The Fight Begins

I told you. Evidently we sent enough e-mails and made so many phone calls that Dillons caved under the pressure and realized they had no other choice but to rebuild in Greensburg. Personally, I know of about eight. Well, three were mine. But that still leaves five. Okay, they were from members of my family and I made them do it. Hey, you do what you have to. Ours were just eight out of thousands, probably jammed their systems for days. Yes, we did it!
Okay, maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that. The fact that Governor Sebelius, Sen. Brownback, Sen. Roberts, and Rep. Moran were in Greensburg praising Dillons for their recent decision to rebuild makes me think they might have been involved in the process all along. I’m sure there were plenty of incentives thrown their way. Hey, business is business, however it happened is okay with me.
A few weeks ago I talked about how as business’ grow they tend to forget where they came from. But Kroger Chairman, David B. Dillon proved me wrong by saying his company’s commitment and roots in Kansas run deep, and that they believe in Greensburg. Not much I can add to that, except to say thank you and to say David B. Dillon, You’re a good man.
Speaking of good people, we have several of them right here in Topeka. Councilwoman Lana Kennedy is one of them. I know, with everything that’s going on in city politics, from the budget, the helicopter thing, and the hardware-software fiasco, you’re probably mad at the whole city council right now. But for the time being, put all that aside. Remember they’re just people like you and I. I know for a fact I wouldn’t want their job. I have enough people mad at me as it is.
Last week I told you about the old guy in the red car. I told you about going to the police station to turn him in. I told you I was told they’d do what they could. Well, that’s not exactly how it went. What they really told me was there was nothing they could do. I couldn’t believe it. I asked the lady how in the world it was okay for a man who was on the KBI’s list of sex offenders and was convicted of sex crimes against a child to be running around lose in a park full of kids. That’s when she finally told me she’d send a car and they’d do what they could. I had a lot of questions and wanted some answers. I wanted to know what the policy is in a situation like this was. I wondered why we have to wait until some kid ends up missing before the police can do anything. I sent an e-mail to three of our city leaders. Lana Kennedy was the only one to respond. And respond she did! It seems Topeka has no laws concerning where these people can and can’t go. In fact she tried to get a law passed regarding where they could live last year. That was defeated by a 5-4 vote. She says she’s willing to give it another shot this year, only this time passing a law that if you’ve been convicted of sexually assaulting a child you can’t be in any of our city parks. The difference is that this year it’s a new council and all four yes votes are still there. That leaves five other councilmember’s. And she only needs one more yes vote. Lana, this old guy wishes you well in the battles that lie ahead. And thank you, you’re a good person.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net