• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
26 °f
Platte
37 ° Fri
39 ° Sat
33 ° Sun
34 ° Mon
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

Feel safe, yet?

Guy Speckman by Guy Speckman
September 25, 2020
in Ponder the Thought
Witness Protection
5
SHARES
130
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

If you’re sitting at home waiting on the Missouri legislature to come to your rescue with the recent special session, I’ve got some bad news. The special session, called for by Gov. Mike Parson, yielded exactly two bills for the governor’s signature.

The session was allegedly called to stem “violent crime.” That still makes me laugh, because I don’t think a bunch of people in suits, socially distancing in Jefferson City are going to solve much of our crime problems, but I guess everyone has hopes and dreams. The governor was quoted as saying this about the special session, “You’re not going to hit a home run every time in this building.”

RelatedNews

Badges, Patrick and law

Sedition and snow fleas,

Parade routes, history repeats

Uh, this was like a proverbial pop up bunt to the first baseman. You should feel safer next time you go out. They passed a law that allows police officers in St. Louis to live outside the city limits and they created a fund for witness protection service. Feel safe yet? A quick side note to all this progress is that the legislature failed to provide funding for the fund they created for the witness protection program. Feel safe yet?

I will tell you what is not safe, your wallet. Based on prior special sessions, these two bills are going to set the taxpayers back a couple hundred thousand dollars. That’s only 100k or so per bill. That’s cheap in 2020, bargain bills. Feel better?

Wait, the good news for taxpayers keeps rolling. The final parting shot is that they think they will have to have another special session to “finish” up their “crime fighting” legislation and deal with COVID budget changes. Surely, that won’t cost more than half million or so to find out they can’t agree again.

If you are a violent criminal, I’m assuming this is good news and you can continue your ways. If you’re a taxpayer, this seems like relatively bad news.


I am still befuddled by the new “make voting easier” crowd. Last week I stumbled upon a CBS news story that was promoting their comprehensive guide on “how to vote in all 50 states.” Have I missed something about voting? Is this really a complicated process for people? If voting is complicated to people, I think we should begin to question our education in this country.

In our part of the world, I have always found voting to be one of the simplest of tasks. It is resoundingly a local controlled event with locally elected officials controlling it. Local election officials and their staff are overwhelming accommodative for voters. Absentee voting is simple, local election officials are available leading up to the election and there is substantial information out that allows people to get registered and where to vote. It seems that the process has not become more complicated, but instead the new push to make it easier to vote is simply an effort to require less effort for an already simple task.

It’s the voting equivalent of giving participation ribbons. Shouldn’t it require at least a little effort?

(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or popping up bunts to the first baseman)

Tags: electionsPublic Safety
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

Badges

Badges, Patrick and law

by Guy Speckman
January 22, 2021
0

Welcome to January 20th. You can now wear your Christmas gifts, without people knowing they were Christmas gifts. Enjoy. No one has asked me, but I'd leave all that fence and stuff up for Kamala's inauguration. How long will she...

15 Years Ago–January 19, 2006

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

A military man who spent some time living in Platte City while stationed at Fort Leavenworth has been killed in Iraq Army Maj. Michael R. Martinez, age 43, was one of 12 Americans killed in the crash of a UH-60...

Parkville City Hall

Two incumbent Parkville aldermen face opposition

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

Two of the four aldermen positions up for grabs at the City of Parkville will see contested races in the April 6 election. Filing for municipal candidates ended at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. CITY OF PARKVILLE There are four incumbent...

Park Hill School District logo

Six candidates for two Park Hill positions

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

A whopping six candidates have filed for two open positions on the Park Hill School Board. That's the local headline from school board elections this spring. Filing deadline for school board candidates was 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The election is...

Next Post
disruptors

Disruptors

Popular News

  • Jakob Scroggins

    Things ‘just make sense’ for North Platte senior

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Want the vaccine? Complete this survey

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Six candidates for two Park Hill positions

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Dicks and Karens

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Kevin Kietzman announces his plan

    251 shares
    Share 100 Tweet 63
  • 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