Very cool.
Less than three months after his death, former Landmark editorial cartoonist Matthew Silber is being honored by having some his work featured in a display at the Ben Ferrel Platte County Museum located in downtown Platte City.
Now through May 31, the museum will feature the display entitled Hardship to Hope: A Story of Platte County in Art and Artifact. The display highlights regional events and themes as portrayed in artwork by Matthew Silber. The scenes are accompanied by descriptive facts from Silber’s book entitled Platte County’s History Illustrated. For the museum display, the scenes have been enlarged and paired with a variety of artifacts to include some related to the Civil War. Silber was a Civil War buff and participated in several Civil War battle re-enactments through the years.
Lisa Wittmeyer, curator at the museum, says the combination of art with objects makes history more relatable for visitors.
“We are reminded that personal stories create our collective history. What happens in our region also gives us greater insight into our nation’s history and we try to show this, especially with the Civil War period,” she said.
Wittmeyer said the display honors Silber, who died unexpectedly at his home at the age of 41, for his contributions to an understanding of local history.
The museum, located at 220 Ferrel Street, is open every Thursday and Friday from 1-4 p.m. A special open house for the display is set for Sunday, May 5 from 1-4 p.m.
We’ve talked about this on our social media sites and on Landmark Live, but it occurred to me this week I had not yet mentioned our new cartoonist here in Between the Lines.
You may have noticed local cartoons started reappearing in The Landmark last month after an absence of several weeks in the period of time after Matthew Silber’s death. And by the way, Matthew’s contributions to the newspaper over the past decade will never be forgotten.
Our new artist goes by the pseudonym of Zonk. He asked that we protect his identity based on the nature of his job here in Platte County. We’re thrilled to have the Zonkster sharing weekly contributions with Landmark readers. Good times are back in town.
Zonk began his Landmark career in much the same way Matthew Silber began his–by walking in our front door and saying, “Hey, I do some drawings, want me to send some cartoons to you and you can tell me what you think?”
Awesome.
Some notable legislation proposed by a local state senator is making its way through the legislature.
Tony Luetkemeyer, Republican of Parkville, wants state law to mandate that all statewide officeholders in Missouri can serve only two terms of office. His proposal would impose the same two-term limit of service on the state’s lieutenant governor, attorney general , secretary of state and auditor that currently applies to the governor and state treasurer. The senate by a vote of 31-3 passed Luetkemeyer’s legislation on Tuesday and now the legislation heads to the House of Representatives.
“This measure brings consistency to the law and will stop statewide officials from becoming career politicians,” Luetkemeyer said.
The resolution would require a statewide vote to amend the constitution. Voters would be asked to approve the measure in a November 2020 election. Terms that have begun by the four currently unrestricted statewide officeholders prior to the law’s enactment would not count toward the new limits.
“It’s important that citizens have an opportunity to serve in statewide office but people should not be making a career out of public service. I believe that term limits are a healthy thing for our democracy and are emphatically supported by voters,” Luetkemeyer added this week.
Under current law, the governor and state treasurer may serve no more than two four-year terms, but the terms of other statewide officeholders are unlimited. Members of the state legislature can serve eight years in the House of Representatives and eight years in the Senate.
Isn’t it ironic?
The Missouri Attorney General asked the City of Parkville to respond in writing to a complaint against the city for city officials’ alleged reluctance to properly comply with the Sunshine Law, which as we all know is the state’s open meetings and records standard.
In recent days the city submitted its response to the allegations that the city doesn’t properly share public records upon request. The Landmark this week asked for a copy of the city’s reply to the attorney general. We would love to tell you what the city said in its response but so far city officials are not willing to publicly share their response to complaints that they don’t willingly share public information.
That kinda says it all, doesn’t it? I am chuckling.
(Feel free to share and share alike with The Landmark on Facebook at Platte County Landmark. Find Foley on Twitter @ivanfoley, on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube, as well as on Landmark Live, the newspaper’s videocast on Facebook. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)