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Saturday, March 31, 2007
FIRST CAPITOL NEWS FRONT PAGE - March 31, 2007
SAVE SAVE SAVE $1.00 OFF EACH $5.00 PURCHASE AT THE OLDE TIME SPICE SHOPPE 334 SOUTH MAIN STREET IN ST. CHARLES. YOU MUST MENTION THIS AD.
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YORK WILL FIRE POLICE CHIEF SWOPE IF SHE IS RE-ELECTED
Police Association members refute Mayor’s and Police Association’s Presidents denials!
Sources at police headquarters have told the First Capitol News, that despite the denials by the Mayor and the police association president, she pledged to fire Police Chief Tim Swope if she is re-elected and they stand by their claim that the statement was made. Asking that their identities be withheld because of fear of their jobs and physical harm, they told the First Capitol News that at a general membership meeting of the police association with more than 25 members present, a member of the executive board told the assembled officers that York pledged to fire the Chief and his staff if she is re-elected. The story was the cover story in our last edition.
Mayor Patti York called a press conference March 26, 2007 to address our story. In the council chambers at City Hall with City Administrator Allan Williams at her side and in a press release distributed by Williams, York claimed, “This press conference was in response to an article written in the First Capitol News last week where it was reported York intended to fire Chief of Police, Tim Swope. The Mayor in the press release said, “I am calling this press conference today to address the unfounded and spurious claims by a local community newspaper that I have pledged to fire our Police Chief, Tim Swope.” She went on to say “I find this disquieting and purposely inflammatory, all in the guise of news, when in reality, it is nothing short of mudslinging at best and politicking at its worst by this local paper. York presented a letter from St. Charles Police Association President, Mark Grothe, it states, “Regarding Mayor York’s pledge to fire Police Chief Tim Swope, the First Capitol News has again been misinformed by their sources.” Both these statements are in direct conflict with sources who attended the police associations meeting on March 8th.
One of our sources told us that if anyone in the association knew who they were it could create issues on the street. The sources told us that an Executive Board member stood up and announced that Mayor Patti York told them during the interview that she would fire Chief of Police, Tim Swope, Major Boerding, Captain Pollard, and the Chiefs secretary Tammy O’Laughlin, it is a package deal.
This is isn’t the first time the Mayor has adversely affected our public safety. For over a year she allowed the City to go without a permanent chief. During this period Major Bob Lowery was presented to the Mayor and Council for approval. York refused to appoint saying Lowery, “Wasn’t a good fit.” Some speculated that she refused to appoint Lowery because the St. Charles Police Association was against him. The Police Association is used to getting it’s way in St. Charles; it worked to remove Chief of Police Dave King, Paul Corbin and now is working against Chief Tim Swope.
The rift between Swope and York began when Swope refused to hand over the investigation into the Dottie Greer re-call to the Mayor . The day after Swope turned over the investigation to St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas, York began to require Swope to turn over a weekly activity report letting her know who he spoke to and where he went every day. Members of the Association have family directly involved with the recall. Linda Meyer, wife of Association member Dean Meyer, headed up the recall efforts of Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Both recalls were unsuccessful after the investigations turned up forged signatures and widespread fraud.
York was displeased when Swope fired Tommy Mayer, who was president of the state Fraternal Order of Police and who she called her top cop. Mayer was dismissed after an incident in which he ordered City Administrator Williams from his car at gun point and had him drop to the ground.
York was also upset that Swope re-opened an investigation into the alleged cashing of forged checks by her daughter.
“I think this is a lot like baseball, when George Steinbrenner would stand next to Billy Martin and say he would be our manager for the rest of the season, you knew Billy would be gone by the end of the week.” Councilman Mark Brown.
Relating to the use of public facilities for political campaigns, former attorney general Bill Webster went to prison for using a state fax machine during a political campaign. The mayor has used the council chambers and city employees for her campaign.
Sources at police headquarters have told the First Capitol News, that despite the denials by the Mayor and the police association president, she pledged to fire Police Chief Tim Swope if she is re-elected and they stand by their claim that the statement was made. Asking that their identities be withheld because of fear of their jobs and physical harm, they told the First Capitol News that at a general membership meeting of the police association with more than 25 members present, a member of the executive board told the assembled officers that York pledged to fire the Chief and his staff if she is re-elected. The story was the cover story in our last edition.
Mayor Patti York called a press conference March 26, 2007 to address our story. In the council chambers at City Hall with City Administrator Allan Williams at her side and in a press release distributed by Williams, York claimed, “This press conference was in response to an article written in the First Capitol News last week where it was reported York intended to fire Chief of Police, Tim Swope. The Mayor in the press release said, “I am calling this press conference today to address the unfounded and spurious claims by a local community newspaper that I have pledged to fire our Police Chief, Tim Swope.” She went on to say “I find this disquieting and purposely inflammatory, all in the guise of news, when in reality, it is nothing short of mudslinging at best and politicking at its worst by this local paper. York presented a letter from St. Charles Police Association President, Mark Grothe, it states, “Regarding Mayor York’s pledge to fire Police Chief Tim Swope, the First Capitol News has again been misinformed by their sources.” Both these statements are in direct conflict with sources who attended the police associations meeting on March 8th.
One of our sources told us that if anyone in the association knew who they were it could create issues on the street. The sources told us that an Executive Board member stood up and announced that Mayor Patti York told them during the interview that she would fire Chief of Police, Tim Swope, Major Boerding, Captain Pollard, and the Chiefs secretary Tammy O’Laughlin, it is a package deal.
This is isn’t the first time the Mayor has adversely affected our public safety. For over a year she allowed the City to go without a permanent chief. During this period Major Bob Lowery was presented to the Mayor and Council for approval. York refused to appoint saying Lowery, “Wasn’t a good fit.” Some speculated that she refused to appoint Lowery because the St. Charles Police Association was against him. The Police Association is used to getting it’s way in St. Charles; it worked to remove Chief of Police Dave King, Paul Corbin and now is working against Chief Tim Swope.
The rift between Swope and York began when Swope refused to hand over the investigation into the Dottie Greer re-call to the Mayor . The day after Swope turned over the investigation to St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas, York began to require Swope to turn over a weekly activity report letting her know who he spoke to and where he went every day. Members of the Association have family directly involved with the recall. Linda Meyer, wife of Association member Dean Meyer, headed up the recall efforts of Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Both recalls were unsuccessful after the investigations turned up forged signatures and widespread fraud.
York was displeased when Swope fired Tommy Mayer, who was president of the state Fraternal Order of Police and who she called her top cop. Mayer was dismissed after an incident in which he ordered City Administrator Williams from his car at gun point and had him drop to the ground.
York was also upset that Swope re-opened an investigation into the alleged cashing of forged checks by her daughter.
“I think this is a lot like baseball, when George Steinbrenner would stand next to Billy Martin and say he would be our manager for the rest of the season, you knew Billy would be gone by the end of the week.” Councilman Mark Brown.
Relating to the use of public facilities for political campaigns, former attorney general Bill Webster went to prison for using a state fax machine during a political campaign. The mayor has used the council chambers and city employees for her campaign.
An Open Letter To St. Charles Residents from Councilman John Gieseke, candidate for mayor
Dear Residents,
I want to take this opportunity to explain my feelings regarding this Mayor race. When I first decided to run for Mayor many of those from whom I solicited counsel suggested I use negative ads against my opponent. I refused to do so. I have two kids and being negative would set an example from which I could never recover. Jack and Gillian would have been taught that the easy road of tearing one down to make yourself look better is the right road. I decided to teach them that communicating your vision and what can be, might be harder, but it’s the right thing to do.
In the past three days I have received mail from my opponent and her supporters that are full of distortions and untruths. My opponent signed a clean campaign pledge that stated, “I promise by my signature that my campaign, including myself and those who work in support of me, will NOT make untrue statements, either verbally or written, about my opponent in this campaign. Nor will I engage in personal or character attacks in any manner. I make these promises to the People of St. Charles.” I know I can look in a mirror and know I lived up to that promise.
This election is about you and the future of the City of St. Charles. How someone conducts themselves during a campaign is a good indicator of what they will be like in office. I would ask that you review every piece of mail you have received from me and compare them to my opponents. Not one piece of literature even mentions my opponent or attacks her.
On April 3rd we have a chance to tell those who would tear apart our neighbors, who’s only crime is to step up and be part of the solution by running for office, enough is enough. When your ballot goes in the box you can say no to negativity in City politics. A vote for me, John Gieseke, is the only new beginning we can take. Together we can do better, together we deserve better.
John Gieseke
I want to take this opportunity to explain my feelings regarding this Mayor race. When I first decided to run for Mayor many of those from whom I solicited counsel suggested I use negative ads against my opponent. I refused to do so. I have two kids and being negative would set an example from which I could never recover. Jack and Gillian would have been taught that the easy road of tearing one down to make yourself look better is the right road. I decided to teach them that communicating your vision and what can be, might be harder, but it’s the right thing to do.
In the past three days I have received mail from my opponent and her supporters that are full of distortions and untruths. My opponent signed a clean campaign pledge that stated, “I promise by my signature that my campaign, including myself and those who work in support of me, will NOT make untrue statements, either verbally or written, about my opponent in this campaign. Nor will I engage in personal or character attacks in any manner. I make these promises to the People of St. Charles.” I know I can look in a mirror and know I lived up to that promise.
