Flags outside schools in the Park Hill School District are flying at half mast this week in honor of a former student. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Nicholas Hand, 20, of Kansas City was killed in Helmand province Afghanistan while serving his country. Gov. Jay Nixon ordered all of the flags to fly at half mast in the district this week. Hand was known as Nicholas Moyer while he was a student at Park Hill High School before transferring to Oak Park High School. Hand will be buried in Leavenworth National Cemetery.
Platte City Mayor Frank Offutt presented resident and longtime downtown business owner Ron Pine with the W.R. Fox Award last Wednesday night before the city’s holiday lighting ceremony. The W.R. Fox Award, named after a former mayor is the highest award given to a citizen by the city.
Donna Nash, county collector for Platte County since 1982, says she will not seek reelection to the office in 2010. One of her assistants, Sheila Palmer, this week is already announcing she will seek to be her boss’s replacement. “It’s something I had to really think about. It was a difficult decision but one that I’m happy with,” Nash told The Landmark this week. Nash said she had started thinking about her eventual departure about four years ago.