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Daily Record

pended and was fine $100.00 nad $38.50 in costs.

Sierra Sky Deane pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Kerri Leigh Hopkins pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner and was fined $100.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Cody James McHargue pleaded guilty to a nuisance violation and was fined $150.00 and $38.50 in costs.

Dillon Thomas Mears pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Jose Dominique Nicolas pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and peace dustrubance and was fined

$102.50.

Ana Patiola pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Billy Clinton Pendleton pleaded guilty to exceeding the posted speed limit and was fined $70.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Kelli Breann Reardon pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Abigail Katherine pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Josy Nicole Simmons pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Avery Kathleen Webb pleaded guilty to expired plates and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

John Woodland pleaded guilty to a building code violation and was fined $50.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Gage Eugene Wright pleaded guilty to failure to produce license on demand and was fined $25.50 and $38.50 in costs.

Warranty Deeds

Donna C. Dougan etal to Roberto Garcia Hernandez and wife.

SCRC Holdings LLC to Sandra Bradley etal. Brian P. Elias etal to Jared B. Lamma and wife. Richard L. Sherer to Bradley D. Griffin. Eric R. Orndorff and wife to Rorebeck Realty. Matthew Ewing to Timothy Price and wife.

New Books At The Grundy County-Jewett Norris Library

Children

“Clap your Paws!”- Kim Norman

“The Good Egg and the Talent Show” - Jory John

“One Osaurus, Two Osaurus” - Kim Norman

“Grumpy Monkey Valentine Gross-Out” - Suzanne Lang

“The Tinysaurs Send Love” - Patricia Hegarty

“The Smart Cookie” - Jory Johns & Pete Oswald

“Shark McShark” - Allison Murray

“A Mouthful of Minnows” - John Hare

“Middle School Get Me Out of Here”James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts

“Ugly Me” - J.E. Stamper

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (DVD)

Adult Fiction

“All the Broken Places” - John Boyne

“Horse” - Geraldine Brooks

“Red Winter” - Marc Cameron (A Jack Ryan Novel)

“Wyoming Homecoming” - Diana Palmer

“The House in the Pines” - Ana Reyes

“The Choice” - Nora Roberts

“The Backup Plan” - Jill Shalvis

“Invisible” - Andrew Grant

“Code 6” - James Grippando

“Exiles” - Jane Harper

Adult Non-Fiction

“The Great Rock Island Route” - John T. Gaertner

“Crazy Joy” - Mary Katherine Backstrom

“Nannie’s House” - Maggie Bush

“Tragedy: Confronting the Unthinkable” - Renee Haley

“I Only Wanted to Live” - Arie Tamir

Ebooks are available on our website at www.grundycountylibrary.org

Curbside pickup is available to all who prefer it

We need strong leaders

Leadership is not for the faint of heart, especially in this day and time. In the age of “wokeness” and cancel culture, you have to have a backbone of steel and nerves to match to survive the meat-grinder that is public service.

When I was young, I thought about politics as a career. I am certainly glad I chose a different path.

I grew up watching politicians like Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Newt Gingerich and Bill Clinton. While I didn’t always favor everything Clinton did, I liked the way he was decisive and knew when he was outnumbered and needed to come to the center to gather support.

As much as some people like to hate on Trump, he knew how to read a room and be two steps ahead. He knew how to cut to the chase and get things done. He wasn’t afraid of criticism if he truly felt he was right and he judged what was right by what his constituents elected him to do.

Too many politicians have lost sight of how a representative democracy works and go rogue once they hit city, state or federal halls of power.

Now, advance from the glory days of politics in the 80’s and 90’s to the excrement sandwich we have now.

Gone are the days of Ronald Reagan and Tip O’neil, now we have Alexandria Ocassio Cortex and Maxine Waters. Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell don’t strike me as that sharp, savvy or driven by what is in the best interest of the American people.

I am ready for a new generation of leaders to supplant the old guard and take control of this rudderless ship in the wake of Trump’s “loss” in 2020.

Editor’s Note: I put loss in quotations just to get under the skin of the left. You gotta get your kicks where you can…

I could at least respect Obama for the fact he was really trying to push the leftist agenda. While absolutely a disaster for the country, Obama was committed and worked hard for his constituents.I am not sure Joe Biden knows what wing of the White House he is in most days, much less what his constituents elected him to do.

This week we saw dangerous inaction as a Chinese spy balloon floated over US military installations gathering intelligence while Biden did nothing. Trump, Bush and Reagan would have eliminated the threat as soon as it crossed into American airspace, guaranteed.

Biden obviously was more worried about escalating tensions between the US and China than protecting our military intelligence. He does not understand that adversaries like to probe our defenses looking for weaknesses. When we fail to react to threats it lets our enemies know they can push further the next time without a reaction.

Biden eventually bowed to public pressure but not until we let Xi’s balloon float all the way across the country and exit over South Carolina. When they had been able to transmit all their intel, we finally shot it down over the Atlantic.

Weak.

Biden has shown weakness in regards to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Granted, as a non-Nato country, our response cannot be as strong but we waited entirely too long before sending missile systems and tanks to show support.

Russia has exhibited that their military is not as strong as we once thought. By not rolling through a much weaker country, Russia has shown that when you strip away the nuclear threat, they are a paper-tiger, err…bear, at best.

