It is exciting to see the former Britt Brown Arena at the Kansas Coliseum complex being transformed into the Aircraft Structural Testing and Evaluation Center, an expansion of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. Developer Johnny Stevens and NIAR are remodeling the arena so that NIAR can conduct structural tests on aircraft as big as Boeing 737s and 787s. Work at the center is expected to begin within a month, and the offices are scheduled to be open the first week of January. The new center will further enhance Wichita’s stature as an aviation manufacturing and research hub.
The impetus for Wednesday’s lengthy, emotional public forum on water fluoridation at the Sedgwick County Commission meeting was a “Facts About Fluoride” information sheet posted online (and since removed) by the county health department – a fact sheet that opponent Mark Gietzen contended was a “blatantly political promotion of fluoridation at public expense.” That’s arguable, given that the sheet contained nothing but basic information on the long-established public health practice of preventing tooth decay by fluoridating community water systems. However, something still on the county’s website fits the description of a “blatantly political promotion” of a perspective “at public expense”: a document attributed to County Commissioner Richard Ranzau (in photo) titled “Sustainable Development and U.N. Agenda 21: Economic Development or Economic Destruction?”
The latest SurveyUSA poll regarding Wichita’s water fluoridation ballot vote found the proponents’ side still leading but uncertainty growing. In the poll of 549 likely voters last week, 47 percent said they planned to vote “yes,” compared with 35 percent who said they’d vote “no” and 18 percent who weren’t certain how they’d vote. In late September’s poll, also sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, 46 percent were “yes” voters, with 40 percent planning to vote “no” and 14 percent undecided. In August, 62 percent of Wichitans polled said they would vote for adding fluoride, with 31 percent against and 7 percent undecided. Those looking for more debate on the issue will get it this week, when the Sedgwick County Commission hears from speakers at its Wednesday meeting and KPTS, Channel 8, airs a debate from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The League of Women Voters also will hold a forum on fluoridation at noon Oct. 23 at the Central Library.
Good for the Sedgwick County Commission for suspending its rules on public comment to enable people to speak for or against water fluoridation at next week’s meeting. Though the Nov. 6 ballot question concerns the city of Wichita, the fluoridation issue affects public health in the county and is relevant to the work of the County Commission, which doubles as the county’s board of health. The county’s key role in community health and wellness also justified the Sedgwick County Health Department’s recent release of a fluoridation information sheet, which contains basic information that the vast majority of medical and dental professionals would regard as factual and noncontroversial.
“Has-beens coming off the bone pile – that’s your headline.” – Dennis McKinney (in photo), a former House minority leader and state treasurer, to an Associated Press reporter writing about McKinney and the 11 other former lawmakers running to return to Legislature
“If you’re mainstream, you’re going to hell.” – Jack Wu, Republican candidate for Kansas State Board of Education for the district that includes Topeka, where he attends Westboro Baptist Church
“It’s called arithmetic.” – Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, on the claim by Gov. Sam Brownback’s spokeswoman that concerns about potential state budget cuts are “inaccurate scare tactics”
“This is outrageous. Throw the whole thing out. Fire who’s doing it and start over. Maybe that’d be faster.” – Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Skelton, on the months of long lines at the tag offices because of a new data system
The question of whether Sedgwick County should spend $10,000 on a hospitality tent for the Wings Over McConnell air show this weekend got a lot of attention, with commissioners having a worthwhile debate about such taxpayer-funded perks before voting 3-2 Wednesday to contribute $10,000 to the event but not use a tent. The dollars involved are minuscule in the context of the county’s $408 million annual budget and McConnell Air Force Base’s $500 million annual economic impact on the community. Plus, the city of Wichita contributed $15,000 to the show. But at least the controversy brought attention to McConnell and its value to Wichita and Sedgwick County, and reminded the public to get out this weekend to enjoy the air show (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday) and support the base. Bigger issues about McConnell loom, as the Kansas congressional delegation advocates for basing the new KC-46A tanker fleet there amid talk of deep defense spending cuts and, eventually, more base closings.
It’s encouraging that plans by the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County to consolidate their code enforcement offices are moving forward. The County Commission and City Council recently passed a resolution creating a merged Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department. The idea is to create a one-stop shop for area builders and tradespeople. But it can be complicated to merge city and county functions, particularly when there are different codes and union issues. Though there are still many steps to go – including establishing new trade boards and hiring a director of the new department – city and county officials and staff are making good progress.
