• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Monday, March 8, 2021
49 °f
Platte
67 ° Wed
51 ° Thu
45 ° Fri
45 ° Sat
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Quick, name your health director

Guy Speckman by Guy Speckman
April 29, 2020
in Ponder the Thought
6
SHARES
138
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

Be honest. Did you know who your county health director was four weeks ago? Of course not. Unless you are some type of super government nerd, you and I both have no idea where all of these “officials” came from. You just liked looking at the restaurant inspection reports to see who had roaches.

Until April of 2020, I had no idea they issued press releases, held press conferences and shut down economies and such.

RelatedNews

Mr. Potato Head,

Roaring 20s

Pitchers and catchers report


Pandemics have this odd way of exposing your weaknesses. The layered approach to our government might be one of those instances. Missouri has 114 counties and approximately 955 cities and approximately 10,000 Home Depots and Lowes. That is a lot of power centers.

Anyway, it seems that nearly every county and city has held a pandemic press conference in 2020 and most of us are still looking up who the county health director is. I don’t know how to tell government big wigs this, but most people do not even know who you are. We’re impressed by your Facebook Live presentation that explained hand washing, but we also enjoy random Tik Tok sessions with strangers; so, don’t get carried away.

My point is that there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen currently. We have health departments, mayors, commissioners, governors and presidents giving us advice on everything from hand washing to surviving economic collapse of the world; it’s a lot for the average guy to ponder.

Perhaps, some of the government entities could defer to a higher level and step back into daily political squabbles, or at the very least, add some entertainment to your press conferences.


For some reason, I quit reading conservative vs. liberal insults on social media to check out an article in the New York Times this weekend. Thank God the East Coast journalists have arrived in “rural” America. The “click bait” headline proclaimed that rural America was about to be hit by the virus and many of us were “nearly a half hour drive” from the nearest hospital.

I laughed out loud. People on the coasts just have no idea how we live. Heck, 30 minutes to the hospital is pretty quick to many of us. In an emergency, how long does it take you to get out of 50th floor apartment, to the street and to the hospital in New York? I’d trust most of you getting me to a “rural” Midwestern hospital in the back of a Ford pickup truck quicker.

Let’s also consider the advice that has been handed out ad nauseam by all the experts. If you’re sick with the “rona,” they have instructed us to call our local doctor or health officials. They don’t advise you to wake up one morning and drive as fast as you can to the hospital like you had a stroke.

Yet, the New York Times is acting as if this “30 minute” distance is some type of problem for us to deal with on this pandemic that will cost us our lives. It’s another journalist malfeasance that creates a divide between reality and perception that does not help.

(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or holding a press conference on hand washing techniques)

Guy Speckman

Guy Speckman

Guy Speckman is a Landmark contributing columnist with his Ponder the Thought column. Speckman is the former owner of the Savannah Reporter, where the column appeared for nearly two decades. Speckman is a former city government manager, serving as city administrator in Maysville, Plattsburg and Savannah before entering business. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University (1989). He is originally from Plattsburg, Missouri. He and his wife own and operate a real estate valuation firm and a daily legal newspaper and are the parents of two grown children.

Related Posts

Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

by Ivan Foley
March 4, 2021
0

In January of 2017 it is alleged Toni Anderson, age 20, a college student from Wichita who had been living and working in Kansas City, was driving her car when she got disoriented and ended up in the Platte Landing...

Joe Vanover

County commissioner wants to be associate circuit judge

by Ivan Foley
March 4, 2021
0

When Ann Hansbrough was recently appointed to fill the circuit judge post vacated by the retiring James Van Amburg, it created a vacancy in Hansbrough's former spot of associate circuit judge. The process to name the new associate circuit judge...

Government transparency

Lack of transparency at the health department

by Landmark Digital Staff
March 4, 2021
0

EDITOR: Something shady went down at the Platte County Health Department and it deserves to be investigated. Local dentist and board of trustees member, Teresa Hills, sold her dental practice and left Platte County on Jan. 1, 2021 requiring that...

Rona virus

My share: Rona

by Chris Kamler
March 4, 2021
0

It was a feeling. A flush fell over my body. I was just finishing up a basketball game and I felt... weird. Listen, over the past year, I've felt weird probably four or five times a day. Working from home...

Next Post
Businesses won’t be required to collect names of customers

Businesses won't be required to collect names of customers

Popular News

  • Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

    Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

    117 shares
    Share 47 Tweet 29
  • Why the urgency for R-3 bond issue?

    31 shares
    Share 12 Tweet 8
  • Judge tells city to produce documents

    24 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 6
  • County commissioner wants to be associate circuit judge

    17 shares
    Share 7 Tweet 4
  • Volunteer coordinator to aid local vaccination clinics

    9 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 2
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist