Tuesday, March 31, 2009

city commission candidate Bob Mathews

Monday, March 30, 2009

new patrick

City Candidates

Kanyon Gingher will be interviewing city commission candidates all this week and next monday, at 5 p.m. each day on KACY radio.
Monday will be Patrick McDonald
Tuesday will be Bob Mathews
Wednesday will be Jean Snell
Thursday will be Jay Warren
Friday will be Gordon Fry
Monday of next week Scott Margolius

Election is the next day, Tuesday April 7

Picture from last friday

Disposing of yard trash

The city plans to have the F Street burn pit open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday this week and next.
The city is asking all citizens to place their tree limbs and debris at the curb if they want city crews to pick it up. You will have until April 6 to get it set out.
Debris will be picked up this week and continue until it is all picked up.
For more information or questions, call 441-4460.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Sunday

Here is my Sunday devotion.

My comments are below the verses

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Matthew 16:
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

A person can study religion - or Jesus. You may study archaeology, history, ancient languages, and all of that. You may even become convinced of the validity of the claims of Christians. But the bottom line is, the reality of it has to be revealed to you in a supernatural way.
I know that i know that i know that i know. I cannot really even explain how i know the reality. I just do. The more I study I see that the claims are very reasonable and that there is some evidence here and there.
For instance, that the scriptures were written nearly 2000 years ago, and have been passed down accurately, is a proven fact. "Problems" that exist are very minor and have no impact on the overall message.
But it is not evidence that makes me believe. I is the spirit of revelation.
If someone asks God to reveal himself, he will. It may not be immediate, and God isn't into parlor games and tricks. So if you ask him to turn your water into wine, it probably won't happen.
But in God's time, God will reveal himself if you ask and are open to the revelation.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Ice storm

Just listening to the scanner. Lots of power lines down. Lots of limbs down.
Trees are catching on fire. If a house is not on fire, firemen are not going to respond. They are answering too many calls and can't get to them all.
Not many accidents, but somewhere around K-15 a couple people ran into a ditch. They were not hurt, but had to stand on top of their car until help came. Good thing they had a cell phone.
On one street, power lines are down and the fire dept. is telling them they are going to have to shut off power to their house.
Could be a cold night.

How is everyone doing.
Ill be checking back.

Saturday morning live,10 a.m.

Post-Forum

Now that the forum for city commission candidates has passed, who do you like?
There is a poll at right.
Does the forum make a difference in who you vote for?

The school board forum was not as well attended last night, and a couple candidates did not appear.
With a week or so to go, which candidates do you think have done the best job of winning votes?

Thursday, March 26, 2009

The music

The monthly concerts for the River of Life Music Festival start Saturday.
It is at 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Arkansas City. That is at Central and A Streets.
We will have Tim Durham and his 3 in 1 band, Sylvia Riggs, and Dianne Maxwell. Maxwell is part of band but i dont know the name of the band.
Weather is supposed to be bad, so come on out.
Lot going on this weekend, so people will be making choices.

We have some musician lined up for future shows. April will be at Calvary Chapel. May is at Crossroads in Winfield. June is open - may be at Wilson Park. July is set for the E-Free church in Winfield.
The big concert is the first weekend in October.

We need musicians. We also need a crowd for them on Saturday night.
Also Saturday, there is the county marketplace expo at the Brown Center.
Local business and events will be showing off their stuff, to show what we have to do in Cowley County. There really is a lot to do here.
The River of Life Music Festival will be there, so stop by :)

forums

Nothing very surprising at the forums last night.
Six of seven candidates were there. They all did pretty well in saying what they thought.
You can read it in detail on the live blog.
There's probably lots of bad typing in there. So I hope you all understand that it was live. I was trying to get as much in as possible.
Tonight is the school board forum.
Someone else will be doing the live blog.
I will be moderating.
Same format.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

city candidate forum

obama's speech

Here is a link to the transcript of Obama's speech and press conference last night.
I didn't watch it. He is a good speaker though. I always enjoy a good speaker.
The second link is an AP "fact check" which analyzes the claims the president made.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_text




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/fact_check_obama

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

forums

Just a reminder about our political forums.
Wednesday 6 p.m. is city commission
Thursday, 6 p.m. is school board
both are at the senior center.
we will be living blogging, kacy will be broadcasting.
you may also attend.

Misplaced anger ?

