The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 129

INSIDE Capitol Report Craftsman Roughing it Capitol Report A Kansas gambling vote Salina artist with Missouri man often Battle in Missouri over ends up looking a little one arm is considered lives like an old-time funding for Medicaid spills backwards B-4 a master by peers B-4 outdoorsman B-5 into cyberspace B-5 STEVE KRASKE attacks turn up pressure on Kerry to pick a running mate B-2 MIRIAM PEPPER Presidential candidates differ radically in interests styles and agendas B-H THE KANSAS CITY STAB 1 wwwkansascitycom Sunday May 2 2004 Metro WATCH HATCHET BURIED School finance jam keeps session alive Kansas lawmakers to return Monday Body of Gardner man found in creek bed First glance Kansas lawmakers voted down two school finance bills sending the session into extra innings The Senate debated a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage Senators approved the measure which now goes to the House If it passes there it will be on the November ballot ators continued their sometimes passionate discussion into the early evening finally passing the measure 27-13 exactly the two- By IM SULLINGER and JOHN PETTERSON The Kamai City Star TOPEKA Kansas legislative leaders had hoped they could adjourn this session Saturday That goal evaporated Saturday afternoon when the Senate soundly rejected a $1554 million plan to fund public schools passed by the House and the House killed a $721 million package passed Friday by die Senate At the same time die Senate launched an extensive debate on banning same-sex marriages with a constitutional amendment Sen- crime So far there is no evidence that Brooks was killed because of the color of his skin the department reported No one has been charged or arrested in the Gardner death But die discovery Saturday answers at least one painful question for his family never going to be any closure for the rest of our lives" his brother Billy Brooks said at a news body in Middle Creek in a tangle of brush not far from the house where he was last seea The Linn County Sheriffs Hroois Department on Saturday determined the case was a homicide The FBI is also investigating to see whether Brooks a 23-year-old talack man was the victim of a hate By JAMES HART The Kama City Star A month ago Alonzo Brooks walked out the front door of his house in Gardner on his way to a Saturday night party outside La Cygne Kan worry 111 be bade tonight" he told Iris mother Brooks never came home On Saturday afternoon four weeks after he disappeared a search party of friends and relatives found his See BROOKS B-3 See VOTE B-2 problem with a former assistant fire chief who scattered dog feces at a newspaper office is over There is no plan for further action against Dana Marconett who recently was placed on probation for a year after a guilty plea for rubbish just wanted him to accept responsibility for his action and he did that in court so it for said Connie McCann publisher of The Journal Marconett apparently was upset that McCann frequently used her column to pick on his wife then a Belton alderwoman In March he headed to the office with dog feces wrapped in a news paper He scattered its contents across a counter That action resulted in a demotion to captain Eyobonglta GOING HOME Former Kansas City Aviation Director Russ Wldmar is returning to California where he will begin a similar job for the city of Fresno on May 17 Widmar who was Kansas aviation director for four years before being fired by City Manager Wayne Cauthen in November worked 23 years in the public and private aviation sectors in Southern California and attended college there as welL When Cauthen fired Widmar he said he wanted an aviation director with more of an entrepreneurial bent In a news release however Widmar received praise from city manager Daniel Hobbs and Mayor Alan Autry Kansas City has not filled the vacant aviation director position Mike Rice School board out of balance some say Most of NKC panel lives in Briarcliff Widmar JENNIFER HACK I he Kansas City Star to Avenida Cesar Chavez in Kansas City The Potters came to town Saturday from Clinton Mo for Cinco de Mayo celebrations By MIKE SHERRY The Kamai City Star The North Kansas City School District covers almost 90 square miles but a majority of the Board of Education members could practically form their own neighborhood associ- Fird atioa This concen- fllfflltfi trarion of power ytdllVG so to speak was Some North an underlying Kansas City theme in the School District April board dec-residents are tions and the questioning the geographic nothin? t0 balance of the a north-south di- Fhre oT vision trict Susie Vawter is one district par-live within ent ques blocks of one tions whether another the geographi- cslly homogenous board members many of whom are clustered in a southwest pocket of die district ready know what is happening in die fast-growing area north of Barry Road Philip Holloway who lost his bid for a board seat shared concerns to an extent He agreed that a more geographically diverse board was desirable but he said he was confident that current board members would consider the needs of students Wearing bright Mexican dresses Dulany Potter 4 and her 2-year-old sister Reese accompanied their grandmother Margaret Potter Mexican culture food make a lively festival