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You see ornamental pear trees every-where: In the park, down the block, may-be even in your yard.

They’re so easy, so beautiful, so...Dangerous.Think kudzu in the South –– that kind

of dangerous. Invasive, sprouting upwhere they aren’t wanted and killing na-tive plant life.

It was just a few weeks ago that thepear trees in Kansas City were explodingwith white spring blossoms, showingwhy they’ve been a landscaping staple formany years.

But after years of breeding and varia-tions, ornamental pear trees have foundthemselves on the blacklist for many for-esters and landscapers. Groups have evenformed to stop the spread of the peartrees.

Ornamental pears can grow 30 to 50feet tall and out-compete other plants forwater, soil and space. Because they leafout sooner in the spring and hang on totheir leaves longer in the fall, the trees al-

INVASIVE SPECIES | Cities looking to stop the spread

Dennis Patton, Johnson County horticulture agent, says the pear treas, a grove of which stood to his left on thenorth side of 119th Street, just east of Quivira Road, are an invasive species that threatens native plants.

SHANE KEYSER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Pear trees: A beautiful menace

Ford Motor Co. figuresthat Atlas — a titan standingfor strength and endurance— is just the right codename for the effort to createthe next-generation F-150,the country’s best-sellingpickup truck.

The Atlas, a concept vehi-cle showing off possiblechanges for an updatedF-150, was unveiled earlierthis year at the North Amer-ican International AutoShow in Detroit.

The Atlas shows, analysts

say, that as the pickup truckmarket improves along withthe economy, Ford is prepar-ing a stiff fight for any com-petitors trying to dethronethe F-150, which is made atthe Claycomo AssemblyPlant and a plant in Dear-born, Mich.

Just this year, both GMand Chrysler unveiled up-dated models of their most-popular pickups.

At the auto show, the Atlasboasted wheel covers thatautomatically close to re-duce air drag and improvefuel efficiency.

The front grille, a criticalpart of a pickup’s appear-ance, has been toughened

Ford is revampingF-150 for sales battleImprovements aimto maintain pickup’srecord as the No. 1selling truck in U.S.

By STEVE EVERLY

The Kansas City Star

Ford Atlasconcept

SEE ATLAS | A12

The ornamental tree for years was grown inyards all over. Now, it’s considered an invasivehazard to native flora that must be stopped.

By ZACH MURDOCK

The Kansas City Star“They’re

reseeding,

becoming

invasive and

threatening

our native

population.

So we need

to be

proactive

and stop

them from

spreading

more.”DENNIS PATTON,

COUNTY

HORTICULTURE

AGENT

After a years-long effort by consumergroups, bureaucratic delays andscores of illnesses, federal officials

Thursday proposed mandatory labeling ofmechanically tenderized beef.

The announcement comes after a three-part series about the beef industry publish-ed last December in The Kansas City Starthat documented cases of people who be-came seriously ill after eating steaks thatthey did not know had been mechanicallytenderized.

Many meat processors use mechanicalneedles or blades to tenderize steaks, roastsand other beef products. But numerousstudies have shown that the process candrive pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7from the surface of the meat into the interi-or, where they can survive the cooking proc-ess.

The proposal by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture — a warning to steak loverswho prefer their beef medium or rare —would require for the first time that meat

LABELSFOR BEEFSOUGHTBY USDAMechanically tenderized meat isfocus of proposal. Such beef hasbeen faulted for illness potential.

By MIKE MCGRAW

The Kansas City Star

SEE MEAT | A8

WASHINGTON | The National SecurityAgency and the FBI are tapping directly intothe central servers of nine leading U.S. In-ternet companies, extracting audio, video,photographs, emails, documents and con-nection logs that enable analysts to trackpeople’s movements and contacts over time.

The highly classified program, code-named Prism, has not been disclosed publi-cly before. Its establishment in 2007 and sixyears of exponential growth took place be-neath the surface of a roiling debate over theboundaries of surveillance and privacy.Even late last year, when critics of the for-eign intelligence statute argued for changes,

Federal agenciesmining data fromInternet firmsSecret program, launched in 2007and growing rapidly, keeps tabs onpeople’s movements, contacts.

