The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 14

B-2 The Kansas City Star Tuesday April 21 1998 JO No relocation aid offered at speedway site THE BEST OF GUSEWELLE move the structure Two other homeowners Ejnfst Pintar and TR Henry also said their appraisals seemed fair mean my hquscis for Henry said have rights no chance to vote on it just take it or leave He said he probably wouldffSke it AUC'l State Sen Chris SteinegeL 4 Kansas City Kan DemoWaft whose district includes the track site said the appraisals canid in1 higher than expected still feel bad for the people that want to he Said financially a heck of a good deal for selling a stead of $18000 that was in the original project budget If homeowners got $18000 plus 125 the percent reimbursement would be a Boudreau said One homeowner who said he planned to accept his offer is Jay Hickman a Kansas City Kan police detective Hickman said he was satisfied that his appraisal was fair In addition to the $4500 he will get a $2000 advance on the price of the house that he will keep even if the deal falls through He also will be able to salvage all or part of his house if he wishes: considering selling to someone who might first offers on behalf of the developer not the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City Kan The Unified Government will join the developer in the acquisition process after $88 million in revenue bonds are sold late next month Eventually 146 home-owners and several property owners will receive offers The speedway corporation is still projecting the start of racing late in the 2000 season Cason Boudreau chief deputy counsel for the Unified Government said that because of the 125 percent requirement the Unified Government planned to provide $500 per family for relocation expenses in on people to sign a said Bonnie Bennett whose parents Cyle and Mary Bennett received an offer Saturday for their home of 52 years Mary Bennett said "It threw us when they told us we get any moving The $4500 incentive was over and above the 125 percent of the appraised property value set by Nunnink Associates an independent firm hired by the Unified Government and Kansas International Speedway Corp the developer Earlier this year the Kansas Legislature required the additional 25 percent to be sure residents were adequately compensated Agents with Nunnink made the By STEVE NICELY Staff Writer The first offers to homeowners in the path of the Kansas International Speedway do not include the relocation allowance that many of them expected Instead the owner-occupants of about three dozen houses in the heart of the track site have been offered $4500 in provided they sign a contract within two weeks of the offer they said The incentive shrinks to $2250 after two weeks then to $1125 after four weeks The offers were termed Instead of a relocation allowance putting pressure JOHNSON NEWS OVERLAND PARK Business hold-up: a woman robbed a gas station about 9:30 pm Sunday The woman handed a note demanding money to a clerk at Total Petroleum 3456 Merriam Drive took cash and walked westbound from the front door The note mentioned a gun but she did not show a weapon The robber was described as a white woman in her 20s 5 feet 3 inches tall about 120 pounds with long dark hair in a pony tail She was wearing a ball cap a green sweatshirt and baggy khaki pants Anyone with information should call Overland Park police at 327-6945 or the TIPS Hotline at 474-TIPS (474-8477) Thinking of the victims Johnson County commemorated National Crime Rights Week with a panel discussion Monday at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village One of the panelists Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison sat in front of a red silhouette Eleven of the cutouts were placed around the room to symbolize Kansas women who died because of domestic violence After the forum members held a candlelight vigil Commission appointees: Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver has appointed five new members to fill one vacancy and replace four members with expired terms on the City Plan Commission The new members are Randy Endecott Randy Downing Donovan Mouton Tamra Wilson Setser and Elaine Sullivan Outgoing members are Whitney Kerr Sr Philip A Klawuhn Cris Medina A1 Caudle and Frank Zilm Eloise Allen and Charles Myers remain on the commission with Myers succeeding Kerr as chairman Ambulance crash: a MAST ambulance was destroyed and two persons were injured Monday when a car southbound on Interstate 35 struck a semi went out of control and then crossed the median and crashed i into the northbound ambulance near Brighton Avenue MAST spokesman Donald Pickard said the accident happened about 4:30 am when the ambulance was returning to the headquarters at the end of its shift The ambulance driver suffered a minor leg injury and his co-worker in the seat was uninjured The condition of the man driving the car a Ford Taurus was not known THIRD DISTRICT Be grateful for brief displays Editor 's note: Gusewelle's regular column will resume April 28 'Itile he 's away The Star is reprinting some of his favorites This column appeared in 1W2 Self-contained and businesslike as a constable on his rounds a red fox trotted across our yard the other evening By luck 1 was looking down from the upstairs window at just that moment and saw him pass There long have been foxes denning along the creek beside the golf course several blocks away And another family of them bringing off their litters of kits on a street where a friend lives But those are rock-ledged and foliaged places Ours is just a regular city block with houses in a row and mown yards adjoining We've had opossums and raccoons in the storm sewers and chipmunks in a crevice under the step and rabbits in the flower garden Never a fox though not in the 20 years had the house First 1 saw a movement down through the screening leaves of the crab apple tree Rabbit my mind computed because it was that hour