The drug testing for welfare recipients has gotten a lot of comments.
Looks like most people are against it.
I don't want to defend any druggie or take up for anyone addicted to drugs. I know the only language a druggie understands is tough love.
The problem I have is just basic fairness. There is huge hypocrisy here on many levels.

One level being the definition of drugs. Alcohol is not included on tests. Tobacco is not, Caffeine is not. Some drugs are just more socially acceptable than others.

Another level is my current favorite outrage, which is corporate welfare. We are worrying about some druggie abusing the system for a couple hundred dollars, while passing out million dollar bonuses for criminals in penthouse suites.
There is no mention of drug testing for the people getting bailouts. Discrimination plain and simple. Easy to target a poor person who cant afford a lawyer.

The cost is another level of hypocrisy. It will cost $800,000 the first year and $1.4 million over a two year period. Officials estimate 7 percent of welfare recipients - the poor ones, not the rich ones - are druggies. That works out to about 500 people in Kansas.
Say half don't complete the rehab program and get booted off the welfare rolls. At a total cost of $800,000, that works out to $32,000 each. Not many poor people get that kind of money in welfare. Just don't see how this could ever save any money.

Druggies need help. Some of them need to be locked up.
But, lets not lose sight of the reality that our government is handing out billions of dollars to criminals who have wrecked our economy.
So you steal 100 bucks from the state you get cut off, you steal millions from the feds, and you get even more millions.

I would like for conservatives to explain to me why they get upset at poor people abusing welfare, but they are not upset at huge companies getting BILLIONS of dollars after having wrecked our economy.

And you know who is footing the bill? We are with tax money.
Where is the anger?
Where is the outrage?

Storm sirens

Where were you when the tornado sirens went off yesterday.
I was headed up Summit, going to KFC. They were about to lock the doors up there, but let me get something.
I probably should have taken cover quicker, but I did manage to get home pretty fast.

The sirens are only sounded if a tornado has been spotted in the area, and if it looks like there might be one. Ive heard that there has not been a tornado in Arkansas City.
The rivers might really have something to do with that.
We can still have storm damage here, so its probably not a good idea to continue on to a fast food place when you hear the sirens go. :) note to self.

The wind was blowing so hard, i could feel the truck moving. Rocking.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

cool link

http://www.nonstopenglish.com/reading/quotations/k_Fools-and-Foolishness.asp

Foolishness

Just some quotes to think about.

Prov 18:2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

The superior man is firm in the right way, and not merely firm.
-- Confucius

A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart.
-- Confucius

Confucius Say
Never argue with a fool…he may be doing the same thing.

63. The fool who knows of his ignorance, indeed, through that very consideration becomes a wise man. But that conceited fool who considers himself learned is, in fact, called a fool.
.. buddha

* No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
- Hunter S. Thompson

* Foolish writers and readers are created for each other.
- Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797)

The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself. John Ciardi 1916-1986, American Teacher, Poet, Writer

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. [King Solomon] Bible

Only a fool knows everything. A wise man knows how little he knows.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

another drug abuse question

question on another post.
anyone want to talk about this ?

Question: have you ever had family or friends with a substance abuse problem?

You would have to include tobacco and alcohol here i would think ?

Friday, March 20, 2009

Live blog, with guest from Iraq

Thurber sentencing live blog

You can see a live blog of the Thurber sentencing here:

http://www.kwch.com/global/story.asp?s=10041424

Live interview saturday

On the live blog Tuesday, there was a reader who said he is in Iraq. I found out he is legitimate.
I am going to interview him live at 10 a.m . Saturday on the live blog.
His name is Dallas Tharp. Has lived in both Arkansas City and Dexter.
Dont know much else about him.
He is an MP at a base in Iraq.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

welfare drug testing

Our state rep, Kasha Kelley, wants to have random drug testing for people who get welfare. Here is an AP story about it.


DRUG TESTING: Some Republicans in the Kansas House are pushing for random drug testing for people who receive cash assistance from the state.
A bill mandating such testing has cleared the House Health and Human Services Committee and is headed to the entire chamber for debate.
The measure would affect about 14,000 people receiving help under the Temporary Assistance for Families, General Assistance, Child Care Assistance and Grandparents as Caregivers Assistance programs.
People who fail the tests and don't complete a treatment program would lose their benefits. The testing would cost $800,000 a year and start in July 2010.
Committee Chairwoman Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that the state has a duty to make sure tax dollars don't finance drug habits.
But Democrats are skeptical of the proposal, and the committee's endorsement Tuesday came on a party-line vote.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Bryants Hardware closed

Bryant Hardware is now closed.
Zach Posted the following on this blog on another post awhile ago.

Here is what he posted.

Today Bryant Hardware is no more. It was a shock to me as well not in the fact that I didn't know it was happening but that I didn't know it would happen so soon. The reason I appologize is because I didn't live up to the standards of Bryant Hardware. I could not maintain the Yes We Have it motto, I did not always provide the best of help and quickly I found I could not compete with the big box stores. I'm sorry that many feel I helped stop Lowes from coming here. It would have been another hardware option that could have helped better serve the communitys needs. That being said I would also like to say thank you. Thank you to the community for shopping local and for giving my store a shot, thank you to all the wonderful people and personalities that frequented my door, thank you to the other businesses that stood behind me, most of all thank you for allowing me to be a part of Ark City. Though I don't know what the future has in store for me job wise I want everyone to know I am proud to be from Ark City and I will continue to strive to make this the best place on Earth to live. I will continue to lead the skate group and remain a possitive role model in their lives, I will still coach as many little league teams as I have time for in order to teach sportsmanship to the younger generation, and I will continue to speak out when I think anyone is being wronged. I am here to stay, my son is here, my home is here, and my friends are here. This is the town I love and I will remain here. I appologize one last time for taking the direction of this blog the wrong way but I needed to say that. Best wishes to all.

Zach Bryant

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Live meeting tonight at 7

Late-meeting fireworks

As the work session was breaking up Monday night, and after I had shut down the live blog, there were some harsh words exchanged.
Dotty Smith and Mell Kuhn told Patrick McDonald that they didn't appreciate some of his political activities. They were referring to emails and things he has said publicly that were negative about other commissioners.
McDonald is running for re-election. Smith and Kuhn are not up for the vote this time.
Dotty said "you are still going to have to work with us after the election if you win."
Mell was a bit harsher, saying he didn't appreciate some of the things McDonald has done.
McDonald didn't respond except to just acknowledge what was said.
He has been distancing himself from the "three amigos" as part of his campaign.
Mell and Dotty are two of the three amigos. Scott Margolius is the third one, and he is running for re-election.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Worksession live blog

city agenda

Not much on the agenda this week for the city.
Im surprised to see the hospital on there. Should be on the first meeting in April instead. Ill see what the deal is.

1. Proclaim April 2009 as Fair Housing Month in Arkansas City.

2. Consider charter ordinance on reorganizing Hospital Board.

3. Receive presentation on Cherokee Strip Museum operations and proposed improvements.

4. Consider Mayor’s appointments to City Boards.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

here is an outrage

WASHINGTON – American International Group is giving executives in its most troubled business unit tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion dollars.

AIG has said it must pay out the executive bonuses to meet a contractually obligated Sunday deadline, but the troubled insurance giant has agreed to administration requests to restrain future payments.

The Treasury Department determined that the government did not have the legal authority to block the current payments by the company — which are part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. AIG declared earlier this month that it had suffered a loss of $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has asked that the company scale back future bonus payments where legally possible, an administration official said Saturday.

This official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Geithner had called AIG Chairman Edward Liddy on Wednesday to demand that Liddy renegotiate AIG's current bonus structure.

Geithner termed the current bonus structure unacceptable in view of the billions of dollars of taxpayer support the company is receiving, this official said.

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy informed Treasury that outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

Liddy said in his letter that "quite frankly, AIG's hands are tied" although he said that in light of the company's current situation he found it "distasteful and difficult" to recommend going forward with the payments.

Bonus programs at financial companies have come under harsh scrutiny after the government began loaning them billions of dollars to keep the institutions afloat. AIG is the largest recipient of government support in the current financial crisis.

AIG also pledged to Geithner that it would also restructure $9.6 million in bonuses scheduled to go a group that covers the top 50 executives. Liddy and six other executives have agreed to forgo bonuses.

The group of top executives getting bonuses will receive half of the $9.6 million now, with the average payment around $112,000.

This group will get another 25 percent on July 14 and the final 25 percent on September 15. But these payments will be contingent on the AIG board determining that the company is meeting the goals the government has set for dealing with the company's financial troubles.

The Obama administration has vowed to put in place reforms in the $700 billion financial rescue program in an effort to deal with growing public anger over how the program was operated during the Bush administration.

That anger has focused in part on payouts of millions of dollars in bonuses by financial firms getting taxpayer support.

