Local Politics

[Shockm]

I have elderly family that have a 2nd home in a retirement community. When they are there the cul-de-sac tries to get the folks together for at least one meal a week (about 7 houses) if possible. Last summer, the only single person, a 98 year old vet who almost never made an event decided to show. They enjoyed steak and baked potatoes and a cherry pie for dessert. As they were leaving, he turned and thanked the host and said "I want to thank you for inviting me. That was the best meal I've had in years and the best night I've had since Mary (his wife) passed."

He sat down on the swing on the porch as everyone was leaving, closed his eyes and departed this world.


May God Bless us all to be that fortunate in our passing.

I think Doc, that you and I are in agreement. Your relative was fortunate, as none of us are guaranteed another day. My point is that the health of the elderly can change in one day. Obviously, everyone is different, but age changes things quickly, and no one can predict it.

I had a 100 year old Aunt who I was responsible for. She had outlived her immediate family, but was doing great. She lived in assisted living, and could get around by herself. She had a few memory lapses, but remembered most people, experienced joy in life, and could remember a many old memories. She got around without help, and went to dinner by herself, etc. She had some stress difficulties when she had to go out of the facility, and to the doctor, and sometimes would have a few balance issues because of that but otherwise was totally independent (we were glad a nurse was at the Assisted Living just in case). One morning, I received a call, and she had fallen, and broke her arm. I took her to the hospital, and had it fixed.

She never walked again (totally lost confidence and was afraid). She had to go to nursing care to help her get out and into bed (nursing care went from 1-60+ with mostly independence to 1-10 with being wheeled everywhere), and within a year, she passed away. She did so great for so long, but it took just one day to change everything.

[SubGod22]

KWCH - Marion Co. Record attorney says seized items will be returned; paper published for first time since raid

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation released a statement regarding the criminal investigation into the Marion County Record:

At present time this investigation remains open, however, we have determined in collaboration with the Marion County Attorney, that the investigation will proceed independently, and without review or examination of any of the evidence seized on Friday, Aug. 11.

We will work with the Marion County Record, or their representative, to coordinate the prompt return of all seized items.

Once our investigation concludes we will present findings to the Marion County Attorney for review.

The attorney for the Marion County Record said Wednesday that all the items seized in a raid of the newspaper over the weekend will be returned.

Bernie Rhodes said he was told by authorities that nothing was accessed from the devices, but he and his team will work to confirm the information.

Rhodes said the county attorney has withdrawn the search warrant used to seize items owned by the newspaper and its staff.

Sounds to me that the Marion Co. attorney knows that this was ****ed up, or the KBI told them it was, and allegedly nothing seized was accessed or will be used which means the whole thing was pointless and a waste of time and resources.

Looks like the KBI has officially taken over the case.

[SubGod22]

The judge that signed the warrant has a history...

Eagle - Judge who approved raid on Kansas newspaper has history of DUI arrests

The Kansas magistrate judge who authorized a police raid of the Marion County Record newsroom over its probe into a local restaurateur’s drunken-driving record has her own hidden history of driving under the influence.

Judge Laura Viar, who was appointed on Jan. 1 to fill a vacant 8th Judicial District magistrate seat, was arrested at least twice for DUI in two different Kansas counties in 2012, a Wichita Eagle investigation found.

She was the lead prosecutor for Morris County at the time.

Viar’s DUI history could face scrutiny because the warrant she approved for the controversial raid came in response to the Marion County Record digging into the DUI history of restaurant owner Kari Newell. The Viar-authorized raid came after Newell complained about the newspaper’s investigation into her criminal background.

Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said Wednesday that the warrant was ordered with “insufficient evidence” to establish a connection between the materials seized and the alleged crime.

Her 2nd DUI came while her license was suspended from the first DUI, which should have nullified her diversion from the first. She drove off the road and hit a school building in Council Grove.

[Atxshoxfan]

The judge that signed the warrant has a history...

Eagle - Judge who approved raid on Kansas newspaper has history of DUI arrests



Her 2nd DUI came while her license was suspended from the first DUI, which should have nullified her diversion from the first. She drove off the road and hit a school building in Council Grove.

