Holden city business licenses are due for the year 2009.  Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at city hall.
Business licenses are due January 1, 2009 from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
This year the city has to comply with Senate Bill 30 which provides the prerequisite for proof of no tax due from the Missouri Department of Revenue .  Licenses are delinquent January 31, 2009.
Purchase license at the city clerk’s office, 101 W. Third Street, Holden, MO 64040; 732-4811.



With the Holden Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet less than four weeks away, president Jo Ann Alpert has announced that tickets have been printed and will be distributed to some local businesses shortly.
The $20 banquet tickets will be available at the F&C Bank, First Central Bank, Heiman’s and the Holden Image.  Catering the annual event which will be held January 26 at 6 p.m. at the Community Activity Center will be Tiger Jack’s Catering.
Guest speaker for the evening will be David A. Stallings, CPA, MPS, president of Community Mediation & Colnsulting, Inc., a Kansas corporation providing services exclusively to nonprofit organizations.
“I have heard Mr. Stallings speak,” stated Alpert, “and I found him to be very entertaining.  He will bring a message to us as to how we can be more united and work together for the city in a positive manner.”
According to Alpert, Stallings has worked for the city of Holden recently in arranging for training for the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission.
His consulting services include performing fiscal reviews, organizational restructuring or turnarounds, board governance, design, education and development, organizational development, strategic planning and financial management.
In addition,  Stallings serves as a Senior Fellow with the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, and has served as an adjunct lecturer in the Masters of Public Administration program and public workshops for UMKC. Currently, he is teaching nonprofit financial management in the nonprofit leadership degree program at Rockhurst University in Kansas City.
From 1975 to 2000, Mr. Stallings was a practicing certified public accountant, retiring as Managing Shareholder of Marks, Stallings and Campbell, CPAS, one of the largest locally owned CPA firms in the Kansas City area. His professional focus, along with traditional accounting, tax and auditing services, included strategic planning, mediation, court-appointed special master, litigation support services, business valuations, and fraud and embezzlement investigations.
Concurrent with his professional work, hehas served on a wide variety of nonprofit boards including Safehome, ReStart Homeless Shelter, The Kansas City Domestic Violence Coalition, Wayside Waifs Animal Shelter, The Center for Religious Experience and Study (CRES), and many others. During the Kansas 2000 legislative session, Stallings served as the chief of staff for the Kansas House Appropriations Committee.
He is a graduate of Leadership Overland Park, and Leadership Kansas and has been an active member, since 1983, of the Overland Park Rotary Club, serving as club treasurer, co-founder, and director of the Youth Leadership Institute, president of The Overland Park Rotary Club Foundation board of trustees and many other avenues of "service above self'. Currently, he serves as treasurer and board member of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Western Missouri.
Stallings has earned a B.S. in finance from the University of Missouri - Columbia, a B.S. in accounting from Southeast Missouri State University and a Masters of Public Administration with emphasis in Nonprofit Leadership from UMKC's Bloch School of Business and Public Administration.
Those wishing more information about the banquet or Holden Chamber of Commerce activities should call the office at 732-6844.
 By Steve Sullins
Editor



A Christmas miracle came early for Holden resident Bobby Bradley when he underwent a potentially life-saving kidney transplant on December 18.
Bradley, 25, became ill in July of 2007 at work, with a tremendous headache and numbness in his hands and feet.  He knew something was wrong and was taken to the hospital right away.  After a few tests, it was determined he was in kidney failure.  His renal failure was caused by a condition known as FSGS (focal segmental glomerular sclerosis).  When he was diagnosed, his blood pressure was at 217 over 120, hemoglobin was very low and his kidney function BUN was 121 and should normally be in the seven to 25 range.
“If this had been caught in its acute stages it could have been reversed,” said Bradley. “People need to see their doctors regularly and get their labs done.  Kidney failure is a silent killer; the number one cause is diabetes, and the number two cause is hypertension.” 
One doesn’t have to talk to Bradley very long before they realize he’s a walking encyclopedia on medical terminology and all things to do with kidney failure and transplants.  He has definitely done his homework in the last year and a half.
Since his diagnosis, Bradley has been on dialysis seven days a week to keep him alive.  He lost 100 pounds since becoming ill and had no energy for day-to-day living.  He was going to school at UCM because he was unable to work due to his health.
