Democrat Primary Gets Exciting In Branson

Branson, MO has instantly transformed to the center of Missouri Politics.

Titanic Museum Will Open in Pigeon Forge with performance by Nashville’s "Titanic the Musical"

Cast members from the Nashville production of "Titanic the Musical" will perform at the Grand Opening of the new Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge on April 8, 2010. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 25, 2010 – PIGEON FORGE, Tennessee – Cast members from the Nashville production of "Titanic the Musical" will perform at the Grand Opening of the new Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge on April 8, 2010. The weekend-long Titanic Museum Attraction Grand Opening Celebration, hosted by Regis Philbin, will also feature a free concert by country music legend Neal McCoy. The event, which is open to the public, also will be attended by descendants and family members of those on board the Titanic and includes a christening of the ship. Titanic Museum Attraction is a $25 million, half-scale, permanent, three-deck reproduction of the Titanic. The museum houses 20 galleries to display hundreds of authentic, priceless Titanic artifacts that were either carried from the ship and into lifeboats by passengers and crew, or were found afloat soon after the sinking and quickly salvaged by rescue boats. Inside the Titanic Museum Attraction, visitors find full-size reproductions (built to actual Titanic blueprints) of Third-Class quarters, a First-Class suite, dining rooms and – the museum's centerpiece – a $1 million exact reproduction of the Titanic's Grand Staircase. The First-Class suite in the Titanic Museum Attraction, which was occupied by Isidor and Ida Straus who founded and owned Macy's Department Stores, was also the cabin used in James Cameron's blockbuster movie Titanic as Rose's suite. Titanic the Musical was first produced in Nashville in January 2009 by Circle Players. The production is being brought back by popular demand and is a collaboration between Circle Players and Senior Center for the Arts. The production will open on April 15 – the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and will run until May 2, 2010. Tim Larson, Director of the production, which boasts a cast of crew of 65 people, is very excited at for the opportunity to perform at the opening. "I am so ecstatic about Circle Players and SCA's Titanic, the Musical being invited to perform at the Titanic Museum Grand Opening in Pigeon Forge. It was a dream of mine to direct Titanic the first time, but to be able to revive it at SCA and then have the cast perform in front of a replica of the Titanic itself, is just so incredible. I have a remarkable cast and crew that I think will impress the Titanic Grand Opening attendees." The Titanic Museum Attraction Grand Opening event begins on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 10 a.m. and continues with special events, fireworks and celebrity guest appearances throughout the weekend. Tickets to the new Titanic Museum Attraction, which will open April 8, are now available online at www.TitanicPiegonForge.com. # # # Ackermann PR is one of the nation's premier public relations and marketing firms. Based in Knoxville, TN with offices in Dallas, Nashville and Washington, DC, Ackermann PR goes the extra mile for its clients nationwide.

Herschend Family Entertainment CEO Joel Manby gets a new look at his company during "Undercover Boss" on CBS this Sunday.- Author Chris Wrinkle

Chris Wrinkle Reporter Millions of people likely see Herschend Family Entertainment theme parks annually, but considerably fewer might know the inner workings of the Branson- and Atlanta-based company's parks. That could change after Sunday. Joel Manby, president and CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment, will be the CEO to go undercover on the next episode of the CBS reality show "Undercover Boss," which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on KOLR-10. The proposal was presented to Herschend Family Entertainment last fall, according to Brad Thomas, senior vice president for Silver Dollar City, one of the Herschend Family Entertainment properties. "After a lot of conversation and discussion, we agreed to actually participate so we've known now for almost six months," Thomas said. "We've all had to keep our mouths shut." Thomas noted that there were about six people who knew the full story. The biggest reason for agreeing to do the show is the publicity it brings to the company's parks. "An hour's worth of television programming on CBS is significant," Thomas said. "The full hour is not all about Branson, but it is about Herschend Family Entertainment and that all started with Silver Dollar City." The premise of the show, according to the CBS Web site, is that CEOs go undercover inside their own companies working at various jobs. CBS film crews followed the stories of five employees at four Herschend parks: Adventure Aquarium, Philadelphia; Stone Mountain Park, Atlanta; Showboat Branson Belle and two at Silver Dollar City, both in Branson. Thomas couldn't divulge details about the five individuals' stories, but click here to catch a preview of the show. "We're excited that Silver Dollar City and Showboat (Branson Belle) end up on national television so folks that are watching CBS in Little Rock, Dallas or Tulsa or Milwaukee, they'll all see that program," Thomas said. "It certainly doesn't hurt that it's about the time of the year when Mom makes the decision about where she's going to vacation," Thomas said. Herschend Family Entertainment owns and operates 26 properties, including Ride the Ducks and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, across the country.

