TGES's Blog

Do any of you remember when you were young, and every two or three months, you would get those excruciating pains in your knees, your back, and your upper legs, to the point where it would bring tears to your eyes?  Your mom would reassure you that the pain that felt like you had been filleted by a dull knife were nothing more than "growing pains."

Do you remember when you were in your late teens, and your wisdom teeth were erupting, or crowding, or sitting in the back of your mouth like an exposed compound fracture of the jaw?

Maybe some of you were fortunate enough to not have experienced these nasty things, but I sure did.  And the only remedy to any of these was time (or careful extractions by a trained professional!)

I make this point only because we are all going to experience some growing pains with the conversion of the Fox 4 site from its current format to the new and improved site.  I have seen many comments in anticipation of this move, and you know what, it may or may not go without a hitch.  But please remember that Fox 4's primary responsibility is to provide news coverage to the people of the KC area.  Everthing else that allows us to interact and provide feedback is icing on the cake!

I am not an employee of Fox 4, nor am I a paid spokesperson (disclaimer seemed appropriate at this time).  I am, however, a loyal viewer and blogger (since the beginning), and have come to appreciate how hard the entire team works to provide us with the best forum to not only be well-informed, but to interact as well.

I wish the Web team all the luck in the transition.  Thanks Fox 4!  You're the best!!!

In light of the impending changes to the Fox 4 website/blogs/message boards, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say I've really enjoyed sharing with all of you on the blog & message boards! Being a part of the evolution of the site has been something that noone can take away from any of us.

Hopefully, the move will be seamless, and we can all continue to share what we do or know best on the new site.

But "just in case," I want to say thank you to all who have shared with me, bashed me, and taught me that there are other ways to look at things.

Hope to see you all in Fox 4 - 2.0 (or whatever they are calling it!)

Take care

TGES

Finally, one of our elected officials leading by example.

Missouri can be proud of the fact that next week, our new Governor will be inaugurated, and Gov Elect Jay Nixon is not planning a $1M post inauguration party; instead he will be hosting a good ole-fashioned "pot luck" dinner!

Thank you Gov Nixon for showing good fiscal judgement in this time when other Missourians are having a difficult go of it.  Maybe other elected "leaders" can learn a thing or two from his example..

SmartTravel.com recently named Kansas City as one of the "top 5 travel destinations to watch" along with Riviera Nayarit, Vancouver, Peru, * Vilnius, Lithuania.

What have the folks at SmartTravel.com been smokin'?

Part of their rationale for KC's selection was the Sprint Center & the Power & Light District.

Insert vomiting emoticon here!!!

Guess the selection committee either a.) has only seen the pretty pictures of the vivid blue lights in the area, or b.) haven't yet been victimized by overzealous towing companies at the time of publication.

I can think of 100 other places in KC I'd rather visit that the P&L district/Spit Center (no typo), and at least that many other U.S destinations that I would recommend my friends/relatives to visit other than KC (starting with the mayor's office/house/love nest, etc).

Enjoy your stay, and the tow lots will leave the light on for you!

I just read an article on F4 reporting that the former mayor's office employee who allegedly was discriminated against just "upped the ante" on her lawsuit against the city to $800,000.  They are also threatening a "slander" lawsuit because of Mayor Funkhouser's statement after settling his portion of the original suit, and claim the amount they are seeking increased as a direct result of his statement (sometimes the truth really does hurt, huh??)

I would love to see the attorney's calculations to substantiate this amount. 

To me, this matter has now gone from a lawsuit to extortion.  Isn't that against the law in this country.

The attorney ought to be disbarred and this lady thrown in jail for even suggesting her "mental anguish & pain and suffering" amounted to even 1% of that amount.

Shame on them!

This past Saturday evening, the Heart of America Council of the Boy Scouts of America sponsored a "night out with the Roos," where Scouts were able to earn tickets to the UMKC Roos basketball game.  The Council provided pizza for the Scouts & their parents, then enjoyed the UMKC game, as they defeated IPFW.

Much to the horror of many who parked in the "pay" lot between 12th & 13th & Broadway, they came out to finding their car windows busted out, and various items stolen.

I personally counted 20 vehicles that had been broken into.  It was heart-wrenching to see the broken hearts of the scouts and their parents as they walked up to their cars, only to find their good deeds that earned them the tickets quashed in mere seconds by some mindless thugs.

Please use good judgement where you park when attending any function downtown.  It appears that overzealous tow truck operators are not the only predators crawling around down there.

OJ Simpson will be sentenced tomorrow after being convicted of 12 felonies for his involvement in a robbery of 2 sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas.

He is looking at the possibility of life in prison, but will definitely serve time.

