I guess I’m going to have to start buying a lottery ticket every now and then. Evidently, this part of the state has some good lottery karma going on.
Of course, we all remember last November, when Mark and Cindy Hill of Dearborn cashed in on one-half of a nearly $600 million Powerball lottery jackpot. And now — if you follow me on Twitter you already know this — some one apparently purchased a winning $1 million Powerball ticket last week at the Weston Trex Mart/Depot.
As of this writing Tuesday evening, no announcement of a winner had been made. But one could be coming soon, perhaps by the time you read this column. I talked to Missouri Lottery officials earlier in the day Tuesday and they said someone had claimed the winning ticket and the verification process was under way.
Here’s hoping the potential winner is somebody local who will give back to their community like the Hills. Speaking of the Hills, look for an update on them as well as the Camden Point fire station/ballfield improvements they are helping to finance next week.
SURELY THE PROSECUTOR HAS BETTER THINGS TO DO
That’s what I thought when I saw a press release from Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd Tuesday concerning the intentional drowning of a cat a few weeks ago at Lake Waukomis.
Check out our front page story (slow news week) for more details, but here’s the scoop: some guy drowned a family cat in the Lake after it scratched and bit his fiancee, a neighbor saw it and called police and the public outrage was such that Zahnd agreed to look into the case.
In his statement Tuesday, Zahnd said he couldn’t prosecute the guy because state law didn’t provide for it.
Well, OK, I’m glad we got that cleared up.
Look, I personally like cats — they are pretty low maintenance as far as pets go and I kind of dig their I’m-cool-and-you’re-not demeanor. I had a cat that lived for 15 years and our current house cat, Daisy, is 14. And everyone knows about The Citizen’s shop kitty, Typo. And putting a cat in a carrier and sinking it underwater for five minutes is no doubt a despicable act.
But, come on — I’m thinking Zahnd has more pressing matters to spend his time on than the untimely demise of one feline. And I’m amazed that a reported 1,200 people took the time to sign an online petition calling for the cat drowner to go to jail.
Too bad we don’t seem to get that fired up about the day-to-day human suffering going on.
Just sayin’.
FANTASTIC FAIR
The weather was awesome, the Krautburgers were tasty, the beard contest featured more unshaven dudes than a ZZ Top impersonator convention and I saw a bunch of people I had not seen since last year’s Fair.
In our book, that makes the 150th Annual Fair a success — and we’ve got the pics to prove it. Check out our photo spread on pages A4-5 and our photo gallery at plattecountycitizen.com.
Thanks for reading.
Lee Stubbs is owner/editor of The Citizen. He may be reached by email at editor@plattecountycitizen.com or by calling 858-5154. Follow him on Twitter @leejstubbs.