Sunday, December 9, 2012



Got Kids or Grandkids? Here is something that both of you can enjoy this holiday. All you need is a sheet of paper and some scissors . . . the rest is up to you and how creative you can be. Use this link: How to Make a Paper Snowflake


Candidates File on First Day
A large number of Candidates braved the cold of early December to file for five seats up for election on the Raytown Board of Aldermen this Tuesday. Compared to past years the numbers are impressive. So far, every seat on the Board will be contested. The only surprise on the first day of filing was that two incumbents did not file. Ward 3 incumbent Christine White and Ward 1 incumbent Shane Pardue were no-shows at the City Clerk's office. Following is a list of the candidates filed.



Ward 1 . . . Josh Greene
Ward 1 . . . Richard Tush

Ward 2 . . . Jim Hamilton
Ward 2 . . . Jason Greene
Ward 2 . . . Jerry Kinman

Ward 3 . . . Janet Emerson
Ward 3 . . . Chris Merrill
Ward 3 . . . Mark Moore

Ward 4 . . . Rita Bennett
Ward 4 . . . William E. (Bill) Van Buskirk

Ward 5 . . . Steve Mock
Ward 5 . . . Efrem Z. Williams, Sr.

City Marshal . . . Jim Lynch

Municipal Judge . . . Traci Fann


Greg Walters
Filing for City Council Opens on Tuesday
Filing opens this Tuesday at Raytown City Hall. Those candidates who file on the first day will have their names put into a lottery for the first position on the ballot.

A couple of potential candidates have contacted the Raytown Report about running. It is also anticipated that most of the incumbent aldermen will file for re-election as well.  

City to Study Changing from Gasoline to Propane on Some Vehicles

At its last meeting the Board of Aldermen discussed the possibility of changing the fleet of Public Works vehicles to propane as a fuel source.

The City of Kansas City has changed some vehicles to propane. To do so, they had to retrofit replace the engine to make it run on propane. Propane requires certain temperature to burn efficiently. The Kansas City vehicles require a petroleum based fuel (gasoline or diesel) to start up the engine until the correct temperature is reached so the propane fuel can be used.

The technology is pretty simple, though the retrofitting of vehicles can be costly.

The Board of Aldermen would be wise to go beyond the manufacturer and check with an end user like the City of Kansas City to see how much success they have had with their program.

Another possibility, which we believe as viable as propane would be to check into the use of hybrid vehicles for administrative use at City Hall. Hybrids have a proven track record in fuel economy. The savings in fuel cost, without having to re-engineer vehicles to make the program work, would be impressive.   

Paul Livius
The Paul Livius Report BY PAUL LIVIUS
Raytown Board of Aldermen Meeting – December 4, 2012

The Board approved a resolution authorizing an agreement for Medical Director Services between Dow Richards, D.O.  Doug Jonesi, Interim Emergency Medical Services Director, said Dr. Richards is well respected in the EMS industry, as well as Emergency Medicine and has been the Medical Director for the Raytown EMS Department since December, 2008.  The State of Missouri, the Drug Enforcement Agency and other governing bodies require EMS agencies to have Physician oversight. The Bureau of EMS requires agencies to have this oversight in order to provide care without a direct order by another doctor.

The Board approved a resolution authorizing an agreement for inmate security housing services with Johnson County, Missouri in the amount of $175,000.00.

The Board approved an ordinance establishing the compensation for the office of Police Chief. The Elected Officials Compensation Committee recommended and the Board of Aldermen agreed to no increase in the current compensation. Their recommendation was that $96,742.87 should be the yearly compensation for the office of Police Chief for the term beginning April 2013 and ending April 2017.

The Board approved an ordinance establishing the compensation for the office of Municipal Judge. The Elected Officials Compensation Committee recommended a 10% increase to the current salary of the Municipal Judge. The recommendation was that $28,190.99 should be the yearly compensation for the office of Municipal Judge for the term beginning April 2013 and ending April 2017.

"At-A-Boy” Award Goes to Alderman Joe Creamer BY GREG WALTERS

A couple of weeks ago I ran into Joe Creamer at Adam’s Toyota where he is employed. I was there for a recall on my car, the third one for those who are keeping count.

We had some time to visit while the car was being worked on. We talked some politics about the Presidential Election, and, of course, Raytown. In the course of the conversation I asked if he could have an unsightly metal pole removed from the right-of-way on Gregory Boulevard. The pole was used to hold up a flashing school zone light informing motorists they were entering a school zone at Our Lady of Lourdes Grade School.