It's a shame that standards for being a judge have dropped so low! 1 DUI , well maybe, but the second without a valid license should have ended her career as a judge or attorney.

[pogo]

This just keeps getting better

[Shockm]

This just keeps getting better

Yes. Most want to make this a Right and Left issue. It actually is a Payton Place type of small town issue. With all of the community DUI, divorcee's turning on each other, small town media who are "snooping" into small town businesses, there's probably an "affair" mixed into the issues too.

It's interesting to me that the MSM nationwide seems to not be interested in the 1st Amendment, and protecting people's rights. They allow cancellation of people and their opinions, crime hits the cities until people are driven out and still very few MSM stories are done on "crime", and then little Marion Kansas has an incident where a judge, police (search/seizure), and a cafe owner are mixed up in DUI's and basically small town gossip, and the MSM goes wild.

[rrshock]

Yes. Most want to make this a Right and Left issue. It actually is a Payton Place type of small town issue. With all of the community DUI, divorcee's turning on each other, small town media who are "snooping" into small town businesses, there's probably an "affair" mixed into the issues too.

It's interesting to me that the MSM nationwide seems to not be interested in the 1st Amendment, and protecting people's rights. They allow cancellation of people and their opinions, crime hits the cities until people are driven out and still very few MSM stories are done on "crime", and then little Marion Kansas has an incident where a judge, police (search/seizure), and a cafe owner are mixed up in DUI's and basically small town gossip, and the MSM goes wild.

I live in Marion. It was a **** show. My sister, who lives in Seattle, called me and wanted to know why my small town was on her local news. The media ran with this one.

[Shockm]

I live in Marion. It was a **** show. My sister, who lives in Seattle, called me and wanted to know why my small town was on her local news. The media ran with this one.

I lived in a small town once (similar to Marion) when the town City Manager ran off with his Clerk who was married to an influential town businessman. It was HUGE news, and took a while to blow over. No crimes, but I knew of circumstances where towns people were pulled over and allowed to go home even though it was suspected that they had been drinking. It wasn’t uncommon for influential people to get away with those types of things.

You probably know those who are involved. Can you tell us anything?

[wufan]

I lived in a small town once (similar to Marion) when the town City Manager ran off with his Clerk who was married to an influential town businessman. It was HUGE news, and took a while to blow over. No crimes, but I knew of circumstances where towns people were pulled over and allowed to go home even though it was suspected that they had been drinking. It wasn’t uncommon for influential people to get away with those types of things.

You probably know those who are involved. Can you tell us anything?

That’s true in every size of government. Small town, city, state, federal.

[Atxshoxfan]

I lived in a small town once (similar to Marion) when the town City Manager ran off with his Clerk who was married to an influential town businessman. It was HUGE news, and took a while to blow over. No crimes, but I knew of circumstances where towns people were pulled over and allowed to go home even though it was suspected that they had been drinking. It wasn’t uncommon for influential people to get away with those types of things.

You probably know those who are involved. Can you tell us anything?

Small towns where I grew up around (maize, colwich, andale), it wasn't so much the influential people, it was the fact that the cops knew everyone and what kind of people they were. So if a kid got pulled over by a cop, it would generally lead to a warning and a call to their parents. I know of a couple times that the cop loaded a drunk driver in the cop car, took them home, and took someone from the home back to retrieve the car. I've seen it to an adult and a juvenile.
today cops don't know the character of the individuals they pull over, so they have to go by the book more often.

[SubGod22]

Eagle - 'The world is watching,' resident tells Marion City Council as it avoids talk of police raid

At an Aug. 7 Marion City Council meeting, Newell publicly accused the Record and Herbel of disseminating her “private and personal information that was illegally obtained by a local reporter.” State officials later confirmed to the Kansas City Star that the information is open to the public.

The Record had apparently looked up Newell’s driving license status on a public website to confirm allegations and documentation of Newell’s DUI history provided by a confidential source. Editor and publisher Eric Meyer ultimately decided not to publish the story and alerted police that the records provided by the source may have been unlawfully obtained.

