July 31

I don't know who it is, and it looks like he or she is using one of those anonymous remailers to send these emails to me. Here are a few things he or she is telling me. There was a mention of around $7,000.00 owed to a lumber yard of a friend. And being on a cash only basis. Then there is a part about a $14,000.00 insurance check and at the same time a fema check for $27,500.00 for not having insurance. Then there is mention of workers donating time and free fema materials. And then the email went on to talk about living somewhere free and getting paid $900 a month for the rent. There was also a reference about something about a payback. Does anyone know someone who matches all this?

From all the ads on TV and all the promises again by Tom Boland, only an idiot would vote against Proposition B. If what I hear in the ads on radio, Proposition B will pave the road to my house and my driveway and provide Highway patrol protection too. People, the promises of all the things Prop B will do are getting totally out of hand. I will vote for Prop B, but I think the SMART group have been taken for a ride and used by the proponents of Prop B shamelessly. If Tom Boland was willing to lie to us on Prop A, why wouldn't he lie to us now?

Did you see or hear the propaganda put out by the Lewis County C-1 President? She said it would cost $30,000.00 to air condition the Ewing School, so it will be cheaper to build a $1.5 million dollar school. How can spending $1.5 Million be cheaper than spending $30,000.00? How many people in Lewis County are going to be dumb enough to fall for that trick?

When is the NEW ONE going to get the Wards redrawn? We have an election in August, one in November and our City election in April. The law said after the year 2000 census, not three or more years after. Of course Mayor Lagoon hasn't a clue as to what a census is. But those 184 voters still love him and are just "Tickled to death".

Remember that song? Well. rumor has it that a woman on North 4th street was reported to the police that she was outside naked. Rumor has it that the first officer called for "BACKUP" and all 10 officers responded. Then the rumor was that the first responders heard it on their scanners and they all responded and that supposedly alerted the fire department and all 25 firemen responded. The rumors stopped, so I didn't hear what happened after that.

Another rumor was about the number of ambulance calls to the Casino. The rumor I got the other day was most of the time it has been one employee that seems to forget to take their medicine.

I received another email that was really down on the LAPD. Even though it mirrored my feelings about the worry of someone getting killed, this one was a little more opinionated than I have been.

Speaking of that. I received an email about the Casino and crime. The emailer was mocking Mayor Lagoon in regards to the Casino not bringing any more crime or traffic problems than before. He went on to say that Mayor Lagoon even said that the court cases have gone up 40% more than last year and yet didn't say that the court cases went up that year from the year before that 500%. And, I guess he hasn't heard of the killing in town.

Rumor also had it that there was a stabbing the other evening. The rumor said that he heard on the scanner that the stabbing was at 704 North 4th street. The only one address that came close to that was Tony and Connie Tasco. But, they weren't home. The emailer said it seems the LAPD doesn't know the street names but they can count the street numbers, so the dispatchers give out street numbers "close" to the correct address. In this case, the house was on Clay street between third and fourth streets. And Mayor Lagoon says we don't need E911, But we do need a mulit million new sewer plant for the Casino.

Since the St. Louis paper came out about La Grange and the Casino Sunday. The stats on this page for Sunday jumped from a little over 1000 hits average to over 5000 hits and it jumped to 11800 hits yesterday. It seems everyone in the State of Missouri is reading this page to what Mayor Lagoon is going to do for the Casino next.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Sunday - Business Pages - La Grange Mo. Headlines.

La Grange made the St. Louis paper headlines, and it is mostly true. Not like the garbage Ed Husar put in the Quincy Rag. I already have received ten emails and several phone calls to tell me.

Everybody the reporter talked to offered no praise for the Casino, (well, except Mayor Sewer Lagoon). He seems to think that people are just sitting back (waiting to see what is going to happen and how its going to go). Whatever the hell that means. BUT, MAYOR LAGOON still is going forward to screw the people over with his plans to move the sewer plant for the casino and make the people pay. The Casino manager is well pleased with the taking of the half million dollars a week. I wonder why the reporter didn't talk to (45years and more of hard labor at the bank)? Surely she could (weigh) in some encouraging words. You would think that (45 years) would eat more meals there instead of at the 18 wheeler

The writer of the article even included the GOSSIP page. But, he had the gall to call me a detractor.

Now, to local news. The ambulance went again yesterday to the Casino for another one.