It was troubling to read last week about an inmate at the Sedgwick County Jail who attempted suicide by wrapping a telephone cord around his neck. But it was even more troubling to read that since January 2011, 54 jail inmates have attempted suicide. Does this reflect safety or supervision problems at the jail? Does it reflect how our nation’s jails have often become holding cells for people with mental illnesses? Sedgwick County is currently being sued over the death of a man who hanged himself in a restroom area in the jail. The suit contends that the jail didn’t put the man on suicide watch even though his girlfriend and sister warned that he was a suicide risk.
Neither Associated Press nor MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow are backing down over a recent AP story on the role abortion was playing in the Sedgwick County district attorney’s race. AP quoted Operation Rescue president Troy Newman claiming that if District Attorney Nola Foulston “had done her job,” Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller “would still be alive today.” Newman contends that Foulston’s failure to prosecute Tiller is what led anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder to murder him. Maddow thinks it was irresponsible for AP to include Newman’s claims and to not mention Roeder’s links to Operation Rescue. “He didn’t get prosecuted so, obviously, he had to be shot, so says Operation Rescue, and so writes down the Associated Press, thus resulting in newspapers all over the country printing this absolutely wack-a-doo, uncontested, more than insinuation,” Maddow complained. She called on AP to retract the article, which AP refused to do. “We were quoting someone who was playing an active role in the outcome of an election,” Paul Colford, the AP’s director of media relations, told MSNBC. “We stand by the story.”
Before the polls closed Tuesday, Secretary of State Kris Kobach seemed pleased with the primary and especially the first statewide test of the voter-ID law he advocated. “We have had good reaction all over the state,” he told the Kansas City Star. Too bad Kobach didn’t cap off his tour of polling places in Wyandotte, Johnson and Shawnee counties with a trip to Sedgwick County, which saw the slowest, most-confusing election night in memory. In the first big election for his appointee, Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman, her office initially sowed mass confusion by reporting advance-ballot totals as if they reflected the vast majority of the precincts, then inexplicably took more than four hours to deliver final numbers. During the day, there also were some glitches with the new electronic poll books, just as there had been in Wichita’s February special election. Kobach and Lehman need to ensure they are ready for the Nov. 6 turnout, which will be far bigger than Tuesday’s.
It was good to see the Kansas Court of Appeals second a Sedgwick County District Court judge’s ruling that the Sedgwick County Commission had mishandled its 2010 vote to close part of 71st Street South. In this case, the commission was far too quick to vote to close the unpaved stretch of 71st Street South between 127th and 143rd Streets East at the request of a private airfield. Commissioners did so over the strenuous objections of Derby’s leaders and without fully considering how the closure would affect drivers and emergency response. Elected officials should be as reluctant to turn public land over to private developers as they are to seize private property for government use.
The latest SurveyUSA poll of 458 GOP primary voters in Sedgwick County found the sheriff’s race to be neck and neck and Deputy District Attorney Marc Bennett still likely to succeed the retiring District Attorney Nola Foulston. In the poll, conducted for KWCH, Channel 12, Sheriff Bob Hinshaw had 45 percent support, compared with challenger Jeff Easter’s 47 percent. SurveyUSA noted that “wealthy and educated voters back Hinshaw. Less-affluent and less-educated voters back Easter.” Fifty percent of those surveyed early this week favored Bennett over former Deputy District Attorney Kevin O’Connor, who garnered 40 percent support. “Bennett runs strongly among males, older voters, those with a four-year college degree, pro-choice voters and those who do not own a gun,” SurveyUSA noted. “O’Connor is strong among younger voters and tea party members.” In its mid-July poll, SurveyUSA had Bennett ahead by 18 percentage points and Easter ahead by 11 points.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Richard Ranzau has some curious ideas on what’s worth his time and county resources. He thought it was fine to spend $1,463.50 in county funds to travel to the National Association of Counties’ annual meeting in Pittsburgh in order to have a national audience for his fearmongering lobbying against the meaningless 20-year-old United Nations’ “Agenda 21” document. But then he left the meeting early rather than, while he was there, take advantage of what was going on and perhaps expand his thinking or enhance his performance as a county commissioner because, he said, “I didn’t think it was a good use of my time.” He also clearly thinks it’s fine to use the county’s website and televised meetings to continue to campaign against Agenda 21 and the county’s participation in a regional planning process funded by a $1.5 million federal grant – never mind that the process was approved by the commission majority and is under way. And it was painful to learn that Ranzau serves on NACO’s environment, energy and land use steering committee, where his views might be mistaken for those of the county and commission majority.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn isn’t shy about saying that he has voted three times against the county participating in a $1.5 million federal sustainable planning grant. But he stressed during a meeting with The Eagle editorial board that he never mentioned “Agenda 21.” Some have tried to link the planning grant to an obscure two-decade-old, nonbinding United Nations document that they think could force us to ride bicycles and live in high-rises. Peterjohn didn’t seem to want to be associated with such conspiracy talk. Yet a campaign mailer Peterjohn gave The Eagle noted how he voted against “Agenda 21 grants.”
