The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 27

Nineteen Belles of the American Royal are presented at the BOTAR Ball Story B-4 The Kansas City Star Metro lirtkif mmeUmIWsI htwi wp MPMMW W-WpWIs PWWMBePe wMS KANSAS CITY AND THE REGION An uncertain future CW GUSEWELLE Second person charged This fat cat loses desire to be a loner The calico cat Spanky has had a midlife personality change she has become softer of nature more affectionate For so long a dour and misanthropic creature she used to spend her days perched on the stair landing frowning out at the world with an owlish glare The other cats and even the idogs would start up the stair-'way spy her there hesitate and then turn back She never was seen at the food dish or the water bowl That she did take nourishment was obvious for she developed first a swinging paunch and then a noticeable spread But being crabbed and secretive by temperament she evidently preferred to eat and drink when the house was dark and all the rest of us were sleeping In those earlier years it was those other cats she especially despised Some find this distaste for own species baffling but I have to say I understand completely There are a fair number of human beings for whom I have no use Then sometime in eighth year or it may have been her ninth this change occurred It happen gradually It came almost overnight as if shed simply decided after long observation and much consideration that life was sweeter for those who made setei Photos by KEITH MYERSThe Star JR Knaus (left) of Knob Noster Mo led the way Thursday as a posed Kansas International Speedway Owners Bill and Suzie Kansas City Kan home was moved to make way for the pro- Theno were having the house moved to the Tonganoxie area KCK speedway project hits home By STEVE NICELY Staff Writer KCK authorities get conflicting stories in killing of 10-year-old By JOHN A DVORAK Staff Writer A second person was charged Saturday in the drive-by shooting of a 10-year-old Kansas City Kan girl and authorities complained about a lack of help in resolving the case still working on Wyandotte County District Attorney Nick Tomasic said not getting much The motive for the killing of Shanelle Cobper remains uncertain i lot of people know who Tomasic said On Saturday Durand Carson about 20 was charged with aiding a felony Tomasic said He is related to Curtis Coleman who was charged Friday with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting Tomasic said Police said the Wednesday evening incident might have ties to gang activities Shanelle died near her home in the 1900 block of Tennyson Street A car filled with young men stopped as the little girl crossed the street and the shooting followed witnesses said Authorities have received conflicting stories said Tomasic who was meeting with police detectives on the case Saturday morning Alvin Brooks president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime said it uncommon in drive-by shootings for people who knew the victim not to assist officers happens over and over said Brooks who has spoken with members of Shanelle's family the police and prosecutor get blamed for not doing Sometimes he said the failure of witnesses to testify will result in murderers escaping prosecution to have justice prevail is as anguishing as the death itself" Brooks said Tomasic said the shooting was the result of a continuing dispute between two groups of people was not just a random shooting of complete strangers There was a purpose behind he said Members of family have been involved in the dispute he said But the girl wasn't the target of the shooting was running from one house to Tomasic said was an innocent victim" Hemme said was a worse blow than this so we know how to take Not a sure thing About half of the families at the speedway site have reached settlements with the government packed up and moved out Some go eagerly most go reluctantly a few with bitter resentment With condemnation actions last week the developer now controls all the land within the proposed oval bowl of the track said Jeff Boerger Kansas International Speedway director of operations The bowl area is the priority for excavation By the end of this month Boerger said his company and the Unified Government will have acquired 1049 acres about 84 percent of the 1250-acre project There is little doubt all the families will be gone within several weeks But it still certain the $208 million track will be built No bonds have been sold Even though heavy equipment is busy clearing trees no groundbreaking has been held A lawsuit by several property owners disputing relocation benefits prevents the sale of $96 million in revenue bonds Kansas law prohibits the sale of See SPEEDWAY B-2 Col 1 A bizarre scene greets Milbum and Iona Hemme these days as they drive the last block home on North 106th Street in Kansas City Kan Trees are cut back from both sides of the street houses are boarded up Some are jacked up on blocks ready for moving to make way for the proposed Kansas International Speedway which will feature NASCAR events The Hemmes in their late 70s know the 5-acre wooded oasis they call home also is in the path of the project just that they reached a buyout settlement with the Unified Board of Commissioners of Wyandotte County and Kansas City Kan and are unsure where they will go They are among 146 families being nudged or tom from the places where children hunted Easter eggs learned to ride bikes and struggled with homework The Hemmes said the move would not get them down They have 46 years of happy memories on 106th Street and one tragedy They have two grown daughters They do not have their son Mark who was 8 years old in 1961 when he fell dead of a hemorrhage while playing in the back yard always liked it Iona Milburn and Iona Hemme will have to leave the house in Kansas City Kan where they have lived 46 years The Hemmes who have not yet reached a buyout settlement are unsure where they will go Suspected meth lab found in south KC surrendered No charges had been filed by Saturday