The dump site of a house at 10th and Volutsia is worthy of protest. Legal action, too, which is why the city recently filed suit against the owner. But Sunflower Community Action crossed a line of civility Saturday in taking its crusade for action on the run-down house to the home of City Manager George Kolb. Activists reportedly chanted with a bullhorn and held up picket signs to Kolb’s windows, also trespassing on a neighbor’s yard. Kolb wasn’t home, so his wife, Sandy Kolb, asked the demonstrators to leave and also called the police, who arrived to find the activists gone but their signs left on the porch and elsewhere. “My concern is that they pretty much terrorized our street,” Sandy Kolb told The Eagle editorial board. Such tactics get attention, but at what cost to the group’s credibility and worthy causes? Besides, Kolb hasn’t been idle in fighting blight generally.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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60 Comments
so they terrorized their street for a little while. That property has been terrorizing the protester’s streets for years.
The city is going to do something about it. Even before they decided to protest. Why protest? Because it’s taking too long to act on the blighted house?
We are talking about government here. They move at a snails pace. You have to get used to it. You can protest to try to speed things up, but it won’t really do much of anything.
Let me see if I understand this. Some group is upset about a trashed out property, so they leave THEIR trash somewhere else?
And this is supposed to make sense in some way?
It is wrong when Operation Rescue does it, it is wrong here as well.
This reminds me of something . . . the right of the people to peaceably assemble, the right of the people to free speech and to petition for redress . . . hmmm . . . now where did I hear that?
Sounds so familiar somehow . . .
Hey, Conservatives, if you don’t like the American Constitution, move to Russia.
The right to trash someone’s private property? The right to trespass on private property of an uninvolved 3rd party? Did I miss those in the Constitution somewhere?
“Love it or leave it” is your nice simplistic answer to everything, isn’t it?
What a scary picture. Anyway, I’m indifferent on the demonstration that they did.
But going up and showing signs in the windows and trespassing goes beyond simple demonstration.
Eh.. Blah
capn – I think the “right of the people to free speech and to petition for redress” does not really apply here. Picket Cith all, picket Tiller’s clininc, fine. But going into a residential neighborhood and I think they cross the line to disturbing the peace.
It is a fine line but I do thing they have crossed it.
I agree Ben,
As much as i dont like Kolb, he does have a right to piece and his private property and the Sunflower guys crossed that line when they trespassed.
I will give it to the Sunflower guys that its taking forever to get that house cleaned/torn down but that still dont give them the right to protest their home. If they wanted to protest city hall, go for it, hell, i might join for fun.
Well, if they broke the law, they should have been arrested.
If they didn’t, then they broke no law.
Poor Mr. Kolb, having to look out the window and see something unpleasant.
Kinda like the neighborhood at 10th and Volustia.
I would not be surprised to see Kolb move on this issue now. We all have infinite patience for someone else’s pain. Our stoicism tends to end when it’s our pain . . .
After the last article on this property, I went by and had a look at it.
Folks it’s bad. Pictures do not do it justice. And keep in mind the folks in that neighborhood have been waiting for action for more than 10 years.
On the last thread, I suggested that there may be a deeper issue here. It may be that there is toxic waste on that property. There has to be SOME reason why the owner won’t clean it up and his attorney Phil Journey is dragging his feet about it.
Were the actions of the protesters extreme? Yes. But extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice. Those folks have a right to have this issue resolved.
Is Mrs. Kolb the only person who claled police from their block that day? If her whole block was terrorized, then were they more neighbors complaining?
I don’t blame the neighbors of the trashy dump house to be upset. No one should have to put up with a property owner who refuses to clean up their property.
I know, I think Phil Journey and his the property owner (Journey’s client) should volunteer to live in the trashed dump house until the owner can get it cleaned up. Or, perhaps, they could clean up the property together. Now wouldn’t that solve the problem?
I wonder if Mrs. Kolb would tolerate one of her neighbor’s doing the same thing to their house in her neighborhood?
Kolb better not pick up those signs otherwise he’ll get arrested by the Wichita police for shoplifting. When Operation Rescue terrorized a community one person picked up a discarded sign and was arrested. Wichita welcomes this sort of behavior, actually encourages it. When it comes to trespassing and vandalism the Wichita police are more than happy to look the other way. So is the Wichita Eagle.
This reminds me of something . . . the right of the people to peaceably assemble, the right of the people to free speech and to petition for redress . . . hmmm . . . now where did I hear that?
“Sounds so familiar somehow . . .
Hey, Conservatives, if you don’t like the American Constitution, move to Russia.”
