I’m sure there have been busier and wackier days for emergency responders than Tuesday, Oct. 7, but that’s the most recent occasion so we’ll talk about it today.
It was like the Bermuda Triangle of sorts for vehicles in the vicinity of I-29 and the Platte City exits. Not in the sense that vehicles were disappearing like planes in the Bermuda Triangle urban legend, but you get the point. Multiple crashes, some of which weren’t exactly your normal accidents.
It started about 6:30 a.m. when a semi-tanker veered into the median of I-29 just north of Hwy. 92 and overturned. Hazardous material said to be in the tanker, though thankfully none of it spilled. The tanker was still in the median at 3 p.m. Tuesday, about eight hours after the crash, which forced various lane closures of the interstate and sent more traffic than usual through Platte City that day.
About 11:45 a.m. there was a T-bone crash in Platte City at the three way stop at Prairie View and Main Street near the I-29 and HH interchange, with one person suffering injuries.
At 12:45 p.m. came a rear-end crash on I-29 in backed up traffic not far from the earlier crash site, as a pickup truck rear-ended a flat bed semi. The pickup then burst into flames after impact, making quite the image on the KC Scout cameras that eyeball that stretch of I-29. Fortunately there were no serious injuries in that one.
Lots of sirens, lots of first responding vehicles, lots of first responders being overworked, and lots of texts and calls coming in from readers offering news tips to your favorite editor. We posted scenes from each crash on our Facebook page on Tuesday, so if you’re not yet one of the 11,600 folks following us on the book of faces it’ s time for you to start doing that.
Seems like a good time to recognize that the Central Platte Fire Department taking the step of hiring a full time chief a couple of years ago and adding a few other full time staffers was a good move. It has really professionalized the department and made it better prepared than ever for days like Tuesday.
Speaking of our Facebook page, I think it’s interesting to occasionally share with you some of the posts that garner an amazing amount of traffic to our page. One of the latest is a story we posted late in the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 25. I didn’t think a whole lot about it while posting it, but that thing really took off with reactions and shares going far and wide on Facebook. The story? “Downtown Parkville will go full Swiftie on Friday, Oct. 3.”
Main Street merchants in Parkville had decided to team up to celebrate Taylor Swift and her new album release that was coming out on Oct. 3. It was a day-long event centered around the drop of the new album and her recent engagement to Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
By the time the smoke had cleared, our post about going full Swiftie had drawn 148,269 viewers. Incredible. And I sauntered into Downtown Parkville on Oct. 3 just to see how things were going. Most of the 20 or so merchants who were involved in the day of specials spoke of being happy with the turnout for their special event. “I wasn’t expecting this much foot traffic today,” one merchant told me mid-afternoon Friday.
Seems it was a good marketing move, despite the usual Facebook noise from some Taylor Swift non-fans, shall we say.
The record-setting number of views amassed by the Taylor Swift Day post on The Landmark’s Facebook page didn’t last long. Tuesday’s post featuring two pictures from the fiery crash of the pickup into a semi trailer has already totaled 167,063 views as of Wednesday morning, and still growing by the hour.
Speaking of Taylor Swift’s new album, have you had a chance to give it a listen yet? Usually a pretty big fan of Taylor’s work but I gotta say I’m disappointed. I gave it a listen on Sirius XM Channel 13 over the weekend and found most every song on the album sleepy, not at all catchy nor memorable. And I hesitate to even talk about the song she wrote and performed about her boyfriend’s particular male body part. Yes, there is a tune on the album called “Wood” that when you listen to/read the lyrics leaves no doubt she is talking about Travis Kelce’s undercarriage.
Not sure why she thought that was a good idea. Seems very odd. Seems that song would have been better saved for a private performance rather than distributing it to a universal audience, but what do I know. Far be it from me to question Taylor’s business acumen. Maybe she did it to inflate Travis’s. . .ego.
But I think I speak for 98% of men in America when I say we absolutely do not care to listen to a song about Travis Kelce’s peepee. We just don’t. Imagine vibing at home some evening with your favorite lady who has Taylor Swift music playing in the background and suddenly that song comes on. “Oh, listen to this one, honey, Taylor is singing about Travis’s schlong,” are words no man wants to hear. Major mood killer.
Wait, am I allowed to say peepee in the newspaper? Please delete if not allowed.
And since a big part of Taylor’s audience is comprised of 12-year-old girls, gotta wonder what the mommies of those young girls think about that tune playing in their daughters’ ears. I’m a major “you do you” kind of person but still. . .that one sure seems like an odd choice for album inclusion.
“Our town is a (crap) show today! You’re going to need to call in extra reporters!” came a text from a Landmark reader sharing a photo from one of the multiple crashes that occurred around Platte City on Tuesday.
(Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Or crap shows. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
