SEMO TIMES has unearthed yet another disturbing instance of former City Manager Doug Bagby’s careless management and costly inattention to the city’s fiscal health. First, Bagby and his coalition on the council left the new leaders with a $3M deficit in the employees’ health insurance fund. Next, the taxpayers footed the bill for successfully challenging the clever, but illegal, perpetual contract that Bagby orchestrated. And now, the most recent instance of manipulation, playing sleight of hand with public money in the sale of City Cable. Eight months and six days after City Council voted to sell the cable system, Utilities Manager Bill Bach stood before City Council on September 23 and said, “The ZCorum contract was not included” in the

It won’t be long before big hunting seasons arrive in Missouri. Waterfowl hunting will begin October 25-26 with the youth hunt. The regular season in the Middle Zone which encompasses Lake Wappapello, Duck Creek, and Otter Slough and the rest of the area around these locations begins November 1 continuing through December 30. Be sure to check your Waterfowl Hunting Digest you should get when you purchase your license. If you do not have a Waterfowl pamphlet, there is no charge and you can pick one up anywhere they sell hunting or fishing permits. I was reminded the other afternoon that the Missouri Fish Gigging season is open. I saw a boat rigged with lights heading out Highway 60 toward

When a pageant, prom or formal approaches it's time for a visit to The Bunny Patch. Owner Peggy Barks' shop enjoys mainstay status in downtown Dexter, and has serviced generations of patrons for 27 years. On Monday, SEMO TIMES found Peggy at the back of her temporary location, sitting at a sewing machine designing custom fittings as she has for a couple of generations of clients. Her large, 8,000 + square-foot shop is in the midst of renovations, she explained. After so long in the same location, Barks decided her store could use a face lift. "I don't have even half my inventory here," she said. "It will be very, very nice when we get back there." The Bunny Patch

Here's what is in this week's issue: YOU PAID FOR IT: More Comes To Light Regarding City Cable Sale Black Powder Enthusiast - Van Rhodes Butler County Collector's Race Down to the Wire Centerfold: You Are Here - photos by Chris Hadfield/NASA The Folly of Common Core Doniphan Spooktacular Daylight Savings Time Roots and Rituals - Halloween Wisdom of the Woods The Baldknobbers Are Coming! Pick up your copy at one of our Pick-up Locations

John L Squires White Male, 55 years old, 5”8” weighing 150 pounds with gray/brown hair and blue eyes, has absconded from Probation and Parole supervision. Squires currently is wanted on a no bond warrant for absconding. Squires is considered a sexual predator with violent tendencies. On 10-29-2014 John L Squires cut off his electronic ankle monitor and fled supervision while attending a doctors appointment in Poplar Bluff.   Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of John L Squires is encouraged to contact law enforcement.

Photo - A customer making a selection of spices at The French Market Cooks from far and wide gather here to survey the more than 350 spices and unlimited mixes arranged on floor-to-ceiling shelves. Owner Brian Crawford, who also co-owns The Loft just across the street, was inspired to reinvent the former drug store into a modern day cooking extravaganza. "Most of the shelving and stuff was here when we bought the building," he said. "Including the old apothecary jars and glass items." Folks who visit The French Market find scores of items for cooking and entertaining, including spices lining row after row and displayed along the store's long walls. "When I visited Saint Charles, there were these neat spice shops,