They say great minds think alike. Perhaps it’s true in this case. Perhaps not. At least, perhaps not great minds. But we’re definitely thinking alike.
I popped open the email from Chris Kamler and to read his weekly Rambling Moron column submission on page 3 to find he was talking about one of the things I had in my notes to include in this week’s Between the Lines. That topic is the weather.
Has it been great or what? Low humidity. Mild temps. Comfortable breezes.
Here’s how you know Mother Nature has been kind to us: I’m writing this on May 30 and to this day we still have not had to kick on the air conditioning in our brick building that houses your favorite newspaper on Platte City’s Main Street. I’ve been here 41 years and I don’t believe we’ve ever previously gone this deep into the calendar without having to fire up the central air.
My electric bill appreciates that. The folks at Evergy might be sad about it.
Speaking of Evergy, thank you. Thank you, Evergy, for doing whatever it is you’ve done and are continuing to do to improve the reliability to the downtown Platte City and Second and Fourth Street corridors. It has been so long since we’ve had a mysterious power outage that I can’t even tell you when the last time was. That’s how you know things have improved and are going well.
I hope I haven’t jinxed things by talking about it. If we get an unexplained service outage in the next few days Evergy can blame me.
Having said that, we’re now heading into June which often is the height of severe storm season, so everybody be prepared.
As was mentioned by several folks last summer when the outages were happening with frequency, the storm-related outages are easier to mentally deal with than are the mysterious clear sky outages that have plagued the older portions of Platte City for years.
A UMKC music professor says he saw a mountain lion in the Parkville Nature Sanctuary the morning of Monday, May 22. See the full story elsewhere in this edition of your Landmark. If you saw the TV interview on Fox 4, the guy seems legit and confident in what he saw.
On Monday, we reached out to the City of Parkville to ask about trail cameras in the sanctuary and whether the trail cams had captured any images that might be helpful in trying to confirm or deny the report. Mayor Dean Katerndahl responded Tuesday night with some information. In short, the answer is there is only one trail camera in the sanctuary and it is pointed toward the entrance along the waterfall. Katerndahl says it was reviewed and there is no sighting of any cat on the date in question. City officials emphasize the view is limited and the trail cam does not cover the specific area where the sighting was said to have happened.
Last Friday, city officials contacted Chris Cain, a wildlife specialist with Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). MDC had been on the premises after the report and MDC says it saw no physical evidence of a mountain lion. However, Cain told city officials there is not enough information to either confirm nor deny the man’s claim of what he saw. City officials said MDC does not recommend any changes, closures or public notices in regard to the sanctuary after the reported sighting.
One time when I was much younger I think I spotted a cougar walking through the nature sanctuary but it was the two-legged variety, totally different. I was more intrigued than scared.
Landmark office manager Cindy Rinehart and family members had an encounter with a noisy and apparently hungry mountain lion near her home in rural northern Platte County on a January night about 14 years ago. Just off her front porch. We told the story in print at the time. May have to get Cindy to tell the story again now that mountain lions are back in the news.
The Major League Baseball season is a long grind. It’s 162 games long. An old baseball saying is that standings and records really don’t take on any meaning until Memorial Day.
Well, Memorial Day was this week so let’s peek at the standings. Yikes.
There, Royals fans, I said it for you. Things are bad. Scary bad. Can it get any worse? Yes, a true Royals fan knows things can always get worse.
Your Royals are standing short. With a record of 17-38 heading into Tuesday night. Seriously ugly. That’s a winning percentage of .309. That would translate to a final season record of 50-112.
The only good thing about it? It’s looking like we’ll be able to cash that Royals win total bet. You remember the one I made and hoped you’d follow me on? We bet the Royals to finish under their projected win total of 69.
Well, just 55 games into the season, we have a comfortable margin for error. To get to 69 wins, the Royals would have to finish with a record of 52-55 over their final 107 games. Do you think they can do it? Can the Royals play nearly .500 baseball the rest of the way? Doesn’t seem likely. Hope you’re keeping your “under 69 wins” betting ticket in a safe place because I bet (see what I did there?) you’re going to want to run it to the casino when the regular season ends in early October.
Nearly 20 people connected to Main Street in Platte City gathered for a meeting on Tuesday morning, a session facilitated by Tricia Friddell of the Platte City Chamber of Commerce. Since The Landmark is a service business–like the attorneys and insurance agents on Main Street–and not dependent on foot traffic, it’s best to let the retailers and the restaurant/bar folks lead the way in these discussions. It’s their livelihoods that depend on drawing consistent traffic into downtown. Many ideas and thoughts and strategies are being kicked around in brainstorming sessions. Like anything else, it will take some time to develop. Anxious to see where it goes in the efforts to make the downtown square a little more vibrant.
(Feel free to report your mountain lion and cougar sightings to Ivan Foley at ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)