By BARTON GELLMAN and LAURA POITRAS

The Washington Post

SEE SECRET | A8

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SPORTS DAILY

SEE PEAR | A12

KANSAS CITY EDITION WWW.KANSASCITY.COM FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013

Are you in the mood for a goodscare, or a good laugh? “ThePurge” (HHH) is a futuristichorror-thriller where all crimeis legal for one 12-hour periodeach year. “The Internship”(HHH), on the other hand,features Owen Wilson andVince Vaughn, who land jobswith Google. | D1

A12 FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013 WWW.KANSASCITY.COMTHE KANSAS CITY STAR.

so steal precious sunlightfrom shorter native plants,said Wendy Sangster, a Mis-souri Department of Con-servation urban forester.

“It’s a relatively simple is-sue,” said Johnson Countyhorticulture agent DennisPatton. “They’re reseeding,becoming invasive andthreatening our native pop-ulation. So we need to beproactive and stop themfrom spreading more.”

Thickets of pear treeshave recently begun pop-ping up all over roadsides,grassy areas, parks and va-cant lots around town.

So what the heck hap-pened to our beloved peartrees?

Perfect tree

The science of the orna-mental pears goes back 100years.

The first callery pear treeswere imported to the U.S. inthe early 20th century be-cause of their resistance todisease. The Bradford pearwas the first bred ornamen-tal variation, called a culti-var, and was introduced inthe 1950s.

These trees became pop-ular because they adapt eas-ily, look great in the nursery,grow fast and color beauti-fully, twice — white bloomsin the spring and vibrant redand yellow leaves in the fall.What’s more, the trees wereconsidered to be self-sterile,meaning they wouldn’t pro-duce seeds capable ofsprouting into more peartrees.

Back then, these originalornamental pears werebilled as the perfect tree thatanyone would want to plant,Patton said.

“I remember touting Brad-ford pears as the best thingsince sliced bread,” he said.

But after several years, itbecame clear that Bradfordpears weren’t actually per-fect.

The structure of the Brad-ford’s branches and trunkmade the tree susceptible tosplitting or toppling overduring storms or underheavy wind and ice, Sang-ster said.

To improve the trees,breeders attempted to createvariations of the Bradfordwith stronger limbs. That’swhy there are about a dozencultivars of the callery pear.

But by creating variationson the self-sterile Bradford,breeders introduced diversi-ty to the pear tree gene pool.

“The expectation was thatthey would not cross-polli-nate,” said Kevin Lapointe, aforester for Kansas City.“Unfortunately, that’s exact-ly what has happened.They’ve crossed and pro-duced all kinds of wildthings, from thorns to largerfruit.”

Breeding like this is acommon practice, and goodthings often come of it, La-pointe said. But every oncein a while, something maylook good but end up caus-ing real problems in the longrun.

“Nature wants to repro-duce so bad that she finds away,” said Bill Graham, aspokesman for the MissouriDepartment of Conserva-tion’s Kansas City andnorthwest regions.

There’s a long history ofpeople planting things thataren’t native to the area thatturn out to be difficult tocontrol, he said, pointing toinfamous invasive specieslike bush honeysuckle andkudzu.

Sprouting up

With cultivars cross-polli-nating and producing viable

seeds, ornamental pears areinvading Kansas City greenspaces.

The process works theway nature intended: A birdor small animal eats thetree’s fruit, and when theyneed to do their business,they deposit the seedsthey’ve eaten in a new area.

Those seeds can take root,grow into new trees, dropnew seeds, produce morefruit and start the cycle allover again.

And the effects of the peartrees can be devastating fornative plants.

But groups are takingsteps to halt the invasion inits tracks.

In Kansas City, Lapointehas put ornamental pears onthe do-not-plant list, makingthem off limits for the cityand developers to plant. Lin-da Lehrbaum, coordinator ofKansas City WildLands, saidthe environmental group iskeeping a close eye on localnatural areas for encroach-ing pears.

In Columbia, the city’sParks and Recreation De-

partment is crusadingagainst the trees. The city’sStop the Spread campaignhopes to cleanse the com-munity of the invasive pearswith educational materialsand invasive-tree removal.