This election is about you and the future of the City of St. Charles. How someone conducts themselves during a campaign is a good indicator of what they will be like in office. I would ask that you review every piece of mail you have received from me and compare them to my opponents. Not one piece of literature even mentions my opponent or attacks her.
On April 3rd we have a chance to tell those who would tear apart our neighbors, who’s only crime is to step up and be part of the solution by running for office, enough is enough. When your ballot goes in the box you can say no to negativity in City politics. A vote for me, John Gieseke, is the only new beginning we can take. Together we can do better, together we deserve better.
John Gieseke
York distorts truth in political ad. GIESEKE Sponsored Eminent Domain Bill not Kneemiller
.In a recent political ad Mayor Patti York claims she and Councilman Bob Kneemiller were responsible for creating and passing eminent domain limitations. This ad is a blatant lie. Councilman John Gieseke and Jerry Reese co-sponsored the eminent domain bill passed by and signed by the Mayor. Gieseke wouldn’t comment to the ad but did tell the FCN, “the bill passed 10-0 and I was proud to sponsor it.” York has repeatedly claimed that it was Kneemiller's bill in an attempt to take credit away from Gieseke. Many of those in Frenchtown who we spoke to told the FCN that they know who the true champion of Eminent Domain abuse is. They told us without John Gieseke their property would have been taken by a developer.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
Connecting The Dots
Mailings Reveal Political Slate
Trying To Take Over City Hall
At deadline, the First Capitol News received a copy of a political attack mailer sent out by Citizens for Responsible Community endorsing a “Slate” of candidates for Mayor and the council. Citizens for Responsible Communty is a front organization comprised of a few officers who don’t even live in St. Charles.
Their Chairman is Carl Maus, the full-time patronage assistant to the controversial Mayor Donna Morrow in O’Fallon. The group funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars from millionaire developers like homebuilders Tom Hughes and Mike Sellenschuetter. They have worked for slates of candidates in St. Peters and O’Fallon, as well as St. Charles County Government.
They are known for their last minute smear attacks and mean-spirited personal attacks. This mailer was true to form with crude caricatures of clowns superimposed with the heads of Councilmembers they were attacking.
On the back, the group revealed the official “SLATE” of candidates they are supporting. The group only supports those candidates they are told to by their big money backers. When some of their candidates turned out to be “too” politically independent of developers in O’Fallon, they ran another slate against them in the very next election. In addition to millionaire homebuilders they are financed by Adolphus Busch and other millionaire duck hunters. Their most recent claim to fame was having Shaun Brown elected as Mayor of St. Peters. Brown is either on the way to or incercated in a federal prision for taking a bribe.
According to those who have seen the mailer, those on their approved slate to try to take over City Hall include, Veit (Ward One), Feldman (Ward Three), Kneemiller (Ward Four), Becherle (Ward Seven), Kielty (Ward Eight), Stivinson (Ward Nine) and Mayor Patti York.
“Their actions are reprehensible and is what adds to the divisiveness at City Hall,” commented Mayoral candidate and Councilman John Gieseke.
“At last the select candidates of the big money special interests and developers have been revealed. Voters will now have a clear choice between candidates who will listen to them and those who are sworn to follow orders from outside our own community,” pointed out Councilman Mark Brown.
Also, on Wednesday mailers arrived in the 3rd and 9th Wards that were nearly identical supporting Laurie Feldman and Ron Stivinson against Councilmen Mark Brown and Joe Koester. The mailers claim to be a comparison of the candidates, but they are anything but a “fair” comparison.
An example is from the mailer for Laurie Feldman against Mark Brown. In big type it says that Mark brown voted to “raise” your taxes. There is then a tiny footnote number one that says he did so in 1994, ten years before Mark Brown was even elected to the St. Charles City Council in 2004.
“I have never voted to raise taxes on the residents of St. Charles and will never do so. In fact, I have voted to cut taxes, lowering the utility tax for everyone and giving Seniors a rebate of utility taxes on gas, electric and phone service,” emphatically stated Councilman Brown.
Every candidate running for the City Council signed a Clean Campaign Pledge. That pledge states that, “I promise by my signature that my campaign, including myself and those who work in support of me, will NOT make untrue statements, either verbally or written, about my opponent in this campaign.” A copy of the pledge bearing Laurie Feldman’s signature is on file with the City Clerk of the City of St. Charles.
“It is a shame that our opponents broke their pledge and engaged in this sort of distortion of the record,” added Councilman Joe Koester, adding, “The fact that identical campaign attacks arrived on the same day, in two different wards, points to a coordinated and well funded effort to try to take over City Hall.
Requests from records from the City Clerk’s Office also give interesting insight into the Secret Slate. Former Councilman Richard Baum, a close political ally of Mayor York, requested records on Councilmen Brown and Koester on February 27th. Brian Audrey, a bodyguard for Mike Kielty, son of Council candidate Ken Kielty, running against Mike Klinghammer in the Eighth Ward, requested documents on Councilman Rory Riddler and John Gieseke on February 26. Previously the First Capitol News reported that Chesterfield based John Hancock & Associates, political consultants for the Missouri Republican Party and ATT, requested information on numerous meetings.
This is the information that later gets distorted and ends up in negative campaign mailings.
Other connections that pointed to a “Secret Slate” of candidates, prior to the revealing o the slate this week, was who was invited to speak before the local Pachyderms Club. Only certain candidates were invited to give presentations. How did they determine whom they were going to hear from except from a slate?
NO EDITION NEWS WEEK EASTER HOLIDAY
Beginning April 21, home delivery by subscrition only.
636 724-1955
Mailings Reveal Political Slate
Trying To Take Over City Hall
At deadline, the First Capitol News received a copy of a political attack mailer sent out by Citizens for Responsible Community endorsing a “Slate” of candidates for Mayor and the council. Citizens for Responsible Communty is a front organization comprised of a few officers who don’t even live in St. Charles.
Their Chairman is Carl Maus, the full-time patronage assistant to the controversial Mayor Donna Morrow in O’Fallon. The group funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars from millionaire developers like homebuilders Tom Hughes and Mike Sellenschuetter. They have worked for slates of candidates in St. Peters and O’Fallon, as well as St. Charles County Government.
They are known for their last minute smear attacks and mean-spirited personal attacks. This mailer was true to form with crude caricatures of clowns superimposed with the heads of Councilmembers they were attacking.
On the back, the group revealed the official “SLATE” of candidates they are supporting. The group only supports those candidates they are told to by their big money backers. When some of their candidates turned out to be “too” politically independent of developers in O’Fallon, they ran another slate against them in the very next election. In addition to millionaire homebuilders they are financed by Adolphus Busch and other millionaire duck hunters. Their most recent claim to fame was having Shaun Brown elected as Mayor of St. Peters. Brown is either on the way to or incercated in a federal prision for taking a bribe.
According to those who have seen the mailer, those on their approved slate to try to take over City Hall include, Veit (Ward One), Feldman (Ward Three), Kneemiller (Ward Four), Becherle (Ward Seven), Kielty (Ward Eight), Stivinson (Ward Nine) and Mayor Patti York.
“Their actions are reprehensible and is what adds to the divisiveness at City Hall,” commented Mayoral candidate and Councilman John Gieseke.
“At last the select candidates of the big money special interests and developers have been revealed. Voters will now have a clear choice between candidates who will listen to them and those who are sworn to follow orders from outside our own community,” pointed out Councilman Mark Brown.
Also, on Wednesday mailers arrived in the 3rd and 9th Wards that were nearly identical supporting Laurie Feldman and Ron Stivinson against Councilmen Mark Brown and Joe Koester. The mailers claim to be a comparison of the candidates, but they are anything but a “fair” comparison.
An example is from the mailer for Laurie Feldman against Mark Brown. In big type it says that Mark brown voted to “raise” your taxes. There is then a tiny footnote number one that says he did so in 1994, ten years before Mark Brown was even elected to the St. Charles City Council in 2004.
“I have never voted to raise taxes on the residents of St. Charles and will never do so. In fact, I have voted to cut taxes, lowering the utility tax for everyone and giving Seniors a rebate of utility taxes on gas, electric and phone service,” emphatically stated Councilman Brown.
Every candidate running for the City Council signed a Clean Campaign Pledge. That pledge states that, “I promise by my signature that my campaign, including myself and those who work in support of me, will NOT make untrue statements, either verbally or written, about my opponent in this campaign.” A copy of the pledge bearing Laurie Feldman’s signature is on file with the City Clerk of the City of St. Charles.
“It is a shame that our opponents broke their pledge and engaged in this sort of distortion of the record,” added Councilman Joe Koester, adding, “The fact that identical campaign attacks arrived on the same day, in two different wards, points to a coordinated and well funded effort to try to take over City Hall.
Requests from records from the City Clerk’s Office also give interesting insight into the Secret Slate. Former Councilman Richard Baum, a close political ally of Mayor York, requested records on Councilmen Brown and Koester on February 27th. Brian Audrey, a bodyguard for Mike Kielty, son of Council candidate Ken Kielty, running against Mike Klinghammer in the Eighth Ward, requested documents on Councilman Rory Riddler and John Gieseke on February 26. Previously the First Capitol News reported that Chesterfield based John Hancock & Associates, political consultants for the Missouri Republican Party and ATT, requested information on numerous meetings.
