Category Archives: Jackson County

Friday Follies for May 8, 2015

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Jackson County MO Sheriff Mike Sharp

Here is some local Missouri news. Jackson County MO Sheriff Mike Sharp, in the face of a 21,000 CCW application/renewal backlog and growing pressure from state and local parties, finally acts. He has hired two temporary, part-time employees to address the issue.

You can find the story here, on the WMSA website.

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Today is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Today’s FOX Newsletter noted the anniversary with this short piece.

Today we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Fortunately for posterity, the late Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Relman Morin, then an AP war correspondent, was present to paint a gripping picture of the surrender by German commanders to allied officers: “There was a moment of silence, and in that moment, the scene seemed to freeze. It had the character of a picture, somehow, a queer unreality. Here was the end of nearly five years of war, of blood and death, of high excitement and fear and great discomfort, of explosions and bullets whining and the wailing of air raid sirens. Here, brought into this room, was the end of all that. Your mind refused to take it in. Hence, this was a dream, this room with the Nile green walls and the charts, the black table, and the uniformed men seated around it. The words, ‘There are four copies to be signed,’ meant nothing unless you forced the meaning to come, ramming it into your brain with a hard, conscious effort.”

“All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope.” – Winston Churchill in a May 17, 1947 speech at Royal Albert Hall. On Thursday, members of the high command of the British military presented a bust of Churchill  to their counterparts at the Pentagon.

I wonder if Obama will force the Pentagon to send the bust back like he sent back the bust of Churchill that used to reside in the White House?

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On Drudge’s front page is an announcement. The US unemployment rate exceeds 93 million. The AP states the unemployment percentage is only 5.4%.

The AP lies. Simple math will tell you that if 93 million are unemployed out of a population of 325 million, the rate is 28%, not 5.4%.

But…but…but…you can’t include children and school kids! True, that would reduce the 93 million to a lower number AND INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF UNEMPLOYED!

Math works. You can fudge the figures and lie, but math will tell you the truth.

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Speaking of Drudge, The Hill has just announced that Matt Drudge is the 2nd most influential man in America. The liberal digital magazine is no fan of Matt Drudge. But they did admit…

Is Drudge the second most influential man in America, behind the president? It is a debatable proposition that might well be true. More than any single person in American politics besides the president, he determines the content of debate in our national discourse on an hourly basis.

In many ways, I deplore the influence of Matt Drudge, but in the meantime, would someone send this piece to Drudge and maybe he will post it (wink, wink)? — The Hill.

The Hill would love to had as many hits on their website as does Drudge in just one hour.

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In case you weren’t looking, conservatism, well, the British variety, returned to the UK. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party takes the majority of seats in Parliament in their general election yesterday. The Scottish National Party (SNP) took 56 out of 59 regional seats making them a political power that must be accommodated. Many of the opposition party leaders resigned their party positions. Some lost their seats as MPs as well.

Cameron won on a platform of more power to the Scottish regional parliament and a vote on the UK’s continuing membership in the EU. If the UK leaves, the EU could, in light of its growing financial instability, fragment, shedding some of its more financially irresponsible members…like Greece.

 

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Rights denied

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The big news story for the week, Ted Cruz is running for Prez, has passed. The dems and the GOP establishment (i.e., RINOs) are in a panic. For many, however, the future, contemplating a Cruz Presidency, suddenly looks brighter.

With no big headlines, local issues are coming to fore. One such issue is Jackson County Missouri Sheriff Mike Sharp. It appears that Sheriff Sharp is deliberately violating the spirit of Missouri’s CCW statutes if not the letter. How? By deliberately impeding new CCW licenses and renewals.

Sheriff Sharp has posted regulations on his website governing the process for CCW applications and renewals. If you read the instructions, nothing extraordinary pops out. The state statutes governing CCW issue and renewal process can be found here. The Missouri statues make issuing CCW a “shall issue” process, that is, if nothing detrimental is found about the applicant for CCW, the Sheriff must issue the license, AND, if no issue is found within forty-five days of the filing of the application, the Sheriff must issue the license immediately.

