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THE KANSAS CITY STAR.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2012
WWW.KANSASCITY.COM
Kindness rewarded “Oh, it’s such a blessing, such a blessing!” Nadine Graves said after receiving a 2005 Chevrolet Venture minivan Thursday as a Christmas gift from Country Hill Motors of Merriam in conjunction with Cumulus Kansas City radio stations. Graves, 57, of Martin City, became legal guardian and sole supporter of five grandchildren after her daughter died of cancer in 2009. “I appreciate everything,” Graves said, holding back tears. Go to KansasCity.com for a photo gallery. TAMMY LJUNGBLAD | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Local
OLATHE ROBBERY | Victims were forced into ‘sexual contact’ with each other
MAN FACES FELONY SEX CHARGES Prosecutors say he recruited three teens in home invasion to taunt two men, believing they were homosexuals. By TONY RIZZO The Kansas City Star
Robbers who barged into an Olathe home in September repeatedly taunted their victims with gay slurs and forced them into “sexual contact” with each other, according to details revealed in court Thursday. Johnson County prosecutors argued that the man who allegedly set up the robbery and recruited three teenagers to help carry it out should be tried for
felony sex crimes in addition to aggravated robbery and related charges. “It is clear from the evidence that the defendant’s co-conspirators committed this crime under the belief that the victims were homosexuals,” according to court Grasle documents filed this week by Assistant District Attorney Pete Glasser. Kansas does not have a hate crime law, but evidence of such a crime can be used to enhance a prison sentence after a conviction. Thursday’s hearing for Jason Antho-
Johnson
Smith
ny Grasle, 31, was a continuation of a November preliminary hearing stemming from the Sept. 16 robbery at a residential group home for people dealing with drug and alcohol issues. After hearing arguments from attorneys, Johnson County District Judge
Steve Tatum found probable cause to have Grasle tried on two counts of aggravated sexual battery. Defense attorney Zane Todd entered not guilty pleas on Grasle’s behalf. According to testimony and court documents, Grasle knew one of the residents and believed he was gay. Prosecutors allege that Grasle pretended to be gay himself and made arrangements to meet the man. Meanwhile, he allegedly arranged to have three others rob the victims. While driving to the home, Grasle made several calls to the intended vicSEE OLATHE | A6
LAUGHING ALL THE WAY The season’s first snowstorm created a mess for travel but a wonderland for sledding. On Thursday afternoon, the sledding hill in Brookside Park at 57th Street and Brookside Boulevard beckoned sledders, including Ed Wilkinson (foreground) of Kansas City, who led nine of his friends on a downhill adventure.
@
Go to KansasCity.com for video and a photo gallery of wintry weather.
DAVID EULITT | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Independence flu shutters classes
Berlin the bear settles in at zoo
So many teachers were ailing and absent that district opts to forgo school today.
After her trip from St. Paul, Minn., she has yet to meet her possible mate, Nikita.
By JOE ROBERTSON The Kansas City Star
Whatever weather concern the Independence School District might have had about holding classes today has been trumped by a flu outbreak. A rash of illnesses, especially among teachers, prompted the district to cancel classes on what would have been the last day before the winter break. The district, like most in the area, was out Thursday because of snow. Some 1,200 student absences were reported Wednesday, about 500 more than normal, Superintendent Jim Hinson said. But the bigger problem may be that 125 teachers were absent, more than twice what’s normal. “We were not really hit hard until this week,” Hinson said. “I’m confident we would not be able to fill all those vacancies” with substitute teachers. He decided it would be better to use today to give custodians a day to disinfect and clean the schools before the break. Some area school districts already have today off for the holiday break. Some others will hold classes as scheduled, depending on an improvement in the weather and road conditions. Some districts, including Belton, Fort Osage, Grain Valley and Raymore-Peculiar, reported small spikes in absences recently, but nothing large enough to consider closing schools. At some schools in Raymore-Peculiar, a rise in influenza B cases prompted the district to send letters home advising families of the symptoms and ways to reduce the chances of spreading the flu, spokeswoman Michele Stidham said. The Fort Osage School District is also trying to stay ahead of some minor rises in absences, spokeswoman Stephanie Smith said. “We keep a daily eye on attendance, and if we see a class with a large number of kids out, we do a special deep clean in that room,” she said. “We are focused on hand washing and other skills to keep kids healthy.” To reach Joe Robertson, call 816-234-4789 or send email to jrobertson@kcstar.com.
