The Rock Wall

I don’t normally talk about the weather here. I figure you know if it’s hot or cold, rainy or dry. When I was in school at Columbia, the common wisdom was: if you don’t like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change. Kinda like that here. Right now, I’m thankful for the break in the rain.

– I’m glad that Crime Stoppers put up a reward for the guys who attacked Kevin Costello. Hope $2,500 is enough incentive for somebody to talk.

– Kimball and Davis are doing more interviews on our TV station. On Thursday, there will be an interview with City Manager Bruce Rogers. (There is a button for the station on our web page and on our facebook page.) On Friday, the guest will be Lana Wilson.

– Do you reckon there are some criminals out there who are so smart they never get caught? It seems the ones we hear about get greedy or start killing people then wander into Texas where they will kill you back, I think I heard some country philosopher say.

– Take that guy reportedly going 100 mph on his motorcycle. According to the report, it took the St. Clair County deputy two miles to catch him and get him stopped. Then the officer noticed he had a gun strapped on in “open carry.” The man with the badge and the gun told him not to touch his gun. According to the report, those instructions didn’t mean anymore than the speed limit signs. The speeder is in the hospital and the officer is unharmed. Good outcome in my book.

– Reese is still coming to work with her dad while her mom is at work. Spends a lot of time in Kimmie’s (Kimball prefers that name to Grandma) arms and sleeping in her office. I don’t know whether to call her a good baby or a happy baby. On days I’m under deadline, if I don’t have time to hold my granddaughter, I don’t have time to talk to insurance salesmen so I keep the ringer muted on my cell.

– I talked to Gary Arnautb, the retired Buffalo superintendent who hunts coyotes with Russian wolfhounds that just outrun them and sells roofing to the El Dorado Springs School and others. During one of his “sales calls/stand up comedy routines”, he told Kimball and me that he thinks Mark Koca may be the best superintendent in the state. He likes Charles Naas, too, the leader at NEVC.

Well, the tornado that went through Rogersville hit Gary’s house or came awfully close. The only reason it didn’t remove his roof was because a huge tree fell holding the roof down.

After their TV went off, his wife was watching the tornado on her cell phone and gathering some belongings to take to their storm cellar. Gary was standing there talking to her still holding the weights from his workout, I guess debating whether to go to their hidey-hole. When the tornado hit, his ears started popping and he didn’t hear the tree hit the house.

He went to check on the two wolfhounds he had at the house. He said that when he opened the door, two “mud balls” flew in. Their doghouse was gone. So were 42 neighbors’ trees and a neighbor’s prize horse.

Guess what? The storm cellar is now cleaned out and ready to receive people…and probably wolfhounds.

– I haven’t written this down for awhile but the 75th anniversary of D-Day brought it to mind: God Bless America. I believe He did on that day and a lot of others before and after. KL