In most counties, the process runs smoothly and quickly. Not so, in Jackson County. According to his website, a Jackson County resident must make an appointment. You can call for an appointment sixty days in advance for renewals and the appointment cannot be any earlier than thirty days prior to the expiration of your license. If you fail to have all the documentation as required according to the Sheriff’s website, you must start the process all over again—you go to the back of the line.

What’s the problem with this?

Getting an answer when you call for an appointment. Apparently the number you must call for an appointment goes directly to voicemail. The applicant is instructed to leave a number and his call will be returned. According to many complaints, those voicemail messages are never returned. Neither can you just drop by the CCW processing office for an appointment. The office moved recently to a smaller building that is shared with another county office. When a recent applicant arrived, there was no parking available. The employees of the other office took all the parking spaces. If parking is available, applicants are turned away if they do not have an appointment.

It seems to be a chapter out of Catch-22. You can’t renew or apply for CCW without an appointment, but your calls to get an appointment are never returned. This often continues until an appointment cannot be made before the licensee’s permit expires—then a $10 fine is tacked on because the applicant failed to renew before his license expired. In addition, the forty-five day clock for issuance doesn’t start until the application for CCW is made. If an applicant can’t get an appointment, the issuance is delayed further.

A right delayed is a right denied.

Sheriff Sharp says he is underfunded and understaffed. Many find that response unbelievable when funds were found for Sheriff Sharp’s new offices and their subsequent upgrades. It seems Sheriff’s Sharp’s priorities are not toward serving the public. It will take an lawsuit to force him to comply to the spirit of state law instead of impeding it.

Any Jackson County CCW applicant have a 55-gallon drum full of $100 bills? Because that will be needed to force Sheriff Sharp to change his ways.

Compare the difficulty in Jackson County with other counties. I renewed my CCW a year or so ago in Cass County, Missouri. I walked in with cash and walked out, renewed, ten minutes later and I didn’t need an appointment. My renewal was handled by one of the office staff. That’s how CCW applications and renewals are processed in the rest of Missouri—except for Jackson County.

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The Missouri Legislature is taking a close look at the freebies illegal aliens are receiving in Missouri. A bill has been filed to block financial aid to illegals, financial aid paid for by Missouri’s taxpayers.

‘Missouri lawmakers seek to ban college aid to undocumented students,’ St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Legislative leaders propose making it more expensive for undocumented students to go to college even as school leaders say they want to offer access to promising students regardless of their immigration status. With public colleges limited by state and federal law in how much help they can offer to undocumented students, a number of the state’s private institutions have picked up the slack, offering scholarships and other financial help to noncitizens.

“Missouri’s fight over undocumented students stretches back to last year when current House Budget Committee Vice Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, successfully included language in the state’s higher education budget barring public colleges and universities from offering in-state tuition to “unlawfully present” students. His reasoning: Students who are in the country illegally should not receive better tuition rates than legal residents. This year, legislators are trying to go further. One measure that recently passed the House is a Fitzpatrick-sponsored bill that would require colleges and universities to charge undocumented students the same tuition charged to international students — generally much higher than in-state tuition rates.” — PoliticMO Newsletter, Marcy 25, 2015.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch cherry-picked one ‘undocumented’ college student to protest this bill.

Missouri lawmakers seek to ban college aid to undocumented students

By Koran Addo, Alex Stuckey

This time last year, one promising north St. Louis County student was in a position that a lot of hopeful college students dream about. He was a high school senior with good grades, a distinguished athlete on his high school wrestling and football teams.

He got into every four-year college he’d applied to before he realized he couldn’t afford any of them. Now 19, he is enrolled at a community college, hoping to make it to a university one day. His mistake was not realizing soon enough that, unlike his peers, he wasn’t eligible for state and financial aid.

Originally from Pakistan, he came to the U.S. 14 years ago with his parents, when he was 5. He is allowed to stay in the U.S. as an undocumented student under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. The program extends work permits and deportation relief to those brought to the U.S. as children. Although he is in the U.S. legally, he asked not to be named for fear of employment issues.

