Hey. I don’t trust weather forecasters all that much. Through the years I’ve come to the conclusion there’s a tendency by the TV weather folks to overhype every forecast that includes the possibility of snow. Sure, it’s their job to be alarmists, I suppose, but there’s no doubting those important-feeling TV weather folks love their camera time and what better way to ensure some face time than to predict havoc-wreaking weather. That being said, with the forecast for Wednesday calling for significant snow, we made the decision to move The Landmark’s press time up by 24 hours this week. This was done with the thought being to keep our newspaper delivery drivers off the roads and highways on Wednesday. Safety first, kids.
We do value their safety. In fact, one of those drivers is me, so yes, we really, really do value their safety.
The Parkville Ethics Commission wanted to hear sworn testimony from Joe Parente, city administrator, and Melissa McChesney, city clerk, Monday night at its latest meeting involving the ethics complaint against Mayor Nan Johnston. But Parente and McChesney balked until they have had the chance to check with the board of aldermen to get the board’s okay in advance of their testimony. That decision was expected Tuesday night at an aldermen meeting taking place as this edition of The Landmark was hitting the streets.
“What if the aldermen say no, we don’t want you to testify?” an ethics commission member asked out loud at Monday’s meeting.
“If they (aldermen) make a decision to stonewall that would be an outrage,” said Joe Vanover, an attorney retained by the city to advise the ethics commission. The aldermen, after all, appointed the ethics commission to hear the complaint. If aldermen prohibit staffers from giving testimony “my guess is someone would file a new ethics complaint and we go round and round,” Vanover said.
The ethics board wants to ask Parente and McChesney about an executive session in which the board of aldermen allegedly directed that all the public documents being requested by Jason Maki be turned over to him. The documents were never given to Maki, even after he filed the lawsuit. Why not? And if that alleged directive was given, why did no one speak up when it wasn’t acted upon? Was there a cover-up of some sort?
Interesting. You’ll want to stay in touch with testimony that’s given at these ethics commission meetings. The ethics board has said it also wants to hear testimony from aldermen Dave Rittman and Marc Sportsman at some point.
Get your popcorn ready.
One of my favorite advertisers who supports local journalism with an ad at plattecountylandmark.com is Manscaped.
It is what the name suggests. It’s a firm specializing in men’s grooming items, more specifically in their words: “so guys can experience below-the-waist hygiene to keep your manhood clean, fresh and appealing.” But to be clear, not all of the items are designed to be used solely below the waist. Just today, for instance, I ordered some Manscaped deodorant. And in my hygiene closet I have such items as Manscaped body wash and Manscaped cologne.
Guys, give it a try. Click on their ad you see at plattecountylandmark.com and do a little online shopping. You won’t be disappointed.
Remind me to tell you about a shower cleaner product I’ve discovered. That stuff rocks, too.
Speaking of below the waist, I’ve been alerted to the fact there will be a Weston Testicle Festival in April. This sounds nuts.
Apparently the festival will feature things like live music, beer, cigars, and edible testicles. I assume they mean mountain oysters, but I’m not a hog farmer. Check with Speckman, he once walked in a pasture and is well-versed on the anatomy of farm animals.
It’s set for Saturday, April 16 at 357 Main in Weston. Get more info by searching Weston Testicle Festival on Facebook.
Speaking of Speckman, sounds like our fun-loving Ponder the Thought columnist has completed his move to Platte County, and this is exciting news for all of us. I say “it sounds like” because it has been a while since Speck and I have actually communicated meaningful words. Typically we exchange smartass texts and links to goofy TikTok videos and whatnot. Meaningful conversation–or at least our standards for it, which are pretty low–is saved for when we’re actually in the same room.
Anyway, the point I’m trying to get to is that if he followed through on what he told me months ago, Speck is now a resident of Kansas City in Platte County. Uh oh. Did no one tell him about the Kansas City earnings tax? He’ll be shocked when that one percent starts coming out of his massive Landmark check.
Listen, nobody is a bigger fan than I am of Patrick Mahomes and what he has meant for the Chiefs in particular and the NFL in general. Heck, I was even wearing a Mahomes jersey while watching the game. But damn. The guy whizzed down his leg in the second half of Sunday’s playoff loss to the Bengals. That was embarrassingly bad, high school level stuff with the bad decision-making, ridiculously unnecessary pirouette scrambling gyrations, hero ball maneuvers in the second half. It almost looked like he was compromised in some way. I hope he’s physically ok. There has to be some reasonable explanation for how his level of play fell off so drastically from the first half to the second, doesn’t there?
The Mahomes legacy will take a hit after that one. You’ve never seen Tom Brady suffer that type of big-game meltdown. Still love the guy, though, and extremely happy he belongs to Kansas City.
(Get more on manscaping and meltdowns with an email to Foley at ivan@plattecountylandmark.com <mailto:ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)