Obama in Osawatomie KS: Take a look at his car and why he can speed through the KC Metro.

As anounced a few weeks ago, President Obama will travel through the Kansas City metro area today on his way to a small town south of Kansas City called Osawatomie.  President Obama is scheduled to land in Kansas City today and travel down to the small town to deliver a speach.  Be assured his motorcade will cause some problems traveling in the metro especially with the fresh snow.  With the presidential visit upon us I thought I would take a minute to explain why the president will get to speed through town, as well as what he will be riding in.

The Car

Here is the prediential limo.  Also known as "Cadillac One," "Limo one," or "the Beast."  Now much of it's bells and whistles are classified, but here is what we know about the car.  The current presidential limousine entered service on January 20, 2009. According to the manufacturer, General Motors, the 2009 Cadillac presidential limousine is the first not to carry a specific model name.  The vehicle's outward appearance carries many current Cadillac styling themes, but doesn't exactly resemble any particular production vehicle. The body itself seems to be a modification of the immediately previous DTS-badged Presidential limousines, but the vehicle's chassis and driveline are assumed to be sourced from the GMC Topkick commercial truck.  Many body components are sourced from a variety of Cadillac vehicles; for example, the car apparently uses Cadillac Escalade headlights, side mirrors and door handles. The tail of the car seems to use the taillights and back up lights from the Cadillac STS sedan. Although a price tag has not been announced, there is a rumor that each limousine costs US$300,000.

Most details of the car are classified for security reasons; however, it is known that it is fitted with military grade armor at least five inches thick, and the wheels are fitted with run flat tires that makes the vehicle drivable for a certain length of time if punctured. The doors weigh as much as a Boeing 757 airplane cabin door. The engine is equipped with a Eaton Twin Vortices Series 1900 supercharger system.  The vehicle's fuel tank is leak-proof and explosion resistant.  Due to the thickness of the glass, much natural light is excluded, so a fluorescent halo lighting system in the headliner is essential. The outside crowd is only heard through internal speakers. The car is perfectly sealed against biochemical attacks and has its own oxygen supply and firefighting system built into the trunk. Unseen at a glance are two holes hidden inside the lower part of the vehicle's front bumper, which are able to emit tear gas. The vehicle can also fire a salvo of multi-spectrum infrared smoke grenades as a countermeasure to a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) or anti-tank missile (ATGM) attack and to act as a visual obscurant to operator guided missiles.  This is fired remotely by the USSS countermeasures Suburban which trails the limo and contains the sensors to detect the launch of such an attack.  The limo is equipped with a driver's enhanced video system which allows the driver to operate in an infrared smoke environment. This driver's enhanced video system also contains bumper mounted night vision cameras for operation in pitch black conditions.  Kept in the trunk is a blood bank of the President's blood type.  Interestingly, there are no key holes in the doors. A special technique, known only to Secret Service agents, is required to gain access to the passenger area

The Motorcade and Speed

Since 2001, when the president travels out of town, his motorcade has consisted of about 45 vehicles. While the limousine itself is maintained by the Secret Service, motorcade support vehicles are maintained by the White House Military Office.   At times, the president travels in the presidential Suburban, one of two Chevrolet Suburbans with the presidential seal on the sides.  The presidental motorcade is allowed to speed and even required to speed for several reasons.  Even though it seems counterintuitive speed is actually more safe for the president.  It allows the secret service to identify possible threats because anyone trying to follow the president will also be traveling at a high rate of speed.  Another reason the president will speed is because wherever the president goes the highways and roads will be closed and the public won't have access to them for a specified area around the presidents motorcade.  It is in the interest of the public for the President to move quickly through the area so that traffic won't back up due to road closures.  Probably the last and most obvious reason that the president will speed through an area is that he is usually on a strict and demanding schedule.



Kidnapper sues hostages, says they had a deal to hide him from the police.

Probably one of the most rediculous cases to come across the web in awhile.  I would assume that motion to dismiss would be granted pretty quickly.

In one of the more audacious and head-spinning lawsuits to hit the courts, a fugitive facing a murder charge who took a couple hostage is now suing his victims for not hiding him from police.

Jesse Dimmick is seeking $235,000 from Jared and Lindsay Rowley in a breach of contract suit involving his 2009 invasion of their home in Kansas, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Dimmick claims the couple, newlyweds at the time, agreed to hide him for an unspecified amount of money."Later, the Rowleys reneged on said oral contract, resulting in my being shot in the back by authorities," Dimmick wrote in a notarised legal document filed last month, the paper said.  "As a result of the plaintiffs breech (sic) of contract, I, the defendant suffered a gunshot to my back, which almost killed me," he wrote. "The hospital bills alone are in excess of $160,000, which I have no way to pay."

