THURSDAY,OCTOBER31,2002
STATE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9A
Garner blasts Praeger's donations
The Associated Press
TOPEKA—Republican Sandy Praeger received more than $25,000 for her campaign for insurance commissioner from a network of Texas and Oklahoma insurance companies and their executives.
Democratic rival Jim Garner pointed to those contributions Wednesday as evidence that Praeger would be too cozy with the industry if she were elected. He noted that one of the companies was the subject of a 1999 regulatory order issued by current Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius.
Garner has made Praeger's acceptance of insurance industry contributions the major issue of their campaign. Garner has promised not to accept money from companies or individuals licensed or regulated by the Insurance Department, a pledge Sebelius made in winning two terms as commissioner.
Praeger said Garner is engaging in negative campaigning rather than talking about sub-
stative issues. The company Garner mentioned by name, MEGA Life and Health Insurance Co., headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, objected to Garner's characterization of its business.
With only six days before Tuesday's general election, Garner acknowledged that his campaign might not have enough time or money to raise the issue in television advertisements. He held a Statehouse news conference to criticize Praeger.
"I believe this is information that the people of Kansas need to know about," said Garner, minority leader in the Kansas House.
Praeger has repeatedly said that contributions from insurance companies won't influence her decisions as commissioner and pointed to her record as a chairwoman of the Senate's Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, supporting, for example, health insurance coverage mandates opposed by the industry.
"I am extremely disappointed
that, with only days remaining in this election, the House minority leader continues to run a campaign bereft of ideas and instead has been focusing on negative campaigning," she said.
A campaign finance report filed by Praeger's campaign with the secretary of state's office showed that her campaign received nearly $184,000 in contributions from July 26 through Oct. 24. The Garner campaign calculated that $60,000 — roughly a third — came from the insurance industry.
On July 26, Prueger received $25,600 MEGA; UICI, MEGA's parent company; four other affiliated companies; 12 UICI officials; one UICI official's spouse; and an attorney for MEGA.
"UCII and its employees regularly contribute to the campaigns of candidates, Republicans and Democrats alike, whose views with respect to the accessibility and affordable health care coverage are consistent with ours," said Glenn Reed, MEGA's executive vice president and general counsel.
But Garner said consumers should worry about the commissioner's office being independent of the industry.
"Who is shaking down whom in this relationship?" he said.
But Praeger spokesman John Shoemaker responded: "Campaign contributions never have equaled a quid pro quo."
He called the company "consumer challenged."
The 1999 order cited by Garner dealt with MEGA's marketing of group health insurance policies. Sebelius said the company had violated Kansas law by marketing a group plan in which the company could choose to exclude individuals or conditions from coverage.
But Reed said the group policy allowing such underwriting had previously been approved by the Insurance Department. He said the order was issued to resolve a misunderstanding.
"The employees of UICI, MEGA and all other MEGA affiliates value highly our relationships with our policyholders,"
West Nile virus detected in central Kansas dog
By Patrice Holderbach
By Patrice Hoderbach Kansas State Collegian, the student newspaper of Kansas State University, via U-Wire
MANHATTAN — An Abilene canine has been verified as the first dog to be exposed to West Nile virus in Kansas, said George Kennedy, pathologist at K-State's Veterinary Medicine diagnostic laboratory. However, this test does not prove the dog became sick as a result of West Nile, Kennedy said. Signs of the virus showed up in serum samples after
being tested at the lab two weeks ago, he said.
The greyhound originally displayed neurological signs of convulsions, poor coordination and lethargy - symptoms associated with West Nile, Kennedy said. Though researchers could not confirm whether the dog became infected by West Nile, the virus "does not appear to cause extensive illness in dogs or cats," according to the Centers for Disease Control Web site, www.cdc.gov.
Frank Jordan, veterinarian at Abilene Animal Hospital, provided care for the dog.
"I'm not convinced the symptoms we saw are related to the West Nile virus," Jordan said. "I just don't think the dog had West Nile, but it's obvious after sending the blood sample that the dog had been exposed to it."
Researchers could not definitively determine the dog's illness, Jordan said, but they knew the dog had a neurological disorder. He said the dog recovered by the time K-State received the test results.
"The dog is absolutely fine now," Jordan said.
However, he said, little research existed on West Nile for species other than birds, horses and humans.
"There's so much of this that has to be learned in other species," Jordan said. "We were surprised when this came back positive, and it certainly raised questions in our minds."
Kennedy urged the public to remember the rarity of cases in dogs and humans. He said that when immune systems are compromised or weakened, the individual becomes more susceptible.
Carr brothers' attorneys rest their cases
Jay Greeno, attorney for Reginald Carr, told the judge his client was going to exercise his right to remain silent.
WICHITA — Defense lawyers for Reginald and Jonathan Carr rested their cases Wednesday without either brother taking the stand.
The Associated Press
No witnesses testified at the trial for Jonathan Carr, and the only evidence presented in his case was documentation of a train ticket for the ride he planned to take out of Newton the day four people were shot and killed. The Carrs are accused of killing those four people and another woman.
A total of 97 witnesses have testified, including five for Reginald Carr. More than 800 pieces of evidence have been admitted.
jurors will hear about an hour of jury instructions Thursday. Then the prosecutor and each brother's defense team each has two hours for closing arguments.
Testimony Wednesday came from the defense's DNA expert, Jami Harman, of Genetic Technologies, Inc. of St. Louis. She testified about seeming discrepancies in the descriptions police investigators recorded of some of the evidence used to collect DNA samples. She also questioned the accuracy of some of the DNA profiles that contained mixed DNA samples from two or more people.
But on cross examination by Deputy District Attorney Kim
Parker, Harman acknowledged she never actually did DNA tests on some of the most incriminating evidence against Reginald Carr — the red undershorts and the shirts spotted with one victim's blood that were found in his apartment when he was arrested.
In fact, she testified, she never even opened the evidence bags containing those items.
Harman acknowledged her company, which works on civil cases such as paternity testing, is not certified as a law enforcement crime lab and does not have access to some of those databases.
The woman also told jarors she had never even seen her company's web site. She also said the company and its seven employees are based in the same rural acreage where her home is located.
Prosecutors say that on Dec. 14-15, 2000, the brothers abducted five friends from a Wichita home, forced them to engage in sexual acts and to withdraw money from ATMs before the five were shot. The two women were raped. Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26; and Heather Muller, 25, died. Befort's girlfriend, then a 25-year-old teacher, survived and ran for a mile to find help.
The Carrs also are being tried in the Dec. 11, 2000, attempted robbery and shooting of Ann Walenta, 55, who later died, and a robbery four days earlier in which Andrew Schreiber was abducted and forced to withdraw cash from ATMs.
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