Josh and I have received so many kind and encouraging words from Landmark readers and local newsmakers who are eager to meet us. One longtime subscriber came into the office our second day on the job and just wanted to tell us, “Thank you for buying the paper.” He didn’t have a question or need to pay for anything. He could have called or emailed, but he brightened our day by simply stopping in.
He also said that he has worked with student journalists at a local high school in the past and was happy to inform us that their class receives The Landmark weekly and “it’s a great example to them of what community journalism looks like.” This made me tear up a bit, to be honest.
That’s our goal every day — to tell the stories of this county, to inform and educate our readers and to hold public officials accountable. If we can play a very small role in showing future journalists what that entails, then we’ve done our job.
Another gentleman that I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet wished us well on LinkedIn and stated, “thanks for believing in Platte County and the future of community newspapers.” I do believe in community journalism. If I didn’t, we wouldn’t have spent our life’s savings purchasing The Landmark.
Our decision to buy this publication was also a strategic one. Platte County is the fastest-growing county in the state, and no one covers the Northland quite like The Landmark has for decades.
But enough about us. Let’s get to a few other things that caught my attention this week.
Our nation’s vice president stopped in town briefly Monday morning for a surprise visit, even to us media folks. It was exciting to learn he was just down the street, but I was a little alarmed at first before I knew what was happening. Now, I’ve seen multiple presidential motorcades as a reporter and there were no more than 10 cars. But this was different.
I was driving to Parkville on southbound I-435 heading to the police station to watch the Mayor Katerndahl car wash disagreement surveillance video (more on that in a second). I counted more than 35 city and sheriff sedans, SUVs and motorcycles flying past with their lights on. I thought we had another breaking news situation on our hands like we saw in Weston last week until I pulled off the exit and made a call. Closing both I-435 and I-29 in both directions seemed excessive to me, but I’m not in charge of logistics.
I’m sure Mayor Katerndahl, and the city for that matter, are relieved this car wash scuffle case is behind them. According to the police report, the woman alleged the mayor “poked her in her chest with his right index finger and pushed her to get out of the way from him viewing her license plate information.” The mayor’s account in the report states that “his wife was upset so he did approach the victim in a non-threatening manner.” Katerndahl said he “pointed towards the victim but did not touch her and had no intentions of harming her in any way.”
I watched the video twice on a 65-inch screen and the surveillance camera was a great distance away from the action. In fact, the disagreement could be seen in the very upper right-hand corner of the screen. I never saw Katerndahl touch the woman. It just appeared to be two people arguing over a vacuum hose and who it belonged to.
I chose not to publish the woman’s name which is listed in the police report. I would only do that if I were able to track her down and get her side of the story. But I saw the video and, based on that, I don’t believe her account that the mayor touched her. And, let’s be real here. This woman accused the 81-year-old mayor of assaulting her in public at a local car wash. No one would want to be on her radar. Just too risky.
So, case closed. If the video was exciting I would have considered asking the chief to download it on a thumb drive for me to share with readers, but it was uneventful.
Three weeks into this new role, I’ve already decided that I know too much. The editorial stories you see are currently a one-woman show. I’m being blind-copied on emails, getting anonymous phone tips in the office and the “anonymous” websites popping up now total two. It’s just too many crazy things happening all at once for me to follow up on in one week’s time.
Look, I’ve covered local political races, mudslinging, sabotage and election nights in a variety of cities and I’ve never seen anything like this, to this extent. The behavior I’m witnessing is typically reserved for pricey television attack ads, political mailers and spicy candidate forums.
Elected officials are berating one another in public meetings. During my first Platte County Commission meeting, Scott Fricker said “shame on you!” to Sheriff Erik Holland while glaring at him sitting in the audience. The woman seated directly behind me then said aloud as well, “shame on you!” while pointing at Fricker.
Goodness. Letters to the Editor are accusing opposing candidates of crimes, while other groups are “demanding” investigations left and right from agencies that don’t investigate things (like the “Signature harvesting” story we covered previously.)
Buckle up, it’s only September. I’m not predicting things will get crazier. I know they will.
