Somebody just told me “I hope your Fourth of July is a bang” and I didn’t know whether to smile or cringe.
A media outlet called The Action Network has some interesting numbers are on backyard fireworks risks, as far as ranking which states have the greatest risk for “oopsies” to happen on July 4.
Kansas is ranked as the fifth highest risk state in the country. I was prepared to make fun of Kansas but then read that Missouri is even worse. According to this study, Missouri ranks as the third highest risk state for backyard fireworks mishaps, burns or property flare-ups.
The findings show that an active backyard blasting participant in Kansas faces a 1 in 40 chance of having some type of accident, while in Missouri the same pyrotech faces a one in 36 chance of a negative consequence.
“We blended trade shipment data, consumer search behavior and state-level legal restrictions to uncover where has the highest risks this holiday weekend,” Action Network says.
The states with the highest risks of fireworks accidents? Top of the list is Ohio (one in 28) and Indiana (one in 34). New Hampshire comes in at No. 4 between Missouri and Kansas. Numbers six through 10 are Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Oklahoma and Alabama.
If you will be in, near or driving through the I-29 and North Oak area, here’s a public service announcement. The price of gasoline at the Sam’s Club on North Oak was $3.22 on Sunday. That compares to Sunday’s prices of $3.45 at the QuikTrip in Platte City and $3.42 at the MFA station in Platte City. A noticeable price difference, you might say.
Shortly after a link to last week’s story about the “case vs. man accused of killing reporter advances” was posted on our Facebook page, my phone lit up with a text from an old friend. The suspect in the apparent road rage killing of local sports reporter Dennis Sharkey was the topic of incoming text messages from my pal, whose identity and place of employment we’ll keep private because the suspect is an accused killer, just sayin’.
Just know this old friend works at a place of business where the suspect in the Sharkey killing, a man named Ruslan Huseynov, was a very regular customer.
“Dude, I am dying laughing,” came the text without further context.
“At what?” was my response.
“Ruslan,” was his answer. “That dude speaks perfect English,” wrote my friend, referencing the fact that Huseynov’s court proceedings had long been delayed while authorities sought an apparently hard-to-find interpreter, which the suspect claims he needs. Authorities say Huseynov speaks the dialect of southern Azerbaijani.
“Dude asks for an interpreter when he speaks perfect English lol,” came the next text. “lol hilarious.”
So there you have it. According to a respectable someone who has had many interactions with the suspect, Huseynov speaks and understands English perfectly and doesn’t really need an interpreter.
So do law enforcement folks realize they’re being played by the suspect in terms of his English language comprehension? My guess is yes, but there are rules they must follow. In criminal cases, authorities are constitutionally required to provide an interpreter if a defendant does not understand or speak English. This right is rooted in the Sixth Amendment (right to confront witnesses and effective assistance of counsel) and the Fourteenth Amendment (due process).
There’s something else that has potentially come up in the Huseynov alleged fatal shooting of reporter Dennis Sharkey that may have an impact on the case. More on that next week right here in this column space. In the news biz that’s what we call a tease.
The best national television news journalist these days is Kaitlan Collins of CNN. Don’t take it from me, take it from President Trump. He consistently attacks her, both professionally for her reporting and personally for what he feels is her lack of a smile. Think about it. He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t intimidated by her work. Newsmakers don’t bother attacking a journalist whose work isn’t worth their attention. Since her news and analysis is solid enough to get his attention and with it his unspoken respect, her words about his administration sting the president and that’s why you see him go after her.
Collins, to her credit, just keeps cranking out quality stuff, never stopping to engage in the personal silliness that the president tries to drag her into.
Have you been watching some of the World Cup? Again, I’m not at all a soccer fan but with the action so close to home this time around I have tuned in for portions of a few games (oops, in soccer they don’t say game, they say match). Some of it has been entertaining, some of it was spent watching a match that ended in a 0-0 tie, which seems like the sleepiest sports result possible.
Maybe some of you soccer regulars can answer me this. Why do the soccer announcers on television use a plural verb with a singular noun? Such as during play-by-play saying things like: “Morocco are on the attack.” Wut? Listen, this is America and it’s almost the Fourth of July so this is no time to get squishy. In this country we say “Morocco is on the attack.” Been saying it that way for 250 years.
Here’s an explanation from Google. I’m not agreeing with it, in fact I disagree with it, I’m just telling you the response that Google spit at me.
“Soccer commentators–especially those from the UK–refer to teams in the plural form because of the grammatical concept of notional agreement. Instead of treating the team name as a singular corporate entity, they view the club as a collective group of individual players.”
Ridiculous. The Landmark are not jumping on that bandwagon.
(Find Foley getting annoyed by incorrect verb usage by soccer announcers. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
