The term “Just ain’t right” is used to describe some of the hysterical humorous actions of a character played by one of Branson’s funniest men, Jarrett Dougherty, in the popular Branson show “Pierce Arrow.” Those words came to mind as the Ole Seagull reviewed the appeal of the City of Branson’s denial of a Special Event Permit Application for a “Nelly Concert” sponsored by “Paul Dunn” at the “Grand Palace (Rear Parking Lot).”

In the city’s denial of the application they said, “The City of Branson has concerns regarding the effect of a large concert in this area” because of, among other things, “the (more…)

Branson is called “The live music show capital of the world” because of the diversity and quality of its live music shows. The announcement from Las Vegas on July 4 that the Grammy winning Hip-Hop singer “Nelly” will be performing a concert in Branson as part of the re-opening of the Grand Place in Branson on Aug. 21 adds a new genre of music to that diversity and provides more entertainment choices for Branson’s visitors.
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On March 3, 1836, Colonel William Barret Travis, the Commander of the Alamo, wrote to Texas Governor Smith, “…victory will cost the enemy so dear, that it will be worse for him than defeat.” In the early predawn hours of Sunday, March 6, 1836, after 12 days of almost constant bombardment and siege, the soldiers of Mexican General Santa Anna, numbering in the thousands, made their final assault on the Alamo, overwhelming and killing everyone of its 189 defenders. (more…)

The simple answer is, “The taxpaying citizen and businesses of Branson hereinafter called DDO for “the Doodooed on,” are paying for each.” How is it possible that the DDO got (more…)

She probably didn’t suspect that the journey she was on would end with her death as she felt the vibration of the truck’s wheels rolling underneath the cab floor where she lay with her chin propped up on an empty Dr. Pepper can, but she certainly had to sense that something (more…)

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is meeting in Oklahoma City. On Monday, June 14 they will be voting on their Resolution 41 opposing Arizona’s Illegal Alien Law SB 1070. (more…)

The purpose of the original Memorial Day was to honor those who died in the Civil War. Its purpose today has evolved into remembering and honoring all who have died in the service of our country. (more…)

America is being invaded by illegal aliens who are not only violating the laws of this country upon illegal entry and otherwise after entering the country, but believe their desire for what they want gives them the right to do whatever they want to get it. (more…)

The Ole Seagull decided to share the information he provided as a response to an email he received this week because of the general interest in the Branson Airport. The portions in bold type are from the email and the non bold is the Ole Seagull’s Response. (more…)

How important are Mothers? Without them natural life as we know it could not even begin and the course of most people’s lives, after that beginning, is dramatically influenced by the person they call “Mom” or “Mother.” (more…)

People are referred to as “illegal aliens” because they are in our country illegally. To an Ole seagull, it makes no difference whether that illegal alien is Irish, Martian, Hispanic, English, Lilliputian or otherwise, an illegal alien is an illegal alien. (more…)

The Ole Seagull has seen Branson shows fail because they did not have a product that met the expectations of our guests, let the quality of their show deteriorate, did not have the financing to either market or keep the show going until it grew to maturity within the Branson market, poor management decisions and, marketing funds or not, simply had an inadequate marketing program. He has never seen a show fail because of Branson Landing or the “free shows” it offers. (more…)

Federal Judge Barbara B. Crabb could serve as the “Poster Child” for a constitutional amendment requiring all federal judges, including the U.S. supreme court justices, to go through a retention election every four years. (more…)

“I don’t recognize my country anymore,” said a lady who had called in to Springfield, Missouri’s KWTO “Morning Line Show (AM 560)” recently. That thought immediately registered with the Ole Seagull because he has felt that way for many years.

Let him list just some of his reasons why: (more…)

To Christians, Christmas is both a commemoration and celebration of the fact that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” If however, that first Christmas was all there was, there would be little reason for anyone to believe in Jesus and the promise of eternal life would be lost to all. But that’s not all there was. (more…)

Joel Manby, the president and CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE), will be the “Undercover Boss” on tonight’s episode of the new CBS hit reality show, “Undercover Boss.” The underlying premise of the show is that a high level company executive goes “undercover” within their company at the “worker bee level” (more…)

There have been those who have been upset with what the Ole Seagull has written about the alleged agreement between the city and the airport and start out conversations with words such as “Why are you against the airport?” Being against the unconscionable agreement that the pre 2007 board and administration tried to saddle the city with is (more…)

The Ole Seagull owes an apology to all those children born in Stone and Taney County since 2000 for failing to grasp the significance of a wonderful program called “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.” It is a program started by Dolly Parton in 2000 that gives a free book to every child in Stone and Taney County, every month between birth and age five. (more…)

Ever since the words “Where’s the beef” were first spoken by actress Clara Peller, in a Wendy’s commercial in 1984 to point out that a hamburger should be more beef than bun, they have taken on almost iconic status. An Ole Seagull would ask “Where’s the beef” for the following questions or statements that he has heard recently.  His opinion, follows each.

