Category Archives: Ozarks economy

It ain’t fraud if you know better

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Harry Styron

Owning a business is the dream of a lot of people, but buying a business can be a nightmare. To facilitate the process, business brokers attempt to hook up sellers and buyers, and they know that getting a worn-out seller with a naive buyer is a very tricky endeavor that often goes sour before or after the sale.

Everybody knows that nobody wants to sell a gold mine, but they do want to put the best face on what they’ve got to sell and make a plausible story for why the owner wants out. Often the sale is due to the “owner’s health,” which can mean just about anything. Sometimes, the seller or the seller’s agent pooh-poohs the scant income on the tax returns, implying that the business throws off a lot of cash that never gets reported.

Business brokers run the full gamut from extraordinarily knowledgeable and helpful to pure cosmeticians. There is one business brokerage firm that I love to work with because of their expertise and integrity–the Kingsley Group, in Springfield, Missouri. Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in Arkansas, Missouri law, Ozarks, Ozarks economy and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The greatest E. coli risk at Lake of the Ozarks may not be from the water

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Harry Styron

Undies are in bunches in Jeff City.  Gov. Nixon is embarrassed that his lawyer-laden government has been caught not protecting the public from health risks of E. coli, a family of bacteria whose presence in water is a marker of fecal contamination from human and animal sources. Department of Natural Resources officials, and perhaps the governor, judged that the political risk of stating that the lake water was polluted apparently outweighed the public health risk of water contact, at least until after Memorial Day weekend.

The blame game is in full swing, but nobody is explaining Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in Missouri, Missouri economy, Ozarks, Ozarks economy, tourism, water law (streams, lakes and groundwater) and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Default judgments: sometimes they stick

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Harry Styron

A September 25, 2009 decision of the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Southern District, First Community Bank v Hubbell Power Systems, underscores that the trial judge doesn’t have to set aside a default judgment, even if it’s promptly requested, and even though Missouri’s court rules and case law disfavor default judgments in favor of giving the litigants their days in court.

When a civil lawsuit is filed in a Missouri’s circuit court and the defendant is served with a summons and copy of the plaintiff’s petition, the defendant has 30 days to file a response. If the defendant does not file a response, Read the rest of this entry →

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The Tri-State Mining District continues, producing poultry, not lead and zinc

Posted on September 20, 2009 by Harry Styron

The Tri-State Mining District, comprising adjacent portions of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, is generally thought to be out of business, other than for its massive legacy of environmental damage, notably the Tar Creek Superfund site, but also involving water and soil contamination in several counties in all three states.

But mining continues with no royalties being paid. The mineral is groundwater, exported not as “pigs” of lead, but as chickens and eggs. A major portion of the groundwater drawn from the Ozark aquifer in several Southwest Missouri counties is used for Read the rest of this entry →

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

Water: the supply is dwindling and we’re polluting what’s left

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Harry Styron

The availability of clean water in the western Ozarks is becoming acute. The Tri-States Water Coalition and Missouri State University are continuing a public exploration of the supply issues. The New York Times has published the first report of its monumental study of compliance and enforcement of water pollution regulations. Water conservation is a necessary part of the solution, but conservation can do little without changes Read the rest of this entry →

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

Maybe the duck accent is different in San Francisco?

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Harry Styron

Trademarks are worth fighting for, at least that’s what Ride the Ducks thinks. Ride the Ducks has filed suit in San Francisco to stop a competitor from using noisemakers that resemble “Wacky Quackers,” a plastic kazoo originated by Ride the Ducks in Branson.

You can read a tongue-in-cheek account of the real duck-to-duck litigation in the legal humor blog Lowering the Bar.

Ride the Ducks claims that Bay Quackers is using devices similar to Ride the Ducks’ Wacky Quackers, allowing Bay Quackers passengers to make duck noises identical to the noises that Ride the Ducks claims to have trademarked, confusing consumers with their noisemakers, thereby undermining the value of the Wacky Quackers trademark. Bay Quackers should stop quacking and give their quack profits to Ride the Ducks, according to the complaint.

