Troubled bridge over Bull Shoals!

Just this morning (January the 28^th) on Hwy 76 as you cross the Bull Shoals bridge near Forsyth Missouri, there is a lit sign advertising a meeting at the local High School concerning the 'Bridge Project' to be held Tuesday, February the 4th at 5PM. Interestingly, no one at the local Bridge and Planning office seemed to know anything about it. I then contacted MoDot in Springfield at (417) 895-7600 and was told by the person who answered that they also had no idea of who erected the sign, but that they would get back to me.

Jann Clark of the Taney Country Times was the only person I contacted who seemed to know what

was going on. Yes, evidently a District Manager (Modot?) would be available to answer questions at the school cafeteria on that date presumably concerning some of the impacts that would result as part of the extensive renovation efforts that could see the bridge closed down for many months.

Fortunately, an article published, last Tuesday, in the Branson Tri-Lakes News on January the 21^st went into better detail as to some of the particulars concerning this effort. The bottom line seems to be that Mo-Dot is just beginning to look at the entire project, slated for 2017, and may even elect to push it back in time if needed.

Update: I'm not sure who I heard this from, but a person I know that went to the Bridge Project meeting held at the Forsyth High School on February the 11^th told me that one idea was to just leave the old bridge standing even after a new one is built. The old bridge could then be used exclusively for foot and bicycle traffic for pedestrians. I like that!

Empire Electric and a two hour plus outage!

At least the outage was in the wee hours of the morning!

I just have to give it up for Empire Electric. They win the outage race hands down! I've lived for decades in other locations and could count the power outages on one half of one hand. Living here, in Forsyth Missouri, it's like living in the Wild West! 'You just never know when that pesky old sub station will up and quite on you'! Dag nab-bit!

And so it was during the morning hours of October 31, 2013 that the power went out yet again... this time for over two hours! Was it a sub station problem? I don't know. Empire doesn't make it a point to let its customer base know what's going on, unless there is another rate hike in the offing, that is...

Well, perhaps this state of affairs won't last much longer. I'm sure that Obama and Hilliary are even now looking at a National Power Bureau that will allow for our government not only to be a single payer entity for healthcare, but which will also allow them to become your only source for power. What a wonderful world we are living in....

Empire Electric rates up 7% for 2013-14 winter season!

Along with rising food prices, you can now figure in a 7% rate increase to about 149K customers by Empire Electric partially due the fact that they did not bother to get full insurance for that twister that hit Branson in May of 2011, and courtesy of the EPA who raised the mercury standard for coal fired plants (more of these increases yet to come on the heels of Obama's pending carbon tax). But wait! there's more! Look for another rate increase in October of 2014.

Here's the nitty gritty of figuring your bill for the winter season (Nov thru Jun):

Old rate: 0.1070 cents for the first 600 kWh and then a rate of 0.0871 cents for anything above that. 

New Rate: 0.1149 and 0.0934 cents respectively.

They also levy a surcharge of $12.52 per month on top of that! Oh, and White Rive has also....

"White River Valley Electric Cooperative, which also provides service to Tri-Lakes Area customers, increased its rates effective March 1. That increase of approximately 9 percent totaled an average of $10 per month for residential customers. It last increased its rates 8 percent in April 2009, a year after a 17 percent hike." [Source: Branson TriLakes News]

 

Only a penny more tax at McDonald's? So, why am I gripping?

Click on this picture to enlarge

Just recently, I had occasion to stop at a local McDonald's for lunch where I ordered a cheeseburger and a medium fry. I'd stopped there and ordered the same thing back in mid September, but what to my surprise, the cost was a penny in tax more! Now, I know that in a world of trillion dollar deficits, where no one cares about a single penny, this might not mean much! But, maybe that's exactly the problem with those who rule over us – maybe it no longer cares about the pennies or the dollars or the billions of dollars of tax payer money that is unaccounted for each day! So, I wondered what gives? Was this a mistake? Was it a rounding error. Was a new tax being applied, and if so, by whom?

I contacted McDonald's Corporate to ask them for clarification, but have not heard back yet. If I do, I post their response, if I don't I'll post that too.

Update: A friend named Josh Smith informed me that the 1 cent tax was one the citizens approved in a ballot to help support the fire departments. Well, that actually good to hear. No maybe they won't have to stand around at street intersections begging for money....

Don't go to that park - its been closed by your government!

Imagine my surprise when I left home to go shopping and found that my street had been closed! True it went through a small park called River Run , but on reflection I've become suspicious none the less....

 You see, this barricade is really state of the art including a recessed locking system that makes breaking the lock next to impossible.  The Corp of Engineers installed these at both entrances over a year ago and it makes me wonder why....

In the old days a simple wooden barricade would have sufficed and would have allowed for emergency personnel access in case of a problem. Now this public access road is closed and I'd be willing to wager a bet that none of the emergency services have been notified of this fact - something that could prove costly to someone in desperate need of an ambulance.

FYI, I understand that the Corp runs this park at a loss. That's why it and thousands of others were apparently closed. The government can't afford to keep them open. Now, if the State or a local city were to run them, I'm sure that a profit could be made. Just look at River Run (closed) and the Shadowrock Park just across the river which is run by the City of Forsyth Mo - it's open for business and thriving!

[Obama! I pledge to make it my life's goal to help bring you and your party down. You and those egg sucking Democrats are a disgrace to the Republic you were elected to serve]!

Update: On October the 17, the River Run park near Forsyth MO was re-opened, but things have now changed for me. No longer will I consider the park to be part mine to share with all the other citizens. It has been clearly demonstrated that it is wholly owned and controlled by the government and that it can be taken away at a moments notice. This time, it was taken away on some pretense that the government needed to in order to fix major problems we face as a nation. In the end, however, nothing got done at all. Everything is just the way it was as that battered old can was kicked down the street once again...

Critique: The Chinese Mexican Burrito Cafe in Forsyth Mo.

I had an opportunity to eat lunch at the Chinese Mexican Burrito Cafe that is located off Hwy 160 next to the Great Southern Bank on a lazy Wednesday in August and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The occasion was the fact that a friend of mine, Daniel Danielson, owed me a lunch and finally came through by inviting me to haul my ass over to this food emporium that serves up both a Mexican and Chinese bill of fare. (I also discovered that they have an American menu for those who like burgers

and fries and such). As you can see, the portions are rather healthy in size even as the pricing is very fair. I was also surprised to find that the establishment offers a premium selection of beer along with a regular assortment of other beverages.


I found the service to be prompt and the interior clean and airy with the large plate glass windows next to most of the seats. The venue is also open from 11 AM to 8PM Monday through Saturday.


The bottom line – a great place to eat at and to get away from the other run of the mill food served in other venues around the area. I hope to make this eatery a frequent destination in the futre.

River Run is open in August – sort of!

After many days of rainfall early in August, River Run Park (located near the town of
Forsyth Missouri) has be partially closed with only 10 campsites now remaining open on higher ground.

I had a chance to talk to one of the two Park Attendants and was told that they were unsure of what would happen to the park other than the fact that they would be history by the end of September when the park would close for the season. I didn't get the impression that they planned to man the office there as they had sold their firth wheel a few weeks back and were now living about two mile away from the park area proper.

On a positive note, there was a man cutting the knee high grass and I understand water and power is still being applied to the ten sites, but other than that the place is relatively devoid of campers.