The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 31

OPINION C-6 Section SATURDAY June 18 1994 THE KANSAS JL CITY STAR time to be wary of hot weather threat LEWIS DIUGUID Ftw illness reported so far but still early By MARK MORRIS Staff Writer nesses all summer and not forget even if we have one cool said Lindholm mopping his brow with a napkin expect too many of those cool days WeatherData Inc predicts hotter-and drier-than normal conditions for the next 30 days The summer should finish with about average temperatures and precipitation said Mark Bogner a Weather-Data meteorologist Normal Kansas City highs in June July and August are 85 91 and 89 degrees respectively The Heat Task Force made up of representatives from several public and so-See OFFICIALS C-8 Col 1 Kansas City chose a fine day to announce its annual summerlong heat warning With temperatures hovering at the 90-degree mark Friday Daniel Lindholm manager of emergency services for the city Health Department stood in a shady patch before City Hall and issued a cautionary message need to think about heat-related ill SCOTT INDERMAURSpecial to Th Star Manuel Torrez (left) wiped sweat from his face Friday as Juan Antonio removed old tiles from a Kansas City roof The next chore was installation of new tiles Killer again gets death sentence Michael attack on Ann Harrison called By JOE LAMBE Staff Writer All hopped up SUSAN McSPADDENThe Star Youngsters at the Children's World Learning Center America The children ranging in age from 2 to 6 collected 11200 Mastin St were hopping for a good cause this pledges and hopped one minute every day Besides get-week as they raised money for the Leukemia Society of ting good exercise they learned about helping others Janel and Bob Harrison had been through it three times before but they said it get easier They held hands quietly Friday in a packed Jackson County courtroom just 10 feet from the man who raped and murdered their daughter They listened as Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Cobum ticked off the heinous aggravating factors of the murder nine in all and sentenced Michael Taylor to death Cobum said murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison outrageously and wantonly vile Taylor horrible and inhuman in that it involved torture and depravity of Taylor 27 sat impassive in a white shirt and tie as he listened to the death sentence Cobum sentenced the Kansas City man to death for murder life in prison for rape 50 years for armed criminal action and 1 5 years for kidnapping all to run consecutively Pending appeals the sentencing finally ends a case that has lingered for five years as killers were twice sentenced to die In 1991 in an admitted ploy to avoid a jury trial See KILLER C-8 Col 1 hurt must be healed Angel Lea screams keep her from dying but they might help other abused or neglected kids live i mother Angela Melton is charged with covering up the slaying and profiting from her death boyfriend Gary Christian is charged with first-degree murder Police said Angel died Feb 24 1 993 in a Kansas City motel room where she was beaten and her head was held under water in a bathtub because she could not recite her alphabet correctly Her body allegedly was dumped in an Arizona or California desert and has not been found What a tragedy But what shocks me more is that Angel told people who could have saved her about the abuse She did what self-help manuals preach in case the system said Doniia Holmes a social worker with the Child Abuse Prevention Association i In that respect Angel contin- ues to scream unfortunate that the only time the awareness is raised is with the death of a said Jennifer Place resource development coordinator But people must move beyond outrage and answer the cries for help or more kids will suffer and die! In 1 992 more than 29 million child abuse and neglect cases were reported nationwide Reports rose 1 32 percent over the last 10 years said Sharon Cantrell program director with the Child Abuse Prevention Coalition in Johnson County Only a fifth of the cases get reported larger part of abuse and neglect is she said of the important basics are being supplied to a Blame it on drugs and alcohol teen mothers with no parenting skills family or financial support adults victimizing their kids as they were abused or neglected and the inability of grown-ups to handle economic or other stress said Sheila Larkin Scott central office child prevention services unit supervisor with the Missouri Division of Family Services In 1993 Missouri logged 52369 child abuse and neglect cases compared with 24797 in Kansas About 1 800 cases a month turn up in the Kansas City area Cantrell said But state budgets lag behind Finances for investigations have risen less than 3 percent over five years leaving caseworkers responsible for 50 percent more families Cantrell said A Jackson County caseworker gets 35 to 40 cases a month to investigate when the national standard is 12 said Alinda Dennis director of the Metropolitan Child Abuse Network with the Heart of America United Way expect government to take care of it all by itself but something that needs all of our Cantrell said has to own a piece of children not being Many cases are complex and life threatening social workers you go to bed at