If you drive up by the Riverview cemetery, sometimes you can drive all the way around it, sometimes you can't get by the junk on the South East side. Speaking of the South East side, there is a new owner of the other big house and all the junk property. BUT, I'll bet Mayor Lagoon hasn't got the balls to condemn that falling down building and charge the owner with a dangerous and unsafe building. I'll bet the City hasn't got the balls to send them a notice that there weeds across the alley are to tall and will be mowed by the City. Will you Mayor Lagoon?

Now, on the West side of the Cemetery, we find that the new City Administrator has made the city crew do the road over and make it like it should be. Now, all the new City administrator has to do is teach the street super how to steer the paver around the corners. Two streets are now looking like they will last awhile, even with BFI running the edges trying to break them off.

I don't know how many of you get the Quincy rag, but there was an interesting article on page 6A. (Golden Windmill Project offers personalized bricks). My question is, how many people bought personalized bricks to the LRO building? How many were suckered into donations into the "community building". I'll bet you will be surprised at the amount of money that was donated to the LRO thinking they were doing something for the community, now, only to find out they have been sold out. Of course, you won't ever know how many people and how much money was suckered in and taken in Project Brighter Future either.

If an out of towner came to La Grange and scammed the people like the above, they would have been arrested and put in jail. But, some people in town can do things with flood relief money and materials and get a Bill Clinton pass.

The same goes for burning in La Grange. One guy sits by a small fire in his yard and gets arrested for burning something and another guy can build a bon fire on a vacant lot and leave it burn all night and is not even called about it. It looks like the police pick and choose who to arrest for burning. But also, other people can discharge a firearm and hunt rabbits in the City limits and a bunch of kids get harassed for shooting fireworks two days after the fourth. Off duty highway patrolmen can speed through town without even a glance by police, but a person going to church on Sunday morning get stopped.

Did you see what the wind do to those trees and buildings and corn down by the red barn?

They have been trying to, and I might add, doing a good job of it, to hoodwink and scare the City Council into paying to move the sewer plant for the casino by stating the sewer plant is being overused. I asked for and received the water usage for the city for this year to date and the years 1990 and 1980. By looking at these figures it is clear to see that the treatment plant was processing in 1980, TWICE the amount of water than it is today. TWICE, TWO TIMES the amount used today. Below are the figures.

It is very clear to see that even with the Casino that the water usage these past few months are a little over 4 million gallons average. In 1990 the average monthly use was 6 million gallons. That is 50 % more than is used today. Now, in 1980, the water usage was over 9 million gallons average, and sometimes to 10 million and 11 million. The reason for the drop in usage is mostly because of the Foundrys excellent water reclamation efforts. Also the drop from 1980 to 1990 is caused by the loss of Pete's Boat House Restaurant, the car wash, the laundry mat and the meat locker, and all high water/sewer users. And we also lost OUR SCHOOL with 500 kids and several more businesses since then.

So, we went from 9 million to 6 million to 4.5 million and the lady from DNR has the nerve to state that the sewer plant is overused and needs to be replaced. And, I venture to say that the "non-compliance" issues are deliberately caused to force the people of La Grange to pay to move the sewer plant. The City Council had better rethink their votes before the next election or don't run again after they vote to screw the people of La Grange.

Well, so far, only one councilman is sticking up for the people of La Grange. Lately I have been including him in the group wanting to screw over the people of La Grange, but copies of the minutes show that Tim Rossiter is and has been for the people. The question now is why hasn't the other middle ward councilmen been attending the meetings? Or coming in late at others? Doesn't he want to be councilman anymore? Are the council meetings cutting into casino time? Maybe the bankruptcy councilman can help?

Two items today. One, I was asked to take a look at South fifth street at the Riverview Cemetery to see the new street work supervised by the new City Administrator. Personally, if I were the Mayor, I would be embarrassed, but, with Mayor Lagoon, he says, who cares? On the other hand, if this is any indication as to how the new one will administer the City, we are in trouble. Yes, the street is now flat and does have asphalt on it, but, the detailing sucks. It is the same ole, same ole, street work we have seen for years. BFI is going to love seeing how quick they can crush off those edges.

