Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The "Table cloth story," tis the season for friends and family.

Well here we have a great heart warming story that may or may not be true (Snopes cannot be bunk it, Pastor Reid passed in 1989.)) It's up to you to either take it's message to heart or discard it, what will you do ?


"Beautiful story..... makes you understand that things happen for a reason
The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned
to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October
excited about their opportunities. When they saw
their church, it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything
done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,
painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving
rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.
His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,
beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,
and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was
having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth
with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just
the right size to cover the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.


By this time it had started to snow. An older
woman running from the opposite direction was
trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor
invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.


She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor
while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor
could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor,"she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check
the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria .
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor
told how he had just gotten "The Tablecloth". The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria .

When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her
husband or her home again.


The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;
but she made the pastor keep it for the church.
The pastor insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. She lived on the other
side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.


What a wonderful service they had on Christmas
Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the
spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he
wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he
forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was
supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and
put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home
again all the 35 years between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to
take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on
the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
who says God does work in mysterious ways.
I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today, to guide you and protect you as you go
along your way. His love is always with you. His
promises are true, and when we give Him all our cares we know He will see us through.

So when the road you're traveling seems difficult at best, just remember I'm here
praying and God will do the rest. Pass this on to those you want God to bless and remember
to send it back to the one who asked God to bless
you first.

When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need.

Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply
say the following small prayer for the person who sent this to you.

Father, God, bless all my friends and family in what
ever it is that You know they may be needing this
day! May their lives be full of Your peace,
prosperity and power as they seek to have a closer relationship with You Amen."



Tom Ford

NO. 832

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Ms. Karen Rainey opines at the recent BOA meeting. (click here for the audio.)

Now this is very interesting to me as Ms. Rainey seems to be saying we should cut out the senior citizen trash pick up subsidy and snow removal (until we come to our senses and grant a tax increase,) but in her quest for cuts she misses the two most glaring items that can be cut.

What's that you say, well how about the Sappington House going back to the Sappington Foundation (or St. Louis County $26,000.00 plus,) or Animal control duplicate service ($50,000.00 plus ?)

UM, Ms. Rainey, I agree that we need to cut where we can, but the stones your turning over aren't going to do it. If were as serious as we should be, we must cut expenditures.


Mr. John Foote does a yeoman's job of explaining his version of why we need more taxes (I disagree, we NEED TO CUT SPENDING, and we have one of the highest retail taxes in the Nation.) He presents it well as always (the preparation for his remarks dove tailed into Ms. Rainey's remarks perfectly, HUMMMMMM!) but again I am not willing to give one more cent until the "fluff" is gone.

What say you ?

Tom Ford

NO. 831

Friday, November 26, 2010

Crestwood's first female Firefighter to retire. (click here for the Times story)

Nancy Willison will be retiring soon after 25 years with the Crestwood Fire Department ! Nancy came aboard when being a female on a Fire Department was a bit of a rarity, and has served our citizens well ever since !

Nancy we wish you well in your newly found leisure, and it really must be nice to know that "alarms" are a thing of the past!

God bless you and thank you for your dedicated service to me, my family, and the City of Crestwood !


Tom Ford

NO. 830

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving activities for kids (click here please.)


With thanks to Kaboose. com I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving, and present you with a few things from Kaboose to entertain the little guy's and gal's while the feast is prepared.

Happy Thanksgiving to all !

Tom Ford

NO. 829

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Afghanistan "war dog" mistakenly euthanized! (click here for the story.)

This is one of those three hankey stories that should never, ever have happened! Now we have kid's heart broken, the owner heart broken, and a dead dog just because some idiot had to get in on the deal!

"Target," sleep well oh tried and true companion.

PS: It looks as though we have an excellent chance of this happening here (see the site below.)

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/11/
county_animal_control_staffed_by
_underqualitied_overpaid_incompetants.php


Tom Ford

NO. 828

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Pulaski Bank lawyer "urges" BOA to grant new agreement for Sappington Square (click here for the story from the CALL.)

