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When will the bridge over 350 Highway
at Blue Blue Boulevard be repaired?
THE PAUL LIVIUS REPORT |
A number of readers have contacted us regarding the closed lane on the Blue Ridge Boulevard bridge over 350 Highway.
We received the following explanation from Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT)
MoDOT is in progress of
designing bridge repairs so that we can open Blue Ridge Blvd over MO 350 by the
end of 2024. The bridge was struck by an oversized load, and damaged
enough that we had to close one lane on the bridge. It is possible there
will be additional closures in place while we make those repairs this
summer. MoDOT is in
progress of designing bridge repairs so that we can open Blue Ridge Blvd over
MO 350 by the end of 2024.
Not the best news, but at
least we now know how long the wait will be.
Raytown Alderwoman Elected
to Hickman Mills School Board
Raytown
Alderwoman Bonnaye Mims has been elected to the Hickman Mills School Board.
Mims is currently serving her second term on the Raytown Board of Aldermen.
Holdings more than one elected position in Missouri is
allowed under State Law. So it is legal.
Not all governing bodies allow voting members of their
elected officials to hold more than one seat in public office at a time. The
current Jackson County Legislature has four members on it who were School Board
members. The County Charter does not allow for its elected officials to hold
office in while serving on the Jackson County Legislature.
Those four members had to resign their positions before
being sworn in to serve on the County Legislature.
The questions remains . . . it is a politically wise decision
to hold to publicly elected positions at one time?
Time will tell. Mims is up for re-election to her seat on
the Raytown Board of Aldermen in April of 2025.
INTRODUCTION BY GREG WALTERS |
Raytown students wanted a crackdownon violence, guns in school.Making the right changes is tricky.
Originally
published on the St. Joseph Post
By Maria Benevento
In early February, Raytown
High School sophomore Harper York crossed the street to pick up some M&Ms
from a Casey’s store before her next rehearsal. Suddenly, she turned around
from the checkout and saw a “mob fight” had broken out.
When the chaos died
down and she got over her initial shock, Harper made a break for it.
“I don’t think I’ve
ever run so fast across the parking lot in my life,” she said. “And before I
cross the street, I look back and another (fight) is starting. … I can hear
police sirens and ambulances, and people are on the ground, and people are
crying. And it’s just like: Is this who we are?”
While the gas station fight
was the biggest Harper had seen, physical altercations in or near school had
become common.
Even bystanders weren’t safe.
A few days later, junior Chase Dernier ended up near a fight that turned into a
large-scale shoving match. He got slammed into a wall, hitting his head hard
enough to make it ache for days.
RAYTOWN HIGH SCHOOL |
The last straw came
when school officials confiscated three firearms from students in a two-week
period.
Chase and Harper recruited
classmates and other district residents to call leadership, attend the February
school board meeting and sign up for public comment. They pushed for changes
such as longer suspensions for students who fight and adding metal detectors to
school.
Since that public
pressure, students say Raytown High School has made effective changes, such as
hall sweeps targeting students who aren’t in class. They’ve also seen signs
that the district is seriously considering other measures such as installing
weapons detectors.
Superintendent Penelope
Martin-Knox said fully solving the problems of frequent fights and guns
entering school requires combing through all the ideas to find what will
actually work.
Schools throughout the
country have been grappling with the ways traditional discipline and security
tactics can cause long-term harm to students who make mistakes, exacerbate
racial disparities and make school feel a little like jail.
Martin-Knox has also watched
other districts seize on solutions that fail, such as when weapons make it past
metal detectors.
“I don’t want to give people
a false sense of hope,” she said. “I just need to make sure that what we do is
going to be as effective as it possibly can be.”
Reiko Groves first appeared
in front of the school board to perform a song from Raytown High School’s
spring musical, “Six,” which reimagines Henry VIII’s wives as pop icons.
Reiko wishes she could have
focused on her performance alone.
Instead, still in costume,
the high school junior returned to the front of the audience and addressed the
board as herself: a teenager worried about guns and violence.
“I go from performing for
this great show that I was so proud of, to now I have to go speak about how,
even though I love the (school) building, I don’t feel safe in it,” she said
later. “I have to go fight for … almost my ability to perform (and) make sure
everybody’s safe while performing.”
