With a strike of a lightning bolt, 40 years of memories disappeared into a burst of flames for Karlton and Donna Nash of Dearborn, as their home located along Hwy. 371 in northern Platte County caught fire last Wednesday evening. According to Fire Chief Darren Paden, neighbors of the Nash family came running over to their house because it made so much noise. They saw flames in the basement and noticed the windows were blown out. The Nash family was at the Lake of the Ozarks at the time of the fire, but was notified by their son and returned home at around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday to view the damage. The fire caused an estimated $80-100,000 in damage.
After spending a month in Jefferson City sorting through red tape, Woody Cozad, consultant hired by the Platte County Commission, briefed commissioners on Thursday about his findings regarding a $400,000 shortfall in the March local use tax receipts. According to Cozad, after three conferences with Director of Revenue Trish Vincent and assistant to the director Lowell Pearson, Platte County’s loss and lack of notification was just a result of the system. “There’s not much communication between the counties and the department,” said Cozad. Cozad informed the commissioners that the reason the department doesn’t notify the counties of the applications for repayment is because of large volume of applications they receive.