Well It's Almost Over!

Any bets on how successful this will be in a Reynolds County Court?

The Good Stuff

Here a a link to the information that I've been waiting to read. I knew that Centerville would not be happy about the settlement. I was present at a meeting where it was made clear that the county officials thought that they should have final say in how all the money was spent. It will be interesting to see if any elected officials end up on these boards.

Where the Money Will Go

Here is a good link explaining where the money will go. I find it interesting that some of the $7 million for economic development could go for a sewer treatment plant for Lesterville. There is no doubt that this is needed, but it sure won't do anything to bring new business to Lesterville. I'll also be interested in seeing where the "education" money goes. I'm sure that there are a lot of elected officials in Centerville that are wondering where their piece of the pie is.

One final thing about school money. The old reservoir was valued at about $80 million for tax purposes, the published cost of the new reservoir in $350 million. Does that mean that Lesterville school will have an additional $1.5 million in taxes each year after the plant is completed and working. I see a lot of wasted $$$ for flashy technology.

It's Over

Just got an email from Ameren that they have settled with the State for $177+ million. You can check the Ameren Taum Sauk web site for future details about this settlement.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always special for me. Thirty years ago I was just finishing radiation treatments for thyroid cancer in November and Thanksgiving was the first real meal that I could enjoy. This year we will not be traveling on Thanksgiving, but will host the meal in our new home. So hope that all of you have a great holiday.

Not much news on the Taum Sauk front, but its only three weeks till the second anniversary of the Taum Sauk event so I'm putting money on a settlement just before the 14th.

Here are two items from a letter Ameren sent to FERC.

Ameren has contracted with Ozark Constructors LLC to rebuild the Upper
Reservoir. Mobilization of the concrete plants, material handling, and
construction equipment is approximately 95% complete. The water
withdrawal pumping system is almost complete and startup of this system
is expected by mid-November. Water withdrawals from the Lower
Reservoir will begin when this system becomes operational.

Ameren is on schedule with the rebuild of the Upper Reservoir. Currently
the refill of the Upper Reservoir is planned for April to June 2009.

F15 Crash Site

The Forest Service has posted a map of the crash site and announced that an area of 9 square miles around the site will be closed for 60 days. If you go to the map on the far right you will see the Buick Mine. This is the largest lead mine in the USA. With all the troubles the Doe Run company has had they should feel lucky that the plane did not go down on the mine site.

I'm heading back to Lesterville to pack more stuff. I'll see if I can find any local gossip about the reservoir.

600 Bottles of Wine on the Wall

Those of you that read this that were also past customers of the pottery will appreciate this story. The Public Television station in Springfield held a wine tasting fund raiser yesterday. Pam and I volunteered to help pour wine and I said that I would take home all the empties so they did not end up in a land fill. This morning we are going to wash out 606 bottles and get them ready to melt. Ah, retirement!

Air Show

I've owned property in Reynolds County since 1970 and I lived there for 24 years. During that time I've watched thousands of "air shows" provided by the Air Guard and the Air Force. There were many times I wondered how long it would be till there was a crash. Well yesterday there was one. I was told that in the old days (1970's) that the B-52's would use the Upper Reservoir as a mock bombing site as they tried to avoid the F4's that were sent to look for them. Wonder what would have happened if this plane had crashed in the Shut-Ins?