The Post-Dispatch chose carefully who they used in their article. No, they couldn’t use Jose who illegally slipped across the border and now wants the US taxpayer to pay for his education. No, that was too easy. I wonder how long it took those two reporters to find their Pakistani?

 

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A new push for Obamacare in Missouri

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The new push is medicaid expansion, a part of Obamacare. Missouri has been successful pushing back on this part of Obamacare but that hasn’t deterred the big-city progressives. Their newest tactic is to hire a former ‘Pub state senator, Charlie Shields, to be their front-man in their continued search for more money.

In Kansas City, the issue is the failing Truman medical system, two publicly funded hospitals with a track record of failure. Jackson County hopes their new man will succeed when their democrat puppet didn’t.

Hospital CEO Contends With Medicaid Conundrum

Former Lawmaker Needs to Prod Legislature Into Expanding Federal-State Health Plan or Face Losses

By Anna Wilde Mathews,
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Charlie Shields, CEO, Truman Medical Centers

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The future of Truman Medical Centers, a two-hospital safety-net system here, depends on the state legislature—and no one understands that better than its new chief executive, Charlie Shields.

Mr. Shields, a genial 55-year-old, spent 20 years as a Republican lawmaker, ending up as the leader of the Missouri Senate before term limits forced him to step down. In 2010, he became chief operating officer of one of Truman’s hospitals, and in July he succeeded longtime Truman CEO John W. Bluford III.

Now Mr. Shields, whose office décor includes a collection of elephant statues, must press the legislature’s current Republican leaders to accept the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state insurance for low-income people. Expanded Medicaid would be a financial lifeline for Truman, which is losing money as it cares for a large population of uninsured patients.

Mr. Shields said he tells lawmakers he understands their situation: “I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve made these tough decisions.” Indeed, he voted for a major retrenchment of Missouri’s Medicaid program in 2005, when about 100,000 people were cut from the rolls. He said the move was difficult but necessary amid a budget crunch, and that he always aimed for it to be reversed when there was funding to do so.

Today, Mr. Shields argues, with federal money available because of the health law, the expansion makes sense. Under the law, the U.S. is supposed to pay the full cost of Medicaid expansion through 2016, and then a share that will phase down to 90% in 2020 and beyond.

Still, he acknowledged the political challenge for Republicans who don’t want to be seen as endorsing a law that is unpopular with many constituents. In polling performed by the Kaiser Family Foundation between January and October of this year, 34% of Missouri residents favored the law, while 52% viewed it unfavorably.

As a middle ground, Mr. Shields said, lawmakers could craft a “Missouri-specific solution” that could potentially occur under a federal waiver, and “there are a lot of things that would work” as a structure for expanding coverage.

You can read the rest of the column at the WSJ website.

Perhaps what Mr. Shields needs to do is to explore something different, something Jackson County progressives would never consider. He has a reasonably conservative history during his time in the Missouri Legislature. With that history, he may be open to something radical like—privatizing the Truman Medical System, privatize both hospitals.

If the county is unable to manage these two hospitals and keep them in the black, perhaps it is time to pass them on to an organization who can. There are numerous hospitals and hospital organizations across the country who are privately owned and not only stay in the black, but actually make a (horrors!) profit.

When a CEO in a business can’t make his company profitable, the stake-holders have two choices, get rid of the CEO and hire one who can succeed, or close the doors. That truism holds true for publicly owned institutions as well.

The progressive’s solution is more taxpayer money in the form of expanded medicaid included in Obamacare. Missouri has rejected both realizing that within a few years, if that, it would be the state would who be picking up the tab for the increased expenditures of medicaid—money the state does not have unless something else is cut equally. Stealing from Peter to pay Paul is not a viable solution for Missouri.

Government, like all of us, must learn that the public money-well is not bottomless.