The Sedgwick County Republican Party went over the top in censuring County Commissioner Jim Skelton (in photo) last week for the sin of being bipartisan. According to the resolution, Skelton “publicly supported a Democratic candidate over a Republican candidate.” In commenting recently to The Eagle about the challenge by Republican political novice Ben Sauceda to 11-year commissioner and current Chairman Tim Norton, who happens to be a Democrat, Skelton had dared to say: “I want people on the board who are going to be working for their constituents, not working against the government. I don’t want to work with someone who every time you turn around, they’re voting against something.” The message of Skelton’s censure – that party fealty means more than anything to the county GOP, including collegiality.
Four years ago, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce and its political action committee fought hard to keep professional anti-taxer Karl Peterjohn off the Sedgwick County Commission bench in what Peterjohn called a “political jihad” against him. In one of the strongest arguments against Peterjohn at the time, Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner said, “If his views were to prevail in this community, companies like ours would be hard-pressed to invest anymore in this community.” Peterjohn won, though, and by early 2010, then-chamber president Bryan Derreberry said “that is all old history.” Still, it was striking to see Peterjohn’s name last week on the list of endorsements by the chamber’s political action committee, along with his challenger for re-election in the Aug. 7 GOP primary, Wichita City Council member Jeff Longwell. Though Peterjohn hasn’t been the wrecking ball the business community had feared, in part because he’s mostly been in the minority on the commission, Peterjohn hasn’t really changed his views. The Wichita chamber PAC and its priorities certainly have changed, though.
In a poll last week of 401 likely Sedgwick County voters in the GOP primary, conducted by SurveyUSA and sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, Marc Bennett had pulled way ahead of Kevin O’Connor in the district attorney’s race and challenger Jeff Easter was leading Sheriff Robert Hinshaw. Bennett, deputy district attorney in the office of the retiring District Attorney Nola Foulston, had 51 percent support, compared with 33 percent for O’Connor, a former deputy district attorney. Easter, a captain in the Wichita Police Department, had 49 percent support, compared with Hinshaw’s 38 percent. In polling three weeks ago, Bennett led O’Connor and Hinshaw led Easter by 1 percentage point.
As campaigning for the Aug. 7 primary picks up, violations of local political sign ordinances are multiplying. It’s especially painful when candidates for judge, district attorney or sheriff and their volunteers fail to obey the rules. In Wichita, signs cannot be on public property, which includes the right of way between the sidewalk and the street. Nor can they be on private property without the permission of the owner or tenant, or be larger than 6 square feet. To the credit of Wichita’s Office of Central Inspection, most of the lawbreaking signs are quickly removed and impounded – but that also comes at a cost to taxpayers.
It’s disappointing that Frontier Airlines is halting its flights between Wichita and Denver beginning Nov. 16. The airline, which received a $500,000 annual subsidy through the Kansas Affordable Airfares Program in partnership with Wichita and Sedgwick County, helped curb airfares of flights headed west. Since Frontier began service in October 2007, traffic to the top Western markets is up 23 percent and fares are down 29 percent. Without any competitor, will United Airlines now jack up its fares for flights from Wichita through Denver? Airfares soared and passenger rates fell when Vanguard Airlines dropped its Wichita service in 1997.
Citizens who aren’t registered to vote must do so today if they want to vote in the Aug. 7 primaries. Applications can be submitted in person, online or by mail (must be postmarked by today). Go to www.voteks.org for more information, or call the Sedgwick County Election Office at 316-660-7100. Former Wichita Mayor Elma Broadfoot is helping lead an effort to encourage Democrats to reregister and switch parties (the deadline is also today) so they can vote in the GOP primaries – particularly for races such as Sedgwick County district attorney in which there is no Democrat in the general election. Not many people tend to respond to such appeals, however, so it is unlikely to have an impact on the outcomes of races.