Next, In regards to the article on the lady cop hijacking the people going to church Sunday morning, I received several emails from friends or relatives of the officer trying seriously to defend her. One email decided to state that the police were not hired because of the Casino. That was the first dumb one. Then the emailer said that the cops were here to "Prevent accidents". Let's see now, in the last 40 years, can you name one accident where someone was going to church? Can you name any accident with a police car? One did a total the car on highway 16. One tore out the front of a car racing an ex-police chief. One drove his car on top of another car. One pulled out in front of a car. One did a U-turn and hit another car. And that is all within the past year or so. How many of these accidents did the police prevent, I asked.

Oh, the emailer also stated that the police are here to protect the people. Yep, I agree, there have been two killings, one by the police and one they didn't prevent. And another emailer stated that they needed those big guns with bullets designed for a sure kill to protect themselves. Someday, we all know it "will" happen, one those guys will shoot and kill someone and there will be a lot of Councilmen on the wrong side of a wrongful death suit. It is not if, it is just when.

Next, can you believe how much the new manager of the Casino has been in all the news telling everyone about all the money he is "GIVING" to the city. He acts like he is doing it out of the goodness of his heart, like he is giving charity to us. But, Mayor Lagoon doesn't have the guts to tell the news media that what the city receives is what is "OWED" by the Casino. Do not ever forget, the Casino OWES the people of La Grange, the people do not owe the Casino anything. The people don't owe the Casino police protection, nor a new sewer plant. But, Mayor Lagoon owes the Casino a new sewer plant somewhere else, and the people of La Grange are getting set up to pay for it.

First, it was Ed Husar of the Quincy Herald Whig that gave a continuation of his glowing report on the Caruthersville Casino. Now we get the PNJ to do their one year of the Casino. At least, Dan was more accurate and told it like it is. Only the ice cream shop had any increase in business. I talked to his two customers of last year the other day and they told me that they saw two new ones this year, so they surmised that the ice cream shop had a 100% increase in business this year. But, they weren't sure if it was the result of the casino being here or not. The rest of what businesses are left said they couldn't say that the Casino did a damn thing for them and some said it has hurt their business.

The new Manager of the Casino sure patted himself on the back. and again. and again. He keeps talking about all the money the casino has "given" the city. Don't you just love it when the people of La Grange were the ones to make it possible for the Casino to be here and the manager makes it out like he is doing a tremendous favor for us by saying he is "giving" the city money. There is no giving to the deal. The Casino made a contract to pay the city for the privilege to be here. Pure and simple. The Casino is paying what it "OWES" to the City. The Casino is NOT GIVING anything.

Mayor Lagoon still says he is going to force the people of La Grange to PAY for a new sewer plant for the Casino. Only when the election comes next spring can the people vote this nut out of office.

I see in the PNJ that the Council put a new Ordinance into effect that says that the City only has to seek bids on purchases over $5,000.00. Just another way to screw over any chance of any business in town getting a chance. Way to go Councilmen. Too bad only three are up for election next year.

And then Mayor Lagoon and the City Council stuck it to the people of La Grange again by passing an 89 cent tax levy on the people. Two Million dollars in the bank and the people of La Grange continue to get screwed over by Mayor Lagoon and the Council. Can't we get up another petition to have a Mayor and whole Council recall??

There is a new business in La Grange that is employing several people and Mayor Lagoon and the City Council don't have a clue. Could care less. It doesn't have anything to do with the Casino, so what do they care?

To those who get the Quincy Rag. Have you ever read such crap in all your life? Ed Husar sure picked and chose who he wanted to talk to.

MR. HUSAR. NUMBER ONE. The Casino has never GIVEN anything to the City. Let's make that very clear. In fact, in regards to the original contract. The Casino has not lived up to what the people of La Grange voted for. In the Quincy paper's articles a few years ago, the statements were made that there would no INCREASE in crime. Now you say there has been substantial increase in crime. Statements were made by [45 years and more] that downtown would be dramatically changed. And, it has, more business have closed since the Casino has open than in the history of the City.

Mayor Lagoon looks very happy, (well, I think there is a smile in his picture), his business increased 100%. From two customers to four. How many years now has Mayor Lagoon said. "we are planning..... to do streets - fix something - or whatever. Have you seen Mayor Lagoon do anything yet?? Mayor Lagoon still has plans to build a new sewer plant for the Casino with the people of La Grange's money. Mayor Lagoon stated he hasn't seen any increase in crime. Of course, he has no idea what the police department is doing either. He actually thinks that the 40,000 per month boarding fees are actually people. DUH!.

