It’s fall (not officially by the calendar, but you get the picture), and you know how we feel about fall here in Between the Lines. No denying it’s our favorite time of the year. Something about the cooler weather (though temps this weekend look plenty toasty), the changing of the leaves (not yet but it’s not far away), football, mums, outdoor weekend activities. Yeah, all that. What’s not to like? Let’s get with it.
Jumping cities.
Melissa McChesney, longtime city clerk for Parkville, has let it be known she is leaving the City of Parkville and accepting a position at the City of Riverside. Her last day with Parkville will be Sept. 26.
Among McChesney’s accomplishments at Parkville is the simple fact she survived the wacky and eventful-for-all-the-wrong-reasons tenure of former Mayor Nan Johnston with her sanity in tact. Don’t tell me there weren’t some absolutely insane days on the job at City Hall when Nan was mayor. We know for a fact there were some batcrap crazy times with temper tantrum filled late night emails by the mayor in those days, so I can only imagine what the working days were like. You know McChesney could tell some stories if she wanted. Maybe she’ll sit down with me, spill the goods and I’ll write a pilot for a Netflix series, make us both rich.
A couple of fall outdoor activities are coming right up on the local calendar of events. One of them is this Saturday, Sept. 13. A big car show will be held at Running Horse Ranch and Home in Platte City in conjunction with the neighboring Central Bank. Plenty of space filled with plenty of cars, trucks, bikes, etc. Plus food trucks and vendors, all the things. It’s at 2601 Running Horse Road. For other details, check out a story in this edition and find the ad on page B-1.
As you know the Chiefs opened their 2025 season last Friday night and as you know they lost to the Los Angeles Chargers. If you watched the game, do you have a reaction to what you saw? I have a reaction to some things I noticed.
No. 1: The Chiefs are a slow team. There isn’t much speed there, folks, especially on defense. This isn’t the 2023 defense or even last year’s defense. This year, the defensive backs look slow and unsure. The linebackers are extremely slow. The pass rushers seem to always be at least a step late and, yes, that means a step slow. By now you’re noticing a theme here. Also, the big contract that was handed out to George Karlaftis might turn out to be very unwise. The guy looks stiff. . .and slow. Speed can’t be coached or taught, so what this means is it could be a looong season for this slooow defense. Chiefs fans have reason to be worried.
No. 2: The offensive line is below average. More specifically, the left guard was atrocious. His name is Kingsley Suamataia. Last year the Chiefs initially proclaimed Suamataia their starting left tackle, but after a couple of games where he was getting whipped like a stubborn mule they gave up and put him on the bench, where he mostly remained the rest of the season. This year they’ve moved him to guard. I know it’s early, we’re just one game into the season, but it doesn’t look like they’re going to be able to hide him at left guard. He was blown up or blown by on many occasions against the Chargers. Yikes.
Are you looking for an update on United Fiber’s continuing installation of fiber lines in and around Platte City after the recent Friday when crews hit two gas lines that caused a hectic day among first responders, some nearby residents and students at staff at the nearby school facilities? Okay, here you are: It looks like things are back to full steam ahead. Here’s a bit of a summary.
If you read last week’s Landmark story, the Platte City Special Road District suspended United Fiber right of way permits pending a meeting to review best business practices. The City of Platte City simply asked United Fiber to pause fiber installation until a review of the incident could occur. That review took place last Thursday morning. Now, all systems are go. Both the road district and the city have lifted any restrictions on United Fiber and installations are rolling.
Frank Offutt, administrator for the Platte City Special Road District, summed it up this way. “A larger than expected crowd turned out for last Thursday’s construction meeting held by the Platte City Special Road District with United Fiber reps, United contractors, and folks from utility location companies. There were 33 attendees including representatives from Missouri 811, United Fiber, Sellenriek Construction–an installation contractor for United Fiber, Point to Point, Liberty Utilities, Platte 4 Water, USIC, Utilisource and Northland Locating.” Offutt explained that the meeting focused on strengthening communications and improving cooperation between all stakeholders. At a meeting on Monday evening, the governing body for Platte City Special Road District instructed staff to allow United Fiber to resume construction in road district right of way.
Meanwhile, Bryan Richison, city administrator for Platte City, had similar comments. “The utility meeting went well. The main theme was the need for better communication. The subcontractor doing the work now has one designated person that all communication will be funneled through. This should make the process for marking the utilities smoother, but we will have to see how it works in practice,” the city administrator told me on Monday.
I encourage you to watch the Netflix documentary series Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich. The documentary is from 2020, so it’s five years old but still effective in its telling of the facts. It’s an uncomfortable topic which makes it hard to watch at times, but it is an important subject that society must not ignore and well worth the investment of your time.
If you watch that series, see and hear from some of the victims and you’re not in favor of getting to the bottom of that whole situation–including having the Epstein files publicly released in hopes of finding out to whom Epstein was trafficking young girls–then I don’t know what to tell you.
(Find Foley filling out his fall calendar. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
