Month: February 2022

New bookstore opens on Strawberry Hill

A new bookstore, Flagship Books, has opened at 600 Ohio Ave., in the Strawberry Hill area of Kansas City, Kansas. (Submitted photo)

A new independent bookstore, Flagship Books, has opened in the Strawberry Hill area of Kansas City, Kansas.

The new store, at 600 Ohio Ave., has moved from North Kansas City, Missouri, where it originally was opened in March 2021 by brothers Joel Melgren and Ty Melgren.

The location in Strawberry Hill is a larger storefront, and the new location opened during the final weekend of January.

There will be a wider selection of new and used books, plus some room to have book club meetings and other community events, according to the owners.

The store will tailor its selection to the needs and interests of the Strawberry Hill neighborhood and the KCK community by featuring titles by Kansas City-based writers and illustrators, as well as offering books in languages other than English. The store will include fiction, nonfiction and poetry in Spanish.

The books will include literary classics to popular contemporary fiction, such as “The Song of Achilles” and “Harlem Shuffle.” There will be best-sellers by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Jemar Tisby and Anthony Bourdain, as well as children’s books and a selection of books on food and mixed drinks.

The bookstore also will order books for customers.

Hours of the new store are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, and closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

The bookstore has a Facebook page at facebook.com/flagshipbooks, and is on Instagram at Instagram.com/flagship books. Customers may contact the bookstore at [email protected].

KCK school board adopts change to COVID testing policy

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education on Tuesday night adopted a change to its COVID testing policy.

On a unanimous vote, the school board approved COVID testing to continue for symptomatic staff. The district will no longer test all the unvaccinated staff on a weekly basis, as it had started in its testing program.

The district could no longer continue its testing of all unvaccinated employees due to challenges with the laboratory, according to Superintendent Anna Stubblefield.

There will be rapid testing, nasal only, for symptomatic staff and students at all sites by March 7, according to the testing recommendations presented by Tiffany Lewis, director of health services for the district. They will have enough tests for symptomatic persons, according to district officials. PCR tests, nasal or saliva, would need to be completed at an offsite testing facility.

The district will continue to encourage staff vaccinations, and will offer additional disability days that are prorated according to the current testing policy, Lewis said.

Lewis reported that 74.5 percent of the district’s staff are now vaccinated with at least two shots. About 24 percent of the staff have not submitted anything as proof of vaccinations.

The change in testing policy was discussed at a previous meeting and a recommendation was brought back to the Feb. 22 meeting for a vote.

There was no change to the district’s masking policy at the meeting. District staff and students are required to wear masks.

Earlier in the meeting, during the community comment period, David Seume asked the board to discontinue the masking policy, citing school districts in other counties in the Kansas City area that had discontinued masks.

Seume, who has spoken about the same topic at four KCK school board meetings so far, pointed out that some district officials and board members had taken off their masks to speak briefly during a previous meeting. He then took off his mask while at the podium, speaking to the board. At that point, Board President Randy Lopez asked him to put his mask on, and when Seume did not, Lopez hit the gavel and called a five-minute recess in the meeting.

Board member Wanda Brownlee Paige later said that the other school districts that ended masks were in areas that had different COVID rates. The Wyandotte County rate is still considered high by the CDC, and the Health Department recommended continuing masks, according to board members.

In other action at the meeting, which lasted more than 3.5 hours, school starting times were discussed again. Dr. Stubblefield said now there are not any plans to change school start times.

The school district explored that possibility earlier as a way to provide transportation to middle school students, and also because of shortages of bus drivers. The district had an online program to hear parents’ responses. But overwhelming response from parents and staff was against changing school start times.

After discussion, Dr. Stubblefield said she would come back with more information in two areas, exploring 4:30 p.m. buses and activities for secondary students, and also to bring to the board a proposal about what reimbursement at the middle school level could look like for parents whose children live 1 to 1.5 miles from school. No action on it was taken at the Feb. 22 meeting.

