This has to be the third or fourth attempth by the same clowns to do as they want. Makes me wonder what personnel gains they are getting for this. Reader comments included which say it like it should be said. If you would like to see the council in action at 6:00 PM centeral time use this link The Official Web Site of the City of Topeka

No matter the link works.
Attempt to override mayoral vetoes to come today: CJOnline Page Not Found
By Tim Hrenchir
The Capital-Journal
Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. CDT
Topeka Deputy Mayor Jeff Preisner said today he plans to try at this evening’s City Council meeting to override Mayor Bill Bunten’s vetoes of resolutions to reauthorize the purchases of a police helicopter and enterprise resource planning software system.

Preisner said he will make separate motions to override both vetoes during today’s meeting, which begin at 6 p.m. in council chambers at 214 S.E. 8th.

Preisner said he was particularly hopeful the council would override Bunten’s veto of the resolution regarding the ERP purchase.

“Currently what we have is antiquated,” Preisner said. “We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars in staff hours in training and implementation.”

The council approved the helicopter purchase last June, but Bunten vetoed it and the council failed to override. The council in September did override Bunten's veto of the purchase of the ERP system from Lawson Software for about $3.86 million, with an additional $400,000 to come from the city's general fund.

The council on Dec. 4 voted 5-3 to approve a veto-proof "communication" authorizing the helicopter purchase for about $820,000.

But interim city attorney Braxton Copley recently suggested the council reauthorize both the helicopter and ERP transactions because the documents involved failed to meet requirements of the Kansas cash basis law.

The council on April 1 voted 5-4 to approve resolutions that would have reauthorized the helicopter and ERP purchases. Bunten vetoed both on April 4. Seven votes are necessary to override a mayoral veto.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.

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Reader Comments
Posted by: T-TownTracker at Apr 15, 2008 at 03:48:53 PM
Better go ahead and get two or three helicopters, I just don't think one backup is enough.

Posted by: bassman1 at Apr 15, 2008 at 03:49:32 PM
The Blackburn 5 just can't take no for an answer.Preisner is nothing but Blackburn's puppet.Who cares what the citizens want?Not these five council people.I hope they don't get enough votes to override either one of the issues.It's time for a change!!

Posted by: councilcrooks at Apr 15, 2008 at 04:25:22 PM
Wow...talking about not being able to take "NO" for an answer...

MAYOR: Tell the gang of FIVE "NO" again. Blackburn and his puppets should be run out of town. I know they would rather ride the chopper out of town, but...

We still have a chopper sitting in a hangar at Billard. Let them fix it and use it. They can whine about it being a 1994 model all they want, but that's just dumb. It can be updated and made to work. Personally I still don't understand why cities bigger than ours DON'T have a chopper, yet we still seem to need one (?).


Posted by: ezstreet at Apr 15, 2008 at 04:33:56 PM
Time for ouster proceedings....Why are they so gung ho for this stuff? It boggles the mind...How many times will they vote on this? Every week, a new vote to get the Chopper and ERP forced down the ciy's throat. I guess they figure everyone on the coucil will have to vote for it after they get tired of hearing about every meeting. Kinda like Jeffy voting for himself to be Deputy Mayor...what was it...nine times...

Posted by: r2mcmullen at Apr 15, 2008 at 05:18:03 PM
To thw Fab Five: no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. Do you understand or do I need to repeat myself?

Posted by: mlurp at Apr 15, 2008 at 05:33:38 PM
You have heard from the citizens whom you work for. So are you going to do the party line B.S. and play Washington style politics and keep ignoring us at our expense. If each of you accepted the Mayors decision and the consultants data which was no to any type of chopper plans. And then got about the business of searching for another software company this would be done and already working. Saving th ecity how much in funds?
Do any of you think your going to be re-elected?

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Awww the reader comments are great for support on the Global Warming issue. To me it doesn't matter who or how it is caused but that it is happening.

CJOnline - Sebelius gets second coal plant bill

Sebelius gets second coal plant bill
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 11:29 a.m. CDT
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has received a second bill allowing two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. She will have until April 24 to decide whether to sign it.

But legislators expect her to veto the measure, just as she rejected a similar bill last month.

Sunflower Electric Power Corp. wants to build the two plants outside Holcomb, in Finney County. Its $3.6 billion project has bipartisan legislative support.

The project has been blocked since October by Rod Bremby, the governor’s secretary of health and environment.

In denying an air-quality permit for Sunflower, Bremby cited the plants’ potential carbon dioxide emissions. Many scientists link man-made greenhouse gas emissions to global warming.

