Month: June 2009

54 years and still going!

Posted by apierceall – June 30, 2009

The 54th annual National Tom Sawyer Days kicks into high gear Wednesday.

That means for the next five days, downtown Hannibal becomes a playground for the young and young at heart. There will be frog jumping and fence painting, a new Tom and Becky chosen, raft races and carnival rides, lemon shakeups and funnel cakes.

Can you not see it, smell it, taste it already?

I have to confess my favorite part of the whole NTSD event is on July 4 with the parade (go TC and the rest of the Pirate Pride marching band!) and fireworks. But my daughter and I will be down cheering at the mud volleyball courts this year for the Quincy Herald-Whig team. Can’t wait to see health reporter Kelly Wilson play in the goop, along with other Whiggers Kevin Murphy, Mary Lynne Richards, Rodney Hart, Matt Goldberg, Jessica Martin, Tom VanNess and Robin Reis.

The Whig team’s first game is at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. They’re still looking for a name that will intimidate all others in the media division. Any suggestions out there?

MACC finds a home in Hannibal

Posted by apierceall – June 25, 2009

Moberly Area Community College has a home in Hannibal for at least the next two years.

The college will lease the AT&T building on Clinic Road for $1 a square foot. It’s a bargain the college couldn’t pass up, especially considering the site will be less expensive to renovate to class space.

The whole deal is great news for the local branch of the college, which has seen steadily growing enrollment ever since it opened doors in Hannibal.

This fall is no exception. Even with no confirmed facility for fall classes, enrollment has grown 7 percent. And students can continue to register until Aug. 26.

That says a lot about the need for a community college like Moberly in this corner of the state.

The college will be spending the next two years working to get its own facility built. In the meantime, major kudos to AT&T for offering space, both physical space and breathing space, to MACC at an affordable rate.

Wacky weather

Posted by apierceall – June 19, 2009

As I sit in the third floor office of The Quincy Herald-Whig Friday afternoon, watching the rain slashing horizontally through the air and the thunder growl, I recalled an e-mail I received earlier in the week about climate change.

The e-mail came from the group American Rivers. It cited a recent study released by the White House called “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.”

The report said the Midwest region will experience heavier downpours and increased flooding due to climate change. It cited increased precipitation in winter and spring, and more intense weather thought the year.

American Rivers is calling for investment in green infrastructure — restoring floodplains and wetlands, planting trees and promoting water efficiency — to combat the damage to the systems that keep our water clean that can be caused by flooding.

It’s something to think about, especially when Mother Nature starts to howl outside the window.