Sunday morning

Phllippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Phl 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Phl 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Phl 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phl 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.
Phl 4:9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.


Here we have a promise.
We present our needs and requests to God. We are not promised physical stuff we may need at that moment, but what we are promised is that the peace of God will be with us.
Having peace within yourself is important. That is the greatest need there is in the world.
That is why there are so many self help books out there.
If you have peace in yourself, you can handle anything.
As he says later in the chapter.
He can do all things through Christ.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Saturday morning live,10 a.m.

javascript:void(0)javascript:void(0)

Live blog Saturday

Just a reminder that we will do the live blog thing again in the morning.
10 a.m.
It is just going to last one hour.
Ending at 11 a.m.

Music festival

We are set to go with our monthly music shows.
The first one will be 6 p.m., March 28, at First American Baptist Church in Arkansas City.
The second one will be in April at Calvary Chapel in Ark City, May will be at Wilson park, June will be at Crossroads church in Winfield. July has not been determined yet.
Winners from each of those shows will move on to the finals, which will be held in August. This might be on the river, not sure yet.
Three of those bands will be invited to play at our music festival - the Third River of Life Music Festival. It has been held the first week in October. We may move it to the week before the Walnut Valley Festival.

The monthly shows will have local Christian bands. Any music style is welcome. Each band will get 20 minutes to play. Judges will pick a winner. The audience will also get to vote, and their vote will count as one judge.
We still have slots available for bands.
The first one should be interesting as it will be a learning experience for us.
It will be indoors though, and we will have electricity, so that should help. :)

If anyone wants to get involved - or for bands that might want to play - email us at musicfestival@sbcglobal.net
I use the words "bands," to include any musical act. It could be an individual.

city - hospital board

After nearly two hours of meetings last night, I am not sure I understand the thing between the city and the hospital board any better.
The city has been restructuring its boards, so maybe it makes sense that the hospital board would be included in that.
Hospital board people argue that they are doing a good job, so there's no need to mess with something that is working.
They did seem to be close to agreement last night.
The changes are not all that drastic really.
Board member said they had no problem with going from nine members to seven.
One disagreement is that the hospital board has some sub-committees that report back to the board. You have the board making decisions about operations of the hospital - no pun intended - and the city feels that is micromanaging. They believe the ceo should be in charge of that.
Hospital board members feel the system they have works just fine and makes them more efficient. Looks like they do get somewhat involved in day to day operations, but they are fine with that.
Another point that may have been cleared up, was the process of selecting board members. The board recommends people, the mayor then nominates and the commission either approves or rejects. Rejection of a board member nomination is very rare.
Commissioners felt they "had to" approve whoever the hospital board sent them. Hospital board members did not feel that way.
One thing I hoped for last night, as to finally find out why this matters.
Why does the city feel reorganization needs to be done, and why does the hospital board care. Im not sure that question was answered.

Commissioners say they want to make some changes because things have changed. With the half-cent sales tax, the new hospital is going to be built with a lot of help from tax dollars. Nearly $1 million a year for 10 years. For that reason they want to take a little closer look at things.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Live blog, city commission Thursday 7 p.m.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

forums for local races

Our forums are finally set.
Earlier i mentioned some dates. Things have changed, so, these are the official dates.

City commission is set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25 at the Senior Center.
School board is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 26 at the Senior Center.

Each candidate will get three minutes to speak. Then there will be questions selected from the audience.
Each candidate will then be given one minutes to speak as a wrap-up.
KACY will be broadcasting the event, and we will have live blogging going on.
But we still hope to have a decent crowd.

KSOK radio is having one on March 21. Not sure of too many details on that one yet, but they are doing all the local races, including Winfield, on the same day.

We have our online poll going on for city commission. We will soon have an online poll for school board. These are not very accurate, but do give you a general idea.
Lets check out the candidates real hard. :)

Just a tangent

Click on the title of this blog for a link to a Time Magazine article.
It is very long and laborious, but it is good reading.
It is about how the leader of Brazil has that country doing very well in a world of economic crisis and turmoil.

He is considered something of a leftist, but is very moderate.
Above all, he is a pragmatist.
He apparently is taking the best of conservative and liberal ideas and doing what works.
That is kinda what Obama claims he is doing or says he wants to do. Maybe we should look past partisan politics and give him a chance?