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Reader Comments
Posted by: barticus at Apr 15, 2008 at 01:04:59 PM
For a fair and balanced article, the last sentence should be rewritten. "There is no scientific consensus on the exact cause of any global warming that may be occurring." Read some of the current scientific literature in journals like Nature and Science. Note the number of articles describing the uncertainties in defining global climate. The link between hurricane intensity and global warming has been debunked. Recent articles show that cloud dynamics are not understood. The amount of CO2 released by vegetation has not been modeled properly. The list of uncertainties goes on and on. No, Virginia, CO2 has not been shown to cause any global warming.
In addition, Rod Bremby has degrees in psychology and public administration. This is a scientist?

Posted by: yardman at Apr 15, 2008 at 01:23:39 PM
You are right barticus; all of the other industrialized nations are wrong. Al Gore may be an idiot, but acid rain is just one example of what humans can cause to damage our environment.

Posted by: dougmauck at Apr 15, 2008 at 01:39:12 PM
The History Channel had a program about the history of concrete and how it's used. Part of the story involved a special acid-proof cement that is used on the inside of smoke stacks at coal fired power plants. They said if ordinary cement were used, the exhaust from the stacks would eat up the cement in a couple of weeks. The glaring fact for me was that this hideous exhaust was being released into the atmosphere! Other than that, there is a scientific consenus that mankind is causing global warming with greenhouse gases, including CO2. The pollution in China can be see from space satellites. Of course the big money industrialists want to confuse the issue so that they can continue to make money. They're perfectly willing to spend what it takes to get their hired researchers to issue conflicting reports. Those who are working to save the planet don't stand to make a dime from their efforts.

+ 1 Rating Posted by: vladamir at Apr 15, 2008 at 02:42:15 PM
Has anyone checked out the cows?

Posted by: buttongod at Apr 15, 2008 at 02:50:57 PM
I just had a burger...that cow was fine...except...it was dead...does that count ?

-1 Rating Posted by: OtherSignGuy at Apr 15, 2008 at 03:05:59 PM
This whole global warming myth sounds like the unfiltered emission of a young male bovine.

Posted by: dougmauck at Apr 15, 2008 at 05:16:03 PM
Two worse case scenarios: 1. Global warming is a myth and we clean up pollution and find alternate energy to replace oil for nothing. 2. Global warming is real and we keep on using coal and oil and ruin the planet forever. Hmmmmm. Which to choose? Which to choose?

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Well the battle for the chopper is won the city did get its software package which was never bid on and costs 4 million. Not sure it will work with the county. But the best part is the many comments on this topic. But being so many I left them out, so click the link and enjoy.
CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Software veto overridden, helicopter veto stands

Software veto overridden, helicopter veto stands
By Tim Hrenchir
The Capital-Journal
Published Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Topeka City Council on Tuesday evening short-circuited Mayor Bill Bunten's veto of the purchase of a business software system but was unable to muster enough votes to overturn his veto of the acquisition of a police helicopter.

The council voted 7-2 to override Bunten's veto of a resolution reauthorizing the purchase of an enterprise resource planning system as council members Brett Blackburn and Lana Kennedy — who opposed the purchase April 1 — switched to vote in favor of it.



Jeff Preisner made motions to override mayor's vetoes.
HOW THEY VOTED

On the ERP system: Yes, Lana Kennedy, Jack Woelfel, Bill Haynes, Deborah Swank, Brett Blackburn, Jeff Preisner and Richard Harmon; No, John Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz.

On the helicopter: Yes, Jack Woelfel, Deborah Swank, Brett Blackburn, Jeff Preisner and Richard Harmon. No, Lana Kennedy, John Alcala, Sylvia Ortiz and Bill Haynes.
Council members then upheld Bunten's veto of a resolution reauthorizing the purchase of a police helicopter in a 5-4 vote, with seven votes being necessary for an override. It wasn't immediately clear what effect the latter vote may have on a lawsuit Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht filed Feb. 29 seeking to block the helicopter purchase.

"Hopefully we'll get the lawsuit by the D.A. behind us and we can move forward," Deputy Mayor Jeff Preisner said.

Preisner made separate motions Tuesday to override Bunten's vetoes of resolutions the council approved in 5-4 votes on April 1 to reauthorize the purchases of the helicopter and ERP system.

Preisner told council members he was responsible for a flood of e-mails they had received recently asking them to override the ERP veto. Preisner said he had encouraged city employees to e-mail the council in support of the purchase.

"I think it just caught fire," he said.

Still, Preisner said he went into Tuesday night's meeting thinking he lacked the seven votes necessary to override the ERP veto. Council members Blackburn, Kennedy, John Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz voted against the resolution on April 1 before Bunten vetoed it three days later.

On Tuesday night, Blackburn and Kennedy changed their votes.

Blackburn said afterward he had decided the city had invested so much time and resources into implementing the ERP system that it would be detrimental to turn back now. He said his vote to override came in part because he disagreed with the mayor's assertion that Lawson Software wasn't the best company from which to purchase an ERP system.

"We were never presented anything to substantiate that Lawson wasn't a better buy," Blackburn said.

