We had originally found a video of a baby elephant rescue by its mother when we stumbled across this video of a live elephant birth -- It is graphic but worth watching. To view use this link RISKI BUSINESS
PUBLIC NOTICE
Filing for Municipal Office for the City of Raytown opened on December
11, 2012. It will close January 15, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. in the office of the City
Clerk, Raytown City Hall, 10000 E. 59th Street, Raytown, Missouri
64133.
Candidates for Alderman may present a petition signed by at least 50
registered voters from their Ward.
Petition forms
may be obtained at the office of the City Clerk at Raytown City Hall.
In lieu of a
petition, candidates for Alderman can pay a $25 filing fee.
Filing for the Raytown School Board is in proceeding as well. So far, three candidates for the Raytown School Board have filed. They are:
Rick Thode
Bobbie Saulsberry
Pam Arlund
The filing deadline for the Raytown School Board is the same as for the City. Tuesday, January 15th.
Filing for the Raytown School Board is in proceeding as well. So far, three candidates for the Raytown School Board have filed. They are:
Rick Thode
Bobbie Saulsberry
Pam Arlund
The filing deadline for the Raytown School Board is the same as for the City. Tuesday, January 15th.
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| Greg Walters |
Observations BY GREG WALTERS
Something very
unusual happened on December 11, 2012. For the first time in recent memory,
every seat on the Raytown City Council was contested.
Compare this to
the last municipal election. In that year, though there were races in four of
the five wards, only two of those races saw campaigns. One incumbent Councilman
was unopposed. Two of the incumbents had challengers who did not even campaign.
If local rumor is true, neither were serious candidates, with one of them possibly
a “stalking horse” candidate who filed to dissuade other possible candidates
from filing.
But this year’s
crew of new candidates is different. Some of them have run before and have a
reputation for mounting credible campaigns for political office.
In Ward 2,
incumbent Jim Hamilton is being challenged by two veteran politicians. One is
former Ward 2 Alderman Jerry Kinman. He is also challenged by former Fifth
District Congressional candidate, Jason Greene.
In Ward 4,
incumbent Bill Van Buskirk is being challenged by Rita Bennett. This is not the
first time these two have been in a campaign with each other. Both ran for the
position of City Collector eight years ago.
In Ward 1, the
incumbent, Shane Pardue, has not filed for re-election. Richard Tush is one of
the candidates. He ran unsuccessfully against Joe Creamer eight years ago. His
opponent in this race is Josh Greene. Josh Greene is the brother of Ward 2
candidate Jason Greene.
Ward 5 incumbent
Steve Mock is being challenged by political newcomer, Efrem Z. Williams, Sr.
Ward 3 is the
most interesting race. The incumbent City Councilwoman, Christine White, has
not filed for re-election. However, three other candidates have; they are Janet
Emerson, Chris Merrill and Mark Moore.
 |
| Paul Livius |
One of the
toughest challenges to candidates in Raytown City elections is the lack of news
outlets to help spread their message. In the 1980’s the City of Raytown was
served by four newspapers – the morning Kansas City Times, evening Kansas City
Star, the weekly Raytown Post and (weekly) Raytown Tribune.
Of those four
newspapers, the Kansas City Star is the only one still publishing. Because of
cutbacks in its editorial and reporting staff, very little news coverage of
Raytown is reported in the Star.
In its place,
the Raytown area now has two active websites and a weekly freebie newspaper distributed
at local grocery stores and retail outlets.
One of those
news sources is the Raytown Report. We are visited between 3,000 to 4,000 times
each month by readers (depending on which counter you believe – the one
provided by Google sets our hits at over 5,000 monthly).
The other
website serving Raytown primarily focuses on school news and news stories
copied from police reports and other news sources.
The only print
version newspaper left is the Raytown Times. It covers very little political
news. Lately, it has taken to publishing city hall press releases as news
stories. While somewhat interesting, the stories tend to fall under the “fluff”
category as news coverage. The Times also receives all of the city’s lucrative
advertising of official election notices.
HOME SKILLET? Last week in the Paul Livius Report we noted businesses that had relocated to the Raytown Plaza. We took a quick drive up to the renovated shopping center to check out the tenants. Northcraft Carpet and Granite has created an impressive storefront, and, there is evidence of some expansion going on at Mr. Goodcents. What we could not find was a store or restaurant named Home Skillet. Finally, an acquaintance who had stopped by to visit on Sunday did point out to us that there is a very small sign in the southeast corner of the Plaza shopping area. Though he did say it did not look like any construction had been begun.