Missouri House Passes Horse Slaughtering Bill - By Chad Livengood • Published SNL • March 29, 2010

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House has given first-round approval to a bill that seeks to bring horse slaughtering back to Missouri. On a voice vote, the House approved House Bill 1747 this evening. Sponsored by Rep. Jim Viebrock, the legislation seeks to bypass a federal ban on meat inspectors working in horse slaughtering plants by getting processors to pay for the inspections at the state level. Under the bill, processors would pay into a fund to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, which would pass the inspection fees on to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Viebrock, R-Republic, said USDA would then have a funding source to pay for inspections of horse meat, which is a delicacy in Europe and Asia. In September 2006, Congress barred any federal funds from being spent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on inspecting the nation's three remaining horse slaughtering plants in Illinois and Texas -- effectively putting them out of business. Viebrock, who represents western Greene County, said the congressional ban on horse slaughtering inspections has led to more abuse and neglect of older horses because there is no market to sell them at. Rep. Ray Salva, a Jackson County Democrat, disputed the notion that the federal ban on horse meat inspection has led to more abused horses. "We have always had that problem," Salva said, later adding, "I'm just not for killing horses for human consumption." Viebrock said legislators have received more than 400 e-mails in recent weeks from opponents to the legislation from around the world. Less than a dozen of the e-mails came from Missouri citizens, Viebrock said. "I would imagine the only thing that would make the people happy who are sending those e-mails is if we stopped producing animal agriculture all together," Viebrock said on the House floor. The bill needs another vote on the House floor to be sent to the Senate. Missouri would become the first state in the union to effectively challenge the congressional ban on spending tax dollars to inspect horse meat. "It's amazing that Missouri will lead for a change," Viebrock said on the floor. Contact Chad clivengood@news-leader.com

