The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 69

KANSAS CITY AND THE AREA METROPOLITAN THE KANSAS CITY UL Thursday August 22 2002 wwwkansascitycomnews Bistate II lingers Dog death Johnson County may have to put Men plead not guilty to shooting original plan in the ballot B-4 and stabbing of animal B-2 Laura Scott One aching back leads to the discovery of family vision problems B-7 MAST criticizes response times KC aims to suppress West Nile exposure KC man convicted of murder Daniel Jones also faces trial in another slaying Officials to treat wet areas with larvicide According to a letter authorized by the MAST board of trustees MAST considers Emergency Providers in default of its contract If response times do not improve by the end of September the letter says further action will be taken For example MAST could take over operation of the ambulance service before Emergency contract expires July 1 The Kansas City response times that do not meet standards are generally north of the Missouri River and south of Gregory Boulevard "These failures by EPI to meet contractual minimum require- Problem areas are north of the river south of Gregory By KEVIN HOFFMANN The Kansas City Star Kansas ambulance service mired in financial struggles 1 turmoil is now seeing signs of nee problems Officials with Metropolitan Ambulance Services Thrst have notified Emergency Providers Inc the company that operates MAST that recent response times in Kansas City are too slow and must be improved standing water while they are still in the larval stage The goal is to reduce the number of people who will be exposed to the virus sure there will be human cases here" Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer said Wednesday "I think it's most prudent to move ahead with the Archer said the Health Department had no immediate plans to Nile virus The efforts to control mosquitoes grew more urgent this week as the number of dead crows a key indicator of how prevalent the virus has become shot up in some parts of the city The city Health Department plans to spend about $30000 to buy chemicals to kill mosquitoes in By ALAN BAVLEY and TANYANIKA SAMUELS The Kama City Star Workers from Kansas City's Parks and Recreation and Public Works departments soon will be fanning across the city visiting parks and city neighborhoods to kill mosquitoes before they can spread West See MAST B-2 See VIRUS B-3 Firefighting finery 5 Generics an issue in dilution lawsuits 1 By JOE LAMBE The Kanaa City Star The evidence against Dapiel Jones was scant but strong: His bloody fingerprint and bloody palm print were found in the home of a murdered woman It was enough to persuade Jack-son County jurors to convict the Kansas City man of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Candriea White 18 of Kansas City Jurors deliberated less than an hour Wednesday The only possible sentence is life without parole The verdict may lead to Jackson first death penalty trial based almost solely on DNA evidence Jones is also charged with murder in the death of another woman and prosecutors must de-cide whether to seek the death penalty in that case conviction Wednesday I would be a required aggravating factor for the death penalty in the other case Assistant Prosecutor Tim Dollar said prosecutors would consider whether to file a charge of first-degree murder and seek the death penalty in the Aug 16 1999 stabbing of Roxanne Colley 21 Last year Jones was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in her death The charges in the Colley case arose from evidence uncovered in the murder that Jones was convicted of on Wednesday Authorities collected DNA from him after he was charged with the March 6 2001 murder ofWhite DNA from semen found in body matched that of Jones according to court records Police listed no other evidence in the case Both Kansas City women were stabbed to death in their homes after Jones was released on parole in 1996 for a 1988 conviction of raping a Raytown South High School teacher on the last day of classes In closing arguments at trial Wednesday Dollar reminded jurors of evidence that killer had chased her from room to room and cut her repeatedly until she fell and bled to death two young children were there when their mother was attacked and saw her die of 14 stab wounds Jones got rid of the bloody dothes the knife and all other evidence before his arrest two days later Dollar said But he made one mistake Dollar said: blood on the wall and his prints in Defense lawyer Horton Lance reminded jurors of the testimony of two of family members who said he was with diem that afternoon Lance attacked the credibility of fingerprints called sdentists arrogant and noted things prosecutors did not have an eyewitness a confession a murder weapon a motive The mother Stephanie White said after the verdict that it was important to her and to her daughter's two young children "Whatever you do in this she said held 1b reach Joe Lambe Jackson County courts reporter call (816) 234-4314 or send e-mail to flambeQkatarcom By DAN MARGOLIES The Kama City Star Whether pharmacist Robert Courtney supplied an oncologist with generic cancer drugs has become a major issue in lawsuits seeking to hold two drug companies liable for his drug dilution scheme The issue arose at a hearing Wednesday in connection with Bristol-Myers Squibb contention that there was no proof that its cancer drug Ihxol was used to treat one of the