Taney Services Weather Page

I’ve recently launched a web site (www.taneyservices.com) that has weather as a primary focus. While it’s intended to cover the Taney County Missouri area, there are elements that might be of interest for people living in other parts of the US.

River Run Campsites now being repaired!

Sites that were without power for 2012 are now being restored!

Water damage to junction boxes rendered them useless.

 After a number of months of delay, additional funds from the Federal Flood Recovery effort became available to allow repairs to electrical junction boxes that were knocked out after extensive flooding inundated the River Run Park area over a period of four years. Included in the ongoing repairs will be new awnings over some of the RV sites along with new electrical junction boxes for as many as sixteen sites that had been without power since last season.

Owner Don Freeland working on site!

I had a chance to talk briefly with the owner of the company that was doing electrical portion of the repair. His name was Don Freeland and his company 'Freeland Electric' operates out of Mountain Home Arkansas. Mr. Freeland informed me that the work was moving along quickly as he and his working staff were putting in long ten hour days in order to restore the campsites to full operational status as soon as possible.

Well, it looks like River Run Park will be back up 100% before the end of the season and just in time for the fall RV crowd to come down and take advantage of the great fishing found in this part of the Bull Shoals waterway near Forsyth Missouri!

Update: As of early September, it now looks as though electrical power has been restored to all the campsites (call them to make sure). There are also a few awning that are being replaced at this time. Other than that, the Park looks good to go!

Senior Friendship Center Swap Meet

Click on to enlarge

Seems like more and more of us are becoming seniors every year! One great gathering place down where I live is the Forsyth Senior Center. A great place to find 'homemade' food served each week day at 11:30 AM along with good people who like to get together and have fun.

This event helps keep the Center going and growing. Please come and give your support at the Swap Meet to be held on Saturday, October the 13th at Shadowrock Park just to the east of Forsyth, Missouri off Highway 160! Click on the picture above for additional information.

S&S Pumping Service

I don’t really have much information yet on this septic tank pumping service that is located at 2151 Burmingham Road in Forsyth Missouri. I’ve noticed the truck in and about my neighborhood on rare occasions, but have not heard how well they perform. Their number is 417-546-2390. If anyone is aware of their pricing, etc. please leave a comment.

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.

The Taney Fair is just days away!

Scheduled to open on Tuesday, June the 14^th, the Taney County Fair for 2011 is located at a brand new venue located off Hwy 76 just past the bridge at Corner Stone Drive (see maps). The new location was needed due to the flooded condition of Shadow Rock Park. A location, I understand, that will no longer be used by the county for future fair events.

I was very impressed with the amount of progress that the mostly volunteer group of men and women has made in such short time. The rodeo arena area looks to be almost complete and should work out quite well. It looks to me that all that’s needed now are the rides, vendors and people, of course!

I plan to attend the Fair on at least a few of the days. Each of the five nights is packed with some great events. Must sees for me will be the tractor pull events on Thursday the 17th and the Demolition Derby on Friday the 18th. Information concerning events to be held can be found at the Taney County Fair site.

A new way for Mediacom to run cable?

Perhaps this is a new thing, I’m not sure. It seems Mediacom has decided that, in some cases, the best way to route their cables is to route them the easiest way possible. Instead of burying them or employing existing telephone pole infrastructure, they have elected to just leave them wherever they happen to fall on the ground. These cables run from two junction boxes and in the process meander across the ground before crossing a busy street in Valley View Village. Apparently, this practice is okie dokey with the city official as one of the cables has been like this for over a year!

I’m not sure what the intent of the statement by Mediacom or its parent company Comcast is here? Is it that they are just too big to be bothered with local cable ordinances? Is this a new way to string cable and nobody told me? Is it a sign of crumbling infrastructure? I could understand a cable, especially a communications cable being managed this way for a week or so under extraordinary circumstances, but a year ore more. You go to be jacking me!

