The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 75

JO Friday October 4 1991 The Kansas City Star C-3 Family of missing woman given up hope Angela Hammond vanished 6 months ago guess you think time will heal everything but six months down the road now and still not any Cook said still just a roller coaster of This week Cook was planning her first vacation since her daughter disappeared She won a trip to Florida through her work but leaving was not an easy decision to make need some time to step back but it was hard to decide to go out of Cook said Rob Shafer fiance has been training as a National Guardsman at Fort Eustis Va since June Attempts to reach him by telephone this week were unsuccessful But mother said Shafer seems to be taking the disappearance hard kind of shut himself Cook said But the show may bring false hope David Rader one of the producers said only two of 49 missing-persons cases presented on the show have been solved Police are looking for a late 1960s model Ford pickup with a water or outdoor scene in the rear window and possibly with a white top The truck may have damage to its left front fender Two witnesses told police they saw a white man with a mustache wearing a dark-colored baseball-style cap sitting in the truck near the telephone booth Hammond was using The witnesses' description is similar to one Hammond gave her fiance moments before the line went dead The lingering investigation has left friends and family in a state of limbo In Nevada a convenience store worker disappeared after closing up shop Feb 27 In Macks Creek Mo another convenience store worker was robbed and ab-Hammond ducted Jan 19 Her body was found in the Little Niangua River two days later Those cases also remain unsolved Investigators said this week that although similarities exist among the three cases there still is no concrete evidence to connect the crimes And so far no solid clues in case have been found Clinton police Detective Damon Parsons said the investigation was no further along today than it was a few weeks after Hammond was abducted someone out there who has information but they just may not realize Parsons said they come forward or until found there really is not much more we could Authorities and friends and family are now pinning their hopes on network television for leads in the case The NBC-TV program will be in Clinton next week to re-enact the kidnapping The episode is tentatively set to air in early December somebody will see this and have some said stepmother Kathy Hammond of Olathe feel so helpless and frustrated because there isn't anything we can do Maybe this show will bring some By LANE BEAUCHAMP Springfield Correspondent CLINTON Mo Day by day those who know Angela Hammond try to get on with their lives Her fiance trains for the military Her mother plans a long-delayed vacation Her best friend seeks work in Colorado And yet they forget the night six months ago today when Hammond vanished just a few blocks from this west-central Missouri square She been seen or heard from since know the statistics good at this point for finding her but until something happens you give mother Marsha Cook said this week hope is always going to be Hammond 20 disappeared about 11:45 pm on April 4 Police think she was abducted while talking to her fiance from a pay telephone in supermarket parking lot fiance heard her scream then the line went dead The disappearance sparked an intensive air and ground search across the region for days A special team of investigators including Highway Patrol officers and federal agents dug into the case A reward fund topped $16000 Authorities also searched unsuccessfully for possible links to two similar disappearances in western Missouri Gatlins expected to head to Branson Schools panel is proposed Finney participation sought in effort to set goals for education By JOHN PETTERSON Kansas Correspondent More on the Gatlin plans H-14 Country music stars are moving toOzarks fueling tourism boom By LANE BEAUCHAMP Springfield Correspondent Add the Gatlin Brothers to the growing list of country music acts settling in the Missouri Ozarks The three brothers who earlier this year had said they would disband are expected to announce this morning that they will join the more than two dozen other celebrities appearing at theaters in Branson Mo announcement by the Gatlins will be followed next week by one from Willie Nelson who has leased an existing theater in Branson Next season he will perform 10 shows a week there from May 1 to Oct 31 Nelson's spokesman said Thursday The Gatlins Larry Steve and Rudy reportedly will be featured in one of two new Branson theaters being planned by Ben Bush an Arkansas businessman On Thursday Bush would not comment on the Gatlins or say who will headline in his second proposed theater Bush did say he has purchased 50 acres along commercial strip known as 76 Country Boulevard Area leaders said Thursday that the Bush theaters each will have about 2000 seats and the development may include a restaurant and hotel Five other new theaters plan to open next year bringing such performers as Andy Williams and Johnny and June Carter Cash They will join other country music legends including Roy Clark Mel Tillis Ray Stevens Boxcar Willie and Mickey Gilley In the last few months Branson has been portrayed nationally as a music Time magazine and USA Today have written stories about the southwest Missouri tourist destination And this week the CBS-TV program has been in town taping a segment on Branson Still to come is an announcement by the owners of Silver Dollar City on what two stars will headline their $13 million Grand Palace which is scheduled to open next spring and has been billed as the Carnegie