As a follow-up to my comments last week about some of the less- than-pleasant aspects of summer, let me say I acquired a reaction to poison ivy on the back of one of my legs over the weekend. It’s like the gods of summer were intentionally coming after me.
That’s the bad news. The good news is I found a mighty fine home remedy. Apple cider vinegar, you guys. Put apple cider vinegar directly on your skin at the site of poison ivy outbreaks. Do it and watch the magic happen. You might smell a little funny for a bit but it’s worth it.
Try it the next time poison ivy gets you. You’re welcome, America.
Congrats to Quinton Lucas, who at age 34 has become the youngest person elected mayor of Kansas City in at least a century. In what may have played a larger role than people realize, Lucas has an engaging personality and seems to connect with people in a much easier way than his opponent Jolie Justus. It will be interesting to watch Lucas evolve in his role as mayor.
Quickly on the topic of Chad Searcey, principal at Compass Elementary at Platte County R-3 School District: The school district’s suspension of Searcey does not violate his First Amendment rights, as some folks on social media are incorrectly claiming.
Sure, Searcey has a First Amendment right to free speech, as do all Americans. But Searcey’s employer also has rights.
The First Amendment protects you from having your speech prohibited by the government. It does not mean your employer is prohibited from taking action against you because of your speech/actions.
You can read details about the firestorm Searcey’s recent action on Twitter created in a front page story. Watch our social media outlets in the coming days for any possible updates on Searcey’s situation.
Next election for county offices in Platte County is not until 2020, but it’s not too early to start talking about it. One candidate has already let it be known he’ll be in the race for a county commission spot. David Park, Democrat, has said he will be running for the second district commissioner spot currently held by John Elliott.
You’ll recall Park ran for presiding commissioner in 2018, losing to incumbent Ron Schieber but drawing 47% of the vote in the process, the best showing by a Democrat in Platte County in a decade.
Park was handing out campaign cards at a recent public event in Platte City.“I will ensure our tax dollars are used efficiently and appropriately to deliver essential services at a level that we expect and deserve,” the card says on the front. On the back side of the card, Park sais he will “protect essential county services” and will:
- Support services such as law enforcement, road maintenance and parks
- Improve transparency and citizen input (he can go places with this one, as the current county commission likes to go to breakfast on Friday mornings but has shown zero serious effort in gathering citizen input in developing plans for the county’s future)
- Eliminate wasteful spending.
- Issue contracts based on qualifications and cost, not politics.
- Implement strategic planning.
- Initiate use of performance measures.
The card guides those interested to check out his web site at park4platte.com.
Hey, guess what? The county commission is now requesting bids on a project that will make repairs to the floors and walls in a shower in the county jail.
This is interesting. Remember, in the closing days of their campaign for a $65 million jail sales tax, the county commissioners suddenly starting telling us a big reason we needed to vote for the jail expansion was the current jail showers were in bad condition. Wait, who knew such a thing could be fixed without a new $65 million sales tax? Amazing!
Imagine, a new idea of doing routine maintenance and repairs instead of building new stuff. What a concept!
I gotta tell ya, these county commissioners are thinking outside the box. Brilliant!
Platte County will be taking bids to purchase a new metal detector/x-ray machine used for security screening at the entrance to the county courthouse. I’m wondering if the new x-ray machine will be able to find details that were absent in the failed jail expansion plan.
One of the things I forgot to mention in last week’s listing of less than pleasant things about summer? Those public swimming pools and water parks aren’t always as clean as many of us assume they are.
Swallow that public pool or water park water at your own risk. Ever heard of crypto? The CDC says diarrhea outbreaks have doubled in just a few years as there were at least 32 known outbreaks due to crypto contamination in pools or water parks in 2016, while there were only 16 cases in 2014. Do we even want to know how many there were in 2018? Probably not. That’s not 32 people infected. That’s 32 outbreaks that affected multiple individuals, including 352 in the state of Arizona alone. The parasite can survive for as long as 10 days even in chlorinated water. Swallowing a single mouthful of water is all it takes for someone to fine themselves knotted up with stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea that can last up to two to three weeks, says the CDC.
I guess what I’m saying is bring on fall.
(Find Foley avoiding public pools or find him on Twitter @ivanfoley, on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)