George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946

Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language -- so the argument runs -- must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes. Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers. I will come back to this presently, and I hope that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer. Meanwhile, here are five specimens of the English language as it is now habitually written. These five passages have not been picked out because they are especially bad -- I could have quoted far worse if I had chosen -- but because they illustrate various of the mental vices from which we now suffer. They are a little below the average, but are fairly representative examples. I number them so that i can refer back to them when necessary: 1. I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in each year, more alien [sic] to the founder of that Jesuit sect which nothing could induce him to tolerate. Professor Harold Laski (Essay in Freedom of Expression) 2. Above all, we cannot play ducks and drakes with a native battery of idioms which prescribes egregious collocations of vocables as the Basic put up with for tolerate, or put at a loss for bewilder . Professor Lancelot Hogben (Interglossa) 3. On the one side we have the free personality: by definition it is not neurotic, for it has neither conflict nor dream. Its desires, such as they are, are transparent, for they are just what institutional approval keeps in the forefront of consciousness; another institutional pattern would alter their number and intensity; there is little in them that is natural, irreducible, or culturally dangerous. But on the other side, the social bond itself is nothing but the mutual reflection of these self-secure integrities. Recall the definition of love. Is not this the very picture of a small academic? Where is there a place in this hall of mirrors for either personality or fraternity? Essay on psychology in Politics (New York) 4. All the "best people" from the gentlemen's clubs, and all the frantic fascist captains, united in common hatred of Socialism and bestial horror at the rising tide of the mass revolutionary movement, have turned to acts of provocation, to foul incendiarism, to medieval legends of poisoned wells, to legalize their own destruction of proletarian organizations, and rouse the agitated petty-bourgeoise to chauvinistic fervor on behalf of the fight against the revolutionary way out of the crisis. Communist pamphlet 5. If a new spirit is to be infused into this old country, there is one thorny and contentious reform which must be tackled, and that is the humanization and galvanization of the B.B.C. Timidity here will bespeak canker and atrophy of the soul. The heart of Britain may be sound and of strong beat, for instance, but the British lion's roar at present is like that of Bottom in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream -- as gentle as any sucking dove. A virile new Britain cannot continue indefinitely to be traduced in the eyes or rather ears, of the world by the effete languors of Langham Place, brazenly masquerading as "standard English." When the Voice of Britain is heard at nine o'clock, better far and infinitely less ludicrous to hear aitches honestly dropped than the present priggish, inflated, inhibited, school-ma'amish arch braying of blameless bashful mewing maidens! Letter in Tribune Each of these passages has faults of its own, but, quite apart from avoidable ugliness, two qualities are common to all of them. The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision. The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing. As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse. I list below, with notes and examples, various of the tricks by means of which the work of prose construction is habitually dodged: Dying metaphors. A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically "dead" (e.g. iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: Ring the changes on, take up the cudgel for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, no axe to grind, grist to the mill, fishing in troubled waters, on the order of the day, Achilles' heel, swan song, hotbed. Many of these are used without knowledge of their meaning (what is a "rift," for instance?), and incompatible metaphors are frequently mixed, a sure sign that the writer is not interested in what he is saying. Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning withouth those who use them even being aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is sometimes written as tow the line. Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would avoid perverting the original phrase. Operators or verbal false limbs. These save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs and nouns, and at the same time pad each sentence with extra syllables which give it an appearance of symmetry. Characteristic phrases are render inoperative, militate against, make contact with, be subjected to, give rise to, give grounds for, have the effect of, play a leading part (role) in, make itself felt, take effect, exhibit a tendency to, serve the purpose of, etc., etc. The keynote is the elimination of simple verbs. Instead of being a single word, such as break, stop, spoil, mend, kill, a verb becomes a phrase, made up of a noun or adjective tacked on to some general-purpose verb such as prove, serve, form, play, render. In addition, the passive voice is wherever possible used in preference to the active, and noun constructions are used instead of gerunds (by examination of instead of by examining). The range of verbs is further cut down by means of the -ize and de- formations, and the banal statements are given an appearance of profundity by means of the not un- formation. Simple conjunctions and prepositions are replaced by such phrases as with respect to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in view of, in the interests of, on the hypothesis that; and the ends of sentences are saved by anticlimax by such resounding commonplaces as greatly to be desired, cannot be left out of account, a development to be expected in the near future, deserving of serious consideration, brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and so on and so forth. Pretentious diction. Words like phenomenon, element, individual (as noun), objective, categorical, effective, virtual, basic, primary, promote, constitute, exhibit, exploit, utilize, eliminate, liquidate, are used to dress up a simple statement and give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgements. Adjectives like epoch-making, epic, historic, unforgettable, triumphant, age-old, inevitable, inexorable, veritable, are used to dignify the sordid process of international politics, while writing that aims at glorifying war usually takes on an archaic color, its characteristic words being: realm, throne, chariot, mailed fist, trident, sword, shield, buckler, banner, jackboot, clarion. Foreign words and expressions such as cul de sac, ancien regime, deus ex machina, mutatis mutandis, status quo, gleichschaltung, weltanschauung, are used to give an air of culture and elegance. Except for the useful abbreviations i.e., e.g., and etc., there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now current in the English language. Bad writers, and especially scientific, political, and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones, and unnecessary words like expedite, ameliorate, predict, extraneous, deracinated, clandestine, subaqueous, and hundreds of others constantly gain ground from their Anglo-Saxon numbers.* The jargon peculiar to *An interesting illustration of this is the way in which English flower names were in use till very recently are being ousted by Greek ones, Snapdragon becoming antirrhinum, forget-me-not becoming myosotis, etc. It is hard to see any practical reason for this change of fashion: it is probably due to an instinctive turning away from the more homely word and a vague feeling that the Greek word is scientific. Marxist writing (hyena, hangman, cannibal, petty bourgeois, these gentry, lackey, flunkey, mad dog, White Guard, etc.) consists largely of words translated from Russian, German, or French; but the normal way of coining a new word is to use Latin or Greek root with the appropriate affix and, where necessary, the size formation. It is often easier to make up words of this kind (deregionalize, impermissible, extramarital, non-fragmentary and so forth) than to think up the English words that will cover one's meaning. The result, in general, is an increase in slovenliness and vagueness. Meaningless words. In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.† Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless, in † Example: Comfort's catholicity of perception and image, strangely Whitmanesque in range, almost the exact opposite in aesthetic compulsion, continues to evoke that trembling atmospheric accumulative hinting at a cruel, an inexorably serene timelessness . . .Wrey Gardiner scores by aiming at simple bull's-eyes with precision. Only they are not so simple, and through this contented sadness runs more than the surface bittersweet of resignation." (Poetry Quarterly) the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly ever expected to do so by the reader. When one critic writes, "The outstanding feature of Mr. X's work is its living quality," while another writes, "The immediately striking thing about Mr. X's work is its peculiar deadness," the reader accepts this as a simple difference opinion. If words like black and white were involved, instead of the jargon words dead and living, he would see at once that language was being used in an improper way. Many political words are similarly abused. The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. Statements like Marshal Pétain was a true patriot, The Soviet press is the freest in the world, The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution, are almost always made with intent to deceive. Other words used in variable meanings, in most cases more or less dishonestly, are: class, totalitarian, science, progressive, reactionary, bourgeois, equality. Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes: I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Here it is in modern English: Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account. This is a parody, but not a very gross one. Exhibit (3) above, for instance, contains several patches of the same kind of English. It will be seen that I have not made a full translation. The beginning and ending of the sentence follow the original meaning fairly closely, but in the middle the concrete illustrations -- race, battle, bread -- dissolve into the vague phrases "success or failure in competitive activities." This had to be so, because no modern writer of the kind I am discussing -- no one capable of using phrases like "objective considerations of contemporary phenomena" -- would ever tabulate his thoughts in that precise and detailed way. The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness. Now analyze these two sentences a little more closely. The first contains forty-nine words but only sixty syllables, and all its words are those of everyday life. The second contains thirty-eight words of ninety syllables: eighteen of those words are from Latin roots, and one from Greek. The first sentence contains six vivid images, and only one phrase ("time and chance") that could be called vague. The second contains not a single fresh, arresting phrase, and in spite of its ninety syllables it gives only a shortened version of the meaning contained in the first. Yet without a doubt it is the second kind of sentence that is gaining ground in modern English. I do not want to exaggerate. This kind of writing is not yet universal, and outcrops of simplicity will occur here and there in the worst-written page. Still, if you or I were told to write a few lines on the uncertainty of human fortunes, we should probably come much nearer to my imaginary sentence than to the one from Ecclesiastes. As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier -- even quicker, once you have the habit -- to say In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption that than to say I think. If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to hunt about for the words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious. When you are composing in a hurry -- when you are dictating to a stenographer, for instance, or making a public speech -- it is natural to fall into a pretentious, Latinized style. Tags like a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind or a conclusion to which all of us would readily assent will save many a sentence from coming down with a bump. By using stale metaphors, similes, and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for yourself. This is the significance of mixed metaphors. The sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images clash -- as in The Fascist octopus has sung its swan song, the jackboot is thrown into the melting pot -- it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a mental image of the objects he is naming; in other words he is not really thinking. Look again at the examples I gave at the beginning of this essay. Professor Laski (1) uses five negatives in fifty three words. One of these is superfluous, making nonsense of the whole passage, and in addition there is the slip -- alien for akin -- making further nonsense, and several avoidable pieces of clumsiness which increase the general vagueness. Professor Hogben (2) plays ducks and drakes with a battery which is able to write prescriptions, and, while disapproving of the everyday phrase put up with, is unwilling to look egregious up in the dictionary and see what it means; (3), if one takes an uncharitable attitude towards it, is simply meaningless: probably one could work out its intended meaning by reading the whole of the article in which it occurs. In (4), the writer knows more or less what he wants to say, but an accumulation of stale phrases chokes him like tea leaves blocking a sink. In (5), words and meaning have almost parted company. People who write in this manner usually have a general emotional meaning -- they dislike one thing and want to express solidarity with another -- but they are not interested in the detail of what they are saying. A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: 1. Could I put it more shortly? 2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you -- even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent -- and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special connection between politics and the debasement of language becomes clear. In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestoes, White papers and the speeches of undersecretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases -- bestial atrocities, iron heel, bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder -- one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance toward turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate favorable to political conformity. In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism., question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, "I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so." Probably, therefore, he will say something like this: "While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement." The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics." All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. I should expect to find -- this is a guess which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify -- that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship. But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better. The debased language that I have been discussing is in some ways very convenient. Phrases like a not unjustifiable assumption, leaves much to be desired, would serve no good purpose, a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind, are a continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins always at one's elbow. Look back through this essay, and for certain you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against. By this morning's post I have received a pamphlet dealing with conditions in Germany. The author tells me that he "felt impelled" to write it. I open it at random, and here is almost the first sentence I see: "[The Allies] have an opportunity not only of achieving a radical transformation of Germany's social and political structure in such a way as to avoid a nationalistic reaction in Germany itself, but at the same time of laying the foundations of a co-operative and unified Europe." You see, he "feels impelled" to write -- feels, presumably, that he has something new to say -- and yet his words, like cavalry horses answering the bugle, group themselves automatically into the familiar dreary pattern. This invasion of one's mind by ready-made phrases (lay the foundations, achieve a radical transformation) can only be prevented if one is constantly on guard against them, and every such phrase anaesthetizes a portion of one's brain. I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this would argue, if they produced an argument at all, that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its development by any direct tinkering with words and constructions. So far as the general tone or spirit of a language goes, this may be true, but it is not true in detail. Silly words and expressions have often disappeared, not through any evolutionary process but owing to the conscious action of a minority. Two recent examples were explore every avenue and leave no stone unturned, which were killed by the jeers of a few journalists. There is a long list of flyblown metaphors which could similarly be got rid of if enough people would interest themselves in the job; and it should also be possible to laugh the not un- formation out of existence*, to reduce the amount of Latin and Greek in the average sentence, to drive out foreign phrases *One can cure oneself of the not un- formation by memorizing this sentence: A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field. and strayed scientific words, and, in general, to make pretentiousness unfashionable. But all these are minor points. The defense of the English language implies more than this, and perhaps it is best to start by saying what it does not imply. To begin with it has nothing to do with archaism, with the salvaging of obsolete words and turns of speech, or with the setting up of a "standard English" which must never be departed from. On the contrary, it is especially concerned with the scrapping of every word or idiom which has outworn its usefulness. It has nothing to do with correct grammar and syntax, which are of no importance so long as one makes one's meaning clear, or with the avoidance of Americanisms, or with having what is called a "good prose style." On the other hand, it is not concerned with fake simplicity and the attempt to make written English colloquial. Nor does it even imply in every case preferring the Saxon word to the Latin one, though it does imply using the fewest and shortest words that will cover one's meaning. What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around. In prose, the worst thing one can do with words is surrender to them. When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing you probably hunt about until you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meaning as clear as one can through pictures and sensations. Afterward one can choose -- not simply accept -- the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impressions one's words are likely to make on another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases: (i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do. (iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. (iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active. (v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable. One could keep all of them and still write bad English, but one could not write the kind of stuff that I quoted in those five specimens at the beginning of this article. I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but merely language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought. Stuart Chase and others have come near to claiming that all abstract words are meaningless, and have used this as a pretext for advocating a kind of political quietism. Since you don't know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism? One need not swallow such absurdities as this, but one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase -- some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse -- into the dustbin, where it belongs.