He expressed concern that backing out of the deal would hurt Topeka's reputation in the financial community and could end up costing the city a lot of money.

Tuesday's ballot on the helicopter matter was more predictable than the vote on the ERP measure, as each council member voted on the side he or she took April 1.

After the helicopter vote, Preisner asked interim city attorney Braxton Copley to prepare a proposal for the council to consider that would void the purchase. Preisner said Copley had told him the council would need to approve such a measure to conclude the matter.

Preisner said that while the city appeared likely to lose a down payment of about $75,000 it made on the helicopter purchase, he could live with that.

"If you're going to skin your knee, I'd rather skin my knee with $75,000 than with $4 million," he said.

The council initially approved the helicopter purchase last June, but Bunten vetoed it and the council failed to override. The council in September did override Bunten's veto of the purchase of the ERP system, which costs about $3.86 million, with an additional $400,000 to come from the city's general fund.

The council on Dec. 4 voted 5-3 to approve a veto-proof "communication" authorizing the helicopter purchase for about $820,000.

But Copley recently suggested the council reauthorize both the helicopter and ERP transactions because the documents involved failed to meet requirements of the Kansas cash basis law.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

The comments are at the site. But notice the 2 week notice. With everything costing more each day our city council seems to be so far above the average person we might get lucky and they will float away, forever lost to nature. Aww to hope. I went thru this in Bicknell, IN. for the 10 years I lived there and my wife said it was 23 years old as and issue and seveal increases.

CJOnline Page Not Found

Water rates to rise
Homeowners will see about a $14 monthly increase in their bills
By Tim Hrenchir
The Capital-Journal
Published Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Topeka City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday evening to approve a rate hike that will mean about a $14 monthly increase in the average water, sewer and stormwater utility bill for a single-family home.

Council members Jack Woelfel, Bill Haynes, Deborah Swank, Brett Blackburn, Jeff Preisner and Richard Harmon voted in favor of the ordinance, while Lana Kennedy, John Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz voted against it.

Alcala said he couldn't support the increases because he thought they would substantially affect senior citizens and others on fixed incomes.

Blackburn responded that he thought the increases were needed. He said he viewed raising user fees as preferable to increasing property taxes because people paying user fees can cut costs by modifying their behavior, while those paying property taxes can't.

The council last raised utility rates in November 2003 when it approved increases that took effect on Jan. 1 of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Public works director Mike Teply told council members Tuesday that those rate hikes hadn't generated expected revenue increases. He also said Topeka's water and sewer infrastructure is aging and deteriorating.

Teply said the latest rate hikes will be targeted at continuing to improve and replace the city's utility infrastructure, enabling Topeka to continue to comply with federal regulations and addressing cash flow concerns caused by insufficient revenues.

The new rates are to take place this May 1 and on Jan. 1 of 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Council members voted to raise the minimum water charge for single-family homes by $6.18 — from $8.82 to $15 — effective May 1, with the new charge remaining in effect through the end of 2011. The minimum charge includes the first 1,500 gallons of water used each month.

The city also will raise the minimum monthly wastewater, or sewer, charge for single-family homes by $3.54 — from $11.31 to $14.85 — for city residents beginning May 1 and running through the end of 2011. The minimum charge covers the first 1,500 gallons of wastewater discharged into the city's sanitary sewer system

The ordinance approved Tuesday also calls for the city to:

• Raise water volume rates per 1,000 gallons within city limits by 3 percent each year. For single-family homes, that would raise the rate per 1,000 gallons from the current $3.18 to $3.28 on May 1, to $3.38 in 2009, to $3.48 in 2010 and to $3.58 in 2011. The volume rate kicks in after the 1,500 gallons covered by the monthly minimum rate.

• Raise wastewater rates in the city by 4 percent annually from the current $3.30 per 1,000 gallons to $3.43 on May 1, to $3.57 in 2009, to $3.71 in 2010 and to $3.86 in 2011. Residential sewer rates are based on a calculated average water volume determined for water used in the months of December, January and February.

• Raise the stormwater runoff rate in Topeka by about 17 percent on May 1, with no further increases being planned through the end of 2011. The amount assessed for stormwater runoff depends on a property's amount of impervious surface areas that don't allow rainfall to soak into the ground, such as driveways, sidewalks and rooftops.

Except in the city's North Topeka drainage district, the runoff charge is to increase from $2.34 to $2.75 a month for a residence with less than 1,500 square feet of impervious surface; $3.62 to $4.25 a month for 1,500 to 3,500 square feet; $5.65 to $6.65 a month for more than 3,500 square feet; and $3.62 to $4.25 a month for apartments and duplexes.

Water and wastewater rates for customers who use city water and sewer services but live outside of Topeka will amount to 175 percent of the city rates for all customer classes, including minimum charges and volume rates. The city doesn't assess stormwater runoff fees to anyone who lives outside of the city.

