A4
THE KANSAS CITY STAR.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
WWW.KANSASCITY.COM
A pleasant surprise A local company anonymously donated new furniture Wednesday to a family that had overcome homelessness with the help of reStart Inc. The Ponder family was surprised by the new bedding, tables, chairs and large television. “We are blessed," said Pamela St. John (right). Two-year-old granddaughter Ranyah (foreground) was on hand at the apartment near Troost Avenue and Brush Creek Boulevard. FRED BLOCHER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Local
CONVENTIONS | Kansas City looks at removing tax exemption for nonprofits
‘ARM THE TEACHERS’ ISN’T BEST
‘LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD’
MARY SANCHEZ
Other cities in Missouri have nonprofit hotel guests pay convention tax. KC voters may decide next spring. By LYNN HORSLEY The Kansas City Star
CO M M E N TA RY
H
ere is the concealedcarry version of solving school violence: Reading, writing and target practice. “Arm the teachers” is the first flimsy argument gathering steam after the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders. It seeks to draw a connection between places where guns aren’t allowed — schools in this case — and mass shootings. That’s a tactic to increase gun ownership that existed long before the Connecticut shooter took his mother’s guns, killed her and then headed to the elementary school. It comes packaged with its own terms — “gun-free zones” — pre-loaded for just such a national tragedy. No surprise that a few Missouri politicians pounced to file legislation. Their bill would allow a public school teacher or administrator with a concealedweapons permit to have their gun at school. Shouldn’t something as drastic as arming public school teachers be based on critical thinking beyond that of the average kindergartener? The proposal hangs on the thought that shooters choose their locations for mayhem because they are “gun-free.” If that were true, Gabrielle Giffords wouldn’t have been a target at a place where the Arizona concealed-carry law would imply that anybody nearby might be armed. In fact, one armed man that day almost shot the guy who had wrestled the gun away from the shooter. The legislation also ignores the fact that student shooters often make targets of their own schools, indicating complicated connections between the place and the gunman, but not necessarily his chances of successfully murdering many people. Argument by anecdote is also part of this theory’s shallow foundation; one instance of a gun-wielding person successfully thwarting a would-be shooter is used to justify arming many people. It has politicians surmising what might deter a mentally ill person, ignoring the ability of illnesses like schizophrenia to alter a person’s grip on reality. Besides, the average person has neither the skill nor the composure to shoot accurately in a tense situation. When it comes to fight or flight, many of us are flight. Law enforcement, especially at the federal level, trains with mechanical simulators. These are high-stakes situations where split-second decisions force people to assess a threat, to fire accurately, or to choose not to. The abilities of the average Joe popping a few rounds at a shooting range simply do not compare. What if the would-be teacher/ hero mistakenly kills a child? With the public safety benefits sketchy at best, this is basically an argument seeking to increase gun ownership. The dead children of Sandy Hook Elementary School are just the latest victims on which the pitch is being made.
To reach Mary Sanchez, call 816-234-4752 or send email to msanchez@kcstar.com.
U
nlike every other city in Missouri, Kansas City exempts nonprofit conventions from paying the city’s convention tax, costing the city millions of dollars each year. But that would change under a proposal the City Council hopes to put before voters in April.
The Council’s Finance and Governance Committee on Wednesday endorsed the ballot measure removing such exemptions, and it goes the full council for a vote Jan. 10. City officials didn’t know exactly when or why nonprofit groups were first exempted from the convention tax, but said the exemption goes back at least to 1989. Several years ago, when the city’s Convention and Visitors Association began analyzing the impact, it realized the exemption from the 7.5 percent hotel bed tax was costing the city more than $3 million per year, said as-
sociation President Rick Hughes. The association knew the city could use that money, and also knew nonprofit hotel guests pay the tax in St. Louis and Branson, as well as in neighboring cities in Kansas. “It’s leveling the playing field,” City Councilwoman Jan Marcason said of the ballot measure. City officials got the Missouri legislature’s permission this year to eliminate the exemption, with the permission of city voters. The next election would be April 2. The exemptions to be eliminated would affect religious, charitable and
SENSATIONS OF WINTER
education groups as well as nonprofit civic, social and service organizations. The exemption still would apply to people involved in federal government business. The change would generate about $350,000 annually for the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund; about $1 million for the Convention and Visitors Association to promote tourism; and $2 million for maintenance and operations of city convention and entertainment facilities. To reach Lynn Horsley, call 816-226-2058 or send email to lhorsley@kcstar.com.
