Display only parent category, not children

I have a category page (category-8.php) that I am trying to display some specific categories on.

One of the categories is category 9. I amusing the query post of <?php query_posts(‘cat=9’); ?>

Unfortunately, cat 9 has child categories.

How do I prevent them from showing up in my list of posts from Category 9?

I have tried <?php query_posts(‘cat=9,-17’); ?> and that has not worked.

Category 17 which I am trying to exclude, has child pages of it.

So basically it is
The Staff (cat 9)
Everyone on the Staff has a blog, each blog is a child of category 17 (Staff Blogs)

I don’t want the blogs to show up in the Staff list.

Ideas?

Thanks