The program helpschange public attitudes, saidBrett O’Brien, a park naturalresources supervisor for Co-lumbia. He first noticed in-vasive pear trees in about2006 and helped create theStop the Spread campaign.

Trees experience fashionebbs and flows, he said, soteaching people about theenvironmental effects andgetting them to see the treesas unfashionable go hand-in-hand.

“It’s sort of like fashion,”O’Brien said. “So pretty soonthey’ll be the bell-bottompants of plants. Nobody willwant to go out and buy apair.”

It’s a low-end tree, anyway,Patton said.

“The invasive issue is kindof the final straw,” Pattonsaid.

Landscapers and environ-

mentalists suggest a varietyof trees as alternatives suchas dogwood, serviceberry,redbud, blackgum, crabap-ple and yellowood.

Even nurseries are shyingaway from the pears.

Family Tree in OverlandPark sells only about 10 pearcultivars each year, nurserymanager Doug Seip said.

The arborists at SuburbanLawn and Garden on Wor-nall Road would rather sell

serviceberry, magnolia andflowering crabapple trees,owner Matt Stueck said.

Both said the only real rea-son their stores still carrythe trees is because peoplestill ask for them.

As for the original Brad-ford pear trees? Both nurser-ies stopped carrying themyears ago.To reach Zach Murdock, call

816-234-4690 or send email

to zmurdock@kcstar.com.

PEAR: Cross-pollination transforms ‘perfect tree’ into a menaceFROM A1

The invasive pear tree’s fruit is eaten by birds, and theseeds are spread after the birds digest them. This hasled to the recent sprouting of thickets of the trees.

SHANE KEYSER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Botched 39th Street pruning means sometrees must go — and that’s not all bad

Business owners are sorry that some trees will needto be replaced after a botched pruning, but theyalso see it as a chance to say goodbye forever tosome of those trees.

In all, about a dozen trees need to be replaced along39th Street in Kansas City after crews recentlytopped trees along the street to make room forGoogle fiber lines.

Business owners in the area were upset when theyshowed up to work one morning to find crewspruning the ginkgo trees along the north side of thestreet, said Tex Houston, a district manager for the39th Street West Community Improvement District.

“It happened so fast that they were done in a coupleof hours,” she said.

Some of the trees were very damaged and somewon’t recover, said Kevin Lapointe, a forester forKansas City. Because of the damage, Google hasagreed to replace the trees that won’t survive.

Lapointe surveyed the trees last week and identified12 to 15 trees that need to be removed and replaced.

But not everyone is upset to see the ginkgo trees go.Some business owners despised the foul-smellingfruits the trees drop.

Lapointe said he’s going to recommend a fewoptions for replacement trees, but that the newtrees will be relatively small and no taller than about15 feet. Perhaps serviceberry or redbud trees, hesaid.

Google, the city and the community improvementdistrict will all get a say on what trees are put in theginkgos’ places.

In spite of the mistakes, Houston said she was happythat the issue is getting resolved quickly.

“Hopefully we find a pretty, less stinky tree to put intheir place,” she said.

| Zach Murdock, zmurdock@kcstar.com

up. And cargo capacity hasbeen expanded with a metalsupport that pops up out ofthe tailgate. A canoe, for ex-ample, can be carried byresting one end atop thetruck’s cab and the otherend on the tailgate support.

The Atlas “is the rallyingcry to what the future couldbring to the F-series,” saidlead designer Gordo Platto.

The F-150 revamp is criti-cally important to Ford be-cause the expanding econo-my, especially the housingmarket, has set off a market-share battle for pickups. Fordecades, Ford has kept theF-150 at the top of the heap.It recently announced it wasadding 900 jobs at Clayco-mo to keep up with demand.

But the F-150 was last re-designed in 2009, puttingFord behind its competitors’improved pickups.

Ford won’t confirm it, butthe F-150 revamp is expectedto be offered next year.

Michael Omotoso, an ana-lyst for LMC Automotive,said the F-150 should retainits role as the country’s best-selling pickup, though itslead could narrow.

“They obviously knowwhat they are doing,” hesaid.

But Ford’s big competitorsare getting attention, too.