I really believe the biggest problem we have - as ive said before - is partisan politics itself. We have conservative and liberal sides who want to rule, and who want power. There's nothing wrong with that, but you cant make progress in the middle of a power struggle.
Neither side really wants a solution, and so our depression grows deeper.
The thing is, neither side is right. Both have strengths and weaknesses. The biggest weakness of both is that they are more into power than progress.

If a political party could be developed that took the best of both, it might appeal to more people, and might do a better job.
The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and over and expecting to get different results. Choosing either side is just doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. But also, choosing a third party just because it is a third party, isnt a good idea either.
Where are the politicians who can see past partisan politics? I dont know, but they might be out there if we look hard enough.

Thats my rant for a Tuesday. The Time article is good.
Anyone want to talk about this?

Monday, March 9, 2009

More on death penalty

Here is a case that has similarities to ours.
Click on the title for the whole story.

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Cal Coburn Brown surprised investigators with his reply to this routine question at the end of a lengthy police interview: Anything else you want to tell us?
Brown — arrested in Palm Springs, Calif. for an attack on a woman at a hotel — answered with explicit details about how he had tortured and murdered a 22-year-old woman in the Seattle suburbs just days earlier. Her body was found in the trunk of her car.
Brown, 50, is scheduled to die for that murder on Friday, and would become the first person executed in Washington since 2001.
Prosecutors point to the case as one befitting the death penalty, while opponents argue for leniency because of his mental condition.
"I've been in the prosecutor's office for 25 years, and I've seen a lot of shocking things. But looking at Cal Brown's sadistic torture spree, really it is about the worst case I've ever seen," said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.
According to court documents, Brown suffers from bipolar disorder, but was not being treated at the time of the murder. Since 1994, prison staff have prescribed medication to control the condition.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Saturday morning live

live blog tomorrow

Just after 6 p.m., and no fallout from my article yet.
I have a column about local connections in Saturday's paper. Ill post it here tomorrow
Also, ill try that live blog thing again Saturday morning.
10 a.m. until 11 a.m.
We had a pretty good talk on various subjects last week.
See you there.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Video of commission meeting

The city has updated the online video to show the Tuesday night meeting. People can view it at:

http://www.arkcity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=132

OR

www.arkcity.org
select CITY GOVERNMENT from the list on the left
scroll down and click on COMMISSION MEETING VIDEO REPLAY

Also, many documents on that site.

forums

We are putting together forums for city commission and school board elections.
The election is April 7.
Both forums will be at the middle school.
School board is March 26, City Commission is April 2.
(We may change the city commission to March 25)
Both to start at 7 p.m.
Those are tentative dates. We are just waiting for the candidates to get back to us and say it is ok.

da mayor

I had a long talk with Mell on Tuesday. Ive looked over the city record's and the mayor's records.
I am working on a story that should be out on Friday. Maybe Saturday.
I want to do some comparisons to other cities.
One thing about Kuhn is, he doesn't care all that much what people think.
That might be a good thing. Too many people are afraid to speak up because they fear what people will think of them. Right or wrong, Mell is Mell.
During our talk he said. "If the job gets done on time, under budget and according to specs, why should anyone care who did it."
He showed me some of the bids he has done in other cities. They look just like the ones he has done in Arkansas City. He currently has six other jobs going on in six other cities on sewer and water plants.
The jobs he is doing for Arkansas City seem to be on the level. Even city officials - could be commissioners or employees - who are not fans of Mell say that.
He has not been part of making decisions about who gets jobs with the city when he bids on projects. There have been some bids that he did not win.
One point too, is that we don't hear of other contractors, competitors, complaining about the process.
He makes no secret of his preference for the hospital project. He says his company "doesn't do hospitals." He said his company would not be bidding on any significant work on the hospital.
Some minor job perhaps, but probably not, he said.

So thats his response in a nutshell. There will be much more in the story.
I have all the bids for all the jobs he has bid on in recent years.

I am remaining neutral on the Mayor. His jobs with the city do not appear to be illegal. Whether its right or wrong, is not a call I'm going to make. That means both sides accuse me of being on the other side.
But the thing is, he is causing some things to happen. He is stirring things up and disrupting the status quo. Maybe that is a good thing?

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Tuesday's meeting

The Arkansas City City Commission revised its water bill rules Tuesday night.
The reversed the earlier move of charging people $100 to get their water turned back in if it had been turned off due to nonpayment. They were also going to shut people off five days after the past-due date.
The new rules call for a $35 fee if your water is shut off for nonpayment. There will also be a 10-day period between the past-due date and the shutoff date.
If a non-profit group pays to have someone's water turned back on, the non-profit won't be charged the $35 fee.
That seemed to be what people wanted.
They are considering refunding the $100 fees that were assessed.

