On Monday night I was a bachelor so I did something I haven’t done in years. I grabbed a meal from Burger King.
Soon remembered why I hadn’t been to Burger King in years.
I also haven’t been to Wendy’s in years. Probably gonna keep it that way.
For some reason, MoDOT continues to pretend that the pavement on Interstate 29 from Exit 19 at Platte City north a couple of miles is not a war zone filled with crater-sized potholes. It’s a travesty, especially in the northbound lanes. It has been this way for months, maybe a year or more at this point.
A Landmark reader who regularly travels through that area told me he has recently seen four people pulled to the side of the road changing flat tires in this stretch. If you’ve driven through there you are not surprised.
Remember late last year when we talked about how the Missouri State Highway Patrol has made the ridiculous decision to no longer provide names in its online crash reports? Thankfully, the Missouri Press Association hasn’t forgotten and continues to oppose this sketchy decision by the highway patrol. Dan Curry, attorney for the Missouri Press Association, continues to look into the topic and wrote some interesting observations about it in a recent publication circulated among Missouri Press Association members.
“When the Missouri State Highway Patrol issued its statement on Nov. 1, 2024 ending its long-standing policy of providing names in its online crash reports, it tossed out a decades-long practice that the public and the media relied upon to uncover the news,” Curry says. “The (highway patrol) stated that it ‘conducts periodic review of all policies, procedures and general orders’ and as a result of such a review, decided to no longer release names online. By account, the highway patrol is also heavily redacting these crash reports when requested through the records center,” Curry writes.
Their new policy sucks and does not serve the public. I’m sure Landmark readers have noticed that not using names of those involved in crashes really diminishes the informative helpfulness of the typical crash story. You’d like to know if your neighbors, friends, colleagues or acquaintances have been injured in a crash, would you not? I think most of us would. For instance, I can tell you that a 39-year-old female from Camden Point was seriously injured in a crash on I-29 near Faucett on the Fourth of July. What I can’t tell you is the name of that 39-year-old Camden Point female, thanks to the highway patrol’s crazy, lazy, and controlling new policy. So I guess if you know any 39-year-old Camden Point females this might be a good time to check on them.
Curry, the Missouri Press Association attorney, points out the highway patrol’s redaction policy “is on a crash course with the Sunshine Law.” He adds that the highway patrol’s decision “appears to violate the Sunshine Law. Those crash reports are ‘incident reports,’ and the Sunshine Law requires certain information be provided concerning incident reports, including names. The courts also agree that the names in incident reports must be provided,” he explains, and then lists case law examples.
Curry says something else about the highway patrol’s decision is problematic for the highway patrol. Can the highway patrol, with nothing more than a press release, dramatically change a 30-year practice of releasing names, a practice that the public and the press have come to expect? Curry believes the answer is no.
When a state agency issues a “rule,” then notice of the rule must be published, an explanation for the rule change must be provided, legal authority must be provided for the change, and comments should be solicited, all according to RSMO Chapter 536, before the rule is adopted. “That way the public can find out why the rule change is being proposed and alert the agency to any potential problems,” says the Missouri Press Association attorney.
Instead of just announcing a rule change, it would have been good to have the highway patrol state the statutory basis for the rule change and to provide some evidence as to why it was necessary. “By turn, the press would have been able to point out the Sunshine Law provisions strongly encouraging public data to be made available online and requiring names to be included in incident reports,” Curry said.
“Because the highway patrol did not engage in rulemaking procedures, the new policy could be declared null and void,” Curry says.
Stay tuned. Meanwhile, we ask for your continued understanding when we bring you highway patrol crash stories that contain no names.
The Platte County Fair is July 23-26, and I don’t know if you’ve looked at the long-range weather forecast. If you plan to go to the fair and you don’t like heat, you should probably stop reading right now.
Here is the current weather forecast for fair days:
July 23: High of 98 degrees, with a ‘feels like’ temp of 107.
July 24: High of 96 with a feels like of 103.
July 25: High of 95 with a feels like of 99.
July 26: High of 96 with a feels like of 103.
Enjoy!
Missouri Western State University this week announced it has officially adopted MoWest as the primary way the university will be identified. Which is the way most of us have always referenced the university, anyway. “For years, alumni and community members have affectionately referred to us as MoWest,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, president. “It’s familiar, approachable and reflects an authentic, personal connection.”
I spent a decade at MoWest one year.
Been exchanging messages with Wes Minder, county administrator for Platte County, about the recent KC Water 10-days of nasty tasting tap water. Minder, a former director of KC Water, has some thoughts and ideas on what KC could be doing to prevent such spells in the future.
More on that soon.
(Find Foley searching for redacted information in highway patrol crash reports. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