“Branson shows and attractions shoot themselves in the foot when they ‘dumb’ down their ticket prices.” “The beef” for this one is prevalent. It breaks an Ole Seagull’s heart when he sees tickets representing the personal cash investment, sweat, blood, anguish and talent of some of the greatest entertainers and talent he has ever seen being sold at places other than their theatres at prices far lower than the theatre providing the entertainment is selling the same tickets. It’s one thing to offer a couple of bucks off a ticket, but where’s “the beef” in terms of getting anywhere near the full ticket price if your show is advertised somewhere else on a list of shows with up to 50 percent off?

“With our airport now being serviced by Frontier and AirTran Airways over 100 cities can access this great destination [Branson] from around the country.” The Ole Seagull has lived in Branson for about 24 years now and one of the reasons he moved here initially was because Branson had air access to 100s of destinations. Whoops, bad Seagull, that access doesn’t count anymore because it was through the airport that he believes, with the blessing of the Branson community, was renamed the “Springfield Branson National Airport (SGF).” On April 20 there will be how many United flights to SFG and how many Frontier flights to the Branson Airport (BKG)?

“The taxpayers of the city of Branson are not legally responsible for the TIF indebtedness of Branson Landing.” It’s interesting how many people still believe that even though, as soon as a former Branson City Administrator said words to that effect in a public meeting, the city’s own bond attorney immediately and publicly pointed out the practical fallacy of the statement. An Ole Seagull believes that the lack of “beef” in that regard will soon become apparent to all.

“Would we have the increase in tourists after 2005 without the Landing?” A rhetorical question posed to the Ole Seagull. The Ole Seagulls answer would be “Such as it has been in these challenging economic times absolutely!” The Ole Seagull knows someone else asked first, but let’s rephrase the question, “Would we have the increase in tourists after 2005 if the voters had not approved the 1% retail sales tax for marketing in Nov. of 2005? As neat a place as Branson Landing is, how many people would get to Branson Landing or many of the Branson’s other great shows, attractions, and activities if they were not aware of and sold on “Branson” first?

Silver Dollar City and the other properties owned by the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation (HFE), White Water and the Showboat Branson Belle and their superb marketing cause more people to chose Branson as their travel/vacation destination than Branson Landing, the Branson Convention Center and the new Branson Airport combined.” This is a compilation of comments of things that different people have said and the only “beef” the Ole Seagull has to back that up is his opinion and belief that the statement is true.

That’s sad. With the tens of millions that have been spent on market and research why isn’t there the “beef” showing more specific data about specific shows, attractions, and other things that cause people to decide to visit Branson? One thing for certain, Silver Dollar City, the Herschend family and organization have been doing it right for 50 years. Happy Birthday and thank you!

Let’s go with the good news first, the city of Branson got a clean bill of health on its handling of the Branson Landing flood plain issues from FEMA. Among other things FEMA said that Buildings 1 through 6 in Branson Landing “are reasonably safe from flooding.”

What then could the bad news be? Those are the building on the west side of Branson Landing. In fact there was some flooding to the lower levels of the building on the east side during the Spring 2008 Floods. It was the type of flooding that was anticipated when the Landing was built and it was basically handled as anticipated.

“Well, that’s not bad news that’s good news.” Absolutely, but the thing to keep in mind is that in terms of the water that could be released from Table Rock Dam’s 10 gates, only the equivalent of less than one of its ten gates was released during the 2008 Spring Floods. There is a capability of releasing 515,000 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) with all 10 gates and four generators. During the 2008 event less than 50,000 cfs was released yet, it flooded homes and the lower levels of the eastern side of Branson Landing.

Here we are two years and a “FEMA Scrutiny later” with buildings that “are reasonably safe from flooding” at Branson Landing, but a downtown Branson area and areas in the surrounding community that have no such assurances. What is “reasonably safe?”

Who really knows? One thing that could be done however, is have maps of Branson Landing, down town Branson including the Convention Center and the areas along Lake Taneycomo and its tributaries that clearly and simply show the areas that would be covered by water released from the dam at 50k cfs, 100k cfs, 150k cfs, 200k cfs, 250k cfs, 300k cfs, 350k cfs, 400k cfs 450k cfs, 500k cfs levels.

Will the water ever get that high? Who knows. Until April of 2008 the water had never been as high as it got since the dam was built, but it got there. There is a reason there are 10 gates and eight auxiliary gates at the dam. It would be interesting to see just how high the water would be in Branson Landing and other areas with a 300,000 cfs release.

Oh, and speaking of interesting, does anyone know what formal action the Branson Board of Aldermen, Hollister Board of Aldermen or Taney County Commission have taken to look into what, if anything, they can do to mitigate the consequences of future flooding like the 2008 event? Were an Ole Seagull a betting bird he would say that the answer would be pretty close to zero.

On the other hand, why be proactive when most people will settle for reactive? In the unlikely event of another flood like 2008, or worse, they’ll give us the same platitudes they did in 2008 and we’ll soon forget until the next time.

However, it would be interesting to know just how high the water would get in Branson Landing, Hollister, downtown Branson and other areas along Lake Taneycomo if 300,000 cfs were released from Table Rock Dam. On second thought, do we really want to know? Isn’t ignorance bliss?