The Rowleys are awaiting a ruling on their motion to have the suit dismissed, saying they never accepted Dimmick's offer of money and even if they had, their consent would have been given under duress. According to the paper, Dimmick, who was being pursued by police, entered the Rowleys' home and confronted them at knifepoint.  A neighbour said the couple gained his trust by eating snacks and drinking soft drinks with him while watching the movie Patch Adams, then fled when he fell asleep.  Dimmick was convicted of four felonies, including two counts of kidnapping, and is currently being held in Colorado on a murder charge, the paper said.

The Rowleys have filed a suit against Dimmick seeking civil damages in excess of $75,000.

Article of  http://www.news.com.au/

Kidnapper Sues hostages, says they had a deal

(AP)  TOPEKA, Kan. - Can there be no trust between a kidnapper and his hostages?

A man who held a Kansas couple hostage in their home while fleeing from authorities is suing them, claiming they broke an oral contract made when he promised them money in exchange for hiding him from police. The couple has asked a judge to dismiss the suit.

Jesse Dimmick of suburban Denver is serving an 11-year sentence after bursting into Jared and Lindsay Rowley's Topeka-area home in September 2009. He was wanted for questioning in the beating death of a Colorado man and a chase had begun in in Geary County.  The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that Dimmick filed a breach of contract suit in Shawnee County District Court, in response to a suit the Rowleys filed in September seeking $75,000 from him for intruding in their home and causing emotional stress. Dimmick contends he told the couple he was being chased by someone, most likely the police, who wanted to kill him.  "I, the defendant, asked the Rowleys to hide me because I feared for my life. I offered the Rowleys an unspecified amount of money which they agreed upon, therefore forging a legally binding oral contract," Dimmick said in his hand-written court documents. He wants $235,000, in part to pay for the hospital bills that resulted from him being shot by police when they arrested him.

Neighbors have said the couple fed Dimmick snacks and watched movies with him until he fell asleep and they were able to escape their home unharmed.  Dimmick was convicted in May 2010 of four felonies, including two counts of kidnapping. He was sentenced to 10 years and 11 months on those charges. He was later sent to a jail in Brighton, Colo., where he is being held on eight charges, including murder, in connection of with the killing of Michael Curtis in September 2009. A preliminary hearing originally scheduled for Dec. 6 has been rescheduled for April 12. No plea has been entered in the case.

Robert E. Keeshan, an attorney for the Rowleys, filed a motion denying there was a contract, but said if there was it would not have been binding anyway.  "In order for parties to form a binding contract, there must be a meeting of the minds on all essential terms, including and most specifically, an agreement on the price," he wrote.  Keeshan said the contract also would have been invalid because the couple agreed to let Dimmick in the home only because they knew he had a knife and suspected he might have a gun.

Article found at
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57333238/kidnapper-sues-hostages-says-they-had-a-deal/

Overland Park man kidnapps friend and steals $62,200 from bank in Halloween Mask gets probation

Kind of a bizarre story here...

Overland Park man gets probation for staged kidnapping, bank robbery
By JOE LAMBE
The Kansas City Star

A federal judge in Kansas today sentenced the last of four buddies who staged an Overland Park kidnapping and bank robbery to time served and probation — the end to a heist hatched by youths who used to work at a movie theater.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia sentenced David Batson, 21, of Overland Park, to three years of probation and ordered him to continue to participate in mental health counseling for anxiety and other problems.

He was the wheel man in the Nov. 10, 2010 theft and previously pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting embezzlement by a bank employee. The three others also have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to probation and time served, which for all of them amounted to a few days in jail.

Batson told police that he agreed to do the driving and got a coded text message from his friend Michael Grace, the insider bank employee, setting the caper into action.

When it was over, Grace told police that he had been abducted at knifepoint by masked men and taken to the U.S. Bank at 10100 W. 119th St., where they beat him and forced him to use his bank key to open the ATM to steal cash. His colleagues at the bank discovered him with a bloody nose and bound by duct tape.

Brenden Connors admitted that he played the heavy for bank surveillance cameras, wearing a Halloween mask and leaving his friend with a bloody nose.

Batson delivered more than $62,200 in stolen money to Jacob McWhirt, who had it a short time before police cracked the case.

Among all four of them, they must also pay a total of $3,822 in restitution to Overland Park police and to the bank.

Batson told the judge he made a bad choice without considering how serious it was or the consequences.

“I kind of just acted on a whim,” he said. “It changed my life completely.”

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/10/3265856/overland-park-man-gets-probation.html#ixzz1ew14CW00