I finally got the check registers and copies of the Council meetings and the secret meetings and committee meetings. They have more meetings to cover other actions, juggling the books, spending your money than most people go to the post office. You have to see these check registers to see the thousands and thousands of dollars being paid to the bank, the City attorney and Ed Ensor. Not to mention the fire chief/department.

August 14th meeting. Lannie Hentz just wanted the City to cut a dead tree on the City Street. he got the same treatment as Bruce Brill did on the dead tree on his street. Ask your Councilman just why the City doesn't have someone cut the tree. What could it cost? A hundred dollars? So. The City bought a NEW CHIPPER SHREDDER to grind up the trees for $19,000.00. Why not use it? Lannie and his neighbors want ed the City to grade the alley that looks like a mountain range and put on some rock. Again the Mayor of 187 people balked at serving the public. He made a bald faced lie when he said the City never maintained alleys and cut dead trees. I was Mayor from 1979 to 83 and the City maintained alleys on request and so did Mayor Gantt and also dead trees and even some live ones were cut by the City. What else does the street super have to do besides ride around. How long could it take, a half hour. What is the big deal? And how dumb is it for a person to pay someone to remove a walnut tree that lumbermen will pay to get??? Only a city Councilman.

Talk about a dumb action. The Boat people are paying everyone else an average of $30,000 per lot, but the City Council sells City property for $5,000. 187 people have to be so proud. The worst part of this is the full 6 votes.

The next thing is the Fire Chief is out to screw the water super over and over again on fire hydrants, more money, more money says the fire chief. And then he cons the City into buying an old what, 1989 fire truck for $50,000 when the City didn't have the money. The sad part is the two rural members went along with the scam. then they can't figure out a way to pay to get the truck here. So sad. 187 people have to be so proud.

According to the parks committee report the Chamber won't be ready for the La Grange Appreciation day until next year. The members have been screwed over so much with the false plaques that the Chamber can't members to work. Way to go locker room Jim and what's her name.

And then at Aug 21 meeting Ed Ensor came with labor costs at half the product cost. My question is, why is the City putting sheet rock in the fire station bays? Are they going to hold a dance or something?

Then the Council screws up the tax rate for the people and no have to pass a new Ordinance to cover the mistake. It is getting so that Ralph "pave my drive free" martin and Fred "no prayer here" Wiewel can't keep up with all the lies and manipulations.

the Aug 28 Parks meeting shows that the Bank has no reneged on providing the FREE food this year and the Chamber won't pay for the sound system. Talk about great cooperation. 187 people have to be so proud. AND THEN, AND THEN, the Council VOTED to make Ayers pay half the proceeds he was going to donate to the Youth Center tot he Chamber. Talk about crass. 

And the finance committee meeting on Aug 28th shows the Council juggling bank accounts.

You know what was missed? The Police department only wanted new tires for a car this time. 

What is with all the dead Raccoons and Possums at the Stop light? Every morning thee are more dead animals laying around. Where is the police when this is happening? By the way, where was the Police when ted Sturhauns car trailer was stolen? Right on main street. 187 people are tickled to death.

Not too long ago I wrote about a house being shingled on N7th street. The shingler put the shingles on up and down instead of across the roof. I just happened to read an article regarding this method of shingling called racking. it seems that doing it this way voids the warranty by the shingle manufacturer because of pattern-curling and and shadowing. This method creates a problem of stress of being bent and deform, especially in cold weather and will eventually warp. If this happens, the warranty of the shingles is void. Darn the luck. 

In the Press news the LRO asked the Council for permission to hit the Gambling boat People up for more money to finish up the the Memorial to Main Street Building. Let's see now, Ralph "pave my drive free" Martin and Fred "no prayer here" Wiewel and "What's her name" presented the mayor and Council in 1994 a contact for a gambling boat for Mr. Multimillionaire that states and still does state, "The gambling boat can direct the money to the City, the LRO, or to a IDA.". Why did "pave my drive free" and "no prayer here" act like it wasn't there in writing???

If I remember correctly, and my tape recorder and notes don't fail, Mr. snake in the grass Holiday, got up before the mayor and council and stated to wit" Mayor and Council, Mr. Phillips will agree to using NAP grants to give money to the city. With the taxes from three banks here in Missouri and Heetco, Mr. Phillips can provide NAP  grants in the amount of $50,000 every year to the City, maybe more, maybe less, maybe for ten years." 

Yet, "what's her name" and the multimillionaire have not donated the $50,000 per year as promised and their ole buddy the LRO have to beg the gambling boat people for money. Why hasn't the mayor and "pave my drive free" and "no prayer here" been complaining? Maybe it is because of past promises??????

Here is a pop question? Is the City using the police to systematically arrest the customers of the Double GG to put it out of business, so the City can give the license to the gambling boat?

Pop Quiz for the Councilmen: Question one: What happened to all the drugs the Chief had stored? Rumor has it that a little might be missing. Is it? How will you know? You don't even know how much was there to begin with do you? What about those three guns. Are they still there?

