Observations...

After years of waiting and delays, work will begin Monday on the Highway 59 utility re-location project. Contractors have already brought in heavy digging equipment and are ready to go, said city manager Bill Galletly. "Dirt will be flying on Monday," he said...The April 2007 ballot will contain two issues for voter approval--sale of the existing Civic Center and construction of a new Aquatic Center, Galletly said this week...The RICO case dealing with MIDA and the Grand Lake Regional Airport is proceeding in Federal Court in Tulsa with depositions being taken in the discovery phase. Testifying are Rick Littlefield, David Anderson, Tom May, Dick Seybolt, George Curtis, David Crutchfield, Lee Jeffrey, Paul Staten, Thompson & Tucker of Breakers LLC and Phil Endicot. A fly on the wall would have fun with this one…Grove's Precision Wi-Fi is up and running with fast broadband service at Patricia Island, an area which previously had no reliable service. Construction has started on the company's second tower south of town near Grand Lake Glass on Johnny Reid Hill and it will be operational by early November; a third tower is planned north of Grove near the Ottawa County Line. Broadband service is at 512 KBPS up and down, at $39.95/month. Call 791-9570 if you want to jump in…Sealed bids for the Downtown Revitalization Project, Phase I, are due at city hall Oct. 20. Also included is the city hall parking lot project…While we were out of town last week the lawsuit filed by Earl Shero against city officials in 2005 was dismissed by a Federal court in Tulsa. Judge Claire Eagan ruled that the defendants had immunity as public officials and therefore were not liable for Shero's claims. His suit against the city itself is still pending…Missouri's Tri State Water Resource Coalition has concluded a study which recommends drawing water from Grand Lake to serve Joplin and southwest Missouri. Joplin uses 11 million gallons a day. Imagine…polluted water in, drinking water out…Bids will be opened Friday on trash collection services for Grove, for the second time, with discussion planned for Tuesday night's regular Council meeting…If you are planning to go to Mexico or Canada by air, you need to start NOW and get your valid US Passport. This applies also to people traveling on a cruise ship, and you will need to show your Passport to get back in the U.S beginning Jan. 8, 2007 if coming in from Mexico or Canada...Grove gasoline pump prices are mostly stuck at $2.07; in Vinita it is $2.03 and in Joplin last week it was $1.99, as well as many cities across Oklahoma. Oil is now below $58 a barrel so what's the problem Grove service station owners?...several weeks ago we put out a call to the local high school journalism students for someone to cover Friday night's Grove High School football games; we even called the high school journalism teacher. You will not be pleased to hear that nothing happened...nil, nada, zero. So much for local youth interest in journalism...Remember earlier this year when Cox Cable company people promised, at a city council meeting, high speed internet service in Grove by December? Cox went to Cequel which went to Cebridge which went to SuddenLink, in the meantime and Whoops, the date has now slipped back to the end of 2007, maybe. If this were Iraq in the old days, the cable man would have lost an arm...