In This Week's Raytown Report

New Recycling Center Hours Set Heard on the Street by Greg Walters O'Hara, Raytown South Post Season Hopes End in Semi-Final Round New Recycling Center Hours Set At its last meeting the Raytown Board of Aldermen set new operating hours for the Raytown Recycling Center. Those who wish to use the center should plan on dropping off their recyclables at the Raytown Public Works Garage located near Railroad Street and Raytown Road on the 2nd and 3rd Saturday of each month. The Center will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The center will also begin accepting glass for recycling in the near future. In a presentation to the Raytown Board of Alderman, the city’s Public Works Director, Andy Noll, explained that the center cost approximately $10,000 annually to operate. Most of that cost is paid out in over-time wages to Public Works employees who man the center twice each month. The change from four days to two days (by closing the center on Sundays) will effectively cut that cost in half. It is understandable that City Hall will cut back expenses in financially tight times. But there are better ways to cut back the expense and still keep the center open four days a month. Here is how . . . City Hall uses full time public works employees to operate the center. This means the employees are being paid time and one half in overtime costs. Wouldn’t it make more sense to hire a part time person, preferably one who truly believes in recycling, to cut the costs? The city could use the same plan to pay for its camera operators for official meetings of the City Council. You guessed it. The camera person at city hall is also a full time city employee being paid time and one half to operate the camera. It’s one thing to give lip service to cutting back when making the budget. But unless our representatives on the City Council follow through with real cost saving measures – such as hiring part time people to do tasks as described above, then it is only so much noise. Speaking of Lip Service . . . Ward 1 Alderman Joe Creamer deserves a “foot in mouth” award with this last move to save money at city hall. Just one month ago, the Raytown School District and City Hall jointly raised property tax rates. Creamer made quite an issue of how he voted to raise those taxes so he “would not have to cut services”. He got his way. Property taxes were raised to unprecedented highs for both the School District and City Hall. Then he joined in the charge to cut the operating hours of the Recycling Center in half. Way to go, Joe. Don’t expect any Christmas cards from us! Heard on the Street . . . City Hall sources say that there are three major retailers (restaurants?) who are taking a hard look at the “large green space” where the old First Baptist Church once stood. As we all know, talk is cheap. But some news is better than no news! A regular reader pointed out to us that tow company has opened up shop in what was once Raytown Dodge. Not exactly the retail magnet city planners had in mind – but at least it is a business. The Raytown Main Street Association Window Display Contest will end on November 30th. Entry forms can be found by visiting their website at http://www.raytownmainstreet.org/ Speaking of the contest – participants need to remember that to eligible to win the nearly $4,000 worth of merchandise in the contest they must be on hand when the winner is drawn. The Raytown Holiday Lighting Ceremony will take place on Friday, December 4, 2009 from 6:15 to 8:00 p.m. at the Pocket Park located at 63rd Street and Raytown Road. High School Sports O’Hara, Raytown South Post Season Hopes End in Semi-Final Round The Celtics and Cardinals both suffered a similar fate this past weekend. They were both defeated in the semi-final round of their respective football divisions. Both teams had outstanding seasons. The players learned the value of perseverance, hard work and teamwork. The coaching staff of each school also deserves credit for taking the raw talent and molding them into a cohesive working unit. O’Hara Celtics 7 / Cassville Wildcats to 23 By Brother Richard Geimer For the first time in fourteen games, the O'Hara Celtic football team failed to score 20 points and at least three touchdowns as they lost 23-7 to the Cassville Wildcats on Saturday, November 21st. Ending their season 12-2, the Celtics had outlasted 28 of the 32 teams that made postseason play in qualifying for the State's final four. Entering the fourth quarter, O'Hara was down by only three points at 10-7, but Joseph Gouvion and Trevor Tanner scored on touchdown runs of 33 yards and 9 yards in the final quarter to seal the win. At the start of the game the Wildcats scored first on a 21 yard run by Joseph Gouvion and Matt Angel kicked the extra point. The Celtics came back with a breakaway run by Raphael Spencer for 31 yards and Julian Gidley kicked the extra point that tied up the game. The score could have remained tied for half time, but an ill-advised O'Hara pass interception on a fourth down play gave the Celtics the ball on their own 8 yard line instead of the original line of scrimmage on the 27 yard line. The Wildcats eventually profited from this gift because with just three seconds left to the half, they were close enough for Matt Angel to nail a field goal. Neither team showed much spark in the third quarter as the game stayed close. After the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter, the Celtics came alive starting from their own 24 yard line and got as close as the 11 yard line. In this display of offensive comeback, T. J. White completed a 20 yard pass to Joe Melchior, ran for a 24 yard gain and a first down, and passed to Aaron Stubblefield for 15 yards. Raytown South 6 / Fort Osage 13 Raytown South trailed Fort Osage by seven points with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter of their Missouri Class 5 semifinal game Friday. But with the clock dwindling and no timeouts, Cardinals quarterback Dennis Tanner was forced to try to make a play. So he threw a third-and-10 pass just inside Fort Osage territory as far as he could toward a player wearing the same color jersey. Needless to say, nobody on Fort Osage’s sideline wanted to see the Cardinals get another shot at a first down. So when Hancock — who made the interception before slamming into fellow defensive back E.J. Gaines — rose from the ground with the ball in his outstretched palm, the party was definitely on. Hancock’s interception sealed Fort Osage’s 13-6 victory and sent the Indians to the state championship game for the first time in school history, but it was just the last in a series of big plays made by the Indians’ defense. That’s no hollow statement, either — the Indians’ defense set the tone early when Raytown South came up empty on two golden opportunities to score in the first quarter. After the Cardinals missed a 35-yard field goal at the start of the game, they advanced all the way to the Indians’ 20-yard line on their next possession before turning it over on downs. Fort Osage’s offense quickly went to work, putting together an 11-play, 83-yard scoring drive capped with a 3-yard touchdown run by Gaines. Raytown South answered with a touchdown, but a 7-yard touchdown run by Fort Osage quarterback Edward Pearl gave the Indians a 13-6 lead heading into the break. And the Indians’ defense made that lead stand in a hard-hitting second half in which neither team was able to do much with the ball. Raytown South, 10-4, had one final chance to tie the game when it got the ball back at its own 16 with roughly 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the game, but after the Cardinals managed to advance to the Indians’ 47, Hancock’s interception sealed the Indians’ win. Reprinted from the Kansas Ctiy Star 11/20/09, by TEREZ A. PAYLOR