Spaghetti Dinner Benefit in Rockaway Beach this Friday!

This coming Friday, July 29, 2011, the City of Rockaway Beach Police Department will host a spaghetti dinner at $10 a plate from 5PM to 7 PM at the Community Center located in town on the main drag. The proceeds of this event will go towards the purchase of a new squad car for the Police Department. In addition to the food, the Plumb Country Band will be on hand to play music. More information can be obtained by calling the Rockaway Beach City Hall at 417-561-4424.

Note: Pictured meal is representative and may or may not be accurate.

Cedarcreek Convenience Store

One thing about the cedar creek area in southwest Missouri, there’s not a lot in the way of grocery stores. That’s why the Cedarcreek Convenience Store which has been in business since 1995 is such a great thing to have for local residents and the hordes of fishermen who come down ‘M’ Highway to fish in the pristine waters of Bull Shoals.

The store is located at 6685 State Highway M in Cedarcreek Missouri and the telephone number to reach them is 417-794-3371. The store hours are currently Monday and Tuesday 1 to 6PM, Wednesday thru Saturday 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM and Sunday 7AM to 6PM. The store offers a gas island, groceries, fishing accessories and liquor. Stop in and and check them out!

Forsyth Computer Shop now open for business!

I had a chance to stop in at the Forsyth Computer Shop located at 15960 Hwy 160 next to the Prime Time. Inside the store, which has just opened are a number of computers for sale along with helpful personnel that also do computer repair. The owner Brian Loehmann was attending to the needs of some customers, but I was able to chat with great person by the name of Michelle.

Their store hours are currently M-F 8AM to 6PM and Saturday 10AM to 2PM. They can be reached by calling 417-546-8400 or emailed at forsythcomputershop@yahoo.com. Stop in and say hi!

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A new Gun Shop/Furniture Store opening soon?

There are now confirmed rumors circulating that a new fishing, gun and antique shop will be opening sometime in early August at what used to be the Carol Jones office on Highway 160 in Forsyth Missouri. My sources tell me it may be called KJM Mercantile. I'll try and have more pictures and information as soon as possible.

Here's an update!

Forsyth Fun Day 2011 was just awesome!

Whenever a dedicated group of individuals goes to the trouble to assemble great food and easy listening music in a setting of emerald green hills surrounded by sparkling water, well that’s anyone's ticket to good times! And, that’s also just what went down at the Forsyth Fun Day event held Saturday, July the 16^th at the Empire Electric Park (courtesy of Tom Schneider and his crew) located just above the Powersite Dam.

The Forsyth Fun Day is a tradition that has taken place now for eight years and each year the food seems to taste a little bit better. (But maybe that’s just my stomach talking). This year, I enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich, potato chips and a diet coke while watching the hilarious antics known as the ‘cardboard boat races’.  This event  is a yearly competition where young kids get to test their home-brewed cardboard creations on the chilly waters of Lake Taneycomo. Some of the boats make it around the competition circuit and some don’t. Either way, it doesn't matter. Just watching was a great time and that’s what counts!

After awards were handed out to the kids, it was trophy time for the BBQ chefs, many of whom arrived the day before to setup. In the ribs category, Primo's Pizza man Big Josh took 1st place. Pork butt was nailed by the Skinny Broads, and last but not least, the winner of the beef brisket competition was also Skinny Broads (pictured above)! The top three contestants, in each category, all got trophies and checks for their efforts. The real winners, however, were the people (like me) who got to sample fabulous food while kicking back and listening to the great sounds of the band Hip Katz.

If you missed the action this year, be sure to check in about the same time in 2012 when the next Forsyth Fun Day will be held in one of the best locales to live in the entire United States... Forsyth Missouri! For anyone interested, I also have some of the pictures of the event posted at www.taneyservices.com.

The Forsyth Park Audit: Fair or Not?

By nature, I confess to two recurrent problems in my life; one, an ongoing and entrenched form of naivety and two, a sense of curiosity that often gets me into trouble. Blindly walking into problems is no way to live a life, but that’s just the way I was built. So, it was with a growing sense of curiosity that I began to follow the exploits of the City of Forsyth and its seeming trouble with parks.