Also, the board discussed a plan to hold summer school in June, using federal Esser funds for it.

During the discussion, Dr. Valdenia Winn, a board member, questioned whether the Esser 3 funds were already decided without much input from the school board. Dr. Stubblefield said that these plans were still in the information stage, and could all be changed if the board wanted it.

The school board also heard an update on plans for a new Main Library building, which has stalled out for a few years.

No action was taken on Feb. 22, but Carol Levers, library director, received the board’s approval to provide more information and updates on the project. She discussed a possible grant availability.

In other action, members of a school boundary committee were approved.

Kansas House advances constitutional amendment requiring elected sheriffs

by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Rep. Eric Smith encouraged House members Tuesday to support a constitutional amendment requiring counties to elect sheriffs, rather than risk the possibility of a county commission gaining authority to appoint the position.

Smith, a Republican from Burlington who said his “real job” as a deputy sheriff for Coffee County supports his political hobby, joined other supporters of the proposal in arguing it is important to shield top law enforcement officers from the scrutiny of other elected officials.

“I just want want you to consider the idea that when you have an elected sheriff out there, that individual serves you and serves your constituents as an individual who has to uphold those values that they were elected on, and you can hold them accountable for that,” Smith said.

The House advanced the constitutional amendment on a voice vote. If two-thirds of the members of both the House and Senate approve the resolution, voters will get to decide the issue in November. In additional to requiring counties to elect sheriffs every four years, the amendment specifies that a sheriff can only be removed from office by a recall vote or legal action by the attorney general.

Supporters of the amendment, including Rep. John Resman, a retired deputy sheriff and Republican from Olathe, raised concerns about discussions by the Johnson County Charter Commission as the basis for needing the amendment. Opponents included a Republican and Democratic representative from Riley County, which is served by a countywide police department.

Resman said he was personally involved in investigations in Johnson County that involved city or county government officials who conducted criminal activity and were charged with crimes.

“I think this is extremely important that the people realize or understand that the sheriff has the ultimate authority for investigating these types of crimes,” Resman said. “And there won’t be any interference by bureaucrats or by the county commissioners.”

Rep. Stephanie Clayton, D-Overland Park, said she favored “local control” and a community’s ability to determine the system that works best.

“I don’t generally support the entire state imposing their will on Johnson County,” Clayton said.

Rep. Ken Collins, R-Mulberry, speaking in favor of the elected sheriff requirement, said the position of county sheriff holds a “special place” in the way of life for many Kansans.

“I could go back to my home district and ask someone who their state representative is, and they might know that it’s me,” Collins said. “I could ask someone to name their county commissioners, their mayor or their city officials, and they might or might not know. But ask them to name their sheriff, and I would venture to guess that a majority would give you the correct answer without having to think about it.”

Currently, Riley County is the lone outlier among the state’s 105 counties. The other 104 have a sheriff who is elected.

Rep. Michael Dodson, R-Manhattan, said the county’s unique arrangement saves taxpayers money. There is one jail, one training complex, one emergency response team, one set of mental health specialists, and consolidated dispatch. The police force can send an officer off to a six-month training course because others are available to cover necessary shifts.

Every county should be able to choose the system that works best, Dodson said.

“If a county wishes to have a sheriff, that’s a great choice,” Dodson said. “Likewise, if a county wishes to consolidate, they should be able to do that.”

Rep. Sydney Carlin, D-Manhattan, also opposed the amendment.

Rep. Tatum Lee, R-Ness City, thanked the law enforcement officers who watched the debate from the public gallery. Addressing the gallery violates chamber rules.

“The power should always be with the people. Always, always be with the people,” Lee said. “And the fact that we would try to give some committee in some county board somewhere control of that is just crazy to me.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/02/22/kansas-house-advances-constitutional-amendment-requiring-elected-sheriffs/