The school has been closed for well over a year now. The light was removed almost immediately after the closing. But for reasons that are not clear, the Public Works Crew removing the warning light left the pole in place.

So, for well over a year, this ugly pole without a purpose has added to the urban blight on Gregory Boulevard.

Alderman Creamer called me the following Monday and said that he had visited with the Public Works Director about the ugly pole.

And, now the ugly pole is gone or at least converted to use as a sign.

At a boy, Joe. We can clean up this town one small step at a time. Your attention to the ugly pole on Gregory Boulevard is appreciated!

Social Security now called “Federal Benefit Payment/Entitlement” EDITED BY PAUL LIVIUS
Have you noticed, your Social Security check is now referred to as a "Federal Benefit Payment"?

The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a Federal Benefit Payment.

This isnt a benefit its earned income!
Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too.

It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.

If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to $180,000 invested in Social Security.

If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both your and your employers contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved! This is your personal investment.

Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month.

That’s almost three times more than today’s average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration (Google it  its a fact). And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you're 98 if you retire at age 65)!

I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts.

Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever did.

They took our money and used it elsewhere. They forgot that it was OUR money they were taking.

They didn’t have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them.
And they didn’t pay interest on the debt they assumed.

And recently, they’ve told us that the money won’t support us for very much longer.
But is it our fault they misused our investments?

And now, to add insult to injury, they’re calling it a benefit, as if we never worked to earn every penny of it.
Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't mean that our investments were a charity!

Let’s take a stand.

We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare.

Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government. Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going, for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it. Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income.

FIT BOTTOMED GIRLS
Joining a Women Only Gym BY TISH

Gyms are like a box of chocolates…You’ll never know if you dig them unless you dig in. Two months ago, I joined a popular gym chain and found out pretty darn quickly that it was not the gym for me. First of all, I live in Los Angeles…in the valley…the porn mecca. I couldn’t get away from all the silicone... Continue reading

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16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope you know that video is a well known hoax. Even simple math will tell you that if you have 32 AA batteries would be 33.5 volts. The video was (originally) done by Household Hacker -- a well known hoaxer. In realty, a 6 volt battery has four batteries that are little bigger than a standard "C" battery.

Pat Casady said...

Greg,
I have been around Propane converted cars
and trucks for many years and I have never
been told you have to change a gasoline
engine to a diesel engine to make the change.
I have spent some time this morning looking
at conversion companies and none of them have
said anything about changing engines.
Some if not most will run on both gasoline
and propane in case you can't find a propane
station. I think the city is misinformed about
this.

Anonymous said...

In speaking with a friend of mine, there will be fresh candidates in Wards 1,2,3,and 4.

Anonymous said...

My father converted his truck to propane in the 70's. It carried a large propane tank in the bed and there was a toggle switch so the engine ran on either propane or gasoline. At that time it was very difficult to obtain propane for OTR use with there being only one propane dealer in Albuquerque who would sell to motor vehicles. When traveling, it was very difficult if not impossible to obtain propane so he would switch back to gas. As I remember that tank of propane would last about 400 miles.

I bought the truck after my father died and drove it for several years. I owned a gas station at the time, but it was a nuisance to make a 30 mile trip to fill the probane tank.

Filling the tank is not a simple trip to the gas station. I assume if the city converts any vehicles to propane, they will have a large propane tank to fill the fleet from as they do gasoline.

Andy Whiteman

Lee said...

Converting to propane, or natural gas, does not require a diesel engine. There are kits that have been marketed for 40 years that can either replace a carburetor, or work as dual fuel. With fuel injection dual fuel would be difficult, but a full conversion would simply consist of changing the injectors and remapping the computer. I even recently participated in a conversation with some RVers about changing their carbureted gasoline generators to propane to avoid the problem of stale fuel.

