We’ve Moved!

Looking for The Kirksville Socialite?  We’ve moved!  While this site currently hosts all posts dated July 20th, 2009, or earlier, all following posts are located at www.kirksvillesocialite.com.

Cheers,

Casey

This Evening’s Concert on the Square

The Kirksville Community Band is playing the Summer on the Square Concert tonight.  It’s the usual drill: 7pm, free, bring your own sitting gear, and get ready to enjoy a gorgeous evening.

Cheers,

Casey

Expedition To Ha Ha Tonka, Part 1: The Big Idea

It was around the time that I was sitting on a dock looking 250 feet up at a castle, or rather what was left of it, that I decided the day had been a success.

A few months ago I went to a lecture given by Doug Lansky, a nationally-syndicated travel writer who’s been all over the world and back about 10 times over.  ”Take advantage of your age,” he’d said, “most of you aren’t married, don’t have kids and don’t have full-time jobs.  Travelling gets much more difficult when any of these enter the picture.”  With the happy realization that I didn’t have a 5-carat engagement ring, babies so cute they’d land me a show on TLC or a well-paying 9-to-5 gig that came with health insurance I thought to myself, “Sweet, where to first?”

My infatuation with this idea waxed and waned throughout the following months, usually influenced by whatever ungodly amount of work I had brought on myself by smartly taking 2 of the big 4 classes within my major at once.  The idea was always there, though, nudging the back of my mind while I tried to focus on Max Weber’s ideas about the Protestant work ethic and Capitalism.  Rational-legal theories would give way to irrational-travel daydreams, usually involving Wenceslas Square in Prague or street food in Singapore, and by the time summer arrived I was ready to kick my carpe diem into high gear.

“Where to first?” was still the big question.  I was limited geographically by the fact that I would have to return to Kirksville for work each Monday, so weekend travel would have to be regional at best.  Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois were to be my playground for the summer, and I happily sat down with my laptop one evening to begin sizing up my options.  Would I be heading to Chillicothe, MO, the self-proclaimed “Home of Sliced Bread” to spend an hour or two puttering around the Sliced Bread Museum?  Would I be going to Memphis, TN, to take in the blues at a smoky underground bar?  Or, perhaps, would I plan an excursion to my beloved home state of Illinois to do a corruption tour of Chicago?  (“And if you look to your left you’ll see Roland Burris’ ego, which, believe it or not ladies and gentlemen, stretches across the entirety of the Magnificent Mile…”)

Chalk it up to a family history of spending birthdays in state parks or to the giddy enjoyment I derive from watching Man vs. Wild, but when the notion of starting my summer off with a sojourn through a state park–the best state park in Missouri, nonetheless–hit it stuck.  That was it, then, I would corrall my friends into spending a day traipsing about nature with me getting sunburned, eaten up by mosquitos and probably lost at some point, but enjoying ourselves and the natural beauty of Missouri at every step along the way.  We would be like Lewis and Clark, except…not.  Our spirits, at least, would match those of the explorers, even if our circumstances didn’t.

Yet again, “Where to first?” was still the big question.  The idea and general location still eluded me as I scrolled through the Missouri State Parks website trying to find that perfect park.  Different parks advertised different attractions, but I was finding nothing to make my heart go pitter-patter.  “2 miles of trail,” went the description for one, “Many specimens of trees,” another.  Boring, and completely defeating the purpose of making a trek from Kirksville where I could both walk 2 miles and see pretty trees.  But then there was Ha Ha Tonka.

The description was short but to the point:iIt was promoted as a “place for the adventurous” and a “geological wonderland,” with dark caves (yes, please), sinkholes (dangerous- and exotic-sounding), and something called a natural bridge which, assuming it wasn’t referring to a superhighway constructed out of some New Age green hybrid material called “soyphalt”, I was totally up for.  The advertisement for castle ruins “perched atop a 250-foot bluff” sealed the deal: Ha Ha Tonka it was, and the sooner the better.

