Two men, one from Smithville and the other from Kansas City, were arrested Monday night after a series of thefts from cars and garages left unlocked in the Riss Lake and Monticello areas, according to Kevin Chrisman, police chief for Parkville.
Karen Backues of Platte City, the liquor store operator charged with theft and forgery, is no longer a resident of the Platte County Jail. Backues’ bond, originally set at $50,000 cash-only, was reduced by Judge Lee Hull at a hearing last week. Hull reduced Backues’ bond to $30,000 cash or surety, which allowed her to post at 10 percent of that $30,000. Next event in the Backues criminal case is a docket call set for May 13. Backues is accused of stealing more than $220,000 from her now-former employer, GBA Master Series, a software firm in Overland Park, Kan.
Damon Parker, kindergarten teacher at Pathfinder Elementary School in the Platte County R-3 School District, was one of four winners of the Fox 4 Crystal Apple Award this year. It was presented last week by Fox 4 morning anchors Loren Halifax and Mark Alford, the award honors “outstanding educators who go above and beyond.” Recognized during a routine school assembly, the nomination and win came as a complete surprise to Parker. His family, however, had known about it all along.