New court documents raise even more concerns and questions about when Sedgwick County Jail officials learned about alleged sexual abuses by a jail deputy, and what they did about them. The documents claim that the Sheriff’s Office was made aware of the deputy’s alleged predatory actions as early as April 29, yet nothing was done until after an inmate allegedly was sodomized on June 3. Is that true? How were the allegations handled? The abuse allegedly began on April 11 and involved six victims. If so, how was it able to continue so long?
Kansas City TV station KSHB, an NBC affiliate, aired an investigative story Monday about the Kansas Affordable Airfares Program, claiming the state “is paying for empty seats on airplanes from Kansas’ largest airport with little oversight.” It described how since 2006, the state has spent $5 million a year to subsidize low-fare air service, mostly for AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. It claimed that “AirTran’s flights were relatively empty compared to other airlines flying in and out of Wichita,” citing federal data showing Delta and American Eagle flights at 74 percent capacity during the first three months of 2012, while AirTran’s were 44 percent capacity. The story highlighted a critical 2011 state audit of the airfares subsidy. It also quoted state Sen. Chris Steineger, R-Kansas City, as saying that the program’s proponents “oversold” its statewide benefits and calling it “a matter of bad priorities” that the airfares subsidy survived deep cuts to the state budget. Among the key points that went unmentioned in the story, though: that Gov. Sam Brownback has endorsed continued state support for the program, understanding its value to business and economic development regionally, and that the long-standing program helped win the commitment of Southwest Airlines to serve Wichita as it takes over AirTran. The Sedgwick County Commission approved the latest agreement with AirTran at Wednesday’s meeting.
It’s good news that Sedgwick County’s special telephone number for the Fourth of July worked as planned and prevented the 911 emergency line from being tied up. Last year, because of all the people calling 911 to complain about fireworks, callers got a busy signal when they tried to report actual emergencies. The special number handled 377 calls Wednesday. In fact, it worked so well that the county may use the special line again on New Year’s Eve. That doesn’t mean there were no problems on July 4. Fireworks are the suspected cause of several house fires, and the number of illegal fireworks shot off throughout Wichita showed again that the city’s fireworks ordinance isn’t taken seriously – by the public or by law enforcement.
The Aug. 7 GOP primary contests for Sedgwick County district attorney and sheriff are extremely close, judging from a new SurveyUSA poll sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12. Of the 403 likely Republican primary voters polled, 37 percent favored Marc Bennett to replace retiring District Attorney Nola Foulston, compared with 36 percent for Kevin O’Connor. In the sheriff’s race, incumbent Robert Hinshaw (in photo) drew 43 percent, compared with challenger Jeff Easter’s 42 percent.
The next few days will prove whether Sedgwick County learned from last year’s Fourth of July, when so many people tied up 911 complaining about illegal fireworks that calls reporting a serious motorcycle accident couldn’t get through. In all, there were 1,101 complaint calls about fireworks use over that holiday period. As Randy Bargdill, the county’s director of emergency communications, told The Eagle: “We need to go back to calling 911 for emergency calls only. It’s not a convenience call, it’s a necessary call.” Most of the year, the county advises people to make nuisance complaints using local law enforcement nonemergency lines, such as those for police in small cities or the Wichita Police Department substations. But from 6 p.m. Wednesday until 3 a.m. Thursday, people are asked to make nonemergency calls to 316-290-1011. The county’s message wasn’t entirely out last week: 59 percent of Wichitans polled Wednesday by SurveyUSA for KWCH, Channel 12, said they didn’t know there was a fireworks hotline. In Wichita, it’s legal to shoot fireworks through Thursday. And be careful out there: Wichita can do better than last year’s four fireworks-related fire calls and 70 fireworks-related medical emergencies.
It is exciting to see the former Britt Brown Arena at the Kansas Coliseum complex being transformed into the Aircraft Structural Testing and Evaluation Center, an expansion of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. Developer Johnny Stevens and NIAR are remodeling the arena so that NIAR can conduct structural tests on aircraft as big as Boeing 737s and 787s. Work at the center is expected to begin within a month, and the offices are scheduled to be open the first week of January. The new center will further enhance Wichita’s stature as an aviation manufacturing and research hub.