And, according to the Casino. They will have a huge celebration for their one year anniversary. Boy oh boy, 500 of those 40,000 people will get a prize! FREE CAKE! GOLLIE! I don't know how the casino can afford to give away so much from the half a million take a week.

Mr. McReynolds, I don't care how much you gush over the Casino, they ain't going to give the County anything.

Mr. Jansen of the Oakly-Lindsey Center, maybe you should talk to some of the business people in Quincy besides the motel owners.

----- Original Message -----
From: <Stormy801@aol.com>
To: <jbrandt@gte.net>
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2002 10:16 AM
Subject: Police

> Maybe you should just be thankful that you have a Police Department to take care of the citizens of your town and not degrade them every chance you get.

Yeah! and everyone in town who has been harassed are eternally grateful too. Especially all those who have seen their insurance rates go up.

> If you didn't have a department who would take care of shootings (like that happened the other night)

Look at this.
8 LAPD officers
4 County
several highway patrolmen.

Here is the question?
Which one prevented the shooting?
Answer, NONE!

and who would remind people that speeding can endanger your self and others?

GIVE ME A BREAK. 40 mph in an area that there is no one to endanger. You better stay at home.

If your citizens do not want a ticket then they should not speed...going to church or not. Speeding is against the law remember and it does not matter the destination you are going to.

And you NEVER EVER have speeded, or made a turn without using your turn signal, nor drove 5 feet without your seat belt, or broke any law of the land your whole life. Give me a break. That is so dumb.

All you are doing by posting degrading things about the police department is making your town think bad things about the people who went to school to serve and protect the community in which you live. Think about it.

Ok! I thought about it, They are still here to arrest the people for minor traffic to make their name.

They are not just there to protect the casino you talk about.

That my dear is exactly why we have 8 officers. TO PROTECT THE CASINO. Read the Quincy paper regarding the Gaming Commission.

They had nothing to do with getting the casino.

READ THE PAPER. They have everything to do with getting the Casino. Where do you live? In Mexico? You sure as hell have no idea what you are talking about. You sure do not seem to have been around when all this was going down.

Anyway you have a real nice day and think before you speak from now on.

Again, I will tell you as I tell all the people like you, 90% of what I put on the gossip page come from, PEOPLE OF LAGRANGE. Only 10% are my ideas

Stormy

Jerry

Sorry about no updates. Built a newer computer and had trouble getting everything to work. Emails came in bunches so I will pick a few.

I had one email requesting a check for the name Loudermilk in the Cemeteries. There are several so I emailed JanaLee to look in the cemetery section to see the different ones.

Next, I received several emails from a "Bernie", wouldn't give the last name, but must have something to do with the LAPD though as "Bernie" blasted me a couple of times for putting on about the lady cop who was trying to catch people going to church last Sunday morning. "Bernie" believes that everyone is guilty and should all be arrested whether they go to church or to the casino.

I see where one officer got so proficient in shooting his hand gun, he has now passed the test to train other officers how to KILL someone. All our officers have to have a gun capable of KILLING someone with the first shot and they train and train on how to use the gun to KILL someone. And, sooner or later someone will be killed by a police officer here in town. "Bernie" says that you put more police protection around a Casino because of the POTENTIAL of more crimes. How true that is "Bernie".

Why don't the LAPD train to SAVE lives instead of how to KILL someone. A good Mayor would require any officer that has trained to KILL someone has to be trained as a EMT or Paramedic. In fact ALL police officers should be trained as an EMT anyhow and respond to any emergency just like the Fire Department.

I received a whole lot of email regarding the Williams shooting, and one thing that seems to stick out is that the LAPD did everything right and it was the PA, the Judge, the Lewis County sheriff and the Canton PD that fell down on the job. It looks like the LAPD did an excellent job on this case.

I received one email from a person who almost was the City Administrator. I'll post more on that one later.

There will a Council Meeting Monday evening.. It will interesting to see which Councilmen vote FOR the people of La Grange and those that are just plain chickenshit. Then we can see who to and who not to vote for next April. If they Vote For the Casino and AGAINST the People of La Grange, then lets vote them out.

I left the house early this morning. An hour or so later my wife heard someone rattle the back door knob. She went to see who was there and looked out the window to see who it was. No one there. This happened a couple more times and she though I or someone was playing tricks on her. So, she hid around the corner and when the door knob started rattling again, she ran to the door an opened it quickly and all it was, was my pet squirrel trying to get in out of the heat. He ate two handfuls of pecan halves and climbed on top of the bookcase and slept till noon.

