Honor the Whitley Legacy - Protect Open Space in Mid Missouri

Jim Whitley, a charter member of the Osage Group, passed away in 2010, leaving almost a half million dollars and a 102-acre tract just north of Columbia to North Central Missouri College, his alma mater (then Trenton Junior College).  His (and his wife Joanne’s) bequest made a provision for a land conservation easement, a restriction that NCMC is doing everything it can to undermine in order to realize the maximum value of the land.

Enter local Sierrans Ron Kucera, Dave Bedan, Ken Midkiff, and Hank Ottinger who formed “Friends of Jim and Joann Whitley” to fight for Jim and Joanne’s wishes. Working with the Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri, the newly formed group is making significant headway in seeing to it that the Whitleys’ legacy is honored, and that the land is preserved in perpetuity allowing visitors to explore and enjoy what the Whitleys worked so hard for.