Hall of country music That word is expected in November spokesman Frank Oakley said in a telephone interview from Nashville that Nelson will lease the Ozarks Theater now home to Mel Tillis Tillis is building his own theater along US 65 away from the row of music theaters Oakley said Nelson plans on buying a house in Branson and living there most of the year The Associated Press provided some information for this article FREDBLOCHERThe Star later her husband Tom found the fire in the attic insulation It then spread to the roof Thursday Paula Brock helped Carolyn inspect remains They plan to rebuild at the same site Their insurance will cover the loss The fire that destroyed her two-story home east of De Soto was at first elusive After lightning hit the chimney Wednesday night Carolyn Irish (right) said "we looked around the house for smoke My husband even went up into the attic About an hour Lightning causes house fires TOPEKA Kansas has taken the first steps toward establishing a committee to suggest improvements in the educational system The committee to be known as Kansas 2000 would be similar to ones already set up by other states and cities to adopt educational goals and methods of achieving them The Bush administration and Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander are encouraging the establishment of local goal-setting igroups About 30 people representing various areas of the education community the Legislature and private business gathered Wednesday at a meeting called by 'Senate President Bud Burke Before the nearly two-hour meeting adjourned Burke a Leawood Republican had appointed two persons to lead a steering committee The two were Michael Fuller of Overland Park president of the United Telephone System-Midwest Group and Connie Hubbell a member of the state Board of Education Burke told those at the meeting that he met with Alexander in Orlando Fla in August and the secretary agreed to be on hand for the kickoff of a Kansas 2000 effort on Oct 29 in Wichita would hope the governor would be the major player in this organization and that the Legislature would have a major Burke said But Ann Cook Gov Joan representative at the meeting said the governor opposed to the goals a Kansas 2000 committee might outline but noted that she will have her own education plan to unveil to the Legislature in January Ex-coach urges parents to plan for college cost By STEVE PENN Staff Writer Council is asked to pay $75000 for plant bid Continued from C-1 Power Light Co reported that 43000 customers lost power for varying lengths of time The hardest-hit area was north of the Missouri River where lightning knocked out two substations in Gladstone and Avondale leaving 35000 homes without electricity for 24 minutes just after midnight daylight we were pretty well cleared up as far as having service said Joe Kramer a spokesman The Liberty Police Department communications transmitter was one victim of the storm but a backup transmitter kept the police from being in the dark Besides the lightning the Northland was hit by a brief hail storm that carpeted the ground like snow In Summit the fire department answered a dozen alarms because of lightning but no one was hurt Lightning struck a chimney on one home at 4016 Rust Road blowing apart a roof support and charring the roof Rector said It damaged an alarm system on the second house at 3716 Buckner-Tarsney Road In Kansas City Kan two strikes on electrical-switching gear in the Fairfax area darkened about 1000 residences for about 75 minutes The lights went out twice at the Woodlands dog track but power was restored in about five minutes said Karen Ford a spokesman for the Board of Public Utilities Information for this article was provided by David Goldstein Diane Carroll Phillip Mike Rice Russ Pulley JD Moore Jr Anne Lamoy Greg Kuhl John North and Laurie Scott all members of the staff strikes over Assistant Fire Chief Charlie Hitchcock said "With these kinds of storms going to get this kind of activity We were fortunate and have any significant damage or Ringing alarms kept police in Kansas South Patrol district hopping And in Raymore lightning struck the circuit breakers on a city water pump leaving some parts of town without water or with low water pressure for about 45 minutes early Thursday Raymore police reported North of Grain Valley lightning damaged two homes within a half mile of each other Each sustained about $1000 damage said Gregg Rector spokesman for the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District He said both families were at home when the strikes occurred The Pentagon was prepared to offer financial help to McDonnell Douglas If the company came close to bankruptcy A-5 MID-AMERICA ROUNDUP engineering planning and design of a light rail system in Kansas City The first phase calls for a 23-mile system connecting Downtown the Crown Center complex and the Bartle Hall convention center The bill also provides $35 million for continued construction of the St Louis light rail system The compromise bill must be approved by the House and Senate and can then be sent to President Bush for his signature Continued from C-1 side Platte County and the state of Kansas gave $5000 each and the city of St Joseph pledged $10000 he said Cleaver and City Manager Dave Olson said they had told a task force seeking the plant that the city would pay up to $75000 to supplement other funds The Economic Development Corp then hired firms confident the city would come through with money Collins said But because the council approved the expenditure the work was done at some risk of not getting full payment Olson said Thursday Cleaver said he saw nothing wrong with going to the council now to pay for