Bomb squad called after activists bring petitions to Roger Marshall’s Wichita office
Activists delivered thousands of signed petitions to Sen. Roger Marshall’s offices in Overland Park and Wichita this week, demanding that he participate in public town halls.
Friday’s delivery to the Kansas Republican’s office in Overland Park appeared to be a calm occasion, but earlier in the week, Wednesday’s delivery in Wichita set off a police response that included a bomb squad.
The Kansas Coalition for Common Sense, which has supported the petition effort alongside the groups Prairie Progress Civic Action and Leading Kansas, slammed the response.
“Families across Kansas have tried repeatedly to talk with Senator Marshall,” Lauren Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the Kansas Coalition for Common Sense, said in a statement. “We’ve organized community events. We’ve signed petitions. We’ve even mailed postcards from our kitchens to his home. But Senator Marshall hasn’t shown up once.
“He mailed postcards back. He ignored meeting requests. And when Kansans peacefully delivered 3,850 petition signatures to his office, he called the police, wasting their time and our tax dollars. We deserve a senator who respects hardworking Kansans enough to hear their concerns and answer their questions.”
A spokesperson for Marshall didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
In a news release, Wichita police said they cleared the area outside Marshall’s downtown office on Wednesday afternoon after a group of “suspicious” boxes was reported near the building. Police said they were called to Marshall’s office after a reporting party said there had been a protest outside the office earlier in the day and said they found five cardboard boxes with a note addressed to Marshall.
Police cleared the area and called in the department’s explosive ordnance disposal unit, which checked the boxes.
“The boxes were examined and determined to contain protest fliers,” police said. “They posed no threat to the public.”
Marshall’s critics have seized on his lack of public town hall style events since he walked out of a tense event in Oakley, Kansas, in March last year.
Jess Cooney, an organizer with Prairie Progress Civic Action, told The Star Friday that signatures came from people from across Kansas and residents of 100 of the state’s 105 counties. Cooney said Prairie Progress scheduled their visits beforehand at both locations and remained peaceful throughout.
“It turned into a whole big thing, so I definitely don’t want that to happen here,” Cooney said of the Wichita incident. “We are here peacefully delivering our petitions and that is it.”
The Star’s Jack Harvel contributed reporting for this story.
