Hometown Matters

By Pauline Masson – For two hundred years from the early 1800s the White Holland turkey was the favorite holiday dinner across the U.S. and by the mid 1900s Pacific had more of the beautiful historic birds than any city in Missouri. Pritchett Turkey Farm in Catawissa, the crown jewel of a series of local turkey growers, boasted a flock of 15,000 White Hollands in the 1950s, and shipped another 50,000 turkey chicks (poults) to growers across the U.S. each … Continue reading “Turkey Day: How a Catawissa Farmer Put Pacific On the Twentieth Century Industrial Map”

  By Pauline Masson –  Ward One Vacancy: In a 3-2 vote, aldermen said no to the mayor’s appointment of former alderman Rick Presley to fill the Ward One seat vacated by the resignation of  Rafael Madrigal. With no discussions on the merits of the appointment, Aldermen James Cleeve and Tyler Hoven voted to approve the appointment. Aldermen Debbie Kelley, Karla Stewart and Scott Lesh voted no.  The absence of one of the two Ward One seats has concerned Ward … Continue reading “BOA Rejects Presley Appointment, Balances Budget, Recognizes Historic First Baptist Restoration “

By Pauline Masson –  In the October 21 board of aldermen meeting  —  that was not posted on the city’s web site prior to the meeting and was not screened on YouTube  —  the board of aldermen (BOA) approved a request for proposal (RFP) to build the Jeffrey White Memorial Skatepark with the Noonan Pavilion attached as the entry to skatepark. The small pavilion at the entrance to Birk Circle, named for Park developer Ick Noonan, is frequented by children’s … Continue reading “Aldermen Approve Skatepark Attached to Children’s Pavilion / Kelley Says Public Should be Informed”

  By Pauline Masson – A mixed audience filled the pews in the restored Historic First Baptist Church last Sunday to celebrate reopening the church following a seven-year restoration, slowed by the Covid pandemic and funded by a widespread community effort. The long-awaited ceremony was held to celebrate the small frame church that has served the Black community for 140 years and was closed in 2017 after being flooded for the eighth time. As guest vocalists Virginia Welch and Timothy … Continue reading “Historic Frst Baptist Church Reopens to New Life and Tumultuous Welcome of Blended Community”

As the community celebrates a victory over the fickel Meramec River as Historic First Baptist Church reopens on Sunday, I came across an article  that local Geologist Jo Schaper wrote on the attempts totem the river, including a recap on the failure of a proposed Meramec River Dam at Sullivan.’ Meramec Lake Park, by Jo Schaper Oddly enough, the original impetus to control the Meramec River came from commerce, not from the effects of devastating floods. As early as the … Continue reading “The Meramec River, 200 Years of Contest With People and Cities Along its Bank”

By Pauline Masson – At 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 19, Historic First Baptist Church will welcome the community to celebrate the restoration that took seven years. The great flood of 1915 inundated the entire downtown area of Pacific, filling the sanctuary of Historic First Baptist. The area and the church would flood again in 1947, 1982, 1985, 1993, 2008, 2015 and 2017. After the 2017 flood, the small congregation — only recently completed restoration of the church from the … Continue reading “The Community Invited to Celebrate Reopening of Historic First Baptist”

By Pauline Masson –  During the board of aldermen meeting on Tuesday, officials are set to approve a new city administration. Charles “Lee” Litterell has accepted the position and has entered into an agreement with the city, which was included in the October 7 meeting packet posted on the city’s website. The agenda includes a resolution that authorizes the mayor to sign the agreement between the city and the new city administrator, already signed by  Mr. Litterell. The agenda also … Continue reading “Three-time Oklahoma City Official and Former Walmart Executive Accepts Role of Pacific City Administrator”

By Pauline Masson –  The Jeffrey White Memorial Skatepark is nearing the date when the city will seek proposals to build the park. But aldermen are still pondering several design issues. Jared Catoor and Johnny Felts led the drive for this project, but it became one of the most supported and universally popular projects in recent memory The planned park – conceived, designed and promoted by a citizen committee – gained seemingly unequalled community approval and support. The park is … Continue reading “Jeffrey White Skatepark Nears Construction / Lesh Concerned About Future of Children’s Pavilion”

  By Pauline Masson – The mayor and board of aldermen (BOA) touched on the status of a series of city issues at the Sept. 16, BOA meeting. City Administrator search. Mayor Heather Filley reported the search firm had presented 30 candidates to the city and they (aldermen and mayor) had conducted interviews and are now going through the selection process. “We had the last one (interview) last week and we’re moving through the process,” she said.  Aldermen must agree on … Continue reading “Officials Update Issues – Admin Search, Committee Vacancy, Budget and Artificial Intelligence”

By Pauline Masson As of now there are 1,176 names on the City of Pacific emergency notification list. But that’s about to change. Emergency Management Director Hal Schulman spelled out the details of the new expanded emergency notification program at the September 16 Board of Aldermen (BOA) meeting. Mr. Schulman gave aldermen a look at the upgraded emergency notification system that is growing exponentially as he taps the full kit and caboodle of federal, state, county and city emergency alert … Continue reading “Emergency Management Director Taps Full Kit and Caboodle of Notification Programs – IPAWS to Door-to-Door and Everything in Between”