Overland Park Kansas

Posts Tagged ‘government’

Johnson County Kansas Aims

A court in Johnson County, Kansas sentenced a mentally ill juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years. Andrew Ellman was convicted of murdering his mental health worker, Terri Zenner.

The defendant was 17 years old when he killed the victim. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the incident he was not eligible for the death penalty.

His victim, Teri Zenner, was 26 years old and recently married when he killed her. She worked for Johnson County Mental Health trying to help Andrew Ellmaker learn skills and find a job. She stopped by Ellmaker’s Overland Park home on August 17, 2004, for a routine home visit.

She never left alive. Andrew Ellmaker stabbed her to death and cut her with a chainsaw. He also stabbed his mother when she tried to intervene.

Sue Ellmaker, the defendant’s mother, survived the ordeal. She pleaded for mercy at the sentencing because of her son’s mental illness. She said that her son struggled early with mental illness. By the time he became an adolescent, his mental disorders overwhelmed him. He walked the hallways of his high school alone and wore a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his eyes. She placed her son in institutions until her insurance benefits ran out and then had to let him live at home.

The victim’s husband, Matt Zenner, cared nothing for this defense.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing about mental illness,” he said at the sentencing hearing. “Stand up and be a man. You sit there and stare at the floor…. It’s beyond my comprehension that you were able to do this.”

As the husband of the victim, Matt Zenner is entitled to his feelings of loss, anger and bereavement. The family of Terri Zenner deserves all our compassion.

However, as a society we must overcome our prejudice that mental illness is both incomprehensible and inexcusable. Otherwise, we could face even more tragedies like Teri Zenner’s.

More than seventy percent of youth in the juvenile justice system suffer from at least one mental health disorder, according to the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice. For girls, the number is even higher. Eighty percent of girls in juvenile justice suffer mental illness. For all offenders, disruptive disorders are the most common, followed by substance use disorders, anxiety disorders and mood disorders.

Over sixty percent of youths in juvenile justice meet criteria for three or more disorders. Twenty five percent find their lives seriously impaired by mental illness.

For many of their families, juvenile justice provides their first and only access to mental health services. Sue Ellmaker testified that she kept her son in institutions “until her insurance benefits ran out.” Then he returned to the community, where he posed a deadly danger to the community.

Juvenile justice is not set up for mental health services. The aims and services of juvenile justice differ from the needs of the mentally ill youths who enter the system.

Families raising a child with mental illness feel frustrated, overwhelmed and exhausted. In my law practice, we help these families by coordinating special education, juvenile justice and mental health services.

Andrew Ellmaker deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. The rest of us, though, must work even harder to help families raising children with special needs. It’s the only way to prevent future tragedies from happening.

About the Author:

Scott Wasserman is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He devotes his law practice to helping families raising children with special needs. He can be reached through his web site at www.yourchild1st.com.

Source – Mentally Ill Juvenile Sentenced To 50 Years In Prison

OP Aims To Annex Southern Land Tract

Overland Park Kansas Entertainment

A Butterfly Called Happiness (a children’s book, ISBN of book is: 978-0-6152-4410-5) is the centerpiece of Elisa James’ work and will be available at the Unity Church convention in Kansas City on June 8 – 12. 

 

Elisa James, winner of European songwriting and poetry contests and published author is best known as a cabaret entertainer and music teacher.  Elisa offers master classes in her trademarked course, A Holistic approach to Practical Singing and resides in Delray Beach, Florida where she is also a private vocal coach to children and adults in Palm Beach County, including amateurs, professional singers and speakers.  Elisa came to America starring in her autobiographical one woman theater event, Baroness Elisa: Embarrassing Moments.

 

Over the past several years Elisa has held Happiness workshop group sessions including the widely regarded, “Circus in a suitcase†workshop for children.

