The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 93

THE KANSAS CITY STAR THURSDAY April 18 1 sT'5 GoMimihr KANSAS CITY KAN PIPER THIS WEEK BONNER SPRINGS EDWARDSVTLLE Club owners subpoenaed in video gambling raids The Kansas City records were Department was not involved in "That's privileged FDIhltt0dsWMto grabbing 304 machines and $29375 in cash Mondays operation tw "I can assure you that the notice and cannot be commented on by a government official" he said One dub owner who asked not ttt iiwuifiaj md thf mbpttrns requested tax records for 1911 in metropolitan area FBI and Kansas liquor agents raided a bar in Bonner Springs a dub in unincoiporated Wyandotte County and more than a third of the establishments licensed to serve liquor in Kansas City Kan A representative from each of depaitment is not accepting any money from an estabtiahaaes to RICKALM 'I' operate Police Chief Tom through 1990 and said he thought the By PHILLIP O'CONNOR eattaJf llaaaiM ovMf vvnssnr Agents are still counting but the federal government's haul in raids Monday on Wyandotte County dubs bars and restaurants so far includes 304 video gambling machines and $29375 "We did find a machine where we missed some money and we're going through them again" FBI spokesman Mas Geimaa said Wednesday The raids are part of a continuing federal investigation into illegal gambling in the question was routine in such an The owner said stents the 66 asked wtxthcrtkevDsidcrfron the in' ordered to appear before a grand jury scheduled to meet May 21 machiaes and whether any bribes He said the Department was any DriDc officers Geiman declined to say what were being paid to police City can't hide from bad news A worthwhile covor-up A competitor TheKansanhu Looking back and moving on LsMVsHiworth school chief who is restoring fbrosoos much cnanga By STEVE NICELY innounoed it has new ptnmsh-er Bill Eppeifaeimer who also happens to be its former pubtish- er He quit me paper a few years ago to talu a job on the East Coast As ii customary ia such cases i the new publisher wrote a column teccatiy welcoming hm- idr to town I wouldn't take note of the change in bran hats had Ep 1 perhrimer sot taken upin print exactly where he feft off bashing The Kansas City Star At It began happening on a rsgssir basis a few years after Mxihad Slusher became superintendent of the Leavenworth School OisfTict in 1977 f-m Teachers started cnsitpMaiag about their students BynQdsf break they yearned for summcr vacatioa and hoped for a-i least we can compliment his consistency During us last stint at the newspapeC Epperbeimer cuffed 7foSrar arciidra print one day in 1 9U over astory in which he accused oar journalists of "negativism bias enmity' toward Kansas City Kan and taking a "cheap shot" at the city normal group or We were amused and bemused by the column so much so that it year "But now they have bad seven or eight bad years ia a row said Slusher "We have to reaott Uus is the way it's going to We've given up wishing that the past would corne back Slusher announced earlier this month that he is leaving the district at the end of the school made our Wyandotte Comity Bureau newsroom's "wall of shame" exhibit Such thumbtack collages of puMishedNimdefstVposand other journalistic misfires can be year He is joining the Exchange a non-profit found in any i tmnal organization in of the name Our wall as history has shaped City where he will head an alliance of school districts working on reform He said schools shouldat be rAMYLSCTtTthtBtv The streets Kansas CKy Kan are a Mm Mptand neater tfienks to ttio efforts of a Qroup of arnbKious cttJiooa (From loft) Tina VWamgham Bertha Donald and Ruby Garrett paint over graffiti Tuesday afternoon at Jack's Wash A Dry Laundry near Seventh and QarneU They had some high-level help arri support from District 1 CttyCouncSrnnri Veda Monday PJT better trained than ever and schools are better BBjnippndL It is the students who have rtisngert and educators are finally coming to grips with ft The US educational system is on the threshold of major change he says Slusher said that 40 yam ago there was more family stability ia 'Cops' TV show may visit area departments Other area departments would probably be filmed also Barbour By MIKE RICE SBSmSV IIMtaf Mam vlwwm American society and an uroustri- al workforce that earned to wages There were fewer Barbour said if the it Anas stopping motorists under the lights of a high-tech television grandparents aunts sndea'n sad cousins who lived nearby There out here because the Midwest is a part of the country we haven't spent much time in" Barbour said "Kansas City is an intriguing area in that you have two tnajor cities right next to each other" Barbour said other factors including the area's rising crime rate thcfiquMcycMg from police chiefs whose departments have been filmed could put Kansas City in the picture Camera crewmen probably would spend sbout eight weeks in the area during which one episode a week would be filmed early June Malcolm Barbour the show's executive producer said the taping is contingent upon the Fox network's renewing "Cops" for its next season which he expects will happen next month Barbour in a telephone interview from his office in Marina dd Rey Calif said the show was considering several Midwest dties for filming this summer He declined to say what cities the producers have contacted but said the Kansas City area was "at the top of the list" "We hope to work something film the departments in hue May or earty June the broadcast could be shown as early as August Sheriff Owen Sully said officers would be filmed doing