The Ram 1500 has beenwinning awards, includingMotor Trend Truck of theYear. It has rated highwayfuel economy of 25 miles agallon, best in its class, andamong other things is mat-ing eight-speed transmis-sions with its engines.

It also offers special fea-tures such as adjustable airsuspension, which can low-er the cargo bed for easierloading.

“We think it’s going to be avery good year,” said DavidElshoff, a Chrysler spokes-man.

The new Chevrolet Silve-rado, in second place in salesbehind the F-150, is just nowrolling out. The vehicle andits sister GMC Sierra will re-ly on V8 engines for mostsales, with fuel efficiencyboosted by technology thatdeactivates cylinders whenextra power isn’t needed.

It also has a redesignedcab to reduce wind noise,and a step built into the rearbumper for easier access to

the cargo bed. The bed alsohas LED lights, and the cab’srevamped interior comeswith seven trim levels.

“Going from the oldesttruck in the segment to thenewest gives us a strongerposition in the market,” saidTom Wilkinson, a GMspokesman.

Full-sized pickups are es-pecially important for De-troit’s Big 3, which over theyears have largely fought offimports. Through April,they had nearly 80 percentof the U.S. market

The recession hit pickupshard, but they have rebound-ed with sales rising threetimes faster than for the restof the auto industry.

The improvement is espe-cially credited to strongerhousing starts, which closelytrack pickup sales.

Also, the average age ofpickups on the road is 11years, making them candi-dates for replacement, saidErich Merkle, Ford’s U.S.sales analyst.

“Full-sized pickups are anindustry in and of itself,” hesaid.

The surge in full-size pick-ups goes against the trend tosmaller vehicles that is evenaffecting SUVs. Sales ofsmall pickups are actuallydown sharply.

Some pickups are stillbought by “air haulers” whorarely use them to carry car-go.

But the meat and potatoesof the pickup market is thosewho need them for workand use them for other taskssuch as taking their kids to asoccer game.

“They’re buying them forwork and recreation,” saidMerkle.

Analysts — and consum-ers — say the F-150 thrivesby providing the pickup’strilogy of performance, com-fort and practicality. The F-series line sold 650,000 unitsin 2012, and about two-thirds were F-150s.

The company has alsoboosted fuel economy withits EcoBoost six-cylinder en-gines, which also come withturbocharging to increasepower. Going to a six-cylin-der was a delicate move be-cause truck owners viewedthe V-8 and its power as theengine of choice.

“The unknown was wouldthe truck customers come

around, and they have,” saidJackie DiMarco, chief engi-neer for the F-150.

The number of F-150s soldwith the EcoBoost engine isapproaching 50 percent. Buta redesign comes at a timewhen questions are beingraised about the perform-ance of the engines.

The National HighwayTraffic Safety Administra-tion recently opened an in-vestigation after it received95 complaints about re-duced engine power duringhard accelerations. The in-vestigation of the 3.5L Eco-Boost engine so far hasn’tcaused a recall of potentially400,000 vehicles.

In the F-150, Ford has alsoput more emphasis on com-fort because owners typical-ly spend a lot of time inthem. About 30 percent ofF-150 sales come from pre-mium models such as theF-150 Limited, which hasbrick-red leather seats.

“This is not your dailycommute,” DiMarco said.“They’re in their trucks(through) the day.”

A successful pickup has tobe practical and tough look-ing. For designers of the At-las the goal was a “toughbeauty.”

Work on the Atlas beganin earnest in early 2012, witha range of drawings. On oneend were versions with lotsof curves; on the other wereboxier industrial looks withsharp angles.

What Ford designers end-ed up with was something inthe middle, with curves andenough angles to give the re-quired look. The grill set thetone, with large holes oneach side that designers saygive the appearance of abull’s nostrils.

“The truck has to be unde-niably tough,” said lead de-signer Platto.

Just how much the newF-150 will resemble the Atlasis unclear, but how the Atlascame together providessome clues.

Designers considered ex-tending the windshield upover the cab, like a sunroof.But they decided that theterritory should be put to amore practical use. Thecab’s roof was tweaked tocarry cargo when combinedwith a metal support fromthe tailgate.