 

 

Elisa will be exhibiting at the 2009 Unity People’s Convention June 8–12 at the Doubletree Hotel in Overland Park, Kansas. The program is designed to renew, inspire, educate and give ministers impactful tools.  Elisa said, “I’m delighted to participate in “Spirit Rising†and know that my Happiness programs will be a wonderful addition to the ministries attending this important event.â€Â  James Trapp, President and CEO of Association of Unity Churches International noted, “There will be many inspiring speakers to provide leadership information and time to spiritually reconnect.  We expect 500-800 ministers, spiritual leaders, board members, lay leaders, and musicians to be in attendance during this educational and inspirational networking event.â€

 

Elisa James will present HAPPINESS Programs, Products, and Playshops all designed for, “Sharing the message of happiness and joy through creative play and learning.â€

 

• PLAYSHOP #1: “Happiness: the One-Act play†written by Elisa James and J.R. Coley is a 25 minute inspiring play that helps children of all ages learn that happiness is a choice.

 

• PLAYSHOP #2 : A reading of the inspirational children’s’ book for adults – “A Butterfly called Happiness†with Q&A session about happiness and gratitude, gratitude games and exercises and an informative DVD presentation about butterflies and transformation.

 

• PLAYSHOP #3: “Singing for happiness†playshop. This is a one hour workshop for children up to 14 years old. It begins with singing games and vocal warm-up exercises. The happiness theme song and story song is then taught to the children. The children read along with the lyric sheet until they are comfortable with the song, then they use the karaoke tracks provided to perform the song live in front of the class.

 

• PLAYSHOP #4: “Happy Scarves – Juggling to musicâ€. This is a fun group playshop for kids of all ages. Juggling with scarves helps kids focus and relax their mind while the colorful scarves float through the air in time to the music. The benefits of scarf juggling include patience, coordination, team spirit, laughter and creativity.

 

More information about Elisa James’ Happiness products and programs can be found at www.elisajames.com.

 

 

 

Elisa James

info@elisajames.com

Elisa James’ Happiness Programs

www.elisajames.com

(561) 526-2539

About the Author:

Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines

Source – Kansas City Unity Church Convention to Include Elisa James’ Book

ForRent.com Stonepost Ranch Apartments in Overland Park, …

Overland Park Kansas Government

Who’s Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 10-30-09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Transportation, Government, Publishing, Health care, Manufacturing, Financial/Banking, and Education sectors.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as many from the same sector appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 10/26/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments have continued to see cutbacks for over the past month.

Transportation, especially airline related companies announced significant layoffs this week, including Boeing, US Airlines, and American Airlines.

Publishers continued to shed jobs as Associated Press, Forbes, Southern Progress, and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette announced layoffs, while rumors continued at Conde-Nast about which units would face job cuts.

While many Healthcare organizations made the top hiring company lists, a number of Healthcare companies were laying off such as Quest Diagnostics (they are also on the top hiring company list), Dorothea Dix Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, LCA-Vision, and TomoTherapy. Education organizations including Michigan State, University of Maine, and State of Arizona teachers. Princeton & Dartmouth also announced layoffs, but the numbers were too small to make this lists’ cutoff (50).

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 10/30/09:

Southern Progress (Time, Inc), Birmingham AL (90)
Boeing Corp, Kennedy Space Center FL (330)
Boeing Corp, National (500)
US Airways, National (1,000)
American Airlines, Kansas City MO (700)
Quest Diagnostics, Wallingford CT (60)
Milwaukee County, Milwaukee WI (200)
Diversco, Winston-Salem NC (55)
Tracy CA (69)
State of Massachusetts (1,000)
ComScore, San Fransisco CA (50)
Target, Minneapolis MN (85)
Royal Dutch Shell, International (5,000)
Michigan State University, East Lansing MI (600)
Bath Iron Works, Bath ME (191)
YRC Worldwide Inc, Overland Park KS (900)
John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels Inc, Greenville SC (190)
General Electric, Bloomington IL (96)
Microsemi Corp, Scottsdale AZ (200-300)
Dorothea Dix Hospital, Raleigh NC (300)
Shaw Industries, Tifton GA (200)
Associated Press, International (400?)
Site, Huntington WV (112)
Aramark/Broward County Jail, Pompano Beach FL (96)
Hendrickson International Trailer Suspension Systems, Canton OH (189)
State of Missouri (700)
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville FL (150)
Forbes, National (100)
Intermet/Archer Creek Foundry, Campbell County VA (192)
University of Maine School System, Augusta ME (100)
Arthur J. Gallagher, Itasca IL (400)
Harley-Davidson Inc, Talladega GA (100)
Thomas & Betts Corporation, Cleveland OH (117)
Honeywell, Springfield IL (120)
HanesBrands, Forsyth NC (240)
Solano County, CA (161?)
Georgia-Pacific Corp, Fordyce AR (300)
Caterpillar, National (2500)
Arrow Electronics, Melville NY (100)
Supreme Foam, Archdale NC (50)
Perot Systems Corp, Lincoln NE (54)
Capital One Bank, Melville NY (99)
Gianni Versace, International (350)
LCA-Vision Inc., Cincinnati OH (70)
Wood-Mode, Kraemer PA (95)
Direct Energy, Richardson TX (85)
New United Motor Manufacturing, Fremont CA (3,764)
USS-Posco, Pittsburg CA (50)
Bank of America, Pasadena CA (174)
Assurant Specialty Property Tustin, Orange, Santa Ana CA (256)
Lennox Hearth Products, Inc, Orange CA (71)
Rockwell Collins, San Jose CA (192)
Standard Chartered Bank, Miami FL (72)
Mohawk Flush Doors, subsidiary of Masonite Corp, South Bend IN (73)
GECOM Corp, Frankfort KY (160)
Miller Bros. Coal, LLC, Prestonburg, KY (225)
New River Foundry, Radford, VA (76)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock AR (Unknown)
TomoTherapy, Madison WI (10%)
City of Cuyahoga Falls OH (53)
US Steel, Granite City IL (Unknown)
Citigroup, Las Vegas NV (75)
City of Grand Rapids MI (Unknown)
Dutchess County NY (70)
Seattle WA Department of Planning & Development (Unknown)
Fairpoint Communication, National (Unknown)
State of Arizona Teachers (described as “Massive”)
Guardian Auto Glass, Auburn IN (64)
City of Birmingham AL (800)
State of Pennsylvania (Estimated in hundreds)

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

For links to supporting announcements and Trackback:  http://reCareered.blogspot.com/2009/10/whos-firing-layoffs-week-ended-10-30-09.html

About the Author:

Phil Rosenberg is President of reCareered and runs Career Change Central, recently named one of Linkedin’s top groups that job seekers must join. An active blogger about career transition, Phil’s articles have been republished by Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, CIO, FastCompany and dozens of job/recruiting sites.

Source – reCareered: Whos Firing – Layoffs week ended 10-30-09

Overland Park Kansas City Government

Who’s Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 10-30-09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Transportation, Government, Publishing, Health care, Manufacturing, Financial/Banking, and Education sectors.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as many from the same sector appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 10/26/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments have continued to see cutbacks for over the past month.

Transportation, especially airline related companies announced significant layoffs this week, including Boeing, US Airlines, and American Airlines.

Publishers continued to shed jobs as Associated Press, Forbes, Southern Progress, and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette announced layoffs, while rumors continued at Conde-Nast about which units would face job cuts.

While many Healthcare organizations made the top hiring company lists, a number of Healthcare companies were laying off such as Quest Diagnostics (they are also on the top hiring company list), Dorothea Dix Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, LCA-Vision, and TomoTherapy. Education organizations including Michigan State, University of Maine, and State of Arizona teachers. Princeton & Dartmouth also announced layoffs, but the numbers were too small to make this lists’ cutoff (50).