We bought a new modular home and now I need someone to put in the basement. Know anyone?

Now to Canton. I see in the paper where Mike Bringer was going to be the New Police Chief, Gollee, who wouldn't have guessed that move. Everyone knew that was the real reason.

La Grange made page two yesterday and today La Grange made the FRONT PAGE of the Quincy rag. And, the nay sayers said crime doesn't follow gambling. I received many emails on speculation of who what when and why. But, I also received one who refused to give the last name who berated me for putting on the gossip page about the officer parking on the sidewalk and driveway of one business and going into another and about the same officer targeting people coming to church last Sunday morning. Shame on me.

It looks like Mayor Lagoons sewer plant may be needed after all. Brain and Kerri Leeser had a son today and Brent Rosencrans became a full fledge daddy July 5th of a son. According to the DNR lady, that should put us over the top of sewer useage and the Casino can get it's new sewer plant some where else and the people of La Grange will get to pay for it.

Last Friday, we went to Quincy around 3pm. When we got to West Quincy, we got in line and crept slowly until we got to the old drive-in, when lo an behold I looked into my right rear view mirror and saw a car coming down the road in the right lane and kept on past us and went right up front and crowded right in line. I am not sure, but it sure looked like an internet groom to me. AND THEN, on the left side coming right down the middle of the road came a minivan with dealer plates on it driving about 40 past all the cars going to the car lot before you get to the over pass. When he got to the Shell station a car pulled out from the station and was going to get in line and the minivan turned right into the line of cars and by golly they both crowded in without anyone getting hit. Pretty soon, he came back out and continued on down to the car lot.

Last night around 9pm someone was shot and killed at 401 North 4th street in La Grange.

Rumor has it that a guy was supposedly beating up his girlfriend or wife, and she got a gun and shot him 8 times. News report said he died in Quincy after being transported there by medical helio. One rumor has it that he also stabbed himself 7 times. Who knows. Channel 10 TV was in town today, so more will be on tv tonight.

Rumor also has it that supposedly as a result of a couple of dummies who rented a camper trailer at the State Park and didn't pay their rent, the police searched three mobile homes just North of the Casino. They got caught because they didn't prepay their rent and the Park Ranger came by to collect the rent and caught them making meth. DUH!

And another rumor has it that the Fire Chief is now out prowling around they town trying to catch anyone burning trash or brush. Rumor has it that he has a ticket book and already has issued one person a ticket for burning in the City Limits. But, it is OK for the fire chief to burn as he doesn't live in La Grange as required by Ordinance.

I wasn't going to post this picture, but today she changed my mind. The other day, there was a discussion about the City painting a white line in front of a business and posting a one hour parking sign. Only because the business owner can 't understand that on main street, anyone should be able to park anywhere and go into any business. Sorry, if they happen to park in front of your business and go into another.

BUT, their crying and complaining caused the City Council to act irrationally and post the sign and paint the curb white for them. NOW, this has caused the people who want to park on main street to see the white paint and now, no one parks there. So, his customers who would have parked there, now park on the drive of the gas station and block his customers.

A GOOD Mayor should have said to the business owner. Main street parking is for everyone, not just YOUR customers and left it at that.

So, to show you what happens when Mayor Lagoon isn't intelligent enough to make a rational decision, here is a picture of a City Police car.

The lady cop got out and went into the pizza place, not only did she park on the gas station drive, but you can clearly see she parked on the sidewalk too.

As I stated above, I wasn't going to post this picture, but the lady cop actions today. At 7am Sunday morning, she is sitting across the street from the old Imperial gas station using radar on people coming into town to go to church. I thought that we had a Police Chief that was better than the ex-chief, but here were are back to hijacking again. Don't these people ever learn? It is too bad Mayor Lagoon can't understand that the people of La Grange want to be left alone. These officers were hired to "PROTECT THE CASINO" and should stay there protecting it. Maybe the next election will tell him so.

Now, why hasn't the new one done anything about redrawing the wards that was supposed to be done two years ago? Why hasn't the new one brought the City Codification book up to date? He said in the newspaper he has been reading it. How can he when several have been changed? Why hasn't he gotten professional help on the well, or contacted some of the people in town about what to do? Why is he ordering the City crew to put rock in the new sewer line trenches? Sand is free and rocks rub holes.