Posted by: CapnAmerica | December 13, 2006 at 08:27 AM
Once again, Libs defending the indefensible.Why not just say it was wrong?
How would you feel if it were your wife home alone and a mob showed up outside your house?
How would you feel if the mob was trespassing on your property?
The house should have been cleaned up years ago. Harassing a man’s wife and trespassing are just wrong.
Just for the record, There are two sides to every story. Mr. Kolb is a public official and so what if people made their issue heard at his doorstep. As you may be aware Mr Kolb has shot down several community request that could have had great value in our city. Video cameras in police cars, a fire station in South city, Sarah’s ice cream at the airport, Wink HArtmans restaurant proprsal for the boat house, and most recently a protest by the police department this friday because of a lack of pay raise. We would have never received the time of day from Mr. Kolb and felt that this would get his attention, which it has he has since sent over detectives to harrass Mrs. Perry who is the 78 yr old lady who lives next to this dump. All she wants is for it to be cleaned up. If you havent seen this place maybe you should before posting your comment. Im sure Mrs Perry would let you come in her back yard and see this dump
You may think our actions seem terrorizing, but from our experience you have to get someones attention in a place were they feel most comfortable, and in this case it happened to be his home. We dont apoligize for this but do want to say that we were very orderly, we did not walk through his grass, or his bushes, and if we did go into someones yard it was to pick up a sign that blew into there yard. It was actually one of MR. Kolbs neighbors who pointed out to us which house was his. We stayed on the sidewalk and yes we did leave 10 protest signs on his yard but this was to make a point that neighbors at 10th & Voultsia are tired of living next to this and Mr. Kolb has the ultinate power to get this taken care of today if he wanted to. I would challenge anyone to look up the city code of what constitues an emergency situation. If you read this you would see how the city is dragging their feet you all probably would have been at his house with us. Now Mr. Kolb is filing cahrges against Sunflower currently for littering his yard with 10 protest signs, when this group is trying to get an illegal dump cleaned up in the middle of our neighborhood that has existed for over 20 years. Kind of Ironic, Dont you think?
Since when did two wrongs make a right?
Ahhhh..justification for littering and harrassing a man’s wife.
I assume this ‘group’ has PROOF that Mr. Kolb personally vetoed police cameras? That Mr. Kolb was personally repsonsible for the lack of a fire station? It is a huge city operation, with input from many departments. Are you going to picket everyone’s home that you don’t like?
Get real. Your coalition seems to forget reality–like the cost of cameras in police cars. Like it is against the law to intentionally litter. Like the city has followed THE LAW on that blighted property and cannot bulldoze down someone’s house just because your little group doesn;t like it. It is a matter of LAW, and you would be better off reading it and adhering to the law than terrorizing some guy’s wife..when the object of your pathetic little demonstration isn’t even home.
What is next…bombing a city planner’s home? Burning the fire chiefs house? Try sticking with the law next time before looking for sympathy.
fleettwood – are you willing to say that Operation Rescue’s tactics of picketing homes is wrong?
raptor, Debbie,? Others?
Why don’t you go live next to the dump?
What’s the point of peaceful protest when the police will arrest you for it? Police have threatened arrest for singing, for taking pictures on a public sidewalk and for telling people who are screaming to quiet down. On the other hand when it comes to protesting abortion the police say it’s okay for the protestors to go onto clinic property and bang on the windows and block the doors.
When the Maggot Punks reported an illegal dumpsite it took 7 months for the city to do anything. Only when the media finally carried the story did the higher ups in the city government finally respond. So the actions of the Sunflower Community were appropriate because Mayans corrupt government won’t do crap until enough people protest.
It was just a few years ago the city spent a load of money on their Keep Wichita Beautiful campaign urging people not to litter. Looks like it was nothing more than a sham to put taxpayer money into corporate pockets. It proves once again conservatives can’t govern, they can only fleece taxpayers and give little in return.
Anyone who thinks the community members were wrong, they should go live by the dump.
And it is very telling to me that Mr Kolb is threatening to sue. MOST people who care about something like this, would just toss the 10 signs away and say “hey I’m doing what I can”. Apparently this guy has an ego problem.
Turnabout is fair play.
What bothers me is that with all new anti-blight rules passed that some Dennis Rader wannabe will be out measuring some elderaly persons lawn with a ruler and hassling them. Or forcing people out of their homes using “blight” as an excuse to build condos. While real blight is ingnored.
Everyone should just dump their trash on Kolb’s property so he can experience how living by a dump is like.