Stay tuned for “Expedition to Ha Ha Tonka, Part Two: Is That Our Turnoff?”

Cheers,

Casey

Advance Birthday Present Notice

Almost 1 year old! Media Credit: pinkcakebox.com

The Socialite’s 1-year is coming up on July 25th, and the site is getting a present to celebrate.  This present is partially the reason why blogging has been so lackadaisical; the other part of the reason is some combination of it being summer and my being a busy interning bee (bad blogger!) so keep a weather eye out this month for the birthday gift.  No hints, I’m afraid.

Cheers to (almost) one year,

Casey

Healthcare Reform In Kirksville

Think the healthcare system sucks?  Join the club.

You can also join the Adair Citizens for Healthcare Reform for an evening of conversation about reforming America’s healthcare system this Thursday evening at the Kirksville Arts Association Building from 7-9pm.   The purpose of the evening is to get local conversation flowing about reforms and to gather opinions that can be relayed to our Senators and Representatives in the state and U.S. Capitols.

The event will take place the day after what is being billed as a “major announcement in the field of healthcare” will be made by V.P. Joe Biden, so if you’re planning on going pay attention to the news tomorrow, Socialites.  Speakers at the ACHR event include a physician, a healthcare administrator, a representative from a insurance company and State Representative Rebecca McClanahan, who is a former nursing professor at TSU and is quite knowledgable about all things healthcare.  I should point out that I was told in an email by a representative for ACHR that there will be “plenty of time for discussion,” so know that you won’t just be coming to listen to people talk at you.

On a related note, and primarily for those of you on Twitter, Rep. McClanahan has begun a Tweeting series called “100 Days of Tweeting Healthcare” in which she posts daily tweets about healthcare reform and Missouri.  You should check it out by visting her Twitter page or following her updates.

Cheers,

Casey

Rally For Burns Family Held Downtown

Video footage here.

Cheers,

Casey

Heat Advisory Through Wednesday

Media Credit: NationalGeographic.com

This would explain why our usually disastrously precocious cat seems to have abandoned trying to find a way to jump onto the blades of the ceiling fan and has instead taken to cuddling on the bathroom tile.  Anyways, a heat advisory is in effect for our area through Wednesday.  Specifically, the weather gods are warning of heat indexes in between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit paired with 90%+ humidity.  Sounds like a recipe for an asthma attack.

In all seriousness, however, when it gets to be this hot and humid it can actually become dangerous to be in the heat.  If you’re without air conditioning and looking for a cool place to spend the hottest hours of the day I suggest stopping by Pickler Memorial Library with a good book for a few hours.  They’ve been working on reorganizing their media center on the second floor, so I’m not sure if you’re able to watch movies in there or if you’ll have to wait a while before it becomes available to the general public again.

Also, not to go all worst-case-scenario on you guys, but I think a refresher in Bear Grylls’ (of Man v. Wild awesomeness) tips on surviving desert heat, as well as precautions to take when traveling through the desert, is in order. One can never be too prepared.

Cheers, and keep cool,

Casey

ps.  If you want something that’s ridiculously addictive, reminds you of cooler climes and is just plain adorable, may I suggest a rousing game of Winterbells?

Truman Employee Arrested on Child Pornography/Sexual Exploitation Charges

Edit: Ketterlinus is a design assistant in the Publications Office at TSU.

I simply don’t understand things like this.  Via the Kirksville Daily Express:

KIRKSVILLE — A Kirksville man is facing four charges of sex offenses stemming from incidents involving his 14-year-old step-daughter.

Glen Ketterlinus. Via his LinkedIn profile.

Glen Ketterlinus, 56, has been charged with two counts of felony sexual exploitation of a minor and two charges of possession of child pornography.

Ketterlinus was arrested Friday after the victim’s mother notified local law enforcement.

According to court documents, Ketterlinus admitted to taping and photographing the girl naked over the past four years since she was 10-years-old.