services already rendered No one knew a few months ago how much would be needed from the city he said know more than anyone that the council has the option to say Cleaver said But to do so could make future joint fund raising with private industry difficult he said Cleaver introduced a proposed ordinance Thursday to pay up to $75000 to the development corporation to pay fees Collins said about $100000 BUDGET CUTS IN COLUMBIA MU to postpone projects The University of Missouri-Columbia plans to delay construction and renovation and begin a hiring freeze to deal with the latest state budget reductions Chancellor Haskell Monroe said MU must cut about $4 1 million from its budget He announced the reductions in a faculty meeting Wednesday Monroe said he expected to save $18 million by delaying construction projects $15 million by shifting the cost of continuing education courses to the user $400000 by a hiring freeze $240000 by slashing the emergency fund 1 00000 by reducing support of athletics and $87000 by reducing non-faculty travel was spent devising a plan to help finance up to $14 billion for the plant Most of those fees were paid to BC Christopher of Kansas City and Airline Capital Associates of New York he said Most of the remaining fees went to Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City for services related to environmental work and to Gell-man Research Associates of Philadelphia for labor research Collins said Corporate Communications Group Inc will receive about $30000 for packaging and helping present the proposal he said At the request of McDonnell Douglas the city proposal has not been made public Even though $75000 in city money may be spent on that proposal Cleaver said it should still not be made public If the city is selected for the plant the proposal will be sent to the council for public debate and action he said GAMBLING ON RESERVATIONS Two more tribes like idea As the Kickapoo Indian tribe negotiates to establish casino-style gambling at least two other northeastern Kansas tribes are considering new games of chance Gov Joan Finney began talks recently with Kickapoo representatives who think a casino would help economic development on the reservation about 50 miles northeast of Topeka Now George Wahquabokuk chairman of the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Tribe said his tribe was interested in opening a casino at its reservation near Mayetta about 20 miles north of Topeka And Chairwoman Sandy Keo of the Sac and Fox tribe said members were discussing the idea of bringing bingo and other games to the reservation at Reserve in the extreme northeastern corner of the state TRACKING TWISTERS IN KANSAS Four cities to get radar units Four cities in Kansas will receive $2 million Doppler radar units to help forecasters better detect and track tornadoes A 1 556 million federal appropriation for the tornado warning equipment was approved after twisters ravaged the Wichita area in April killing 19 The money was part of an appropriations bill approved this week for fiscal 1 992 said Sen Bob Dole a Kansas Republican Dodge City will be the first Kansas city to receive the NEXRAD radars Dole said The others are Goodland Wichita and Topeka Olathe board make students change schools With the cost of higher education headed north parents sending their children to college must set higher Financial goals to afford it the former basketball coach at Notre Dame said Thursday in Kansas City Digger Phelps who led the Irish to more victories in 20 seasons titan any other coach at the school appeared as a spokesman far the Educate American Resource Network which is cosponsoring Heroes: A High-Tech at the Kansas City Museum The non-profit organization is dedicated to higher education He joined about 50 people for a preview reception at the Town Pavilion on Thursday evening Phelps said financial aid programs are not often geared to helping middle-income families cost of higher education has escalated so much that almost to your advantage to be Phelps said Phelps said the network can help parents develop a savings plan for college educations The exhibit at the Town Pavilion opens to student tours today and to the general public on Saturday For information on the network call (800) 733-4723 Continued from C-1 different when not in the same school" said Michelle Lemons a South junior who would be in the East boundaries next year see your friends every In other action Wimmer outlined $13 million in cuts from the budget The cuts were needed because the district overestimated this student enrollment Olathe had expected an enrollment of about 15800 students The actual enrollmeijt was 1 5357 President OM Elliott Superintendent Ron Wimmer said students from the East area would have to request a transfer by Nov 1 5 The policy also would allow students in the North or South area to attend East Parents and students urged the board to let students choose which high school they will attend They said it would be too difficult to leave old friends and make new ones SOCIAL SERVICES Programs would be merged services for children and families would be placed in a single division within the Missouri Department of Social Services under a plan announced Thursday by Gov John Ashcroft The move could attract more federal money for the programs Ashcroft said The plan will be submitted to the Missouri General Assembly in January Ashcroft said MONEY FOR KC ST LOUIS Light rail measure advances Light rail mass transit systems in Kansas City and St Louis would receive federal money this year under a compromise spending bill approved Thursday by House and Senate negotiators The bill which was approved by a House-Senate conference committee provides 1 million for.