The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 17

KANSAS CITY AND THE AREA ipp SECTION wwwkcstarcom THE KANSAS CITY 8TAR Saturday January 23-1999 COMMENTARY Last Night of as per- formed by the Missouri Repertory Theatre didn merit the enthusiasm of its audience Review B-8 Stephen Winn President Clinton spins an unrealistic vision of Social Security B7 LEVIS DIU6UID Shrine to 3 and killing Bonds sold for speedway Kansas International Speedway Corp worked to resolve lawsuits by property owners displaced from the 1250-acre track site in western Wyandotte County caution flag has finally been lifted" said Unified Government Mayor Carol Marinovich All District Court litigation that would have blocked sale of the bonds has been settled or dismissed 'said Cason Boudreau deputy counsel for the Unified Government Under Kansas law sale of the revenue bonds was prohibited as long as legal action was pending in the trial courts Construction will proceed at full Action completes financing for track in Wyandotte County By STEVE NICELY and JOHN DAUNER The Kansas City Star The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City Kan wrapped up financing for the Kansas International Speedway on Friday by selling $956 million in revenue bonds on the New York bond market The bond sale had been delayed since last spring while the Unified Government and the developer See KCK B-2 KEITH MYERSThe Kansas City Star not a museum dedicated to mining the basement of Donald home in Overland Park For years Rogers has scoured antique shops and auctions for old mine equipment Case against Amoco begins Childhood nostalgia spurs mine research i STAR JOURNAL Families sued over pollution under their land made their property worthless asked for millions of dollars in damages Amoco attorneys quickly seized upon their opponents' suggestion wouldn't be here ifit wasn't for punitive damages" said Tom Ryan an attorney for Amoco which until 1982 operated the refinery in Sugar Creek While the plaintiffs' goal is to win millions of dollars in punitive damages Ryan said his company will fight any suggestion of a punitive award because it suggests it acted willfully md carelessly in disregard of its neighbors Donald Rogers grew up in a house very different from the large and comfortable one he currently occupies in Overland Park Rogers 66 spent his child-hoodin a tiny frame house in a now-vanished mining town known as Coal Camp No 2 near Camden in Rav County Mo father was a miner" said Rogers a retired corporate executive grew up among coal miners" And that is important For it is not his own accomplishments that Rogers dwells on now but rather the lost world of his childhood a world he has BY JOE POPPER painstakingly re-created in the finished basement He has filled that space with mining tools and artifacts carefully chosen and researched and in the process he has made fascinating discoveries about local history His unusual collection also has brought back old memories and with them the small mysteries that haunt every childhood By MICHAEL MANSUR The Kansas City Star Opening arguments Friday in a lawsuit over pollution from the former Amoco refinery focused a lot on the chemical contamination flowing from the site But the beginning of the Jackson County Court trial also focused on money Attorneys for two families near the site who say its pollution has Photo courtesy of the Ray County Museum Union miners in 1900 took part in a Labor Day parade in Kansas City This photo prompted Donald Rogers to look for information about a Kansas City coal mine that was operating at the time Favoritism once more lifts its head On TUesday I spend a lot at time at the University of MisaouriKansas City at the 1996-99 Stan Symposium-rye done it before The annual forums which are sponsored by the UMBC Women's Center and Women's Council offer priceless Lnsight on women and families This symposium is Privilege and Prejudice: Expressions of the Impact on Women and Their An will be the medium UMKC students use to convey how ills punish females and children more thap males From 1 to 4 pm Pierson Audi torium will become an art gallery English theater art and music students will perform afterward with plays poetry readings and compositions Judith Francisca Baca founder of the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Los Angeles will speak on art as a tool for social change But the symposium will take place amid ongoing national efforts to end affirmative action Affirmative action was established to give women and minorities education contract and job opportunities that previously went to white males only Back-pedaling to the good old days of favoritism seems to be in vogue again A bill in the Missouri General Assembly would gut state affirmative action programs In November Washington state voters followed California in killing affirmative action Without these programs poverty privileges and prejudice will work more forcefully against women and minorities The action in Washington state maybe the start of a national trend Wade Henderson told a fall conference of the Trotter Group of black columnists at Stanford University Michigan Nebraska and Florida could be next Henderson a civil rights lobbyist said he did not understand why white women who are affirmative action's chief beneficiaries helped vote it down in Washington state Henderson blamed the defeat on the ballot wording Supporters wanted: "Do you want to end the use of affirmative action for women and minorities?" Polls showed most voters favored affirmative action Opponents however got their way: government entities be prohibited from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to individuals or groups based on race sex color ethnicity or national origin?" Henderson said white women took the larger view fearing their husbands sons nephews and grandsons were in jeopardy of "preferential treatment" against white