Festivities downtown start at 5:00 with kiddie train rides and other activities. Santa will be downtown to get all the wish requests from children between 5:30 and 7:00. The festival of lights and parade commence at 7:00 p.m. It’s a fun evening for everyone. The merchants display their best with holiday spirits. It’s nice to be downtown among friends …so try to be there.

Chris Orr, who received serious head injuries in the Cat Tracker accident, remains in critical condition at the University of Kansas Med Center, according to the Salina Journal today.

Lawrence Journal World update.

Click on “watch” to see a picture of the Cat Tracker bus.

The new Sunflower coal-fired power plant planned near Holcomb sits on top of the Ogallala Aquifer that helps feed the Smoky Hill River. The Smoky, which supplies Salina with 60% of its water, nearly ran dry last summer, prompting the city’s first water emergency. The dry river was caused mostly because of the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer.

The Smoky Hill River feeds Kanopolis Lake which supplies the water for Post Rock Rural Water District.

When the aquifer is exhausted, there will be a high probability that we will start having dust storms, according to some educated projections. Some have described the future of this area to be similar to the area southwest of Albuquerque.

The expanded plant, which would be the largest coal-fired electricity plant west of the Mississippi, would annually emit about 15 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to Sunflower officials. Carbon dioxide emissions are not regulated by the government, but scientists suspect they are a prime cause of global warming. It comes back to us in the form of acid rain polluting everything it touches.

The plant, which would expand from 360 megawatts to 2,460 megawatts, would be the largest producer of carbon dioxide in the western U.S. It meets the requirements of the federal government because THERE ARE NONE.

Most of the power produced by this plant would go to Denver.

Once again, elected city and county officials in Ellsworth ought to be attending these meetings and take a position of leadership in protecting our water and clean air interests in the county. If they don’t do it, who will?

And…the state needs a comprehensive water policy that equally protects all its citizens and isn’t driven by politics.

If you didn’t make the meeting tonight, you aren’t going to get a report from me. Not much anyway. You’ll have to read what Alan has to say about it in the INDY…or talk to someone who was there. The presenter talked for an hour then fielded questions …and dodged hand axes …for another hour.

I will say there were between 125 and 150 people, mostly rural residents, and some came with preconceived ideas about zoning and were not very willing to listen to the presenter. Mostly they were just a group of people who didn’t like what was being said.

And I will say there was a handful who displayed no manners or couth. One in particular was bullish, uncultured, barbaric, boorish, churlish, coarse, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, indelicate, philistine, rough, rude, tasteless, uncivilized, uncouth, uncultivated, unpolished, unrefined and vulgar. That about covers him, imo. Oh, and did I mention “threatening”? He threatened county commissioners with ouster if they took any action on zoning. As if anyone ever listens to him.

A couple were boorish. And, there were a few who were disrespectful who grew up in homes where I know their moms taught them better manners than that. That surprised me.

And there were a few gentlemen who asked good probing questions …Don, Curt, Terry, etc. Their frustration was controlled.

The presenter didn’t do a very good job, but I understand he’s very good at what he does. He knows the material; he just didn’t do a very good job conveying it to the audience. But that was no excuse for the boorish treatment he received from a few. He did this on his own and wasn’t paid for it.

The county commissioners are doing the right thing by exploring the possibilities of zoning and are to be commended for it.

The blogging program I’ve been using is being phased out and the conversion to WordPress is taking place. Brad Sewell of Metapros of Wichita, one of the nicest guys in the whole world, is doing all the behind the scenes work and then will turn it over to my webmaster friend in Texas. Sometime this week I’ll be working with WordPress and be infinitely less worried about hackers and crashes. I’ll figure out how to use it eventually. Meantime, my blogging may be sporadic.

Coal-fired plants draw opposition: It was my intention to attend the Salina City Commission meeting today at 4:00, but it didn’t happen. I hope those protesting the addition to the Sunflower plant in Holcomb take a strong stance. But…the long and short of it is that the company is complying with federal guidelines so KDHE probably won’t deny their application. You have to remember that emission standards haven’t kept up with scientific discoveries. Bush lowered all the environmental standards to accommodate his big energy friends and now we’re facing global warming that we are largely responsible for and, closer to home, a lot of acid rain and pollution. And there is that issue of water supply. And, the energy generated from the plant isn’t going to service Kansans, it’s going to Colorado. All for maybe 30 or 50 jobs

Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks piece exposes the serious U.S. failures to train Iraqi security forces and confirms the worst fears of many Americans.We’re not succeeding at this, either.

Remember, training Iraqis to stand up has been the centerpiece of U.S. strategy for getting out of Iraq, and is likely to figure large in the Baker study group recommendations.

The Army’s own exit interviews with officers found widespread criticism of the training efforts as under-resourced, undermanned and underplanned. As Ricks reports, “Many said they felt poorly supported by the Army while in Iraq, with intermittent shipments of supplies and interpreters who often did not seem to understand English.”

Sound familiar? Further evidence of the administration’s almost criminal incompetence and poor planning.

Posted by Randy Scholfield (Wichita Eagle Editorial Writer and Columnist)

If you want very light, fluffy potatoes, the only way I know to get that is to rice the potatoes first, then beat lightly with a spoon while adding cream or whole milk and butter. You can’t get those results using an electric beater or a potato masher. Ally latched on to my ricer over the weekend. I told her it went with the house.I know the lives of the people who were on the Cat Backer and their families have been changed forever. My heart aches for all of them, particularly Chris Orr as I’m sure he’ll have a long, long recovery and may never be the same.

I know that the ECCA transportation they provide for Dane and other handicapped and eldery passengers is a life saver for him. It’s the only way we have of getting Dane home a couple of times a week and away from the steady company of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. He has them as a steady diet 24/7 he absolutely has to have time away from them. Anyone would.

I was downtown on Friday for brief stops at Robson’s and the Antique Mall. You could not have found any stores in Salina (where most people were shopping) that were as full of Christmas cheer and gift possibilities as those two. Alice and Ken were serving delicious hot spiced cider, coffee and homemade cookies. They had little carrot cookies topped with sweet glaze just like my mom used to make for the holidays. The atmosphere in their store and the Antique Mall was perfect to usher in the holidays.

I know for sure that Ruby nailed The Lord’s Prayer last night at Natalie’s wedding. She has a beautiful voice and plays the guitar with perfection. I’

I’m going to miss her daily practice sessions as she says she’s now a retired wedding singer.

Except for ham, I know our leftovers from Thursday are getting thin.

I wasn’t stuck with the crock pot of stewed dried fruit as I thought I might be. It turned out to be a big hit and there is only a small bowl remaining.

I know Ringo loves having Sam and Hailey to play with. They could be circus clowns if they had the right hats. Ringo has picked up some good manners from his cousins, but he has a long way to go.

Something else I know: I haven’t had any trouble posting to Graymatter the past few days. Everyone is out shopping or engaged with family and not on the internet. If I do have a connection that times out in the morning, I’ll know for sure it’s a problem with Eaglecom. I’m hearing complaints from Eaglecom users about their internet and TV service and there are days when I grumble too. I’m not ready to switch, but the AT&T package deal for satellite TV, telephone and internet is very attractive.

And, this makes me feel… talented.