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Written by Pat Roberts
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Wednesday, 01 July 2009 08:00 |
I have been to Gitmo and again just recently toured the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, a top-notch facility operated by the U.S. Army’s 705th Military Police Battalion.
As a former Marine, I know the men and women of our armed forces, including those at Ft. Leavenworth, are more than capable of securing these terrorists. In fact, they already secure them very well at Guantanamo.
The real threat lies beyond the terrorists themselves. For places such as Leavenworth, there is a virtual top 10 list of external threats that housing these terrorists would bring to the 5,000 people who live on the Fort, the 12,000 people who work at the Fort, the 1,700 children who attend school on the post, and to the people of Leavenworth and the surrounding communities. Take a look:
1. Guantanamo Bay, an island facility, inherently limits external threats to prisoners, guards, and those around them from anyone who wants to attack the prison — be it angry Americans or suicide bombers.
2. Security experts estimate that Ft. Leavenworth would need to acquire 2,000 privately-owned acres of land by eminent domain to establish a stand-off zone around the USDB, which is situated near the perimeter. Imagine the lawsuits, time and money it will take to acquire the land.
3. A railway runs through the fort and a major river flows adjacent to it. Local air space by the Kansas City and Leavenworth airports would be restricted to military use only.
4. The USDB itself would have to be modified with a price tag of millions to hold prisoners it was not designed to secure. The USDB is a campus-style facility, prisoners are not totally isolated from one another, allowing communication with other inmates, a significant security concern for incarcerating detainees. Support facilities such as a hospital, court room, and additional military police facilities would have to be built. Leavenworth is the only maximum security facility in the Armed Forces, and of the 500 spaces available, only 85 are for maximum security use.
5. By law, military prisoners cannot be held with the terrorists they fight on the battlefield. If just one terrorist detainee was moved to Ft. Leavenworth, all 450 military offenders currently there would have to be transferred, most likely to Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities.
6. Since not all of the military offenders at the USDB have been discharged from the military, we could expect costly and lengthy legal tactics to fight such a transfer.
7. Relocating Military prisoners to a Federal Bureau Prison removes the ability of the military to fully carry out the Uniformed Code of Military Justice. There would be no facility to house maximum security inmates or carry out the death sentence for military inmates potentially undermining the entire military disciplinary system.
8. Military inmates are more disciplined and have a higher rehabilitation rate when serving time at Ft. Leavenworth in comparison to general population prisoners. Why change this successful program?
9. Security in the community of Leavenworth is, by law, beyond the protection of the Army, which forbids the military from taking on police roles outside of the post. As our enemies work to acquire greater means for inflicting even higher numbers of casualties on Americans, and in an era when extremists routinely seize schools, destroy hospitals, and use civilians as cover, it would be impossible to fully secure the citizens of Leavenworth from outside threats.
10. Let’s also not forget the cost to taxpayers. To achieve the kind of security already available at Gitmo, it will costs millions. The head of the prison worker’s union who attended my town hall meeting feared for her members and Kansans, should they have to take prisoners off the post for medical treatment. She said, “What will we have to do, transport them in a tank?”
The perfect solution is Guantanamo Bay. And now you have 10 compelling arguments that prove Leavenworth, Kansas is far from perfect.
If you would like to know more about issues before the Senate, please visit my Web site at http://roberts.senate.gov. For regular updates, be sure to sign up on my home page for a monthly e-newsletter, The Roberts Report.
— Pat Roberts is a
U.S. senator serving Kansas. |
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Written by Grady Atwater
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Wednesday, 01 July 2009 08:00 |
Osawatomie’s citizens and their guests gathered to dedicate the Trail of Death Monument at the Land Office at 222 Sixth St. on May 28, 1995. The monument honors the memory of Pottawatomi Nation, which was forced to leave their ancestral lands around the great lakes and emigrate to Osawatomie in 1838. The Indian Removal Act of 1837 dictated that all Native Americans east of the Mississippi River be moved and placed on reservations west of the Mississippi River.
The Pottawatomi Nation was forcibly removed from their territory by the Great Lakes in what became known as the “Trail of Death.” Forty members of the Pottawatomi Nation died in a forced march from Twin Lakes, Ind. to Osawatomie.
Osawatomie citizens honored the Pottawatomi Nation at a dedication ceremony for the monument on May 28, 1995. Richard Fisher Jr., president of the Osawatomie Historical Society, gave the welcome and introduced the guests. The Rev. Robert Pool of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Mound City gave the invocation. Boy Scout Troop 106 raised the flag and led the assembled citizens in the pledge of allegiance. Tim Ricketts, Osawatomie High School vocal music instructor, led Osawatomie vocal music students in the national anthem. Mayor Chic Heckart and Wes Cole, the Miami County Commissioner from Osawatomie, gave official greetings to all assembled at the event.