Marion police knew the identity of the tipster — Pam Maag, a former emergency dispatcher and wife of a retired state trooper — who sent the document to Herbel and the Record. But they did not interview her nor did they get a warrant to search her home and seize her electronic devices, the Star reported Monday evening.

The city’s governing body had put the public on notice that it did not want to talk about it, writing on the meeting agenda “COUNCIL WILL NOT COMMENT ON THE ONGOING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AT THIS MEETING,” followed by 47 exclamation points.

Mayor David Mayfield, a vocal critic of the Record and Herbel, is on vacation and did not attend, leaving Herbel to chair the meeting.

Chief Cody also missed the meeting. There are calls from citizens for him to resign, along with the council member who was in charge of looking into Cody's background before he was hired.

[SubGod22]

Go figure. Government screw ups causing headaches for citizens.

KWCH - Factfinder 12: Specialty plates causing issues for some Kan. drivers

Having a specialty license plate can help you support a certain group or cause, but two Kansas men said they were ticketed from states where they’d never been all because of their specialized plates.

Jim Lichlyter, Jr. said it’s frustrating.

“You’re a good citizen, you obey the laws. That’s not right, I didn’t do anything,” he said.

Lichlyter said he got a parking ticket in the mail from the State of Colorado. The problem? It wasn’t his car, and he said he hadn’t been to Colorado.

“The Department of Revenue here in the State of Kansas told me if I want to get a different plate and the little sticker for yearly taxes, I would have to pay for that myself and I shouldn’t have to. It’s not my fault that they issued duplicate tags,” he said.

The State of Kansas admits duplicate tags have been issued. And, as of right now, it doesn’t know how many people this affects.
.....
Fred Hollister showed Factfinder 12 the letter from KTA stating that the situation had been handled. He said got a ticket in the mail, but it was from Maryland for speeding in a semi-truck.

Hollister doesn’t own a semi, and he has never been to Maryland. So, he called the DMV in Maryland.

“They said, ‘Well, that’s too bad because you need to prove to us that the semi-truck does not belong to you.’ And I said “Well, how do I do that?” And she said, “Well, we don’t care. we just need to know the semi-truck does not belong to you,” said Hollister.

After that phone call, he went to KTA in Wichita to get a letter proving that he doesn’t own a semi.

Apparently someone at KTA told one of the individuals that this happens all the time.

[Kung Wu]

Go figure. Government screw ups causing headaches ... Apparently someone at KTA told one of the individuals that this happens all the time.

Here I'll fix it ...

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX license_plate_tag_number_idx ON license_plate(tag_number);

Run that and it will never happen again. Where do I send the bill?

[SubGod22]

Eagle - State regulators say Evergy's Wichita-area rate hikes go too far. Here's what comes next

State regulators say Evergy’s proposed rate increase for 736,000 Kansas utilities customers is too high.

The energy giant wants to raise rates in the Wichita area and across much of central and eastern Kansas to increase its net revenue by 9.77 percent or $204,152,629. That would result in an average $14.42 a month increase to utility bills.

But Kansas Corporation Commission utilities staff say that isn’t justified. Instead, the staff’s “detailed financial audit of the company’s income and expenses determined that an increase of 1.66% or $34,706,527 was all that could be justified at this time to provide service to Evergy Central customers,” a Tuesday KCC release states.

KCC also states that the KC metro rates should be lowered 7.32%.

Evergy says BS and will have another opportunity to make their case.

I'm guessing we'll end up with more than the 1.66%, but much lower than the 9.77%.

[SubGod22]

So the police chief has admitted that he was told who supplied the information but still went out of his way to illegally raid the newspaper, the owners home, and the vice mayor's home.

Then in other related news

Then there's this from an internal affairs detective in KC on Cody. I skimmed the article and this detective has quite a few negative things to say. He also apparently left KCPD rather than get demoted.

Then we have police dragging their feet in returning all the data illegally obtained despite a court order to do so.