Media

North Missouri spans a lot of miles. You don’t have go far to find transportation issues that need fixing. That might be a lettered route in Adair County or traffic snarls in the Northland of Kansas City. As the Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it has been my priority to not only ensure that we are fixing the country’s infrastructure, but also fixing our roads and bridges here in North Missouri. That means every county, in every corner of the district, small or large. Over the years, we’ve gotten a lot done, but there’s plenty more to do.

“When disaster strikes…FEMA just gets in the way.”

That’s not actually how that phrase is supposed to go, but all too often, that’s the story I hear. Folks expect that when disaster strikes—whether it be a flood, tornado, hurricane, wildfire, or something else—the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will come to help. While they may show up, the help they offer is often too little, too late, and mired in complex red tape that communities and families struggle to navigate.

ast week, I discussed the service medals my office was able to recover for a Northwest Missouri veteran’s family. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of doing that many times. One of the great joys of representing you is helping when the federal bureaucracy isn’t getting the job done.

A lot of folks don’t realize that if you run into a federal issue, you can call my office and we can try to assist. It might be missing service medals, a delayed passport, or a permitting issue with the Corps of Engineers. 

As World War II raged on, William Taul of Northwest Missouri entered the United States Army and honorably defended our country. His service, like so many others, helped ensure that our country, and the world, remained free. 

One of the ways we honor our veterans is with service medals and awards. They certainly didn’t do it for the recognition, but these service medals are still a great honor for our veterans and can also be incredibly meaningful to a veteran’s family after they have passed away. In some cases though, they never received them or no longer have them.

It used to be that when you sent a letter to your neighbor down the road, it went to your local post office, got sorted, and delivered to your neighbor quickly. Sadly, that’s just not the way it works anymore.

Nearly two centuries ago, when the railroads began laying track to move people and goods more efficiently around the country, they had to make deals or use eminent domain to take the land necessary to run miles and miles of track in a straight line. In many cases, landowners made a simple bargain as part of the agreement to give up their land: if the railroad stops using the land as a railway, then the landowner gets the land back.