According to the Quincy rag, the Casino didn't live up to its expectations. but, it still takes in $2 million dollars a month. and Mayor Lagoon still thinks 40,000 actual people go there each month. According to Mayor Lagoons assessment, there would be over 1000 cars there a day, twice as many as parking spaces. DUH! So far the "City", not the people of La Grange, has received $1,537,870.00. Where oh where has all that money gone, oh where oh where can it be?

Also according to the Quincy rag, the State audit of Hurdland was a disaster for the City fathers. If the auditors found that many problems with little ole Hurdland, this City audit should be able to take up two pages of the paper.

The last few days have been sad ones for La Grange. On July 8th Mr. Robert Guilfoil, Alice Fish's brother died in St. Louis. He graduated from La Grange in 1946. There will a memorial service for him tomorrow at the Lutheran church at 11 am. There are a lot of people with sorrow for Alice.

And also another long time resident of La Grange passed away Wednesday. Ole Bob Harris. A lot of the guys at the "white house" the MFA gas station, will miss him. He used to come in and have a lot of fun joking around. He liked to argue a lot with Elmer Logan. Friends can visit the family at the Davis funeral home Monday evening. We are going to miss him sitting on the front porch waving at us.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." --John 3:16

Rumor has it that Mayor lagoon actually thinks 40,000 people go to the casino each month. Also it is rumored that Mayor Lagoon and Chapter 7 bankruptcy think that the people elected them to make their decisions for them and the people want to pay for a new sewer plant for the casino.

There is another rumor that the Canton Sun & Surf Pool allowed a child to get hurt and refused to help get medical aid.

Jerry, I have thoroughly enjoyed the information you have posted on your website 
concerning the high school graduating classes. Since

 Retiring, I have moved to Columbia.  
My mailing address is: 1408 Business 7 west Columbia, MO 65202 my phone is: 573-8179834.  
My sister Judy now lives in the Tulsa area. Her mailing address is 1406, 5th e. 
Ave Bixby Ok.  Roger Houston , class of '58 also lives in the Tulsa area. You might contact
 Onalee Stevens, She has a lot of mail address on 
La Grange kids. Great big thanks goes to whoever spent the time and effort to compile 
all that information
Thanks again, Larry Joe Bradshaw  lbrad@tranquility.net

From the amount of email I have received since Sunday, there seems to be a lot of people asking questions about the Councilman's bankruptcy. Some are asking why he is still on the Council. Why he just doesn't resign. How can he manage a million dollar budget and not his own. And on and on. It seems that some people will stay on no matter what. Or what people are saying behind their back.

If you will notice, the police cars are getting signage on them indicating that they are police cars. The signage looks very good and is well laid out. Someone put some thought in this decision before it was made.

I have received an email asking how many years you can live in La Grange and still have a vehicle with Illinois tags on it. The vehicles in question are right across the street from Mayor Lagoon.

It hasn't been too long ago when we had a rouge police chief and indians that took their egos to the limit. One of the things hey did was arrest a local man who was asleep in his truck on the MFA drive for drunken driving. There was another instance that this happen in St. Louis. The car owner was asleep in his car "with the motor running". The cops arrested him for drunken driving. The jury said no. You be arrested for drunken driving if you are not driving anywhere.

Which brings us to the white paint on main street. The council should have left well enough alone. They were wrong to try to dedicate one "PUBLIC" parking space on main street for one certain business. Now, the white marking has the public confused as to whether it is "handicap" parking and no one parks there. Instead, they park on the MFA drive and on the sidewalk.

I am going to give the lady a free one. As, I want her to use her influence to get the white paint off the curbing and back to yellow and get the one hour parking sign taken down. The City Council in trying to help one business, has created problems for the other businesses. It is a free street, anyone should be able to park anywhere, anytime. Contrary to the business owners contention that a customer has to park in that exact spot, there is the whole other side of the street for his or any other business customers to park.

The Casino should ask the new wanting to be employees taking classes to use the side street south of the classroom. so that customers, "people who want to do business" with the businesses can have a place to park. This would be only common courtesy.

Yes, I know the lady from DNR came up and did her thing. I want to see the minutes of the meeting before I respond to her absurd stupidity.