This is the information that later gets distorted and ends up in negative campaign mailings.
Other connections that pointed to a “Secret Slate” of candidates, prior to the revealing o the slate this week, was who was invited to speak before the local Pachyderms Club. Only certain candidates were invited to give presentations. How did they determine whom they were going to hear from except from a slate?
NO EDITION NEWS WEEK EASTER HOLIDAY
Beginning April 21, home delivery by subscrition only.
636 724-1955
EDITORIAL - The Truth Is; Eight Is Enough
EDITORIAL
THE TRUTH IS; EIGHT IS ENOUGH
In the political world politicians often take credit for things they had little to do with. We find that to be happening in this Mayoral election.
The current Mayor would have you think if it weren’t for her, Ameristar Casino would not be in St. Charles. The truth is the owners of Stations Casinos are responsible for Ameristar being in St. Charles. The current Mayor is taking credit for rolling back taxes 12%. The truth is these rollbacks are required under state law; it’s called the Hancock Amendment. The current Mayor would have you believe she was in favor of the utility tax rebates. The truth is she fought against rebating all the taxes back for seniors.
The truth is sometimes hard to find in St. Charles politics but I think the best way to find the truth is simple. Look for the truth as you exit 5th Street and drive north. Look around and see if you think the current Mayor has passed or failed her beautification of St. Charles. Drive down First Capitol and look at the businesses she brags about bringing to St. Charles. Checks Cashed and pawnshops along the busiest road in St. Charles is not economic development. Drive down Elm Street, Deikamp Lane or Paula Drive and tell me if the current Mayor told the truth when she speaks about her road improvements.
No this Mayor has failed and eight years are enough.
On the other hand the City of St. Charles has someone running who has proven he will stand up for the residents. John Gieseke has proven that he can lead on the council and will lead this great city as Mayor. His ability to understand the business aspect is heads and shoulders above that of the current Mayor. Gieseke stood strong against the threat of eminent domain and lead the way to stop the use in St. Charles. Gieseke lead the way for real tax relief from the nuisance Utility Tax when all others had failed. This was tax relief for all and then he worked to get utility tax relief for seniors.
When it comes to understanding how you really relieve the tax burden on the residents Gieseke knows it takes real economic development. Gieseke’s ward has created more jobs in two years than the current Mayor has for the past 8 years. The investment in Gieseke’s ward will help grow the city’s economy and he did it all without any use of your tax dollars.
Gieseke has an unusual tactic when it comes to politics in St. Charles, he tells it the way it is and doesn’t lie about what he has accomplished. Gieseke is a refreshing change from our current leadership who has abused the position and used your taxes to further her political career. Leadership is hard to define and harder to find. If you really look at great leaders they seldom take credit as an individual. When you listen to Gieseke speak he always speaks in we’s and us, not I’s. That is a true testament to real leadership.
That is why this paper whole-heartedly supports and endorses John Gieseke for Mayor of St. Charles.
THE TRUTH IS; EIGHT IS ENOUGH
In the political world politicians often take credit for things they had little to do with. We find that to be happening in this Mayoral election.
The current Mayor would have you think if it weren’t for her, Ameristar Casino would not be in St. Charles. The truth is the owners of Stations Casinos are responsible for Ameristar being in St. Charles. The current Mayor is taking credit for rolling back taxes 12%. The truth is these rollbacks are required under state law; it’s called the Hancock Amendment. The current Mayor would have you believe she was in favor of the utility tax rebates. The truth is she fought against rebating all the taxes back for seniors.
The truth is sometimes hard to find in St. Charles politics but I think the best way to find the truth is simple. Look for the truth as you exit 5th Street and drive north. Look around and see if you think the current Mayor has passed or failed her beautification of St. Charles. Drive down First Capitol and look at the businesses she brags about bringing to St. Charles. Checks Cashed and pawnshops along the busiest road in St. Charles is not economic development. Drive down Elm Street, Deikamp Lane or Paula Drive and tell me if the current Mayor told the truth when she speaks about her road improvements.
No this Mayor has failed and eight years are enough.
On the other hand the City of St. Charles has someone running who has proven he will stand up for the residents. John Gieseke has proven that he can lead on the council and will lead this great city as Mayor. His ability to understand the business aspect is heads and shoulders above that of the current Mayor. Gieseke stood strong against the threat of eminent domain and lead the way to stop the use in St. Charles. Gieseke lead the way for real tax relief from the nuisance Utility Tax when all others had failed. This was tax relief for all and then he worked to get utility tax relief for seniors.
When it comes to understanding how you really relieve the tax burden on the residents Gieseke knows it takes real economic development. Gieseke’s ward has created more jobs in two years than the current Mayor has for the past 8 years. The investment in Gieseke’s ward will help grow the city’s economy and he did it all without any use of your tax dollars.
Gieseke has an unusual tactic when it comes to politics in St. Charles, he tells it the way it is and doesn’t lie about what he has accomplished. Gieseke is a refreshing change from our current leadership who has abused the position and used your taxes to further her political career. Leadership is hard to define and harder to find. If you really look at great leaders they seldom take credit as an individual. When you listen to Gieseke speak he always speaks in we’s and us, not I’s. That is a true testament to real leadership.
That is why this paper whole-heartedly supports and endorses John Gieseke for Mayor of St. Charles.
The PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor
Editor’s note,
On March 16th a South Main business owner observed City Council Candidate Venetia McIntire for Ward 2 in what he described as unusual behavior and actions. He sent her the following letter to which he has not received a response. He is awaiting her reply.
Venetia McIntire
City Council Candidate, Ward #2
1014 South Main Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
Ms. McEntire;
I wanted to give you another opportunity to comment on what I observed you doing at 6:10pm Friday, March 16, 2007. The rude and unprofessional manner in which you answered my inquiry, is certainly worth our review.
I was on my way home from work on Friday, March 16, 2007, at 6:10pm. I knew this because I was on my phone at the time. It happens not to be just a simple phone, but a VIDEO & CAMERA phone. The quality of pictures are amazing!
I happened to see you walking a cute Labrador puppy between the 1014 and 1038 Block of South Main Street, in St. Charles, MO. We (My phone and I) happened to see you walk on several of the properties, take things from the buildings and remove items from some of the properties, all while allowing the puppy to do it’s puppy thing. Since you are a resident and Candidate for City Council Ward #2, I am requesting you to comment on the following questions and observations:
Why did you remove things from at least 2 buildings?
Why did you remove items from at least two properties? (The Bagged items)
Did you have permission to be on all the properties?
Did you have permission to walk your dog on all the properties?
Do you carry a scoop for the Puppy when you walk?
Why don’t you let the puppy do its business on your property?
Why did you set the ‘Bag’ you removed from the properties against the telephone pole at the corner of Main Street and Barbour Street when I confronted you?
Why was your answer “WHAT EVER!” and then stormed off yelling?
Is this the way you’ll behave and communicate to the citizens of Ward #2?
I am looking forward to your answers regarding your behavior and actions observed on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 6:10pm. I am a very concerned citizen of this Ward, and will give you reasonable time to respond before I review my options.
Respectfully Submitted,
David R. Campbell, Ward #2
Property Owner
To the editor,
Former Mayor Nichols has placed an ad in an out of town newspaper saying that Mayor York and John Gieseke didn’t look after the city’s “core”. I beg to differ.
John Gieseke has worked hard to get business and industry into St. Charles that would increase the tax base. This money is what is necessary to provide for the “core”. He has also worked to get our decrepit sewer system replaced. Is this not “core”? Is the upcoming replacement of Elm Street and the work done on Zumbehl Road not “core”?
Mayor Nichols apparently thinks that if you don’t reside between Tecumseh, Kingshighway, Boonslick and the river you don’t deserve to be heard. Maybe that’s why she didn’t win or place. Third place in racing is a “show”. Grace needs to look at a map. St. Charles has grown beyond Lindenwood College (Grace, it’s now even changed to Lindenwood University) . It even goes south of I-70.
She goes on to imply blame to Gieseke for anything that the council did that was not to her liking. John was only one member on the council. He wasn’t even the president. He was, however, one who asked the tough questions. Some of those questions helped transform our Public Works department into arguably one of the best in this state. They are easy to work with and very responsive to the residents.
She also said that Mayor York made some “mistakes”. No, mistakes are when you take a wrong exit off the Interstate. A mistake is when I make a typographical error. A mistake is when you show up for a three o’clock appointment at four o’clock.
When someone intentionally commits a wrong, it is no mistake. I get damned tired of hearing that a politician like Shaun Brown made a “mistake” in judgement or that when Leonard Little decided to drive drunk he made a “mistake”. No, Shaun Brown committed a crime. Leonard Little killed a human being. Both deserve prison time.
Mayor York’s deeds were not “mistakes”. She committed them with full knowledge that they were wrong, but committed them anyway.
Mayor Nichols, the implications in your ad in the out of town paper were wrong, but the ad was no “mistake”. I wonder why she didn’t think about the St. Charles “core” and place her ad in a local paper?
Now for my George Burns imitation:
Say goodnight, Gracie.
Jerry Haferkamp
To the Editor and Citizens of St. Charles;
Well, I might have known, because it happened during the last council election also. Someone runs against Councilman Riddler. They must think that they are better than him, since they are running. I think not.
