Marc ConklinYesterday, the Wyandotte County coroner confirmed that BPU official Marc Conklin committed suicide. An autopsy revealed that the 44-year-old former chief administrative officer of the utility had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday. In the last couple of years, I've written quite a bit about Conklin. Every story a negative one, starting with an expose on credit card abuses ("Lunch Money," November 30, 2006) by high-ranking
officials at the utility -- namely, Conklin.
Rodney L. TurnerThe ghost of Chuck Thompson is still haunting Wyandotte County 21 years after the Democratic Party Chairman's murder. Questions about Thompson's murder has led a Kansas judge to dismiss the case against an attorney accused of stealing $400,000 from the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities. Kansas Senior Judge Jack Lively told The Kansas City Star that he threw out the case against Rodney L. Turner because Wyandotte County prosecutors let KBI Special Agent William
The Kansas City Kansan reports that Board of Public Utilities General Manager Don Gray gets to keep his $170,000-a-year job for at least the next 18 months.BPUDon GrayPitch staff writer Justin Kendall has written extensively about the BPU, which provides water and electricity services. His stories -- and the eventual indictments against BPU officials -- depict a place where functionaries live like kings and accountability is virtually nonexistent. Sort of like the athletic department at Kansas S
