thursday, march 11, 2004
news
the university daily kansan 7A
Homesteaders settle in rural Kansas
The Associated Press
MARQUETTE — Without the promise of free land, Dean and Jennifer Krehbiel probably wouldn't have thought about building a home in this small rural town.
But the building lot was there for the asking, thanks to an idea for repopulating rural towns that borrows from the homesteading days of the 1800s when settlers by the scores came to the Great Plains with the promise of free land.
land.
"It was enough of a bonus to allow us to look at the option of building. It sure caught our interest," said Dean Krehbiel, who was looking for a small town near his work 30 miles east in Salina.
Moving from Butler County
near the Wichita area, the family is where they want to be, and their two children are going to the local grade school. It makes Marquette mayor Steve Piper a happy man.
major steer "In a small community, you have to keep the school system. Every child you bring in is more money for the schools. The schools are the backbone of the community," said Piper, who's a third generation grocer in this town of about 600 people.
Many Great Plains towns are struggling to stay alive in the face of dwindling population and a diminishing tax base. Young people leave, old people die and there's little to attract newcomers. Storefronts slowly become rusting, rotting ghosts.
Marquette is among at least 10
Kansas communities offering free land to attract residents to boost school enrollment and fatten the tax base. Most started in the past year or two so it's too soon to measure long-term success.
Success,however,depends on what else they can offer.
else they can offer.
"If the town doesn't have much to offer in the first place — pretty much the definition of a declining town — this approach is unlikely to make any difference. It sounds like a desperation move: 'Please, pretty please come live in our town,' said Frank Popper, Rutgers University urban studies professor.
Popper, who spent years studying Plains population decline, said similar programs have been tried in North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota.
"But I haven't heard that there have been many takers or noticeable results," Popper said.
able results, Popper said. Carol Gould, director of the Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives at Kansas State University, said a town also had to offer jobs locally or nearby, along with electricity, water, sewers and high-speed Internet access.
speed limit
Marquette has a couple of things other rural towns don't. It's less than an hour's drive from three large cities — Salina, Hutchinson and Wichita.
"We have tried bringing jobs to this town, but you might as well bang your head against a brick wall," Piper said. "We decided it was better to bring in the families and let them work in the surrounding communities."
Sniper's accomplice gets life in prison
The Associated Press
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Lee Boyd Malvo, the man who teamed up with John Allen Muhammad to terrorize the Washington area in a sniper spree that left 10 people dead, was formally sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole.
in prison without parole. Malvo, 19, was sentenced a day after Muhammad was given the death penalty by a judge in nearby Prince William County. The judge in Muhammad's case could have reduced the sentence to life in prison, but in Malvo's case, the judge had no other option than life without parole.
the without paired
Malvo did not speak during the
10-minute hearing, following the
advice of his lawyers.
advice or his lawyers. Prosecutor Paul Ebert, who led the case against Muhammad and is next in line to try Malvo, said he would wait until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether juveniles may be executed. A decision is expected next year.
Malvo was 17 when he killed FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Falls Church Home Depot store.
Depot store. "If the Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is still available to juveniles, I will try Mr. Malvo and very likely seek the death penalty," Ebert said.
death penalty. Robert F. Horan Jr., who led the prosecution of Malvo, said after sentencing that he would plan to try Muhammad in the
killing of Franklin. He said the trial could take place by the end of the summer.
the summer Muhammad's attorneys are appealing his conviction in the Oct. 9, 2002, killing of Dean Harold Meyers, and Horan said another conviction would serve as a backup if the first one is reversed.
a backup in Malvo's attorneys argued during the trial that the teenager was legally insane because he was brainwashed by Muhammad, whom he considered his father. Jurors have said that while they did not believe Malvo was insane, they thought Muhammad had influenced him.
"We do not believe anyone could have observed the evidence and believed Lee Malvo would
be here except for the influence of John Muhammad," said Craig Cooley, defense lawyer.
Cooley, defense lawyer Malvo's attorney Michael Arif said after the hearing that Malvo was still in the process of realizing what he had done.
"He's cried on occasion, but hasn't yet come to appreciate the entirety of what has happened to the victims," Arif said.
the victims. And Several family members of victims expressed unhappiness with the life sentence.
the lie sentences.
"They committed the crimes together. They together should get the death penalty," said Kwang Im Szuszka, sister of Hong Im Ballenger, who was shot in Baton Rouge, La., in the weeks before the Washington sniper spree.
U.N. official to aid Haitian government
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Gerard Latortue, a former U.N. official chosen to lead Haiti out of political turmoil, returned from the United States yesterday to begin the arduous task of building a government. Loyalists of the former president said they wouldn't accept him.
n't accept him.
His arrival came as the U.S. military announced an escalation in its mission in the Caribbean nation, promising Marines will move quickly to stop Haitian against-Haitian violence.
against-Thailand History Once critical of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
Latortue has said his first priority will be to unite a population divided between those who oppose the former leader and supporters who want to see him returned to power.
Aristide fled Feb. 29 amid international pressure to step down and a bloody rebellion that left more than 300 dead. The once popular slum priest, elected on promises to champion the poor, lost support as Haitians accused his government of corruption and attacks against his political opponents.
In the Central African Republic, Aristide still maintained he was the legitimate leader of Haiti
and that U.S. officials forced him from office. Yesterday, his lawyers said they were preparing cases accusing authorities in the United States and France of abducting him and forcing him into exile.
U. S. officials have denied they forced Aristide from office, saying they helped him escape Haiti with his life as rebels advanced on the capital.
Many Aristide supporters were angry over Tuesday's decision by the U.S.-backed advisory council to name Lautortue prime minister.
The 69-year-old Latortue is a former foreign minister and spent part of his career with the U.N Industrial Development Organi
ation in Africa. He had also worked as an international business consultant in Miami.
ness consistent with the nation. Lautorte said his first priority is to unite the nation, a difficult task as both rebels and Aristide militants threaten more conflict if improvements do not happen quickly enough for them.
quickly enough. Haiti's army, which ousted Aristide months after he became the nation's first freely elected president in 1990, was disbanded in 1995 after a U.S. invasion restored Aristide to power.
restored Arristue to post Lortatue and interim President Boniface Alexandre will begin organizing elections and building a new government for Haiti.
The First Regular Missionary Baptist Church Family invites you to share in the celebration of the 3rd Porsalian Anniversary of Rev. Reginald and Sister Detra Bachus on Sunday, March 14 at the 10:50 a.m.
Pastor Lemuel E. Wynn (First Baptist Church of Quindaro, Kansas City, KS) will deliver the morning message.
Voices of Faith providing music.
Afternoon service at 3:30 p.m. with Rev. C.L. Bachus (Sr.
Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Kansas City, KS).
Music by the Mt. Zion choir.
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