The Current Online

by Ian Drazick

Every weekend, racing fanatics are somewhere in the city revving their engines with a twenty or even a hundred dollar bill in hand. And when money is thrown into the duel, it makes the race much more intense.

These riders aren’t thinking about safety when the light turns green. There’s only thinking one thing: speed. It’s the same thing that made Jackson County earn the highest fatality rate in the state at 97 in 2002, according to the Lee’s Summit Police Department (LSPD).

“You always remember each parent and their face when you have to tell them that their son is dead,” said Sergeant Reeves of the LSPD.

Many hot spots are right here in Lee’s Summit. Reeves thinks that Scherer Parkway, located between the Longview Campus and Grandview, is among the oldest and the most popular places to go for a midnight run.

Blackwell, which is past Legacy Park and Independence Ave., located behind Price Chopper on the outer road of 291 Hwy, are other popular blacktops where you can strut your stuff.

But instead of risking getting a ticket, try the best alternative. The Kansas City International Raceway has a safe and fun way to race. Every Wednesday and Friday night is grunge night, when you can bring anything and race it. There’s also the High School Drags twice a year, an effort to get teenaged racers off the streets.

by Ian Drazick

It’s that time of year again. Yes, time to visit the grandparents, eight hours from home, for the holidays.

We’re all looking forward to those wonderful aspects of a road trip, like the cramped space in the minivan and fighting with your siblings about what station to listen to. Meanwhile, you’re trying to figure out whether it’s your mom singing or if you accidentally locked the cat in the trunk.

To make the trip go by a little more smoothly, make sure you have the essentials. Bring a personal CD player so you can listen to that killer Ace of Base CD. Have a pillow handy so that when you sleep, your drool won’t get on your sister’s shoulder. Snacks are also key for making yourself comfortable. Cheez-its, Trail-mix, or anything that gets into the cracks of the car are popular road trip snacks.

Try to avoid playing games with each other. You’ll always end up fighting making the trip longer than it already is. And remember not to ask questions like, “Are we there yet?” or “Can I go to the bathroom?” It only makes Dad drive more slowly.

In the meantime, relax, enjoy the scenery, and have a good time. The holidays may be hectic, but with all the right supplies, you can have a much more pleasant road trip.

Rindels grew up in Arizona until the age of seven, when she moved to Missouri. She jumped cities including, Lee’s Summit and Kansas City. She finally landed in Belton, where she spent her high school career.

When she has free time, which is almost never, Rindels enjoys going to church and visiting friends at Truman State University.

“I really don’t have time to do anything,” she added. From 5:30 to 9:30 a.m., she works at Gladen Elementary, then she goes to school for a few hours and ends up back at the elementary from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

In addition to being a principal, she wants to be a cheerleader. Is that every boy’s dream or what? Yes, she has a boyfriend, so don’t be trying to hit on her. It’s already been attempted. Her boyfriend of six months is a minor league baseball player.

“For my eighteenth birthday, I went to Florida and got to watch his spring training,” she says.

Brooke Rindels is a normal, school-going woman who has her head on straight when it comes to her future. She’ll also be the one whose kids will go home and tell their daddy that their principal is a Chiefs cheerleader.

by IAN DRAZICK

Main St. Morgue is KC´s newest-oldest haunted house (Ian Drazick/The Current).

The all-new Main Street Morgue has a new location next door to its previous home of 26 years. Owner Dwaine Throneberry combined the shutdown Nightmares with the Morgue to create an even scarier maze and mind warping experience.

Unfortunately the Morgue did not meet expectations. Half of the actors were hardly 5 foot 5 inches tall. In spite of good acting, lollipop guilds and oompaloompas just don’t cut it. Doing circles around rooms looking for an exit and seeing the same people over and over again doesn’t exactly make your legs tremble. When you end up in the same room you started in for the fourth time, you lose the frightening tension and gain impatience. It’s the smallest haunted house in the city but it still takes just as long, if not longer, to get through.

The thing that sets this one apart from all the others is what the owner is striving for. Throneberry makes sure all visitors are spread out, so nobody sees what’s going to happen next. Also, all the actors are volunteers, so you know they’re in it for the scare, not the money.

The Morgue would be much more satisfying if it were darker and the actors were more intimidating than a little sister trying to scare you while you’re doing the laundry