Teply said the increase in the stormwater fees will provide the necessary funding for more than $6 million the city must pay for improvements to levees located on the Kansas River, Soldier Creek and Shunganunga Creek. The federal government is to pay most of the more than $17 million cost for the levee work, he said.

In other action, the council voted 9-0 to approve a joint city-county resolution expressing support for Amtrak's expansion of railroad service from Newton to Oklahoma City and asking Amtrak to provide a full line of customer service, including baggage handling, at its Topeka station at S.E. 5th and Holliday.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Well every city has crime so who cares to say something and post theirs. Most everyone who is on line has an on line local news source. Join in all it takes is copy and pasting.
But I have been trying to teach my Nam Bro from Peoria to do it. LOL His 9 year old grand daughter is trying to help him now! Gotta love it. Comments at the site. And todays robbery below this.

CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Police calls

Note the location need mean nothing to the reader but the crime is what I want to show.
Police calls
Published Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Felony cases reported to the Topeka Police Department.

Dist. Address, Crime, Time, Day

414 1500 blk. N.W. Eugene, burglary, vehicle theft, noon 3/21-2:50 p.m. 4/12

1900 blk. N.W. Silver Lake, criminal damage, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 p.m., 4/12-4/13

423 1000 blk. S.W. Boswell, agg. assault, 6-6:05 p.m. 4/12

1000 blk. S.W. Boswell, criminal damage, 5 a.m.-8:30 a.m. p.m. 4/13

433 1100 blk. S.W. Fillmore, burglary, theft, 6 p.m. 4/10-11:30 a.m., 4/12

1300 blk. S.W. 15th, agg. battery, 12:57-12:58 a.m. 3/29

800 blk. N.E. Oakland, burglary, theft and criminal damage, 6:30 p.m.- 12:20 p.m., 4/12-4/13

3600 blk. S.E. US-40 highway, burglary, theft, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 4/7-4/9

434 1100 blk. S.E. Highland, burglary, theft, criminal damage, 8 p.m.-1 p.m., 4/11-4/12

444 2400 blk. SW. Candletree, burglary, theft, 5 p.m. 4/13-6:50 a.m. 4/14

453 2000 blk. S.W. Lincoln, theft, midnight 4/12-2:30 p.m. 4/13

3800 blk. S.W. 29th, theft, 6:57 p.m. 4/14

454 1300 blk. S.W. 37th, theft, 11:43 am.-12:12 p.m. 4/12

3400 blk. S.W. Briarwood, theft, burglary, criminal damage, 4 p.m.-8:15 p.m. 4/10-4/12

3600 blk. S.W. Plass, theft, 5:30 a.m.-5 p.m. 4/13

463 2800 blk. S.E. Michigan Ave., burglary, criminal damage, 3:30-3:45 p.m. 4/14

464 3700 blk. S.E. Humboldt, vehicle theft, reported 8:05 p.m. 4/10

400 blk. S.E. 35th, burglary, theft, 8:30a.m. 4/14-6:15 p.m. 4/14

South Topeka business victim of armed robbery
The Capital-Journal
Published Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. CDT
An armed robber got away with an undisclosed amount of money after robbing a south Topeka business late Tuesday.

CJOnline - South Topeka business victim of armed robbery

Kristi Pankratz, spokeswoman for the Topeka Police Department, said officers were called about 11:15 p.m. to Priscilla’s, 3330 S.W. Topeka Blvd., where a clerk said a person came into the business, displayed a gun and left with cash. No one was injured.

The suspect is described as a white female, about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 250 pounds. She was wearing a black ski mask and a plaid shirt.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

He was caught running away and others saw him. But th ecity will take a year at least to try him.

CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Homicide victim an 'innocent bystander'

Homicide victim an 'innocent bystander'
Club owner blames gang violence; brother says family angry
By Ann Marie Bush
The Capital-Journal
Published Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The bullets that struck and killed 30-year-old Albert L. Conley this past weekend outside of Mahogany Lounge in central Topeka were meant for someone else, club owner Mario Wilkerson said Tuesday.

"He was an innocent bystander who was trying to break up a fight," said Wilkerson, who added that the altercation was related to gang violence.

Wilkerson said the fight had started at another club earlier Friday and some of the people involved ended up at Mahogany Lounge, 1307 S.W. Huntoon.

"Two people had a pushing match inside," Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson said he removed the people from his club early Saturday and called the police. Shortly afterward, shots rang out.

"Police were on the scene when shots were fired," the club owner said "This is gang related. This is not a club problem. This is a society problem."

He said the incident was caught on surveillance tape by Charlie's Retail Liquor, 1235 S.W. Huntoon. Police would neither confirm nor deny Wilkerson's claim about the tape.

Mahogany Lounge has been open for about nine months. Wilkerson said except for an incident in October when he was shot in the leg outside of his club, it is a pretty quiet place.

