Fireworks shooters for the 4th were (left to right): Dan Bird, Tod Ross, Eric Mosier, Tommy Grame, Mike Goentzel, John Caudron, Larry Whitt, Clay Spears, Phil Grinlinton.

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Aldermen Set Annexation Hearing

Celebrating Her First Fourth of July as a Citizen

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Fireworks lit up the sky and buildings downtown during the finale of the Weston Masonic Lodge 53 Fireworks show July 4. Main Street was filled with area residents enjoying the fireworks, shot from the other side of the railroad tracks to the south.
The day started with a Chamber of Commerce organized parade, children’s games, a DJ and street dance provided by Holladay Distillery and more.

Victoria Campbell was working hard earlier this year to fill out all the paperwork needed to apply for her U.S. citizenship. She was excited, but her seven year-old son was upset.
“He thought I would lose my accent,” she said. “You can’t not be British,” he told me. “It’s how you talk!”
“I told him - guess what’s going to change. We’ll have matching passports. Then he was fine.”

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I’m Home

There wasn’t a dry eye Wednesday evening July 4 when Gordon Cheadle walked out of the St. George Hotel and into the arms of his family. A Staff Sergeant with the Air National Guard’s 139th Airlift Wing out of St. Joseph, Cheadle and his wife, Breanna, surprised their two daughters with his return at the 4th of July celebration in Weston.
Sgt. Cheadle spent four months in Kuwait as an aircraft mechanic. He said he was never in danger there. “The worst part was the dust storms,” he said. “Everything shuts down. Everything’s got sand in it and on it.”
Between his two deployments, first to Antarctica during its summer, then Kuwait, he’s experienced temperatures that range from -15 to 121.
“Kuwait is so dry, it’s no worse than here,” he said. “Antarctica was absolutely gorgeous. I was fortunate to go on it.
“It’s nice to be back,” he said while waiting for DJ Alan Lintner to introduce him. “It wasn’t bad. It’s just the whole aspect of being away and why I’m away. I was ready to come home.”
Daughter Madeline (Maddy) said it was a relief to have him back. “We have a lot to catch up on.”
Her boyfriend, Colby Rollins of Platte City, said he helped steer her into the right place for the reunion.“Keeping the secret that her dad was back was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
When not traveling the world, Mr. Cheadle works for Interurban Restoration and Construction. The family lives in Dearborn.

A public hearing will be held Monday, July 30 at 6:00 to hear comments on Earl Benner Jr’s petition to annex nine acres behind Sharp’s Market into the City of Weston. Mr. Benner also plans to rezone the area from Ag to R-3.
The special meeting will also include a discussion of ways to prosecute illegal short term rentals and to amend the city’s 2018 budget.

Annexation of properties to the east of Weston is proceeding. Special attorney Bob Shaw is drawing up petitions for property owners to sign in the voluntary annexations.
The new public restrooms on Thomas Street are still having some fine tuning, but are open. The total spent on the project was $66,000, with $36,000 taken from the Tourism Tax, a $25,000 grant from Platte County Parks Fund, and $5,000 each from Weston Rotary and the Weston Chamber of Commerce.
City workers put in 843.75 hours for a labor cost of $15,465 during the year-long construction project.
Crystal Larabee has been hired to clean the restrooms two days a week.

Sebus Hardware can’t open yet, but the business has made great strides in its building repairs. The roof is nearly finished and the plaster ceiling has been removed. It now has new ceiling tiles.
Tuck pointing and window repair are still to be done, as well as some other repairs.
The Aldermen are clamping down on another property they consider an eyesore and fire hazard. The property is behind a restaurant and includes piles of demolition debris. The owner said the materials that will not be reused should be gone in a week.

Cease and desist letters will be sent to a Bed & Breakfast advertising five rooms available (they’re limited to four or they have to get a hotel license). The business is also advertising a “Corporate Cottage.” Secondary buildings cannot be used as part of a B&B.

The Aldermen amended the permit for the Weston Moonshiner’s Car Club’s Cruise Nights to allow them to close the 400 block of Main from 5:30 p.m. on. The new time also applies to other streets they use in the area.
The Moonshiners can start the Cruise Nights in the City Hall parking lot at 3:00 in the afternoon. The club meets in downtown Weston the fourth Saturday of the month through October.

The city will ask publish a Request for Qualifications notice to restart planning on the Thomas Street parking lot design. The new design would incorporate a new lot that was added to the parking lot. The Aldermen anticipate a three year, phased construction schedule.