Another great story from the Call reference why were never going to get anywhere with TDD, CID, TIF's and the curent regime! As you read this please understand that every time we put on on these "tax welfare deals" were shooting ourselves in the foot (no, not John Foote.)

Mr. Jeff Schlink, Alderman, Ward Two makes a very good point as to why these so called tools should NEVER be used, and I agree! Do you know that Mr. Forrest Miller, Chairman of the Economic Development Commission has come out against them as well? Well he sure did at last night's meeting and I applaud him for it!

Pulaski Bank as well as every other Bank on this planet has a duty to it's share holders to make the best decisions possible after gathering ALL the facts before they grant a loan for any project. In this case the decision was a bit off the mark as the Developer was forclosed on in mid project, and now Polaski owns the development!

Was there a CID in place, yes there was but with THE DEVELOPER, not Pulaski Bank. so I opine that an entirely new agreement MUST be drawen up, or forget about it! Mr. King has given a yomans performance in trying to explain to the board that it is entirly possible to pick up a bit of excrement by the clean end, an idea I find challanging at best.

Now after all is said and done, we, the tax payers will be the ones on the hook for a really bad decision by the Bank, the Board Of Alderman, and the Developer! I simply ask, WHY? Tha bank knew (or should have known) what they were getting into, the Developer should have mined the economic data a bit more closely, and the Board has been bitten by this vampire so often they never should have let it back into the house again!

Thank GOD we have intellegent members of the Board (Mssrs. Wallach, Schlink, Miguel, and Duchild) who have and are seeing through this sharade and have the courage to work on our behalf! Gentlemen, I applaud your wisdon, strength, tenacity, and willingness to do what's right for Crestwood!

Monday, November 15, 2010

An open letter to the Board of Aldermen reference the vote on the CID for Sappington Square. (click here for the audio.)

Ladies and gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen, Crestwood, Missouri.

I have spoken to quite a few of my friends and neighbors in Crestwood reference the "Sappington Square" development recently foreclosed on by Pulaski Bank, and the resulting flurry of activity by lawyers for the CID and Pulaski Bank.

This entire fiasco has been brought about by forces that were and are beyond the control of the average Crestwood Citizen, and as such were not at all happy about it!

Now we see that the Board is going to vote on a new development agreement that favors the Bank, and does nothing for Crestwood! In the opinion of myself and the people I have talked to, were all sick and tired of having to bail out Banks, Developers, and owners who have not done their due diligence prior to starting a project! Is it to be our fault that the Developer and the Bank failed to correctly estimate the business climate, and thus failed in the project ?

I am asking via this letter that you all do the right thing and vote down this ill advised agreement, escrow the money, and force the Bank to face the fact that THEY made the mistake, not us!

I will be happy to debate this topic anywhere, anytime with any and all of you (set aside time at a BOA meeting) should you feel the need.

Thomas C. Ford
Ward 2 Crestwood, Missouri

( The audio of Mr. King and Mr. Schlink is now available for your hearing pleasure, just click on the header for same. )


Tom Ford

NO. 826

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Crestwood "must" dip into RESERVES to balance the budget! (click here for the story from the South County times.)


Well I know the holiday season is fast approaching, but I was hoping to see Thanksgiving pass before we got into the "ghost of City Administrators past" presentation on why we MUST borrow from the cash reserves!

Mr. Eckrich, Boys and Girls of the Board, and last but not least, "Your Honor," where in the heck are you going to get the funds to replace this "loan?" You said it yourselves, the well is running dry, the sales tax money is dwindling, were out of ammo and the enemy is at the gates!

I agree that Police, Fire, Public Works are "Bare Bones" but I really do not think City Hall is. Look into the assistants to the assistants in accounting, or the duplicate animal control department, or the people responsible for changing our web site to one that doesn't work with no hope of fixing it. A few cuts there will help at least reduce the amount we need to "Borrow, right?

