6A
Thursday, February 15, 1996
NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Police officer wakes from eight-year coma
The Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — They waited almost eight years, sometimes sitting vigil at the bedside of their son, brother and father, a police officer who took a bullet in the forehead and drifted all that time in the shadows of a coma.
They never gave up hope that Gary Dockery would somehow pull through. And this week it seemed all prayers were answered when he woke up, spoke to his sister and cracked Jokes as if no time had passed.
"I looked up at him and he had a look I had never seen before," Lisa Dockery said through a hospital representative yesterday. "He seemed so at ease and his eyes were wide open.
"I'm your sister," she said. "Uh-huh," he responded.
"You're talking!" she exclaimed.
"There's not but one way to describe it," said family friend Tim Thompson. "It's a miracle of God."
But the miracle may prove an ending rather than a beginning: one last chance to say goodbye. Doctors told the family the pneumonia wracking Dockery's lungs would kill him if he did not have surgery, but anesthesia might sedate forever the last working parts of his brain.
"This isn't a success story," said his son Sean, a little dazed from the emotions of the past days and an onslaught of calls from reporters who learned yesterday of Dockery's apparent recovery. "He's very sick."
On Sept. 7, 1988, Patrol Officer Dockery answered a trouble call in Walden, Tenn., a mountain town 15 miles north of Chattanooga. He was
shot pointblank with a.22caliber derringer by a 911 caller as he stood in the caller's driveway.
The shooter,
Samuel Frank
Downey, now
68, told officers
he'd placed the
bogus call to get
back at police for
reprimanding him about
noise after
neighbors comp
laid in.
Downey was sentenced to 37 years in prison and will be eligible for parole this May.
When he awoke Monday, Dockery
All those years in a coma, Dockery communicated occasionally by blinking "yes" and "no" answers to questions. But he has no way to
remembered neither the shooting nor taking the Walden police job just three months before. He does recall his divorce, working as a security guard for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and the eight years he spent with the Lookout Mountain police.
know Ronald Reagan is no longer president. He was spared O.J. Simpson's murder trial. He has no concept of the compact disc player or the Internet. He'd likely be mystified to learn the United States had waged war against Iraq and has thousands of soldiers keeping the peace in a place that was run by Communists and called Yugoslavia when he was shot.
And now is not the time to make him current, say family members.
"That's stuff not as important as us getting to talk to him," Sean said. "It was like we got a last chance."
Never surrendering hope, his family had kept him on life support at a nursing home. Last week, seriously ill with a lung infection that had worsened to pneumonia, he was transferred to a Chattanooga hospital. His family, expecting the worst, posted someone at his bedside
On Monday, Dockery's fever broke. Without warning, he started to mumble. Then he spoke out distinctly to his sister.
around the clock.
Dennis Dockery flew back from a vacation in Nevada when he got the news about his younger brother.
"My knees started shaking and tears came when I heard my brother say, 'Hi, Buddy,'" Dennis Dockery said.
But Dockery spoke less on Tuesday and not at all on yesterday.
His family faces a dreadful choice: Let the pneumonia run its course, which doctors estimate will kill the gravelly ill Dockery within three days, or permit surgeons to operate on his weakened lungs.
Even if Dockery survives surgery, Sean said, his gunshot-damaged brain may never revive from sedation.
Woodlands track loses revenue race to riverboat gambling
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Woodlands got bad financial news this week.
The struggling horse and greyhound track has lost 73 percent of its real estate value in the past 12 months. The news came Tuesday from Wyandotte County officials.
Since then, track officials have not returned messages left by The Associated
Press. Susan Longmire, Woodlands representative, said yesterday track president Bruce Rimbo was in Topeka on business, but she declined to say if he was meeting with Kansas Racing Commission officials or state lawmakers.
Track revenue has dropped more than 50 percent, mainly because of competition from riverboat gambling in Missouri. Revenue is a factor in establishing property value.
In 1990, the Woodlands was valued at $70 million by its owners, but now is appraised at $7.5 million. Last year's appraisal was $28 million.
Woodlands officials have forecasted a $6 million loss this year if the track stayed open.
lature last week provides for a constitutional amendment to legalize electronic games of chance, such as slots and video poker, and companion legislation to implement gambling.
A proposal introduced in the Kansas Legis-
Electronic chance games are allowed only at state-licensed tracks in counties where voters approved.
largest taxpayer, forking over more than $2.7 million per year. The track now is delinquent on its 1995 taxes of $1.7 million, said Mary Ladesic, Wyandotte County treasurer.
With the $7.5 million appraisal, the track's property taxes for this year would be less than $500,000.
The Woodlands was Wyandotte County's
Half of that amount would be due in December, said Ladesic.
Sober Hawks Students Helping Students
- Substance Abuse Evaluations
* Confidential Counseling for individuals, Couples, and Groups
Multicultural Resource Center
ask for Chori on Thursdays 10a.m.-4p.m.
call 864-4350 or 843-4283
Walking the THIN line:
How students balance stress, style and food.
Being the perfect student isn't easy. Do you have high standards? For school? Your image? Your body? The pursuit to be perfect has a price. Emotional burnout, declining physical health, eating disorders, and withdrawal from friends and family are some consequences of walking a thin line. Find out how to cope by attending a special forum with people who understand. Sponsored by Menninger, University of Kansas' Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Watkins Health Center, and Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Inc.
The lineup
- Opening remarks
- Jennifer Kennedy, MD, Menninger
The lineup
Panelists
Question and answer session
Panelsists
* Patricia Roach, LSCSW, Bert Nash*
* Community Mental Health Center,
on the family perspective*
* Cathy Mao, RN, BSN, Lawrence Central
Junior High, on coping with school*
* Myra Strother, MD, KU, on physical concerns*
* Ann Chapman, MSEd, RD, KU, on eating to live*
* Linda Keeler, MD, KU, on recognizing
emotional triggers*
* Barbara Ballard, PhD, KU, on liking yourself*
Taking the first step
Taking the first step
Tuesday, February 20
7 to 8:30 pm
Murphy Hall
Swarthout Auditorium
15th and Naismith Drive
University of Kansas
Use parking garage or Lot 54 across the street.
Questions?
For more information, contact
Menninger at 1-800-351-9058,
extension 6100.
ATTENTION JUNIORS
The deadline for applications for MORTAR BOARD, a senior honor society, is now Friday, February 16, 1996.
You may pick up applications at:
Nunemaker 50 Strong Hall OAC, Kansas Union
For more information call Lindsy Myers 865-4122
DRUMMING AND DANCING
SamulNori
The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Lied Center Presents
Percussion Master Class February 14, 1996, 5 p.m.
Tradition meets The Present
New Directions Series Event
Led Center
February 15, 1996, 8 p.m.
STUDENT
Performance for Students Grades 5-12:
Lied Center
February 15, 1996, 10 a.m.
Gripped by the Drum,
Drawn by the Dance
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
MAAAA
Tickets on sale at the Lied Center Box Office (864-ARBTS; Murphy Hall Box Office (864-3477) and all tickmaster中心盒柜 (864-3477) Ticketmaster at (913) 234 4545.
Human Sexuality Forum
Explore the Catholic View of Sexuality. A search for truth.A serious look at:
Spirituality
Reality
Sexuality
Morality
Saturday, February 17,1996
9:30 am to 3:00 pm For More info. call 843-0357
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center 1631 Crescent Road
Forum is free and open to students, faculty and staff.
FREELUNCH!
1