Chapter 60
7:30 AM CST Day two of 1260 Kansas City, Missouri - Mayor Madeline Sipes’ Office
The Mayor of Kansas City was in her office with the other leaders, including the City Manager and the Chief of Police, for an early meeting. The rally that was planned at Memorial Park and had been approved a few weeks ago, had now grown into something of a national event with every news media person in the world clamoring for space at the Liberty Memorial near Union Station.
The FBI and the CIA were scrambling for hotel rooms in the area. KCI was delivering record passengers to the city from all parts of the world, and a tent city had sprung up overnight in the areas around the memorial.
All the rental cars and hotel rooms were totally booked. Already, the entire ability of the city to handle resources was stretched to the maximum, both in security and infrastructure. The bad part of it was they had only two and a half more days to prepare. Although the permits were issued two weeks ago, no one ever expected a rally to balloon into something like this.
The Mayor or Ms. Mayor, as she was, called, knew that for the first time in her career and life, she, and her city were to be in not only the national spotlight, but the world’s as well. When the announcement was made about the rally and Jack South coming to Kansas City, the entire city had erupted. Six hours after Jack South’s interview on Bear News, the media started calling and camping out at her home off Ward Parkway in the city.
Madeline knew that they did not have the infrastructure to deal with this. She had been on the phone to the Governor of Missouri, Mike Carson, for help. He originally suggested a light presence of the National Guard to patrol the area surrounding Memorial Park. However, she knew this would probably not be enough after the incredible migration of people taking place in her city.
Turning to the Chief of Police, Michael Poploski, she asked, “Have we any idea yet on a count at the rally?”
“Close to two million people, Madeline, and counting. Inbound highways to the city, I-70, both east and west, is bumper to bumper. I-35, both north and south are bumper to bumper, and have been all night. As best as we can ascertain, there are no hotel rooms available within a fifty-mile radius of the city and we have absolutely no facilities for human refuse for those just camping out. Other garbage is piling up everywhere. Some restaurants are running out of food and we still have two days to go. Now at 20th and Main Street, there are tent cities popping up. They are also popping up everywhere else, from downtown all the way to the Plaza and Volker Park. People are offering rooms everywhere in the area charging up to a thousand dollars a day and parking for a hundred bucks. The city buses are crammed going up and down Main and into the downtown area. The Power and Light District has been busy since yesterday afternoon with some people sleeping on the outside couches. Frankly, Madeline, we are at full capacity throughout the whole city. In addition, we have a half mile cordoned in the area of Jack’s family in Independence, and even though we have the police in the City of Independence helping, it is maxing out our manpower.”
“What do you suggest we do?” Madeline asked.
“I really suggest we shut down I-70 in Columbia from the east and Topeka; if we can get them to cooperate in Kansas from the west. Then shut down I-35 from Olathe from the south, and Kearney from the north and just say the city is closed.”
“Michael, we cannot do that. Those are federal highways and we would have to have the Feds do that. We just can’t.” She looked over at the City Manager, David Phelps, and said, “How are the South people setting up the mall?”
David pulled out a rolled up drawing from his carry bag and said, “May I?” then he spread the drawing out on the Mayor’s desk. The Chief and the Mayor edged forward to look. “It appears, Mayor, that they are building a platform on the top of the Memorial near the tower. It will be higher than the wall and they will face it towards the park, but no wall behind the stage facing Union Station. I called one of their people and they said that Jack wanted it to open on both the front of the stage and the back, so everyone could see and hear him. They are also putting up over twenty-five LED Jumbotrons in the parking lots in the area as well as the park itself, going on down into City Center, and at the other ends of the park, going North on Main. They are putting up a bigger one on a high platform in front of the Liberty Memorial wall that faces Union Station. I think it is almost as large as the one at Royals Stadium.”
“The News Media is setting up on both sides of the stage and satellite trucks will be in the south parking lot of the mall. They are bringing their own generators, we hope. I think they expected this large of a crowd. As best as we can tell, most of the equipment was already here by Sunday night.
“The FBI, CIA, and Jack’s own security will be here and they are setting up in various points throughout the park. We gave the government the museum to use as an operations base. South’s group and most other dignitaries that are showing up have pretty well taken over City Center. They had reservations for almost all the rooms as of yesterday. We’ve also made the convention center available to them as needed. However, we have another problem Mayor. The White House Secret Service called us, and the President is coming. He has a front row seat by the stage. That means more secret service personnel and more security. Therefore, the Feds are bringing in portable scanners and cordoning off the entire area of seating that was supposed to be available to the public. In addition, several religious leaders are accompanying the President and his normal entourage. They also will have their own security teams in place. So, to sum it all up Mayor, we have a grand mess. Oh yes, one more thing, you know that black preacher, Reverend Marks from New York who was on the show yesterday?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Well he is in charge.”