FRIDAY. DECEMBER 3. 2004
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3A
The Associated Press
The body of Shirley Vian is carried from her house in 1977 in Wichita after being murdered by serial killer BTK. Authorities are testing the DNA of an arrested man to see if he has any connection to the 1970s killings.
Police say no arrest made in BTK killings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA — Police insisted yesterday afternoon they have not made an arrest in the BTK serial killings case. Police chief Norman Williams called the speculation about an arrest a "travesty."
"We have not, I repeat, we have not, made an arrest in connection to BTK." Williams told reporters yesterday afternoon.
Williams did not take any questions from reporters, and his statement to the media did not directly address the arrest of a man taken into custody Wednesday night on minor trespassing and housing code violations.
"It is a travesty when you look at the impact on a neighborhood because of the fact that people assume the Wichita Police Department was making an arrest in regards to BTK," Williams said.
Earlier yesterday, state police said authorities were testing a man's DNA to see if he had any connection with the BTK serial killings that terrorized the city in the 1970s. Since the 1980s, police have tested hundreds of samples of blood and DNA in the case. authorities noted.
Earlier yesterday, Wichita police spokeswoman Janet Johnson said investigators had received thousands of tips in the case. If people named in the tips have outstanding warrants, they were picked up, she said. That's what happened Wednesday night, when the man was arrested, she said.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation spokesman Kyle Smith also cautioned yesterday that the man may not have anything to do with the case.
Wichita police declined to confirm whether they had received yet the results of the
man's DNA testing.
"DNA has been a godsend for the investigation," Smith said. "It allows us to eliminate people quickly."
Smith said BTK investigators had taken mouth swabs of a number of suspects, sometimes after arrests unrelated to the murder investigation. New techniques now allow DNA results within 12 hours, he said.
The man was picked up for an outstanding warrant related to a
criminal trespassing warrant was related to domestic violence, according to the jail booking log. Police declined to release any additional details.
The killer — known by the self-coined nickname BTK, which stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" — is linked to eight unsolved homicides between 1974 and 1986. After years of silence, the killer surfaced in messages earlier this year.
State regulators say minors get cigarettes too easily
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — Minors are finding it far too easy to get their hands on a pack of cigarettes in Kansas, so state regulators said stricter enforcement — and stiffer penalties — are needed.
Tom Groneman, director of the Kansas Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said yesterday that compliance with a state law prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors had fallen to 62 percent in 2004 from 80 percent in 2003.
The 80 percent threshold is important financially.
Kansas must maintain that level as part of two federal health and tobacco acts and the 1998 multistate settlement with national tobacco companies. Kansas expects to receive about $53 million from the settlement in the current fiscal year, with much of that money spent on children's programs.
Kansas also stands to lose $5 million in federal substance abuse prevention grants, said Mike Deines, a spokesman for the Department of Social and
Rehabilitation Services. Those funds are distributed to prevention programs statewide.
However, Deines said, the federal government could consider the state's efforts to reduce underage smoking when considering the penalty.
"We're waiting to hear what's to happen," he said. "They look at a lot of factors. It's not a sure thing that we're going to lose that $5 million."
One factor in the decreased level of compliance is that ABC has been conducting more undercover operations to monitor sales, Groneman said.
In response to the latest report, the agency is changing its fine structure.
Any retail business violating the law will be fined the maximum $1,000 per incident, and the employee making the sale will be charged with a misdemeanor carrying maximums of a $1,000 fine and one year in jail. Groneman also said local law enforcement agencies should actively pursue minors breaking the law.
Businesses licensed to sell tobacco were notified in writing about the changes in November.
House Speaker Doug Mays,
R-Topeka, said he was aware
that ABC was understaffed, but the law must be upheld, "notwithstanding if we get our tobacco money or not."
According to the most recent figures, cigarette smoking has dropped 19 percent among high school students. Julia Francisco, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the reduction was tied to prevention programs and community attitudes about smoking.
In Salina, she said, a program funded by $500,000 in federal money had raised compliance to more than 90 percent — in part by seeking greater parental involvement in curbing underage smoking.
State health officials also thought the increase in tobacco taxes in 2003 helped reduce underage smoking.
Kansas raised the tax on a package of cigarettes by 55 cents, to 79 cents a pack, to help boost state revenues. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently unveiled a $50 million health care initiative that would be funded by a 50-cent increase in cigarette taxes and raising the excise tax on tobacco products to 15 percent from the current 10 percent.
NATION
Former inmate files suit against prosecutors
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former death row inmate Joseph Amrine filed a wrongful conviction suit yesterday against prosecutors and law enforcement employees, accusing them of framing him for the murder of a fellow prison inmate.
Amrine, 48, of Kansas City, is seeking compensation that is "just and fair" for the 17 years he spent on death row before he was freed last year. When Amrine was sentenced to death
in 1986, he had between 18 months and seven years left to serve on a 15-year sentence for robbery, burglary and forgery.
"Amrine spent some of the best years of his life, from age 20 through 47, in prison," the suit filed in federal court said. "He missed out on the growth from toddler to manhood of his son, Dwayne, and the birth of four grandchildren."
The suit names as defendants employees or former employees of the Cole County prosecutor's office, the Missouri State Penitentiary, in Jefferson City and the Cole County Sheriff's Department.
Amrine was set free in July 2003 after the Cole County prosecutor said there was not, enough evidence to retry him for the stabbing death of a fellow inmate, Gary Barber.
Key testimony against Amrine came from three former inmates who later recanted.
The suit alleges the men "were promised significant benefits if they testified against Amrine; were threatened with either legal action or being placed in a dangerous situation if they did not testify against Amrine; and were coached as to the substance of their testimony."
The Associated Press
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