Walked outside my home on a recent morning to notice someone had tossed an empty beer can on my lawn. What really bothers me is that it was a Michelob Ultra. This creates a problem. Now all my neighbors think I like Mich Ultra. Color me embarrassed. I’ll probably be laughed out of the next HOA meeting.
Listen, it’s true I’m a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. But there’s lightweight and then further down the list is Michelob Ultra.
So if you’re gonna toss empties on my lawn please show a little respect. Make it a Bud Light next time. I do have a little pride.
The gasoline retailers in northern Platte County are certainly proud of their product. Why is the price of gas so much higher in northern Platte County than north of us? Why so much higher than south us?
One day last week, the price in St. Joseph was $1.63 per gallon. South of us, at Sam’s Club on North Oak, the price was $1.49. The price in Platte City on that same day? $1.79.
Apparently we’re not living right or something.
The Landmark stepped up its Thanksgiving Week printing day by 24 hours this year. Normally we print on Tuesday during the holiday week, but this year we moved it to Monday because I want to give the post office as much time as possible to get your newspaper to you prior to the Black Friday weekend specials from major retailers who have inserts in this edition of your Landmark. Bass Pro Shop and JCPenney both have flyers in this issue. Not surprisingly, this year both retailers are pushing their online shopping options as well as their old-fashioned brick and mortar extended hours for one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Be sure to check out their ads.
And get used to seeing JCPenney flyers in your Landmark for a while, as they’ll be riding shotgun with us several times now through Christmas.
Later this week Chris Kamler will be basting his turkey. That may or may not be a euphemism. We report. You decide.
I met a girl who sang the blues. I asked her for some happy news, but she just smiled and turned away.
That’s a line from the Don McLean song American Pie. Random yes, but its Thanksgiving Week so I’ve spent a lot of time listening to 70s on 7 on Sirius XM, just like the pilgrims did.
The ‘girl who sang the blues’ is a reference to Janis Joplin. That’s probably knowledge you didn’t need, or necessarily care, to know. One week when I have nothing else to write about, I’ll interpret the meaning of every lyric in American Pie and we’ll break off into discussion groups. The song is more than eight minutes long, so pack a lunch.
It’s unfortunate Angie Mutti is leaving the Platte City Chamber of Commerce after nearly eight years as its executive director. The chamber made huge advancements in Angie’s time. Prior to her arrival, the chamber for several years was in desperate need of a change in culture.
Mutti infused her own personality into the chamber and it was a breath of fresh air. The chamber became more focused on important items and in general became more welcoming. Previous chamber leadership had built a club that followed the wrong method of operation, going with a “what can you do for the chamber?” approach toward businesses rather than the current “we are the chamber, what can we do to help you?”
There are many specific changes and advancements Mutti made in her time but classing up the club’s attitude was the most important one. No longer is the chamber’s primary goal to be an outreach strictly to benefit the local school district. And no longer is the chamber a cliquish club, where if you weren’t a member of a “special group” of insiders you were put on a naughty list and chamber personnel openly worked against your business.
There has been a major upgrade in personality, a major upgrade in the offering of services, and a major upgrade in events put on by the organization under Angie Mutti. She will be missed.
And we’ll miss trying to make her feel awkwardly uncomfortable on Landmark Live.
Jason Maki continues to impress in his court battles against a team of attorneys on the City of Parkville’s payroll. There have been multiple court hearings on various motions over the past few months and Maki, who is serving as his own lawyer, in my humble opinion has performed better in front of the court than the city’s lawyers. The same held true in the latest hearing, which was held Friday morning.
Maki scored a major hit, at least in my eyes, when he took opposing counsel’s own words against them in the matter of requesting public documents. At one point, the lawyer for Parkville said “to the extent that my office has these documents, we have produced them.” Maki then noted to Judge James Van Amburg that the attorney–Jacob Bielenberg–and the four other lawyers on the city’s team may be trying to distance themselves from the city’s conduct in regard to Sunshine matters. Because Maki maintains he has documents he has acquired from other sources that should have been handed over by Parkville in filling Sunshine requests but were not. Maki remarked in court: “It should lead the court to ask, ‘what is going on?'” Amen.
Judge Van Amburg, as you’ve read, officially will be retiring Dec. 31. Let’s hope he chooses to hang on to this case and will continue to preside over it until a conclusion is reached. It’s a case that could have statewide implications. Other public entities are watching it closely to see what kind of lessons may or may not need to be learned in regard to responding to Sunshine requests.
The case is about the city’s knowing and purposeful violations of the Sunshine Law, failure to make records available to the public, charging impermissible fees for those public records, charging excessive fees or charging for more time than it spent responding to those requests, improperly closing public records and making only altered or doctored versions of those public records available.
(Ivan Foley can be found driving his Chevy to the levee. Or via email to ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
After successful reign, Mutti leaving chamber