SPCAD encounters permit obstacle with Parkville

Approximately three weeks into their contract as the ambulance provider for the Southern Platte County Ambulance District, American Medical Response (AMR) says the welcome they’ve received from the community has been with arms wide open as they work to introduce themselves to local residents. But it hasn’t been without its hiccups AMR operations manager Cam Hendry reported to the district’s board of directors at last week’s regular meeting.

The main obstacle AMR has experienced so far is occupying the space they have leased in Parkville at the Bell Road Industrial Park from which to base their operations. AMR briefly moved in before learning of a requirement to obtain a conditional use permit from the City of Parkville. Intending to stage living quarters on the property for their paramedic teams overnight and store their ambulances, the intended use does not meet the approved zoning. Until the permit is issued, AMR cannot occupy the space and has been staging their units out of the nearest overnight venue available, which a motel outside and north of the district off Prairie View Road, near Barry Road.

“Right now that is the biggest culprit,” board president Bobby Kincaid said.

Parkville Acting City Administrator Sean Ackerson says the property owner has submitted an application for a conditional use permit to allow dwelling units within an industrial zone and that a hearing is scheduled.

“They are wanting to move into the Bell Road Industrial Park, which is predominantly zoned industrial,” Ackerson said. “Per municipal code they need a conditional use permit for the use, particularly the living quarters. I’d describe their use as fire department-like in that they have both habitable space as well as the garage function.”

The hearing on the permit will be held October 30^th. If action is taken, it would then go to the board of aldermen for final approval on November 6^th. Hendry said the proximity to the intersection of Highway 45 and Highway 9 in Parkville is most ideal, but would be open to all options if an arrangement could not be reached with the landlord and City of Parkville.

Another topic covered at the meeting was response times, which was one of the main factors in switching ambulance providers in the first place. Hendry provided a report to the board of all emergency calls and responses placed in the month of October. Kincaid expressed concern over some complaints he had personally received about response times, but those were cleared up by how the data is measured. Hendry noted that meeting the nine-minute average response time in AMR’s contract is based off the time between when a call is received and an ambulance arrives to the scene, not the time it takes to respond to the scene and then potentially transport a patient to an emergency room.

“They’re meeting the response times called for in the contract. We don’t want to see anyone lose their life due to an ambulanace, it’s very important to me and the rest of the board,” Kincaid said. “They (AMR) are going to do everything they can do make sure that happens, where the Fire Department in the past had not.”

The board also welcomed news of strong cooperation between AMR and bordering jurisdictions, which had been a particular concern in regards to the Kansas City Fire Department who previously held the service contract. AMR is still in negotiations with KCFD and the Northland Regional Ambulance District (NRAD) for mutual aid assistance should the situation call for it.

Park Hill South claims second straight King of Hill title

After a decisive 45-14 Park Hill South victory over Park Hill at last week’s King of the Hill rivalry game, the Panthers and Trojans now head into Week Ten, the first round of district play, where each will be faced with the situation of winning to advance or losing to end their season. Park Hill South (5-4) notched the third seed with their win and will host sixth seeded Oak Park (1-8). Park Hill (3-6), the fifth seed, will travel to fourth seeded St. Joe Central (5-4) in a rematch of their contest two weeks ago where the Indians pulled out a 32-29 victory.

It took a full quarter for both teams to shake off what might be described as the adrenaline of the rivalry atmosphere before the first points were posted last Friday night. After being denied on a fourth and goal play late in the first quarter, Park Hill South would come back on the next drive with a short field to score on a four-yard touchdown run from Myles Hammonds to give them a 7-0 second quarter lead. Park Hill would struggle to gain offensive momentum most of the night, particularly in the first half, but their defense would hold Park Hill South to a modest 10-0 half lead after the Panthers added a 34-yard field goal late in the second quarter.

“We thought that if we could run at them early and be physical with them, it could pay off,” Park Hill South coach Mark Simcox said. “Defensively, we wanted to take away what they wanted to do by stopping the run.”

Park Hill South did just that by building a first half lead, putting the pressure on Park Hill to create momentum coming out of the locker room for the second half. It would be Park Hill South turning up the heat though, as they scored touchdowns on all four possessions of the third quarter to build an insurmountable 38-7 lead going into the fourth quarter. Through the air and on the ground, the Panthers displayed one of their most balanced offensive performances of the year. True to form, Park Hill South would use the legs of Hammonds to run the ball to set up the four scores that Panthers receivers Logan Gillespie, Craig Scott (2), and Robert Lane would pull in for touchdown receptions. Hammonds would end the night with 184 yards on 27 carries.

“If we can keep them from cheating on our run game, we can run it. If they cheat, then we’ll throw it to the outside,” Simcox said. “The game’s always a little bit easier on offense when you can do a little bit of both.”

Park Hill’s lone score until late in the fourth quarter came from a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kenyotte Harris in the third quarter.

But Park Hill’s defense just couldn’t stop the resilient Park Hill South offense as the Panthers would cap off the third quarter scoring their fourth straight touchdown in as many drives. Ronnie Bertlesmeyer would put the icing on the cake with a short touchdown run in the fourth quarter to extend Park Hill South’s lead to 45-7.

Quarterback Clay Ford would add a short touchdown run in the game’s final minutes to narrow the margin to 45-14. The night would be the Park Hill South’s though as the Panther faithful stormed the field to celebrate clinching their second King of the Hill title in as many years. Simcox told his team following the game that he hoped it was an opportunity for the program to look forward to bigger things.

“Because we’ve lost so many games to them over the years, it’s hard for our kids to get over it,” Simcox said. “As a program, we have to look to bigger things. This will always to be big, just as long as it doesn’t affect your next game.”