I received, not once, but twice, through the mail, full postage, an election smear against Councilman Riddler. First of all, let me say that it was a really dumb attempt, because six reasons written on the back of this $1,000,000 bill were so small that most people couldn’t read it, if they tried.
Also, it is a shame that both of Councilman Riddler’s opponents have to be painted with the same brush (this smear), because now we won’t know which one is really that dumb. You see, I don’t live in Councilman Riddler’s ward. I’m glad to know that they spent $.78 trying to get me to not vote for someone that I can’t legally vote for anyhow.
The reason both opponents will appear guilty? The smear had no disclaimer, name or anything that could be used to identify them.
To all of those people who live in Councilman Riddler’s ward please allow me to make a suggestion to all of you.
First: VOTE FOR RIDDLER! Why? Because someone who likes to think that they would be better in this job has already proven their mistrust by smearing;
Second: AND they had no qualms about making the other opponent look as bad as they are by anonymously smearing;
Third: AND, in my opinion, if a person TRULY thinks that they are the best person for this job, they should feel confident of making others believe it without stooping to such disgraceful methods. If you can’t win with truth and honesty, STAY OUT OF IT.
I hope that you all feel as I do, that this person, who wants control over your standard of living, is a poor, pathetic, sad, little person. Much like the Yorks, Kieltys and their ilk. Sad.
Lynn Rush
Dear Tony,
Yesterday, March 26, 2007, we received our first mailer from Mayor York. There she was smiling to beat the band with 12 police officers. The ad went on to say that public safety is the most important service we provide. Once again I remember Mayor York’s favorite cop. Tommy Mayer. I also remember our City Administrator on the ground with a gun to his head. WHAT PROTECTION IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?
Today’s paper, March 27, 2007, headlined YORK DENIES MAKING DEAL TO FIRE CHIEF. All of the council members are aware of her pledge to fire Chief Swope the day after she is reelected. It has made its way around town. Now we have a political news conference at City Hall. Mr. Gieseke is right the City Hall is no place for a political news conference.
Ms. York seems to fabricate her stories to meet her needs. Anything to win, huh?
I do have some burning questions.
SINCE WHEN DOES A STEWARDESS KNOW HOW TO RUN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT? DID SHE GO TO THE POLICE ACADEMY? DID SHE TAKE ACADEMIC CLASSES IN HOW TO RUN A POLICE DEPARTMENT? WHERE DID SHE GET HER PROFICIENCY TO DETERMINE WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT?
Jane Horning
On March 16th a South Main business owner observed City Council Candidate Venetia McIntire for Ward 2 in what he described as unusual behavior and actions. He sent her the following letter to which he has not received a response. He is awaiting her reply.
Venetia McIntire
City Council Candidate, Ward #2
1014 South Main Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
Ms. McEntire;
I wanted to give you another opportunity to comment on what I observed you doing at 6:10pm Friday, March 16, 2007. The rude and unprofessional manner in which you answered my inquiry, is certainly worth our review.
I was on my way home from work on Friday, March 16, 2007, at 6:10pm. I knew this because I was on my phone at the time. It happens not to be just a simple phone, but a VIDEO & CAMERA phone. The quality of pictures are amazing!
I happened to see you walking a cute Labrador puppy between the 1014 and 1038 Block of South Main Street, in St. Charles, MO. We (My phone and I) happened to see you walk on several of the properties, take things from the buildings and remove items from some of the properties, all while allowing the puppy to do it’s puppy thing. Since you are a resident and Candidate for City Council Ward #2, I am requesting you to comment on the following questions and observations:
Why did you remove things from at least 2 buildings?
Why did you remove items from at least two properties? (The Bagged items)
Did you have permission to be on all the properties?
Did you have permission to walk your dog on all the properties?
Do you carry a scoop for the Puppy when you walk?
Why don’t you let the puppy do its business on your property?
Why did you set the ‘Bag’ you removed from the properties against the telephone pole at the corner of Main Street and Barbour Street when I confronted you?
Why was your answer “WHAT EVER!” and then stormed off yelling?
Is this the way you’ll behave and communicate to the citizens of Ward #2?
I am looking forward to your answers regarding your behavior and actions observed on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 6:10pm. I am a very concerned citizen of this Ward, and will give you reasonable time to respond before I review my options.
Respectfully Submitted,
David R. Campbell, Ward #2
Property Owner
To the editor,
Former Mayor Nichols has placed an ad in an out of town newspaper saying that Mayor York and John Gieseke didn’t look after the city’s “core”. I beg to differ.
John Gieseke has worked hard to get business and industry into St. Charles that would increase the tax base. This money is what is necessary to provide for the “core”. He has also worked to get our decrepit sewer system replaced. Is this not “core”? Is the upcoming replacement of Elm Street and the work done on Zumbehl Road not “core”?
Mayor Nichols apparently thinks that if you don’t reside between Tecumseh, Kingshighway, Boonslick and the river you don’t deserve to be heard. Maybe that’s why she didn’t win or place. Third place in racing is a “show”. Grace needs to look at a map. St. Charles has grown beyond Lindenwood College (Grace, it’s now even changed to Lindenwood University) . It even goes south of I-70.
She goes on to imply blame to Gieseke for anything that the council did that was not to her liking. John was only one member on the council. He wasn’t even the president. He was, however, one who asked the tough questions. Some of those questions helped transform our Public Works department into arguably one of the best in this state. They are easy to work with and very responsive to the residents.
She also said that Mayor York made some “mistakes”. No, mistakes are when you take a wrong exit off the Interstate. A mistake is when I make a typographical error. A mistake is when you show up for a three o’clock appointment at four o’clock.
When someone intentionally commits a wrong, it is no mistake. I get damned tired of hearing that a politician like Shaun Brown made a “mistake” in judgement or that when Leonard Little decided to drive drunk he made a “mistake”. No, Shaun Brown committed a crime. Leonard Little killed a human being. Both deserve prison time.
Mayor York’s deeds were not “mistakes”. She committed them with full knowledge that they were wrong, but committed them anyway.
Mayor Nichols, the implications in your ad in the out of town paper were wrong, but the ad was no “mistake”. I wonder why she didn’t think about the St. Charles “core” and place her ad in a local paper?
Now for my George Burns imitation:
Say goodnight, Gracie.
Jerry Haferkamp
To the Editor and Citizens of St. Charles;
Well, I might have known, because it happened during the last council election also. Someone runs against Councilman Riddler. They must think that they are better than him, since they are running. I think not.
I received, not once, but twice, through the mail, full postage, an election smear against Councilman Riddler. First of all, let me say that it was a really dumb attempt, because six reasons written on the back of this $1,000,000 bill were so small that most people couldn’t read it, if they tried.
Also, it is a shame that both of Councilman Riddler’s opponents have to be painted with the same brush (this smear), because now we won’t know which one is really that dumb. You see, I don’t live in Councilman Riddler’s ward. I’m glad to know that they spent $.78 trying to get me to not vote for someone that I can’t legally vote for anyhow.
The reason both opponents will appear guilty? The smear had no disclaimer, name or anything that could be used to identify them.
To all of those people who live in Councilman Riddler’s ward please allow me to make a suggestion to all of you.
First: VOTE FOR RIDDLER! Why? Because someone who likes to think that they would be better in this job has already proven their mistrust by smearing;
Second: AND they had no qualms about making the other opponent look as bad as they are by anonymously smearing;
Third: AND, in my opinion, if a person TRULY thinks that they are the best person for this job, they should feel confident of making others believe it without stooping to such disgraceful methods. If you can’t win with truth and honesty, STAY OUT OF IT.
I hope that you all feel as I do, that this person, who wants control over your standard of living, is a poor, pathetic, sad, little person. Much like the Yorks, Kieltys and their ilk. Sad.
Lynn Rush
Dear Tony,
Yesterday, March 26, 2007, we received our first mailer from Mayor York. There she was smiling to beat the band with 12 police officers. The ad went on to say that public safety is the most important service we provide. Once again I remember Mayor York’s favorite cop. Tommy Mayer. I also remember our City Administrator on the ground with a gun to his head. WHAT PROTECTION IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?
Today’s paper, March 27, 2007, headlined YORK DENIES MAKING DEAL TO FIRE CHIEF. All of the council members are aware of her pledge to fire Chief Swope the day after she is reelected. It has made its way around town. Now we have a political news conference at City Hall. Mr. Gieseke is right the City Hall is no place for a political news conference.
Ms. York seems to fabricate her stories to meet her needs. Anything to win, huh?
I do have some burning questions.
SINCE WHEN DOES A STEWARDESS KNOW HOW TO RUN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT? DID SHE GO TO THE POLICE ACADEMY? DID SHE TAKE ACADEMIC CLASSES IN HOW TO RUN A POLICE DEPARTMENT? WHERE DID SHE GET HER PROFICIENCY TO DETERMINE WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT?
Jane Horning
The City DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
Don’t Compromise Safety
Or Pride In Our Schools…
For Short Term Financial Gain
School Board candidates in St. Charles used to have it easy. Their platforms were always the same. They all promised to put the needs of our children first. Many were true to their word and served with distinction. But somewhere along the way it stopped being so easy as tough decisions were handed them. I can appreciate making tough decision, but some shortsighted decisions have also been made that don’t seem very student friendly.
We all know the St. Charles School District made its decision to close two elementary schools. But what is the projected impact? What about the impact of other changes still to come?