It would seem that typical city goverment thinking is to go after the neighbors with lawsuits and do nothing to the owner of the dump.
Is this property for sale? If so, could get for cheap and raze it. Rebuild and maybe make some money. Not sure how much in that neighborhood though.
SOB, it could be shut down as a health hazard after which bids for the property can be made. They may sell it for just one dollar along with a contract promising to clean up the property. Maybe you should call Kolb so he can get this headache off his hands.
fleettwood – are you willing to say that Operation Rescue’s tactics of picketing homes is wrong?
Posted by: Ben Huie | December 13, 2006 at 12:03 PM
It is my understanding that if you stay on the sidewalk, don’t litter and obey the law, then it is “peacible assembly”, if I am wrong, then it would be wrong to picket.Picketting has its place, unless you are Wilson Pickett, then you are dead.
Doug,
Just wondering. That neighborhood is not where I’d consider a good investment be made. But, maybe that would work for someone else.
pmom-You don’t live here. Bite it.
10 years and not one match found its way to the kindle box????
Put his butt in jail and bulldoze the place.
____________________________________Now, after pushing the case through court, the city Friday filed an injunction, seeking to clean up the mess itself.
City officials say that after years of warnings, property owner Greg Gracey just won’t do it.
Gracey was recently fined thousands of dollars, sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered by the municipal court to have the property cleaned up.
City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf said Gracey, now out on bond, wouldn’t let the city on the property to remove the trash and bill him.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/16044908.htm
Like I said before, I bet there is some pretty nasty stuff stored there. I can’t see why the guy would be so difficult otherwise.
He’s probably got stuff there that would get EPA on his ass.
The owner is probably some poor schlep without a clue or care.
Uh no
His pockets are deep enough to have Phil Journey on retainer. So he is not hard up.
But EPA enforced clean ups are not cheap! I say confine him to house arrest on the property in question.
poor as in pathetic and slow, not poor as in no money.
Just watch.
Now that the Sunflower Group caused a ruckus, something will get done.
Democracy is not a spectator sport, folks.
As for you idiots concerned about “littering” because Sunflower posted some signs once, you sound like what Arlo Guthrie parodied in “Alice’s Restaurant.”
Littering, oh brother. What’s next . . . jaywalkers doing hard time, foreigners deported for frying garlic?
Doesn’t even make good nonsense.
I wonder if Mr. and Mrs. Kolb would like to live in the trashy dump house and see exactly why the neighborhood associaton is upset. Of course, that would mean they would have to leave their beautiful, upscale neighborhood and that will never do.
If the trashy dump house was in Kolb’s neighborhood, the owner would not have had 20 years to clean it up.
No I don’t live there, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion on it, Enema.
I’ve decided that enema is the PERFECT name for you- with all the shit that comes from you.
Perhaps you should go live there too?
And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W’s where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there.Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the bench next to me.And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean ‘n’ ugly ‘n’ nasty ‘n’ horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said,”Kid, whad’ya get?” I said, “I didn’t get nothing,I had to pay $50 and pick up my signs.”He said, “What were you arrested for, kid?”And I said, “Just littering.”And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said,”And creating a nuisance.”And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench.And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it up and said. “Kids, this-piece-of-paper’s-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna- know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing- you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting- officer’s-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say”,and talked for forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the following words:(”KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?”)I went over to the sargent, said,”Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I’ve rehabilitated myself,I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I’m sittin’ here on the bench,I mean I’m sittin here on the Group W bench ’cause you want to know if I’m moral enough to walk the street, carry signs, want a cleaner neighborhood, petition our city…. after bein’ a litterbug?”He looked at me and said,”Kid, we don’t like your kind, and we’re gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington.”
“You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant…”
Thanks fleettwood. Accroding to sunflower they “stay on the sidewalk, don’t litter and obey the law, then it is “peacible assembly”, ” – therefore it is OK. So, in reply to “Why not just say it was wrong?” – because it is NOT wrong. At least according to fleettwood.
pmom-I would no more venture an opinion on something going on in whatever crap hole town you live in than the man in the moon. It’s your town and your business.Johnson County got Philllll, who cares?Wichita has it’s troubles and out of towners can below me.We’ll fix them without your help.
Yeah you’ll fix them protesters GOOD won’tcha enema!
LOL, I guess you could say, just like it’s not your business if I would choose an abortion or not. At least an abortion doesnt’ cause a health hazard that could hurt others.
I’m saying, let the place be a dump- but I’m going to defend the people’s rights to do what they did.
