Author: Ward

KCKCC prepares for commencement ceremonies

by Kelly Rogge

Kansas City Kansas Community College will be celebrating new beginnings this week during several graduation and pinning events.

Five commencement ceremonies will be taking place as the 2013-14 academic year wraps up. Including graduates from December 2013, May 2014 and Summer 2014, KCKCC will have approximately 950 students graduate with associate degrees or certificates this year. These ceremonies include:

·         Respiratory Therapy Pinning – 7 p.m. May 19 at Providence Medical Center.

·         GED Graduation – 6 p.m. May 20 at the KCKCC Field House.

·         Nurses’ Pinning – 8 p.m. May 20 at the KCKCC Field House.

·         KCKCC Graduation – 8 p.m. May 21 at the KCKCC Field House.

·         Physical Therapy Assistant Graduation – 7 p.m. May 22 at the KCKCC-TEC.

Major Gen. Karen E. LeDoux, U.S. Army, will be the speaker at the KCKCC graduation Wednesday. LeDoux has a Bachelor of Science degree from Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Mo. and a MMS degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.  She has also attended the Combined Arms and Services Staff School and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

She has served as a training officer, deputy commander and commander of the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program Support Unit, commander of the 94th Training Division, commander of the 55th Sustainment Brigade and Commanding General of the Army Material Command – Southwest Asia/G4.

LeDoux is currently the deputy program manager and research fellow for logistics and technology group at the Logistics Management Institute in McLean, Va. Among the many U.S. decorations and badges she has received are the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal.

All commencement ceremonies are open to the public.

For more information on Kansas City Kansas Community College, visit its website at www.kckcc.edu.

Six sentenced to prison for drug trafficking in ‘Operation Broken Bone’

Six defendants have been sentenced to prison as a result of a federal drug investigation in metropolitan Kansas City dubbed Operation Broken Bone, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

The investigation targeted a drug trafficking organization that operated from January 2006 to November 2011 to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The FBI, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas and other members of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force on the case.

The following defendants were sentenced May 16:

Damian Mays, 24, Kansas City, Kan., 19.5 years in federal prison.
Verdell Mays, 37, Kansas City, Kan., 18.75 years.
Christopher Holliday, 26, sentenced to 9.5 years.
Frank Sharron Piper, III, 35, Kansas City, Kan., 11.25 years.
Brenton Bassett, 38, Kansas City, Kan., 7 years.
Cynthia Hatfield, 32, Kansas City, Kan. 3 months.

At the sentencing, prosecutors told the judge the defendants conspired together to distribute drugs and to maintain multiple Kansas City area residences where the drugs were stored, consumed or distributed. The investigators arranged to buy drugs from the defendants and served search warrants in which drugs, money and firearms were seized.

Other defendants include:
Gregory T. Moore, 37, Kansas City, Kan., who is awaiting sentencing.
Daniel Bryant, 34, Kansas City, Mo., who is awaiting sentencing.
Johnie Mitchell, 60, Kansas City, Kan., sentenced to 35 months.
Marcus M. Williams, 35, Overland Park, Kan., who is awaiting sentencing.
Michael D. Davis, 33, Kansas City, Kan., sentenced to 40 months.
Ondre Durham, 40, Kansas City, Kan., sentenced to 30 months.
Rahmann Easley, 35, Kansas City, Kan., who is set for sentencing July 17.
Charles Easley, 38, Kansas City, Kan., who is awaiting sentencing.
Joshua Jones, 28, Kansas City, Kan., who is awaiting sentencing.
Raymond Cornejo, 53, Kansas City, Kan., who is awaiting sentencing.
Lamar Brooks, 38, Kansas City, Mo., who is set for sentencing Oct. 21.
Christopher Craig, 31, Kansas City, Mo., who is set for sentencing July 15.
Jacquel Cunningham, 22, Kansas City, Kan., who is set for sentencing Aug. 5.
Anthony Smith, 41, Kansas City, Mo., who is awaiting sentencing.

Grissom commended the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Kansas City, Mo., Career Criminal Division, the Riverside Police Department, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri McCracken and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Krug for their work on the case.

KU architecture students to display ideas for KCK healthy campus

Several University of Kansas architecture students will display their ideas for the Kansas City, Kan., downtown healthy campus on May 23.

The ideas will be on display at 8 a.m. May 23 at the CHWC office, 2 S. 14th St., Kansas City, Kan.

The healthy campus is proposed near Big 11 park and lake.

Several students at KU have spent time this semester to study the area and develop individual, alternative programs, site proposals and individual community center buildings.

The students’ approaches align with many of the initiatives that are currently being discussed regarding the 10th Street bikeway proposal, the Complete Streets Program, urban agriculture, environmental and nutritional education activities, and providing futsal courts and other physical activities on the site.