Life Of Jason

After reading about his decision in a case involving a man who exposed himself to children I have to seriously wonder about his fitness to remain on the bench.

If you didn’t hear, Greene County Associate Circuit Court Judge Jason Brown dismissed the case against a man who stood naked in his yard in front of a woman and a ten year old girl.

That’s right.  There are witnesses that this man exposed himself to a child.

The man allegedly told police that “he gets a “thrill” from standing naked outdoors because of the possibility he’ll be seen.”  He even wrote an apology if anyone was frightened by “stupid and thoughtless actions on my part on the afternoon of Feb. 25 2008.”

So, yes, the guy admits he was standing in his yard naked in front of a child.

The judge’s ruling?  According to the News-Leader:

“The judge found there was lack of probable cause Sloan had exposed himself when he knew it was likely to cause “affront or alarm” to any particular child.”

Standing in your yard, naked and as one witness said “whistling at schoolchildren”?  That would not cause “affront or alarm” to a child?

I hesitate to think what the judge think that scenario would cause for any particular child.

I have to admit that I don’t know much about this Judge’s rulings but right now I have to seriously question his judgment.  This is something that all citizens of Greene County need to speak out and find out where this Judge’s head is at because it seems to be askew.

Someone in the media should ask Judge Brown what that situation of him exposing himself would cause for a child if not “affront or alarm.”  That needs to be an answered.

Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore had the charges refiled by an assistant.  Thank God he has some common sense.

Reminder: the second of four informational meetings about the speed limit reduction from 30 to 25 mph on neighborhood streets takes place from 4 to 7 p.m. tonight at Pershing Middle School, 2120 S. Ventura Ave. The meeting location is meant to be convenient for those living in the southeast area of the City, but anyone is welcome to attend.

The meetings will show residents the planned locations for the new signs, the safety messages that will be assigned to entrance points in each neighborhood, and the schedule for when signs will be appearing around town. Signing will begin in early June around the center city area and radiate outward to the city limits in all directions. Traffic Engineering estimates it will take about six months to complete the conversion of signs throughout the city.

City staff also will be available to explain the Pace Car program and help residents sign up for it. The Pace Car Program involves making a pledge to drive the speed limit in all neighborhoods. A free decal that may be placed on the back window of a vehicle to show that it is a “Pace Car” will be provided.

Drivers also can download a PDF of the Pace Car Program pledge sheet at the city’s website and mail it to Public Works to receive the decal.

City Manager Bob Cumley hasn’t changed his mind….he’s hanging it up on June 1.

The city’s having a public reception for him on Thursday May 29 from 4 to 6 in the lobby of the Busch Building.  There will be a short program that will start at 4:15.

I know some are very critical of what Mr. Cumley has done during his tenure but to me it’s still impressive when someone gives 35 years of their life to public service to the city of Springfield.  He worked his way up through the ranks and regardless of what you think of his decisions he still had to work to get to that point.  In today’s world where people like to cut corners to get to the top, staying with anything…especially public service…for 35 years is an accomplishment.

Mr. Cumley was recently given the highest award that can be given by the Missouri City Manager’s Association, the Jay T. Bell Award.

Deputy City Manager Evelyn Honea will serve as the Interim City Manager starting June 1st until a new manager is hired.  Arcus Public, the firm doing the search, said they expect tp have an initial list of qualified candidates within the next 45 days.

OK, I’ll have to admit that at first I didn’t see what the big deal was regarding the Wii and why there was such hysteria about it.

Until I played it this afternoon.

They had a boxing game on and I was breaking a serious sweat playing this thing!  The coolest part is that this is a workout I could find myself doing and enjoying that would be great on top of all the walking I do to keep in shape.

Of course, then they broke out the baseball game and I was smashing home run after home run.  Amy turns to Dad and says “Oh great, now we’ll never hear the end of it.”

I was thinking of course she would…because this blog would go off the front page eventually!

However, with this beautiful Ozarks weather, I’m heading outside to enjoy it.  The Wii can’t replace a beautiful Missouri day.

The Missouri Juvenile Justice Association has selected a parent education program developed and utilized by the Greene County Juvenile Office for an award.

Greene County’s Road to Reunification Program, or R2R, has been named for the association’s 2008 Innovative Program Award for Excellence in a Juvenile Court Program.

R2R is a court-ordered class for parents of children under the jurisdiction of the Greene County Juvenile Court. The hour-long class provides parents a comprehensive understanding of Juvenile Court processes, treatment plans, visitation procedures and their own roles and responsibilities.

Greene County Deputy Juvenile Officer Cassandra White, the program’s co-facilitator, said the program helps parents navigate a complicated court system.

