiet," Thompson said. Pagans are nothing to fear, he said.

The ones at the park had differing belief systems, some Celtic, some Wiccan. "All through history there have been what people call witches, which is an herbal healer," Thompson said. Nick LaMarca, 17, has felt different from the mainstream religions for a long time. He loved the outdoors while growing up on a farm near Lincoln. He found out about paganism about two years ago and embraced it.

Scott Hicks, Salina, joined the group who gathered Saturday at Thomas Park for Pagan Pride Day. "It's all about the energy, not about animal sacrifices. The positive energy all around us would be damaged by negative energy if we sacrificed animals," LaMarca said. The pagan rituals Saturday involved making "circles" in which they offered thanks for the day and said prayers. Some sold crafts and crystals.

The day was an expansion of what some of the pagans had done every other weekend through the summer at Thomas Park, Thompson said. They plan to make it larger and offer more activities in the future. Reporter Amy Sullivan can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 125, or by e-mail at sjasullivan "We were ready to cut and leave $1 million at the bottom of the ocean," he said. However, the ship's engineer and a crew member with experience rebuilding tractor engines were able to retrieve the search system.

"We accomplished a tremendous amount, having. covered two-thirds of our search and gaining great experience operating in this area," Jourdan said. Jourdan said he is confident Earhart's plane is located in the remaining one-third of 'the search area that his team was unable to cover. DILUTED DRUGS Wife to pay $2 million Pharmacist's agrees to give money to victims'fund By The Associated Press, KANSAS CITY, Mo. The wife of Kansas City pharmacist Robert Courtney' lias agreed to turn over more than $2 million to a fund set for his victims and other Courtney, 49, pleaded guilty in February to 20 felony, counts of tampering with, adulterating and misbranding the-cancer drugs Taxol and Geihzar.

In an agreement sigrfed this week his wife, Laura Courtney, agreed to transfer $2.35 million to her husband's account to be usedibr restitution and fines. "The parties believe that the settlement amount represents a fair approximation of the amount of proceeds derived from the illegal acts of "Robert R. Courtney, which were later received by Laura Courtney," the agreement states. The money will be added to Courtney assets previously seized by the government and estimated at more than $8 million. Courtney is to be sentenced Dec.

5 by U.S. District Judge-Ortrie Smith. Smith previously had set a sentencing dale of Dec. 6, but he moved it Jip one day because of a scheduling conflict. According to a plea and his promise to cooperate in the investigation of his crimes, Courtney's sentence is to range from between and 30 years in prison, without parole.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Eugene Porter has said the government will argue for a 30-year sentence, he has characterized as the "functional equivalent of a life sentence." The criminal complaint against Courtney was-filed on Aug. 14, 2001. After tftat, according to court records; Courtney attempted to transfer more than $5 million to his wife. Government action blocked about half of that, but more, than $2 million was successfully transferred to Laura Courtney.

Laura Courtney three children twin boys Ijy her marriage to Robert Courtney and a daughter from hefi'previ- ous marriage. "Laura Courtney had no involvement in Robert Courtney's dilution activities," said Matt Geiger, her attorney. "She has divested herself of the money generated by Robert Courtney's criminal acts." CHEAP THERAPY Autumn's sweet perfume brings on new season While Friday wasn't the first day of fall, it sure smelted like it Tomorrow is autumn's official start, and for once in many waning Kansas summers, the weather finally is in step with the calendar. The chilly dawns, cold dew on the car windows and brisk north winds hint at the humane weather soon to come. Unfortunately, the calendar erred by a few days.

Autumn started Friday at precisely 9:45 a.m. It took the form of a thin whitish plume of smoke rising from the side of the road. Wisps of its scent floated through the open windows and vents of the car, and for the rest of the drive to work, I was treated to the delicious aroma of burning leaves. Nothing pounds a stake through the heart of summer GORDON D. FIEDLER JR.

The Salina Journal like the smell of a smoldering pile of leaves. Pitiful are those who've never been treated to such an olfactory sensation, because this practice of disposing of tree litter is out of favor. We compost leaves now. Or corral them at the curb where they are rounded up by the city. Or rake them into a neighbor's yard late at night.

But disposing of leaves by fire is not done anymore. Those who grew up in leafy, smoke-scented neighborhoods can mourn the loss. On Friday I was ed as much to work as I was to my childhood. In an instant I hear the scratch of the rake through the grass and the soft crackle of fire as it fights to gain purchase in the damp hump at the edge of the yard I feel arms swathed in flannel the chill and my head covt ed in one of those goofy, uniquely 1950s ear-flap hats children wore when their parents get cold. I look up and see gray clouds promising snow, and my heart leaps.

(Not until I earned my driver's license did I understand why heavy snow made grownups so grumpy.) Of all our senses, the ability to smell must be the strongest of all. I've said often there's a fortune for the one who can synthesize the aroma of eggs and bacon and fresh-perked coffee, put it in one of those aerosol room fresheners, mount it over the bed and install a timer set to go pfffft, pfffft at a designated time in the morning. No one would ever be late for work again. But let's first find a way to bottle autumn's sweet perfume..