evening A team of specially trained officers rid the home of explosives and residents were able to return to their houses by 2 pm been hunting this guy down for said Tim Gilio the bondsman who discovered the suspected meth lab in the garage of the house was happy to get him off the across the street stayed in her home and watched from the window as police searched the house Saturday morning is frightening to know that something like that is right across the she said police told us to keep our door closed in case there should be an explosion husband went out to get the paper this morning and they told him to go back in and close the door and not come back out the effort to be sociable So she awoke one morning a beast of an entirely different sort She has been seen deliberately approaching the other cats of the household even touching noses with them though the terror of those others the first time that happened was very great She joins them on the kitchen counter for the distribution of bits of leftover chicken or fish She has largely abandoned her station on the stair landing having discovered the greater comfort of the couch or the upstairs bed and even permits her fellow cats to join her there From time to time in past years I found it necessary to extract a shed claw hers from the muzzle of one or the other of the pups She has not yet established anything that could be de-scribedas a friendship with them more a guarded accommodation as between Netanyahu and Arafat But at least now the dogs are able to up and down the stairs reely and are not transfixed by dread if she happens to come in the room And the result of all this congeniality? Well Spanky sleeps now in softer places And as the others yield to her surprising overtures she receives their companionship And shares the little treats that they have long enjoyed And being so much easier to live with she naturally receives more stroking and hears her extraordinary beauty more often commented upon The change in other words has paid off handsomely I wait to see in myself any of this softening of a prickly nature that the greater wisdom of age is rumored to bring but do not detect it yet They say such amazing transformations sometimes occur in violent and predatory criminals who are then able to put a life of unspeakable behavior behind and go forth to hold tent revivals give motivational seminars appear on daytime talk shows and otherwise serve their fellow man I have no great faith in that either though a pretty notion In Spanky the change cannot be doubted But cats by and large are better than the rest of us and a case filled with glass tubes and chemicals Residents of seven homes in the neighborhood were evacuated after police confirmed that the materials posed a threat think it can get any more dangerous than this with the combination of explosives and said Sgt Floyd Mitchell a police spokesman could have been a devastating Police surrounded the home and tried telephoning the fugitive who was still inside About 10 am he By ERIC WESLANDER Staff Writer A south Kansas City neighborhood was evacuated Saturday morning after bail bondsmen discovered a suspected methampheta-mine lab About 12:30 a four bail bondsmen entered a home in the 8400 block of Cherry Street looking for a 27-year-old man who had outstanding city and state arkst warrants They found explosives KCI makeover All three terminals at Kansas City International Airport are scheduled for interior redesign by 2001 Story B-6 Georgia Heisterberg who lives again RS The 1970s: A footnote art but do we like it? ning Fence" remained two weeks By the middle 1970s a group of Kansas City contemporary-art 2 lovers lured Christo to town For a decade he had wanted to cover walkways but was denied permis-s sion In Loose Park he would have his way Immediately questions arose Parks commissioners wondered whether park activity would be disrupted but gave their support The Municipal Art Commission withheld its endorsement one official said the plan do anything" The City Council declared itself neutral One council member predicting a public reaction" complained that the project was absurdity" one of the this guy likesto capitalize The public1 is never going to understand the project and going to blame the council for letting it take But art won On Oct 2 1978 scores of art Kansas Citians seem to relish an argument over public art consider the giant shuttle- cocks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum or the top-of-the-pylon sculptures at Bartle Hall Two decades ago the city got worked up about one plan to lay a continuous sheet of gold nylon over the walking paths at Loose Park The exhibit would last only two weeks and cost taxpayers nothing Yet the artist was the high-profile Christo Bulgarian bom and trained in the world's art capitals His work was famous for its scale its impermanence and seeming impracticali-ty In 1972 Christo hung orange fabric across a valley in the Colorado Rockies Named the exhibit was removed in 28 hours because of high winds In 1975 in California he erected an 18-foot tall nylon fence that stretched 24 miles across farms and hills to the Pacific Ocean students and other workers began spiking and stapling the fabric along almost three miles of Loose Park walks Thousands visited the park many with cameras and public outrage fell far short of expectations A neighbor who originally thought the idea a waste of money said: realty beautiful sort of a fantasy Ifs ridiculous but if pretty" By Oct 18 Walk Ways" was over The fabric was collected and laid in the parking lot of Starlight Theatre for anyone who wanted a souvenir Christo paid the $130000 cost through sales of his prints posters and collages and went on to other projects around the world 100 percent nylon covering This weekly feature appears between installments of The Star's monthly series on Kansas City history Read archives ol the series on The Star's site at Click on the Millennium series icon Watch KCTV Channel 5 news at 10 Saturdays for more on Kansas City history.