After students’ basic
physical safety is secure, Reiko said, “we can focus on the well-being of our
students to find solutions to not only survive, but thrive in Raytown schools.”
Students say the school
climate hasn’t always been like this. But during the fall semester, violence
started to feel like an everyday thing.
Incidents reached a peak in
December, according to district data reported to the board. Students were in
school for less than three weeks that month. But during that time, there were
50 suspensions for fighting and school officials confiscated three firearms.
Harper said she started
begging her parents to let her stay home from school, even though it meant she
would miss beloved activities like theater rehearsals. Chase, normally proud of
his high attendance, was skipping school to lie in bed, feeling “mentally
drained.”
They weren’t aware of the
firearms found in December until later, but they did hear about three
additional guns found during a two-week period in late January and early
February.
The weapons weren’t fired or
brandished, Martin-Knox said. School officials found them by searching students
after suspicions were raised: a bullet found on a hallway floor, a phone call
about a social media post.
The students said they
weren’t planning to use the guns at school, Martin-Knox said.
“I heard the reasonings of,
‘You don’t know where I have to walk when I go home. You don’t know what
happens when I get off the bus. I have to go to a relative’s house in a different
community somewhere. And I just need to safeguard myself,’” she said.
But bringing a gun to school
is a “nonnegotiable” that comes with legal consequences and the student’s
permanent removal from in-person school, Martin-Knox said.
Consequences for fights can
vary, but some students have argued they should be harsher.
“They think they’re trying to
help the students,” Chase said. “But in reality, by lowering the suspension
rates, it’s not holding students accountable.”
A rumor that suspensions for
fighting have been uniformly reduced to three days from nine days isn’t true,
Martin-Knox said. But she has emphasized to principals that they have
discretion to set suspension lengths based on the circumstances.
Martin-Knox said schools also
need to figure out how to help students understand and take responsibility for
their actions when they return from suspension.
“Because otherwise,” she
said, “I’m going to send you back out there, (and) you’re going to do it
again.”
Schools nationwide are seeing
more verbal and physical aggression from students since the return to in-person
school after the pandemic, said Kenneth Trump, a school safety consultant.
Administrators face pressure
to solve those issues, he said, especially when there are high-profile
incidents involving weapons.
“It puts school leaders at
great risk of what I call ‘do something, do anything, do it now and do it fast’
type of policy and practice rather than having a comprehensive assessment done
of their safety,” he said. “We’re seeing many cases where that includes turning
to physical security measures, security hardware products and technology.”
Those solutions don’t always
work as promised, Trump said, especially when they aren’t executed perfectly.
Locally, Kansas City Public
Schools faced a lawsuit when a knife used in
a fatal stabbing made it through a metal
detector.
“Your
high school coach and a teacher’s aide and the principal working the screening
at the front doors, (who) probably got an hour of training, total, on a new
product they spent millions of dollars for in your district, is not going to be
comparable to the TSA,” he said.
And
when those staff members are pulled from other areas of the school, they lose
opportunities to interact, head off conflicts before they escalate and build
relationships with students who might be willing to tell a trusted adult about
a weapons plot.
“One of the best, strongest
security measures in a school is a visible, actively supervising adult,” he
said.
That has borne out at Raytown
High School, according to several students who credited a reduction in fights
to regular hall sweeps — where students late to class are locked out, rounded
up and warned or disciplined — and increased patrolling by security staff
and administrators.
Some of the security measures
can be double-edged swords.
Reiko says she understands
why the school no longer holds assemblies — they were leading to fights — but
is sad to miss out on the experiences.
The hallway sweeps can be
anxiety-inducing, and she’s been stopped and questioned more often while on
legitimate errands for her classes.
But she also appreciates the
reduction in fights and being able to go to the bathroom without finding all
the stalls filled by students skipping class.
“Probably the hardest part
about this is finding that balance between … making sure it is truly a safe
environment, but also not making it feel like it’s a prison or giving
punishment that’s too harsh,” she said.