The fact that the cuts were too extreme is borne out by the fact that there wasn’t enough room left in the remaining elementary schools to handle Fifth Grade. I spoke with a woman the other day who will now have children in four different schools when they had been in two. Her life will suddenly become a lot more stressed.
Closing the schools will save the District money…perhaps a little too much money. I understand the District has a projected three million dollar surplus at the end of the year. I was told the School District’s normal operating surplus of 8% has nearly doubled in the projections to 15%. The schools aren’t even closed yet and the full impact of teacher layoffs, being spread out through time by attrition, hasn’t been fully realized. Hmmm. Maybe one of those elementary schools should have been kept open after all.
Financially the future looks even rosier. Some of the land that Lindenwood took off the tax rolls along First Capitol, will soon go back on the tax rolls at commercial rates. The Ameristar hotel and new garage will come on line and start paying property taxes, which should be in excess of half-a-million dollars per year to the St. Charles School District. Property tax assessments continue to go up on property in St. Charles. If you hear of someone’s tax assessment going down let me know.
A few years ago, I supported selling a building the City owned on West Clay to the School District at a reduced price. I was willing to take the criticism from some quarters, because it was for the public good. The School District wanted to offer an alternative education for those who had lost the privilege to be in a regular school environment due to violent, disruptive or anti-social behavior.
Removing these students from our schools was the right thing to do.
But now I hear the School District wants to sell the building the City sold them and move those students into D Building on the St. Charles High School campus. So in other words, a bully that terrorized students at the High School could in theory be standing on the same street corner every day as his victims.
I’ve been told some school officials hoped this would “save money” as the students would be closer to labs they could use in the High School. What part of separating these disruptive students from the majority of the well-behaved student population isn’t registering?
Sure the School District can put a few extra dollars in its pocket from the increased value of the property they now want to sell. But the short-term gain doesn’t come close to the increased liability and risk of putting those with known problems in close proximity to the general school population.
I also know that when a governmental entity knows about a problem and fails to take precautions to address the situation, their liability is greater. If a student kicked out of school for doing drugs, is put back in close proximity to other students and gives another child what turns out to be a fatal drug, how much do you think a jury will award the victim’s parents?
There is nothing wrong with trying to cut waste, but providing a separate facility for students with severe behavioral problems is not waste. Nor is providing neighborhood schools convenient to parents and students instead of busing more young kids across town.
Trying to squeeze every nickel out of the School District has gone too far. My wife and I joined other parents to watch the first game of the Ladies JV Soccer Team at SCHS. Not knowing what to expect I didn’t at first notice that the scoreboard wasn’t on for the game, there was no announcer and the lights weren’t turned on when dusk came.
Then we went on our first away game to Francis Howell High School. The scoreboard was lighted and being used. There was an announcer in the booth who, at the end of the game, thanked St. Charles High for coming. The lights came on at 5:30 and they even played music to entertain the crowd between the JV and Varsity games.
We gladly paid the same $4 per person to get into each game.
Having graduated from St. Charles High School, I’m pretty darn proud of my alma mater. Our District has enough money to hire the help and pay the electric bills to not make visitors think the School District is going out of business. Have some pride…Pirate Pride!
Or Pride In Our Schools…
For Short Term Financial Gain
School Board candidates in St. Charles used to have it easy. Their platforms were always the same. They all promised to put the needs of our children first. Many were true to their word and served with distinction. But somewhere along the way it stopped being so easy as tough decisions were handed them. I can appreciate making tough decision, but some shortsighted decisions have also been made that don’t seem very student friendly.
We all know the St. Charles School District made its decision to close two elementary schools. But what is the projected impact? What about the impact of other changes still to come?
The fact that the cuts were too extreme is borne out by the fact that there wasn’t enough room left in the remaining elementary schools to handle Fifth Grade. I spoke with a woman the other day who will now have children in four different schools when they had been in two. Her life will suddenly become a lot more stressed.
Closing the schools will save the District money…perhaps a little too much money. I understand the District has a projected three million dollar surplus at the end of the year. I was told the School District’s normal operating surplus of 8% has nearly doubled in the projections to 15%. The schools aren’t even closed yet and the full impact of teacher layoffs, being spread out through time by attrition, hasn’t been fully realized. Hmmm. Maybe one of those elementary schools should have been kept open after all.
Financially the future looks even rosier. Some of the land that Lindenwood took off the tax rolls along First Capitol, will soon go back on the tax rolls at commercial rates. The Ameristar hotel and new garage will come on line and start paying property taxes, which should be in excess of half-a-million dollars per year to the St. Charles School District. Property tax assessments continue to go up on property in St. Charles. If you hear of someone’s tax assessment going down let me know.
A few years ago, I supported selling a building the City owned on West Clay to the School District at a reduced price. I was willing to take the criticism from some quarters, because it was for the public good. The School District wanted to offer an alternative education for those who had lost the privilege to be in a regular school environment due to violent, disruptive or anti-social behavior.
Removing these students from our schools was the right thing to do.
But now I hear the School District wants to sell the building the City sold them and move those students into D Building on the St. Charles High School campus. So in other words, a bully that terrorized students at the High School could in theory be standing on the same street corner every day as his victims.
I’ve been told some school officials hoped this would “save money” as the students would be closer to labs they could use in the High School. What part of separating these disruptive students from the majority of the well-behaved student population isn’t registering?
Sure the School District can put a few extra dollars in its pocket from the increased value of the property they now want to sell. But the short-term gain doesn’t come close to the increased liability and risk of putting those with known problems in close proximity to the general school population.
I also know that when a governmental entity knows about a problem and fails to take precautions to address the situation, their liability is greater. If a student kicked out of school for doing drugs, is put back in close proximity to other students and gives another child what turns out to be a fatal drug, how much do you think a jury will award the victim’s parents?
There is nothing wrong with trying to cut waste, but providing a separate facility for students with severe behavioral problems is not waste. Nor is providing neighborhood schools convenient to parents and students instead of busing more young kids across town.
Trying to squeeze every nickel out of the School District has gone too far. My wife and I joined other parents to watch the first game of the Ladies JV Soccer Team at SCHS. Not knowing what to expect I didn’t at first notice that the scoreboard wasn’t on for the game, there was no announcer and the lights weren’t turned on when dusk came.
Then we went on our first away game to Francis Howell High School. The scoreboard was lighted and being used. There was an announcer in the booth who, at the end of the game, thanked St. Charles High for coming. The lights came on at 5:30 and they even played music to entertain the crowd between the JV and Varsity games.
We gladly paid the same $4 per person to get into each game.
Having graduated from St. Charles High School, I’m pretty darn proud of my alma mater. Our District has enough money to hire the help and pay the electric bills to not make visitors think the School District is going out of business. Have some pride…Pirate Pride!
Case In Point By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
“ Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”
Mahatma Gandhi
It’s that time of week again to sit down and put a few thoughts onto paper for the local paper. I appreciate hearing from everyone who calls or writes to share his or her thoughts. Usually, I do not know what I’m going to write about until I sit down and begin. The subjects I write about are sometimes about national, state, or local politics, sometimes just about our town, and sometimes just
observances made that week.
This week I will just put down a poem and see if any reader knows the author. As Click and Clack on Car Talk always say, “Send your answer on a $20 bill to…” Actually, just email: FirstCapitolNews@aol.com with “Poem Contest” in the subject line.
The Sounds Unheard by Man
“I have heard the moon’s beams
Sweeping the waters, making a sound
Like threads of silver, wept upon.
I have heard the scratch of the
Pulsing stars, and the purring sound
Of the slow moon as she rolled across
The Night, I have heard the shadows
Slapping the waters, and the licking
Sound of the wave’s edge as it sinks
Into the sand upon the shore.
I have heard the sunlight as it pierced
The gloom with a golden bar, which
Whirred in a voice of myriad colors.
I have heard the sound which lay
Between the arms which danced in the
Golden Bar. I have heard the sound
Of the leaves reclining upon their
Cushions of air, and the swish of the willow
Tassels as the wind whistled upon them.
And the sharp sound which the crawling
Mites proclaim upon the grasses’ blades,
And the multitude of sounds which lie
At the root of things. Oh, I have heard
The song of resurrection which each seed
Makes as it spurs. I have heard the sound
Of the night’s first shadow, when it
Intermingles with the day, and the
Rushing sound of Morning’s wings as she
Flies over the Eastern gateway.
All of these I heard, yet man
Hath not an ear for them, Behold,
The miracle He hath writ within me;
Letting the chord of imagination strum!”
Okay, I have to admit this Case in Point is sort of the lazy man’s way out, but hey, I’m busy and it is a pretty good poem anyhow.
In the next edition the author will be revealed along with those who submit the correct answer to the FCN.
JOE KOESTER’s
Response to Negative Campaign Material sent out the last week before the election:
When I ran for state rep. this past year, I was frustrated with a mailer that was sent out against me just before the election that called me a liar. The mailer offered nothing to back up their statement, it was just name-calling that is, sadly, typical of the election process. When you decide to run for council you are offered an opportunity to sign a pledge that says you will run a clean campaign. Everyone currently running signed this pledge.