Nate Jackson, who is a DJ at the club on Fridays and Saturdays, said Conley, known as "Al" to friends and family members, knew one of the people involved in the fight.

"Commotion broke out and bam, his life was gone," Jackson said. "He was there about 20 minutes before his life was gone. This was a good guy. He was being a good Samaritan. It was a real tragic, horrific thing."

Conley's family is still reeling from the shock.

"I think it's stupid," said Mitch White, Conley's 36-year-old half brother. "The whole gun thing — it's stupid. We're hurt. We're mad at the boy, but we know we have to forgive him. We want to forgive him, but we're very angry at him."

Timothy D. Arterberry, 17, of Topeka, was arrested shortly after 2:15 a.m. Saturday. Police spokeswoman Kristi Pankratz said police officers in the area heard gunshots and gave chase before they took him into custody. Arterberry was arrested in connection with murder and a weapons violation. He was booked into the Shawnee County Juvenile Detention Center.

The investigation continues, Pankratz said.

White said his brother, who had been living with him, was a caring person.

"He had a little trouble with the law," he said. "But he was a changed person. He helped people out."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Wilkerson, along with family members and friends of Conley, are planning a march in his memory on May 1. He said Mahogany Lounge will be closed this weekend, and he will make a determination later as to whether the club will reopen.

White said Conley was struck by bullets three times — once in the shoulder, once in the neck and once in the cheek.

Conley had been working two jobs and was expecting a baby, White said.

"He was trying to better himself," he said. "He wanted to get his life together."

Bullets put an end to that, White said.

"Kids just don't understand," he said. "They pull the trigger, and that's the end of someone's life. These kids don't understand that gangs are a dead-end road."

Ann Marie Bush can be reached at (785) 295-1207 or ann.bush@cjonline.com.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

City employee e-mails helped change ERP vote
Workers happy veto override keeps new software system intact
By Tim Hrenchir
The Capital-Journal
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008
Topeka Police Department accountant Amanda Meyer feels certain the business software system the city is putting in place will enable its employees to work better and faster.

So when it became clear two weeks ago that Mayor Bill Bunten would try to void the purchase of that enterprise resource planning system, Meyer sent the city council an e-mail explaining why she thought the system was essential.

CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - City employee e-mails helped change ERP vote

Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal
Tina Loyd, city of Topeka accounting manager, practices on the new enterprise resource planning software system during a class Wednesday at City Hall. City employees lobbied the city council through e-mails to override the mayor and buy the Lawson system.
AT A GLANCE

Q: Has the cost for the city to acquire and implement an enterprise resource planning software system risen over the past seven months?

A: No. The resolution the council approved by overriding Mayor Bill Bunten's veto Tuesday arranges for the contract amount to be the same the council authorized last September, which was about $3.86 million, with $400,000 more coming from the city's general fund.

Q: Where is the city in terms of putting the ERP system in place?

A: City spokesman David Bevens said the city "has not missed a beat" in moving forward with implementing the ERP system and still plans to have it completely in place by March 31, 2009.

Q: What happens next regarding the police helicopter purchase?

A: Deputy Mayor Jeff Preisner has asked interim city attorney Braxton Copley to prepare a proposal for the council to consider that would void the purchase. Preisner said Copley had told him the council would need to approve such a measure to conclude the matter.
City spokesman David Bevens said Meyer's message was the first of many the council received from city employees before it voted 7-2 Tuesday evening to override Bunten's veto of a resolution reauthorizing the ERP purchase. The swing votes came from council members Lana Kennedy and Brett Blackburn, who opposed the purchase April 1 but voted in favor of it Tuesday.

Kennedy said Wednesday that a flood of e-mails from city workers expressing their heartfelt support for the ERP system convinced her to switch sides. She said employees reminded her of the system's importance and of how much time and effort the city has put into implementing it.

The council last September initially overrode Bunten's veto of the purchase of the ERP system, which the city began implementing in January. But that purchase was put back before the council after interim city attorney Braxton Copley recently suggested it needed to reauthorize the transaction because documents involved failed to meet requirements of the Kansas cash basis law.

The council on April 1 voted 5-4 — with Kennedy, Blackburn, John Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz dissenting — to reauthorize the ERP purchase. Bunten three days later vetoed the measure, with votes from seven council members being necessary to override.

If the city had voided the purchase, Meyer said, the three weeks she spent being trained to use the ERP system would have gone to waste. The city since Jan. 5 has been putting the system in place, with five Lawson employees currently working in Topeka to implement it and train city employees on how to use it. ERPs integrate, or try to integrate, all data and processes of an organization into a unified system.

Meyer said she told council members in an e-mail two weeks ago about how the ERP system will improve city operations in such areas as sharing of information.

The council got e-mails from other city employees, including human resources director Jacque Russell, who said she was familiar with Lawson ERP software from having worked with it at a job in the private sector. Bevens said employees and their supervisors notified city manager Norton Bonaparte of all messages they sent to council members on the matter.