Wish they would hurry up. We are getting Hungry!
Look for my regular column next week in the Paul Livius Report. -- Paul
HOME SKILLET? Last week in the Paul Livius Report we noted businesses that had relocated to the Raytown Plaza. We took a quick drive up to the renovated shopping center to check out the tenants. Northcraft Carpet and Granite has created an impressive storefront, and, there is evidence of some expansion going on at Mr. Goodcents. What we could not find was a store or restaurant named Home Skillet. Finally, an acquaintance who had stopped by to visit on Sunday did point out to us that there is a very small sign in the southeast corner of the Plaza shopping area. Though he did say it did not look like any construction had been begun.
Wish they would hurry up. We are getting Hungry!
Look for my regular column next week in the Paul Livius Report. -- Paul
Candidate Press Releases Welcome
In an effort to
help candidates reach voters the Raytown Report will publish, free of charge,
press releases from candidates. The releases will run without edit. And, since
our space is literally unlimited, candidates are welcome to write as much as
they wish. We do request that you send a picture with your release.
Press releases can be sent to gregtwalters@sbcglobal.net
Press releases can be sent to gregtwalters@sbcglobal.net
Next Week . . . The Issues of the 2013 Campaign
FIT BOTTOMED GIRLS
Catching the Fitness Bug BY JENN
It’s a New Year and time for a new Question of the Week! This time each FBG is answering the somewhat long-winded question: “When did you catch the fitness bug where it went from occasional ‘I should do this’ to the promised land of loving workouts and ‘I want to do this?’” FBG Kristen came up... Continue reading
Raytown Tree of the Year Contest
Raytown Tree Board and Smith Bros. Hardware are sponsoring the 2013 Tree of the
Year award. Residents are encouraged to nominate trees within the city limits
of Raytown, Missouri.
To post a comment on this blog click on the word comments on the line directly below this sentence.
Catching the Fitness Bug BY JENN
It’s a New Year and time for a new Question of the Week! This time each FBG is answering the somewhat long-winded question: “When did you catch the fitness bug where it went from occasional ‘I should do this’ to the promised land of loving workouts and ‘I want to do this?’” FBG Kristen came up... Continue reading
Raytown Tree Board and Smith Bros. Hardware are sponsoring the 2013 Tree of the
Year award. Residents are encouraged to nominate trees within the city limits
of Raytown, Missouri.- $50 gift certificate to Smith Brothers Hardware store
- Certificate of Achievement
- Lawn sign signifying the location of the Raytown Tree of the Year
To post a comment on this blog click on the word comments on the line directly below this sentence.
25 comments:
Greg Walters for Mayor in 2 years!
Andy Whiteman
Heard a nasty rumor yesterday that Ward 1 Alderman Shane Pardue has changed his mind and has decided to run for re-election.
Ihope it's not true. Shane is part of the problem at city hall. We need new blood running our city. Not four more years of bobble heads nodding in agreement on everything that comes before them.
I believe that Shane was one of the aldermen that made the $30,000 mistake. I hope he runs so that he will be defeated along with the other BIG SPENDERS at city hall.
Any update on the School Board race, Greg? I know Bobbie Saulsbury and Rick Thode are up for re-election. Did either of them file?
If i lived in ward one I wouldn't vote for Shane ParDue as he has done nothing for Raytown, My vote would go to Richard Tush. He knows fiance and government.
I hope Pardue doesn't run again. He was just a "puppet" for Bower. How much longer does Bower have till his term is up. I am tired of the new name for our town: Bowertown!
It looks like both Christine White and Shane Pardue are changing direction. Neither of them had filed for city council. Now I hear they are going to.
Wonder what changed their minds.
I wonder if the $450 a month and the city's group health insurance plan is what made the difference?
Many people seem to complain about the Raytown Times. Granted, it is not a great newspaper, but at least he is making an attempt at publishing one. I can remember when we had two newspapers here, the Raytown Post, and the Tribune. But, as most newspapers have gone, so have they. So it is perhaps a little bias, and not a hard hitting newspaper, at least he making an attempt. If you do not like it you can do one of two things. A, Don't read it. Or B, print your own. It is well with in your right to print a newspaper, and say anything you want, after all it is our First Amendment right. I pick it up, browse thought it, and I do get some local news from it. But what more can you ask for, it is free, and if you do not like it, don't read it.
