@BlogKCLast night a huge fire destroyed a big chunk of “downtown” Overland Park. No, not the office buildings in Corporate Woods, but rather a small Main Street type of area in the northern part of that suburb. The fire started in the studio of artist Gil Rumsey, known for his paintings of local landmarks like the Plaza lights. Unfortunately it looks like Rumsey’s studio and inventory is a total loss.
The odd part of this story is a local TV station interviewing a witness who remarked “these things just don’t happen in Overland Park.” He’s right. Fires only happen in the hood, not in the land of gold-paved streets.
I’ve live in OP, very close to where the fire occured. I also observed an African-American male driving a car near the area several hours before the fire. I hope the authorities look into a possible connection.
Mike, seriously are you that racist?!?!?!?! You have to be kidding me to think that this tradgety happened the way you say, I can honestly say that since the first time my folks took me to the city market there in OP back in ’83 to when I was driving home through downtown last week that I have “observed” the pressence of non-Whites “in the area” Your ignorance will only confuse the situation, remember that 10 months ago in that very same strip of buildings an electrical fire burned down a bar from the basement.
I thought it was obvious I was being sacrastic. I guess not.
Christian,
I’m pretty sure Mike was kidding. He was making fun of the stereotypical Joco whitebread attitudes.
I am one the most sarcastic individuals I know, but there is a level of whit that we need to adhere to, along with a modicum of good taste. Besides sterotypical arsonist are white.
White Middle Aged men..
How much more Greater Metro KC can we get?
The sad thing is that it happened to an area with rich history and identity and authenticity. While I may be a Northlander (and a long time one at that!), there are still pockets of the city that have a rich textural quality and authenticity to them that can not be ignored.
i thought the comment was funny. we can only hope the person being interviewed by the TV station was being sarcastic as well, THAT is the person to be disgusted at. did the OP police do a round-up of Arab-Americans in the vicinity to see if it was the work of a sleeper cell?
So if there are fires down near the Phoenix and the Blue Room and it so happens that a white person is driving home from a night on the town, can we deduce that a white person caused those fires? I should say not!
This is the first I’ve heard of this as I don’t read the KC print or watch the hokey news broadcasts, but accidents happen for a variety of reasons, not just arson.
Maybe this is a chance to rebuild an area with modern conveniences and logic (I know that’s hard in OP) while maintaining the ambiance of the rich history that it offers.
Bill
Are people really so dumb that they think Mike was being serious?
How do we know if he was or not?
By reading that, yes, someone could infer that this was a sarcastic attack towards the racist attitudes in Overland Park. However, a first reading of this statement might be taken as purely another example of the racist attitude in OP.
Bill
I’ve spent the majority of my life living in Overland Park. I’ve also lived in NKC and Westport. I often join in on piling on Overland Park just because I don’t take the “Johnson County attitude” thing seriously and find the Johnson County hate funny.
I do however wonder where the “racist attitude of Overland Park” opinion comes from. I’ve been noticing these days people are quick to throw out the “racist” label on people when they percieve the slightest miscue, especially on complete strangers. Racism isn’t found in a locale, but in an individual, and I have found a lot more of these individuals outside rather inside OP.
You may find a greater deal of materialistic, uptight, and sheltered people living in OP, but I think the racist tag is unwarrented.
Wasn’t this article about a fire?
Thank you Bill, thought I was the only one that didn’t see Mike’s humor. Guess we are one of the few that thinks there is a time and a place for comedy/jokes and that this time wasn’t one of them. One of my all time favorite movies is Blazing Saddles, and it is a shame that a movie like that could not be made today, because of PC talk and bad attitudes, nonetheless, the jokes and stereotypes used in that movie were appropiate for comedy and used some truth to create them. Here there is no basis to think that a black man driving a car could cause a fire as a possible joke.
I was talking with a friend and mentioned a fire just east of downtown KCMO not only would a shite driving around the area not draw attention, but JOCO wouldn’t even care even if they knew it happened.
of course this is my opinion, and that is what we are free to discuss in this country.
Mike I have lived in many parts of this city on both sides of the state line as well. Yes this article was about a fire, and it mentioned the hood, well I have known many, who were of varying races to live in “the hood” but you were the one to pin point the African-American population and that is where the issue of racism started with me. I saw the coverage last night, and read about the fire this morning and not once thought of blaiming a black man for a possible arson until I read your words. It just seemed unpressidented and in very bad taste.
Yes I would say that you are a racist fuck by your statement. If you actually thing that your scarcasm is evident on email then you are sorely mistaken. Plus since not everyone reading your racist rant knows who the fuck you are it is even harder to tell when fucks like you think they are being funny. You are not and I hope your home and/or business burns down with you inside your fucking fuck.
See, now that is what I am talking about.
“”The odd part of this story is a local TV station interviewing a witness who remarked “these things just don’t happen in Overland Park.” He’s right. Fires only happen in the hood, not in the land of gold-paved streets.”"
I find this statement to be rather odd as well. I find that many residents of OP are on another planet! Sure I used to live in OP but transplanted here from another city (Denver) and now live in Parkville; Going to use the vernacular here…but shit happens anywhere, and it can happen in the cookie cutter land of Overland Park/Johnson County.
Bill
OK FOLKS LISTEN UP.
It’s really hard to express sarcasm in a text-based format like blogs or email. Unless you are a Pulitzer-prize wining author you probably shouldn’t be trying to do it. 9 times out of 10 you will fail and the sarcarsm will be lost on your readers.
And, if one more shithead posts inflamatory or abusive comments I will turn off comments for everyone on this thread.
Excellent point!
Thank you.
I was robbed by Jeffrey Eugenides in 2003!
Mike, you really like pushing people’s limits, don’t you?
A public forum is meant for good, quality discussion on topics affecting KC, and in my opinion, not a whiteboard for bull (fill-in the blanks).
Bill
Sorry folks, someone has a maturity problem so comments are no closed for everyone.