Bevens said Bonaparte doesn't have a problem with employees who are at work expressing their opinions on matters of city business to council members. Bonaparte sees that as being no different than a city employee responding to a council member's request for information on a matter of city business, which isn't uncommon, Bevens said.

Bonaparte, who doesn't usually take sides on political issues, spoke publicly in favor of the ERP purchase at Tuesday's council meeting.

After the council overrode Bunten's veto that evening, Bonaparte sent its members a message thanking them on behalf of city workers.

"As noted in the e-mails you received from employees, we see the implementation of the Lawson ERP system as critical in our efforts to make the city government more effective and more efficient," Bonaparte wrote.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

McBush made another boo boo. Sure steering us toward one party aren't they.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Yesterday: This from my local paper on the Constitution, with locals comments. CJOnline

Letter: Constitution in peril: CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Letter: Constitution in peril
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Constitution is more fragile than people realize, and only the people of the United States can protect it.

The Constitution exists only so long as our government respects it and is held accountable by the people. The Articles of Confederation used to be our highest authority, and the process used to replace it with the Constitution was illegitimate under the Articles of Confederation. In other words, powerful men decided it should be replaced, and the majority bought into it.

The lesson is that our form of government can change whenever the people give our leaders the power. Our government has been eroding the meaning and function of the Constitution during the Bush administration so that one day it may be a meaningless piece of paper.

This threat to our Constitution isn't a partisan issue. It should concern every American. The Constitution is all that preserves our government "of the people" against a government that rules a people. We must protect our constitutional rights for future generations.

JASON LANTZ, Lawrence

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+ 2 Rating Posted by: topekavoter at Apr 17, 2008 at 04:20:11 AM
What he said. Go Jason!

The constitution is intended to protect the rights of all citizens not deny them.

Kansas Equality Coalition - Welcome

Posted by: markzlatnik at Apr 17, 2008 at 07:40:18 AM
I don't think you can point the finger only at the Bush administration. Individual freedoms have been under attack by bureaucrats that don't have to answer to the voter, activist judges with an agenda regardless of the constition, and the democratic party by trying to say that the 2nd amendment is not an individual right even though all of the other amendments deal with personal rights.

+ 3 Rating Posted by: michaeljamison at Apr 17, 2008 at 07:49:47 AM
Perhaps we need a "Constitution Party" that would restore the losses inflicted by both the republicans and the democrats?

Posted by: chasss at Apr 17, 2008 at 10:20:33 AM
Jason
What about Pres. Clinton selling secrets to the chinese on missles during his admin.. What about lying under oath. The constitution is brittle. Think of the rights a person has lost in the last 20 to 30 years. Think about it a moment..........Now where would we be with out losing these rights.

Posted by: nobody at Apr 17, 2008 at 10:20:43 AM
The 2nd amendment is the right that allows all others to exist. The intent behind it was so that the government would live in fear/respect of "We the people." That right, and therefore all others, began to be infringed in 1919 with the imposition of an excise tax on handguns as part of the "War Revenue Act". This was the beginning of the trip down the slippery slope that has brought us to today, where crime is rampant and law-abiding, upstanding citizens are unable to protect themselves from the dregs of society without paying unreasonable fees and having their privacy invaded by being fingerprinted and entered into a database. It is a citizen's duty and obligation in a free society to be armed and prepared to prevent themselves and those around them from being victims. Responsibility goes hand in hand with freedom, and if you are unwilling to shoulder some responsibility, you don't deserve any freedom.

Posted by: topekavoter at Apr 17, 2008 at 11:30:14 AM
Marklantnik, I know this is called the opinion section but...
One person's "activist judge" is another person's judge interpreting the constitution. It would seem that to label a judge "activist" depends upon whether or not one agrees with the ruling. Many of the rulings made by the judges are not popular. Judicial oversight is a part of the system of checks and balances. Without a strong judicial branch, the legislative and executive branch will and have take over.

Posted by: NUMBER1EAGLE at Apr 17, 2008 at 12:11:19 PM
Remember the words of William Penn;
"Those who will not be governed by God, will be ruled by tyrants".

+ 1 Rating Posted by: NUMBER1EAGLE at Apr 17, 2008 at 12:48:09 PM
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices -- 545 human beings out of the 300 million -- are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses -- provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. (These comments by Charlie Reese, a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel)


+ 1 Rating Posted by: CrazyLarry at Apr 17, 2008 at 02:21:26 PM
The republicrats and democans are one in the same...bought and paid for by big business. We the people, need to shake up this system...a country of 300-million people is to be represented by only TWO parties--what a joke. This system is totally corrupted and some day the people will realize that and take the government back.