On the note of Social Security, payroll taxes are 6.2% for the employee and 6.2% for the employer, totaling 12.4%. This is taken out of the first $110k of wages. Currently there is a 'tax break' of 2% for employees that is scheduled to expire 12/31 if not extended. It should NOT be extended if we are serious about the long term viability of Social Security. (BTW, there is also a 1.45% tax for employee/employer for Medicare as well)

What you are seeing with the entitlement talk is an attempt to change public perception that SS is a gift from the government that is killing the economy. In fact it is fully funded with a surplus, but since so many Congresses have borrowed from the trust fund and left IOUs, it now is in danger of collapsing. Rather than take money from their pet projects they are attempting to talk us into 'privatizing' Social Security. You can bet there is no intent to repay all the money borrowed from it. It will essentially be the biggest scam ever executed, and they expect you to vote for it. (and many people will)

A better solution would be to increase the upper cap from $110k to whatever is necessary to get past the influx of baby boomers. Afterward the cap could be lowered again, or the percentage adjusted.

Pat Casady said...

Greg, the following is a letter I received from a company I wrote yesterday.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Finder [mailto:dmfinder@blossmangas.com]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 1:15 PM
To: ccindustrial@kcnet.com
Subject: Alliance AutoGas


Patrick,
Thank you for contacting Alliance AutoGas.

Our system works with Gasoline vehicles. We leave all gasoline components as they are and we add the propane system and tank. Thus making the vehicles bi-fuel.

You cannot take a diesel engine and convert to just propane.

Please feel free to contact me directly if I can assist in any way!

David



David Finder

National Energy Programs Manager

Blossman Gas Inc / Alliance AutoGas / Autogas for America

Asheville, NC

828-251-0027

dmfinder@blossmangas.com / dmfinder@allianceautogas.com

Greg Walters said...

My computer went down for the count but is back up and running. I can see that I need to explain the very poor explanation on what is necessary for propane to power certain vehicles in the City of Kansas City's fleet of Public Works vehicles.

We have changed the copy to read:

The City of Kansas City has changed some vehicles to propane. To do so, they had to retrofit replace the engine to make it run on propane. Propane requires certain temperature to burn efficiently. The Kansas City vehicles require a petroleum based fuel (gasoline or diesel) to start up the engine until the correct temperature is reached so the propane fuel can be used.

Keep in mind that our source is for vehicles in Kansas City. Technologies change. That may be the case with what is proposed for Raytown's Public Works vehicles.

Paul tells me that the Raytown's Public Works Director reported that the pay out, when the savings from gasoline vs. propane pays off the cost of retro-fitting the vehicles actually saves the city money, is four and one half years.

Apologies for the confusion.

Anonymous said...

Looks like 30,000 reasons to run for Alderman!

The question after the April election is how long before the City Administrator is told thank you for your service, but $30,000 and not moving to Raytown is clearly time to move on.

Anonymous said...

I'm so pleased that ALL incumbents are being challenged for their seats. This hasn't happened in a LONG time. But, you are right there are at least 30,000 reasons for filing in this election. I hope the city administrator sees the handwriting on the wall and decides to move on down the road before the new board has to fire him.

Anonymous said...

Heard today that Shane Par-Due will not run for re-election.

One down. Four to go!

Anonymous said...


I'm not sure but, I believe our
city officials have given the CA
a "Golden Parachute." That is if
he is asked to leave, he will be
given an even bigger amount of money
as a severance. So it might be cheaper
to keep him. Just keep voting out
the elected officials that have a deep
disreguard for taxpayer dollars and
maybe they will get the point.

Anonymous said...

Beter check out these new citizens who have filed they aren't what you want to run your city

Anonymous said...

The most important question is will the people get off their duff's and get out to vote?

I was more upset by no residency requirtement for the CA than the $30,000. Raytown has someone running the city who has no clue of what it is like to live there!

Property values are way down but assessed at fabricated high values by the assesor. Several showings have stated that my house is over priced. It may be sitting vacant a
L O N G
time.

Andy Whiteman

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Why are several of these "new citizens" not what we want to run our city? I think a change to the status quo is necessary, I know two the the folks that are challenging for these seats. They have outstanding character, passion, and courage. It's very much in contrast to what we have now.

Greg Walters said...

To our readers:

We have received word from the Raytown City Clerk that there has been a change in the status of the candidacy of Mr. Mark Moore for the Raytown Board of Adlermen.

Mr. Moore was originally listed as a candidate filed for Alderman in Ward 1.

He is now listed as a candidate for Alderman filed in Ward 3.




Anonymous said...

I believe that any of the "new faces" will do a better job than the current incumbents. After all it was Mock, Van Buskirk and Hamilton that voted to give away $30,000 of our taxpayer dollars to an individual that thinks he's "too good" to live in Raytown. Spread the word that these three "good ole boys" need to be defeated.