Hometown Matters

By Pauline Masson – The board of aldermen (BOA) approved a contract last Tuesday with Primary Concrete to build the much anticipated Jeffrey White Memorial Skate Park at a cost of $366,000 with certain contingencies in the contract. If the city cannot build the park with the available funds, the contingency says the city can back out of the approved contract. Based on a total cost of $481,144, the City of Pacific received a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund … Continue reading “Skate Park Construction Approved: Contingent on Final Plan. If Costs Run Over, City Can Back Out”

  By Pauline Masson –  Eighteen candidates have filed to be on the ballot for seven open seats in the April 7 municipal election, leading County Clerk Tim Baker to suggest that a big ballot could trigger big voter turnout. One candidate, Ward Three incumbent Scott Lesh filed for two seats. On Dec. 9, the first day of filing, Mr. Lesh filed to retain his Ward Three seat. On Dec. 30 the final day he filed for the office of … Continue reading “Voters Face Fullest Ballot in Recent Memory in the April 2026 Election. Scott Lesh Is seeking Two Seats”

  By Pauline Masson –  The late Carl Zitzman was 85 in the year 2000 when he told me a story of something that happened when he was a boy in downtown Pacific. He thought the event of his story took place in 1923 when he was eight years old, “But don’t hold me to that,” he said. Carl’s dad August Zitzman was the town barber. His barbershop was at the corner of St. Louis and Second Street, where Brown … Continue reading “Mystery of a Wind Up Christmas Train That Lingered for 77 Years”

By Pauline Masson –  After 73 years of alternating caretakers, Pacific’s Christmas tradition, the Nativity Scene in the Bluff face, is unveiled each December. The painted statues that make up a scene depicting Christ’s birth in a stable in Bethlehem are still the most familiar symbol of Christmas in the community. It was one of the city’s first tourist attractions, luring motorists out from St. Louis to see Christ’s birth re-enacted in a sand cave. It was also one of … Continue reading “Through 73 Years of Delight, Decay and Rotating Caretakers, a Community Tradition Lives On”

Ed Gass, Returns to City Government. ________________________________________ By Pauline Masson – There are only seven  board of aldermen (BOA) meetings between now and  the April 2026 municipal election. But ward one will have its mandated two representatives. The ward has had only one representative, Alderman Karla Stewart,  since alderman Rafael Madrigal resigned from his unexpired term in August 2025. After her two first appointments to fill the temporary post were rejected, she tapped Ed Gass, one of the longest serving … Continue reading “Mayor Picks a Winner: Ed Gass Unanimously Approved to Fill Ward One Vacancy”

Spat Over Mayor’s Appointments   By Pauline Masson –  Officials took action last Tuesday to step up punishment for speeders on neighborhood streets and laid the groundwork for tackling one of the city’s most visible eyesores, the overgrown commercial site known locally as the Lazy Larry property. And Mayor Heather Filley chastised aldermen for failing to approve her appointments without saying why. The announcement of taking a tougher stance on issues that have lingered for months, if not years, were … Continue reading “Aldermen Target Neighborhood Speeders and Overgrown Commercial Property”

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”