One of largest MLK celebrations in the region slated for Jan. 19 in Olathe

MLK celebration

Residents throughout the Kansas City area are invited to celebrate the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 19 in Olathe.

The Sunday observance, billed as one of the largest in the region, is scheduled from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 19 at MidAmerica Nazarene University’s Bell Cultural Arts Center, 2030 E. College Way. Organizers say it provides a platform to appreciate “efforts to quell bullying, discrimination and mistreatment of others based on race, gender, or religious beliefs.”

The event will include musical performances by Olathe students. The keynote speaker will be television meteorologist Bryan Busby.

The celebration will be presented by the Olathe Human Relations Commission, in partnership with Olathe Public Schools, MidAmerica Nazarene University and the Olathe Public Library.

Summer sculpture exhibit in Overland Park

Figures from yesteryear in a dancing embrace or admiring flowers in a bucolic setting. A little girl dwarfed by a stop sign. A couple cuddling on the ground.

Those are among a 29 sculptures that will be a part of temporary art installations coming to Overland Park this summer. The pieces were created by Seward Johnson, who started out as a painter and later became a sculptor known for his lifelike pieces.

During June, July and August, a number of sculptures depicting everyday life will be on display on Metcalf Avenue between downtown and College Boulevard.

The dancers, based on a Renoir painting, will find a home at 119th Street and Blue Valley Parkway.

The Overland Park Arboretum, on 179th Street just west of U.S. 69, will host eight more sculptures featuring scenes from the past.

Once the Metcalf Avenue sculptures come down in September, the pedestals will remain for the display of different works of art.

The $150,000 project is being funded equally by the city, the Friends of the Arboretum and Friends of Overland Park Arts.

De Soto imposes penalty for broadband delay

Starting Dec. 1, the city of De Soto began imposing a $1,000 daily penalty on a Baldwin City company for delays in the installation of a high-speed fiber internet network there.

De Soto previously had offered three extensions to RG Fiber, pushing the deadline to Nov. 30 for completion of underground conduits to serve the south part of the city, which previously had no land-based internet service at all. Weather was a factor in those extensions.

All the conduits had been installed as of Jan. 6, according to an online post from the city, but not all had been tested and turned over to the city.

“In short, we were not adequately staffed,” company founder Mike Bosch said in a Jan. 10 email to The Star. “Like many others, our business depends on reliable, blue collar, skilled labor, which is in short supply. Coupled with our ambitious growth plans, which included Spring Hill, Gardner, Edgerton, Wellsville, as well as rural parts of Douglas County and Johnson County, we were not able to maintain adequate staffing levels to stay on track.”

The company also encountered more rock than expected. “To date, we have hauled off over 100 tons of rock along a 6 mile stretch,” he said.

Bosch said fiber was being installed in the conduits and he expected to turn the underground network over to the city early in the week of Jan. 13. Each conduit contains seven smaller ones, and the city will own four of them. Three are being leased to a competing internet company, Zoom Fiber.

With this part of the project complete, Bosch said, his company will be able to serve 535 residents and 20 businesses.

In the fall of 2018, De Soto agreed to pay RG Fiber to provide high-speed internet to the previously unserved area, with the understanding that the company eventually would serve the entire city. De Soto requested 1-gigabyte service, but RG’s system allows for 10 gigs.

Lenexa meeting Jan. 15 on proposed public safety complex

As Lenexa grows, so will the police, municipal court and other departments housed in office space on 87th Street Parkway that dates to 1980. Now the city is trying to decide where and how to provide better facilities for its public safety team.

Two sites are being considered for the new public safety complex, and the public is invited to offer feedback during an open house from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 15 at the Lenexa police station, 12500 W. 87th St. Parkway. Those attending can see the current efficiency and maintenance difficulties there and learn what could happen on the two sites.

Both locations are owned by the city:

▪ A 36-acre site near Prairie Star Parkway and Britton Street, which the city purchased two decades ago.

▪ The 10.3-acre property on 87th Street Parkway that’s home to the current public safety complex. That option would require phased construction and cost roughly 10 percent more. The old City Hall would be demolished and replaced by a new public safety complex. Once employees move in, the current police/court building would be replaced with space for emergency management staff and police training.

Lenexa also has developed an online form where residents can share their comments through Feb. 14. Go to the police page at lenexa.com, click on the open house notice and follow the links.

County wants to ID flood-prone areas

Johnson County and its cities are working together on a more holistic approach to prevent flooding after storms, and an early step is to identify the areas most prone to flooding.

Residents are asked to go online to detail their concerns, including flooding in streets and buildings, ponding of water on a property, sinkholes and erosion of stream banks.

Go to https://map.social/ Community.php?CommunityID=182 and map the location. A pop-up box will appear where residents can provide details like the address, the type and frequency of flooding and where the water comes from. Pictures can be uploaded as well. County officials say they want as much detail as possible.

The information will be used to develop flood-prevention strategies in various watersheds. The website also has a link showing the responses thus far.

Another option is to fill out a form at https://www.jocogov.org/webform/report-stormwater-issues.

Kansas honors outstanding novice teachers

Seven early-career educators from Johnson County are among the 32 recipients of the 2020 Kansas Horizon Awards — given to teachers who have completed their first year and distinguished themselves as outstanding.

Each Kansas school district can nominate one elementary and one secondary teacher for the award. Four elementary and four secondary classroom teachers can receive the award in each of the state’s four congressional districts. The Johnson County recipients:

▪ Blue Valley School District: Paige Lankford from Blue Valley West High School and Emily Moore from Overland Trail Elementary School.

▪ Olathe School District: Samantha Collins from Chisholm Trail Middle School and Bennett Johnson from Heritage Elementary School.

▪ Shawnee Mission School District: Blake Fingalsen from Rhein Benninghoven Elementary School.

▪ Gardner Edgerton School District: Emily Baden from Nike Elementary School.

▪ Spring Hill School District: Matthew Lundy from Spring Hill High School.

Strang Park design completed

Overland Park will meet with residents on Jan. 22 to share its final plans for upgrading Strang Park, an 11-acre site northeast of 89th and Farley streets.

Construction will start this summer on an inclusive playground that accommodates children with disabilities; new pickleball and basketball courts; an 8-foot-wide loop trail; restrooms and shelters; parking, and an entry plaza that includes historical signage, elements from the old Strang rail line, porch swing seating and an area for lawn games.

The Jan. 22 meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Johnson County Central Resource Library, 9875 W. 87th St., just north of the park. There will be time for questions and sharing feedback.

SM school district to celebrate 50th with patrons

The Shawnee Mission School District is celebrating its 50th anniversary during the current academic year — looking back to July 1969 when 12 elementary school districts merged with the Shawnee Mission High School District to form what is now Shawnee Mission, or Unified School District #512. It was the final unified district created in Kansas.

To mark the anniversary, the district will host a community event from 5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Center for Academic Achievement, 8200 W. 71st St. in Overland Park.

Guests can sample food representing different decades, prepared by alumni guest chefs from the culinary arts programs; see musical performances and art by district students; share a memory on video, and tour district Signature Programs like Animation & Design, Biotechnology, Culinary Arts & Hospitality, Engineering and Medical Health Science.

This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "One of largest MLK celebrations in the region slated for Jan. 19 in Olathe."