Jeanine Rann is the Community Development Coordinator for the Missouri Main Street Connection group, which is currently working with the city of Blue Springs.
Grain Valley resident Doug Porter, 23, studied business and economics at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo., and is interning for Rep. Sheila Solon, R-Blue Springs, in Jefferson City.
Denny Okerstrom, a 40-year resident of Independence, is an English professor at Park University in Parkville, Mo. For his fourth book, he chose to write about the young men who flew the B-24J Liberator, Bottoms Up, on its final mission during World War II. The result is “The Final Mission of Bottoms Up: A World War II Pilot’s Story,” which was published last fall.
“I believe that readers will learn much about combat flying in World War II, not so much from a tactics or strategy perspective, but from the perspective of young men who simply wanted to get on with their dreams, goals and lives, but first had to fight a war,” Okerstrom said. “They did it with quiet courage and came home to become everyone’s neighbor, postman, teacher, plumber and car salesman. I think that readers will also learn that for those who must fight, the war is never truly over, that combat veterans pay a high price for their valor the rest of their lives.”
The book can be purchased from many online sources, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon as well as from the publisher, the University of Missouri Press in Columbia. Many area libraries also carry it, including Mid-Continent Public Library.
Cortney Cooper has been named the development director of FORCE, Fort Osage Resources Champion Education. A Blue Springs High School graduate, Cooper owns Stretch-n-Grow, a company that teaches physical fitness classes to pre-schoolers. She is also an active volunteer in organizations such as Harvesters as well as in her own church, Lakeland Community Church.
Jan Kraybill is principal organist at Community of Christ Auditorium and is serving as the harpsichordist for the three "Messiah" performances at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. She talked about the Independence choir and what moving the performance to downtown Kansas City has meant.
Jerry Mackey is the Truman Heartland Community Foundation named Mackey as the 2011 Outstanding Citizen of the Year for Independence. He lives in Lake Tapawingo and has called Eastern Jackson County home for more than 50 years.
Mackey, 78, was the owner/operator of five Hi-Boy Drive In locations in Independence, Blue Springs and Kansas City from 1960 to 2002. Though he no longer is involved in the business, Mackey still has an office at the U.S. 24 restaurant and goes to work every day.
Mackey has served as chairman of the Independence Chamber of Commerce board of directors twice – once during the 1970s and again during the 1980s. He was instrumental in turning Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival into a major regional festival and was involved with many civic projects, including the development of City Hall, the Police Building, the expansion of the YMCA and the annexation efforts that doubled the square footage of Independence. He is co-owner of the Steamboat Arabia Museum in the City Market area of Kansas City.
About three days a week, Mackey volunteers his time with IMPACT Family Resource Center of Eastern Jackson County, an assistance ministry based at First Baptist Church Blue Springs that serves low-income families and individuals in crisis throughout EJC.
Country music singer James Wesley, who performs at 9 p.m. Sunday on the Main Stage at Santa-Cali-Gon Days, has lived a Nashville fairytale of sorts. He moved his family from his humble, small-town beginnings, to Nashville in hopes of making it big in the industry.
Wesley talked about his love for country music and what it was like growing up in the small town of Mound Valley, Kan., population 200. Wesley will perform in West Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio prior to Sunday night. He is signed to Broken Bow Records where he has released three singles: “Jackson Hole,” the Top 40 hit “Real” and “Didn’t I.”
Lifelong Independence resident Jim Engelman will be sworn in Monday night as the new District 2 Independence City Council member. Engelman, 66, has lived in District 2 for about 25 years and is retired. He fills the seat left vacant by the death of Will Swoffer in June.
Lee’s Summit North hit the .500 mark in Ty Kohl’s second season after going 3-7 in 2009. But now Kohl might be facing his biggest challenge since heading the Broncos as he’s faced with the challenge of replacing a 28-player senior class.