Lowering the Bar’s account also takes a swipe at Branson (“The company started in Branson, Missouri, the source of so much that it evil in modern American life, though has since expanded.”). The New York Times stuck to the facts in its coverage of the dispute.

Competition in the duck tour business is apparently intense, according to another legal blogger Ryan Gile who has been following the industry’s trademark battles. In Boston, Boston Duck Tours and Super Duck Tours battled over the right to use the term “duck tour,” which the court found to be generic and not protected by trademark. In his account of the Ride the Ducks v. Bay Quackers suit, Mr. Gile includes a link to a YouTube video.

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Private sector jobs lost because of Missouri Division of Tourism budget cuts: why?

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Harry Styron

Like most states, Missouri’s constitution requires balanced budgets–on an annual basis–forcing the governor to make cuts when revenues fall below budget projections. As reported in the Springfield News-Leader and elsewhere, the Missouri Department of Economic Development has announced that the budget for its Division of Tourism must be sliced by 35%, or $7 million, which will result in a loss of 2,500 private sector jobs in the hospitality industry.

For discussion, here are a couple of my reactions to the cuts in spending for tourism.

Why do the taxpayers subsidize Missouri’s tourism industry? Read the rest of this entry →

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Greenwood stands up for its streets and its citizens

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Harry Styron

It’s so easy to criticize city government for allowing the favored few to take advantage of public goods. And it’s difficult for a city to justify putting a damper on economic activity, even when the activity seems to consume public resources. But the City of Greenwood, Missouri, on the southeast side of Kansas City, did just that, with a jury of citizens deciding that a busy quarry’s truck traffic was a public nuisance.

In City of Greenwood v. Martin Marietta dated August 11, 2009, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District of Missouri upheld a jury’s determinations (1) that heavy truck traffic from a quarry outside the city constituted a “public nuisance,” justifying the award to the city of damages, including punitive damages, and (2) that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc., and its partner were negligent in making street repairs. The Court of Appeals also approved the trial judge’s ruling on the legality of the city’s ordinance excluding commercial traffic.

From the map, the quarry is apparent on the southeast side of Greenwood, as is Greenwood’s Main Street, which is also State Highway 150. The Court of Appeals noted that the trucks hauling to and from the quarry preferred to travel north up Second Street, rather than to get to Highway 150 via State Highway 291; the alternate route would have been a little further and probably would have offended the citizens of Lake Winnebago, rather the citizens of Greenwood.

Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in Missouri, Missouri economy, Missouri law, nuisance, Ozarks economy, real estate law. Bookmark the permalink.

More confusion for Missouri boat dock law

Posted on August 9, 2009 by Harry Styron

Boat docks, like other properties along Missouri’s lakes, are valuable and jealously guarded by those claiming ownership or rights of use.

The law of boat docks is a muddle, perhaps due to the historic lack of clarity as to whether a boat dock is real property (land and the things attached permanently to it) or personal property (anything but real property), which is generally portable.

The Missouri legislature attempted to resolve that issue for the purposes of appraisal and mortgage lending with the enactment of  HB 842, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Wood, whose legislative district encompasses Table Rock Lake.

Signed by Gov. Nixon on July 7, 2009 and effective August 28, 2009, this new law defines “boat dock” as “a structure for loading and unloading boats and connecting real property to water, public or private.” In addition, “a boat dock is real property and has riparian rights,” provided: Read the rest of this entry →

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

Missouri legislature tries to nullify jury verdict to deprive family of compensation for damages to their home caused by gun club

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Harry Styron

Many people support the right of a jury to refuse to enforce a bad law. Most people think that courts shouldn’t make laws, but should leave lawmaking to representatives elected by the voters for that purpose.

For a legislature to jump into the middle of a court case and take a swipe at a jury and a judge is simply outrageous. When a family’s home is at stake, the legislature’s action is despicable.

In Brown v. Cedar Creek Rod & Gun Club, you can read the story of the Missouri legislature’s interference with a jury’s verdict and a judge’s injunction to protect the home of Daniel and Donna Brown and their child. Read on.

Read the rest of this entry →

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