This is Council Meeting night. There was a large article in the Quincy herald Whig about our new City Administrator. One of the things he says is that he has been getting acquainted with town and meeting the people. So far, neither the gas station or restaurant or bar has told me he has been around yet. Maybe he means the ice cream shop. Notice the new City sign where he is pictured and see the word "liquor store".

Nina Painter had a nasty fall yesterday and received some bruises and cuts, but she made it in for coffee this morning..

For the ex employees of the Foundry. There is a federal law regarding health insurance, but you have little time to act. It is called COBRA. You need to ask for a "certificate of creditable coverage". COBRA gives you some legal rights on your insurance. Be careful about converting to an individual coverage plan, you might lose some important benefits. Check out HTTP://www.hcfa.gov/medical/hipaa/online .

I don't know what is going on at the Casino but, rumors are running rampant. Rumor has it some are not happy with the new boss, and some getting special privileges that others are not getting, and something about nepotism. And another rumor about the machines are too tight.

And a rumor that the new one at City Hall isn't meshing in with the employees very well. And speaking of wells, the new one needs to seek outside help or the mineral well will be gone.

Everyone should tip their hats to the La Grange Chamber of Commerce. Breakfast was very organized and fast and "Good". All that I talked to were very satisfied. And, then came the parade. That was probably the best parade La Grange has seen in years. Well thought out and a whole lot of entries. I will get the 100 pictures up later. I didn't get any reports on the bingo games. The fireworks were the same as last year and seem to be a little late starting and lasted long enough. All in all, with what the officers of the Chamber of Commerce had to work with, they did a very excellent showing.

The police department in La Grange also showed how well they can be. They did a good show in the parade, "well, minus their new signs". The new signs should have been on the cars, but that isn't the fault of the Police Department, the new one should have gotten that done for them. They also provided excellent service to people coming and going to the events in town and after the fireworks they speeded up the removal of all the cars going out of the parking lot. Somebody in the PD was thinking ahead and wanted to do right.

NOW, for the downers. Every time something like this happens in La Grange where there is a community effort, I get this pounding in my head, the pounding is the memorable words of the ex president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank. "The people of La Grange will be amazed at what the CASINO will do for the City and the people". "The Casino will be a great benefactor for La Grange and a extremely community minded member of the town". What great lies we heard during the preparations for the vote for gambling in La Grange. What great lies we heard from Councilman "pave my drive free" when he made the motion to give the franchise to Dean Phillips.

It is truly pathetic, down right pathetic that Dave's fireworks had to "donate" the fireworks this year. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Dave for all the years he has donated the fireworks for La Grange, even though some of the years he donated the Chamber "thought" they were paying for them.

For a business sucking $2,000,000.00 per month out of the community and not provide the most spectacular fireworks display in the area is truly pathetic. The Casino put in a crumby float and threw out the same mints they give away in the diner, big hairy deal.

Jenny, should have thrown her weight around down there and had the Casino buy the chickens for the Chamber AND put on a real fireworks show.

This refusal of the Casino to participate in the biggest event in town next to the Lions Club sausage day CLEARLY shows that since the Casino has its license now, it has clearly stated "to hell with La Grange". But, as Bill Grace said to me at the Council meeting, "WE PAY TOO MUCH TO LA GRANGE ALREADY".

One other item. The rumor today is that the Foundry has been sold to three guys. More later.

This morning the Chamber Chicken barbque is already started. Breakfast was eggs (anyway you want) sausage, hash browns, toast and drink, all for whatever you wanted to donate. There's the parade at 10 and bingo at 1 and fireworks tonight. A full day in town.

Yesterday seemed to be a coming home day. Bruce Solter came home and so did Sam Henderson.

TODAY is a famous persons birthday, she is 56 today, Happy Birthday Betty Bronsteine.

Rumor has it that Councilman Sam Henderson under went surgery the other day for cancer. I hear today that he will come home today or tomorrow and it seemed it went well.

The Chamber of Commerce chicken barbque is tomorrow, and I hear a little grumbling about the $6.00 for a half chicken. We will wait to see how that goes over.

The Canton Police Chief was officially fired last night. But, I don't think that will end it. From the looks of my emails and the few I put on here, the City mothers in Canton should brace themselves.

If the rumors I hear are true about the new NEMO Manufacturing that is in the old grocery store, this place will grow big time.

We have a baseball type pool going on which day Mayor lagoon gets the new one fired or pissed off and quits. It's $10.00 for a day or a $310.00 pot. Rumor has it that the new one is wanting to get in on the pot.

