The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 13

FRIDAY THE SALINA JOURNAL Great Plains A LOOK AHEAD B2 DEATHS B3 ALMANAC B4 BRIEFLY Mother of slain boy pleads in drug case OSKALOOSA The mother of an Oskaloosa teen-ager shot to death in February while smoking marijuana with friends Has pleaded guilty to contributing to her son's misconduct. Patricia Back, 39, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and the misconduct charge. Back's son, 13-year-old Dakota "Cody" Wesley Back, was shot to death Feb. 27 while smoking marijuana with friends at his home. Assistant Jefferson County Attorney Vic Braden said the cpmplaint on the misconduct charge "read that she willfully caused or encouraged Dakota Back to commit the misdemeanor act of possession of drug paraphernalia." Son pleads to killing father in 1986 PIERCE, Neb.

A man charged with first-degree murder in the death of his father on the family farm more than 13 years ago pleaded guilty to manslaughter Thursday. Investigators had ruled the death an accident, but Steven Nuesch, 43, was charged in December after statements he made first to family members, then to authorities, Pierce County Attorney Verlyn Luebbe said. In the plea agreement, Nuesch waived defense of the three-year statute of limitations for manslaughter. Luebbe said Nuesch told District Judge Richard Garden that he killed his father, Minrod, on Aug. 7,1986, by putting his father's pickup truck into reverse or neutral, causing it to run over his dad, who was working near the truck's tailgate.

His father had multiple sclerosis and used a walker. Luebbe said Nuesch told Garden that he had become concerned about some remarks his father had been making about another member of the family. Nuesch could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine, Luebbe said. Sentencing was set for June 6. House panel studies abandoned baby bill TOPEKA Legislation allowing a parent to legally abandon a newborn was considered by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.

It earned a favorable response from its chairman. Under the bill, any newborn up to 45 days old could be dropped off at a medical care facility, fire station or health department. The child then would be turned over to local la'w enforcement officials. After the hearing Thursday, Chairman Tony Powell said he hopes the panel will vote next week on the Senate-passed bill. "For the most part, it's a good bill," said Powell, R-Wichita.

"It's a sad commentary on our society that we need this bill." Parents dropping off a newborn at designated sites wouldn't be charged with child abandonment if the infant were unharmed. But they could be charged with child abuse if the infant were harmed. From Wire Service Reports BY GEORGE CAMPAIGN 2000: SALINE COUNTY COMMISSION Official denies Frick inspired study Candidate claims lawsuit threat led to inspections task force By NATE JENKINS Tlte Snlina fournal Salina businessman Ben Prick's claim that his threat to sue the city for $23 million was the impetus for forming a task force to probe conflicts between contractors and the city is without merit, City Manager Dennis Kissinger said Thursday. Frick, 120 Overhill, filed Monday for the sixth time for a seat on the Saline County Commission. The 63-year-old Democrat's previous five attempts have failed, as has a run for the Salina City Commission.

Frick owns various rental properties and businesses in Salina, including Concrete Supply, 1332 W. North, and The Phoenix, a former hotel at 100 N. Fifth, with his wife, LaVelle. Frick is seeking the 2nd District seat held by Commission Chairman Dean Allen, who's not said whether he plans to seek re-election. In an interview Tuesday with the Journal, Frick claimed the threatened lawsuit spurred formation of the task force, a joint effort between the city and the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.

"That's not correct from my standpoint," said Kissinger. He said the topic never was raised between him and Gerald Cook, chamber president, during discussions between the two FRICK KISSINGER about forming the task force. "The claim wasn't discussed," Kissinger said. "There wasn't one peep of discussion." Cook was unavailable for comment. Prick's response to Kissinger's statement? "They must be smoking some of the stuff they are picking up on these meth (methampheta- mine) raids," Frick said.

"They never did it until after we filed our paperwork." Corner crash TOM OORSEY The Salina Journal Bria Breault, 23,1933 S. Ninth No. 3, reacts as she looks over the damage to her car following a crash at 3:26 p.m. Thursday at Ohio and Crawford. Police reported that the van turned in front of Breault and she struck It In the side.

No one was seriously Injured In the crash. Frick asked to be on the task force but was turned down. The chamber chose half and the city the remainder of the 10- member task force. He attended every meeting but one over the several months the task force met and listened to a recording of the one he missed. Frick was sent a copy of the survey that was the basis for many of the task force's recommendations.

He filled out a card in the survey requesting an interview. "We were never interviewed," Frick said. He said it was unfair that there wasn't a public forum to allow contractors and others to speak to the task force. Former Mayor Steve Ryan, chairman of the task force, said he "found it hard to be- POLICE SHOOTING lieve" that any one person caused formation of the panel. "Anybody that has been on the (city) commission for the last 10 years" would know that something needed to be done to smooth the relationship between contractors and the others, Ryan said.

Kissinger has vowed that the task force's recommendations will be heeded. Administrative changes and work to rectify any problems with city staff and their dealings with the construction industry, he said last month, already have begun. While Kissinger is taking seriously the threatened lawsuit, Frick said he only has sent the city a letter of intent to file a lawsuit. See FRICK, Page B2 Attorney says woman meant to kill herself Prosecutor says she tried to kill officers with gun, fireworks By AMY SULLIVAN Tlie Salina Journal A Salina woman accused of trying to kill two Salina police officers was trying to kill only herself, her attorney said Thursday. The prosecution and defense agreed in opening statements on the first day of Lisa Graham's attempted murder trial in Saline County District Court on most of what happened Sept.

