Nation IN BRIEF : OREGON : Trial Opens in Case of Man Left at Track

A woman was trying to get help for her elderly father when she abandoned him at a racetrack, her attorney said as her trial opened in Hillsboro, Ore. Sue Gifford, 41, is charged with kidnaping, perjury and theft for taking her father out of a nursing home in what prosecutors claim was a plot to steal his pension checks and Social Security. John Kingery, 82, was found in March sitting in his wheelchair at a greyhound track in Coeur d’Alene, Ida. A note identified him as “John King” and said he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Children from his first marriage recognized him in news reports and took him to Morgantown, Ky., to live near them. He died Nov. 2. Gifford’s attorney said she had tried to get care for her father but did not have the emotional strength.