Taum Sauk / PSC

I haven't had a lot of time to follow the PSC inquiry, but from what I have read I haven't seen any new information.

Can You believe It?

According to this article there is actually politics involved in the Taum Sauk event.

Here is a Kansas City Star article on a similar subject. I can't resist printing a quote from this article for those of you that don't want to wade through it.

"(Donald) Barnes, the letter’s lead signer, was not available Thursday for comment Thursday. He was recently charged in state court with soliciting a prostitute stemming from a May incident in which he was beaten and stabbed in Shannon County."

So if you have seen TV interviews with Donald Barnes, who served as an adviser to the Ameren FERC Fine Panel, I expect a lot of interesting things to go on here in Reynolds County after this was published in the local paper. Ain't life interesting.

Area News

Ameren has posted a number of photos of people at the Shut-Ins. They also have posted photos of some of the projects that were funded with the FERC fine money. I can tell you that a lot of people are working at the Lesterville school on the new $900,000 roof.

Some Good Press

The Springfield News-Leader has an article about the Shut-Ins. If you click on the graphic link there is a map. I love the fact that the map still shows the Upper Reservoir full of water. I don't love the fact that the map does not show Lesterville.

I'm Surprised

The Springfield paper had an article today about total taxable sales by ZIP code . I had never thought about checking this out. I checked the records for Iron and Reynolds county on the Department of Revenue web site. What surprised me is that when you compare the first quarter, when there are no tourists here with the third quarter when we seem to be covered up that there was not that great an increase in taxable sales. For Iron county the increase was $2,226,000 and for Reynolds county the difference was $2,697,000. I sure would have thought that all the folks visiting here would have left more money on the counter. Wonder if everyone is collecting sales taxes?

Same Old Story

My son called to tell me there was a half page ad about the Shut-Ins being open in the Springfield News-Leader. I assume that this ad might be in the St Louis and Kansas City papers as well, I don't get the Post anymore as it always arrived a day late. However, apparently the ad refers to www.experienceblackriver.com , the site that Ameren owns and paid for last year. If you go to this site you will see that there isn't any current information. Wish just once that everything could work together, why pay for expensive advertising and then not follow it up with an up to date web site?

New World Order at the Shut-Ins

I received the following by email today.

I strolled down to the shut-ins. Posted on the path was a DNR employee who asked me if I had any bottled water. I thought he was thirsty and told him I had some in my truck. No thanks, he replied. He just wanted to know if I was 'carrying,' as bottled water is not allowed in the shut-ins.

It's like a TSA checkpoint at the airport. I wonder when they'll install metal-detectors and have us take off our shoes.

You can bring water, but it has to be in re-usable container. Apparently they're worried that people will be tossing bottles left and right. "We want to keep the area pristine," he told me. You can take lawn chairs, coolers and food... but no plastic bottles of water.

When I visited the lower swimming hole I saw a paper plate floating in the water. I imagine paper products will be on the list next.

They also have a 'guard' on the shut-ins observation deck, so be careful if you visit.

They're watching.

Taum Sauk/Shut-Ins News

Here is an article about the latest salvo on the rebuild. I'm so busy trying to keep pots on the shelf that I haven't had time to check the FERC web site to read the posted documents.

I talked to someone that said that they thought the number of visitors to the Shut-Ins in the first week of the reopen were above expectations. I also heard that survey crews are working at the site of the new campground. Still no word about what is happening on top of Proffitt Mt. Maybe it is a UFO landing site.

Broadband

Those of you that are regular readers of these posts will remember my attempt to get broadband for Lesterville during the $5 million fine process. Well Lesterville now has DSL. However, I don't have it here in Peola Valley because I'm too far from the switch, in fact most people that have a 637 phone number will not be able to get this service, but those in Lesterville proper (remember it's not a real town, so there aren't any boundries) have the service. But since the old potter is moving to Springfield in October I'll have cable broadband at that time. Small victories.

Breaking News

I saw this on the Fox News Channel this evening.

The flooding rivers in SE Kansas are above sea level.

Must be a lot of interns working the holiday shift.

More Investigations

Now the EPA is investigating the Taum Sauk event. Will it never end?