Today's events Could Ralph Nader once again emerge as a Democratic spoiler in this fall's race for the White House? In mock elections throughout Kansas last week thousands of students in grades 4-12 chose President George Bush over Sea John Kerry Students cast 2164 votes for Bush and 1806 votes for Kerry Ralph Nader an Independent got 529 votes while Rep Dennis Ku-cinfch got 188 Add the Nader votes to those for Kerry and you have a Democrat in the White House kids like said Hal Jehle a social studies resource specialist with the Shawnee Mission School District and statewide coordinator for the National Stu-dentParent Mock Electioa Finn Bullers The Guadalupe Cinco de Mayo festivities continue today with a Mariachi Mass and community breakfast starting at 8 am The carnival and fiesta will begin about noon outside the Guadalupe Center at 1015 Avenida Cesar Chavez in Kansas City pect to serve more than 1000 people during the two-day event Just down die block on die Avenida Cesar Chavez in Kansas City Cinco de Mayo celebrations were in full swing Music played as people browsed the rows of stands where food T-shirts and souvenirs were sold Cinco de Mayo is a family-focused event said Bernardo Ramirez associate director of the center also a fund-raiser He said he expected about 3000 By MAGGIE HESSEL-MIAL The Kama City Star It took 200 pounds of ground beef 200 dozen tortillas 60 pounds of cheese and coundess time-honored recipes passed down from generation to generation Those were just a few of die ingredients needed to create the feast served Saturday in the basement of Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine Volunteers sold everything from rice ami beans to tacos and Margie Rodriguez treasurer of the Guadalupana Society which raises money for upkeep of the shrine was proud of their work The volunteers began cooking at 4 am Saturday after working late the night before Volunteers ex bunitos in honor of Cinco de Mayo and in conjunction with the Guadalupe fiesta this weekend The volunteers worked side by side for hours preparing tacos and enchiladas stirring sauces and rolling flour tortillas See FIESTA B-2 See BOARD B-2 Canny turkeys are suddenly silent as hunters prowl the woods 1 Kansas City VWHWl 3 Grandview ii 5 Independence against trees picking off ticks and frequently napping More time is spent at the tables of cafes on whose bulletin boards appear photographs of other men holding what appear to be gobblers though obviously the firing are not real They are inflatable In our favorite country restaurant the other day our waitress was a pretty spirited young woman in her Os I'd guess She mid-20s I'd guess A couple of days later we were at the same restaurant and saw her again This time she could not altogether hide her concern just learned his unit was sent today to Najaf" she told us She wore a brave face but behind her smile you could tell there was a world of wony Because Najaf is distinctly not a nice place There was Mtde we could do except wish her and her fellow the luck that by rights the young ought to be due And she thanked us for that But it put our weeks in the woods hi dear perspective In case let ourselves forget it we were lucky to be friends together abroad in pretty country in a sweet season And suddenly it seemed that getting a turkey so important after afl am gulped down a cup of bitter coffee and crept into the woods the stillness was tomblike No turkeys were there Or gone mute The day after that it rained a torrent and the next one it rained some more There followed then a day of sun and after that more rain and wind Word-of-mouth reports in the neighboihood indicated gobblers had been sighted and some actually slain But even ff true it was a result of pure luck and had nodring to do with the skill of the pursuers As they say even a blind pig can occasionally find the acorn As for the others of us time passed slowly Comradely banter sputtered away into silence Ccn-versations became monosyllabic And that was just ibe first week Three weeks scarcely can be imag The Missouri wild turkey season enters its third and final week tomorrow and the woodlands of this state are frill of haggard and broken men Men and women I should say For pursuit erf the canny gobbler is an equal-opportunity torment I say that from hmd experience since I am among the haggard and broken And oftai the turkey wins Out scouting just at first light on the day before the opening! was met by a raucous din of gobbling in the valley where I intended to hunt the following morning Five histy or possihly as many as filled the dawn with their racket I was swollen with confidence But the intelligence turned out to be flawed as intelligence so often is The next day when I rose at 430 10 sets in go through the morions stumbling a picture erf a young man pinned to her blouse One of our group asked about it my she said Iraq He was in Baghdad but I know where he snow When he was back on leave he proposed And she showed us her ring was supposed to be coming home He's been attended though ined The second week the one ending today is when outright futihtv usually Hunters still into die woods Hke driven creatures They longer believe that such thing as a tom turkey actually Less and less time is spent sitting But it has become an exEirise without meaning no a tfaaatanyd exists.