Students said they’d
appreciate weapons detectors in schools despite potential drawbacks, such as
feeding into racist stereotypes and perceptions that the school is dangerous.
Martin-Knox isn’t ruling out
metal detectors in schools, but she says she needs to think through what
schools would need to make them work, such as locking and putting sensors on
additional doors and windows.
“I’m not going to invest
district money, taxpayer money, or even grant money on something just to say
I’ve done it,” she said.
The district has already
begun increasing security measures for sporting events, which can bring large
numbers of unknown people onto school grounds, Martin-Knox said.
At its March meeting, the
board approved purchase of a weapons detection system that it hopes will
streamline the security scans, spending $300,000 in Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education safety grant funding and more than $22,000 in other
district funds.
The system can be set to target dense metal shapes that might be a firearm, said Josh Hustad, director of facility operations, allowing people to pass through more quickly without taking small items out of their pockets and bags.
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Greg's Favorite Places - ZIG ZAG FALLS
Zig Zag Falls is 7/10ths of a mile along one of the most scenic trails in Mount Hood National Park. Most waterfalls in the Mount Hood National Park are vertical. Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall at 620’ tall. Zig Zag Falls is unique because it stretches out for 7/10ths of a mile.The fast moving water reminds one of a river or creek with rapids, but the fall is steep enough to be regarded as a true waterfall.
NEGATIVE IONS: As you walk along Zig Zag Trail you can sense the rush of air propelled by the waterfall. There is no touch, or taste, but you can feel the negative ions.
Negative Ions are generated by breaking the surface tension of the water.
Falling water does this. Inhaling these ions increases the amount of these negative ions in your brain, killing germs that cause illness, and increases serotonin levels (improving mood, mental alertness, and relieving stress).
The amount of negative ions in the forest, especially near moving water, is thousands of time greater than in your home.
No wonder waterfalls are such popular hiking destinations.
21 comments:
I would suppose that being a next door neighbor to Kansas City, which is ranked in the top 10 most dangerous cities in the US, has a negative impact on not only the Raytown school's safety, but the citizens or Raytown's safety as well.
How come you're not showing the Heart in front of the Chamber of Commerce?
Thanks for the information for the parade of hearts. I am taking my kids up to the animal rescue location later today (weather permitting) to get a photo. I agree, that is quite a tribute to our area to receive such an impressive work of art. Don't know who to thank, but I am glad who ever did what was necessary to make it happen should receive the credit they deserve.
MESSAGE FOR TOM WINTERS:
Mr. Winters. Thank you for your email. We have not posted a picture of the other Heart that was placed in Raytown because we do not have any photos of it. If you have a photo, please email it to us at gregtwalters@gmail.com and we will post it on our page.
Editor, Raytown Report
Reading the news feeds from other sources these last couple of weeks. It seems Mayor Lucas is toying with the idea of making kansas city a sanctuary city.
Everyone knows the mayor will be termed out his current term. He has been trying very hard to become a talking head on one of the big three so-called national news outlets. His main target is either CNN or MSNBC. Doubtful Fox would be very interested in him.
This is not his first attempt. Watch the news feeds from MSNBC and CNN. The often use their outlets to vet possible talent for their lead commentators. They put them on as guests and then see how they poll with the public.
Remember when he endorsed the Downtown baseball stadium? He was all over the map on that issue. He ought to check and see how other sanctuary cities are doing. Every city that comes to mind has been a disaster.
My favorite image of him was when the demonstrators/rioters on the Country Club Plaza demanded he and the KC Chief of Police "take a knee" to demonstrators on the Plaza.
Someone must have been a Game of Thrones fan. They were always "taking a knee" in that fantasy.
A friend of mine told me she recently was stopped by police in Lee's Summit for an expired tag on her car. She had quite a discussion with the Lee's Summit Police Officer. She told him it is expired but will not be for long because she is getting something fixed on the car so it will pass inspection, and she is also needs to pay her personal property tax.
The conversation turned to Raytown. She told him the other part is that she lives in Raytown and Raytown does not enforce the expired temporary tag law! The Lee's Summit officer broke out laughing -- "why not?" he wondered.
I really did not have an answer but like she told him, "it is what it is"!