In the past few weeks the St. Louis paper has had numerous articles regarding the effects of gambling boats in different towns. Kimmswick is fighting tooth and nail to keep a gambling boat from going in near their town and has more fighting to come. Booneville didn't want a gambling boat there either, but the gaming commission said that they would put on across the river from Booneville anyhow. Rather than have the problems and not any reward, Booneville reluctantly accepted the boat. Several business owners in St. Charles have closed and moved out because of the gambling boat there. Which brings us to the Mayor and Police Chief. They went to Caruthersville to see the town and what the gambling boat there has done for the town several months ago. Did you see anything in the paper about this trip? No? Well, if it was all good and beautiful and everything was doing well, I believe that the Mayor and Chief would have been shouting it from the roof top. But, it was al silent. Makes you wonder doesn't it? 

Just when you think everything is going along swimmingly, you read in the Press news that the police department had their cars vandalized. It really looks bad for the chief when his own police department can't protect itself. 

Then comes along the LRO wanting the gambling boat to give the money too. Pretty soon all the money the people were going to get will be spent. Rumor is that the money the gambling boat gave for the fire station was diverted and now there isn't enough money to finish that building, like the LRO building. Yet, there was enough money to buy another $50,000 fire truck we didn't need and they can't afford to get delivered. Way to go farmer Dan and farmer John. And all of the puppets that voted along for it. You might as well spend it all and buy al the firemen new bunker gear again too.

And "pave my drive free" thinks that all this qualifies him to be City manager. 

I had a corporation that I was looking up their registered agent for in the State of Missouri website. So naturally, I looked up LaGrange and found some old railroad companies that still are active and so on. But when I put in La Grange as two words, I came up with the La Grange Chamber of Commerce. There are two entries. One started in 1946 and expired in 1971. The other Started in 1973 and went into default in 1997. Last agent name for keeping the Corporation up to date is Cheryl Lowe. Does this mean that the letter sent out by the City and Chamber with the tax credit status is wrong? Does La Grange have a legal Nonprofit Chamber of Commerce?

The next thing is, really, you will not believe this. But, the Mayor is just tickled to death, and 187 voters have to be so proud of this. When you go to town again. Look across the street from the Library. You will see an asphalt patch job. Now, it took three employees, a backhoe and a roller and two shovels to do this patch.

But, that isn't the part you won't believe. The street super had whole bucket full of asphalt. They used half of it fixing this spot. Now, if you look just ten feet South of the patch, you will see another pothole about the same size. Why? I ask Why? Didn't he just back up a few feet and dump the rest of the asphalt in that pot hole and fix both at the same time? And here I was bragging on such a good job he did on North 3rd Street. 

I went into the post office the other day. There were 7 people in the room. We all had a nice talk together. I then went into the office area to get my mail when the mayor came in. He spoke to no one, and no one spoke to him. Why?

Looks like boat is coming along swimmingly. New pictures today shows a lot of work being done. Still can't figure out why the boat was moved back a few feet to allow those large drains tubes to go straight to the tbe under the highway.

I was misinformed as to the person being a head person of the LRO, but the remark was the same. I guess they don't know about the Youth Center yet.

And I was misinformed about the assault and rape. It was on a Saturday evening with TWO police officers and a dispatcher on duty less than 100 feet away.

If I was informed right about a certain person running for Mayor. He has my vote and support. 

There are a lot of rumors going around lately. Three have to do with the La Grange Appreciation Day. The first is now it isn't an Appreciation day as they have now decided NOT to have the free meal as what the Appreciation Day was started in the first place for. Next there is a rumor that a person had set up a horse shoe tournament and did all the work and got all the prizes and such and a CofC person has reportedly demanded the prizes and half the money being made instead of letting the La Grange Youth Center get it.

A person for the LRO, a head person to be exact, has reportedly said that they were going to allow the teenagers to do Halloween paintings on the windows of the Main Street Memorial building. You know, the new building built to hold all those new businesses coming to town. This person made a statement at the Youth Center that, "it is about time SOMEONE did something for the children". Talk about dumb. 

Another rumor was that last Monday evening a woman was beaten and raped a couple hundred feet of the Police station here in La Grange. Of course everyone knows that the police do not work Sunday or Mondays. But, there has been some patrolling of the school during the loadings in the mornings.

I noticed that the street super paved North 3rd street. I hate to tell you this folks but,,, he paved from edge to edge and EVEN paved around the corners. Why? This has never been done before.

I just built a steel building and did the wiring. I put an outlet every 7 feet all the way around, wired in a place for a welder, and wired for a light spaced every 8 feet of ceiling. Less than $500.00. This building is about one third of the new city buildings which did not need all the extras I put in. Three times $500 comes to about $1500.00. Not $5,000, nor $14,000 or a cost of $20,000. Of course I did not charge $100 an hour. But, I did use a minimum of 12 gauge and mostly 10 gauge wire. Where did all that extra money go? The same place the site preparation and concrete money went. bibi.  