Posted by: heidis at Apr 17, 2008 at 04:11:55 PM
I'm voting for Obama mostly for the fact that he is a constitutional law teacher. It'd be wonderful to have someone in the White House who doesn't use our Bill of Rights and such as toilet paper

Posted by: erviltnec at Apr 17, 2008 at 07:29:53 PM
While you were watching the play-offs or "Survivor" the country was sold to the "Military Industrial Complex." We have a corporate Congress, corporate candidates and a corporate media to promote the corporate agenda. Forget about freedom and the Constitution, those are things of the past. Americans will keep paying outrageous gasoline prices and *****, but do nothing else. They will keep electing special interest puppets and wonder why nothing is getting done. They will keep seeing big business getting perks and tax credits while they keep living paycheck to paycheck. A national strike and election boycott would be the only way to stop this corporate fascism from continuing to rule.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Seems our elections do have some affect on the national goals, but doesn't mean things will change. This is the GOP candidates thoughts on S/S reader comments included and revel a lot. Ryan was a wash out for being a ineffective guess he misses th egood life and a susual didn't hear the people when they told him to move out of Congress once before. Now he will try to regain a position where he can ignore the Nations voice.

Social Security divides Republican candidates: CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Social Security divides Republican candidates
Ryun takes issue with Jenkins' KPERS-style reforms
By Tim Carpenter
The Capital-Journal
Published Friday, April 18, 2008
Competing ideas for strengthening the federal Social Security system Thursday entered the Republican congressional campaign between Lynn Jenkins and Jim Ryun.

Ryun, seeking to recapture the 2nd District seat he lost in 2006, said part of the solution was to give workers authority to invest some of their Social Security contributions in personal accounts, a strategy denounced by Jenkins as "extremely risky" for Kansans on fixed incomes.

Ryun criticized his GOP rival for proposing on the campaign trail adaptation of reforms used to bail out the 259,000-member Kansas Public Employees Retirement System to address financial weakness in Social Security.

Jenkins, the state's treasurer and a member of the KPERS board, said no one would be talking about the issue if Ryun and others had done more to bolster the federal retirement program during his 10 years in Congress.

"Jim Ryun created the problem by repeatedly voting for wasteful spending and then voting to raid our Social Security trust fund to pay for it," she said.

The scuffle over Social Security will be among many during a primary campaign pitting two well-known and well-financed Republicans against each other in a district that includes Topeka, Manhattan and west Lawrence. The winner of their August showdown faces Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda.

In 2007, the state decided people entering the state retirement program after July 2009 would be part of a new KPERS package.

New entrants would be fully vested in five years rather than a decade and they would make personal contributions of 6 percent rather than 4 percent. They also would be eligible for full retirement later and face deeper penalties for early retirement.

The state also issued $500 million in bonds to meet future obligations to KPERS retirees. None of the changes altered promised benefits to current members.

Kyle Robertson, Ryun's campaign manager, said adaptation of the state model to the federal system would mandate a tax increase on all contributors to Social Security.

"We don't think raising taxes and cutting benefits is the approach," he said.

Patrick Leopold, campaign manager for Jenkins, said the state treasurer didn't want to raise Social Security taxes or trim benefits for anyone at or near retirement.

On Monday, Jenkins touted her involvement in formation of the new KPERS program during a videotaped appearance before a group of Republicans in Linn County. The financial problems with Social Security are similar, she said.

"This is really one area that I think I have something to offer the federal government," Jenkins said. "We had a huge unfunded liability. We couldn't figure out how we were going to pay people's retirement."

In Kansas, she said, several years of work led to a package that required new members to contribute more but guaranteed them annual cost-of-living adjustments.

"They pay a little extra because they're going to get a little extra," she said during the appearance. "We need to take that approach and apply it to Social Security."

Leopold clarified in an interview that Jenkins was speaking at the GOP event about an avenue for resolving gridlock on Social Security, "not the actual plan" adopted for KPERS.

President Bush campaigned in 2000 in support of allowing workers to invest part of Social Security contributions in private accounts that might generate larger returns than what the government provided.

In a 2005 meeting in Topeka on Social Security, Ryun said creation of these personal accounts would "provide a greater retirement" for Americans. In 1996, Ryun also supported "compassionate privatization of both Medicare and Social Security," but his campaign staff said the term privatization didn't reflect Ryun's present thinking on the issue.

"I believe the Ryun privatization scheme of Social Security and Medicare is extremely risky and would be disastrous for seniors," Jenkins said. "If the Ryun plan had been in place during the past year, it would have severely reduced benefits for seniors living on fixed incomes."

Robertson said use of the word "privatization" by Jenkins was a scare tactic. As a member of Congress, he said, Ryun voted in 2000 to lower the percent of Social Security benefits subject to tax. Application of the KPERS model to Social Security would "recklessly raise taxes by $234 billion over five years," Robertson said.

Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 296-3005 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.