Let me begin with what I think a park actually is. By one definition, it’s ‘an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, set aside for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, and which is often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation.’ That would seem to be a pretty good starting definition to me. But, I also feel that a city’s park(s) should be locales that are planned, implemented and managed in such a manner that the citizens feel they have been a part of the process. Did that happen here? I’m not sure.

Here in Forsyth, Missouri we have now have two parks; Shadow Rock Park, a site that spends part of it’s time underwater and a recent addition, Shoals Bend Park. Interestingly, neither park actually resides within the city limits. Shadowrock lies on federally owned land and Shoals Bend is…well, it’s down Highway 76 a piece.

The first park, Shadowrock, has been under the control of the City of Forsyth for some time. As I understand it, we rent the place from the Corps of Engineers. However, the stuff built there over time has come from the city and the folks who paid property taxes. That was until a bill was passed in 2000 whereby a half cent city tax was enacted. The proceeds of which went into a fund for the future management of local city parks. (This act then repealed the City Ordinance numbered 128 which levied a portion of the funds collected from property taxes for park purposes). A move that would hopefully make money spent on the park systems much easier to track. Theoretically at least.

That half cent tax, by the way, amounted to something like 1.6 million dollars in the ten year span of time to up to 2010. How exactly that money was disseminated over that decade has only recently come into question by some in the community. The problem some have with Shadowrock is one of visual infrastructural accounting (VIA). Over the last ten years, where has the money gone and for what purpose? (I believe that even the walking path which runs from the Shadowrock Park proper to the property managed by Empire Electric was subsidized by the Federal government at a cost to the city of only $40K)! Then, there was the recurrent flood damage over the years. I’m not sure what the cost was there, but I do know that volunteers were employed at least once to help make things right. (I know, because I was one of them). Other expenses that were visible was park maintenance and the building of a bandstand. Other than that…what? I need some help here!

Now, we have us a brand new park area known as Shoals Bend Park. A sprawling 78 acre track of land which I understand was purchased by the city and which has now has been leased out to the Taney County Fair Board for a period of thirty years. As I understand it, both the city and the Fair Board will help build a couple of baseball parks and an arena along with other needed improvements to function as a vehicle for future Fairs and such. The profits of which will be funneled back into the park system for additional improvements. Did I get that even close to right? But, wait a minute! What about that half cent tax thingy? Are they still collecting it, and if so, which park will it go to? Both? Neither? I dunno. Tangled webs were never my bag man.

The bottom line is this park deal seems to be a bit of a mess, and I wholly endorse the expenditure of monies to have an audit performed at this time. I’m also confident that there is enough concern in the Forsyth community to warrant such an investigation. A process I would like to see done in a timely and transparent fashion.

Disclaimer: All the opinions expressed in this article are those solely of the author and may or may not be factually accurate. Readers are encouraged to do their own research, and in doing so, come to their own conclusions.

Trash Services for the Forsyth Missouri Area

Here in the Forsyth Missouri area, I have looked at four companies that provide trash removal services on a regular basis. They are Allied Waste, Plummer, Raintree and Tri-Lakes. If there are more, please let me know and I’ll post them here.

Of the four, Allied Waste appears to me to be the most costly and getting more so on a quarterly basis. I say appears because I’m not really sure why their collection cost of around $29 per month averages fifteen dollars higher than either Plummer or Raintree who I am told come in at around $15 per month. (If any of these prices are incorrect, I will be happy to post that in a future blog).

Now of the three, Plummer seems to have the most basic equipment where as both Raintree and Allied have larger and heavier duty trucks. That said, I’m told by some people who use Plummer that they are very accommodating and have been know to take items that other companies might not. If true, good for them! I have noticed that Plummer seems to work even on some Holidays where as I know for sure that Allied does not.

Disclaimer: The information posted here may not be accurate in the future due to changing prices offered by the service providers.