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Does the female voice on my old Garmin GPS belong to a local woman?
The woman's voice on all Garmin units prior to 2009 was local actress Cathy Barnett, seen onstage this year in Sweeney Todd and Hairspray. "I was the voice in the Garmin GPS machines back when they were only in Hertz rental cars," she says. "And then when the general public could buy them, I was still the voice of Jill for a long time." (Jill — the dulcet, disembodied female voice offering directional assistance — is today played by a Boston voice-over professional named Jill Jacobsen.)
Barnett remains the longtime voice of Hallmark's crusty "Maxine" character, and she still lists the Garmin gig among her credits in theater programs. "Maybe I shouldn't," she says. "People see that and come backstage and they don't give a shit about the show. They just want me to say, 'Turn left. Turn right on Cherry Street.'"
Who is the metro's richest resident?
The highest-ranking local person, according to the Forbes list of the 400 richest people in the United States, is Garmin co-founder Min Kao. His estimated worth of $2.3 billion is good enough for No. 188. The 63-year-old lives in Leawood and still serves as chairman and CEO of the company that he and Gary Burrell started in 1989. Kao lives on a country-club golf course in a $3.3 million, 6,580-square-foot home. Burrell, who retired before his partner, is worth an estimated $1.4 billion (No. 330) and lives in Spring Hill, Kansas.
Do the mounted police keep a regular schedule?
Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department spokesman Darin Snapp says no: "The Mounted Patrol Unit does not have a set schedule, and regularly 'flexes' their schedule to accommodate community events, patrols, special events, youth programs, and training," he writes in an e-mail. "We not only handle crowd control, but we provide various youth riding programs through Parks and Recreation and Police Athletic League, attend various community and special events (Rockfest, All Star events, Big 12 Tournament, several concerts at the Sprint Center, American Royal BBQ, and parades, etc.)."
And that's not all. Snapp adds: "We also conduct patrols in the entertainment districts and in higher-crime neighborhoods, to include the 'hot spots.' We write citations, handle calls for service, and make arrests. Only our unit does this from the back of a horse. We currently have nine officers and 10 horses in our unit. The Mounted Patrol Unit is located in Swope Park at Camp Lake of the Woods at 7331 Oakwood Drive."
How much does the KCPD spend on fuel?
The cops don't just have their own gas stations (a setup most cities use for reasons of efficiency and accountability) — they have their own lower gas prices. While funded by the city, the police department has its own bidding process. The KCPD's 2012–13 budget lists $3.51 million for fuel, based on a projected use of 1.17 million gallons of gasoline — a bit less than what the rest of us pay at the pump.
What 1 square mile in the city logs violent crime more often than any other?
We asked Snapp about more than mounts, and he didn't shovel any horse manure. "The 1-mile grid with the most violent crime in 2011 was roughly bounded by Roberts Street and 17th Street, Olive to Norton, an area under East Patrol. It had a count of 198 violent crimes: four murders, 78 aggravated assaults, 91 robberies, 15 forcible rapes and 10 arsons."
OK, where is there the least violent crime?
As bad as crime is in some neighborhoods, statistics show several areas that reported no violent crime last year. The KCPD maps the city into 1-square-mile grid pieces, and among those last year, Snapp says, there were 67 with no violent crime in 2011. Ten of those were south of the river, and 57 north of it.
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