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Followup: Jackson County

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Last week I wrote about a Jackson County ordinance passed last December without fanfare or notice. The ordinance effectively banned shooting in most of rural Jackson County—areas used for farming, personal shooting and hunting. Under the ordinance, outdoor shooting and archery was banned.

The Western Missouri Shooters Alliance hosted a meeting for affected Jackson Countians, a member of the county legislature, the county sheriff, and two members of the Missouri General Assembly. The meeting drew the attention of the Independence Examiner and several days later, the Kansas City Star.

A review meeting was conducted yesterday afternoon to discuss the ordinance. The county legislature unanimously repealed section (c), the new addition that banned shooting. There are already ordinances in place that govern shooting across property lines and at structures.

With the repeal, the ordinance reverts to its language as it was last year.

Jackson County legislators repeal controversial ordinance that made some hunting illegal

By BRIAN BURNES – The Kansas City Star, 07/28/2014 5:55 PM, UPDATED: 07/28/2014 7:07 PM

The Jackson County Legislature on Monday unanimously approved deleting a section of the county weapons code that prohibited discharging firearms or arrows in parts of eastern Jackson County. The ordinance had confused and angered landowners such as Wade Noland, who said it prohibited them from hunting on their property.Once again, eastern Jackson County landowners can hunt legally on their properties.

The Jackson County Legislature on Monday unanimously approved deleting a section of the county weapons code that prohibited shooting firearms in parts of unincorporated eastern Jackson County.

The vote followed 45 minutes of testimony before the legislature’s justice and law enforcement committee. The swift action pleased a crowd that filled all available chairs and lined the walls of the legislative chambers in the Jackson County Courthouse Annex in Independence.

The old ordinance, approved in December, prohibited shooting firearms or arrows anywhere within irregular patches of land within the county’s “urban development tier.” That tier covers patches of land stretching from near Greenwood to near Sugar Creek.

Legislators and other officials said they had been motivated by genuine concerns over negligent gun owners discharging firearms in a manner that allowed bullets to strike residences.

A county official displayed maps Monday pinpointing the locations of nine incidents reported to the sheriff’s office before the December vote. Seven more incidents have been reported since.

Greg Grounds, the former Blue Springs mayor who co-sponsored last year’s ordinance, insisted that he and his colleagues had meant well.

“It was well-intentioned,” he said, adding, “It was not well thought out by myself.”

Melissa Morehead, a Blue Springs resident whose family owns 36 acres in one of the affected areas, said the ordinance had caused rampant confusion.

“In one hasty move, you criminalized hunting,” she said. “You criminalized that and you didn’t tell us.”

Lack of communication compounded the problem, she said.

“We spent the Fourth of July weekend calling our neighbors,” Morehead said. “For seven months, if we were shooting our guns, we were doing it illegally.”

Joe DeBold, an urban wildlife biologist with the Missouri Conservation Department, testified that property owners who hunt lawfully assist the department in controlling wildlife.

“They have to be able to discharge firearms,” DeBold said.

The legislature unanimously approved the new ordinance, which retains language that prohibits shooters from firing bullets or arrows beyond property boundaries.

Afterward, Kevin Jamison of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance promised assistance if the legislature ever wanted to revisit the issue.

“None of us want unsafe practices going on,” said Jamison. “That doesn’t help anybody.”

A win for the people against petty tyrants. The common folk still have power.

Read more herhttp://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article820969.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article820969.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article820969.html#storylink=c
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Firearms in the local news

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Jackson County, MO, has been in the news this week. The first was the result of unintended, for some, consequences. The second was grandstanding by Kansas City Sly James.

Back in December, the Jackson County legislature added  sub-section (c) to an existing ordinance, 5534.2. That addition said:

c. Discharge a firearm or projectile weapon:

(1) Anywhere within the area described as the “Urban Development Tier” in the Jackson County Master Plan “Strategy for the Future,” dated January 1994, as amended; or

(2) In a manner so as to allow a projectile to travel beyond the boundaries of the tract of real property from which it was fired onto another tract not under common ownership.

