LONE JACK POLICE CHIEF FIRED

Lone Jack announced Monday that it fired its police chief after the FBI
began investigating whether drug evidence was stolen within the department.

Authorities began the inquiry last week after a reported suicide attempt at
the home of Lone Jack Police Chief Bill Abney, who is now in a hospital.

The investigation is continuing, said FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza, but he
declined to release more details.

Abney's condition is not available to city officials, said City Attorney
Paul Campo, because of new privacy laws that restrict information released
by health officials. Kansas City police also did not have his condition.

Abney was dismissed early Thursday morning after the Board of Aldermen
learned the investigation had started, Mayor Steve Reinking said in a
written statement.

Reinking said the aldermen had been meeting in a closed session about 9 p.m.
Wednesday when they received word that Abney was hospitalized.

The mayor and several aldermen remained at City Hall waiting to see how the
situation developed.

By 11 p.m., Reinking said, three troopers from the Missouri Highway Patrol
and an assistant Jackson County prosecutor arrived at City Hall. The
troopers told the aldermen that they'd been sent to secure the police
department's property room.

Shortly after midnight, Reinking said, the city was informed that the FBI
was investigating whether drugs from the police department's property room
had been stolen or tampered with.

Reinking said the FBI searched the police property room and the police
vehicle Abney had taken to his home in Kansas City, North.

About 12:45 a.m. Thursday, three aldermen voted to dismiss Abney.

According to court documents filed in Clay County, authorities found Abney,
unconscious and having a seizure, on the floor of his master bedroom. A
relative directed an officer to the bathroom where a white powder was found
on the toilet, a floor scale and a pocketknife. A field test identified the
powder as cocaine.

Campo said that the Wednesday night meeting to discuss personnel had been
scheduled by coincidence and city officials hadn't planned to discuss the
police chief. However, Campo said, Abney and the mayor had met with the
Highway Patrol Wednesday morning about increasing security in the property
room.

After last week's upheaval, the Highway Patrol said it would help the city
establish tighter controls on the property room.

Reinking said the city hasn't set a timetable for hiring a new chief, but
does intend to fill the position.

The aldermen will meet at 6:30 p.m. today at City Hall and will take
questions from residents. Then the aldermen will close the session to
discuss filling the vacancy. Reinking denied a rumor that the city intends
to disband the Police Department.

Campo said the city's senior police officer, Mike Miller, is leading the
department until a new chief is hired.

Staff writer Glenn E. Rice contributed to this report.