The best way to quickly spotlight that weakness was to speed weapons and aid to the scrappy Ukrainians but we sort of frittered that advantage away through inaction.

Leadership is not easy and frankly some people are not up to the challenge. We need to demand strong leaders. We need to support them when the woke or cancel culture come calling.

Whether it is nationally, in our state or locally, we need strong leaders.

Liberty Thought of the Week

by Paul Hamby

Liberty Thought of the Week. - Benefits of a 4 day school week

Are students better off with a 4 day school week than 5 days? Results so far indicate mostly yes with a few concerns.

About one fourth of Missouri school districts have now made the transition to a 4 day week. The trend started in small rural schools. Lathrop Missouri, a small town in NW Missouri was first in our state to switch in 2010.

Andrew Palmer taught Middle School English at Lathrop that first year of 2010 and continued through 2015. He came to Lathrop from one of the largest school districts in the state; “From an educator’s perspective, the thing I loved the most about having students only four days of the week, was I finally had a fifth day to work on grading papers and improving instruction. When you teach middle school and high school, there are always numerous papers to grade. With a standard five day week, all that additional work that happens after the students leave the classroom usually happens in the evenings, late at night, or even on a weekend day. It makes for less stressed, and more productive teachers.”

The Independence School Board voted in December 2022 to move to a four-day week beginning Fall 2023. Independence will be the largest Missouri school district, with 14000 students, on the 4 day plan.

"In Missouri, there's over 140 districts that have done this and only one has gone back," said Independence Superintendent Dr Dale Herl. "You look in Colorado, nearly 70% of school districts have gone to four-day weeks."

(KCTV)

"It has helped us retain our staff," said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith of Warren County Missouri. "We've had good feedback from staff and academics have stayed pretty consistent." (KCTV)

Less is More. One of the benefits for students is the time per class is a little longer. They can cover more depth on a subject.

Cindy O’Laughlin, Missouri Senate Majority Floor Leader, was the chair of the senate education committee from 2020 to 2022. She visited more than 30 schools during that time and sees a bigger problem; “The public school system is so overwhelmed with requirements from both the feds and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary education that teachers are fed up and leaving in droves. I will always believe good teachers have a heart for their work and bureaucrats have managed to destroy their initiative and joy in teaching. It’s not the salary causing people to leave teaching; it’s the culture of the classroom.”

One of the unexpected benefits of a 4 day school week for students is the opportunity to spend more time with extended family. The 5th day can be a rotating day with grandparents, a parent, with day trips to Missouri’s many parks, museums and events. Families can plan 3 day weekend events. Our job as parents and grandparents is to teach our children life skills. This extra day would be a good time to do just that.

Alec Alvarez, a third grader at a suburban Denver elementary school, said he felt the new day was "kind of long" but that it was "worth it" so he could spend his Mondays at his grandmother's house "playing outside." (NBC) For high school students exploring career opportunities, the unplanned 5th day is an opportunity to job shadow or intern to try out jobs they have an interest in.

One downside is that a single parent with no close family or support system struggles with finding and affording childcare for the extra day each week.

In today’s hectic world, finding balance is important. 4 days at school and 3 days of family time is a better balanced life for our children.

Laredo News

Carol Wilford

On January 27, Carol Wilford drove to Ewing Alignment to meet her son and daughter-in-law, John and Ingrid Wilford, who were there to pick up John’s truck. On Sunday, January 22, Ewings had pulled John’s truck out of the snowy downslope where it landed after it skidded on the snow near the Thompson River on Saturday, January 21.

Dan and Carol Wilford drove to Marshall on Saturday, January 28, to attend a graduation party for Halley Campbell in the home of Steve and Naomi Campbell. A variety of snacks, fruits and veggies as well as a cake were served; and many pictures were taken. Jason and Jenny Hunter and children Jenna, Dylan and Tyson of Trenton were there; other family members attending were Halley and Dustin of the home, Dave and Mindi Campbell of rural Galt, and Lois Corrigan of Trenton. The event was from 1:005:00. Church friends, a school friend, and Halley’s friends from the BCM (Bridge Collegiate Ministry) at MO Valley came throughout the afternoon. It was a nice surprise for Dan to get to visit with Marita McCampbell Avilez, now the campus missionary at BCM. Dan had not seen since her since he and Naomi had gone on a mission trip to India in 2002, where she was a missionary.

The Charles Bowe family had a busy sports weekend on Saturday, February 4. Charlie watched their granddaughter, Addison Bowe, play volleyball in Parkville while Vickie and her daughter and son-in-law Valerie and Clark Sheckells, attended the last wrestling match of Vickie’s grandson, CJ, in Lee’s Summit North. After the wrestling tournament, they all went to Parkville. Clint Bowe took his other daughters, Abigail and Alyssa, to Witchita, KS, for a different volleyball tournament.

Betty Wimer Hosts P.E.O. Chapter AD Meeting

P.E.O. Chapter AD met on Thursday, February 2 at 1 p.m. at The Space. Prior to the business meeting, members enjoyed a delicious assortment of pies provided by Betty Wimer, hostess.

Following the business meeting, Betty Wimer