And it’s not like no one has complained about this situation. Letters have been written, phone calls have been made and officials notified. All to no effect. I’m not sure who to be the most upset with. Mediacom and its sloppy approach to service or the men and women who work for Taney County and who are responsible to see that codes are enforced. Either way, I hope this is not a sign of things to come. For more on Mediacom, be sure to visit Complaints Board and enter their name into the search box.

May 2011 Powersite Sewer Project Update - I think!

I recently received a response from an engineer at the Powersite Sewer project who informed me that as of May the 3^rd, 2011, they were ‘in the process of staking preliminary sewer locations in the field and then verifying these locations.’ The engineer also stated that as of this date, ‘we have completed this process for the north half of the project, including the Valley View Village area.’

So that’s all I have been able to gleam from these folks thus far. I was also admonished to check the webpage for more updates. Interestingly the last one was on November 4 of last year. I still do not have a feel for when this group plans to begin the laying of sewer line or when they will want to being the process of having affected dwellings contact someone to fill in their septic tanks and get them hooked to the new line. Will it be 2012? I’m not sure. It would be nice to have some idea as the cost to homeowners will be significant and it would help if they could plan for that.

What is Taney Services?

TaneyServices.com is actually two concepts at one location. It’s a site to promote computer help to those who need it in the Taney County Missouri area and it’s a location that will feature articles concerning other service companies that I feel are a good value.

The computer help portion of this site is intended to provide an income source for myself while at the same time acting as a support center for citizens who want or have a computer but are experiencing problems. I’m targeting senior citizens or anyone else who might need help with the ins and outs of system selection, setup and getting the equipment to do what they want it to do. I’ve found it can be extremely frustrating to have a problem with no one to turn to. Over the years, working at companies both here and in other states on computer systems, I’ve come across just about everything that can go wrong and have the resources to fix them. My major areas of expertise include; system selection, setup, troubleshooting and software instruction.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THIS SITE!

The second part of the site has to do with other services that are available that I feel offer excellent value for the money. This section which I call ‘Super Services’ consists of local home businesses that provide services like electrical and plumbing and with which I’ve personally vetted as being a company that can get the job done at a fair price. This area will be a work in progress for some time as I travel around looking for and weeding out the professionals from the ones that never show up.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THAT LOCATION!

Please, Taney County, get out and vote!

No matter what your political leanings are, please do this yourself and this nation a favor and find a way to vote in the November 2^nd elections. If you can’t for some good reason, OK, I’ll live with that, but for those of us who do, it’s really important that we all take a stand. Left, center or right.

Our country is now standing at a crossroads and the outcome of this election will determine some very major directions that will affect citizens in both the short term and long term. We have a choice to make on November 2^nd and on succeeding elections which will determine whether we stay a Republic that follows the Doctrine of the Constitution or whether we go down the path of a Democratic Socialist State. It’s just that simple and just that imperative!

Forsyth Area Fall Cleanup October 29 thru 30th!

Now’s your chance to get rid of all the junk you’ve accumulated over time, and free of charge too! The Taney County Commission has designated two days in October as fall cleanup days. Specifically, on October the 29^th  and 30^th, the Taney County Recycling Center located on Highway 160 about three miles east of Forsyth will be accepting furniture, appliances, automotive batteries and almost anything else metal that you want to get rid of.

Excluded are tires and commercial dealers, just home folks please. Proof of residence will be required, so be sure to have some form of photo ID on you in the form of a driver’s license or other form of acceptable ID such as an electric bill or tax statement.

No household hazardous waste will be accepted. Collection times will from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM each day. For additional information, please call (417) 546-7268.

Area pantry needs your help!

On a recent Sunday morning I was taking my sister to the Country Mart grocery in Forsyth Missouri when I had a chance to meet a trio of very nice ladies who were collecting for the Branson Hills Ministry Center Food Pantry.

In times that are proving ever more difficult for everyone, it is good to see people like Brenda, Darlene and Marietta out there donating their time so graciously.  In difficult times, it is community charities like this one that can make the difference for so many.

If you would like to support this effort then click on the Branson Hills link for additional information.