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Reader Comments
Posted by: thisreallysucks at Apr 18, 2008 at 04:03:35 AM
Private accounts for Social Security are a terrible idea. The funds they will offer for investment will not keep up with the S&P. Mutual funds have not performed well for over 10 years, not just in 2007/08. Workers will have little choice as to where to invest their money, and they will lose big. I am now forced by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to put 401K money into mutual funds, money markets or fixed funds instead of company stock, because I own too much stock. It is a bad deal and only helps brokerage firms. Personal accounts for Social Security will also only help brokerage firms.

Posted by: dougmauck at Apr 18, 2008 at 07:16:54 AM
Put back every Social Security dollar that has ever been taken for use in the general budget with interest and there would be no Social Security problem. The idea of private accounts for Social Security originates with the good ol' boys in the backroom who will profit from the deal.

Posted by: FrankFurter at Apr 18, 2008 at 08:44:11 AM
Private accounts make perfect sense. Why not put 1% in to a private account.

If Federal employees have the ability and wisdom to invest in mutual funds, bond funds etc, then why can't we?

Are you seriously arguing that SS benefits are keeping up with the S&P?

Posted by: mohack at Apr 18, 2008 at 09:17:18 AM
At least give us the same options the the Federal employees have.



Posted by: ASBESTOS at Apr 18, 2008 at 09:49:21 AM
"The funds they will offer for investment will not keep up with the S&P." That is blantant opinion, and NOT factual. Stupid thing to post.

"Put back every Social Security dollar that has ever been taken for use in the general budget with interest and there would be no Social Security problem."

This is the only correct answer. The politicians (both parties raided Social Security and illegally took the money. In the future there will be riots if this is not straitgghtened out. Could you imagine paying in all your life and then told, "sorry we are broke" and you don;t get any money".

This is how government operates, whether it is SRS, KDHE, KDOL, EPA, OSHA, ANY AGENCY spends more then theyget budgeted, and then the agencies come up with stupid statements like "we do not have enough money in our budget to carry out our agency mandated activities". Well then shut down the agency or hire porductive and effective people, that is the answer. The State of Kansas employment and recruitment system is in shambles, and good productive people are ran out of the Civil Service, and only impotent, incompetent, and utterlly useless imbeciles remain.

That is how and why all of our governmental institutions and agencies are failing, including Social Security.

Key statment:

"At least give us the same options the the Federal employees have."

You can bet that if congress had to deal with what common Americans deal with they would fix the problem. Additionally, GET ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS OFF SOCiAL SECURITY!!!

That will also fix the budget shortfall for Kansas this year. Quit giving money and benefits to illegal aleins.

See the pattern yet? Lack of accountability, and lack of control and rampant fraud and incompeetence.

Those are the problems with today's governmental agencies.

Posted by: ASBESTOS at Apr 18, 2008 at 09:49:28 AM
"The funds they will offer for investment will not keep up with the S&P." That is blantant opinion, and NOT factual. Stupid thing to post.

"Put back every Social Security dollar that has ever been taken for use in the general budget with interest and there would be no Social Security problem."

This is the only correct answer. The politicians (both parties raided Social Security and illegally took the money. In the future there will be riots if this is not straitgghtened out. Could you imagine paying in all your life and then told, "sorry we are broke" and you don;t get any money".

This is how government operates, whether it is SRS, KDHE, KDOL, EPA, OSHA, ANY AGENCY spends more then theyget budgeted, and then the agencies come up with stupid statements like "we do not have enough money in our budget to carry out our agency mandated activities". Well then shut down the agency or hire porductive and effective people, that is the answer. The State of Kansas employment and recruitment system is in shambles, and good productive people are ran out of the Civil Service, and only impotent, incompetent, and utterlly useless imbeciles remain.

That is how and why all of our governmental institutions and agencies are failing, including Social Security.

Key statment:

"At least give us the same options the the Federal employees have."

You can bet that if congress had to deal with what common Americans deal with they would fix the problem. Additionally, GET ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS OFF SOCiAL SECURITY!!!

That will also fix the budget shortfall for Kansas this year. Quit giving money and benefits to illegal aleins.

See the pattern yet? Lack of accountability, and lack of control and rampant fraud and incompeetence.

Those are the problems with today's governmental agencies.

Posted by: NUMBER1EAGLE at Apr 18, 2008 at 10:33:44 AM
I would ask Mr. Ryun if he is willing to give up his government allotted pension that he so graciously gave to himself with our,(taxpayers), money and go on Social Security like the rest of us? If all of the elite plutocrats in Washingto would do this, then watch how fast the coffers would fill back up and the present fiasco laws would be changed.

Posted by: bobberboy at Apr 18, 2008 at 10:46:13 AM
Jenkins is exactly right, I mean she hit the nail right on the center of the head, as most democrats seem to be doing in this day and age. Ryan and all those that act and think as he does have no place in todays government.

__________________
Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”