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 10/30/09:

Southern Progress (Time, Inc), Birmingham AL (90)
Boeing Corp, Kennedy Space Center FL (330)
Boeing Corp, National (500)
US Airways, National (1,000)
American Airlines, Kansas City MO (700)
Quest Diagnostics, Wallingford CT (60)
Milwaukee County, Milwaukee WI (200)
Diversco, Winston-Salem NC (55)
Tracy CA (69)
State of Massachusetts (1,000)
ComScore, San Fransisco CA (50)
Target, Minneapolis MN (85)
Royal Dutch Shell, International (5,000)
Michigan State University, East Lansing MI (600)
Bath Iron Works, Bath ME (191)
YRC Worldwide Inc, Overland Park KS (900)
John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels Inc, Greenville SC (190)
General Electric, Bloomington IL (96)
Microsemi Corp, Scottsdale AZ (200-300)
Dorothea Dix Hospital, Raleigh NC (300)
Shaw Industries, Tifton GA (200)
Associated Press, International (400?)
Site, Huntington WV (112)
Aramark/Broward County Jail, Pompano Beach FL (96)
Hendrickson International Trailer Suspension Systems, Canton OH (189)
State of Missouri (700)
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville FL (150)
Forbes, National (100)
Intermet/Archer Creek Foundry, Campbell County VA (192)
University of Maine School System, Augusta ME (100)
Arthur J. Gallagher, Itasca IL (400)
Harley-Davidson Inc, Talladega GA (100)
Thomas & Betts Corporation, Cleveland OH (117)
Honeywell, Springfield IL (120)
HanesBrands, Forsyth NC (240)
Solano County, CA (161?)
Georgia-Pacific Corp, Fordyce AR (300)
Caterpillar, National (2500)
Arrow Electronics, Melville NY (100)
Supreme Foam, Archdale NC (50)
Perot Systems Corp, Lincoln NE (54)
Capital One Bank, Melville NY (99)
Gianni Versace, International (350)
LCA-Vision Inc., Cincinnati OH (70)
Wood-Mode, Kraemer PA (95)
Direct Energy, Richardson TX (85)
New United Motor Manufacturing, Fremont CA (3,764)
USS-Posco, Pittsburg CA (50)
Bank of America, Pasadena CA (174)
Assurant Specialty Property Tustin, Orange, Santa Ana CA (256)
Lennox Hearth Products, Inc, Orange CA (71)
Rockwell Collins, San Jose CA (192)
Standard Chartered Bank, Miami FL (72)
Mohawk Flush Doors, subsidiary of Masonite Corp, South Bend IN (73)
GECOM Corp, Frankfort KY (160)
Miller Bros. Coal, LLC, Prestonburg, KY (225)
New River Foundry, Radford, VA (76)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock AR (Unknown)
TomoTherapy, Madison WI (10%)
City of Cuyahoga Falls OH (53)
US Steel, Granite City IL (Unknown)
Citigroup, Las Vegas NV (75)
City of Grand Rapids MI (Unknown)
Dutchess County NY (70)
Seattle WA Department of Planning & Development (Unknown)
Fairpoint Communication, National (Unknown)
State of Arizona Teachers (described as “Massive”)
Guardian Auto Glass, Auburn IN (64)
City of Birmingham AL (800)
State of Pennsylvania (Estimated in hundreds)

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

For links to supporting announcements and Trackback:  http://reCareered.blogspot.com/2009/10/whos-firing-layoffs-week-ended-10-30-09.html

About the Author:

Phil Rosenberg is President of reCareered and runs Career Change Central, recently named one of Linkedin’s top groups that job seekers must join. An active blogger about career transition, Phil’s articles have been republished by Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, CIO, FastCompany and dozens of job/recruiting sites.

Source – reCareered: Whos Firing – Layoffs week ended 10-30-09

Tea Party Protests Planned On Tax Day