Branson Couple turn tragedy into ministry -BY CAROLINE ZILK As Published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Staff Writer RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Doug and Lori Perser of Branson, Mo., have always been musical, but they said they only began taking their music seriously after they lost their young son, Matthew, in 2004. "We moved to Branson because of that," Doug Perser said. "Next thing you know it, we've got seven CDs out, four songs on the radio." Doug said that while they grieved the death of their son and moved to Branson for a new start, the couple never imagined their music would become so popular. "Doors began to open like crazy," Doug said. And soon, the Persers were able to turn a negative experience - losing their son - into something positive. Six years later, their musical career as Perser Melody Music Ministries is booming. The couple now play a show in Branson and perform throughout the region, including Arkansas. "We seem to have gotten more things in Arkansas than anywhere," Doug said. The couple play a variety of music, including gos-pel and bluegrass. They know about 400 gospel songs. Doug Perser said they often play older hymns because their audience seems to enjoy those the most. Their song titles include "Hillbilly Christian," "She Said Yes" and "Life Inside of Me." The Persers also try to help people along the way. "When we get to an area, we do a lot of stuff for free," Doug said. The couple have played the Russellville Senior Center, theDardanelle Senior Center and events in Saline County for free. "We do everything in memory of our son and try to help many others out in the process," Doug said. "We just take offerings because we don't want to leave anybody out." Saturday, the Persers played a small show in Perryville. Today, they will head west to Dardanelle for an all-day event at the Dardanelle Community Center. Other performers include 2nd Chance of Shirley; Chuck Johnson of Hollister, Mo.; Amazed of Shirley; The Cerces of Springfield, Mo.; and more. The event will also featurefree food. For more information about Perser Melody Music Ministries, visit persermelody.com or call (479) 229-5084.