males I wonder whether the question will surface at the Stan Symposium particularly now that women outnumber men at colleges and universities US Department of Education statistics show 84 million women and 67 million men were enrolled in college in 1996 By 2007 the college gender gap will widen to 92 million women and 69 million men On June 10 1997 1 wrote a column on the academic trend of females outshining males The rub is that without higher education males will have fewer opportunities to get good jobs That could accelerate a gender power shift and result in more conflicts The New York Times reported last month that the new gender imbalance is causing colleges to ease admission standards for males and redesign recruitment efforts to be more That's affirmative action from the good old days of favoritism Such throwbacks probably will keep women and minorities talking about poverty privilege and prejudice well into the new See COAL B-2 See LAWSUIT B-2 Slayer of neighbor sentenced to mental hospital By IOE LAMBE The Kansas City Star into a house called police and went outside with a baseball bat They saw neighbor Katheryn Koenig who lived with Rottinghaus run out bleeding Rottinghaus ran out with a butcher knife and stabbed Campbell Raimo and Koenig fought Rottinghaus and subdued him Defense attorney James Mc-Muilin reminded the judge that Rottinghaus broke into other houses and shattered furniture before he attacked Koenig in their house and destroyed their own belongings had even thrown her piano out on the street" McMullin said was totally out of it" Patricia Campbell successfully requested that her statement be put in Rottinghaus' file to be there whenever he asks for release the court attacking the legal designation NGRI Guilty by Reason of Insanity" not sure whether this hypocritical acronym applies to the murderer or the system that won't prosecute she wrote is a farce and does nothing to ease the pain of losing my husband and my father" Rottinghaus who suffers from bipolar disorder testified that he was mentally incompetent when he killed but is no longer Amy McGowan assistant county prosecutor told the judge what happened that day: Daniel Campbell was at home in the 400 block of East 66th Street with his wife two sons and Michael Raima They saw someone breaking are my rights when I'm told this killer is not going to be held accountable for his actions?" the statement asks are my rights for the protection of my life and my children when he is to4e turned over to the Department of Mental Health who has no interest in my family?" McMullin said outside the courtroom that he understood the anguish of the many Campbell family members at the hearing But his client has suffered from mental illness since 1976 he said and ran out of medication before the attack Several mental experts agreed that Rottinghaus had been insane and that the law was dear what had to be done McMullin said judge had no he said A Kansas City man who stabbed a good Samaritan to death was sentenced Friday to indefinite confinement in a state mental hospital Mark Rottinghaus 49 pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Rottinghaus was charged with second-degree murder two counts of assault and three counts of armed criminal action for the killing of Daniel Campbell 53 on Nov 18 1997 Jackson County Judge Thomas Newton cited two mental studies that found Rottinghaus was insane when he killed Campbell Patricia Campbell the widow submitted a statement to Mark Rottinghaus Pie anyone? books (Sorry no pies for eating however) Parents are encouraged to come with their children generally a fun family said Alicia Ahhers one of the librarians The activities begin at 1:30 pm in the children's room on the first floor of the Main library 311 12th St RasheedaCmytonThe Star There are some holidays that just be ignored Such is the case with National Pie Day which is today fit celebration the Kansas City Public library children room will offer a variety of pie-related activities Children up to age 13 will get to make life-sized pie sculptures learn pie recipes and read pie PS No verdicts A federal jury considering the bribery embezzlement and tax fraud case against former Jackson County Legislator James Tindall on Friday finished its fourth day of deliberations without verdicts Jurors chose not to come in today They will return Monday to continue Under questioning from US District Judge Dean Whipple the foreman said the panel was making progress on the nine felony counts but needed more time On Wednesday afternoon jurors sent out a note saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict and asked for direction from the judge He toki them to keep deliberating The trial in US District Court will enter its 13th day Monday Mark MorrisThe Star Defendant arrested DASON BENNETT The Kansas City Star Getting ready Last week a federal grand jury indicted Roland and two other men brothers James Whitney 24 and Anthony Whitney 20 of Kansas City Kan on charges of conspiring to intimidate attempting to intimidate a black family who lived in the Argentine area at re Kansas uty Kaa The Whitneys appeared as ordered Thursday and were released an S2000 signature bonds John DatmerfThe Star A defendant who failed to appear in federal court Thursday for a cross-burning case was arrested about noon Friday by FBI agents at a Kansas City Kan trailer park Raymond Roland 29 was taken before US Magistrate Gerald Rushfelt in Kansas City Kan and ordered held at least until a bond hearing Tuesday FBI Special Agent Jeff Lanza said agents found Roland under a bed in the trailer home of a friend in the 1000 block of Ruby Avenue Cindy Araiza and other volunteers spent Friday morning at the Center for International Studies setting up a bazaar to raise money to send 25 students to China and Russia The event will be open from 8 ajn to 5 pun today at the canter 8649 Lamar Ave Mission 1 1.