He gave her a warning. She promised to get her taxes and license up to date.
Received another report of solicitors all over the intersection of Blue Ridge Cutoff and 63rd Street. Some in the street, standing on the very thin concrete median in the middle of 63rd Street with their children!!!
I know Raytown passed a law making such activity illegal. So I called up the dispatcher at the raytown police department. Happened to drive through the intersection an hour later. The solicitors were still there!!!
Are some of our laws being ignored because it is inconvenient to enforce them. I read your article on the Police Report that tells how our number police officers is increasing. It does not make a hoot of a difference if our laws are not enforcement. If anyone at city hall is reading this please see what you can do make our streets safer by enforcing this good law that bans soliciting on public streets. And for goodness sake, start enforcing the laws on driving around with expired tags.
Did I hear correctly that the city is once again working on a master plan?
I sure would like to understand what that actually means Vs. the story told at board meetings.
I should explain my concern and confusion. At the board meetings every thing is always painted as a bed of roses.
The reality is those roses were black to start with and just about dead now.
Based on the reality of observation and driving down any street or turn on any news source not tied to the Mayor and his special band of false hopes and failures, the truth is all around us.
Violation of property are everywhere and nothing is done, but our city budget shows funds for staffing and other related expenses. Real than where is the money going and do those at the top or those with special accreditations understand they could be personal held accountable. Oh, silly me these are the same folks that believe they are accountable to no one including the state or us taxpayers.
Wait don't forget how the violence and murders have increased in Raytown or are tied to a subset of those living in Raytown. We have all heard the excuses as it is the only thing that our city officials are good at.
If even only for a day those at city hall would realize they work for us and not the other way around.
Raytown would quickly once again become a family friendly community.
@6:12 pm. Blame must always be applied to the guilty party. You are describing the failures of the society in which we live.
"The questions remains . . . it is a politically wise decision to hold to publicly elected positions at one time?"
Depends on the office holder's record of achievement, we would think.
In this case? Absolutely not, in our opinion.
Interesting that a bridge damaged last fall will not start the repair work until late this fall.
I know I have concern when the state still is working on the parking lot of the building on the corner of 63rd and Blue Ridge Cut Off.
This doesn't say anything positive about the Republic Party, which is the party in control of our state. It is clear public safety for them is only a catch phase and not words they put into action.
I hope others remember this throughout our state and those of a people first NOT me first mindset are elected and our state can move forward after being held hostage for too long.
Don't forget the Republicans of MO are allowing the State Attorney General to use taxpayers dollars to defend three State Senators of their party that are being sued as individuals for verberly attacking a US ciitizen without facts.
NONE of these for men, Senators or AG, need to ever hold public office again!
Hmmm. 8:03 PM. "Blame must always be applied to the guilty party. You are describing the failures of the society in which we live."
Maybe I don't fully understand this comment. Maybe there's a nuance here that I'm not smart enough to appreciate. At face value however, assigning blame is almost never a solution. The second half of the comment, "you are describing..." might be accurate. Perhaps even more accurate if it read 'you are demonstrating...
I do understand that it was written in response to a previous comment that threw a lot of shade in a lot of directions, and that I'm not understanding it. It caused me to remember a short conversation I had with someone recently.
A person recognized me in a public place and started speaking with me. Not a friend or acquaintance, just someone who I'd run into on a past occasion. The conversation deteriorated into an "airing of grievances" about Raytown. I was trying to be polite. But in another minute this person, in an effort to support an opinion, started in with, "They think that we should," followed by the rest of it. The substance of what followed provided context, "they" was intended to mean black people, and "we" to mean white people.
Obviously, everyone can have any opinion they want to. But here's a clue; if you find yourself talking about a particular demographic as they, and your own demographic as we, it's unlikely that you are part a solution.
Trust the process. I've heard the mayor say it. There's a place in my neighborhood from which I can see 5 cars with expired paper tags. I can't blame the mayor for someone not licensing their car. But I wonder why should these people get a pass? So much other crime going on, we can't waste the manpower. That dog don't hunt! The roads are bad, the budget is small, and on and on. So why not start with the people who are telling us that they don't care about following the law. Hello! those people ARE the criminal element!