their everyday duties such as road patrol and manning the county jail "This show is good publirity for Wyandotte County" he said "It will show this is a good livable place to be" camera may soon become part of the everyday procedure for officers with the Kansas City Kan police and Wyandotte County Sheriff's departments Producers of the Fox television network's real-life police series "Cops" have contacted both departments about fuming episodes of officers' performing their everyday jobs in fane May or was less chemical abuse Tsaore discipline less crime Educators once knew that 10 or IS percent of students wosf not be successful he ssidjThe children were evaluated and sorted into categories such as learning disabled remedial and iprfial fdwstiftfl SMfHtsJCcll etuckTrtto get permission fromaccunryjudgeto aitandariatlcmlaaosts i it is made up mostly of articles clipped from TheKansan Like (he time it published the non-word purposal in its lead-story headline or the time one of its reporters quoted KeefOtfr in a story after interviewing a state court official named Ron Keefover or the time one of its Autopsies show Wichita family killed In fact Epperhdmer's latest column might make the wall for its slightly windy wacky aside on the difference between noodles and dumplings But I also digress though not so wayward-ly In his welcome home column Epperheimer contended The Kansan is "the only daily newspaper that has this city and county at heart" Wrong There are two of us here He knows it We know it And given the two newspaper! paid circulation figures Wyandotte County readers here must know it too- If for setfiih reasons alone The Star TheKansan and every other newspaper in America want their home communities' economies to thrive The Star does many things in print to encourage that to happen But we don't and it wouldn't hdp anyway allow Follyanns reporters and editors to observe those communities through rose-colored glasses Wyandotte County is progressing growing getting better That is cause for cefcbratton but never for contentment Without critical sdf-examinalion stagnation ami decay always will be just around the comer Along with other journalists I recently met with this year's Kansas City IOm Leadership 2000 class to discuss the role of a newspaper in a community's Hfe As it hasBappencd every year with that class and with other civic groups somebody asked The Question: "Why does The Star always report negative news about Wyandotte County? My answer comes in pieces: First we dont "always" and I invite sun questioners to our office to examine our file cabinets run of good news and bad Because a community shouldn't and cant hide from Ha bad news Because it's our job And finally I note people in Kansas City Independence Liberty Overland Park and every other community in this metro-politaa region also ask as that question about their towns Wyandotte County has not by a long shot cornered the market on bad news It's just that in some communities The Star seems to have cornered the messenger market ssyshesprspafwdfor whatever type of investJ-gsttontJieCttirtyCofn-rnisskxi might conduct organiZBtttortf Pot projoct ssagjaaagK BlukuJ inaAaAAS vvane anowea no aissrest si any of the pats untM Mr came up and hopped In her Isp" nureesaidMrTisthofrlaky oog vuHung wnn vnam Aooason (left) a patient In the ReriaUMa-ttonUnttatthsLlnrersltyof rUnaaaModtaHCotitsTMrT vtahthsunKfypetfliaracy day aponswredby Pets tbrUfe Inc which visits mors than 40 nursing homes hospitals and menau neasn cetissrs si uts Kansas CHy area Dr Pent oauyissr tsnay mr SBnanariQ sd Trtursday'a sssslon Story on Page 2 CRAMSaJSISThtSlw speeches aavruriars and other things to do Wyandotte County Hanoeninns Pauso 4 for a variety of Jobs around ft curny New raws) beirtsugurajadbsforaths KCTcnyccxjncl meets tonight! hts8tfwi City to help Channel 62 celebrate its impending move into KCK By REGINA AKERS SkUIWkUw employs 43 people aartowai double its size to 10300 sqaure feet of space with thS-sktw location The old Channd 62 "We're a brand new company with a lot of money behind us" MacDonald said "The old Channd 62 and the new Channd 62 are entirely different" A key factor ia the company's move to Kansas City Kan was sn economic development incentive package it is expected to receive from the Board of Public have the money to buy hood final its offer within a month Generally incentives include financial assisting and other inducements based upon a company's estimaJsd4tility use number of employees capacity for grown and other factors "We saw that Cambridge Circle is aa absolutely ideal locatioa right off of 1-33 and ptainly vuable to the thousands of cars that go by" Marftonald said MacDonslcf said the ststwa from eastern Kansas City to Cambridge Circle company officials said In September Andrew Banks ft Royce Yudkoff (ABRY) Communications of Boston bought the station from a local bank which repossesed it from former managers ABRY owns four other independent stations nationwide said Vice President and General Manager Jim MacDonald Msrnsnalil proaramming said wim also worked and Mayor Joe Stetneger wiO be among dignitsrties st ceremonies today launching KZKC Channd 62's new kxation in the Cambridge Click office park near Interstate 33 and Seventh Street Events today will be broadcast on Channd 62 st noon Sunday The station ia expected to move sB of its oprrations by June 1 Utilities MacDonald said mmmmmmmf nam hub SkWBHgjiSBBBljn aVWCj wouldrsembestkwbayssl tike "Perfect Stiangere" for o-ample They would never be aUs toaetaskewtike KU basfcetteJL' turen i-ora a sru i said officials expected to make.