My Favorite Mayor- I have always had a great deal of respect for Joplin Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean, but she ranks right up at the top of my list after her statement at tonight's City Council meeting. "I never read the Globe," she said after someone mentioned a Joplin Globe article. Of course, I don't jknow if she is a Turner Report reader, but you would think someone with that much intelligence would have to be.
Minor League Baseball- The idea of a low cost, family-friendly activity, which is exactly what minor league baseball is, coming to Joplin is an appealing one. After listening to the presentations at tonight's hearing on the proposal to bring the El Paso Diablos to Joplin and checking on the team owner's background, I would say this is a good thing for Joplin. But the $4 million investment the city will have to make on Joe Becker Stadium is a concern. I would like to know more about that. While this certainly seems more promising, it is hard to forget the minor league hockey fiasco of a few years back.
Don't Take the Business Community For Granted- Concern about some of the actions taken by the Joplin R-8 Board of Education, primarily out-of-control spending, appears to be having an effect on some Joplin business leaders when it comes to this year's board race. I will be writing more about it tomorrow, but I have talked to a few business leaders who said C. J. Huff and the incumbents on the ballot should not take them for granted. One said, "A lot of the things you are writing about are things that were already known by some of us. We support the school district, but that does not mean we are going to go along with everything that the current leaders want."
Debby Woodin and Downton Abbey- People are still commenting to me about how strange it is for the Joplin Globe to have one of its top reporters, one of the few left who have established solid reputations as journalists write a page one story about Joplin area fans preparing for the return of the PBS series Downton Abbey. Wake up, Globe. It brings credence to that old saying- If it happened in Joplin, it's news to the Globe.
Showing posts with label Downton Abbey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downton Abbey. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Things I'm Thnking About Today- January 4
-Playoffs Over for Chiefs- After watching wins by Oklahoma and MU the last two night, I was hoping the Chiefs would make it three in a row today. Great game- lousy result. Joe Montana and Marcus Allen are getting further and further in the rear view mirror.
-Marty Schottenheimer Got a Raw Deal- Speaking of the Montana/Allen Chiefs, over the past few days after Washington fired head coach Mike Shanahan, the pundits have talked about all of Redskins owner Dan Snyder's poor coaching hires, one of whom was former Chiefs Coach Marty Schottenheimer. Setting the record straight, Schottenheimer did not do a bad coaching job for Washington. He took a team that did not have much ability and after losing the first five or six games of the year, guided it to an 8-8 record and got fired for his efforts. Schottenheimer also got a raw deal in San Diego where he posted a 14-2 record, lost in the first round of the playoffs and got fired. He was replaced by Norv Turner, who came nowhere near that kind of record but hung around for years. Schottenheimer never received the credit he deserves.
-Why is Debby Woodin Writing About Downton Abbey?-I thought there was nothing the Joplin Globe could do that would shock me any more, but today's page one is a head scratcher. One of the few remaining journalistic assets the Globe has is veteran reporter Debby Woodin. Her reporting on former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter is the last solid investigative reporting that has graced the Globe's page. So why in the world do the Globe editors have her doing a story on local people who watch the PBS show Downton Abbey? When you have a whole group of smug, self-important people who write about entertainment, why waste one of the newspaper's real assets?
-Missing the Civil Rights Research Project- I am going to miss teaching for the next few weeks more than I have at any time since I was removed from the classroom nine months ago. Monday would have marked the beginning of the annual third quarter research project on the Civil Rights Movement. That was always my favorite part of the school year.
- Sale Set for Small Town News E-Books- A couple of advertisements to end today's musings. Beginning Jan. 7 for two days, the e-book version of my first novel, Small Town News, will be available for 99 cents. It normally sells for $2.99. That book, fiction based on a real-life occurrence, the 2001 disappearance of Diamond Superintendent Greg Smith and the robbery of the Bank of Diamond, was originally published in 2005.
-No Child Left Alive- If you would like to see what can happen when a superintendent is willing to cut any corners to bring up a high school's graduation rate, including gift grades, ignoring criminal activity, and undercutting teachers, you might check my novel No Child Left Alive, available in both paperback and e-book.
-Marty Schottenheimer Got a Raw Deal- Speaking of the Montana/Allen Chiefs, over the past few days after Washington fired head coach Mike Shanahan, the pundits have talked about all of Redskins owner Dan Snyder's poor coaching hires, one of whom was former Chiefs Coach Marty Schottenheimer. Setting the record straight, Schottenheimer did not do a bad coaching job for Washington. He took a team that did not have much ability and after losing the first five or six games of the year, guided it to an 8-8 record and got fired for his efforts. Schottenheimer also got a raw deal in San Diego where he posted a 14-2 record, lost in the first round of the playoffs and got fired. He was replaced by Norv Turner, who came nowhere near that kind of record but hung around for years. Schottenheimer never received the credit he deserves.
-Why is Debby Woodin Writing About Downton Abbey?-I thought there was nothing the Joplin Globe could do that would shock me any more, but today's page one is a head scratcher. One of the few remaining journalistic assets the Globe has is veteran reporter Debby Woodin. Her reporting on former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter is the last solid investigative reporting that has graced the Globe's page. So why in the world do the Globe editors have her doing a story on local people who watch the PBS show Downton Abbey? When you have a whole group of smug, self-important people who write about entertainment, why waste one of the newspaper's real assets?
-Missing the Civil Rights Research Project- I am going to miss teaching for the next few weeks more than I have at any time since I was removed from the classroom nine months ago. Monday would have marked the beginning of the annual third quarter research project on the Civil Rights Movement. That was always my favorite part of the school year.
- Sale Set for Small Town News E-Books- A couple of advertisements to end today's musings. Beginning Jan. 7 for two days, the e-book version of my first novel, Small Town News, will be available for 99 cents. It normally sells for $2.99. That book, fiction based on a real-life occurrence, the 2001 disappearance of Diamond Superintendent Greg Smith and the robbery of the Bank of Diamond, was originally published in 2005.
-No Child Left Alive- If you would like to see what can happen when a superintendent is willing to cut any corners to bring up a high school's graduation rate, including gift grades, ignoring criminal activity, and undercutting teachers, you might check my novel No Child Left Alive, available in both paperback and e-book.
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