Travis Kelce just dropped another pass.
Let’s talk gas prices. I’ve mentioned previously that of all the random topics that get mentioned in this column space, one that gets among the top in reader reaction is gas prices. My phone and my inbox tend to blow up with readers telling me about the gas prices they have encountered and where they have encountered them.
A few weeks back I mentioned that the folks in Washington keep saying gas prices are much lower than a year ago, but that has not been the case here in the Kansas City market. Well, word from GasBuddy this week is that Kansas City is starting to get there. “Prices in Kansas City are half a cent per gallon lower than a year ago,” GasBuddy announced Monday.
So there you have it. We’re not “much lower” than a year ago, but at least now we can say we are lower. By half a cent. The average gas price in the Kansas City market is now $2.68 per gallon. Today in Platte City, we’re mostly at $2.55 per gallon, down more than 20 cents from just a few weeks ago.
A reader in Parkville texted me last Wednesday, Dec. 3 to let me know gas there was now at $2.57. Price in Platte City that day ranged from $2.57 to $2.59. On Tuesday of this week, a reader sent me a photo of a gas pump at the Buc-ee’s in Springfield, Mo. Take a guess at the price down there. Go ahead, I’ll wait till the start of the next paragraph to give you the answer.
The price of a gallon of gas at the Buc-ee’s in Springfield on Tuesday was just $2.04. Major difference from what we are paying in the Kansas City market. Lowest I’ve seen in our general area in the past several days was $2.42 at the Sam’s Club at Legends in KCK on Sunday. If you’ve seen lower, let me know about it and we’ll spread the word.
Why the huge difference in the markets? One Landmark reader offers this theory. And he may have nailed it. “The further you get from a QuikTrip the better the price,” he said. “There’s no QuikTrip in Springfield.”
Interesting.
Rashee Rice just dropped another pass.
Interested in running for local city or school board post? Now’s the time of year to get serious about it. Filing opened this week and will close on Dec. 30. Contact your local City Hall or school district office for more information that potential candidates need to know.
After spending the past couple of weeks staunchly standing behind the current setup of the Platte County Senior Citizen Tax Credit program, it looks like Scott Fricker, presiding commissioner for Platte County, may be having a change of heart. Fricker had been engaging in a back and forth online with State Rep. Mike Jones of southern Platte County, with Jones encouraging the county to make bonded debt levies a part of the county’s tax “freeze” as some other counties have done and as the state legislation allows, with Fricker maintaining the county would not do it out of fear of legal action. Based on a proposal on the agenda for next Monday’s county commission meeting, it appears Fricker is now seeing things the way Jones does. See a front page story for more details.
If the county does make the change, we can thank Jones for his persistence on this topic. It would not have happened without the state rep from southern Platte County vocally stepping up. Effective leadership.
Noah Gray just dropped two more passes.
Sincerest sympathy to his wife, Mary Ann, and other family and friends of Dave Brooks, former mayor of Platte City, who passed away over the weekend.
Longtime readers will recall Dave and I very publicly went round and round about 20 years ago when he was mayor after my reporting exposed the fact the city had violated the Sunshine Law while discussing what turned out to be a very controversial annexation idea. The obvious Sunshine violation led to a bad outcome for the city in the courtroom in legal action led by attorney Bob Shaw. Dave and I each had mellowed significantly toward one another in recent years. About a dozen years ago, Dave walked into our office and insisted on taking me to lunch at Cracker Barrel in Tiffany Springs. I recall on that day he wanted to talk national politics, family, and life in general. He told me members of his family tended to live to “a ripe old age” and that he expected to do the same. He wasn’t wrong. In recent years Dave would occasionally drop in to visit with office manager Cindy, and if I was outside in the parking lot at our new location when he drove past he would stop, roll down his window and chat.
Rest in peace, Dave.
If you’re a big Christopher Cross fan–and I know at least one other Platte Countian who is because we’ve had this conversation and I get a text whenever a Christopher Cross song comes on the radio–here’s something you need to know. In August, Christopher Cross will be performing at the new Morton Amphitheater in Riverside. I have it circled as potentially my first visit to the highly anticipated Riverside venue.
For the uninitiated, Christopher Cross primarily plays soft rock, pop, and yacht rock, and as the internet says, he is “known for his smooth vocals and melodic, serene sound in hits like ‘Sailing’ and ‘Ride Like the Wind.’” I suspect the soft rock sound is why some guys prefer to keep their Chris Cross fandom on the downlow, perhaps out of fear of having their man card revoked. Some of us, on the other hand, absolutely give no craps what others might think of our opinions on music.
Almost every human has songs that remind us of a certain time frame in our lives. Music has a way of doing that. Christopher Cross’s song “Sailing” was one of the most popular on the Top 40 chart in the late summer of 1980. I was 17 and my dad died very unexpectedly in July that summer of a heart attack at age 50. In the days and weeks that followed, I vividly recall hearing “Sailing” nearly every time I turned on the radio and thinking sailing away sounded like a great idea to avoid dealing with the chaos.
That’s a lot of unnecessary words to say Christopher Cross’s music is top notch and a big part of my late high school/early 1980s memories. The guy’s voice defined early 80s adult contemporary sound. “Sailing” won multiple Grammy Awards and became a soft rock classic. Movie buffs know his song “Best That You Can Do” was the theme for the 1981 hit comedy “Arthur.”
(Don’t be shy about crank up Yacht Rock Radio and email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
