Monthly Archives: May 2009

The case of the disappearing plaintiff

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Harry Styron

Why would a plaintiff (the party who files a suit) fail to show up for trial? How long should a court keep the suit alive, if the plaintiff doesn’t seem to care?

In a recent opinion, Springfield’s Southern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the trial judge’s determination that it a plaintiff who failed to show up for trial could not have another chance to assert its rights three years later. The losers here, named Kissee, filed a suit against E-Z Pawn for the recovery of jewelry left there for cleaning.

When the Kissees failed to show up for the trial, the trial judge merely noted in the court records that they failed to show. Nearly a year later, the pawnshop’s attorney sent a cash settlement offer to the Kissees, but apparently that letter did not lead to a settlement.

Six months later, Read the rest of this entry →

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Decorating and undecorating graves

Posted on May 25, 2009 by Harry Styron

Objects on a tombstone

The weather was rainy in much of the Ozarks today, so I was glad that I had visited cemeteries of mine and my wife’s ancestors on Friday and Sunday.

Pam’s comment to my previous post mentioned the custom of leaving small stones on a tombstone to indicate that a visit was made. I have not seen this, but I saw the arrangement above on a tombstone at Snowdenville Cemetery in eastern Madison County, Missouri, which could have been the work of a groundskeeper who picked up things ahead of the mowers, or it could have been a loving tribute.

When I was sixteen or seventeen, I was hired to mow the Newtonia IOOF Cemetery in Newton County, Missouri. Removing the artificial flowers and the containers of real and artificial flowers, with lots of wire and accessories, was a tedious job, especially for a self-important teenager. In preparing the cemetery for Memorial Day, my mower frequently hit those items as I plowed through the thick spring grass, leaving me to pick up the shredded plaster and plastic pots and unwind the wires from my mower blade.

Many of those paid and unpaid people who maintain cemeteries would be able to do their work more safely and easily if those who leave items would make another visit to pick up those items. These items are decorative for only a few days.

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Take a trip to the past on Memorial Day

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Harry Styron

Forsyth Cemetery

Forsyth Cemetery

Cemeteries, for me, offer a place of quiet contemplation. Sometimes, I know just enough of the people buried there to set my imagination running about lives, times and places.

This cemetery in Forsyth holds the remains of Nathaniel Kinney, who led a vigilante group, the Bald Knobbers, for five years before losing his life to vengeance. It also holds the remains of John Hilsabeck, who operated a hotel on the White River at the mouth of Swan Creek in the old Forsyth townsite. At this cemetery, in 1892, John Wesley Bright was hung after having been pulled out of the Taney County jail where he was held for the killing of his young wife.

Branson cemetery

Branson cemetery

Rueben Branson, Branson’s first postmaster, and his wife Mary lie here, in this green place in downtown Branson.

Over the past few years, I’ve been photographing the graves of my ancestors in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, trying to imagine the communities where they lived and died and the landscapes they encountered in the 1800s.

If you don’t know where your ancestors were buried, you can often find them on the internet.

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Beautiful bridges of the Ozarks

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Harry Styron

Who doesn’t love a bridge? Other than the ferry operator, who lost a job.

Miranda recently commented on this blog that she missed the photo of the Taneycomo bridge between Branson and Hollister that I used to have at the top of this page.

Here’s a larger view of it:
cropped-img_02963.jpg

On Sunday morning, I put my boat in upper Bull Shoals at the River Run ramp at Forsyth, next to the Missouri Highway 76 bridge. Here’s that bridge:
Hwy 76 bridge over Bull Shoals

Just upstream are the two bridges at the mouth of Swan Creek at Shadow Rock Park. A year ago, the lower bridge in the foreground was submerged Read the rest of this entry →

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Private dam not grandfathered from safety regs

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Harry Styron

Because the possibility that a dam could break is a continuing risk, an old dam isn’t exempt from newer rules for dam safety. So said the Missouri Supreme Court in an opinion released on May 5, 2009, reversing the ruling of a Springfield trial judge.

The trial judge threw out a suit filed by the Missouri Attorney General against the Olives, who had purchased a farm with an old dam on it. The suit alleged that the Olives violated the Missouri dam and reservoir safety law by failing to register the dam with the Missouri Dam and Reservoir Safety Council, a state agency. The dam was built in 1974, five years before the dam and reservoir safety regulations went into effect.

Registration of a dam triggers the implementation of a safety program and requires the submittal of an as-built survey of the dam. In other words, registration is the beginning of a process that allows the Dam and Reservoir Safety Council to keep track of the dam, make requirements for maintenance and repairs, and review any proposals for modification of the dam.

The trial judge’s decision was based on two points Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in Missouri, Missouri law, nuisance, Ozarks, Ozarks economy, real estate development, real estate law, Uncategorized, water law (streams, lakes and groundwater) and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

When the iris blooms, it’s time to challenge your property tax value

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Harry Styron

iris-and-tax-notice-002

You may think of property taxes only when you get your property tax bill in November, with your taxes due by year end. But in November and December, you’re generally too late to do anything but pay the taxes.

Spring is the time of year that you can actually do something about the amount of your taxes, so that the November tax statement will not be such a shock. You can appeal to the board of equalization. Here’s how Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in county government, Missouri, Missouri law, Ozarks economy, property tax, real estate law, Taney County and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.