A party so good, it made the news.

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to give a brief recap of our neighborhood party and business meeting last night.

First off – thanks to all who came. Special thanks to Jayne and Greg Wack for hosting the event on their lovely patio, and to Bob Hutton for helping supply the tables and coolers!

We had a great turnout for the party, about 75 people all told, when you include our guests from the Police and Fire Departments. KOMU did a segment on the news last night about the city-wide event, which pretty much featured nothing but footage from our party. If you didn’t see it, you can check it out here, with a related story on the Night Out here (that’s Greg burnin’ the burgers in the photo!). The food was excellent, and the company was even better. We got to meet our new neighbors (perhaps a spotlight introduction on them later) and everyone certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.

The business portion of our evening was brief but productive. First, Jean Leonatti, current President of the Country Club Board gave an update on the latest things happening with the Club and answered some questions. We had reports from the CCENA officers (short version – everything is going fine, we haven’t spent any money, and the new directory will be available soon), and then we made a change to the Bylaws to make the annual $5.00 membership fee entirely optional. We discussed re-activating the Neighborhood Watch program (more on that to come), and street lighting. The possibility of expanding the Association to include the adjoining neighborhood to the north was discussed, but we decided not to act on that at this time. Then, since there were no new candidates for office, we elected the current slate of officers to serve another term. (Perhaps we’ll get out on good behaviour next year.)

The meeting was over by 7:20, and a goodly number of people stayed for another hour or so to chat and enjoy the delightful evening.

Again, thanks to all who were able to attend.

Jim Downey

Business Meeting Agenda

Greetings! Just thought that I would post the Tentative Agenda for the CCENA Annual Meeting, 8/4/09:

I. Call to Order

II. Officer’s Reports
A. Chair
B. Vice-Chair
C. Secretary
D. Treasurer

III. New Business
A. Changes to Bylaws
B. Formation of a Neighborhood Watch Program
C. Neighborhood “Garage Sale”
D. Expansion of Neighborhood Association/Change of name
E. Other business/concerns?

IV. Election of Officers

V. Close Meeting.

About the election of officers: The current officers are willing to continue service in their offices, but would welcome anyone who would like to stand for election. If you are interested, but have questions about what is involved, feel free to drop me an email or chat with me at the party before the business meeting gets started (about 7:00).

See you Tuesday!

Jim Downey

Raymond Brady

Randy Kilgore dropped me a note the other day, asking whether we had noted the passing of long-time neighbor Raymond Brady.

“No,” I replied, “Martha and I hadn’t heard the news.”

So it is possible that you haven’t either.

Mr. Brady passed away on June 11, and was buried in the Columbia Cemetery. In addition to the usual details of a public life one would find about such a well-known leader of the community, the obituary in the Columbia Tribune had this more personal note:

Raymond’s athletic pursuits included football at Hickman and pitching baseball for Columbia American Legion, Ban Johnson and the Old Columbia Merchants. He tried out with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1940, was considered one of Columbia’s better three-cushion billiard players, played piano for many years with the Boone Docs, a local band that raised funds for needy medical students, was an avid fisherman, having fished most lakes and streams in Missouri and went on many trips to Canada and Mexico.

I think sometimes we lose track of the personal. Our friends, family, and neighbors are more than just simple facts on a page, but that is often all that is left of us as far as the public is concerned. If you have a story about Mr. Brady you would like to share, please feel free to do so in a comment, or come and share it with others in person on Tuesday. That seems to be the best way to honor his memory.

Jim Downey

Party like it’s, um, 2009.

As noted previously, our annual Neighborhood Party is next Tuesday, August 4th, at the home of Greg & Jayne Wack – 2257 Country Lane – starting about 5:30 – 6:00.

We’ll have fried chicken, and will be grilling some burgers and hot dogs, but we ask you to bring something else to share – a salad, side dish, or dessert. There will also be lemonade and iced tea, but feel free to bring other beverages as you wish. There are chairs available, but if you can, please bring your own lawn chair. Paper plates and tableware will be provided.

In cooperation with the City of Columbia, and the Columbia Police Department, we’ll celebrate the 26th Annual National Night Out.

In addition, we’ll have our annual CCENA business meeting and the election of officers, starting around 7:00. We have several items to discuss, but we promise not to let it last too long – this is about just enjoying time with our neighbors and getting to know one another better. If you *haven’t already returned* your Directory form, please bring it along so we can get the new Neighborhood Directory completed!

Feel free to drop me an email or give me a call if you have any questions!

Jim Downey

Tiny New Neighbor!

John and I are happy to announce the arrival of Victor Catlin Dupuy, born right here on Country Lane this morning at 12:46am with the help of the team from the Columbia Community Birth Center.  He was only two weeks late, beating his big brother Dante by a full week.  9 lbs. 11 1/2 oz, 22 1/4″ long, healthy as a horse.  Had a near-perfect apgar score of 9 1/2 out of 10.   We’re all doing well and are being cared for by my parents for the next two weeks, thank goodness.  He’s looking forward to meeting everyone at the picnic!

Sarah Catlin-Dupuy

Please return directory forms!

Thanks to everyone who has returned the neighborhood directory forms.  For those of you who haven’t, please take a minute to fill it out and return it!  I’d like to have the directories ready to hand out by the August 5 picnic, but there are far too many outstanding forms at this point.  You can fill out as much or as little as you choose.

Thanks,

Sarah

Socket sponsors neighborhood party!

Socket is throwing a party for our neighborhood to celebrate the availability of their service to our area. Please join them Thursday, July 30 from 5-8 PM at Stephens Lake Park (Broadway Entrance). They’re providing free Shakespeare’s Pizza, a bounce house for the kids, trivia, bingo, prizes and more. Plus, enter a drawing to win Mizzou Homecoming tickets vs. Texas. It really *is* free–as Socket is opening up service to one small area at a time, this is the way they choose to announce it, rather than spending money on print, radio, or television advertisements.

More info at www.socket.net/neighborhoodparty

Hope to see some of you there. I’m sure you’ll find us over by the bounce house–Dante loves those things.

Sarah

Road closure.

Quick note from the city to share:

Utility work on Alfred Street

(COLUMBIA, MO) – The city of Columbia Public Works Department announces that on Wednesday, July 22, N.J. Wilson Construction will perform utility work on Alfred Street for Landmark Hospital. This work will result in a temporary road closure of Alfred Street, north of Country Club Drive off Old Highway 63. The work should be completed and the road fully reopened by 5:30 p.m. the same day, weather permitting. Motorists and pedestrians are urged to exercise extreme caution when in the work zone and use an alternate route whenever possible.

Jim Downey