Month: October 2017

UG celebrates 20th anniversary of consolidation on Saturday

The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, with a free festival planned Saturday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.

Called WyOneDotte festival, the event will include food, entertainment and activities for the public. It will be a free family event. The event is from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at the ballpark at Village West, where the T-Bones play baseball. The festival will include prizes and giveaways.

At the Thursday night Unified Government Commission meeting, as part of the consolidation anniversary events, the UG Commission unanimously renamed 7th Street between Minnesota and Tauromee avenues “Marinovich Way” after former Mayor Carol Marinovich. The honorary street name is for 7th Street in front of the UG’s Municipal Office Building and the county courthouse.

At the UG meeting, Commissioner Melissa Bynum, 1st District at large, recalled serving on a group in 1997 that supported unification, Citizens for Consolidation. Residents voted for consolidation of the city and county governments by a large majority.

“The promise of consolidation was, in my opinion, not a promise to make everything in our community perfect in one or two five or even 10 years, it was a promise to do things differently,” Bynum said. “It was a promise to work together as one body to innovate, collaborate, seek best practices and change the way we improve our community. I think the evidence 20 years later is pretty overwhelming.”

Bynum said it was clear that unification would only happen with a political leader with the vision and stamina to see it through to success, and Marinovich was that leader.

Mayor Mark Holland said the event Saturday will celebrate the 20th anniversary of consolidation while focusing on the future for the next 20 years.

UG officials have said that population and jobs have increased, as well as personal income, in the community since unification.

The event is free and open to the public. There are several sponsors. It will include music, free food, a bounce house, games, car show, mascots, face painting, and a bag toss. A lot of the activity will be held on the concourse, which is covered.

For more information on the festival, visit https://www.wyonedotte.com/.

Man accused of murder to go free after decades in prison

A man who has been in prison for decades will be released soon from jail, according to Wyandotte County authorities.

The Wyandotte County District Attorney agreed to a motion for a new trial in the Lamonte McIntyre case. A request for a new trial was granted, and the district attorney’s office then declined to pursue a new trial, a spokesman said.

An evidentiary hearing was held this week in Wyandotte County District Court for McIntyre, who had been arrested at age 17 in 1994 and charged with a double murder. McIntyre was convicted and spent 23 years in prison.

Evidence was brought forward that exonerated McIntyre. The Midwest Innocence Project was involved in the effort for McIntyre, with testimony heard from those who believed he was innocent. The defense of McIntyre questioned tactics, testimony and methods used in his case in 1994. A retired judge from another city heard the case this week.

The case attracted much media attention, and a rally for McIntyre was held in front of the courthouse on Oct. 12.

The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s spokesman issued a statement on the case today.

According to the statement, information that has become available recently may have caused jurors to have reasonable doubt as to McIntyre’s guilt, had the information been presented during the 1994 trial.

“With this information in mind, and my duties as a minister of justice, today I asked the court to find that manifest injustice exists and as a result Mr. McIntyre’s case was dismissed,” Mark Dupree, district attorney, stated in the news release.

The district attorney’s office is not admitting or agreeing that any individuals or authorities engaged in any wrongdoing in this case, according to the statement.

The request for a new trial was granted, and then the district attorney’s office declined to pursue a new trial, resulting in McIntyre’s being a free man, according to the spokesman.

The district attorney’s news release also stated, “In seeking to pursue the interests of justice, the question that I must instead determine as District Attorney is whether the unanimous jury verdict in 1994 might have been different if the information presented to my office was available for consideration during the deliberation. It is incumbent upon my office to ensure the process we employ to bring about that justice is done in such a way that due process is provided to all accused, no matter how many years have passed.”

The district attorney’s statement said the prosecutor’s job is “to pursue justice, not simply convictions.”

Victim of fatal accident identified

The victim of a fatal accident at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, in the 3200 block of Parallel Parkway has been identified, according to police.

The victim was Randall R. Golle, 73, of Kansas City, Kansas, a police spokesman said.

He was in a blue sedan that was entering Parallel from southbound 32nd Street. He was hit by a silver sport utility vehicle traveling westbound on Parallel, according to police.

Golle was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The accident is under investigation by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department’s Traffic Support Unit-Critical Collision Response Team.