Ya say you couldn't possibly get along without your 'entourage?" Well what say we cut funding to the infamous "bridge to no-where?" So far we have been under a fire watch for the last 24 days, and yet the rock quarry has yet to catch fire producing the dreaded "canopy fire!" Could it be that Alderman Foote was mistaken and rocks really do not "catch Fire?" Simple cut since the only thing to date that has been done is a "Bore sample" (boy is that right,) it will be a simple matter to put the project on hold, the funds (Federal) in escrow, and the silly idea out to pasture till were well enough to fund it.

The Charter requires a balanced budget, and ALL of you should be smart enough to do it without playing the shell game our old C/A did! Remember, you ALL said it would never ever happen again? Well it seems that it is, and it's your idea, MARVELOUS!

I have a challenge to the Mayor, the BOA and Mr. Eckrich, How about you ALL cut your salary's until this mess is resolved one way or the other?

I await you answers please.

Tom Ford

NO. 825

Friday, November 05, 2010

Crestwood works on war memorial (click here for the South County Times story,)





Veterans day is right around the cornor! Please join our veterans in a celebration on November 10,2010 at 2:00 PM at City Hall for a remembrance, and thank you to all our Veterans from all wars.

"I was a sailor once!"
I WAS A SAILOR ONCE AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN"*** I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe - - the ship beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines drove her swiftly through the sea. *** I liked the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clang of the ship's bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and laughter of sailors at work. *** I liked Navy vessels -- nervous darting destroyers (they were called 'tin cans' for a reason), plodding fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady solid aircraft carriers. *** I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington , Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge - - memorials of great battles won and tribulations overcome. *** I liked the lean angular names of Navy "tin-cans" and escorts - - Kenneth D. Bailey DDR-713, Barney, Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy, Damato, Leftwich, Mills, Stickell, Noa, Paul, Coontz, T.C. Hart, Glover - - mementos of heroes who went before us. And the others - - San Jose , San Diego , Los Angeles , St. Paul , Chicago - - named for our cities. *** I liked the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea. (I missed this thrill...) *** I liked Liberty Call and the spicy scent of a foreign port. *** I even liked the never-ending paperwork and all-hands working parties as the ship filled herself with the multitude of supplies, both critical and mundane in order to cut ties to the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where there was water to float her. *** I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men, from all parts of the land; farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England , from the cities, the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me - for professional competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word, they were "shipmates"; then and forever. *** I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was passed: "Now set the special sea and anchor detail - all hands to quarters for leaving port," and I liked the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side. *** The work was hard and dangerous; the going rough at times; the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the "all for one and one for all" philosophy of the sea was ever present. *** I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship's work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and sunset gave way to night. *** I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness -- the masthead and range lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters - they cut through the dusk and joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small and the rocking from side to side that told me my ship was alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch would keep me safe. *** I liked quiet midwatches with the aroma of strong coffee -- the lifeblood of the Navy permeating everywhere. *** And I liked hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge of alertness. (Some times those shapes came too damn close.) *** I liked the sudden electricity of "General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations," followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors as the ship transformed herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war -- ready for anything. *** And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize.*** I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them. I liked the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones and Burke. A sailor could find much in the Navy: comrades-in-arms, pride in self and country, mastery of the seaman's trade. An adolescent could find adulthood. *** In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods - the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint echo of engine and rudder orders, a vision of the bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter in the wardroom and chief's quarters and mess decks. *** Gone ashore for good they will grow wistful about their Navy days, when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the horizon. *** Remembering this, they will stand taller and say, "I WAS A SAILOR ONCE AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN."

By Lonnie Wittiker a shipmate of mine, and a darn good story it is!


"Some people spend an entire life time wondering if they made a difference in the world. The U.S. Armed Forces don't have that problem!"Ronald Reagan




"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

Ronald Reagan




Tom Ford

NO. 824

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Please join us at "Malone's" Saturday from 1:00 to 6:PM for a great time and a wonderful cause







What more could anyone ask for my friends? Let's all get out there and show our support to Katie and the Wunderlich family!


Tom Ford

NO. 823 823
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