They tabled the skateboader rules after a long discussion. The rules would ban skating - and bicycles - from sidewalks in the downtown area.
The discussion revolved around the penalties.
The hospital board restructuring was also tabled without much discussion. That was discussed at length Monday.

Also at the meeting, City Manager Steve Archer made available a list of all of Mayor Mell Kuhn's jobs with the city. Also included are what bids were from other companies. This lists all of the jobs since 2007.
I had a long interview with Kuhn Tuesday afternoon. I will be putting all of this into a story very soon.

The live blogging is going well. Lots of people are reading it. Im still getting comfortable with it. Learn a little more each time out.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tuesday night meeting

Monday's meeting

Long work session last night. You can read about the whole thing at the live blog below.
The hospital charter ordinance is going to get tabled. Commission will meet with hospital board to work out some details. One big issue is whether to go from nine members to seven on the hospital board.
The board has committees within itself. City commissioners are questioning the wisdom - or need - for that.
City commissioner will be a non-voting member.

That meeting tonight is a public meeting and will likely be next week, Wednesday of Thursday. Should know for sure on that tonight.
Tonight's meeting is at 7. Again, open to public.

They are going to pass the water bill ordinance. There will be a $35 fee for shutoff, and no fee for turnon. 10 days to pay instead of five after late date.
Skateboarder rules might also get passed tonight. They are also going to do a map showing where skating areas are.

I did the live blog thing again. It was about four hours long. I was surprised at how hard it is to type one thing and pay attention to something else at the same time.

Monday, March 2, 2009

City worksession

More live blogging

This live blogging thing is going well.
Im going to do it again this evening, starting at 5:30 or so at the city commission work session.
Work sessions are a bit more informal and don't always start right on time.
These meetings are public meetings. You may go to the meeting.
I have also added an archive of live blogs over to the right. So if you want to see an old one, it will be easily available.

The hospital board might be the most controversial topic tonight. I'm still not sure if it is a big deal or not. Keep in mind that there is an election to coming up. A question to think about during election season is: How might this impact the campaign of any candidate?
The issue itself could effect someone's run for office. Also realize, that who is making it an issue, is itself an issue.

I am still working on a story about the mayor's work for the city. Politics is involved here as well. The mayor isn't running, but there's still political hay to be made from the issue.
Hope to have it done in a day or two.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

re-posting sunday morning

Psalm 32
1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Confession is good for the soul, people say. I think it is. It is for our own benefit.
The first people, Adam and Eve, covered themselves with leaves after they had sinned, because they realized they were naked.
The clothes were not the issue, but what it symbolized.
God covered them with animal skins, which was a symbol of the blood sacrifice, and the sacrifice of Christ.
The story of Adam and Eve has huge theological significance.
When we sin, we distance ourselves from God. Just like in any human relationship, you tend to not want to hang around people too much if you have wronged them and think they might be mad at you. There is also a pride issue. No one wants to have people thinking bad of them.
God covered Adam and Eve's sin with animal skins, which was a picture of the covering he gives us with the death and resurrection of Christ.
The second verse of the psalm is significant too. When confronted with his sin, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the devil. (the snake.) and the snake didn't have a leg to stand on.
This caused tension in their relationship with God, and no doubt, in their relationship with each other. That is the result of having deceit in our hearts.
They tried to hide their sin- with leaves, but God's covering really works.

Deceit in our spirits also speaks to deceiving ourselves. Some people won't acknowledge their sin, not even to themselves, so they deceive other and themselves. Then there is the ultimate solution, which is to deny God and the existence of the spirit world.
But as the psalmist says, blessed - or happy - is the person whose sins have been covered, who is not "in debt" because of them.

Confession is basically just admitting to having done wrong, and agreeing with God that it is wrong.
Some people say you should also pledge to not do that sin again, but I really don't agree with that. First, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. Second, it sets you up for failure. It puts pressure on you, so if you fail, then you feel worse, but if you succeed, then you may become prideful and be in sin anyway.
It just gives the devil a stick to beat you over the head with.

Confession is the way to a clear soul and mind. Happy too is the person who is not trying to hide their sin. Im not so sure that means hiding it from other people, as im not sure if that matters. But hiding it from God, or from ourselves, is a path to destruction, as the rest of the psalm says.

Sunday morning

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