@10:03 AM
I think you read too much, assumed way too much. Generally speaking, society is messed up right now and color really does not have anything to do with it. I never knew the use of the word “we” and “they” could be misconstrued in such a way.
"Obviously, everyone can have any opinion they want to. But here's a clue; if you find yourself talking about a particular demographic as they, and your own demographic as we, it's unlikely that you are part a solution."
I "get" what you're saying. And I really do appreciate how sensibly and respectfully that you asserted your opinion.
I was just thinking about racial comments that were asserted in a Raytown city council meeting a few months back. We've noted two incidents, actually, in just a a six month or so period. By two Raytown aldermen.
Exploiting race in an open forum in an attempt to force a desired result is alarming. It was quite concerning that these aldermen, almost reflexively, felt that it was perfectly acceptable to "let it fly".
Hopefully these Raytown aldermen were sufficiently and quite generously excoriated by public comment (here) where they now understand that their behavior is on notice from here on out.
Falsely alleging racism only widens any perceived divide.
There should only be a "we". Not an "us", not a "them".
This can be a perfectly healthy, constructive discussion.
Let's just keep working on these issues around here, shall we?
Positive results are a guarantee. <3
While on a walk through our neighborhood, we observed a very long, newly installed gravel driveway, crossing two residential lots. That is a clear violation of existing standards. I reported it using the online procedure. Months later it still is there. Toothless enforcement.
RN
Hard not to agree about the racist remarks on an earlier post. A few specifics would be helpful.
First, who made the racist remarks? You mention two Aldermen. Undoubtedly they have names. All of the meetings are televised, so it would be easy to verify your accusation.
If you have a story to tell, please do so. But if your story is nothing more than innuendo it only demeans whatever it is you are trying to sell.
"Trust the process. I've heard the mayor say it."
Difficult to "trust" the "process", when apparently there is no process?
Has anyone ever actually received a timely response from the city, followed by a positive outcome when they report a code violation?
I stated that I'm not sure what to think of a previous comment that mentioned assigning blame. Regarding another person's rant about we and they, I'll stick with what I said in what I posted, "The substance of what followed provided context," and it did. No need to assume anything, it was clear. I didn't think it necessary or productive to repeat the rest of what was said.
As far as the statements that were made by the Aldermen, I don't want to paraphrase what was said. I think there's a negative consequence, in this case, of being wrong. For those of you playing at home, at least one of these statements was made in the course of discussion about whether or not to allow a convenience/liquor/smokes store at Woodson and Blue Ridge.
I also think there can be constructive discussion and that unfounded allegations of racism make all of us look bad.
If memory serves, in another incident, an individual on the council openly complained of the disparate treatment of "...someone that looks just like me...", with zero substantiation. That alderman is experienced enough where they should know by now that those type of comments are completely unacceptable, unless they're supported by facts.
This "career" individual needs to move on when their term expires, IOO, especially after the somewhat recent State complaint against them.
"For those of you playing at home, at least one of these statements was made in the course of discussion about whether or not to allow a convenience/liquor/smokes store at Woodson and Blue Ridge."
Yes. We witnessed that alderman's remarks as well. They were unsettling, as their comments were disturbingly assumptive; they unnecessarily slammed the character of the entire community.
In that second instance however, perhaps "constructive" begins with giving grace to that Alderman - they're new and perhaps felt threatened by the opinions that they received from individuals that were opposed to that convenience store. We really wouldn't have any idea of what this alderman experienced during that process. Her comments, nevertheless, were staggeringly inappropriate, in our opinion.
Are you able to provide the meeting and timestamp from the record of the meeting those events of racism took place?
I know that I sure would like to review and address to whomever based on those tapes.
Please don't say the tapes have now been altered as if they have that is a clear violation of the law and should be at a minimum reported to the DOJ for cover up of racism of elected officials, ST AG for violation of sunshine law and tampering with public information, and finally the ST Bar Association that the city attorney is allowing her client to behave in a way that is breaking state laws and covering up actions that violate federal laws.
Until than the ball or should we say proof is in your corner.
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