We haven’t mentioned the county jail in quite a while.
In case you’re curious, the number of inmates in the Platte County Jail as of Wednesday morning is 166. Typically the county is holding about 15 ICE inmates on a rent-a-bed basis, so around 151 actual county prisoners.
Last year at this time–which is when all the over-the-top new jail proposal stuff was getting kicked off in the public domain after apparently being talked about less-than-publicly by commissioners prior to that–the county jail population was higher than that.. One year ago this week the jail population was listed at 190, which is 24 prisoners more than now, or about 15 percent higher than present.
Keep in mind summer is typically the time when jail populations are at their highest point. The bad guys get active in the summer months.
You’ll recall jail capacity is listed at 180. Temporary beds (called ‘boats’ by jail staff) are used when needed.
So to repeat, the jail has 24 fewer prisoners than a year ago today.
Draw your own conclusions. Or don’t. Just providing the information.
The first day of school can often feel unique. Even a little weird, I suppose.Park Hill School District is experiencing a little bit of drama on the first day of classes today (Wednesday).
The district is opening a new middle school this year, Walden Middle School on 56th Street, Kansas City in Platte County. As finishing touches on the new building are still being done, school officials spread the word that students would not be able to use the second floor of the building on opening day because the City of Kansas City had not yet issued a temporary occupancy permit for the stairs leading to the second floor.
School officials said the district is working closely with Kansas City officials throughout the process and hope to get the matter resolved as soon as possible. Staff at the school was said to be working on a plan for that would include students “continue learning uninterrupted and are safe.”
And just as we headed to press late Wednesday morning came this word from Dr. Jeanette Cowherd, Park Hill superintendent:
“We knew that all the structures at Walden were safe, and inspectors had confirmed that they were ready for students. However, we found out late yesterday that there was a documentation issue and we found out this morning which documents we needed to get stamped. This applied to the stairs to the second floor, so we kept all students on the first floor until we could get the documents stamped and get confirmation from the city of Kansas City. We received permission to use the stairs at 10:29 a.m.”
The Cops and Kids event in downtown Platte City was a good time Tuesday night. It looked like attendance was struggling a bit compared to previous years, especially early in the evening, which could have been in part due to the heat and humidity but more likely due to the fact a school registration/meet the teacher type thing was going on in the Platte County R-3 School District from 5-7 p.m. The Cops and Kids activity ran from 5 till about 8:30.
Uh oh. Somebody messed up.
KC Wolf, Chiefs mascot, was a no-show for Cops and Kids. No immediate explanation. And the city had pre-paid.
Let’s count it as the first miscue of the 2019 season for the Chiefs. On the positive side, the team made few mistakes in the first preseason game the other night.
The dunk tank was fun. Maybe a slightly bruised tailbone but no major injuries. Not even any hurt feelings.
Speaking of butthurt.
For about 17 or 18 years, each week a representative from The Landmark has hand delivered about five complimentary copies of that week’s newspaper to City Hall in Parkville.
This week, an underling at the city called to let us know “they” don’t want us to do that anymore. For several reasons, this seems like a strange request from public officials inside a public building. Especially considering a few times over the years when delivery of the free papers was not made we received a call from City Hall asking why the papers didn’t show up.
I’m sure the request to stop the complimentary delivery has nothing to do with Mayor Nan Johnston’s recent decision to be offended by less than positive news coverage. Right?
Frankly, I’m a little disappointed the “stop dropping a free paper here” request didn’t come in the form of an angry email carbon copied to 500 confused recipients.
This just in: Landmark Live will be broadcasting from Parkville the weekend of Parkville Days.
You might think we’re doing that just to rearrange the mayor’s furniture. Kind of a “tell us where you don’t want us and we’ll be there” kind of thing.
Nah. That’s just an unintended consequence.
(More Between the Lines type updates on Facebook at Platte County Landmark and on Twitter @ivanfoley. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)