The rumor about the Lieutenant of the LAPD being put out seems to have disappeared. Seems like some things change or disappear once it is seen here.

Hi Jerry,

If you would like to you can post this message on your page. We have gotten so many e-mails and phone calls from people all over the country, just like the people from around here who have called, they are very upset that this was done to Tommy.

One well known citizen even sent a fairly scorching letter to the mayor and board requesting Tommy's reinstatement. The letter has brought about several valid points that should be taken into consideration such as...Why has Canton had so many Police Chiefs in the past 10 years, according to this letter there were 9. The number of fired, or asked to resign police department employees here is just astounding.

Another very interesting point in the letter is "why now" All of the allegations against Tommy addressed by the city are more than 6 months old....the majority fell between 9 and 12 months. Everything that is, except for the fact that Tommy was called to active duty..to serve this nation in the US Air Force as he has proudly done for nearly all of his adult life. The City "authorities" were aware of this fact when they made the decision to hire Tommy.

Another question also posed in this letter to the mayor and board questions whether all of the police officers are being held accountable for the same infractions they claim Tommy committed. These things all make me wonder....with approximately 9 police chiefs in the past 10 years exactly whose credibility should be in question here.

As you may already know Tommy's appeal hearing with the mayor and city attorney took place this morning. Tommy answered to every one of the allegations against him, all of these allegations are totally false and / or grossly misconstrued and taken out of context to give the appearance of wrong doing on Tommy's part.

The downright truth of the matter is that Tommy has done nothing wrong. He has been in law enforcement for 22 years and has never before this had one single complaint filed against him...not by his employers, co-workers, or the people that he has worked to protect. Not many officers anywhere can claim that kind of record. Tommy prides himself in being a "peace" officer...that is what he calls the job he does and how he feels law enforcement should be. He believes that police officers work for the people of the community that they serve.

Tommy has said to me many times in the past several days that he would like to express his appreciation to all of those who have come forward to show their support. I speak for the entire family in saying that we have met some truly wonderful, sweet honest, and good hearted people here....we all appreciate having the opportunity to have lived and worked in the community with all of them.

Everyone has had so many questions about what is being done to help Tommy, and how will this be resolved? At this time all that I can say is that the appropriate government agencies at both the State and Federal levels are aware of this situation and are currently taking the appropriate actions, at least that is what the letter I received from the White House tells me. I am quite certain that in the long run after all is said and done the truth will stand clear.

Thank you for posting the original message on your website...so many people have commented that it was wonderful for you to have done that. We have received responses from all over the country....I never knew so many people would find your gossip page.

Thank you,
Jeannie Thompson

Another pretty quiet week end. I only received a couple of emails regarding the City.

Jerry, I am not from your area, but read your Gossip Page daily. Some of the things that you place on your site are very interesting. I happened to read the article about the chief of police that was relieved of his duty, while on active duty. Being an ex service person myself, it concerned me that such a thing could happen, so I forwarded your article to the Missouri
State Capitol. In fact to the Gov. of your state. Took several days but finally did receive an answer, and thought I would forward it to you hoping that you could get the info to the right person. Great site, keep it up.

No wonder. Poor little red tractor. No chains? La Grange council and works equals no brains! You don't have to be a NASA engineer to figure out that on soft, often wet, sand it is best to excavate with a caterpillar tractor. So why not hire a contractor with the right equipment who knows what they are doing? Gets the job done right, cost efficient, no embarrassing bog-downs, plus pumps a little of that casino "profit" and ill-gained tax dollars from La Grange into a local contractor who no doubt needs some business. You hearing this Mayor Lagoon?! .

The 4th of July Chamber of Commerce Chicken Bar-B-Que is almost here. I hear the workers are needed to cook chickens and help in the building. Care to help out a little. You don't even have to be a member to help out.

	year 2002	year 1990	Year 1980
December 2001	4259000
January	4378000	6088000	7747000
February	4745000	6833000	9790000
March	4277000	5997000	9542000
April	4418000	6596000	9303000
May	4530000	6711000	9352000
June	4921000	6904000	9351000
July		6181000	11111400
August		7275000	10821000
September		7097000	10376000
August		7186000	9836000
September		6111000	9723000
October		5767000	9471000
November		6091000	9723100
December		5769000	974100
AVERAGES	4504000	6471857	9080042