Ford also wanted to im-

prove wheel aerodynamicswith solid wheel covers. Butthey were ugly when thetruck wasn’t moving, so de-signers engineered “activewheel shutters” that closeonly when the pickup hitsthe highway.

“We do these things be-cause we are the leader intrucks and we want to staythe leader,” Platto said.To reach Steve Everly, call

816-234-4455 or send email

to severly@kcstar.com.

ATLAS: Ford’s preparing revamped F-150 FROM A1

Competition for sales of full-sized pickups is growing but at least some analysts believe the Ford F-150 can retain its spot as the best-selling pickup.

2009

2010

2011

2012

414,000

525,000

585,000

645,000

Source: Ford Motor Co.

F-series pickup sales pummeled by the recession have strongly rebounded and are expected to post further gains this year. The F-150 accounts for 2/3 of F-series sales.

THE KANSAS CITY STAR

*Projected

Source: LMC Automotive

LOOKING AT SALES

Ford F-150

2012

2013*

2018*

Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Ram 1500

GMC Sierra 1500

Toyota Tundra

Nissan Titan

369,000

335,000

397,000

410,000

182,000

204,000

197,000

123,000

140,000

137,000

102,000

122,000

138,000

22,000

22,000

39,000

427,000

441,000

Sen. Roy Blunt was brieflydetained Wednesday morn-ing at a security gate at JointBase Andrews after a dis-pute with Air Force securitypersonnel.

In a statement, an AirForce official said the Mis-souri Republican and an uni-dentified senator were stop-ped until they could be iden-tified by base personnel.The senators were travelingthrough Andrews to theNew Jersey funeral of Sen.Frank Lautenberg.

An Air Force statementdid not provide further de-tails of the discussion at theguard station.

“Our defenders followedstandard procedures,” saidthe statement from Col. Wil-liam M. Knight, commanderof the base’s host wing.“While we regret that the

parties were delayed, the se-curity of the installation is ofutmost importance.”

Blunt’s spokeswomanAmber Marchand con-firmed the unusual incident,which she blamed on mis-communication.

“The senator and some ofhis colleagues were brieflystopped, and the issue wasquickly resolved,” said herstatement issued Thursday.“The secretary of the AirForce called Sen. Blunt yes-terday to apologize for themiscommunication, whichSen. Blunt explained wasunnecessary, as everyonewas just trying to do theirjob.”

The public affairs office ofthe Air Force secretary, Mi-chael Donley, did not imme-diately confirm the call toBlunt.

Joint Base Andrews is inMaryland, just outsideWashington, D.C.To reach Dave Helling, call

816-234-4656 or send email

to dhelling@kcstar.com.

Air Force securitydetains Sen. BluntHis spokeswoman saysmiscommunication ledto the brief delay.

By DAVE HELLINGThe Kansas City Star

Jackson County prosecu-tors have filed multiplecharges against a KansasCity man accused of kidnap-ping a neighbor and forcingher to drive to rural mid-Missouri.

Brian E. Stidham, 50, facescharges of kidnapping, first-degree robbery, tamperingwith a motor vehicle, assaultand two counts of armedcriminal action.

Police arrested him inBenton County, Mo., afterthe victim used her cell-phone to call 911 repeatedly,which allowed authorities tofind her location.

The incident began Mon-day morning in east KansasCity after Stidham asked thewoman for a ride to a nearbyconvenience store, accord-ing to court documents.

Once in the car, Stidhamallegedly brandished a gun

and ordered her to drive on-to the highway. They headedsouth. After leaving the Kan-sas City area, he ordered herto stop. He changed placeswith her in the car andhanded her a pill that he or-dered her to take, accordingto court documents.

He allegedly told thewoman that the pill was likea “date rape” drug andthreatened several times toshoot her.

At one point he orderedher to show him her breasts,then he used a cellphone totake a picture, according tothe allegations.

After he was found by au-thorities, Stidham told po-lice that he gave the womana pill and took the picture soit would look like they werehaving fun at a party, accord-ing to court documents.To reach Tony Rizzo, call

816-234-4435 or send email

to trizzo@kcstar.com.

KC kidnapping suspectfaces multiple charges

By TONY RIZZOThe Kansas City Star