This subsection 5534.2.c shall not apply to any otherwise lawful activity taking place on the grounds of a firing range or gun club as permitted under section 24005.9 of this code or under the duly enacted ordinances of any competent municipal authority within Jackson County. (Ord. 2106, Eff. 6/16/92; Ord. 4595, Eff. 12/02/1

Before this section was added, the boundaries of this ordinance was 1-mile beyond existing city limits. After the change most of rural Jackson County was within the new boundaries making shooting firearms illegal in almost all of Jackson County. The Independence Examiner was present and published this article yesterday.

Dozens of people attended a meeting Tuesday night at Bass Pro Shops in Independence largely focused on Jackson County's weapons offenses ordinance. Zach McNulty | The ExaminerTuesday night, the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance hosted a meeting between 120 or more Jackson County residents and officials from the county and nearby state districts. The officials were MO State Senator Will Kraus (Lee Summit), State Representative Sheila Solon (Blue Springs), Jackson County Legislator Greg Grounds (Blue Springs), Jackson County Mike Sharp and his deputy Col. Hugh Mills. Jackson County Legislator Greg Grounds and Jackson County Mike Sharp took the brunt of the questions and comments from the residents.

At the end of the meeting, Legislator Grounds vowed to repeal the new section. Sheriff Shark stated he was assist as he could to do the same. State Senator Will Kraus and State Representative Sheila Solon said that if the county didn’t act, the state would.

The flaw in the ordinance was using a map, drawn for economic development and planning, to determine areas of high density population. The map was never intended for that purpose and is frequently updated, expanded, to show future plans for expansion into the county. Greg Grounds reported he was one of three county legislators who would vote to repeal the section added to the ordinance. Five of the nine county legislators must agree.

There has been a meeting to repeal this new section. That meeting was continued. The followup meeting is scheduled for July 28th.

“The hearing was continued to 28 July, 2014 at 2:30 in the Jackson County Independence courthouse, in the basement,” said Kevin Jamison, President of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance.

The second instance of firearms in the news was Kansas City Mayor Sly James pushing for an ordinance to prohibit open carry within Kansas City. The city’s Public Safety committee rubber-stamped an endorsement of the proposal.

“’Our community is not a battleground,’ James told the committee,” in an article posted on the Kansas City Star’s website. That statement would be a surprise to anyone who peruses the Star and it’s continuing causality lists that appear almost daily in the Star. It’s unclear what James meant by the statement since there are been no instance of open carry in Kansas City leading to an exchange of gunfire. 

Likely, James is using the old “blood in the streets!” screed that the left has yet, after decades of use, proven. Everywhere citizens are allow to carry, openly or concealed, crime has decreased, not increased.

We really should not be surprised by James faulty logic and fear-mongering. After all, James is a democrat, and Kansas City is a democrat enclave in conservative Missouri. James is following the democrat reflex to continue democrat policies of ensuring Americans are defenseless against the growing criminal element.

James admitted that the city’s ordinance is likely to be an effort in futility. Missouri SB 656 had a provision to prohibit local governments, like Kansas City, from writing ordinances banning open carry. Democrat governor Jay Nixon vetoed the bill earlier this month. However, SB 656 had enough votes in the legislature to override Nixon’s veto. The legislature has already used their veto override once this year.

State Senator Will Kraus (Lees Summit), speaking before the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance Tuesday night, said he was confident the state legislature would override the veto of SB 656 during its veto session on September 10th.

So, if Sly James knows this new city ordinance will be revoked by the legislature, why do it? Anyone knowing the antics of Sly James would immediately say, “It’s to get more face time before the TV cameras!” That would be true, but he already has near-constant coverage by virtue of his office as Mayor. What other motive could he have? Perhaps, so say some, James is looking towards the future and thinking about challenging Roy Blunt for Senator. James knows he can get more political creds from democrats by making the exercise of Kansas Citians right to bear arms more difficult.

Am I an open carry advocate? No, I am not. But there is the occasional circumstance where I would like to remove a cover garment, like a jacket, exposing a weapon and not be penalized for momentarily carrying openly.

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