Shirley Willard, president of the Fulton County Historical Society of Rochester, Ind., presented a history of the Trail of Death. Sister Virginia Pearl and George Godfrey of the Citizen Band of the Pottawatomi dedicated the monument and The Rev. Roy McDaniel, vice president of the Osawatomie Historical Society, gave a dedication prayer, followed by a planting of a memorial tree at the monument. McDaniel then gave the Benediction, and Fisher gave tours of the Land Office.
State Sen. Doug Walker sponsored the resolution to the Kansas Legislature to make the Trail of Death a regional historic trail, Ron Morris furnished the stone and the flower bed for the monument, and the Osawatomie Tourism Committee helped to fund the project. In addition, Joe Moreland of Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home helped arrange the purchase of the bronze plaque. Andrea Renick-Bell and other members of the Osawatomie Historical Society were also instrumental in creating the monument.
Osawatomie’s history is a vital part of the make up of the city. The community has worked to honor its past and preserve its history and heritage. The town’s history is the foundation on which the present and the future are built. The community gathered in 1995 to honor and remember its history, a continuation of a vital effort that reminds us that we owe those who came before the respect and gratitude for building the community we have today.
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Written by Kevin Gray
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Wednesday, 01 July 2009 08:00 |
After Abraham Lincoln spent Dec. 1 to 6, 1859, in Kansas, a few months later in March, he said, “If I went west, I think I would go to Kansas.”
He didn’t make it to Osawatomie, even though he had been invited.
Instead, he spent what was described as a cold, uncomfortable presidential campaign swing in the northeast corner of the state with Leavenworth, his last stop, being about the closest he came to Osawatomie.
Why he didn’t make it to the city has been in question: the bad weather, divided factions (for and against slavery) within the newly forming Kansas Republican Party, and then, possibly, John Brown. Who knows for sure?
Lincoln just so happened to be in Atchison on Dec. 2, the day John Brown was hanged. Lincoln responded to the hanging by saying, “Old John Brown has just been executed for treason against the state. We cannot object, even though he agreed with us in thinking slavery wrong. That cannot excuse violence, bloodshed and treason. It could avail him nothing that he might think himself right.”
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Written by Jean Carder
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Wednesday, 24 June 2009 08:00 |
Most parents sacrifice for their kids. Some of the sacrifices are more of a sacrifice than others. Some parents may work two or more jobs to be able to give their kids a better life. Some may give up the last of the ice cream on a hot summer evening.
 I, of course, am like any other parent. I sacrifice for my kids all the time even if they don’t realize or appreciate it. But I think I made the biggest sacrifice of the year this past week. (Is everyone feeling sorry for me yet?)
My gooseberry contact called last week and said those tart little green berries are ripe for the picking.
I had never picked gooseberries before, but I was willing to sacrifice for my son, Drew. Little did I know how much of a sacrifice it was going to be.
Drew loves gooseberry pie, thanks to my mother. She got him started on gooseberry pie a few years ago. It’s his favorite treat, and he always wants a gooseberry pie for his birthday in February.
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Written by Mark Parkinson
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Wednesday, 17 June 2009 08:00 |
I’ve had a lot of people that have asked me over the last month or two about how we’re going to go about cutting the budgets over the next few months, and it’s a real challenge.
The challenge, as you know, is that our economy is really facing one of the most difficult times since the 1930s, and that means we have high unemployment rates, that means that many of you out there are concerned about your jobs, your health insurance, and all the things that we’re all worried about. It also means that state government receives less revenue. As we headed into the veto session this year we had to make about a billion dollars in cuts in a budget that is only $6.5 billion itself.
We were able to pull everybody together and get that very difficult assignment accomplished, and I’m proud to say that we not only were able to balance the budget, we were able to do it without a tax increase, and we actually ended the legislative session early. Well, wouldn’t you know that right after the session ended we got some news in May that our revenue in May was over $100 million less than we thought it would be, and I will tell you that is a very bad report, a normally bad report would be 20 to 30 million dollars short we were over 100 million dollars short in May. So we’ve got some tough decisions ahead of us. Let me tell you what my approach will be as we make those decisions. The first is that we won’t panic. We will be calm, and we will make responsible budget cuts to the areas that can be cut. Now, there is a lot of panic out there, there’s a lot of fear out there and I’ve been around long enough and faced enough situations to know that decisions that you make when you are afraid or when you’re panicking are usually not good ones. We won’t panic. We will be responsible.
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