“At least an abortion doesnt’ [sic] cause a health hazard that could hurt others.”
political_mom, did you consider the unborn child when you wrote this?
pmom-I’m not going to fix anybody. I don’t care. I also don’t care if you kill a baby. Kill away.
I think you guys are getting a little off track, lets bring the focus back to the trash dump. Abortion protesters have done nothing but walk up and down the street holding crosses. Hopefully we will see an end result out of these Sunflower actions, and that the trash dump will be gone soon. I applude Sunflowers efforts. For those of you who would consider this radical, thats a joke. Watch the news and see whats going on around the world if you want to see radical. What sunflower did is a great example of why we should be proud that that democracy gives us the right to protest for whats is right. The lady next door or anyone for the matter shouldn’t have to live next to this. From what i understand her property values have gone down $8,000 and she was recently denied homeowners insurance becuse this dump was considered a huge fire hazard. She looks like a nice old lady and i am sure George Kolb would not allow this in his neighbirhood, and should do whatever possible to get this cleaned up. He should also be ashamed for filing charges for having a few protest signs left in his yard and harrassing the lady who lives next door, and she wants a 20 year old trash dump cleaned up.Does anyone even know the background on this Kolb guy. I read recently over the internet that his contract in georgia was not renewed and he didnt get along with council people there either, and was pretty much rumn out of town. It seems that the same may be happening here?
Thanks for all your hard work Sunflower, I’ll be waiting for the story on the front page that says “10th & Volutsia Neighbors Win,20 yr old trash dump to be cleared away”
I’ll be waiting for “the people in this shit hole neighborhood moved”
Uh, abortion protesters have not just merely marched holding crosses.
They’ve bombed, shot, blocked access, stalked workers, I could go on and on.
But I agree with the rest of what you said. These people have a right to get some action, and so far they’ve only gotten the shaft.
How about we build the arena at 10th and Volustia?
Sunflower did not harrass anyone. Talked to one neighbor who told us where Kolb lived and went to another to let them know what was going on and they said leave their property and we did. We never harrass anyone but who we go for and try not to do anything but talk to them and give them our letter of intent. If the city would have taken care of the problem rather than let it run until this summer waiting for Phil’s signature things wouldn’t have gotten to this point. There are instances where these conditions can be considered an emergency and cleaned up immediatly. This is one of them. Mrs. Perry’s home and life are in danger due to illnesses and potenial fire hazards, with no insurance. She needs help and the city has ignored her for 20 years.
I would still like to see the PROOF that George Kolb is personally responsible for the condition of that house for the past 20 years.
Who is suggesting that because of some actions of a small group of rabble that the City should just violate the EXISTING LAW and bulldoze someone’s house? THEN the screams would be heard from here to Mars.
Read the story again, people. The city has done everything it can within EXISTING LAW. A recent change in the law (supported by George Kolb) makes it possible for the City to take further action.
This rabble has no clue about legal operation, and makes the immature and incorrect assumption that the city manager is personally responsible for a junkyard.
Where is their PROOF? Is there any? Of course not. George Kolb has been working FOR the new laws on blight.
You are exactly correct, raptor. Do these people have jobs? When did this happen? Kolb is on their side.
I’d say that after this long, folks, there IS NO excuse.
Hey raptor i mean (Mr. Kolb) get real you or he is responsible simpliy because you are the top dog in this city and have power over all city departments. You are the one responsible for the codes that are put out there by the city. so enforce your own laws and codes. Is that not proof enough? George kolb has been fighting for eminent domain to take run down property’s like this and force people like Mrs Perry out of her home. We dont want the city to bulldoze the property and have never asked for that. We want the to clean it up and charge it to the guys taxes. Whats so hard about that you do it to people who’s grass is to tall.
I know a guy who many years ago had his electricity turned off due to late payments. This man drove to the mayors house and cut the power lines. He said that if he couldn’t have electricity, neither could the mayor.
Picket anywhere, over anything, just obey the laws. Hey, the house is a fucking nightmare….the people have spoken.
I wonder if the City Council would take immediate action against the property owner if this house wasn’t on 10th and Volutsia?
i think that question is a no brainer
Keep in mind the columnist who wrote the piece is Rhonda who think Fox News really is fair and balanced. Kolb talked to her on the phone and she wrote down what he said like it was coming from Moses himself. There wasn’t any point in getting anyone from the Sunflower Community because that wouldn’t have helped her hit piece attacking those clean environment loving liberals. The Eagle has had outrageously imbalanced articles in the past so it’s not shocking they would have another one. I just don’t know how they can find space with all the Brownback ass kissing articles.