On the other side of the coin, Denise Brown (sister of OJ's murdered wife) was recently hired as a guard for the Nevada Department of Corrections.

Hmmm...that's about as good as it gets!

I saw some of the footage of the suspected graves that our city's finest uncovered down in a homeless camp at the West Bottoms yesterday, and was a little bit shocked at their over-zealous attempts to locate bodies.

Any good Boy Scout would have recognized those structures in a second.....I think what our police investigators were excavating were good old-fashioned PIT PRIVIES.  Yes, the police officers could have been wallowing in a big-ole pile of "FUNK" that wasn't located in City Hall!!

I just read that Mayor Funkhouser has been conducting more and more city meetings at his home, since the City Council passed the ordinance that prevents Gloria from being at City Hall.

I think I can see where this is going...

(For those overly sensitive blog readers, the following is an attempt at sarcasm!)

I think Mr. Mayor and Gloooooria, G-L-O-R-I-A should get their jammies on, and conduct all city related business from their bed, until the Council repeals the ordinance (or simply call "do overs" like they did to the voter approved light rail plan).....It worked for John and Yoko.

I just read the story of a 12 year old Florida girl who was called a racist, because she wore a pink "Go Sarah Go" shirt to school.

The girl was volunteering at the Republican Party headquarters, and received the shirt as a gift from fellow volunteers.

Next thing you know, plans for race riots will be underway for all major cities in the US, just in case Obama loses the election...

Mike Hendricks had an article in the KC Star asking how the crime in Westport can be reduced.

This is very simple......customers should STOP GOING THERE!

No customers means the owners will either take action, or insist on it.  With that, the police can focus on the real problem, the scores of underage "thugs" that have no business being there in the first place.  Once the streets are clear of these "thugs," there will be nobody left, and that will be the community's sign that it is once again safe for "normal" people to enjoy the area.

Isn't that what the community did with Bannister Mall?  It worked there!  Now they get to start over, and will hopefully avoid their permissive mistakes that created the problem in the first place.

The Westport leaders need to be allowed to enforce their St. Patrick's day policy year-round.  Close off the streets, armband customers that are old enough to be in the bars, and if someone's  under age - go away! 

Las Vegas had to do it with their "Fremont Street experience," and it worked wonders.  Now tourists can safely walk most areas in downtown without fear of getting "jacked."

After watching the coverage on the KC Parks Board "putting their foot down" with regards to the Cordish Company and their enforcement of a dress code (at least they are enforcing their rules!!), the city better watch out!

If I were a Senior manager with the Cordish Company, I'd tell the city of KC to take a flying leap off a short road, and manage the Power & Light District themselves, if they are so good at it.

It would take less than 1 year, and the Power & Light district would become Bannister Mall II...

First of all, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the Boy Scouts and leaders killed or injured by the tornado that struck the Little Sioux Boy Scout reservation in Iowa.

This is a huge tragedy in itself, but the death toll could have been much higher had it not been for the emergency preparedness training the Scouts and leaders had participated in just 3 days prior to the storm.

As an Emergency Preparedness coordinator for a local Boy Scout troop, I know first-hand how difficult it is to get young people (and their parents) to take emergency planning seriously.  This includes "being prepared" for severe weather events, by conducting tornado and fire drills.  The standard reaction seems to be that any preparation is overkill and unnecessary, let alone building emergency supply kits, and having a plan in place in case of an actual emergency.

Would you know what to do?  Please take the time to honestly answer this question, and if there is any doubt, you owe it to yourself to take the time to develop a plan of action.  It just might save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Part of our troop's emergency preparedness training program included a date with Joe Lauria and Karli Ritter for some weather training.  Thanks Fox 4, for being a part of our program.

Just caught a news bit that Bob Irwin, father of the late, great Steve Irwin, is walking away from the Australia Zoo, the place he and his wife started years ago and the springboard for Steve's fame and fortune, commenting that he had become a "disrupting influence." 

It's bad enough that Mr. Irwin has lost his wife and his son to such tragic circumstances, but now to have to leave the very place that was "home" for his family is heart-breaking.

What is Terri Irwin thinking?  To top it off, she and the Australia Zoo are also defendents in a lawsuit by creditors, who are trying to recover $2.3 million in unpaid bills.

How unfortunate.   

Now that all is right with the world, and Morgan Brown will be allowed to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, I'm happy.  Good luck Morgan!

Now the ironic twist to the whole thing.  I once participated in Spelling Bees myself, and won a local contest by correctly spelling the word "bureaucracy."

Yesterday, when feverishly pounding out my blog title- I had to look it up!  It's a bummer getting old...

Have a great day everyone!