Category: Kansas City Kansas

T-Bones sign pitcher Shore, acquire pitcher Blanks

The Kansas City T-Bones have signed right-handed pitcher Bobby Shore to a contract for the 2014 season.

Shore, 25 (01-27-89), a native of Oceanside, Calif., who is 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, spent the last three seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization.

In 2013, he went 6-5 with a 5.42 ERA in 34 appearances, including 11 starts, for High Desert, Seattle’s high-A club. In 81 1/3 innings, Shore struck out 63 and walked 31. He is 10-9 with a 3.72 ERA, 155 strikeouts and 57 walks in 63 professional appearances.

“Bobby is a strike thrower, who’ll compete for one of the starting rotation spots,” said manager John Massarelli.

Seattle selected Shore in the 41st round of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Oklahoma. At single-A Clinton of the Midwest League in 2012, Shore went 4-3 with a 1.94 ERA, 69 strikeouts and 19 walks.

Additionally, the T-Bones have acquired the reversionary rights to right-handed pitcher Bradley Blanks from Laredo in exchange for infielder Devin Goodwin.

In 2013, Blanks went 5-1 with three saves and a 1.38 ERA in 27 appearances for Laredo. He has spent time in the Milwaukee and Philadelphia organizations, in addition to three independent-league teams, in five professional seasons.

The T-Bones open the 2014 regular season at home on May 15 against Lincoln.

– Story from T-Bones

Proposal to put parole office at Argentine site moves forward

A project to put a parole office in a new public safety building proposed in the Argentine area moved forward tonight.

About 30 people turned out at a Unified Government Standing Committee meeting in support of the idea for a new public safety building on the grounds of the old Structural Steel site in the Argentine area.

The public safety building also would include a new South Patrol police station.

UG Commissioner Ann Murguia presented the idea to the committee, and the committee voted 6-0 to move the idea forward.

Murguia said she had held a community meeting with Argentine neighborhood leaders recently, and there was no opposition at the meeting.

The site of the public safety building office would be on a large site being developed near 21st and Metropolitan Avenue, where there is a Walmart Neighborhood Market being built. Not far from it is a new Save a Lot grocery store.

The public safety building would be on an environmentally remediated site, as it was a former silver smelting facility.

Murguia said the cost of a public safety building would be about $6 million, and it would be large enough to house more than the police station.

Over the next 20 years, she is estimating that Walmart will generate about $3 million in extra revenues for the community, leaving a $3 million gap. With a lease from the state for the parole office, $2 million over a 10-year period, that would bring the gap closer to $1 million, she said.

While in one sense the funding would come from outside the taxpayers, it will not all be realized until the end of a decade or two, and so the UG would need to fund the building through bonds or a note.  Murguia added that she would continue seeking grant funding for the project, and has already asked the Walmart Foundation for a grant.

The parole office earlier tried to move from its current location not far from 18th and I-70 to a new location at 7th and State Avenue, next to a child care center. That proposal met with considerable community opposition.

Rep. Val Winn led an effort in the state Legislature to defund any parole office location that is next to a child care center.

Murguia said the state’s lease is up in July at its present location for the parole office, but the state would see if it could extend it through the rest of the year.

In the future, as the idea for the public safety building progresses, more community meetings will be held to receive public comments, according to Murguia.

To see an earlier story, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/proposed-parole-office-site-could-change-to-argentine-area-of-kck/.

15th annual memorial service and candlelighting planned April 14 for Crime Victims’ Rights Week

The Wyandotte County community, families of fallen victims, and community officials will come together on Monday, April 14, to remember those who have lost their lives to homicide in 2013.

The Crime Awareness Coordinating Effort, a program service of Friends of Yates Inc. and co-sponsored by the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Victim Assistance Program along with the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s Victim Services Unit will hold its 15th Annual Memorial and Candle Lighting Vigil in recognition of Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

The event will be held at Forest Grove Baptist Church, 1417 N. 9th St., Kansas City, Kan., where the Rev. Desmond Lamb is the host pastor.  The event will begin at 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. with a light dinner, followed by the candlelight program at 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The Crime Awareness Coordinating Effort was developed after the death of a 10-year-old girl in Kansas City, Kan. This tragic event created great concern throughout the Kansas City, Kan., community.

In response to the outrage, a forum was called by Friends of Yates  Inc. and members of the Baptist Ministers’ Union on October 27, 1998, to bring together local businesses, law enforcement personnel, community leaders and concerned citizens to begin the dialogue about how crime was hurting the Kansas City, Kan., community.

More important, Friends of Yates Inc. wanted to challenge these community leaders to design a strong plan to address the violence in the area.  Through the efforts of Friends of Yates Inc.; a collaborative partnership was formed and became known as the Crime Awareness Coordinating Effort.

This year’s memorial service will remember the 34 victims of homicide, serve as a support system for victims’ families and educate the Wyandotte County community on the progress made to diminish the threat of violence throughout the community.

This year’s guests will include District Attorney Jerome Gorman, KCK Interim Chief Ellen Hanson, Sheriff Don Ash, Mayor Mark Holland and U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

The event is free and open to the public.  For more information about this and other programs and services sponsored by Friends of Yates Inc, or for ways to support, volunteer or donate to the agency; contact the administrative office at 913-321-1566 or visit the website at www.friendsofyates.org.

– Information from Demetrius Hurt, Friends of Yates Inc. community outreach coordinator