We told you recently that some personnel changes have happened within the Central Platte Fire Department. Larry Bigus, longtime fire chief, is out. Also gone is Brett Lemons, who was deputy chief. Also gone is Brandon Detrick, one of the department’s captains.
The change at the top seems to have been a good thing. Since those changes happened, there have been around eight volunteer firefighters return to the department. So now the department is no longer short of volunteers when calls come in during the business day, I’m told.
Mike Ashcraft, chairman of the fire department’s three member board of trustees, told me this week the fire department is now making another move. For the first time, the district will be hiring a full time fire chief. The position is being advertised on the classified page in this week’s Landmark. Ashcraft says the full time chief will be available to respond to calls and will also handle administrative duties. Ashcraft indicated plans call for the position to be a Monday through Friday job at the station.
Interesting item.
State Rep. David Casteel of High Ridge, a suburb of St. Louis, is proposing legislation that would negatively impact your traditional way of viewing legal notices that are now required to be published in newspapers. “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, beginning Aug. 28, 2023, any notice required by statute to be published in a newspaper shall be published on the website of the secretary of state and shall no longer be required to be published in a newspaper,” states House Bill No. 1118 proposed by Casteel.
“The office of the secretary of state shall develop procedures for submission of notices required to be published on its website under this section and create a specific page on its website that contains all such notices in a searchable format that is easily accessible to the public,” the proposal goes on to state.
This is silly and ridiculous and the absolute worst for public awareness. How often do you scroll to the secretary of state’s website? That’s what I thought. Such public notices need to remain in your local newspapers.
How does a local legislator feel about it? I reached out to State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville for his thoughts.
“I’ve opposed this legislation consistently since I’ve been in the senate. I will be opposing it again,” Luetkemeyer responded.
The New Terminal, more commonly known as the new KCI Airport, opened earlier this week, on Tuesday, Feb. 28 to be exact. Landmark staffers were fortunate enough to get a detailed tour of the new airport a few weeks ago. It’s impressive. And those of you who are worried that the new airport won’t be nearly as convenient for drop-off and pick-up purposes, I think you may be surprised.
Let me know what you think after you’ve tried it for the first time.
One little sidenote: The Landmark gets a mention inside the new airport. In that long walkway between Node A and Node B of the terminal are some displays dedicated to things such as local history of land around the airport. One of the displayed items is a photo taken by The Landmark in 1993. The picture can be found under the heading “acknowledging the truth about the past.” In the photo are the late Gordon Miller, Dr. James (Jimmy) Johnson, and Shirley Kimsey.
Check it out as you’re making your way through the walkway.
Guys, I accidentally discovered a neat little trick to get you through a shopping trip with your significant other.
I’ve been in need of a couple new pairs of shoes. The other day I asked my wife if she’d like to go shoe shopping with me after work. It’s a chore I’d been putting off for a couple of months, in part due to a lack of time and in part due to the fact shopping ranks just above colonoscopy on my list of life’s most enjoyable things. My wife enjoys shopping much more than I do and is more in tune with things like shoe styles and such. I was looking for competent guidance. After work I drove straight home and she jumped in the car so we could head to DSW at Zona Rosa. By the way, to any shoe shopping rookies out there, I’m told DSW stands for Designer Shoe Warehouse.
We got to Zona and noticed an open parking spot right in front of the DSW door. I mean literally the spot right outside their door along their sidewalk. The only potential problem is there’s a sign that says “15 minute parking, violators will be towed.” I pulled into the spot at 5:35 p.m. “You need to shop for two pairs of shoes, I’m not sure we can be out of there in 15 minutes,” my wife says. “We can do this,” I replied, brimming with false bravado.
Went in the store and up that fancy DSW escalator. I was worried things might be heading south when my shopping partner right away says “Oh, they’ve changed things around in here.” Listen, I’ve not been in DSW often enough to tell you if things were different or the same. She soon pointed me to the section with men’s shoes. Immediately I spotted a pair of ankle-high boots in a sharp shade of brown seductively staring at me. What a temptress. Boom, I knew those things were about to be mine. Priced at $99. In that moment I didn’t care that the price was higher than I was expecting. I was on a mission. Hang with me here.
While I’m trying on the brown boots, my wife slides over to the next aisle and finds a style of black shoes she thought I’d like. She brings over a couple of size options for me, I complete the “trying on” session in short order. So we’re heading toward the register, which fortunately has no waiting line. My wife then says something about how she’d like to browse the women’s shoe department for a bit. It was then I had to break the sad news. “Darn, you better not, we’re in that 15-minute parking space, remember? Don’t want the car to get towed.”
We quickly made it through checkout and walked outside to the car. I looked at the time on my phone. It was 5:50 p.m. Perfect. Nailed it. Like a gymnast sticking the landing. Gold medal worthy.
Sure, I may have overpaid for those two pairs of shoes but thanks to a 15-minute parking space we were out of the store before my wife had time to browse. I figure I’m still money ahead. At least until she reads this.
Guys, your tip of the day is to put that 15-minute parking space to good use. You know the drill.
(Find Ivan Foley in 15-minute parking spaces at various retail outlets around Platte County. Or email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)