“It gives our parents a solid understanding of what their rights and responsibilities are, what all the different hearings are for and who the other people are that are working on their case,” said White. “Everyone’s job is different —  the guardian ad litem, the case manager, the deputy juvenile officer — but we’re all working toward the same goal: reunification of the child with the parent.”

Since its implementation in October, 2007, more than 80 local parents have completed the R2R class. Other juvenile courts throughout Missouri are now replicating the Greene County program to meet the specific needs of their region.

R2R is made possible through a community collaboration including the Greene County Juvenile Office, Abuse/Neglect Unit; the Missouri Department of Social Services — Greene County Children’s Division; the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association Juvenile Law Committee; Court Appointed Special Advocates; Parenting Life Skills Center; retired Commissioner Chester Hayes; and the Hon. Don E. Burrell, Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District and former Greene County Juvenile Court Judge.

The Missouri Juvenile Justice Association award will be presented to the Greene County Juvenile Office Thursday, May 22, at the associations’ spring conference at the Resort at Port Arrowhead in Lake Ozark.

…that I didn’t mention in my previous post about Dale King.

His grandson loved to write.  Grandpap had a 1935 Corona typewriter that I would lay on the beanbag and type story after story.  I thought it was long gone in the sands of time until this morning.

Thanks, mom.

This is Dale King.

He was my grandfather and the most influential person in my life.  He worked for National Gypsum in a coal mine his entire working life.  He once told my mom and dad that he was sad he would never make it to see me graduate high school because the life of a miner was not easy.

But that’s him along with my other grandparents Cy and Lyndall Wert.  He also lived to see my college graduation as well.

Now, you notice that Grandma King isn’t in that photo.  Here’s Grandma King (along with Grandpap, Mom and a 1 year old me):

She suffered a stroke when I was a just teenager and passed when I was a junior in high school.  I’ll talk about her more a little further down the blog.

One of the regrets in my life is that Grandpap didn’t live long enough to meet the grandson that I told him would bear his name.  I promised that to Grandpap when was around 15 and I tell Dale all the time about Great Grandpap Dale.

I really wish that the meeting of Dale and Dale didn’t have to be like that was in a chilly January 2002 but Grandpap went to be with Jesus in September 1995 on one of the two darkest days of my life.

When I was in junior high, my grandma suffered a stroke that left her debilitated and he spent the following years taking care of Grandma’s every need.  I can’t imagine being in the situation he faced every day taking care of the woman he loved and having to see her in that condition.  Grandpap never left her side and even when it reached the point he couldn’t care for her a few months before she passed he still visited her at the nursing home every day.

Grandpap, though, did more than just take care of Grandma and show total devotion to her even in the hardest of times.  Grandpap loved his family and his grandchildren so much that he would sacrifice what little time he had left after taking care of grandma to serve his family and grandchildren.

My favorite story about Grandpap and the way he loved his grandson has to do with cable TV in the early 80s.  When MTV was new, not many cable channels carried it 24 hours a day.  In Coleville, Pennsylvania, the cable system would put MTV on at 11pm after one of the local stations went off the air.  Yours truly was in love with 80s heavy metal and hair metal and because we didn’t have cable TV at my house would go to Grandpap’s to watch MTV almost every weekend.

I remember those nights where I’d sit on the floor and he would bring me Italian bread with grape jelly and I’d sit in a big, fuzzy, yellow and black beanbag on the floor just devouring every minute of the Headbanger’s Ball and any other video that came on the channel.  (MTV played videos way back then.)

Grandpap had an orange La-Z-Boy recliner that sat against the back wall and he would sit in that chair and at the time, I thought, he watched the videos.  I know now that he was watching his grandson enjoying the videos even if he didn’t like the music, didn’t like the lyrics and didn’t appreciate the images.  He loved his grandson so much that he sacrificed what little sleep he was able to get while taking care of grandma to sit and watch his grandson watch videos.

I remember looking back many nights and seeing Grandpap in that orange chair asleep with a picture of the Last Supper hanging over his head.

Yes, the same Last Supper photo that survived my apartment fire in 2005 and now hangs in the living room over the couch when my kids turn around and watch Daddy watching them enjoy Spongebob Squarepants, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and The Secret Show.  (Although I have to admit enjoying those cartoons as much as enjoying their enjoyment.)

Grandpap loved his wife and loved his family.  He was always there for Grandma when the times were tough along with the good times.  He always had sound, common sense advice for his wild child grandson and never once condemned him even if he had a problem with the things his grandson did.  He modeled what it really meant to live as a Christian without speaking a word to me that he was doing it.

He is the kind of man that someday I hope I can be.

