I Like This City Administrator

Hamilton is a small town in the northwest part of Missouri. Its chief claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of J. C. Penney and that the high school named after Penney traditionally has had a very good football team.

It is also now getting a lot of attention in quilting circles for being the home of Jenny Doan and her Missouri Star Quilt Company. This 5-year old company is now the second largest employer in town and gets 30,000 orders monthly for quilt kits and other quilting supplies. It was the focus of a feature story in today's Wall Street Journal.

Because of the popularity of Mrs. Doan's YouTube tutorials and her quilt supplies, the town is now getting 50-100 visitors daily seeking to meet her and shop in the Missouri Star Quilt Co. store. Many of these quilters are women who arrive with their non-quilting spouses. The city administrator says they love all these tourist but really need to do something for the bored husbands.

City Administrator Dale Wallace says the tourism is great, and that maybe the town just needs to patch up its array of amenities. "For example, we really need to find something for the men to do," he said of the husbands who sometimes come in tow with their quilting spouses. "Maybe we'll put in a gun shop."

Now that is a right-thinking city administrator!