Of course, “clean” is a very subjective term. Let me show you what I mean. A mailer you received on Wednesday or Thursday stated that I “supported a proposal to disqualify seniors from utility tax breaks.” Welcome to semantics class 101. What the mailer wants you to read is that all seniors would be disqualified. What the writers of the mailer knowingly misrepresents is that a limited amount of money was made available for utility tax rebates so I proposed allocating the limited dollars to the most needy seniors based upon income. The $200 cap I wanted also made certain that the tax dollars were going to the most seniors possible. True, if you are 65 and have a 6,000 square foot house and your utility taxes run you $100 per month – you would be disqualified from receiving more than $200 in tax refunds. The fact of the matter is, almost no senior received more than $200 in tax refunds in a one-year period anyway. Another fact of the matter is that the current council put greater tax breaks for senior into place regardless how you see it – with or without limitations in place! The rest of the tax issues brought up on this mailer is just bizarre and talks about my stance on federal and state tax cuts? I would encourage you to go to: Firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com and read Case in Point from August 28, 2006.
Wait, the spin continues. I voted against the city budget that cut $6 million in wasteful spending. Do you think I voted against the budget because it cut $6 million in wasteful spending or perhaps because there were parts that were more wasteful or contained allocations for pork projects that I didn’t think we needed?
Next, it continues – I traveled to Las Vegas and Germany at the taxpayers’ expense. When I flew to Vegas for several days to attend a retailers’ convention where we could meet business reps from all over the country and hopefully entice some of those businesses to open up shop in town, I certainly did use my expense account money to attend this meeting. You see, if I had gone to Vegas to gamble (which I don’t) then it would have been a misuse of tax money. In fact, I kept appointments with different retail representatives, explored retailers that would fit well into our town and worked. Currently, I am working with a major developer on a project in our ward and the contact was a result of this trip. I did fly over once to Germany for the ten-year celebration of our sister city, Ludwigsburg along with the mayor and about half of council, the city clerk and the fire chief. I lived for years in Germany and in no way was 6 days in Germany and going from official ceremony to official ceremony the way I would spend my vacation. I turned down previous offers to go to Germany on the city’s dime because I thought the anniversary was the appropriate time for us to send a delegation.
Here’s one of the last spin pieces, “on public safety.” It was stated that I “failed to show for a key vote to crack down on sex offenders.” This ordinance passed, my failure to show up to this meeting had nothing to do with this ordinance. As each and every councilperson can tell you, sometimes you cannot make a meeting because of illness, family matters, etc. Not one councilperson has a perfect attendance record. I guess the spin from my opponent surprises me. I certainly felt that each of us would talk about our plans for ward 9 and not attempt to manipulate voting records that do not tell the whole story or worse still, purposefully misrepresent our voting records. You will hear it said that if it is too good to be true, it probably is. If you receive half-truths and outrages claims such as, “I oppose $186 million in state breaks” please take the time to email me so as Paul Harvey puts it, you can get “the rest of the story.”
STCWard9@hotmail.com
Thank You!
Joe Koester
Councilman – Ward 9
Paid for by Committee to Elect Joe Koester
Mahatma Gandhi
It’s that time of week again to sit down and put a few thoughts onto paper for the local paper. I appreciate hearing from everyone who calls or writes to share his or her thoughts. Usually, I do not know what I’m going to write about until I sit down and begin. The subjects I write about are sometimes about national, state, or local politics, sometimes just about our town, and sometimes just
observances made that week.
This week I will just put down a poem and see if any reader knows the author. As Click and Clack on Car Talk always say, “Send your answer on a $20 bill to…” Actually, just email: FirstCapitolNews@aol.com with “Poem Contest” in the subject line.
The Sounds Unheard by Man
“I have heard the moon’s beams
Sweeping the waters, making a sound
Like threads of silver, wept upon.
I have heard the scratch of the
Pulsing stars, and the purring sound
Of the slow moon as she rolled across
The Night, I have heard the shadows
Slapping the waters, and the licking
Sound of the wave’s edge as it sinks
Into the sand upon the shore.
I have heard the sunlight as it pierced
The gloom with a golden bar, which
Whirred in a voice of myriad colors.
I have heard the sound which lay
Between the arms which danced in the
Golden Bar. I have heard the sound
Of the leaves reclining upon their
Cushions of air, and the swish of the willow
Tassels as the wind whistled upon them.
And the sharp sound which the crawling
Mites proclaim upon the grasses’ blades,
And the multitude of sounds which lie
At the root of things. Oh, I have heard
The song of resurrection which each seed
Makes as it spurs. I have heard the sound
Of the night’s first shadow, when it
Intermingles with the day, and the
Rushing sound of Morning’s wings as she
Flies over the Eastern gateway.
All of these I heard, yet man
Hath not an ear for them, Behold,
The miracle He hath writ within me;
Letting the chord of imagination strum!”
Okay, I have to admit this Case in Point is sort of the lazy man’s way out, but hey, I’m busy and it is a pretty good poem anyhow.
In the next edition the author will be revealed along with those who submit the correct answer to the FCN.
JOE KOESTER’s
Response to Negative Campaign Material sent out the last week before the election:
When I ran for state rep. this past year, I was frustrated with a mailer that was sent out against me just before the election that called me a liar. The mailer offered nothing to back up their statement, it was just name-calling that is, sadly, typical of the election process. When you decide to run for council you are offered an opportunity to sign a pledge that says you will run a clean campaign. Everyone currently running signed this pledge.
Of course, “clean” is a very subjective term. Let me show you what I mean. A mailer you received on Wednesday or Thursday stated that I “supported a proposal to disqualify seniors from utility tax breaks.” Welcome to semantics class 101. What the mailer wants you to read is that all seniors would be disqualified. What the writers of the mailer knowingly misrepresents is that a limited amount of money was made available for utility tax rebates so I proposed allocating the limited dollars to the most needy seniors based upon income. The $200 cap I wanted also made certain that the tax dollars were going to the most seniors possible. True, if you are 65 and have a 6,000 square foot house and your utility taxes run you $100 per month – you would be disqualified from receiving more than $200 in tax refunds. The fact of the matter is, almost no senior received more than $200 in tax refunds in a one-year period anyway. Another fact of the matter is that the current council put greater tax breaks for senior into place regardless how you see it – with or without limitations in place! The rest of the tax issues brought up on this mailer is just bizarre and talks about my stance on federal and state tax cuts? I would encourage you to go to: Firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com and read Case in Point from August 28, 2006.
Wait, the spin continues. I voted against the city budget that cut $6 million in wasteful spending. Do you think I voted against the budget because it cut $6 million in wasteful spending or perhaps because there were parts that were more wasteful or contained allocations for pork projects that I didn’t think we needed?
Next, it continues – I traveled to Las Vegas and Germany at the taxpayers’ expense. When I flew to Vegas for several days to attend a retailers’ convention where we could meet business reps from all over the country and hopefully entice some of those businesses to open up shop in town, I certainly did use my expense account money to attend this meeting. You see, if I had gone to Vegas to gamble (which I don’t) then it would have been a misuse of tax money. In fact, I kept appointments with different retail representatives, explored retailers that would fit well into our town and worked. Currently, I am working with a major developer on a project in our ward and the contact was a result of this trip. I did fly over once to Germany for the ten-year celebration of our sister city, Ludwigsburg along with the mayor and about half of council, the city clerk and the fire chief. I lived for years in Germany and in no way was 6 days in Germany and going from official ceremony to official ceremony the way I would spend my vacation. I turned down previous offers to go to Germany on the city’s dime because I thought the anniversary was the appropriate time for us to send a delegation.
Here’s one of the last spin pieces, “on public safety.” It was stated that I “failed to show for a key vote to crack down on sex offenders.” This ordinance passed, my failure to show up to this meeting had nothing to do with this ordinance. As each and every councilperson can tell you, sometimes you cannot make a meeting because of illness, family matters, etc. Not one councilperson has a perfect attendance record. I guess the spin from my opponent surprises me. I certainly felt that each of us would talk about our plans for ward 9 and not attempt to manipulate voting records that do not tell the whole story or worse still, purposefully misrepresent our voting records. You will hear it said that if it is too good to be true, it probably is. If you receive half-truths and outrages claims such as, “I oppose $186 million in state breaks” please take the time to email me so as Paul Harvey puts it, you can get “the rest of the story.”
STCWard9@hotmail.com
Thank You!
Joe Koester
Councilman – Ward 9
Paid for by Committee to Elect Joe Koester
Unsigned Campaign Mailer Violates Missouri Law
Unsigned Campaign Mailer Violates Missouri Law
A facsimile of United States currency was recently mailed out in the First Ward in a plain white envelope with no return address. The flyer is a negative campaign piece that attacks incumbent Councilman Rory Riddler. The flyer does not have a campaign disclaimer telling who paid for its production and distribution. That is a violation of State Law and has prompted a formal complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Every candidate running for office in the City of St. Charles voluntarily signed a Clean Campaign Pledge. Copies are on file with the City Clerk. The campaign flyer, however, contains nothing but distortions and personal attacks.
“You can readily tell the content is false because they waited till just a few days before the campaign to launch this negative attack,” explained Councilman Riddler, adding, “It appears to be the same big money special interests that tried to take over City Hall through forgery and lies last year, back at it again.”
Rory went on to say, “I kept my Clean Campaign Pledge. Every piece of literature I have sent out has been about my record and vision for the future. I believe that how you conduct yourself during a campaign is a test of character. Those responsible did not have the courage to sign their names to this literature, which I feel clearly demonstrates that the content is false and without merit.”
