Parkville Birdcage Liner (a.k.a. Luminary) Expresses its Wishes for Downtown Parkville.

The editor/publisher of the Parkville Birdcage Liner has expressed his wishes for Downtown Parkville. It was elegantly stated with a photo of a 16-square foot sign stating that downtown business were open in Parkville. The single word caption expresses the quirky little newspaper's long held wishes for Downtown Parkville, "Fail." This newspaper has long been an opponent of Downtown Parkville and finally it has had the stones to say it in print. The position, obviously, hinges on the fact that the bellicosity of the editor/publisher which led to a more than one-year restraining order against him that prevents him from coming close to downtown developer, entrepreneur and community leader Tom Hutsler. He has hired a new cub reporter that had originally applied for the position of executive director of Main Street Parkville Association. While she turned out to be the second choice after a super-qualified applicant decided, for personal reasons, that she would not accept the job; she was offered the job (following a split decision by the steering committee) after she clearly stated, when asked, that she would quit her association with the Bird Cage Liner if hired. She was made aware of the fact that the animosity held by that "quirky little newspaper" towards MSPA and downtown with greatly impact her ability to do her job effectively. Then, once offered the job, she reneged on her statement and announced to Carol Kuhns the MSPA president, that did not intend to give up her job on the newspaper's staff. Since she had originally stated that she would leave the newspaper, and then reversed her position, it was felt that a contract of employment was required that would force her to work only for MSPA and not for any media. She seems to have felt that her loyalty towards the newspaper was far more important that her loyalty to MSPA; hes refused to sign the agreement and thereby refused the job. Despite tha fact that one steering committee member felt that her overarching qualification was that "she is pretty" everyone agreed that having lied in her interview was enough reason to not employ her.

Philosophy of Life.

Someone once said, "it is better to be petty and vile than nothing." This appears to be the philosophy of the editor of the Parkville Dillusionary. He also has a paranoid streak a mile wide (he's always complaining that someone/everyone is out to get him). I understand that he complained that his paper boxes were jammed with screws; now, I ask you, who would waste a 5-cent screw on one of his paper boxes? I submit that the supposed jamming of his paper boxes and slashing of his tires may have been done by himself. After all, the only person that wouldn't look suspicious spending time with one or more of the Dillusionary's paper boxes is none other then the GWAH himself!
Why should he report on any positive news about downtown Parkville when he can make up glorious lies. My father used to say, "he's the kind who would rather lie when the truth would sound better." The GWAH, when fresh out of new lies, prefers to rehash old stories that were old news two or three years ago and he likes to present them as if they were just the latest news he's uncovered. The result is that he's constantly dropping stale turds on the pages of his birdcage liner. The good folks of Parkville (e.g. the Farmers' Market and the American Legion and at least two of the city Aldermen) have learned that his so-called newspaper, is not.

Conflict of Interests?

I am wondering if it is a conflict of interest for an alderman to introduce a special ordinance to allow the father of the alderman's friend to have a special permit to sell food downtown in direct competition with local restaurants? All I'm saying is, think about it.

Billy Dee's Southwest Grill is OPEN!

I suspect all of you have noticed the bright, new, yellow paint job on the train car in English Landing Centre. Well, this is the new home Of Billy Dee's Southwest Grill. Everyone I have talked to says the lunches there are great. Currently open only for lunch, they do plan on extending their hours soon.

New resident journalist in Parkville

The City of Parkville has installed a bronze statue of Mark Twain in Pocket Park on Main Street. Now the city has its first, respected, journalist-in-residence since Nancy Jack passed. Mr. Clemmens' writings, as he's seated there gazing over Main Street, certainly will have a greater impact than anything Parkville has now. Welcome to Parkville Mark, we hope you enjoy yourself and that the professional jealousies of others will be kept in check.

Martin Rucker visits Parkville

I met the current 29^th District state representative Martin Rucker who is running for the Missouri State Senate for the 34^th District. Let me see...the current senator is Charlie Shields...he's never been in our store. Mr. Rucker was in today. I don't know Shields' politics, but I suspect there would be little about them with which I would agree.
I'm going to watch this race with renewed interest simply because Mr. Rucker stopped by specifically to meet me, Carol and Leif in our store. It reminds me of the very first time Mike White ran for office in Jackson County. That's a long story, but because of his personal efforts Carol and I voted for him and, as I recall, he won by one vote!
All politcs are local.
==JFK==

Parkville Residents asked to Participate in Local Precipitation Measurements

This was originally posted on the H.M.S. Beagle Science Blog, but I thought it was appropriate for here too. After all, when it comes to global climate change, we're all in this together. Whether or not you subscribe to to the overwhelming evidence that the earth's climate is changing and in large part due to human activity since the dawn of the industrial age, I think that you can well appreciate the need for as much data as possible. With more data climatologists can greatly sharpen their models and their predictions.

This was sent to us, at the Beagle, this morning by the Earth Gauge group:

Parkville, MO
Link: http://www.earthgauge.net/2010/march-madness-2

Earth Gauge: March Madness
It’s March Madness for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) – they want to see how many volunteers sign up this month to measure precipitation in their backyards. CoCoRahS is a nationwide network of citizen scientists who are measuring and mapping precipitation in their communities. CoCoRaHS volunteers help to provide quality rain, hail and snow data used by the National Weather Service, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities, engineers, ranchers and farmers, teachers and a range of other interest groups.
Viewer Tip: CoCoRaHS is in all 50 states! Sign up to become a Volunteer Observer with CoCoRaHS in your state to help this network grow. You can volunteer to measure precipitation as an individual or as part of a community or school group. Check out http://www.cocorahs.org/ to learn more.

(Sources: Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. www.cocorahs.org; “About Us,” http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=aboutus)

JFK