Leaders talk about Branson Landing financing tool - by Matthew Kent BDN

FORSYTH — City officials in Branson say without a Tax Increment Financing District, Branson Landing couldn't have been built. The TIF is an "economic development tool that allows a local municipality to capture the property taxes and a portion of the sales tax to repay bonds that fund public infrastructure of the project," according to Jerry Adams, the city's public information director. Specifically, he said it pays for water, sewer, public landscaping and streets, which includes curbing and guttering. Other than Branson Landing, there are two other TIFs in the city, one at Branson Meadows, and another at Branson Hills. The Landing also includes what's known as a Super TIF, which allows state sales tax to be collected there. The Super TIF was approved by the state legislature before the construction of the Landing, according to Adams. But while the TIFs may be beneficial, Taney County Presiding Commissioner Chuck Pennel admitted his frustration Monday over county taxes going toward the TIFs. The Taney County Commission approved a $131,000 payment to the city of Branson Monday morning. He pointed to a state statute and language that he finds problematic. Specifically, when a county wishes to place a TIF project within the boundaries of a municipality, the county must "obtain the permission of the governing body of the municipality located within the county," according to the statute. At the heart of the issue, according to Pennel, is that the city can collect county revenue without permission. "I don't think it's right. I don't think it's fair," Pennel said. However, he directed his thoughts on the city and said, "I don't have any issues with the city of Branson." "I've brought this issue up ... hoping to get that statute changed," Pennel said Monday afternoon. Pennel said that he believes the county has the same rights as the city and doesn't expect any change in the wording of the statute. "It's just not a good law," he said. The TIF for Branson Meadows was created in the mid-1990s, while the one for the Branson Landing was created in August 2001 and Branson Hills in October 2004. Each are for 23 years, according to Adams, and TIF repayment begins when a project is completed. "The TIF clock began when the Landing opened in June 2006," Adams said. "The Landing could not have been built without TIFs." There are four different sales taxes in Taney County, which Pennel identified as a general county sales tax, a sewer tax and a road and bridge tax — all of which are a half-cent — while the remaining is a one-eighth sales tax that was approved by voters in order to pay for a new courthouse. Sales tax money lost in 2009 through the TIF, according to County Auditor Rick Findley, was $2,217,994. Pennel added that the TIF takes away money through real estate taxes, as well. Three entities in the county are affected, which he identified as the schools, the health board and the disability board. The total amount lost in 2009, according to Pennel, was $2.8 million. "They also take a hit on the TIF," Pennel said, referring to the three entities. Findley said it's an issue for the county. "The TIFs are pretty costly," Findley said. "It's frustrating on our end when we see that much money going out." However, Adams said that "once the TIF is paid off, 100 percent of all taxes will go back to the general revenue of the governing agency.

