This is going to be a meaningless column. Nothing that I talk about this week is terribly important. Interesting, maybe even entertaining — you tell me — but not essential.
Let’s begin with the Platte City mayoral race that was held last week. I use the term “race” loosely, because, well..... it really wasn’t much of a race at all. That’s why Citizen reporter Jeanette Browning-Faubion and I didn’t find any space for it last Tuesday night when we burned the midnight oil putting our election results issue to bed.
But, there were two candidates for Platte City mayor — incumbent Frank Offutt, whose name appeared on the ballot and former Platte City mayor Dave Brooks, who filed as a write-in the week prior to the election and whose name did not appear on the ballot.
Now, these two guys have been meeting at the ballot box for the last 15 years or so and it’s apparent that much of the luster has worn off their political rivalry.
Keeping in mind that an underwhelming 14.7 percent of registered Platte City voters turned out to vote, Offutt garnered 323 votes. Brooks got 84 (unofficial) write-in votes. This means that Offutt cleaned Brooks’ clock for the second straight time — he also won handily in 2012.
Brooks served the City well, first as an aldermen in the late 1990s and then as mayor for six years in the 2000s. My advice to him would be take comfort in that and find something to do that makes him happy. Getting whacked at the polls can’t be any fun.
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Easter is this weekend and, aside from the religious significance, this holiday means two things: it’s going to rain and I’m going to eat way too much at our family gathering. One thing it doesn’t mean for me anymore is I don’t have to fill plastic eggs — the kids are grown and there are no grandkids (thankfully) yet.
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I’ve been a Royals fan for more than four decades now, so that means a couple of things.
One, I’ve seen a lot of bad baseball the past 20 years or so.
Two, there is no way I’m drinking any Royal Blue Kool-Aid. It was tempting after last year’s respectable 86-win season, but when the Royals failed to put a reliable slugger in the middle of their order who hits the ball over the fence every so often, I stayed away from the sweet stuff heading into the 2014 campaign.
Glad I did.
As of this writing, the Royals had the worst record in the American League, the fewest runs scored in all of baseball and one home run.
One stinking home run in 11 games.
If that isn’t bad enough check this out: the Royals cleanup hitter, Billy Butler, doid not have a single extra-base hit and had already grounded into four double plays. The No. 3 hitter, Eric Hosmer had two RBI and we’re not even going to talk about Mike Moustakas.
I can’t decide whether it’s comical or depressing.
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Many of you remember Sara Swenson, a Platte County R-3 grad and former Citizen intern/reporter, who went on to teach journalism and other things at PCHS for a while. Then she left the teaching biz, embarked on a successul career as a singer/songwriter, moved to England and got married.
Swenson is back in town and ready to release a new album this summer, called: “Runway Lights.”
She will perform some of the new songs, as well as other selections from her catalogue, in a show April 19 at Kanza Hall in Overland Park. For more info, go to saraswenson.com.
Thanks for reading.
Lee Stubbs is owner/publisher of The Citizen. He may be reached by e-mail at editor@plattecountycitizen.com or by calling 858-5154. Follow him on Twitter @leejstubbs.