Uh oh. The City of Platte City’s personnel drama isn’t big enough to get action from the board of aldermen but it’s big enough to get conversation at the local watering holes.
Case in point: Guy Speckman’s Ponder the Thought column on page 3. Speck confirms the drama–including some revealing details–is making the rounds at the local hot spots. And when it comes to watering holes, there is no better source than our man Speck. Tanner’s Bar and Grill was the place where Speck says the conversation about the stuff going on at the city over the past several months was all the rage. And the discussion included a three-letter word that has not yet appeared in Landmark coverage of the City Hall drama–sex.
As Speckman eloquently writes in his column, when you get “late afternoon day drinkers talking about government, sex and the new City Hall you know there is fire underneath all this smoke.”
Folks in multiple local businesses are talking of the alleged s-e-x (even Travis Kelce can spell that one) aspect to this story. I was going to say romance but I’m not sure how romantic it is. Seems unlikely it’s the kind of stuff you’d see in a Hallmark movie.
Anyway, the hopelessly romantic part has been discussed in the general business community for months and now Speck confirms it’s the hot topic in the local sports bar. Somebody might want to tell the mayor and aldermen because apparently they’re the only ones who aren’t aware.
Nice piece of investigative journalism by Speckman. His love affair with Bud Light has paid off once again.
I sat in on a Platte City Board of Aldermen work session last week and there was some discussion about hosting “listening sessions” in the future where local residents and business owners can come give their input on issues and topics facing the city. Mayor Tony Paolillo said at that meeting that these proposed listening sessions would be run by Marji Gehr, city administrator.
Uh oh. That would certainly seem to open up the possibility for some uncomfortable input and uncomfortable questions and comments, including from the late afternoon day drinkers who have the inside skinny on a lot of stuff.
Let’s see if these listening sessions ever get placed on the city calendar, and if so whether suddenly there are some very tight restrictions on what topics are ‘allowed.’
I better mention this for the weather historians who will read this column years from now. We had a snowstorm in Platte County and across the region on Monday night into Tuesday. Snowfall amounts around the region were varying and localized to an extreme, it seems. Pleasant Hill, for instance, had about 11 inches. At my home a couple miles south of Platte City it looked like around four inches of snow. Gladstone reported four inches, Leavenworth reported five. And so on and so on.
Schools, many government offices–including the Platte County Courthouse–and quite a few businesses were closed Tuesday due to the weather. Local schools remained closed on Wednesday. Early Tuesday morning I took a drive around Platte City’s business district and at that point it looked very possibly like local barber Ron Pine and yours truly were going to be the only two living and breathing occupants of the general downtown vicinity, at least for the morning hours. Ron was clearing snow from his Main Street sidewalk as I drove past. Local drivers did a great job staying off the roads, I’ll say that.
I would have taken another drive around later in the business day but I got too comfortable cranking out the news from our new space at 212 Marshall Road to venture out again.
I had a plan in my mind that didn’t exactly come to fruition. My driver’s license expires later this month so I need to make a trip to the Platte City License Office. A trip to the DMV can be a time consuming thing, as you know.
For several days as weather forecasters talked about the impending storm, I concocted a crowd-avoiding idea of heading up to the license office early Tuesday morning during the snowstorm or right as it was wrapping up, figuring no rational person would be wanting to get their driver’s license renewed while a measurable snow event is underway. Sounded like a great, dare I say brilliant, scheme to avoid a crowd and cut down considerably on waiting time.
I’m confident my plan would have worked other than the fact the storm was severe enough that the Platte City License Office posted on its Facebook page early Tuesday morning that it would be closed that day due to the inclement weather. So much for the best laid plans.
We won. “We” is every Landmark reader who was brave enough to follow me on my “buy yourself a boat” NFL futures bet of the year. In August, I recommended betting the Washington Commanders under their projected win total of 6.5. I know at least one Landmark reader was bold enough to follow my footsteps. Kudos and thank you for your service, fine sir. Ran into a couple of $5 bettors last weekend who told me they tagged along, as well. High rollers. That’s ok, guys, we don’t unit shame around here. Size doesn’t matter.
The Commanders finished with only four victories. Be honest, there was a point early in the season when some of you were questioning my bet. Admit it. Like early in the year when the Commanders were 2-1. Their very next game they almost beat the Eagles, which would have made them 3-1, but lost the game in OT. Things looked very questionable on Nov. 5 when the Commanders beat New England and raised their record to 4-5. Yes, the Commanders already had four wins with eight games remaining in the season. If the Commanders would have won only three of their final eight games they would have spoiled Foley’s Fun. But then reality set in for the naysayers who were doubting my choice. The Commanders never won another game the rest of the season, finishing with a 4-13 record. Lol. Ye of little faith.
If you took the ride it’s time to go cash the ticket. It’s in my weekend plans.
It’s the third straight year we’ve given you the equivalent of a pay-your- mortgage NFL futures pick. We’ve hit all three. Be here next August when we’ll give you a fourth straight winner.
In the playoffs, when the Chiefs aren’t playing I’ll be cheering for Baltimore. As mentioned in my Aug. 30 column, for funsies back in the summer I put $20 on the Ravens to win the Super Bowl when their odds of doing so were 20-1. That will mean a $420 payout if the Ravens win it all.
(Take part in a Foley listening session by emailing ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)