The victim knew of the photos and videotapes, but first notified her mother about the tapes Friday through a text message.

At the time of the message, the victim was traveling to Moberly, Mo., with Ketterlinus when she messaged her mother something was wrong.

Law enforcement officials, were waiting for their return to the residence later that evening.

Ketterlinus also admitted to possessing approximately 25 separate videos, but stated he did not share or sell the content.

He is currently being held at the Adair County Jail on a $150,000 cash-only bond.

Once again, no “cheers” on this post.

Casey

A Few Thoughts…

Good evening Socialites.  The K.D. Express and KTVO-3 have been reporting more details about the circumstances surrounding the charges filed against Nathaniel and Elisabeth Burns and Aaron Rodgerson:

“The allegations in that case are that the child at 10 months old only weighed 12 pounds, and City Councilman Rodgerson was giving some advice to these people regarding contact with the Kirksville Police Department and the family services,” Williams said.

The indictment alleges Rodgerson told the child’s parents not to cooperate with authorities and family services regarding the malnourished child.”

Specifically, that “practicing law without a license” charge stems from an incident described by Deputy Chief Tim King in the court documents as following:

“Once authorities responded to the call, the documents state Rodgerson told the mother and Deputy Chief Tim King that officers could not come into the mother’s home or inspect the child, as that would be a violation of her ’6th Amendment rights’ and ‘that we (law enforcement) used the law to protect the child and violate the rights of the adult.’”

Rodgerson has made a brief statement about the nature of the charges, saying:

“‘All I’m willing to say at this time is that these charges are groundless,’ Rodgerson said by phone Saturday morning, ‘and we are cooperating and working with the local system of justice.’”  (Please click on the link to see additional, non-charge oriented comments made by Rodgerson.)

I’d like to acknowledge that I’m not a Rodgerson devotee, something which, I expect, doesn’t come as a shock to anyone.  One thing I do commend him for, however, is his desire to go beyond the role of citizen and to put himself in a position of accountability through which he tries to serve 17,000+ to the best of his capacities.  You do that in this town (in any town, really) and you don’t exactly sign yourself up for an adoring fan base or anonymity.  I also commend him for wanting to spend his life serving individuals in an additional capacity, and if the response of some of his parishoners to this mess is any indication of his pastoring style then I think they feel he probably does a pretty decent job for their church.

I’ve strongly disagreed with his inclination to use a religion to shape the law for a group of people who hold widely varying views, religious or otherwise, and I stand by that. Though I’ve found that some of the religiously-based decisions he’s made on City Council have led me to seriously question the quality of his judgment, and though I’m not particularly thrilled to hear that a City Councilman/Pastor stands accused of a charge that’s not tossed about lightly (more about that other, “practicing law without a license,” bit later) I can honestly say that it would make me incredibly happy to be able to report that the impetus for this entire situation was an unimaginably unfortunate series of misinterpreted circumstances.  I can’t think of anyone who would wish otherwise, particularly for the child’s sake but also for Rodgerson’s and the Burns’.

A common thread throughout the dialogue is the inclusion of more facts.  That’s fair, so let’s have at a few of the many discussions being had about this with as many facts as we can:

Argument:  Weighing 12 pounds at 10 months does/does not constitute malnourishment.

Facts: Every child is immeasurably unique, and it could very well be that this child simply has a very slow rate of weight gain.  Making the point that 10-monthers usually weigh a bit more than 12 pounds is also a valid argument.

A few people mentioned that WHO healthy baby standards rely on formula-fed babies for statistics, whose rates of growth are different from breastfed babies.  The WHO actually revised their charts in 2006 to reflect healthy breastfed babies (data for girls here and boys here; note that these measurements are in kilograms and that 1 kg is the equivalent to 2.2 pounds).  By way of comparison here’s the CDC’s most recent chart trends for breastfed babies, with pounds on the right.  I’m sure I don’t need to whip out my Methodology notes and wax on about sample data and outliers and how statistics don’t speak for everyone under the sun.