Branson Listed in Court Records as Defendant in Empire/Coverdale Case

03CV787034 - THE EMPIRE DIST ELECT CO V THE BRANSON PAPER INC This information is provided as a service and is not considered an official court record. THE EMPIRE DISTRICT ELECTRIC COMPANY , Plaintiff    represented by    FLETCHER , MARK A , Attorney for Plaintiff SERVE REGISTERED AGENT: JANET S. WATSON 602 JOPLIN AVENUE JOPLIN, MO 64801 PO BOX 4288 1845 S NATIONAL SPRINGFIELD, MO 65808 THE BRANSON PAPER INC , Defendant    SERVE REGISTERED AGENT: PETER H. REA 178 LAKESIDE WAY FORSYTH, MO 65653 COVERDELL , DOUGLAS , Defendant    represented by    COCKERHAM , ROBERT W , Attorney for Defendant 3644 E KIRKWOOD SPRINGFIELD, MO 65809 1010 Market Street, 20th Floor ST LOUIS, MO 63101 COVERDELL , JULIA , Defendant    3644 E KIRKWOOD SPRINGFIELD, MO 65809 COVERDELL ENTERPRISES INC , Defendant    represented by    ARNESON , JAMES H , Attorney for Defendant 3644 E. Kirkwood Springfield, MO 65809 1360 EAST BRADFORD PARKWAY SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804 Fax: (417) 882-3495 B'CUZ INC , Defendant    SERVE RA: CONNIE CUZZORT 85 FLINT ROCK REEDS SPRING, MO 65737 KEYCOMM, INC , Defendant    CITY OF BRANSON , Defendant    represented by    RODGERS , LYNN C , Attorney for Defendant 110 WEST MADDUX, SUITE 205 BRANSON, MO 65616 1370 E PRIMROSE SUITE A PO BOX 4609 SPRINGFIELD, MO 65808 GRIFFIN , HENRY V , Defendant    P.O. BOX 1437 HOLLISTER, MO 65673 Year of Birth: 1944 REA , PETER H , Defendant    P O BOX 778 FORSYTH, MO 65653 REA , DARLENE WEAVER , Defendant    1912 FALL CREEK RAOD PO BOX 625 BRANSON, MO 65615 COMMUNITY BANK OF THE OZARKS , Defendant    represented by    WADE , BRYAN O , Attorney for Defendant SERVE: MANAGER OR OFFICER IN CHARGE 13932 NORTH STATE HWY 5 SUNRISE BEACH, MO 65079 901 ST LOUIS STREET STE 1800 SPRINGFIELD, MO 65806 Business: (417) 268-4000

Disputed League of Theater Lobbyist Files

The League of Theaters Lobbyist Files Regarding The Recent Controversial Supreme Court Ruling

Disputed League of Theater Lobbyist Files

The League of Theaters Lobbyist Files Regarding The Recent Controversial Supreme Court Ruling

Missouri's 7th Congressional District Candidate History

Representative Party Years District home Notes District created March 4, 1853 Samuel Caruthers Whig March 4, 1853 - March 3, 1855 Opposition March 4, 1855 - March 3, 1857 Democratic March 4, 1857 - March 3, 1859 John W. Noell Democratic March 4, 1897 - March 3, 1905 Redistricted to the 3rd district Benjamin F. Loan Unconditional Unionist March 4, 1863 - March 3, 1865 Republican March 4, 1865 - March 3, 1869 Joel F. Asper Republican March 4, 1869 - March 3, 1871 Isaac Parker Republican March 4, 1871 - March 3, 1873 Redistricted to the 9th district Thomas T. Crittenden Democratic March 4, 1873 - March 3, 1875 John F. Philips Democratic March 4, 1875 - March 3, 1877 Thomas T. Crittenden Democratic March 4, 1877 - March 3, 1879 Alfred M. Lay Democratic March 4, 1879 - December 8, 1879 Died Vacant December 8, 1879 - January 10, 1880 John F. Philips Democratic January 10, 1880 - March 3, 1881 Theron M. Rice Greenback March 4, 1881 - March 3, 1883 Aylett H. Buckner Democratic March 4, 1883 - March 3, 1885 Redistricted from the 13th district John E. Hutton Democratic March 4, 1885 - March 3, 1889 Richard H. Norton Democratic March 4, 1889 - March 3, 1893 John T. Heard Democratic March 4, 1893 - March 3, 1895 Redistricted from the 6th district John P. Tracey Republican March 4, 1895 - March 3, 1897 James Cooney Democratic March 4, 1897 - March 3, 1903 Courtney W. Hamlin Democratic March 4, 1903 - March 3, 1905 John Welborn Republican March 4, 1905 - March 3, 1907 Courtney W. Hamlin Democratic March 4, 1907 - March 3, 1919 Samuel C. Major Democratic March 4, 1919 - March 3, 1921 Roscoe C. Patterson Republican March 4, 1921 - March 3, 1923 Samuel C. Major Democratic March 4, 1923 - March 3, 1929 John W. Palmer Republican March 4, 1929 - March 3, 1931 Samuel C. Major Democratic March 4, 1931 - July 28, 1931 Died Vacant July 28, 1931 - September 29, 1931 Robert D. Johnson Democratic September 29, 1931 - March 3, 1933 March 4, 1933 - January 3, 1935 District inactive, all representatives elected At-large on a general ticket Dewey Short Republican January 3, 1935 - January 3, 1957 Charles H. Brown Democratic January 3, 1957 - January 3, 1961 Durward G. Hall Republican January 3, 1961 - January 3, 1973 Gene Taylor Republican January 3, 1973 - January 3, 1989 Mel Hancock Republican January 3, 1989 - January 3, 1997 Roy Blunt Republican January 3, 1997 - Present Incumbent

