Sunday, May 2, 2021

What is it? No, it is not a picture from the Mars helicopter of the planet Mars. Saturday night three young vandals riding small four wheel vehicles and dirt bikes went on a rampage riding their vehicles on walking trails, the park grass and, as shown here, the infield of the Colman Park Softball Field.


BY GREG WALTERS

All About Paul

Regular readers of the Raytown Report will recognize the name Paul Livius as a writer who occasionally shares his point of view on the Raytown Report. We have received inquiries asking just “who” is Paul Livius?

So, we decided to do a limited unmasking of Mr. Livius to the public. Most have probably already figured it out, Paul Livius is a pen name. There have been three writers over the life of the Raytown Report who have shared their literary wisdom with the public using this pen name.

Now, there will be a fourth. So without any further ado I will turn over the rest of this story to the NEW Paul Livius.


More Than Just a Name BY PAUL LIVIUS

Thank you to Greg for this opportunity. Like Mr. Walters, I enjoy writing. He offered me the chance to write for the Raytown Report and I have gladly accepted it. In our last conversation he gave me the following advice when he said, “You have a pen. It is time to put it to work.”

And that is exactly what I plan to do.

For my introductory story I have decided to delve into the subject of pen names. Since Paul Livius is a pen name I thought it would be interesting to check out the roots of the name. So I asked Greg. Here is what he shared with me.

Paul Livius is the combination of two names of historical note. Paul the Apostle in the New Testament was the great writer of the epistles. Paul, who started out as Saul of Tarsus, who persecuted Christians until God got his attention on the road to Damascus and opened up his mind to the Truth.

After the scales from his eyes fell and he could then see clearly from his eyes, his mind, and his heart; he then became Paul.

He allows us to look in and experience through written word to that time 2,000 years ago at the start of the “Church”. As a writer, he did not have to have just the right light or typewriter while using a desk chair that must be at the right height to better help his writing ability. He traveled from Corinth to Ephesus visiting and addressing problems the new established congregations were having.

In their infancy of becoming believers and getting together and establishing church for worship and fellowship with other believers, he wrote letters to help these believers in the struggles they were having with scripture and their fellow brothers in sisters in Christ.  He also wrote from jail at one point because his new found change, of persecuting Christians to becoming one of them, did not go over very well with the governmental leaders in the towns he went.

Just as any great figure in history that has influenced the world, Paul has often times been misunderstood, misquoted, and often taken out of context.  Such is the life of anyone that dares put words to paper with a great message to share.

Even though he went from persecutor to the persecuted, and in this life’s end he lost his head because of his “words”, (yes, he was beheaded), it did not stop him from “getting the Word out.”

The second name, Livius, is in reference to a Roman historian credited with writing 142 documents that recorded the history of Rome from its genesis to seven years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Livius is considered to be the “father” of historical writing in the western world.

Hence the pen name “Paul Livius.”

NEXT WEEK: We go contemporary with this discussion. Some you will recognize. Samuel Clemens, Ben Franklin, Joanne Rowling. And some you may not know. Names like Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, Eric Arthur Blair.

See you next week!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a world of difference between speed bumps and speed humps. The graphic in the story tells it all. A "speed bump" is 18 inches long. A "speed hump" is 12 feet long. An 18 inch bump could be hard to see. But a 12 feet long hump is impossible to miss. Especially when it is painted to show it is there.

Some people keep trying to confuse the difference between the bumps and humps. I think they have an agenda. They like to drive fast on neighborhood streets. The speed humps will ruin their party.

The speed humps are a good idea. That is why you are seeing more and more of them throughout the KC metropolitan area.

I wonder if this is another of those situations where everyone is marching in rhythm except for the boy from Raytown. The proud mother is watching and exclaims, "oh look, they are all out of step except for my little Johnny!"

Anonymous said...

How come you only report on the bad stuff in the parks? They just put in some new lights at Coleman Park. You reported on the bicycle tracks on the ball field. How about a little fairness?

Greg Walters said...

Bicycle tracks on the infield? No. Those tracks were made by a four wheeled vehicle. I found out about them when a neighbor I know called and told me she had called the police about the owner of the vehicle cutting donuts on the infield and grassy areas of the park with his four wheeled vehicle.

Your remark about reporting "only bad stuff" about the parks is just as far off base. Shortly after being elected to the Board of Aldermen in 2019 there was a murder at Colman Park.

Yes, that is undoubtedly "bad stuff". But we also did something about it. We created a Park Improvement Committee to look into ways to keep this tragedy from happening again. Shortly afterward, the Raytown Park Board accepted and acted on a recommendation we made to hire private security to enforce the park curfew throughout Raytown. The Park Board went even further. Cameras were installed throughout Colman and other parks where needed. Additional lighting (solar powered lights) were also added to Colman Park.

This last round of improvements includes upgrading ALL of the lights to a brighter standard. The credit for that recommendation goes to Raytown Police Chief Robert Kuehl.

There has been a noticeable increase in police patrols by the park. We have noticed an uptick in police patrols driving through Colman Park. This makes a BIG difference in fighting crime and vandalism at our parks.

I have personally distributed fliers to those living around the park to call the police on any type of mischief.

Probably the best indicator that our effort is paying off is that we are seeing more people using the walking trails. More families enjoying peaceful picnics at the shelter houses and fewer of the obnoxiously loud parties with disc jockeys playing their music so loud you can hear it two blocks away from the park.

My neighbors and I have been working hard with the Police, the Park Department and the City to create a safer environment at Colman Park.

The good news is all of this effort is beginning to pay off. My neighbors and I are proud of the progress being made.

There is much more to tell. If you would like to talk it over feel free to send me an email at gregtwalters@gmail.com and we can discuss the matter further.

Anonymous said...

Are 4 wheelers allowed on city streets? I see them be ridden more and more, along with dirt bikes.

Anonymous said...

Ok. This is off the cuff, and while I don't want to offend anyone, I'm also a bit tired of the idea that nothing can be done unless everyone is going to be happy about it. Forget it! It's not gonna happen! It's absolutely certain that someone will not like the attempted solution. The speed bumps/humps argument is a good example of this. Do we really need to have the discussion about the possible damage that speed bumps could do to someone's car? Or the additional wear on your tires? We've got vehicles going at speeds that endanger others. We have 4 wheelers deliberately tearing up the infield at the ball park. We have parties with music so loud that someone else can hear it in their house with the windows closed. To me it's pretty obvious. There are people living in our society who choose to disregard the feelings, safety, or rights of others. I commend anyone who has given of themselves to help others. To those (few, I hope) who want to pretend that they are somehow "special" and can afford to be inconsiderate...you're making a mistake. I would say "put the speed bumps in." For those who don't agree, imagine someone you love got hit by one of these speeding cars. As far as the "damage" that might be caused by speed bumps, put up a sign in each direction, "CAUTION- SPEED BUMPS." It's not rocket science! If you drive 50mph through a park, you're letting the rest of us know what you think of us. Be sure to let us know if there's anything else we can do to help you feel special.

Anonymous said...

I have yet to see a 4 wheeler with a license plate so I am guessing not to be on the street.

However, until we get a professional police department we are going to see more things like 4 wheelers.