June 2005

COOPER'S LANDING

NEWSLETTER

The new video camera platform with the Scott Family Sailboat in the background

Excerpts from local press release:

On Saturday, June 11, at Cooper's Landing, the Missouri River Cultural Conservancy held a six-hour event featuring live performances by Caravan, Don Choate, Lee Ruth, and the Bruce Poe Band. Bob Dyer, Ken Shephard and others made guest performances. Jim Bradshaw read original poetry. MORivCC is dedicated to documenting, recording, archiving and fostering awareness of the unique culture of the central Missouri River region. Mike Cooper, owner of Cooper's Landing, and the late local artist, Jerome Wheeler, founded MORivCC in December 2004. Both men saw a need to preserve and document artistic achievements in the mid-Missouri River area. "The clock is running out on many of our local treasures," Wheeler said shortly before his death in February 2005. "We are afraid that if we don't act quickly, several songwriters will be beyond our reach." The concert will be recorded live on video as a part of MORivCC's ongoing efforts to preserve local artists' work.

The event was a great success! Over $500 was raised for MoRivCC and the publicity was even more satisfying. MoRivCC is currently editing video and audio recordings of the event to be shown on the CAT3 local cable access channel. Film clips of the event will also be used for presentations to garner more support for the group from local businesses and organizations. MoRivCC recently gained its license as a 501c(3) non profit organization. All donations to the Missouri River Cultural Conservancy are tax deductible. Please support this important organization.

Future MoRivCC Events

Wednesday, July 6 at Cooper's Landing--Board of Directors Meeting (everyone welcome)

Saturday, July 30 at Cooper's Landing--MoRivCC will be documenting theBass Pro Shop Catfish Tournament (tentative)

Saturday, Sept 17----Fall Fundraiser

For more information about MoRivCC see earlier editions of this newsletter in Archives at the bottom of this page.

These guys always seem to catch the river at the right time every spring for a great catch.

Talon Poe, Shane Poe, Scheyler Wheeler, Alvin Holton, and Caleb Jones

Missouri River Relief

The Missouri River Relief Cooper's Landing cleanup was a great success. Like Always. Missouri River Relief has cleaning up the Missouri River down to a science. On Saturday May 14 more than 200 volunteers participated in an event cleaning the Missouri River, Katy Trail and local river roads. This year with good weather and a fast rising river MRR was able to take over 120 people out on the river to collect trash using boats provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missouri River Relief, Living Lands and Waters and others. At least 10 tons of trash were collected. Many businesses and organizations such as Civic Recycling, Onyx Waste Services and Boone County Public Works provided essential support. It is exciting to see the community come together for an event such as this. Even the planning meetings are fun. Every meeting draws 20 plus animated people who are excited about bringing the community together for such a great purpose. MRR now has a manual for planning and putting on a successful event, thanks to Commodore John Brady, the commander of the MRR fleet. I encourage your community to join MRR and take advantage of their previous experience.

For more information: www.riverrelief.org

by Mike Cooper

Want to find out about Cooper's upcoming events?
Click here for a full calendar
of upcoming events!

Please contribute any newsworthy current events about the Missouri River or Katy Trail and we will post them on this page. And we would love to add you to our e-mailing list!

Send your email to: cooperslanding2004@yahoo.com

ARCHIVES

Stranded at Cooper's Landing

The Scott Family, from Kansas City, arrived at Cooper's Landing on June 2, 2005. Strong storms were forecast and they wanted to shelter their sailboat at our commercial dock. It stormed for days. By the time it quit raining the river was rising and crested at 2 feet above floodstage on the Boonville gauge. It was a great experience for all of us. Cooper's Landing provided live entertainment, unique local flavor, great food and cold drinks for all ages. The Scotts were wonderful people and were instantly accepted by our local family. Jeff and Teresa provided their share of entertainment too. Teresa even sang some of her original songs. The Scotts were featured on local TV 8, and in new stories in the Columbia Daily Tribune and Columbia Missourian.

The Scotts departing from Cooper's Landing on June 26 for the Gulf of Mexico and points beyond. Bon Voyage. Oscar we found your sword and are saving it for you.

Missouri River Communities Network

Outdoors Building 200 Old 63 South Columbia, MO 65201 Phone (573) 256-2602 , Web: www.moriver.org

E-mail: moriver@coin.org

MRCN is dedicated to preserving and restoring the historic, cultural and natural resources of the Missouri River and its surrounding communities. MRCN is headed into a great summer! Here's a brief look at some of our up-and-coming activities:

Stream Extravaganza 2005 We're spending a lot of time helping the City put together an extraordinary event that will take place 5 to 8 p.m., Thursday, June 30, in Flat Branch Park. Come and learn how water works in our city, let your children fish for fun and prizes, take a stream walk to explore Flat Branch Creek, examine live stream critters, listen to champion wildlife caller Ralph Duren and much more! This is an event that's fun for all ages. You'll even have a chance at winning one of many cool prizes. So come on down to Flat Branch, and see what's flowing on! If you'd like to volunteer for this event, please contact the City of Columbia Public Works Department at (573) 817-6447. Storm Water Decaling Did you know that the storm water drain nearest to your home leads directly to your local stream? Would you like to help make your community's water cleaner? To help educate citizens and prevent the dumping of hazardous materials down storm drains, we'll be applying "No Dumping, Drains to Stream" decals on many of the drains around town. Call us and schedule a project in your own neighborhood! If you're interested in helping apply decals in any area, contact our office. (573) 256-2602.

Summer Education and Cleanups MRCN is currently scheduling many summer youth education-in-action opportunities. We're helping teach kids about local waters and conducting cleanups! If you're interested in scheduling a water quality lesson, cleanup or both, for your group, please contact us. If you're an individual who would like to participate in one of our public sessions, please let us know. (573) 256-2602.

Columbia Public Library Presentations Look for our "Dragons, Dreams and Daring Deeds" themed presentations at your local library this summer. Come learn about sunken ships on the Missouri River, make a map like Lewis and Clark and participate in our Ultimate Mystery Session! For times and schedules, or to register, please call the library at (573) 443-3161.

Submitted by Stephanie Williams

Trail advocates from across Missouri, led by the Missouri Bicycle Federation, are asking Missouri leaders to create a connection from the Katy Trail to the Kansas City metro area. What would such a Katy Trail Connection look like? What route would it follow? The Mid-America Regional Council did a study in 2002 that gives several options for developing a Katy Trail Connection. The most promising of these is the "Rock Island Corridor", an unused rail line currently owned by AmerenUE. The line connects Windsor, on the Katy Trail, with Pleasant Hill. From there trails would be built along already available corridors to Lee's Summit and, eventually, the entire Kansas City metro area. A possible extension of the Rock Island trail connection would follow the Rock Island line even further, through Lee's Summit and Raytown, ending at the Kansas City stadium complex.

For more information, visit www.MOBikeFed.org/KatyConnection

Those wanting to register support for connecting the Katy Trail to Kansas City should contact Douglas Eiken, Director, Division of State Parks, PO Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102, moparks@dnr.mo.gov, 1-800-334-6946.

We are looking for 1000 new members in 2005 to help move bicycle advocacy forward in Missouri. Could you be one of them? Visit MoBikeFed.org/join

Dr. Brent Hugh President@MoBikeFed.org President,

Missouri Bicycle Federation 816-695-6736