just before sundown when our two regulars come out to graze Then he passed from under the tree and into clear view No a dog my mind corrected itself Handsome reddish dog same color as the hair of a girl I used to know But something un-doglike about that bushy tail flowing straight behind tipped with black Dog with a tail just like a fox A foxish dog No! Wait! That no dog at all! Absolutely unexpected meetings with nature can addle you that way 1 called for my wife and we rushed downstairs together to see if we could spy him again But he'd trotted on out of sight He could have been one of those from the creek by the golf course we decided because that was the general direction he was heading Maybe in this season of young ones to feed cleaned out all the mice and rabbi jn their usual territory and had found it necessary to expand their range Then we thought about our own rabbits which we like having around to speak to when we go out at daylight to pick up the paper or come in from somewhere late at night you suppose he got I wondered aloud I noticed him carrying anything when he passed but you never know No rabbits were seen that night or again the next morning I suspected the worst But then the more I thought about it I began to be reconciled to taking nature as she comes in all her sweetness and ferocity If yOuget one you get both And after everything been done to tame the land to man's service lucky to have anything wild still sharing our beaten space Td underestimated the rabbits though The next evening our same two were back chewing grass and flower leaves as if they hajdn't a worry in the world They know that the cats watching them from inside our screened windows are not allowed to roam They know the bird dog asleep in his house is slow afoot They know the tunnels through the flowers and the spaces under the board fence where only a rabbit can fit And when the fox comes only once in 20 years time enough to plan Campaign plans: Democrat Dennis Moore a former Johnson County district attorney will visit four counties today to formally announce his bid for Congress from 3rd District The seat is held by Republican Rep Vince Snowbarger of Olathe Moore will begin his campaign tour at 9:30 am at the Strawberry Hill Museum 720 Fourth St Kansas City Kan He will then travel to Lawrence High School at 1 1 :30 am and the Paola Courthouse at 2 pm His last stop will be Johnson County Community College in Overland Park at 4:40 pm JEFF ROBERSONThe Star KANSAS CITY KAN RAYTOWN Child killed: Raytown police are investigating an accident involving an 11 -year-old boy who died Saturday after he was struck by a car Friday while riding his bicycle Charles A Dewberry was riding south on Evanston Street when he entered 87th Street about 7:20 pm and was struck by a westbound car He was unconscious and died Saturday A 39-year-old Grandview woman was driving the car Victim dies: Virginia Bell 18 of Kansas City Kan died Friday at the University of Kansas Medical Center after suffering injuries in an auto wreck Wednesday on Interstate 635 Bell was on her way to Shawnee Mission North High School where she was a senior Funeral services will be 1 1 am today at Joseph A Butler and Son Funeral Home 19th Street and Minnesota Avenue Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery Cheek trial: The jury in the first-degree murder and aggravated assault trial of former police officer John Cheek deliberated slightly more than six hours Monday before recessing for the day The jury has deliberated a total of 12 hours over three days since getting the case Thursday Cheek 33 is charged in the 1 shooting death of Milton Foster Jr 30 a security guard on Oct 29 1994 in a Bonner Springs bar 'f A jury in 1995 convicted Cheek of both charges The Kansas 1 Supreme Court overturned the verdicts and ordered a new trial1" 1 peals court found that the ordinance was legal because it was not based on the content of the speech in the booths and because it served a significant governmental interest City lawyers said the law was needed to protect public health concerns because sex acts may be occurring in the booths New library name: The South Branch library may have a new name after Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees meeting A committee chartered by the board will 'recommend the library be renamed the Waldo Branch The South Branch library 201 75th St is in the heart of the Waldo neighborhood and area residents requested a name change last September The committee polled residents and found 62 percent support the Waldo name change The meeting is open to the public and begins at 4:30 pm in the fifth floor conference room of the Main Branch 31 1 12th St Della Lamb auction: Chiefs tickets a Princess Beanie Baby and a basketball autographed by University of Kansas coach Roy Williams and his 1998 team will be among the items auctioned at 6 pm May 2 during the Della Lamb Annual Auction at the Kansas City Club 1228 Baltimore Ave Proceeds benefit Della Lamb Community Services which provides services for low-income Kansas Citians Tickets are $40 per person The reservation deadline is Friday Call 842-8040 Man sentenced: a visiting judge on Monday sentenced a Kansas City man to 20 years for shooting a man to death last year Circuit Judge Daniel Chadwick sentenced Michael Stigler whom a Jackson County jury in March convicted of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of Derrick Dearborn on Jan 2 1997 Chadwick also sentenced Stigler to 1 3 more years because the shooting violated his probation on 1995 convictions for drug sales and improper use of a weapon Griswold 19 said he punched an officer who was arresting another man then got into his car and tried to run the officer down In an ensuing car chase Griswold sped about 10 blocks at 80 mph He lost control of the car at 35th Street and Woodland Avenue he said and struck Thum-beline Gotow on the sidewalk Prosecutors said the impact knocked Gotow 40 feet through the air