No one is upset that the Raytown times is free. It does bother me that they owner is getting raytown tax dollars. It looks like he is doing in return for warm and fuzzy images of raytown through the eyes of city hall. Taht really means politicians are using it to try to buff up their tarnished image.
Does not seem right to me.
The BOA made more than a $30,000 blunder. The worst part is not requiring the CA to live in the city he administers.
When I was a boy, there was a weekly advertising paper in Albuquerque with maybe a few articles. I regard the Raytown Times as an editorial and advertising. In my opinion, the articles more editorial than fact. I red it when I lived in Raytown because of the new business/development "news", to read the editotials, and the advertising to find local merchants.
Andy Whiteman
I woulde vote for Richard Thode never Bobbie Saulsbury. She has never done anything on the board but take up space
I would like for someone to answer my question for me. How is it that all Raytown Democrats don't complain how their man Obama is spending this country into disaster and you all think that is just find and dandy. Let Raytown spend some and OMG listen to you howl.. You Democrats have a double sets of standards..
Bobbie Saulsbury also votes to increase the School tax to outrageous levels. No wonder property values are way down!
6:3OPM Sounds like a case of head in the sand. You see Raytown waste and high taxes are more of a direct impact attention getter. Federal waste doesn't have quite the impact YET. In fact these same people may be benefiting from Federal waste (entitlements, "job" stimulus, etc.)
Andy Whiteman
We have received a request to list the names of candidates filed for the Raytown School Board.
Here they are!
Rick Thode
Bobbie Saulsberry
Pam Arlund
The top two vote getters in the April Election will be seated on the Raytown School Board.
Filing for the Raytown School Board closed on Tuesday, January 15th.
When the city holds and election they must advertise it in a legal notice. Those legal notices go for top dollar in the newspaper business. That is one way in which he receives Raytown taxpayer dollars.
He also receives Raytown tax dollars for ads for services, bids, etc.
Judging by the number newspapers I see left stacked in newspaper racks around town not many are being read.
The election notices are supposed to be published in a newspaper of general circulation. What defines general circulation? Normally this means having a 2nd class mailing permit. There is a certain newspaper with election notices that I don't consider to be of general circulation in Raytown.
The BOA should address this issue since your are the custodian of the people's money!
Andy Whiteman
Rick Thode and Bobbie Saulsberry are both clueless and have no clue what is really going on in our schools.
Gear Automovite on 350 Highway is in operation with a lot of code violations. Mr. Benson why did you let this happen? Maybe it is time to replace you also if you can't do your job. Stupid decisions like this is why Raytown looks like it does.
Andy you are so right on that last post!
Christine White filed for re-election today. That makes four candidates in Ward 3.
Christine, you are in trouble plenty!
7:01AM, Rather than making such a general statement, could you please back it with your reasons for this statement?
Andy Whiteman
Rick Thode is the only one who knows what is really going on the rest are just a bunch of big heads. Bobbie uses her position to get her grandkids through school. Sad reason for being on the board if you ask me.
There isn't any way I would vote for Mark Moore this dude didn't even know what ward he lived in when he filed. I would call him clueless.
The Raytown Times is not a bad paper.
Randy Battagler and his small staff work
hard to bring this paper to us.
Randy, Bob Phillips and I have had our differences
in the past but, every time I wrote to them
they printed what I wrote. For that I am a proud
reader. Randy is doing the people of Raytown
a great service by printing his paper.
One of the things I like the best about the paper
is they won't print "Anonymous" writers.
However if you have a complaint, he will print
it in the "Letters to the Editor" or talk to you
face to face.
I would like to know what "Raytown tax dollars"
Randy is receiving. After writing something like
that I can see why someone would sign Anonymously.
I really doubt you could call the Raytown times a newspaper of general circulation. is it a newspaper, hardly. To be so you have to put in news in it.
Is it of general circulation? Another big stretch unless you call dropping the off at a gas stations and grocery stores 'circulation'.
the city pays for advertising in the so-called paper. That's where the money comes in.
8:16 PM, Bobbie doesn't pay her taxes until REQUIRED to do so to be on the ballot. If she can't pay the outrageous taxes how does she expect the rest of us to pay?
Andy Whiteman
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