Chapter 198

Monday I was back at KCC. Patti was still out, using another week of her vacation with Kate. They were off this week looking at lighthouses in the south. I approved the time sheets and payroll.

I met with Mr. Bozman for a dorm update. Then we went to physically look it over and met Bob Jackson from the board so he could update the full board. They had an executive meeting later this week.

Bob asked how my body was from the accident. "Sore, but better every day," I replied. Then he said, "The insurance adjuster will be here this week to look at the Suburban. The dealer has a P.O., just stop by and finish out the options you want so they can order it."

Marcy and Roseanne had flown to Warrington to interview for the new MAAR site. Jason had taken most of the week off. The load was all on Roseanne to see if she was learning the processes and could start picking up some more of the work load. Roseanne and the clerk were going to have to do the job.

The fishing season was getting into high gear and hunting was next. Jason wanted time off to do both.

The papers were still hammering the county. Homeland and the FBI were still doing daily press briefings.

Jeff Justice's funeral was yesterday and there was even media there with a live report. There are times that the media can be the worst vultures. I felt sorry for the family. The whole thing was going to stink for a long time. The accident investigation was still ongoing; if they would close it and let everyone move on, it would be a big help.

Lorrie sent me a text; one of the many I was getting. I needed to be at the shopping center Thursday morning to sign the contracts and do the press conference with Lowes Home Centers - the new tenant for the shopping center.

Ching Lee had already sent out an invitational notice to the local papers and media for the event. She had worked with the Lowes PR team putting it together. They were going to be open for business in 30 days.

Their contractor was going to be there starting tomorrow making the changes they were paying for. Our contractor was there today ripping out the heat pumps that were junk and doing the prep work to install new ones. The contract for the blacktop work was out on bids.

This was most likely the best time for this to happen. Even though the center was grandfathered I was sure that some outfit would come out of the woodwork to try to stop a big box store from coming into the county. There were several groups that fought every one that tried. One of our aces was that their new building was an existing building, versus getting approval to build one that size.

Every county agency was being audited to find out where the federal airport funds had been spent. Agency heads and administrators were hiding deep. I doubted that anyone from the county would willingly step into a public mess now.

The county commissioners had a Wednesday night meeting this week. Jason, Jenny, Lorrie, Marcy and I were going to the meeting just to make a presence in case there were airport issues. Jason suggested the move and he wanted us to meet with the county commercial enterprises liaison before the meeting.

Jason and he were members of some civic organization and were on speaking terms. Jason thought inviting the man to the press conference Thursday might sooth the county stance.

The Lowes legal team was going to hit the county business office for a business license with the shopping center address as soon as it opened Thursday.

Jenny, Vicky and Ching Lee had been working on a PR release for the press conference on Thursday. They had been working with the Lowes' PR people to come up with the number of full time employees, inventory tax the county would get from the new business along with all the benefits to the county.

Another text from Jenny; this one said she had an appointment with her doctor on Friday morning. I sent back that I was going with her. The clinic that Jake had used in Japan had sent a lot of paper work with all the tests and results that had done to his semen and I would hand deliver it.