Village Of Kanasas Police Arrest Local Citizen For Destruction of Property For Placing Top Soil Along The Ditch

Edgar Co. (ECWd) –

We covered the recent water and sewer drainage issues in this article. A few days later, Vicki Vandenbusch, the woman who was addressing the board regarding the lack of drainage in town and the problems she had identified, was arrested. 

What did this woman do?  She placed a couple of bags of topsoil along the ditch and sidewalk east of her house in an attempt to prevent further flooding onto her property.  Considering the Mayor indicated during the meeting that the Village could be sued if it adds more water to the drainage system, which we believe is totally false, a person attempts to prevent further flooding to her property and gets cuffed and stuffed.

So much for conflict resolution in the Village of Kansas.

Considering the Mayor has admitted that raw sewage was dumped into the drain system, we can only wonder whether those people ever faced appropriate charges? Should the Village face the Class C misdemeanor charge for taking action on matters in a meeting when it was not on the agenda?  We know that it is a crime because it is specifically outlined in the law. Considering the Attorney General already proved they violated the Open Meetings Act for such an action, maybe since they did it again at the last meeting, they too should face the appropriate cuffing and stuffing and a drive to Paris to be booked at the Edgar County Jail.

Can anyone blame this woman for attempting to keep potential raw sewage from going on her property?

What qualifies as destruction of property?  We urge everyone to read the actual destruction of property statute at this link, then drive by the location of the alleged destruction of property and ask yourself: does this rise to the level of destruction of property as outlined in the law? For those not familiar with the location, it’s the east side of the old funeral home property.

We challenge everyone in town to look at that location and identify what “destruction” there actually is. The photos show the before and after the cuffing and stuffing of a local citizen who did nothing more than attempt to protect her property after basically being told there is nothing the village can do because of fear of being sued for fixing the drainage issues. 

The arresting officer claimed the charge was destruction of property, as can be heard in the video below, howeve the document he provided to the woman was missing any actual charge or statute citation.  We also note that, at the time of this publication, there is no case on Judici.com where such criminal charges would normally be located. A copy of the notice to appear can be viewed below or at this link.

After further review of the last village meeting, we noted that a board member, Jim Vail, claimed it takes 10 years to get a water license, which was in relation to the water plant employee not having one yet after approximately three years of employment by the village. That claim of it taking ten years is 100% false.  Don’t take our word for it, read the EPA Certification document on the matter for yourself, something Vail apparently has never done.

We urge everyone to attend the next village meeting.