It’s with that in mind that I wrote my vows for Saturday.  (Amy’s so busy that I know she won’t have time to sit down and read the blog…and if she did…she would see a very long post and just ask me later what it said instead of reading it.)

Here’s my vow to Amy:

When I was a teenager my Grandma King had a stroke. I remember watching my Grandpap Dale taking care of grandma and all of her needs. It wasn’t easy and there were many times I remember wondering how Grandpap had the kind of patience and strength and endurance that he had in helping her. I wondered why he was so willing to give up so much of himself to take care of her. His devotion was unending. Yet through all of it, Grandpap still had time for his grandson and his needs and showing interest in the things that he found interesting including watching heavy metal on MTV at two in the morning.

Grandpap gave and gave of himself and even though I didn’t know it at the time, Grandpap was modeling for me the way a Man of God is devoted to his wife and to his family.

Amy, I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to say dumb things that hurt you and I’m going to not hear you asking me to take out the trash when the race is on. I’m not going to be perfect. But I will promise you this…for the rest of our lives I’m going to dedicate myself to being the Man of God that my grandpap was for grandma. I’m going to be there in the hardest of hard times and I’m going to be there when the storm cloud roll away and we walk in the sun. I’m going to model for Dale and Eli the way a man is to show love to his wife and his family. I’m going to be the kind of man that when Julie calls home and says she just said yes to marry a guy who’s “just like dad” that neither one of us are going to have any fear at all about who that man will be.

Amy Marie Nuetzhorn, I thank God that He brought you into my life. I thank God that He has blessed me with you as my wife. And I will be your Man of God and your husband for as long as God lets us live on this Earth.

Yeah, it’s a lofty goal.  I think it’s one worth chasing after and I don’t think it’s a bad thing for any man to aspire toward it.  My Grandpap Dale King did it.  Someday, I hope I can be said to have done the same thing.

Ah…………

Tastykakes and Wege of Hanover (PA) pretzels.  Liiiiiiiiife is gooooooooooooood.

Although I feel sorry for Amy…my dad gave me my wedding present early…

…and now, I channel my inner Tim “The Toolman” Taylor.

All Springfield-Greene County Park Board outdoor pools will open for the weekend at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 24 & Sunday, May 25. All outdoor pools will open for the season on Saturday, May 31. Summer season days of operation will be from 1 - 6:30 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Locations in the following parks include Doling, Fassnight, Grant Beach, Meador, Silver Springs, Westport, and McGee-McGregor Wading Pool in Phelps Grove.

Doling, Fassnight and Meador Park pools will open for special Memorial Day hours of 1 - 6:30 p.m., Monday, May 26, for the annual Splash ‘n Sizzle event. Admission is $1, or free with the donation of a canned food item. All food collected will benefit the Ozarks Food Harvest.

Free Swim Days are as follows:
10 - 11:30 a.m., Thursday, July 10, Westport Pool
10 - 11:30 a.m., Thursday, July 17, Doling Pool
10 - 11:30 a.m., Thursday, July 24, Silver Springs Pool
10 - 11:30a.m., Thursday, July 31, Grant Beach Pool

Coupon books and summer pool passes are available, and daily admission fees include:
Youth (ages 3 - 17) $2
Adults (ages 18 & older) $2.50
Seniors (ages 60 & older) $2
Children (ages 2 & under) Free with paid adult admission

For more information regarding swim lessons, birthday packages, pool rentals, hours of operation at each location, fees, and the youth swim team program, visit , or call the Aquatics hotline at 864-2099 or the Aquatics Office at 891-1616.

I was out walking today when I saw this on the concrete in front of me:

It made me wonder about Allen Salts.  How old was he when he wrote his name in that concrete?  How old is he now?  Is he even still alive?

I thought of the way that this has been written on this Springfield sidewalk for 56 years.  All the things in the life of our community and world that have come and gone in all that time but this moment in time for Allen Salts has been frozen for all those 56 years.

And I’ll bet at the time he did it the thought of that still being in that sidewalk 56 years later never even crossed his mind.

It was a good reminder to me that the smallest thing we do can have lasting impact years down the line and possibly long after we’re gone.  Sure, this might not mean much of anything in the long run (other than to say whoever built that sidewalk apparently could build ‘em to last) but if something this small that likely wasn’t thought of has lasted this long what else have we done in our lives that could have long lasting impact?

The hello to a co-worker who’s having a bad day?  The five bucks you slip into the pocket of a neighbor who needs to get a gallon of gas to get to work for the week?  Mowing your elderly neighbor’s lawn while she’s at church so she doesn’t have to do it in the heat?  The simplest little things could end up having impact decades later when at the time it seems so trivial.

Anyway, a deep thought from a morning walk.  Although if anyone knows Al, you might want to tell him his vandalism is still on display.