He was put on the deceased donor list in October of 2007 and had been waiting for a match.  In circumstances both consider to be fate, Bradley and his donor Terri Eppright happened to be in the Union at UCM at the same time and were introduced by a mutual friend.  Eppright noticed the bandages on Bradley’s arms and questioned him about them.  When he explained he was in kidney failure, she automatically asked how one could become a donor.  He explained that first, they had to be the same blood type and it turned out Eppright was the same as Bradley.  Then the potential donor would have to go through a battery of tests to determine if they would be a match.  The chances of a non-relative to be a match is very rare.  But after undergoing all the necessary tests, it turned out Eppright was a perfect match for Bradley.
“It was just fate that Bobby and I ran into each other that day at school; we don’t have any of the same classes and are hardly ever in the Union.  Once I met him and learned of his problem, I thought if I was a match, then this was just meant to be,” stated Eppright.
Some of her family weren’t so sure in the beginning that she was doing the right thing as they were concerned for her health and well-being.  Her daughter was behind her 100 percent and her husband came around and said he would support her decision.  The last to be convinced this was the right thing to do was her son, but in the end he also stood behind his mother in her decision to donate a kidney to Bradley.
The surgery went as planned on December 18 and both Bradley and Eppright came through it with flying colors.  It is a very difficult surgery and Eppright acknowledged she has had quite a bit of pain during her recuperation.  More so than Bradley.  But she said she was prepared for that and knew what to expect.  “It upset Bobby that I wasn’t feeling as good as him after surgery, but it was all worth it.  He calls me two or three times a day to see how I’m doing. He’s a very special young man and deserves a good life.  He has two little children who need their daddy to be well, and I’m just a mom who loves children,” said Eppright.
The doctors are expecting a full recovery for both patients as Bradley’s new kidney is functioning very well and has been since the transplant. 
Bradley is ecstatic and says he feels wonderful since the surgery.  “I can’t thank Terri enough for what she has done for me.  She changed my life.  When I talk to her I thank her again and tell her I love her,” commented Bradley.
Bradley said he has also had a lot of help and support from family and friends since his diagnosis, including his mother, his father, his aunt Delight, his step-mom, brother Tommy and many others.
He is now taking anti-rejection drugs which he will be on for the rest of his life, but he says he doesn’t mind the eight medicines a day he has to take.  “It’s still 100  percent better than that dialysis,” he said.  “Some people wonder about the cost of treatment for this disease,” he added. “It cost approximately $120,000 per year for hemodialysis and $60,000 per year for the anti-rejection meds after the transplant, plus you get your quality of life back.”
“I have a lot more energy now and overall I feel amazing,” said Bradley.  He was able to come home from the hospital on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas with his family.  But the greatest gift he received wasn’t under the tree but from the generous heart of Eppright.
Bradley’s mother, Shelley Phenix, calls Eppright “an angel”, because of what she has done for Bradley.  Eppright said she just did it because his children need him and he deserves a chance to live a healthy life.
Bradley would like for more people to consider becoming living donors as it can change a renal patient’s life.  There’s a much better chance of the transplant being successful if it’s from a living donor, according to Bradley.  “Sure, the surgery is a big ordeal, but it gives people back a good quality of life; it’s pretty amazing,” stated Bradley.
His transplant at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City was the 54th transplant this year and only the eighth from a living donor; the rest were deceased donors.  Eppright also is a big proponent of donating organs and wants everyone to fill out the necessary information on their driver’s license to become an organ donor in the event of death.
Both Bradley and Eppright are looking forward to returning to college and getting on with their lives.  Bradley is majoring in auto technology management and is a sophomore.  His future plans include spending more time with his children and beginning a career in the automotive world somewhere in the Kansas City area.  Eppright is a photography major and has three semesters left before she receives her degree.
Currently, Bradley goes back to the hospital for tests every three days but within a year he will need to go only every three months for monitoring.  “It’s true the organ could fail at any time but once you’re six months out from surgery, you’re pretty much out of the woods,” said Bradley.
Eppright said, “Bobby is such a good person and I just felt like if I could help his kids keep their dad I was going to.  I’m just human and figure God gave us two kidneys to share with someone else, because you only need one to live.”
After she woke from surgery and became alert enough, she asked to be taken to Bradley’s bedside so she could see for herself he was doing all right.  And to her relief, everything was working smoothly for him.
So, both patients are recuperating satisfactorily at their homes and looking forward to a happy, healthy new year.  They learned a lot from each other about life, giving, love, generosity, spirit, and came away from their experience with a friend for life.
By Dana Raker
News Staff