Olathe news briefs for the week of May 20

City Council

The Olathe City Council will next meet Tuesday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall for a regular session. Regular sessions are broadcast live on OGN (Comcast channel 7, AT&T channel 99 and on the City’s website). To see the complete agenda for this meeting, visit the City’s website at OlatheKS.org.

Memorial Day Closures

City of Olathe offices will be closed on Monday, May 27 for the Memorial Day Holiday.  Trash and recycling collection will not be impacted.

The Olathe Public Library, 201 E. Park and the Indian Creek Branch, 12990 S. Black Bob Road, will be closed Sunday, May 26 and Monday, May 27.

Storm Debris Pick-up

Due to Sunday’s storms, the City of Olathe will take bulk pick-up requests for storm debris collection this week only.  The free bulk pick-up service will occur on your regular collection day. Customers with a Monday collection day will be serviced on Monday (5/27). 

Security in check for Garmin Marathon; for all county events

Olathean Tom Kearney was impressed with the security measures in place for the Boston Marathon this past Monday, April 15. He praised their efforts even after two bombs exploded just below the restaurant overlooking the finishing line where he and his family, including his two young grandchildren, had just settled in to eat lunch.

Yet even with all that security, someone was able to sneak in not two, but four homemade bombs. Two that didn’t detonate were found underneath the grandstands.

This weekend, more than 3,000 runners plus countless other spectators are expected to take part in Saturday morning’s (April 20) Garmin Marathon that will wind its way just more than 26 miles in and around Olathe.

Olathe family survives Boston Marathon attack

Boston Police look at blown out windows at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images website)

Olathean Tom Kearney and seven members of his family, including his two grandchildren, were sitting in The Forum Restaurant on a sunny afternoon Monday, April 15, two floors above the street overlooking the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Copley Square. Less than an hour earlier they had been down by the barriers to watch his son-in-law, John Kohler, cross the finish line.

And then…

“John said he thought someone was setting off a cannon,” Tom said. “It was like everybody just stopped and looked; people thought somebody was celebrating Patriots’ Day. But in my mind, I was thinking, ‘That doesn’t sound like somebody firing a canon and that this would be the kind of place for somebody to pull some stuff.’

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, that can’t be a bomb.”

Logic, common sense create a good bill and law

With the Kansas government firmly in the hands of ultra-conservatives, it is not difficult to criticize many of the decisions they make and legislation that is signed into law. Legislation most always is based on the leadership’s narrow-minded agendas and ultra-conservative views.

But if you write enough legislation, you’re bound to get one right. It’s kind of like shooting a shotgun: You’re bound to hit something.

With House Bill 2252, Kansas legislators got this one right and Monday, April 1, Gov. Sam Brownback sign the bill into law. With his signature, the statute of limitations for rape and aggravated sodomy were eliminated. It also allows a person to report a sexual crime up to 10 years after that person turns 18.

Olathe school board approves June bond election

The Olathe Board of Education at a special meeting Monday night, March 25, unanimously voted to move forward with a $244.8 million bond election.

Registered voters who live within the Olathe School District boundaries will be able to vote in a June mail-in election that would help the district address its growth, safety and security, technology, and aging facility needs.