Hey, howdy! I bin busy, dat's whayre I bin. This is newsy, so if you aren't interested...delete. Things have been going on fast and furious, except for the trees changing color...and those fall pixies are taking their dear sweet time getting out the paint set for the trees. Until last week, we've been having temps in the 90s, lows in the 60s. This week, highs in the low 70s, lows in the 40s. Those trees may yet change...for the calendar sure forgot to tell 'em it is fall now. The White River Valley Gathering is all set for this Saturday, 12 Oct, in Forsyth at Shadow Rock Park. Activities will begin around 11:30. Due to scheduling conflicts, the Pow-Wow portion of the event will be taking place in Campground #1, starting at 1 PM (south side of the park, not at the fairgrounds). On the north side, the pre-show begins at noon, with an opening ceremony by the White River Band Cherokee about 12:30. Then at 1:30, "The League: Taney County Justice" will commence. The Bald Knobber reenactment will be filmed by a debuting director, and we're all very excited. After the play, everyone's going to join the Pow-wow, and it's all going to be a lot of fun. Public is invited, of course, and admission is free...but bring your lawn chairs. And don't be surprised if a couple of masked Bald Knobbers come hit you up for a donation to the historical society...<BG> Now...for those of you following the Branson Lakefront development...in late July/early August, the Board of Aldermen decided to move the convention center project to an area on the north side of town, and develop the lakefront into retail and other attractions. A number of "Strip" businesses thought that was too far away, and so in its infinite wisdom, the Board moved the site of the convention center (reduced from 100,000 sq. ft to 15,000) back to the lakefront. The Corps of Engineers and State Historical Preservation Office have apparently released the property, now owned by the city of Branson, to those who bought buildings, etc., and even cabins from Sammy Lane Resort are now being hauled out. Nobody from the city thought to notify the media that this release had been granted, which came after months of documentation, photos, and floorplans of the historical buildings. So our children's heritage has been pretty much destroyed. Don't know how much they'll retain, for the mayor had said in the July 29 meeting that the White River Hotel would be preserved, and I caught people taking windows out of it a couple weeks ago. After I called the Branson Daily Independent to ask if there'd been permission granted for this activity, it was discovered that it'd been nearly a month since the release. Of course, the mayor has no comment on the destruction of a building he said would be saved 2 months ago . Anyone can see that even though the building is concrete, it won't withstand having the elements coming inside for long. I'm not quite sure what the point of a 15,000 sq. ft. convention center would be, given that there's one more than twice that size a scant 6 or 7 miles away...and it hardly does a booming business. Ingrid says maybe that means they're going to make it a civic area for the people who live here...which would be long overdue...but I dunno. I'm pretty disgusted with the whole thing, and if I can avoid it, won't be crossing the railroad tracks to visit the lakefront anytime soon. Talk about heartbreaking. Some of you may recall that John Willett, an adopted son of a Taney County couple, died in the WTC attacks last year. John, at the age of 23, was appointed Taney Co. Treasurer by then-Gov. Carnahan in the mid-1990s, and lost his re-election bid a year or two later. Gov. Carnahan was Democrat (he died in a plane crash in Oct, 2000, while campaigning for US Senator, which was then appointed to his wife, Jean Carnahan), and stands to reason that John was, too. Taney is a predominantly Republican county, including all of the current commissioners--if it matters (I'm not really proseletyzing, bear with me). One of our county commissioners decided, while planning the memorial service on 9/11 to be held at the county courthouse, that no mention would be made of John. This commissioner was quoted as saying he "didn't want to politicize it." Well, of course, that went and did politicize it, and the population has been pretty outspoken, too...John's parents went to NYC for the ceremonies there, and had numerous difficulties while on that trip, so folks here are outraged. Apparently folks "out in the world" were outraged as well, for I guess the New York Post ran an article on this story today. As a friend said, "Boy, the stuff's going to hit the fan now!" And Branson quite prides itself on being nearly obscenely patriotic, with flags everywhere and all the music shows doing patriotic songs. We won't even mention the huge Veteran's Week in November that goes on every year. So if you wonder why we're in the news...now you know. Shucks, if it weren't home, I'd wonder why... On the bright side, our cemetery committee is doing fabulously well...we're up to 140 cems and counting... Gots to git, been up too long as it is... Take care, everyone! Vonda ListMom for MO-AR-WRV http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gregvonda/ http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~vondak/