plaintiffs Georgia Hayes The question is significant because the company says that discrepancies in buy and sell orders for faxol could have resulted from use of the generic version of the drug Hayes and other plaintiffs say ffiat Bristol-Myers Squibb exerted great efforts to keep the generic version off the market and would have acted to prevent Courtney from supplying it The plaintiffs contend that Bristol-Myers Squibb knew Courtney was diluting Tfaool and not using generic drugs At stake Wednesday was the request to take the depositions of Bristol-Myers Squibb officials concerning die alleged efforts to keep generic Taxol off the market Attorneys for the company opposed the request saying the information was irrelevant have evidence in the record that in fact Courtney was buying generic Taxol from several different sources and was using that instead of the branded is City Star Hall About 200 vehicles will be on display this weekend during Fire Rescue International 2002 the annual convention of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Story B-8 A convoy of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles with an assist from a Kansas City police officer made its way along the 12th Street exit from northbound Interstate 35 Wednesday morning en route to Battle Defeated bond issue could return for November vote Under the new proposal the Greater Downtown Development Authority would give the advisory committee recommendations on how to use the bond money allocated for downtown The committee would then make recommendations to foe City Council As under the first proposal the advisory committee would continue to make recommendations on the neighborhood improvements money ture improvements The remainder nearly $16 million would pay for downtown improvements including parking garages landscaping and street improvements and be aimed at jump-starting economic revitalization of downtown An issue that opponents seized on in the election was that a new group called the Greater Downtown Development Authority would recommend the downtown projects rather than the long-established Public Improvements Advisory Committee the revised bond issue be placed on the November ballot The measure needs approval from the full council today The original bond issue was 27556 in favor and 21062 against or 56 percent to 44 percent It failed because it fell 225 votes of the required 571 percent approval for passage Election officials are conducting a re-count this week The bond issue calls for $19 million or 55 percent of the bond money to be allocated for various street bridge sewer and infrastruc By MIKE RICE The Kama City Star The $35 million bond issue for capital improvements that Kansas City voters narrowly rejected eariier this month could reappear on the Nov 5 ballot But this time a citizens advisory committee will have a say over how the money for downtown improvements would be allocated The City Council's Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday recommended by a 3-1 vote that See LAWSUITS B-2 See BOND B-2 Enrollment increases at UMKC Enrollment is up again this year at the University of Missouri-Kansas City officials reported Wednesday the first day of the new school year UMKC spokeswoman Michelle Hopkins said 11088 students signed up for classes up from 10272 on the first day last year and 10016 the year before that Enrollment grew among returning students transfer students and Serving solo usually have friends out here with me but all left for school" Kyle Palmer said Wednesday at the tennis courts at Santa Fe Park in Independence He heads back to school this week for his sophomore year at the University of Missouri -Columbia WHITNEY CUHTIS Hie Kansas City Star new graduate students she said Also enrollment by students from the Kansas counties of Johnson Wyandotte Miami and Leavenworth is up 26 percent Officials said that jump might be the result in part of a new policy allowing students from those counties to pay Missouri resident tuition rates Lynn Fnmeyflhe Star iH A happy ending Showcase schools The Blue Valley School District is one of about 20 other schools or districts nationwide designated as Sprint Showcase Schools As part of the program former US secretary of education William Bennett will visit Blue Valley North High School on Sept 24 The district has worked with Sprint to install a fiber-optic network and add phones to each classroom with the lines running over the computer network said Bob Moore executive director of information technology services The district will serve as a site for Sprint to show other schools how technology can aid education Mill Valley High School in the De Soto School District previously was named a Showcase School BARBARA SHELLY Chalk up one for seat belts and child car seats A sport-utility vehicle flipped several times in a wreck Wednesday afternoon at US 69 and 151st Street in Overland Park but because the occupants were properly restrained their only injuries were a few minor cuts About 120 pun police said a 27-year-old nanny driving a Land Rover Discovery south on 69 swerved to avoid debris that had faBen from a truck A trail of toys and shards of glass made the wreck nous said Jeff Johnson for Johnson County Med-Act Because the 1 was wearing a seat belt young girls in her care safely seats Johnson said caper! serious injury and foe two louisbuig ages 2 and 5 months at St I uke's South I column is to return August 29.