Police identify dead man as missing lobbyist for homeless
Dear Citizen:
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few months ago we devoted a whole issue to this Bird Flu. Since then I have joined some communities in helping them make plans for their community. I am here to tell you today that when dealing with a pandemic it is all about being prepared and people like me and agencies like the Homeless Voice must spend some time on educating the community. So here it is Part Two , “ The Bird Flu- No Reason to Panic” According to President Bush’s recently published National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, all local and state governments, as well as private industry and individual citizens have important roles to play in responding to a possible pandemic influenza. There should be predetermined plans of action at all levels of government, including each individual family. Some experts agree that an influenza pandemic would be five to ten times worse than the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The human death toll could be in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions or even worse. Not to forget that there will be a loss of infrastructure. However, if we as citizens prepare ourselves, the infrastructure can withstand a pandemic situation. Some services will be shut down but real emergencies will be handled by local government. This will cause a severe strain on the economy probably worse than we have ever seen in the past. This means that you and your business must keep reserves on hand. The good news is that there is no Bird Flu in the (Continued on page 6)
TOPEKA, Kan. - A body found near the Kansas River was that of a convicted sex offender who became a lobbyist for the homeless, Topeka police said Wednesday. But the Shawnee County coroner has yet to determine a cause of death for David Patrick Owen, 38. Owen's father, from Cimarron, reported him missing, having last spoken with his son on June 16. A local anti-violence group will have a memorial service for Owen at 8:45 p.m. Saturday, said its leader, Sonny Scroggins. The event will be just east of the old Santa Fe railroad bridge where Owen's body was found Sunday. Police had received reports that Owen had confrontations with homeless people as they camped along the Kansas River. Owen frequently talked to them to urge them to contact their families. Since 2002, Owen has been registered as a legislative lobbyist for his own group, Homeless Come Home. He frequently attended public meetings around Topeka. In 1999, he was sentenced to four days in jail and 36 months probation in Sedgwick County on one count of sexual exploitation of a child, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. He has been registered as an offender since June 1999. Scroggins acknowledged Owen's past mistakes, but said on behalf of the homeless, "He did a good job." http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14972588.htm
5 Orlando teens arrested in death of homeless man
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ive Orlando teenagers who police think terrorized homeless people "for sport" are accused of kicking and punching one man to death. The five -three are 15 years old and two are 16 -were arrested Friday and could face second-degree murder charges in the death of August Felix, 54. Felix, who died from his injuries May 1, about a month
after being beaten in a commercial area along America Street, had been able to tell police he was attacked by a group of young males. Police identified the five based on interviews with people in the area. The group is suspected in the beatings of as many as a half-dozen other homeless people in the same area. The (Continued on page 9)
Science Surviving the New Killer Bug A nasty, drug-resistant staph infection--the kind usually seen in hospitals--is racing across the U.S.
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ewaun Smith, a 9-year-old boy from Chicago, is lucky to be alive. A scrape on his left knee that he picked up riding his bike last October turned into a runaway infection that spread in a matter of days through the rest of his body, leaving his lungs riddled with holes. Jewaun managed to survive, but what worries doctors most about his near-death experience is that it's not an isolated case. The bacteria that infected his knee has become resistant to the most common antibiotics and is on the march across the U.S. It has spread rapidly through parts of California, Texas, Illinois and Alaska and is beginning to show up in Pennsylvania and New York. "This bug has gone from 0 to 60, not in five seconds but in about five years," says Elizabeth Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. "It spreads by contact, so if it gets into any community that's fairly close-knit, that's all it needs to be passed." This is not bird flu or SARS or even the "flesh-eating (Continued on page 11)
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