Also, a few people have made mention of medical records, which haven’t been released for public consumption.  I’ve fielded a few emails from people asking me about what information the records contain; the best I can do is say is that private medical records remain private unless they’re made public by the family or brought as evidence in a court case, neither of which has happened.

Argument: Kirksville/Missouri/DFS has overstepped its authority.

Facts: People abuse children.  Consequently, laws have been developed to react against those seen to be comprimising the welfare of their children, and various entities have been charged with carrying out the enforcement of these laws in one capacity or another. If you belong to one of these agencies and honestly believe that there is a 10 month-old being abused in some manner you’re probably going pursue and/or arrest the person you feel confident is abusing them.

You’re also probably going to slap whatever charges you possibly can on them to try to nail them on something, or at least make them plea bargain.  (Hence that “practicing law without a license” charge, methinks.  Kind of seems like it was tossed in to be a bargaining chip.)

Argument: This is proof that Rodgerson is not “Christ-like.”

Facts: No stigmata on this blogger, and likely none on the people using this line, either.

Argument: The parties arrested were targeted by the law because they were Christian, because they spoke out against homosexuality and/or alcoholism, or because there’s a plot against them for the aforementioned reasons.

Facts: The parties were targeted by the law because the legal entities that deal with abuse in this city/state felt that they had enough evidence to prove that the 10 month-old was being endangered by each one of them.  Are the individuals getting maligned for being hypocritical Christians?  Yes, (see the “Facts” response from the previous question for my response to this) but not by the KPD or MO DFS.  Speaking of those two entities, I’m not sure that either spoke out against Rodgerson’s Kirksville housing ordinance comments, or the Burns’ testamony about why the sale of alcohol in a public park would be a bad thing for families, or against all of them for loving Jesus.  If there exists evidence to the contrary I’d love to post it.

Alright, Socialites, until more new info about this is released I’m through posting on it.  Digress as you will.

Cheers,

Casey

City Councilman Aaron Rodgerson Arrested

City Councilman Aaron Rodgerson. From the Socialite Media Files.

Kirksville City Councilman Aaron Rodgerson has been arrested on charges stemming from child endangerment.  This evening Rodgerson was charged with child endagerment, practicing law without a license and (get ready to restrain your anger) failure to report child abuse.

The child in question is under a year old and belongs to members of his church (Southside Baptist Church).  As a pastor he is required by law to report known or reasonably suspected cases of child abuse.  Charges on child endangerment were also filed against the parents of the child; bail for them has been set at $25,000, while for Rodgerson it is $1,000.  When contacted the police would not elaborate on the situation from which the charges stem (standard procedure, I believe).

Rodgerson, as you may remember from previous postings on the Socialite, is the city councilman who many months ago stood behind statements expressing support for housing discrimination against members of the gay community.  He is also the person whom new councilmember Carolyn Chrisman nominated to be Mayor Pro Tem, so let’s be happy that motion wasn’t successful in light of tonight’s events.

More information as it becomes available, Socialites, and please keep the child involved in this situation in your thoughts.  No “cheers” signoff on this post.

Casey

UPDATE: Good morning everyone.  With the light of day I have more information about the charges filed.  Rodgerson has been charged with practicing law without a license failure to report child abuse and the parents of the child, Nathaniel and Elisabeth Burns, have been charged with endagering the welfare of a child in the first degree.  The Burns’ moved to Kirksville around two years ago with their children and have previously appeared at a City Council meeting to support Rodgerson’s opposition to alcohol sales in Rotary park:

Nathaniel Burns, who moved to Kirksville nearly a year ago, urged the Council to reject a proposal allowing the sale of alcohol in Rotary Park and the North Park ball complex.

Burns said advocacy work he did in Gary, Ind., familiarized him and his wife with the perils of excessive alcohol consumption.

“We saw first hand the effects of regular public intoxication and the effects it had on families and individuals,” he said. “I don’t want that for my family.”