Jim W. Pinkerton has joined the news and advertising staff of The Landmark. He has 10 years of daily newspaper experience in Odessa, Tex., Pryor, Oklahoma, and Nevada, Mo. Holder of a bachelor of arts in journalism from the University of New Mexico, he taught high school journalism for 12 years in Grants, New Mexico and Los Alamos, New Mexico, before going into newspaper work.
Unemployment in the metropolitan Kansas City area, including Platte County, for March was an even five percent, according to figures released Monday by the Missouri Job Service. The rate is expected to climb substantially for April and May with massive layoffs by the Kansas City automobile plants. The state jobless rate for March was 6.4% and the national total was 6.6%. The rate for the state a year ago was 4.6%. The March rate for the metropolitan St. Louis area was an even seven percent. Atchison County had the smallest percentage of reported unemployed in the state, 2.7%.
If April showers bring May flowers there shouldn’t be many flowers in the Platte County area this month. The metropolitan Kansas City area is in a prolonged dry period which started in early April, following an unusually moderate winter. Normally in April, Platte County gets about 3.41 inches of rain. Last month, though, only 1.17 inches of precipitation was recorded.