30 at her home at 853 Merrill. Graham, 44, was contemplating suicide, and when Salina police officers went to check on her they waited outside for 30 minutes trying to contact her by telephone. They entered through the only unlocked window, and she was standing at the top of the basement stairs lighting a cluster of Roman candles. She fired them into her gasoline-soaked home. Officer John Krenowicz and Russ Lamer, a lieutenant, were inside.

The officers got out of the house by the front door and returned with fire extinguishers to battle the blaze. As Lamer tackled Graham and took her to the ground, she fired a shot from her handgun. The bullet lodged in the ceiling. A note pinned to Graham's back said that funeral arrangements had been made, and she wanted to donate her kidneys. But the prosecution and defense don't agree on Graham's intentions.

Assistant County Attorney Tom Stanton told the jury Thursday that Graham intended to kill the officers because they had a warrant for her arrest and she feared jail. "She was going out in a blaze "On September 30, 1999, Lisa Graham was having a bad day." Mitch Christians attorney for Lisa Graham of glory and taking the police officers with her," Stanton said. Mitch Christians of the Salina Regional Public Defender's Office said Graham wanted to scare off the officers so she could kill herself and burn down her house. "On September 30, 1999, Lisa Graham was having a bad day," Christians said. At her job, Graham dealt with "difficult customers," and her whole family was against her.

Earlier that week, Graham had been convicted of making threats against her sister on Halloween 1998, and battery, criminal damage and trespassing for kicking in her sister's door and kicking her sister. She poured gasoline on the carpet because she wanted to destroy the house and leave nothing for her family to inherit. She didn't intend to kill the officers in the fire, Christians said. "Lisa Graham will tell you she fired up the Roman candles to scare the officers out," he said. "She didn't want them there because she wanted to kill herself." The shot Graham fired, he said, wasn't intended for the officers.

Graham was attempting to shoot herself in the chin as Lamer tackled her, Christians said. Reporter Amy Sullivan can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 125, or by e-mail at sjasullivantffisal journal.com. Senators side with the mighty against the weak Roberts and Brownback: Out the Bill of Rights for thee, but not for me Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, the two distinguished senators from Kansas, had two opportunities this week to oppose legislation that, in the words of a fellow Republican, "crudely reaches in and rips the heart right out of the First Amendment." The first time, both Brownback and Roberts voted to leave the Bill of Rights alone, even though the problem being addressed is corrupting our democracy to its very core. The second time, both men voted to fold, spindle and mutilate the First Amendment, even though the problem being addressed is utterly nonexistent.

The difference in the votes, on which Brownback and Roberts were far from alone, is not one of principle, but one of power. A move to limit the power of the already powerful was shot down, with help from our senators. A move to take away a desperate tool of the least powerful was nearly approved, with help from our senators. The first vote was on a proposed constitutional amendment by Sen. Fritz Hollings, that would grant Congress the power to regulate campaign spending.

Roberts, Brownback and 66 other senators said no. The second was on another proposed constitutional amendment, this one by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would grant Congress the power to ban the "desecration" of the American flag. Roberts, Brownback and 61 other senators said yes. The first measure was killed by a clear majority.

Why? Because the rich and powerful wanted it killed. GEORGE B. PYLE The Salina Journal The second fell only four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve any constitutional amendment. Why? Because only a few principled people, people who understand the Constitution, cared enough to defend the rights of all Americans to express political opinions. Sen.

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, he of the above heart-ripping quote, is at least consistent. He voted against both measures. McConnell is best known as the most vocal opponent of anything that can be called campaign finance reform. He says it is a violation of free speech rights for the government to tell any person that he or she cannot spend any amount of money to influence either the electorate or the government. His accompanying opposition to the flag desecration amendment does more than anything else to indicate that McConnell acts on principle, rather than on fear of losing the campaign gravy train.

Hollings agreed with McConnell, sort of. The point of Hollings' amendment is that most of the campaign finance reform bills that get talked about are phony, a phony opportunity for politicians to claim to have voted for reform, because everyone knows that, even if the laws pass, the courts will throw them out as running counter to the First Amendment. Attempts to outlaw flag desecration, of course, also get thrown out by the courts, because such legislation clearly violates any concept of free expression. That's why a constitutional amendment keeps rearing its ugly head, why it easily passes the raucous House and barely loses in the more deliberative Senate every couple of years. What Brownback, Roberts and so many of their fellow senators have done is attempt to take from other people the right to so something that senators never want to do anyway burn a flag while preserving the right of their rich friends to do something that most people can't afford to do anyway buy a congressman.

Clearly, flag-burning is no threat to our democracy. It almost never happens, and when it does it wins the burner no friends, no converts. Certainly, it is no call to amend our basic charter of government. It would use the Constitution, for the only time other than Prohibition, to expand the power of the government and shrink the power of the individual. And, clearly, big campaign spending is a threat to our democracy.

Every day it gives people who already have most of the wealth and power an almost exclusive access to those who make and enforce our laws. A constitutional amendment seems drastic even for that problem. But it would help if Sen. Roberts and Sen. Brownback would at least recognize that the epidemic corruption of government is a problem, while the rare burning of a flag is not.

Columnist George B. Pyle can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 101, or by e- mait at gpyledysaljournal.com. SUGGESTIONS? CALL BEN WEARING, DEPUTY EDITOR, AT 823-6363 OR 1-600-627-6363 OR E-MAIL AT.