and killed her Ordinance upheld: a fed eral appeals court Monday upheld the constitutionality of a Kansas City ordinance prohibiting doors on video booths in adult bookstores A group of adult bookstore owners challenged the ordinance last year saying it would unfairly damage their business because no one would use the booths if the doors were removed But District Judge Gary A Fenner found the ordinance was constitutional In a unanimous ruling written by Chief US Circuit Judge Pasco Bowman of Kansas City the ap KANSAS CITY Guilty plea: A Kansas City man pleaded guilty Monday to attacking a police officer and killing a pedestrian during a highspeed car chase in June 1997 Jackson County Circuit Judge Lee Wells sentenced Christopher Griswold to 14 years for involuntary manslaughter resisting arrest assaulting a police officer and armed criminal action ABOUT US omo A LOTTERIES winning totOary num- Cash 4 Ufa: 1 9-49-82-88 Tfift MM A YOU CAM HELP Assist a staff that works with cancer patients Duties include completing patient records compiling packets and updating support calendar Must know word processing and have great customer service skills One day a week 3 hours flexible on day and times Call Ann Smith at the American Cancer Society 432-3277 Old Shawnee Town founded in 1966 is a replica of a pioneer village from 1840-1890 It includes the first jail built in Kansas a sod house and a log cabin It is on West 57th Street three blocks west of Nieman Road County Economic Research Institute Kansas Pick 3: 4-7-6 Straight play winners won $500 box-play win- ners won $80 A 50-cent bet paid half Kansas Cash: 1-12-16-23-26-31 for estimated $375000 jackpot Please check with the lottery officials rm for confirmation of these numbers UdiillO1 Mlsaouri Pick 3: 6-1-9 Straight-play winners won $500 box-play winners won $80 A 50-cent bet paid half Missouri Show Me 5: 10-15-27-28-29 No winner of $25000 jackpot Four numbers paid $100 Mural on evolution raises issue at Shawnee Mission Northwest Continued from B-1 a gtkmftQ mural This is what Science people Jill Hoverder art teacher voice their opposition to the moral Their children offended and upset by the life-size depiction of evgjp-tion have no choice but to gaze upon the mural each day as they walk to their science classes Reed said was overwhelmed by the size of Reed said of the mural this visual display ym much gives this thing the stamp of that advises the federal government on scientific and technical matters But even the scientific community debates evolution periodically said Kathleen Lundgren a science specialist with the Minnesota Department of Children Families and Learning Just last summer the National Association of Biology Teachers revised its description of evolution unsupervised impersonal unpredictable and natural by deleting the words and Some heralded the changes as inclusive others derided them as wimpy why I think students need to study Lundgren said professional community is not in agreement on For Harrison and Lisa Reed because evolution is theory not fact The two both mothers of Shawnee Mission Northwest students met wifh Harrington to Minneapolis school district tried in vain in 1996 to persuade the school board to include creation science in the curriculum In August 1997 a federal court ruled that a Louisiana school district cannot require teachers to read a disclaimer before teaching or discussing evolution The disclaimer said in part that lesson to be presented (is) not intended to influence or dissuade the biblical version of creation or any other US District Judge Marcel Livaudais Jr ruled that the disclaimer violated a federal prohibition against government establishment of religion Earlier this month the National Academy of Sciences released a book Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science aimed at bolstering understanding of the theory of evolution The academy is a group of scientists art students continued their mural work after completing the history mural Down the English hallway they painted a timeline of literature beginning in 1700 On the second floor the muralists painted a nature scene outside the environmental science classroom Then they asked the biology teachers what should be in their mural Hoverder said the teachers wanted many items including evolution a science Hoverder said is what the science people In the Shawnee Mission School District evolution is officially part of the lOth-grade curriculum The theory that living objects have evolved over time is taught in biology and included in several textbooks said Kevin Singer associate superintendent According to the National Sci- pointing out significant images in a historical mural painted on the wall The mural begins with the theory of the origin of the universe followed by image of God touching Adam The mural includes the birth and death of Jesus as well as the birth of Mohammed the prophet who founded Islam The history mural was the first that art teacher Jill Hoverder undertook when the project began fivp years ago She asked the social studies faculty what they would like jn their mural When I painted that (God toddling Adam) I thought people Would say put that religious viewpoint in a HOVerder said said Hoverder and several advanced ence Teachers Association evolution the broadest sense can be defined as the idea that the universe has a history that change through time has taken main opponents are those who believe in creationism that the Earth is only thousands not billions of years old and that God created everything on it Since the famous 1925 Scopes trial which brought the question of evolution as valid science into the courts for the first time the intensity has ebbed and flowed A group of parents in Prior Lake Minn a small suburban tion of Jesus and the hand stretching down from the heavens to create people U1 He stood in the hallway and contemplated thejflv? ages in the history mural they can depict we depict Jte asked of them has Been.