A facsimile of United States currency was recently mailed out in the First Ward in a plain white envelope with no return address. The flyer is a negative campaign piece that attacks incumbent Councilman Rory Riddler. The flyer does not have a campaign disclaimer telling who paid for its production and distribution. That is a violation of State Law and has prompted a formal complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Every candidate running for office in the City of St. Charles voluntarily signed a Clean Campaign Pledge. Copies are on file with the City Clerk. The campaign flyer, however, contains nothing but distortions and personal attacks.
“You can readily tell the content is false because they waited till just a few days before the campaign to launch this negative attack,” explained Councilman Riddler, adding, “It appears to be the same big money special interests that tried to take over City Hall through forgery and lies last year, back at it again.”
Rory went on to say, “I kept my Clean Campaign Pledge. Every piece of literature I have sent out has been about my record and vision for the future. I believe that how you conduct yourself during a campaign is a test of character. Those responsible did not have the courage to sign their names to this literature, which I feel clearly demonstrates that the content is false and without merit.”
Has The Identity of the Phoneix Been Unmasked
Has Identity of The Phoneix Been Unmasked?
Last year, before filing for the Council even opened, another anonymous letter was sent to voters in the first Ward attacking Councilman Riddler. It was sent in an identical white envelope with a first class stamp and no return address. The writer of the letter at the time, said he would use the name “Phoenix” to disguise his true identity, but that he was going to run against Councilman Riddler and reveal his true identity later.
The letter said the writer was also responsible for conducting an electronic phone survey as the first step in organizing a recall similar to the one being conducted against Councilwoman Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Those recall efforts we know were partly funded through a committee set up by Ken Kielty through a Jefferson City Bank. And, in fact, such electronic phone calls were made into Councilman Riddler’s ward asking if voters would support a recall at the same time such calls were being made about Councilmen Brown and Councilwoman Greer.
After making the phone surveys, the group behind the calls decided not to try to recall Councilman Riddler and focused their attention on Greer and Brown. The group circulating the recall petitions against Greer was later connected to charges of forgery, following an investigation by St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas.
Kielty has also been mentioned as working with Buddy Hardin as campaign consultants for Richard Veit, who is challenging Councilman Riddler. Neither live in the First Ward. Kielty is running for the City Council himself in Ward Eight against former Councilman Mike Klinghammer and Buddy Hardin, who operates a State License Bureau as Kielty once did, is running for the Orchard Farm School Board.
Local political pundits are now speculating if the “Phoenix” and Richard Veit are one in the same or if Ken Kielty or Buddy Hardin had a hand in producing or distributing these illegal mailers on Veit’s behalf.
Last year, before filing for the Council even opened, another anonymous letter was sent to voters in the first Ward attacking Councilman Riddler. It was sent in an identical white envelope with a first class stamp and no return address. The writer of the letter at the time, said he would use the name “Phoenix” to disguise his true identity, but that he was going to run against Councilman Riddler and reveal his true identity later.
The letter said the writer was also responsible for conducting an electronic phone survey as the first step in organizing a recall similar to the one being conducted against Councilwoman Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Those recall efforts we know were partly funded through a committee set up by Ken Kielty through a Jefferson City Bank. And, in fact, such electronic phone calls were made into Councilman Riddler’s ward asking if voters would support a recall at the same time such calls were being made about Councilmen Brown and Councilwoman Greer.
After making the phone surveys, the group behind the calls decided not to try to recall Councilman Riddler and focused their attention on Greer and Brown. The group circulating the recall petitions against Greer was later connected to charges of forgery, following an investigation by St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas.
Kielty has also been mentioned as working with Buddy Hardin as campaign consultants for Richard Veit, who is challenging Councilman Riddler. Neither live in the First Ward. Kielty is running for the City Council himself in Ward Eight against former Councilman Mike Klinghammer and Buddy Hardin, who operates a State License Bureau as Kielty once did, is running for the Orchard Farm School Board.
Local political pundits are now speculating if the “Phoenix” and Richard Veit are one in the same or if Ken Kielty or Buddy Hardin had a hand in producing or distributing these illegal mailers on Veit’s behalf.
The View From The Cheap Seats BY Jerry Haferkamp
The View From The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
By now everyone who will vote in the upcoming city election has made his or her choices. Nothing in this column or in this edition of the First Capitol News will change that. Today I want to address the election of which few take notice. I refer to the two vacancies on the St. Charles School Board.
There are two openings and there will be three names on the ballot. One of these candidates has dropped out of the race. His name is Bernie Weinrich. He dropped out due to health concerns. This will create a situation that could be a problem.
Mr. Weinrich has removed himself from the race, but too late to have his name removed from the ballot. The problem will rear its ugly head if voters unknowingly vote for him anyway. If he is elected, he won’t serve. This creates a situation where someone will be appointed to fill the seat. There is little doubt that this appointee will be someone that agrees with the President of the Board. We already have one member whose seat on the Board that was filled by appointment, and she is an embarrassment.
The president of the Board, along with three others has shown that they and he are not responsive to the residents. We cannot afford to have another of that mind set join the board. There is still hope that one of these four will come to their senses, but there has been no indication of that.
Since Mr. Weinrich opposed the action that has caused the current distrust of this Board, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want these four to have another of their ilk join them. The only way to avoid this is to not vote for Mr. Weinrich. Bernie Weinrich is not running, even though his name is on the ballot.
Vote! Your voice needs to be heard. In our city government we have the chance to bring the mayor’s office back to something people can respect instead of a feeding trough for whoever pays for the privilege.
You have the chance to turn away council hopefuls that would threaten physical harm to anyone that holds an opinion different from theirs.
You can say “no” to a candidate that believes that we all should spend our tax dollars subsidizing her bed and breakfast and has earned the nickname given to her by several South Main businessmen. Say “No” to Vendetta.
Don’t waste your vote in the School Board election. Although he would be one of my choices, do not vote for Bernie Weinrich. He will thank you.
That’s the view from the cheap seats.
By Jerry Haferkamp
By now everyone who will vote in the upcoming city election has made his or her choices. Nothing in this column or in this edition of the First Capitol News will change that. Today I want to address the election of which few take notice. I refer to the two vacancies on the St. Charles School Board.
There are two openings and there will be three names on the ballot. One of these candidates has dropped out of the race. His name is Bernie Weinrich. He dropped out due to health concerns. This will create a situation that could be a problem.
Mr. Weinrich has removed himself from the race, but too late to have his name removed from the ballot. The problem will rear its ugly head if voters unknowingly vote for him anyway. If he is elected, he won’t serve. This creates a situation where someone will be appointed to fill the seat. There is little doubt that this appointee will be someone that agrees with the President of the Board. We already have one member whose seat on the Board that was filled by appointment, and she is an embarrassment.
The president of the Board, along with three others has shown that they and he are not responsive to the residents. We cannot afford to have another of that mind set join the board. There is still hope that one of these four will come to their senses, but there has been no indication of that.
Since Mr. Weinrich opposed the action that has caused the current distrust of this Board, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want these four to have another of their ilk join them. The only way to avoid this is to not vote for Mr. Weinrich. Bernie Weinrich is not running, even though his name is on the ballot.
Vote! Your voice needs to be heard. In our city government we have the chance to bring the mayor’s office back to something people can respect instead of a feeding trough for whoever pays for the privilege.
You have the chance to turn away council hopefuls that would threaten physical harm to anyone that holds an opinion different from theirs.
You can say “no” to a candidate that believes that we all should spend our tax dollars subsidizing her bed and breakfast and has earned the nickname given to her by several South Main businessmen. Say “No” to Vendetta.
Don’t waste your vote in the School Board election. Although he would be one of my choices, do not vote for Bernie Weinrich. He will thank you.
That’s the view from the cheap seats.
First Capitol News Sports - Mike McMurran Sports Editor
Some of you seemed to think I was joking last week when I said my hobby was coaching youth sports. Ain’t no joke. I guess I could have added to the list “attending sporting events,” as I do a lot of that with my kids, too. I would hate for anyone to think that I was some kind of a mean spirited dad, but once Joe came home from school and asked if he could join the Cub Scouts. “Sure,” I said, “but I am not going to go on any camping trips, that’s where I draw the line. I’ll coach your baseball team, help with your football team, but I’m not a Cub Scout kind of guy. I think Dee and I had pretty much the same conversation. Both basically said, “Well Dad, if you’re not going to be a Cub Scout Dad, I’m not going to be a Cub Scout.”
Now before you go off on the deep end and tell me how All-American the Cub Scouts are, I’ll ask you the question: Did you serve in the military? Cause I did, and I got all the camping out I wanted in my short two and one-half years of active duty – and I was in the Navy! Never traveled on a ship, took tours upon them though – carriers, submarines, destroyers and such. No, I was in an outfit called the Seabees – our saying was: “We build, we fight.” We were mostly a construction outfit; that’s where we got our name, construction battalion, CB, Seabees, get it? We went out into “the field” once a year for a period of a week or so for heavy weapons training. My specialty? Mortar firing; scary, huh? Remember, that was heavy weapons. I was also an expert with an M-16 rifle and a sharpshooter with a .45 caliber pistol. Come to think of it, I don’t own any guns either.