Four days, my how time goes by fast. But, the mail comes by slow though. It used to be that you could go to town, get a cup of coffee, stop by the Post Office and get you mail and be home by 8:30am. Then the mail time changed to 9am and now 9:30am and since the dinner hours start at 11:30 and after dinner phone calls and visits, it is getting hard to even get your mail. It seems that anymore, you go to the Post Office today to get yesterdays mail. But on Saturdays, the mail seems to be up a whole lot quicker. What the Post Office needs is pay phone and designated visiting hours. Oh, by the way, most of this came from an email.

Another email came about the Police officers that the City hires. The emailer doesn't know that the Chief cannot possibly hire anyone that is a better officer or more intelligent than he is. Job security. That is one reason why the Mayor should be the one to hire and fire, not the police chief. I agree that "most" police officers care about their job, are good people, and want to help. BUT, some are vindictive, out to get even, want to force the people of La Grange to follow every little letter of the law, while violating some of the laws themselves. You know, like using someone else's property for parking their car.

The emailer went to say that the officers don't pull someone over without a reason. I agree, some of the reasons are, to see who she is and how old she is and if she is married. Or, the officer just wants to know where the person is going. Or, the dispatcher send a coded message of a person coming out of the tavern that looks promising. By the way, whatever happened to those old guns and all those drugs the police department was saving? Rumor has it, that they are gone. My My.

I did not say that the child at the State Park drowned because of the park ranger, I just merely said he was probably too busy hassling some parent trying to make sure his child is safe and taken care of. IE, see Dickerson last months.

I do HOPE that the children of La Grange read this Gossip page. At least they can see how the people are manipulated, how a Mayor and City Council sells out their City and their school and who these people are. And, yes, I have lived here all my life and I do know these people quite well and where they came from.

I don't know much about the births and weddings, but I do know that Mr. Deabenderfer died yesterday and Martha Robinson is in the hospital.

Thanks for the email though.

Oh, I also see that the street super is taking very good care of the clerk. The street looks nice, side to side, but a little skimpish on the corners though. Just a little more effort to do a job right is worth doing.

The trashman today dumped some trash in the back of the truck and some fell out on the ground. I stopped by his truck down the street a little ways and mentioned it to him. he said he didn't do it and there wasn't any trash on the ground. Good enough for me.

On Sep 1, I asked what happened to the street super. I got an answer from a relative to inform me that he was on another vacation, so I added more days to his days off. Pretty soon the days off will be more than days on, hey probably already add up to more than days actually worked.

It seems the Park Ranger has been too busy taking care of parents disciplining their children and sticking his nose in a parents business to notice a child drowning at the park. Maybe he should go the route of the highway patrolman.

Took a drive around town this weekend and found the city park wasn't mowed at all, CLICK HERE, take a look. Then when you get to RiverView Cemetery, it looks like the mowers were in a hurry and used a brushhog. CLICK HERE. Then on to the Marks Cemetery and found the same bad work. CLICK HERE. They probably will want to be paid for that work too. But, 187 people and Hizzonner are tickled to death. And then the LRO takes just as good care of their property too, CLICK HERE. Same ole same ole. Even the building isn't finished, What happened to the front lights and the canopy??  Where are the new businesses? Where is the accounting?

Have you noticed that some schools are saying the Lords Prayer? Won't happen at Highland will it Fred "No prayer here" Wiewel? Has anyone seen "No prayer here" or Ralph "pave my drive free" Martin grace any business in La Grange, well not counting Casey's. They go to Council Meetings and do their dirty work and go home. You guys know that the "People" of  LaGrange will never benefit from the boat don't you guys?

New boat building pictures for the chronological recording of the building of the boat from beginning to the end. Go to the home page. CLICK HERE.

The question has been asked as to why there has not been any police patrol at the school bus pickup in the mornings or afternoons. Another question was asked why the Chief keeps picking rejects for indians.

Can you guess what the street super has been doing for the past week?  No one else can either. 

Here are some of the quotes heard from a police department. "The handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them awhile." "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired." "So, you don't know how fast you were going. I guess that means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?" "Yes sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I am the shift supervisor?" "Warning! You want a warning? O.K., I'm warning you not to do that  again or I'll give you another ticket."  "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or dog?" "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven." "Life's tough, it's tougher if you're stupid." "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want." "Just how big were those two beers? "In God we trust, all others are suspects."

A rumor has it that the police chief is planning to hire another reject. The Mayor plans to hire nothing but the best and everyone is tickled to death.

Sorry "pave my drive free" by the time I see you, it is too late for me to wave. Maybe after awhile I'll be able to recognize your SUV before you get by. By the way, why doesn't anyone see these prominent citizens "pave my drive free" and "no prayer here" around town, like in the Double G or Wilma's or the Driftwood, shoot, you don't even see them at the ice cream palace.