Drew Patterson of Overland Park helped his date, Rebekah Gates of Gardner, up off the ice at the outdoor rink at Park Place at 116th Street and Nall in Leawood on Wednesday afternoon. The two had not been skating “in a long time” and held hands for stability and romance. Meanwhile, chillier feelings were evoked by a winter storm barreling across the Plains that was expected to leave 1 to 3 inches of snow in the Kansas City area and higher amounts to the north. The storm forced the closure of Interstate 70 in both directions from Colorado to Hays, Kan., by 8 p.m. Wednesday.
DAVID EULITT | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Mobile food pantry is a pupil’s blessing High schooler picks up healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables at twice-a-month event. By LAURA BAUER The Kansas City Star
She knows the pressure to have things. She sees teens with smartphones and nice shoes and clothes that cost more than her family can afford. And she knows some people judge her by what she doesn’t have. “It’s like if you don’t have what they have, you’re poor, you’re going to be a bum,” says the 16-year-old, who goes to an area high school. She doesn’t let it get to her. She’s focused on more important things: family, education, church. When she was younger, there were times when her family didn’t have power, water or gas for heat. But then, she says, “God blessed us with some money.” Still, finances are tight, so when she heard of a twice-amonth mobile food pantry at her school, she told her mom. They go every time and get healthy foods — yogurt, fresh vegetables, fruit — that otherwise would be out of their financial reach. “My mom applauded one time over the cottage cheese,”
HOW YOU CAN HELP For the third year, The Star is partnering with Harvesters to host 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 of a family member or friend. The Star will publish the dedications on Christmas Day. The cutoff for dedications is 5 p.m. Sunday.
Belton cheers hometown hero “X Factor” competitor Tate Stevens hasn’t won yet, but you wouldn’t know it by their reaction. By TIM ENGLE The Kansas City Star
Tate Stevens’ “X Factor” competition may not want to hear this, but even Santa is throwing his weight behind the country singer from Belton. “Right now, Tate Stevens is the man,” Mr. Claus said Wednesday night in Belton, sporting a white Tate T-shirt over his red velvet. The jolly old elf was one of hundreds of Stevens fans who packed the gymnasium of the Belton Freshman Center for a combination watch party and pep rally. An “X Factor” camera crew was on hand, too, high above the crowd on a lift and on the floor for live interviews. Every so often, the show would cut from Hollywood to fan
gatherings in the three finalist acts’ hometowns. “X Factor’s” Wednesday show was about performances. The winner will be announced on a two-hour broadcast tonight (7 p.m. on Fox). Any time Stevens apStevens peared on the big screen in Belton — starting the moment he joined in the Michael Jackson song “You Are Not Alone,” a tribute to the Connecticut school shooting victims — the cheers and applause rose to ear-splitting levels. Just outside, a snow plow blade attached to a truck proclaimed this to be “Home of Tate Stevens,” a reminder that Stevens is also a Belton street crew worker. Before the show, cheerleaders and dance SEE TATE | A8
A TIME TO REMEMBER Colbie Bartow and Eli Chastain of Raymore posed for Chastain’s twin sister, Shelby Chastain of Belton, on Wednesday evening at Crown Center Square. The picture will be a Christmas present for Bartow’s mother. The couple plan to get married sometime after Eli heads to the Navy in February.
she says, a smile crossing her face. “I hope Harvesters never stops (providing food to teens) because this is helpful. “I know kids are having tough times. One kid I know basically eats once a day. I wish they would come to the pantry.” She says sometimes a “little extra help” is all someone needs. On Easter Sunday, while she was singing in her church choir, her eyeglasses fell off and she stepped on them. For months, she’s had colored tape SEE HUNGER | A8
KEITH MYERS | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
FOR PHOTO ALBUMS OF EVENTS ACROSS KANSAS CITY, SEE COMMUNITY FACES AT WWW.KANSASCITY.COM