Putnam Ordinance, industrial parks and baseball
Looking ForwardFor those of you who saw Fox 2 News the other night, you found out some information regarding the city of Cuba that I've been reporting on for weeks now. It looks like Monday night will be an interesting night as Fox2 is set to show up at the Cuba City Council meeting–that's what Mayor Brad Bouse has told me anyway. John Gadson was in front of city hall reporting and has spoke with Linda Heflin, again something that we at the paper have already hashed over.
Monday night's meeting should be an interesting one as the second reading of the proposed Putnam Ordinance will happen. This time around there has been virtually no opposition and it had gone through the council unanimously until April 16's meeting when something or someone apparently got to Alderman Kevin Copling and he let loose on a rant declaring that the ordinance was not good for Cuba. We'll see if he sticks to his guns this time around.
Alderwoman Faye Howard seemed a bit wishy-washy on the issue citing enforceability–much like Copling– but it was her position that if it could help save someone's life it would be worth it.
It is still unbeknownst to me as to why freshman Alderman Harold Halbert voted 'no.' If he does the same thing this time around, I'll be sure to find out.
Another industrial park?
We received a bit of misinformation this past week that I've followed up on regarding the donation of 68 acres of land to the city for another industrial park.
Apparently what happened was that Jim Barnett, of Peoples Bank, was going to attempt to purchase the land at Ridgetop Farm in an auction and then would donate it to the city of Cuba for the use of an industrial park.
After talking to the mayor, I found out that he called each alderman individually to get a general consensus–not an official opinion. Rumor has it there was a 3-3 vote and Bouse made the decision. He told me that he told Barnett that this was the general consensus and that things could change come the city council meeting.
As it turns out the $285,000 that Barnett bid was the highest bid, but not enough to get the land–it sure would have been a nice tax write off though. I'm not sure that I would agree with the city taking the land for an industrial park. We already have two and the newest one only has one building.
Baseball season
Baseball leagues around the area have officially kicked off.
The Crawford Conductor's–the vintage baseball
team in the area–kicked off the season last weekend, splitting a double header with the St. Louis Unions. Vintage ball is a family friendly treat and the Conductors are the defending state champs. Get out and see them sometime. Talk to me I have their schedule if you're interested as I'm on the team. By the way, that's me in the photo to the left, playing catcher or what we vintage ball players call "the behind." Go figure.So I was asked to coach a city league team, right. Last night was our first practice and I'm sorer than all get out. I'll tell you what those guys (11-14 year olds) are some fine ball players and I'm looking forward to helping them out on the diamond.
Labels: baseball, cuba, industrial park, putnam ordinance