Toby Keith, Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson Land on 'Gene Williams Television Show'

BRANSON, Mo. – In 1993, a flight attendant and fan, gave Toby Keith's demo to a Mercury Record exec. Over 40 Billboard Hits later, single "Whiskey Girl" was released. By popular demand, the 2003 video of the song will relaunch on 'Gene Williams Country Music Television Show.' Licensed airplane pilot, Jimmy Buffett will also touch-down on the show with Alan Jackson, whose career took off in 1985 when his wife, then flight attendant, gave his demo to Glen Campbell in an airport. Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson's 2003 video "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere" and Toby Keith's "Whiskey Girl" videos land on 'Gene Williams Country Television Show' March 13 and 14. The 'Gene Williams Country TV Show' features the shows and stars from Branson and country music and is taped live in the NBC affiliate KY3 Studios in Springfield, Mo. Guest audience members are welcome and should arrive at the studio at 1 p.m. The next taping is March 17 with John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, local favorite Jackson Cash and the Tennessee Two, and the World Famous Platters. The 'Gene Williams TV Show' is co-hosted by Katie Lynn who has received the Branson Entertainment Awards Best Support Vocalist twice for her work in the "Mickey Gilley Show." She has worked with Gilley for more than 10 years and also worked with Jim Owen for seven years. She is finishing her fifth CD release titled Me and Jesus Laughing. In addition to her singing career, she is a real estate agent. Williams began his country music television show in Arkansas almost 50 years ago and for the past eight years taped the show in Branson live before a studio audience. Guests have included the late Ed McMahon, Mickey Gilley, the Oak Ridge Boys, Chubby Checker, Roy Clark, Johnny Lee, the World Famous Platters, Barbara Fairchild, Sons of the Pioneers, the Osmonds, Johnny Cash's band The Tennessee Three, the Blackwood Brothers, Helen Cornelius, Leona Williams, Charlie Louvin, Mary Lou Turner, Cal Smith, Stonewall Jackson, Norma Jean, "Diamond" Dave Somerville, Little Jimmy Dickens, the late Porter Wagoner, Jim Owen, Buck Trent and Wanda Jackson. Williams' career is filled with milestones. In 2009, he was featured in the June issue of Better Homes and Gardens as a nostalgia experience in a live television show and was inducted into the George D. Hay Music Hall of Fame along with Loretta Lynn, Dot Rhodes and Mike Snider. In his hometown of Dyess, Ark., also the hometown of Johnny Cash, a road was named after him following a 2007 key to the city presentation and the installation of a historical marker recognizing his support to help preserve the town's history. In 2008 he served as the grand marshal in the first Dyess Christmas Parade. In 2009, he opened the Gene Williams Land Company to continue the work of restoring a large part of his hometown. Among his other achievements he was presented a gold record by his fans for having the #1 classic country music show in America. He was also presented the key to the city of Horseshoe Bend, Ark., for his work to bring significant country entertainment to the resort community during its early development and April 11, 2009, was named Gene Williams Day there. Williams holds a record in Arkansas of having nine days proclaimed Gene Williams Day, was presented an honorary doctorate in television and broadcast communications from St. Martins College for his community commitment to the industry, was honored by the states of Arkansas and Missouri for his work in the tourism, entertainment and communities, and was nominated for induction into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame. He was named DJ of the Year in 1961 by WSM, the founder and owner of the Grand Ole Opry, and he made a guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry the weekend he was honored. Williams is a 1993 member of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and has worked with such greats as Johnny Cash, the Carter Family, the Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins, Charlie Walker, Charlie Louvin, Del Reeves, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, Minnie Pearl and Jack Greene. He made two movies: Country Music Jamboree and the Sound of Country Music that starred more than 39 Grand Ole Opry stars.

