The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 13

If A HUH Red Tim Rogers 268-6574 or emai trogofBfiwflchitaeaglaoom IB TUESDAY MAY 6 2003 death this year He is a preventive medidne specialist and the health officer for the Sedgwick County Health Department The majority of people who are infected will never know it he said About 1 in 40 infected people will have some symptoms such as fever headache and aches and pains About 1 in 150 will require hospitalization The elderly and those with weakened WHAT YOU GAN DO Steps to help prevent West Nla 88 the United Stares in 1999 and spread westward hitting Kansas last August Last year it killed more than 240 Americans and infected thousands more It sickened mote than 14000 fakla ManSOOr I anMi senior epidemiologist et the Sedgwick County Health Department shows some of thelarvadde briquettes that wiB be used at sites where mosquitoes hatch health officials in Kansas are bracing for more human cases of the mosqui-to-transmitted virus this year And because easier to kill mosquitoes before they hatch than after Kansans are being enlisted to help now Steps including getting rid of backyard hatching sites such as standing water in swimming-pool covers and flower pots adding mosquito-eating fish to ponds and wearing long sleeves and insect repellent State and local public health officials already are getting ready with efforts ranging from education to mosquito larvae eradication West Nile virus is the mosquito-transmitted disease that arrived in Experts say the mosquito-borne virus will be more common this year but killing mosquito larvae now can help The Wichita Eagie West Nile virus will be back this with a vengeance predicts Cindy Burbach of the Sedgwick County Health Department Based on its history in states to the east where it already has made repeat appearances and on a recent Minnesota equine case that showed up two months earlier than expected immune systems are most at risk West Nue virus is carried by certain kinds of mosquitoes and is expected to peak when their populations do in late summer The Sedgwick County Health Please see WEST NILE Page SB horses In Kansas 22 human and 794 equine cases were reported Only horses and similar animals can be vaccinated against West Nile Based on West history in nL a ntnt nn UJ -1 ocner states wicnita physician uoren Fredrickson expects an increase in human cases and maybe even a Dm WSSmmIIn Wichita Eagla saf ANSWERING THECALL Sanford Alexander uses his voice to bring a 1THB notes are full of fun times from ship BOEING UNDER INVESTIGATION The US Air Force and the Department of Justice want to know i Boeing used a competitor's secrets to win a sateKfrhunching contract lnBuaines44B AREA NEWS IN BRIE Thousands ofKansans are contributing to the US war effort Here's alaokat one of than Itavto HayingTh WicMi Eagla Sanford Alexander walks down flight of stairs with his guide dog Bill at the VA Medical Center in Wichita Among his many roteSi Alexander Is the coordinator of services for visuaHy impaired Kansas veterans at the center Carter Turybury is serving overseas but he is still thinking about friends at home who may have been affected by aviation layoffs IJnda Turybury said characteristic of her thoughtful Wichitan fights for the visually impaired Shooting victim identified police look for shooter A man who died after a weekend shooting was identified Monday by police as Damien Banks 24 of Wichita Police li John Speer said detectives have a suspect in the case but have no one in custody Speer said the shooting occurred at 2:15 am Sunday at 12th and Hydraulic after a fight at the Arthur Gossett Post of the American Legion at 13th and Hydraulic Kansas Department of Corrections records show drat Banks was a parolee who was sent In prison for rriminal ptiM sion of a firearm A warrant for his arrest was issued April 22 those records show after he stopped reporting to his parole officer Tl Sanford Alexander talks on the phone from his office at the VA Medical Center Behind Mm is his guide dogBil son Petty Officer 3rd Class Carter Turybury is a storekeeper with the Nimitz Battle Group aboard die USS Fletcher He was deployed from San Diego in December FOR MORE PROFILES Goto Kansaaoom andcSckon "Onine Extras" IY KCCY TANNER The Wichita Eagle For nearly 15 years Sanford Alexander has made life easier for Kansans who are blind or who have visual impairments fo recent months through die Wichita Association for the Visually Handicapped he has helped lead discussions that could improve the election-day process for Sedgwick visually impaired voters On Wednesday Alexander was in Topeka as Gov Kathleen Sebelius signed four years in the that clarifies definitions of guide sendee and hearing dogs increases the rights of people using those dogs and strengthens the penalties for refusing access to people TMiHaykigmM Wichita Eagte Carter a 1998 graduate of Goddard High School loves all water sports also a daredevil and loves fireworks He has piloted die ship and watched Tomahawk cruise missiles launch during this in a terms have always been a person who would not walk away from a fight" he sakl This give me the ability to deal with the fights I encounteredthroughoul my school days to overcome the preju- dire by teachers who did not know how Please see EQUALITY Page IB Association fire the Visually Handicapped and a board member for Wichita Radio Reading Service Seven yean ago Alexander made news when he became die first Mind person to serve on a Sedgwick County jury His list of accomplishments surprises almost no me who knows Alexander and the 57-year-old almost always speaks an advocate fra people who are blind or visually impaired very knowledgeable about the field of blindness a role said Sandy Evans vice president of the Wichita And all he sees and hears go into his numerous e-mails brimming with reasons why he loves the Navy CMstina Woods handhelds: functional fun and games Hurst Lavlana Local Spanish newscast changes time anchors As of Monday only SpanisbJanguage local TV newscast has changed times and anchors on low-power KSMI-TV Channel 51 Wichita" which had run from 5 to on weekdays now will air from 5: 30 to 6 pm news director RJ Dickens said The change was necessary to accommodate a time change for the network newscast for Azteca America America" now airs from 5 to 5:30 pun Linda Sloan anchor since the local newscast debuted earlier this yrar made ha last appearance Wednesday She is moving to Chicago Succeeding her are co-anchors Maria Peransi who owns Essets translation service in Wichita and Everd Solano a student from Mexico who is attending Wichita State University Jose Miranda who had teamed with Stoan will continue to contribute stories and Beltran will continue to do local business stories Dickens said Kellogg Lawrence and Spaght elementary schools The Wichita district does not plan widespread purchasa of the handhelds but schoob will likely invest in them as funds become available said Jim Gaik instructional tech- and fifth-graders at Kellogg Elementary School Students use the handhelds with pretaMe keyboards as word processors to type papers and they graph data with spreadsheet programs Different quiz programs and games for die handhelds help make study- IYJUHHM The Wkhita Eagle Handheld computer organizers are helping Wkhita schoob expand their computing power for a fifth the cost of a $1200 dedetop madiine This year eight Wichita schools experimented with handhelds in the classrooms Most of die schools used Palm ml30s which is a basic model with a color screen Those schools explained some of the many uses of handhelds Monday at a year-end conference Based on those results handhelds could become common dassroom tools think of them as an extension of the desktop computers" said Dorothy Peny who teaches fouith- nology specialist for the district The students like Kellogg fifth-grader Toni Roux demonstrated how comfortable they are with handhelds by trading applications wiffi the infrared-beaming function in die hallways "Ijust really like the Palms" Roux said while beaming a billiards game to another handheld Laura Argueta a seventh-grader Please see HANDHELDS Page IB ing more fun Software is also available to convert handhelds into graphing calculators and attachments can make them digital cameras catch on quickly because these are like glorified GameBoys to Perry said The schools involved in die pilot program this year were North High Curtis Mead and Mayberry middle schools and Gardiner Wfct HutanacharBa photo North High sophomore Betty Kaapar uses portable keyboard on her handheld computer to type story for the school paper Several schools experimented with handhdds this school year and liked the results -BobCurtritft.