By MATT CAMPBELL The Kansas City Star
Kansas City’s new polar bear padded out of her traveling crate this week and into the zoo without any fuss or sign of fear. “An extremely calm bear,” said Sean Putney, director of living collections at the Kansas City Zoo. It may be a case of grace under pressure. This bear, named Berlin, has been through a lot. She came here from the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory in St. Paul, Minn., where she had been staying temporarily after her previous home at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth flooded this summer. In St. Paul she became ill and had to have a non-cancerous mass removed from her stomach. Now she has been packed up again and driven seven hours in a truck refrigerated to 30 degrees. She has yet to meet the Kansas City Zoo’s male bear, Nikita, face to face. But they are aware of each other in separate stalls in the holding building behind the polar bear exhibit. “Nikita was very excited and obviously very interested,” Putney said Thursday. “You could hear him smelling through the doorway. He doesn’t really vocalize that
KANSAS CITY ZOO
Berlin, a female polar bear, arrived this week at the Kansas City Zoo.
much, but for the last couple of days he has been. He knows that there’s a female in here.” Managers of the gene pool among captive polar bears decided to pair Berlin, 23, and Nikita, 6, on the chance they will produce a cub. Berlin has never given birth before. The male she was with in Duluth was a bully who wouldn’t even let her in “his” water pool. At St. Paul, she shared an exhibit with two neutered males. There, she was the boss, Putney said. Zoo officials won’t know how she and Nikita will get along until after a lengthy in-
troduction process. The earliest that Berlin will be on public display will probably be late January or early February. On Thursday, she was exploring a behind-the-scenes outdoor area and pool and seeming to enjoy the cold air. There are fewer than 70 polar bears, a threatened species, in captivity in North America and only about half of those are capable of reproducing, said Kansas City Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff. This zoo is now one of a dozen with a possible breeding pair. “We didn’t expect to get a bear this soon,” Wisthoff told his board recently. “We were shocked.” The Kansas City Zoo built an $11 million polar bear exhibit before Nikita arrived here from the Toledo Zoo in 2010. Zoo officials learned in October that Berlin was scheduled to come here, but then she got sick and the odds were against the transfer. With her quick recovery, however, both zoos decided to go ahead. Kansas City Zoo staff went to St. Paul on Sunday to become acquainted with Berlin and to learn about her diet and habits. She came here with some favorite toys she has had since Duluth. But she didn’t need them for amusement Thursday. “She was out playing in the snow,” Putney said. To reach Matt Campbell, call 816-234-4902 or send email to mcampbell@kcstar.com.
Filling a key need in winter Unlike kids, hunger doesn’t take a Christmas break, so helpers step in. By LAURA BAUER The Kansas City Star
For years, they’ve worried about kids in the summer. When school was out and summer classes were over, and breakfasts and lunch weren’t provided every day, what would the children do? How would they eat? So in 2008, Raytown Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) started the Summer Lunch Ministry and started feeding kids. A year later, four churches and other volunteers began to jump in, and since then the ministry has grown so much, with many more churches and volunteers, that last summer it delivered an average of 350 lunches a day. And then this year, another question popped up. What about Christmas break, when school’s out for about two weeks and families are strapped for cash? Again, the ministry is coming up with a solution. Dozens of volunteers are scheduled today to hand out bags of food to about 200 families in Raytown to help get them through the holidays. Among the food will be bread, peanut butter, jelly, apples, cereal and a half gallon of milk. “It’s a long break,” said Cathy Wood, director of the Raytown Summer Lunch Ministry, which is providing the bags of food today. Donations and grant money help pay for the summer program, and with money left over from that, the group is able to do the extra food over this Christmas break. Volunteers see feeding hungry kids as something they can — and should — do. In the hot months, they get to know the kids. They still see images of the young people, often with their bare feet hitting the hot pavement, running up to the truck or church bus. “They’d be excited to get a lunch from someone they knew, a face they recognized,” said Hannah Steele, 15, a freshman at Raytown High School who has helped out the past three summers. “It really only takes your time to change a child’s life in the summer.” And also during the winter. Volunteers will go to most of the same drop-off spots today as they use in the summer, said the Rev. Dawn Weaks, co-pastor at Raytown Christian Church. “We feel like a community that wants to be a strong community … needs to make sure children get good nutrition,” Weaks said To reach Laura Bauer, call 816-234-4944 or send email to lbauer@kcstar.com.
HOW TO HELP For the third year, The Star is partnering with Harvesters to hold a virtual food drive. All money raised will go to Harvesters’ BackSnack program for kids. Go to feedingkckids. harvesters.org to make a donation. If you’d like, you can designate your donation in the honor or memory of a family member or friend. The Star will publish the dedications on Christmas Day. Dedications need to be in by 5 p.m. Sunday to appear in the Christmas paper.
FOR PHOTO ALBUMS OF EVENTS ACROSS KANSAS CITY, SEE COMMUNITY FACES AT WWW.KANSASCITY.COM