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Missouri Attorney General Meets With President Obama (Press Release)

Jefferson City, Mo. - Attorney General Chris Koster and a bipartisan group of Attorneys General from other states this morning met with President Obama in the West Wing of the White House to discuss a number of issues, including ways to better protect consumers from financial fraud. Koster said the Attorneys General met with the President for about 30 minutes, where they discussed the White House's legislative proposal to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Koster previously joined a number of other Attorneys General to encourage Congress to pass legislation creating this new protection agency. "This national fiscal crisis has pointed out the need for increasing protections for consumers," Koster said. "The White House has put forward strong legislation to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. I have been supportive of this legislation because it protects Missouri consumers and gives the Missouri Attorney General's office better powers to enforce increased state and federal protections." Koster said the President and the Attorneys General also discussed mortgage foreclosure prevention and financial regulatory reform issues. Recent AGO News Attorney General Koster, other state AGs, meet with President Obama Attorney General Koster to investigate alleged undocumented workers in Farmington McDonald County jury commits man as Sexually Violent Predator Attorney General Koster sues Camden County developer for clean water violations Jury commits St. Louis man as Sexually Violent Predator Attorney General Koster seeks execution dates for neo-Nazi mass-murderer, Good Samaritan-killer Attorney General Koster says Missouri is part of national Clean Air Act enforcement Attorney General Koster says Missouri part of Clean Air Act lawsuit agreement U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ranks Missouri Medicaid Fraud Unit number one in nation for 2008 Attorney General Koster announces dramatic increase in workers' comp fraud collections in 2009 Nursing home corporation pleads guilty to felony Medicaid fraud Attorney General Koster announces antitrust settlement with pharmaceutical companies

Springfield Red Light Cameras Shut Down After Supreme Court Ruling (SNL Coverage)

The city has shut down its red light traffic cameras and plans to dismiss any outstanding tickets in the wake of a Missouri Supreme Court decision that declared the city's red light ordinance to be in conflict with state law. The court today voided a former state trooper Adolph Belt, Jr.,'s $100 ticket, saying Springfield's use of administrative hearings to adjudicate the tickets is not allowed. Related * Missouri Supreme Court puts brakes on Springfield's red light cameras In a unanimous opinion, justices said the city cannot use administrative hearings to handle red-light tickets but must instead funnel such cases through the traditional criminal court system — where a higher standard of proof and additional avenues for appeal apply. The city in response has suspended use of the cameras, City Attorney Dan Wichmer said, and will drop all pending cases. Wichmer stressed that the Supreme Court opinion did not find fault with the use of red light cameras in and of themselves, but rather the city's process for enforcing violations. It will be up to City Council to decide if they want to change the red light ordinance to bring it into compliance with state law — likely requiring an upgrade to allow the cameras to photograph drivers, as well as cars — or discard the system altogether, he said. Wichmer, who said there's no estimate yet about what that could cost, also expressed his concern that some of the 8,000 people who have paid red light fines will seek reimbursement now that the process has been tossed. He said the city has collected $803,000 in fines to date. Wichmer said he also must comb through the city code to see if other enforcement actions could be affected by the court ruling. The city uses similar administrative hearings to settle dangerous building code violations, some liquor law violations and contested disability hearings for the police-fire pension fund. Jason Umbarger, an attorney for Belt, lauded the court's decision, saying it will help protect those accused of red light violations and the public at large. Umbarger said the city's previous process enforcing red light violations "side-steps" traditional protections for defendants. "It also side-steps the protections for other motorists."

KSPR Story on Lyle Mabe of Baldknobbers Death

Branson Reacts to Death of First Comedian, Lyle Mabe of Baldknobbers By KSPR News By Will Carter Story Created: Feb 27, 2010 at 1:52 PM CST Story Updated: Feb 27, 2010 at 10:22 PM CST (Branson, MO - Updated 10:15 PM) "With his passing, we've lost an icon," said Gary Ellison. At 71 years old Branson's first entertainer, Lyle Mabe, passed away Saturday, leaving a legacy behind. "Lyle was one of the funniest people you could ever be around. He was perhaps the best hillbilly story teller I've ever heard," said Ellison. Mabe and his brothers started the Baldknobbers show in 1959, bringing hillbilly humor mainstream. "The city slicker might try to come to town to take advantage of these ignorant hillbillies, but the hillbillies always got the last laugh. I think that's what the people enjoyed. They were every man," said Ellison. Gary Ellison worked with Mabe for more than 33 years, and met him while shooting a commercial for Empire Gas. He remembers Mabe as a kind and good-hearted man, who was more than just an entertainer. "He was not a big show-biz out-front blow hard. He did what he did and he did it very, very well. And that humbleness is missed in the entertainment business today," said Ellison. Lyle Mabe performed with the Baldknobbers from 1959 until his retirement in 1991, but his impact in Branson goes well beyond the theater walls, and much deeper into the city's entertainment district. Just down the road inside the Grand Country Jubilee, Mabe's impact is felt by performer Mike Patrick. "I grew up on Lyle Mabe and the Baldknobbers. I tell you, he was an incredible comedian, and certainly a pioneer in Branson show business, and a great loss for the Ozarks today," said Patrick. Patrick says Mabe and the Baldknobbers were an inspiration felt in every show on the strip. "I think a lot of the shows you see, the format, the style, a lot of that is contributed to the Baldknobbers," said Patrick. Now, more than 50 years after he helped cultivate a legacy, Lyle Mabe leaves his legacy behind. Mabe also performed on the opening day of Silver Dollar City, and played the Uncle at the opening of the Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theater. The Baldknobbers Show celebrated 50 years in Branson in 2009. Mabe was 71 years old.