Fall Roundup: Oct. 15-22

Park Hill Soccer 
…following their early week win over Park Hill South 1-0, the Trojans went to split the remaining two games they had last week. They fell behind a good Rockhurst team before mounting a comeback that fell just short in a 4-3 loss.

“In the second half we stepped up our line of defense and applied pressure to make things a bit more difficult for their playmakers,” Park Hill coach Josh Marchbank said. “A couple of great individual efforts on free kicks were the deciding factor.”

They ended the week with a 3-0 win over Liberty to improve their overall record to 15-6 coming into this week. In a preview of their first round of the district tournament next Tuesday, Park Hill played Oak Park Monday night. Park Hill beat the Northmen 1-0 earlier in the season.

Park Hill Volleyball

…concluded their regular season schedule with two wins last week with decisive victories over St. Joe Central (25-14, 25-13) and Ruskin (25-15, 25-8). Lindsey Grace continues to lead the Trojans in kills and blocks with 189 and 65 respectively, on the year while Kelsey Bearce leads the team in aces and assists.

Park Hill came into this week with a 17-11 record and  was matched up with St. Joe Central again Monday night in first round of districts where they advanced to play Staley Wednesday night.

Park Hill South Soccer

…beat Lee’s Summit West 1-0 early in the week to claim a share of the conference title before dropping a disappointing match to Kearney 1-0 to end the week. The Panthers (19-5) will wrap up their regular season this week with a game at Oak Park on Thursday. Securing the top seed in districts, Park Hill South will face winner of Staley/St. Joe Central in the semifinals on Tuesday at Staley.

Park Hill South Volleyball

…won both of their home games last week to end the regular season. The first came against Truman as the Panthers notched a 25-21, 25-14 victory in two games. Park Hill South would need to go down to the wire in their second game against Liberty to seal a 25-18, 28-26 victory.

The Panthers are the number one seed in the Class 4, District 15 tournament this week and will play Wednesday in the semifinals against the winner of the Winnetonka/William Chrisman match.

Park Hill South Boys Cross Country

placed fourth in the Class 4, District 8 race over the weekend. Tucker Melles led Park Hill South with a second place finish and first team all-conference selection. Other Panther runners who competed included Gus Whitman (16^th), Keyan Lunders (24^th), Tristan McCoy (36^th), Lendon Calhoun (37^th), Alex Thurston (38^th), and Jacob Bowlin (47^th).

"They all had a great race. Many ran as fast or faster than conference which was on a flat course," coach Brad Banning said. "Tucker Melles had a great race, just getting out kicked for first place. I think we are peaking at the right time heading into sectionals. I'm very proud of the team."

Park Hill Boys Cross Country

…finished fifth in the Class 4, District 8 race last weekend. Kainen Utt finished tenth as the Trojans’ top placement. He was followed by fellow teammates Nate Thomas (19^th), Hanok Tekle (26^th), Cain Winebrenner (33^rd), Noah Barajas (45^th), Carter Barajas (52^nd), and Brandon Rich (61^st).

 "I thought our team competed hard.  I was happy for Kainen, Nate, and Hanok who qualified individually for the sectional meet," coach Jon Davis said. "It was disappointing that we didn’t get our team through to the sectional meet."

Park Hill South Girls Cross Country

…placed sixth at the Class 4, District 8 race Saturday. Lizz Jurries and her 16^th place finish led the Panthers. Margaret McKeon (18^th), Erica Guzman (22^nd), Audrey Rothers (40^th), Madeline Homoly (54^th), and DeDe O’Toole (57^th) also competed for Park Hill South.

Park Hill Girls Cross Country

…took eighth place at the Class 4, District race last weekend. Kim Rau led the Trojans with a 21^st place finish. Following her were Mercedes Robinson (23^rd), Brooke Bischof (43^rd), Emma Gaiser (47^th), Gianna Tutorino (51^st), Madeline Mudd (59^th), and Libby Lund (64th).

"With all the injuries we battled this year I am extremely proud of the way the girls finished," coach Jason Parr said. "We have Kim Rau and Mercedes Robinson who will run at Sectionals next week.  I hope that both of these girls will make it out to State."

Park Hill South Girls Cross Country

...Madeline Homoly and Charlie McFarlane took tough and unfortunate falls in the Class 4, District 8 race last Saturday, which prevented them from advancing to sectionals this weekend. 

"These two falls obviously hurt our team score and I feel really terrible," Coach Pam Jurgensmeyer said.

The Panthers' sixth place finish was led by Lizzy Jurries and her 16^th place finish. Margaret McKeon (18^th), Erica Guzman (22^nd), Audrey Rothers (40^th), Homoly (54^th), and DeDe O’Toole (57^th) also competed for Park Hill South. McFarlane was not able to finish the race because of a turned ankle from her fall. Jurries, McKeon, and Rothers will advance to sectionals next week. Coach Pam Jurgensmeyer had only good things to say about her runners moving on. 

"We are really excited about Lizzy Jurries, Erica Guzman and freshman Margaret McKeon qualifying. Lizzy is running better than she has since her freshman year and we are really excited to see her next week. This is her 4th straight year at Sectionals. Sophomore, Erica has been running really strong all season. Margaret McKeon has been so fun to watch all season, and each week she is improving, making us so excited to see what will happen next. Margaret is very talented, hard working and positive and brings a really great energy to the team," Jurgensmeyer said.

Park Hill South Tennis

…facing a tough draw in the first round of the Missouri Class 2 state tennis tournament last week, Adele Royle fell 2-0 to Lindsey Whitehead of Ladue Horton Watkins.

Park Hill Tennis

…Brooke Barnard advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tennis tournament last week with a 2-1 win over Janet Auclair of Fort Zumwalt East. Barnard would loss 2-1 in the quarterfinal round to Bridget Jane Mayfield of Kirkwood.