night hoping that nothing happened to those cases" she said also too much to expect that young children are going to be able to protect themselves from said A recent University of New Hampshire study showed that school-based prevention programs help especially when parents reinforce the lessons But children who received trainmg suffered more injury in coping with sexual assaults probably because they fought back Private sector prevention efforts started 10 to 20 years ago following in tracks said Bonnie Walz Johnson County child protective unit supervisor with Social Rehabilitative Services I hope Angel's screams make those services grow up fast forcing more community support financing and training Kids like Angel afford to wait i Aftershocks follow Freedom endorsements Candidates not chosen are suspicious and bitter By JAMES FITZPATRICK MATT CAMPBELL and GROMER JEFFERS JR Staff Writers Nutter said Friday that top Freedom officials had come to his office twice in the last week to discuss the possible endorsement of Baumgardner a Blue Springs resident who served as Jackson County executive from 1979 to 1983 Nutter said those attending the first meeting besides himself were Baumgardner former Jackson County Prosecutor Albert Riederer co-chairman of campaign James Tindall Freedom president and former City Councilman Charles Hazley a former Freedom chairman Nutter said another meeting occurred See FREEDOM C-4 Col 1 dorsements Thursday of Dale Baumgardner for county executive and Rep Karen McCarthy for the 5th District seat by Freedom Inc long an influence in countywide politics Predictably the candidates who did not get support complained in this case very bitterly But what also has emerged is the behind-the-scenes role of mortgage banker James Nutter Sr in endorsement of Baumgardner Ironically it comes less than three months after Nutter-backed candidates scored big victories in the April Kansas City school board elections at the expense of those supported by Freedom Political officeholders and observers said Friday that endorsement of Baumgardner bore the fingerprints of Nutter one of the most powerful political financiers In fact one of opponents Kansas City Councilwoman Katheryn Shields said she believed Nutter almost singlehandedly engineered endorsement Freedom which influences thousands of voters in eight primarily black Kansas City wards chose Baumgardner over Shields Independence Councilman Bill Baker and Robert Newsome a Realtor The primary is Aug 2 Almost overnight the races for Jackson County executive and the 5th District congressional seat have riveted the attention of the local political community and set the stage for a hard-hitting primary election campaign What heightened the drama were the en Cities look to court for sign guidance Local officials wish justices had defined By KADY McMASTER Staff Writer Award-winning AIDS activist feels lucky to be of help By SARA BENNETT portant to Staff Writer For Baker 41 who has been living with AIDS for about 10 When asked why he had been years being a volunteer and chosen to receive the Marion community leader is less about Kreamer Ribbon of Hope awards and more about doing Award Michael Baker gave a what he thinks needs to be done bewildered shrug Baker received the Ribbon of guess because I refuse to Hope award Thursday night in give the Kansas City man recognition of more than four said refuse to let my dis- years as a volunteer and AIDS ability dictate my life activist The award is sponsored feel fortunate to have the by the AIDS Council of Greater health got and also have the Kansas City and the AIDS Ser-resources that I do have and I vice Foundation of Greater know that a lot of people Kansas City have that And I just feel im- Baker since 1 99 1 has been co- were hopeful it would give us more guidelines on said Patricia Bennett an attorney for the city of Prairie Village unlike the city of Ladue we do not have a total ban and we were hoping the ruling would give us more to go on" Still Dick Kurtenbach executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Kansas City was encouraged by the Supreme decision Ladue decision is certainly a victory from the standpoint of the First said Kurtenbach who has been involved in disputes over sign laws probably going to see is continuing litigation on the question of what regulations if any are appropriate under See LADUE C-4 Col 5 This Supreme Court ruling that Ladue in St Louis County illegally banned signs on residential property may hit home in the Kansas City area Cities such as Gladstone and Prairie Village were watching the case hoping it would provide guidelines for their own controversial laws regulating signs Although decision clearly prohibits a ban on any signs it still leaves questions as to how far a city can go in regulating them Michael Baker living with AIDS chairman of the Ryan White CARE Consortium with Judy Moore-Nichols the HIVAIDS program manager for the Kansas City Health Department The consortium is responsible See KC C-8 Col 1 TOMORROW in The Star INSIDE Debutantes take their bows at the annual Jewel Ball A city councilman resigns so his stepson can accept an appointment as a municipal judge C-2 A Kansas City police officer is honored with two medals for risking his life to save others C-3 r-.