It has been a great pleasure to bring news updates over the course of 16 years. There are so many stories that have been covered that were either fun to do or serious to our area. 16-years has flown by in a blink of an eye, but these stories have stood out and rank in the Top 10 of the Townsquare Media years. We have documented data, but some of these were my favorites too.

1. It is not often a huge celebrity comes into Sedalia, but on June 24, 2015 Sedalia and Whiteman Air Force Base were visited by William Shatner to bring awareness to the American Legion. He was supposed to ride in a brand new motorcycle, called a Rivet, but instead rode in with a group of supporters to The Mason Jar with a motorcycle. The Rivet did get a photo op, next to the B-2 Stealth Bomber later. The city was definitely abuzz.

2. I have always loved to cover weather. On my way from getting some fireworks on July 2nd, 2015 we got stuck between tornadoes and we saw floods in places it had never flooded before, including in our station. It took us a long time to recover from this one. I shall miss covering storms.

3. Mother nature has a strange way of keeping us on our toes. We do get some minor earthquakes from time to time and on April 4, 2015 there was one in Clinton, MO. I hope you prepared should the big one ever strike this area.

4. In my early days of broadcasting, I was involved in the Miss Missouri pageants and had the chance to interview a former Miss Missouri Shandi Finnessey, who was also a former Miss USA. In 2013, she bared it all for PETA, along with some other former Miss USA's. It is one of the few not suitable for work, school or kids (NSFW) stories. Consider yourself forewarned on the link.

5. In 2013 I wrote an opinion piece on how Sedalia needed an Urgent Care Center. It has not happened yet, but on October 22, 2015, there was hope an urgent care center  would be coming in the old Eddie's location. About a month ago, Guesa USA announced they were reconsidering all investments and this project has been put on hold.

6. I think it's safe to say you know that I'm a big fan of food. Usually once a year, somebody at the station will talk about Charley's Buffet on our websites, if not more. For whatever reason, my recent visit there did far better. The nice thing about this visit is that my parents went with us and we got to enjoy the mile long dessert bar.

7. While it was not during the Townsquare Media years, I have to say our coverage of the tornado on South 65 on May 25, 2011 was fantastic. We were in the middle of raising funds for the Show Me Honor Flight when the tornado struck. The only reason it is ranked 7th is because there is no data of our hits on this, otherwise it would rank in the top in my book.

8. Earlier in 2015, there was some national attention for Sedalia that brought various police agencies to search for James Horn Jr. after he kidnapped a woman Sarah Sutton and kept her in a box, before she escaped and sadly was later killed along with her son later. Horn was eventually found and shot.

9.  This one did not rank in the top 10 data wise, but it did receive some of our largest vote totals ever in polldaddy. There was a push in 2013 that a lot of parents were not assisting with school parties, so the PTA put together a plan and decided each class would get Cheez It's. It certainly made waves and still to this day some ask me about the Cheez It's when I go to the class parties. For the record I did pay for my kids at that time and kids do have more than Cheez Its at the parties.

10. Ok this one was just one of my favorite memories more than anything else. Going golfing for DARE and all I can say is I made the impression on the course. So much so, each year I was asked to wear the clothes at each golf tournament I went to.

There were so many stories over the years that had bigger views and made an impact on me, but thought you'd enjoy this stroll down memory lane on some of the more creative and not necessarily all the crime or political stories I covered.

Thanks for the memories and look forward to keeping up with the news from the sidelines.

Sincerely,

Doug Sokolowski

 

 

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