No, I’m a sports centered guy. Sports is the one arena in life I have found where everything is pretty much equal; at least once you get to a certain level, that is. I cannot imagine a college coach playing someone with sub par talent. Unless of course he might be sitting someone out for disciplinary reasons. No, in the field of athletic competition advancement is usually based upon merit, not who you know. Let’s face it, in pretty much every other arena in life it’s who you know – not really what you can do.
So I’m a sports guy, and for those of you who wanted to know how Maggie’s basketball team did in their final game of the season last week, well, they won – rather handily at that. We finished with a 7-3 record, improving on last year’s 2-8 season. More importantly, it took all ten games, but finally, all ten members of the team scored. We had the game wrapped up by half time, and the girls were instructed only one of them could shoot from that point on, the only girl who had not scored yet this season. It took her three shots or so, but she finally got her field goal – her first points ever, for that matter. That’s why I’m in youth sports.
For the past four weeks or so it has been Maggie’s basketball team AND Joe’s baseball team. You see Joe’s baseball season begins in less than two weeks, so for the past four weeks, every Sunday, the boys have been going to the batting cages from 1-2. Over kill? Nope, just good old fashion hard work. Batting, more than most endeavors in life, is improved upon with repetition; repetition and instruction. Every Sunday the boys take 15-20 swings, take a 5-minute break or so, then back into the cage for another 15-20 swings. In the course of an hour they get well over 100 quality swings. Believe me, this hard work and dedication will pay off later in the season.
Beginning this week we will take the show outside; as many of you are picking up this week’s edition of the First Capitol News, the Titans will start their annual outdoor practices, every Friday from 3:30 – 5:30. God forbid it should rain, if it does we simply move inside to the batting cages. This year we have a few new players and will have to adjust our positioning, but like I said a paragraph or two ago, everything will be determined on merit; merit, hard work and attitude. Which reminds me of one of my all time favorite motivational sayings: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” This applies to pretty much every aspect of life. If you believe it, and I really do, imagine what can be done when talent works hard? That is what the Titans are all about.
While I’m at it, take the family to Family Arena this Saturday night and watch the new and improved RiverCity Rage. I don’t think you are going to see the blowouts like you did the past two seasons, but remember, the Rage has upgraded to the United Indoor Football league. I’ve never heard anyone in the Rage organization say this, but I really do get the feeling their goal is to make it to the big-time indoor football circuit. Joining the UIF
ttt
puts them one step closer.
See y’ next edition.
Rage win season opener
Move to Family Arena pays off before first home contest
By: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
The RiverCity Rage traveled to Evansville, Indiana for their first United Indoor Football contest in team history. The Rage moved from the National Indoor Football League at the conclusion of last season. Not only did they change leagues, they changed homes as they now play, and practice at Family Arena in St. Charles.
Playing on the Evansville Bluecat’s smaller field didn’t seem to bother the Rage as they took a 23-21 cushion into the fourth quarter. After trading a couple of scores with the Bluecat's, the Rage seemed to have the game wrapped up when Muhammad Abdulqaadir scrambled 13 yards into the end zone give the visitors a 37-30 lead with 13 ticks of the clock remaining. The Bluecat's returned the kickoff to midfield, where Bluecat quarterback Richard Johnson tossed a pass to Tommy Manus on the first play from scrimmage, knotting the contest at 37 with seconds remaining.
River City downed the following kickoff leaving 1.7 seconds on the game clock, and a chance for Derek Kutz to win it. Kutz drilled a 42 yard field goal with no time left on the clock to seal a 40-37 victory in River City’s first ever game as a member of the United Football League, and sending the team into a celebratory frenzy on the field in Roberts Stadium in Evansville.
Last season the Rage practice facility was too small to allow field goal and extra point practice – such is not the case at their new Family Arena home. In their first game, in a new league, with a new home, before they even had a chance to play at their new home, the move to Family Arena is already paying benefits.
Next game for the Rage is the home opener against the Lexington Horsemen, Saturday March 31 at 7:00 PM. Tickets are still on sale. For more information call the River City Rage at 636-896-4285 or visit ragefootball.com
Now before you go off on the deep end and tell me how All-American the Cub Scouts are, I’ll ask you the question: Did you serve in the military? Cause I did, and I got all the camping out I wanted in my short two and one-half years of active duty – and I was in the Navy! Never traveled on a ship, took tours upon them though – carriers, submarines, destroyers and such. No, I was in an outfit called the Seabees – our saying was: “We build, we fight.” We were mostly a construction outfit; that’s where we got our name, construction battalion, CB, Seabees, get it? We went out into “the field” once a year for a period of a week or so for heavy weapons training. My specialty? Mortar firing; scary, huh? Remember, that was heavy weapons. I was also an expert with an M-16 rifle and a sharpshooter with a .45 caliber pistol. Come to think of it, I don’t own any guns either.
No, I’m a sports centered guy. Sports is the one arena in life I have found where everything is pretty much equal; at least once you get to a certain level, that is. I cannot imagine a college coach playing someone with sub par talent. Unless of course he might be sitting someone out for disciplinary reasons. No, in the field of athletic competition advancement is usually based upon merit, not who you know. Let’s face it, in pretty much every other arena in life it’s who you know – not really what you can do.
So I’m a sports guy, and for those of you who wanted to know how Maggie’s basketball team did in their final game of the season last week, well, they won – rather handily at that. We finished with a 7-3 record, improving on last year’s 2-8 season. More importantly, it took all ten games, but finally, all ten members of the team scored. We had the game wrapped up by half time, and the girls were instructed only one of them could shoot from that point on, the only girl who had not scored yet this season. It took her three shots or so, but she finally got her field goal – her first points ever, for that matter. That’s why I’m in youth sports.
For the past four weeks or so it has been Maggie’s basketball team AND Joe’s baseball team. You see Joe’s baseball season begins in less than two weeks, so for the past four weeks, every Sunday, the boys have been going to the batting cages from 1-2. Over kill? Nope, just good old fashion hard work. Batting, more than most endeavors in life, is improved upon with repetition; repetition and instruction. Every Sunday the boys take 15-20 swings, take a 5-minute break or so, then back into the cage for another 15-20 swings. In the course of an hour they get well over 100 quality swings. Believe me, this hard work and dedication will pay off later in the season.
Beginning this week we will take the show outside; as many of you are picking up this week’s edition of the First Capitol News, the Titans will start their annual outdoor practices, every Friday from 3:30 – 5:30. God forbid it should rain, if it does we simply move inside to the batting cages. This year we have a few new players and will have to adjust our positioning, but like I said a paragraph or two ago, everything will be determined on merit; merit, hard work and attitude. Which reminds me of one of my all time favorite motivational sayings: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” This applies to pretty much every aspect of life. If you believe it, and I really do, imagine what can be done when talent works hard? That is what the Titans are all about.
While I’m at it, take the family to Family Arena this Saturday night and watch the new and improved RiverCity Rage. I don’t think you are going to see the blowouts like you did the past two seasons, but remember, the Rage has upgraded to the United Indoor Football league. I’ve never heard anyone in the Rage organization say this, but I really do get the feeling their goal is to make it to the big-time indoor football circuit. Joining the UIF
ttt
puts them one step closer.
See y’ next edition.
Rage win season opener
Move to Family Arena pays off before first home contest
By: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
The RiverCity Rage traveled to Evansville, Indiana for their first United Indoor Football contest in team history. The Rage moved from the National Indoor Football League at the conclusion of last season. Not only did they change leagues, they changed homes as they now play, and practice at Family Arena in St. Charles.
Playing on the Evansville Bluecat’s smaller field didn’t seem to bother the Rage as they took a 23-21 cushion into the fourth quarter. After trading a couple of scores with the Bluecat's, the Rage seemed to have the game wrapped up when Muhammad Abdulqaadir scrambled 13 yards into the end zone give the visitors a 37-30 lead with 13 ticks of the clock remaining. The Bluecat's returned the kickoff to midfield, where Bluecat quarterback Richard Johnson tossed a pass to Tommy Manus on the first play from scrimmage, knotting the contest at 37 with seconds remaining.
River City downed the following kickoff leaving 1.7 seconds on the game clock, and a chance for Derek Kutz to win it. Kutz drilled a 42 yard field goal with no time left on the clock to seal a 40-37 victory in River City’s first ever game as a member of the United Football League, and sending the team into a celebratory frenzy on the field in Roberts Stadium in Evansville.
Last season the Rage practice facility was too small to allow field goal and extra point practice – such is not the case at their new Family Arena home. In their first game, in a new league, with a new home, before they even had a chance to play at their new home, the move to Family Arena is already paying benefits.
Next game for the Rage is the home opener against the Lexington Horsemen, Saturday March 31 at 7:00 PM. Tickets are still on sale. For more information call the River City Rage at 636-896-4285 or visit ragefootball.com
Saturday, March 24, 2007
YORK PLEDGES TO FIRE POLICE CHIEF TIM SWOPE
York Promised To Fire Chief Swope, Major Boerding, Captain Pollard & Chief’s Secretary If She Is Re-elected
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has learned that at a recent meeting of the board of directors of the St. Charles Police Officers Association, Mayor York promised the association she would fire Police Chief Tim Swope if she is re-elected to a third term. York will face Councilman John Gieseke in the general election on Tuesday, April 3.
Swope, the former elected St. Charles County Sheriff, took over as St. Charles Police Chief on March 14, 2005. He was appointed after the position had been open for over a year because the Mayor, City Administrator and City Council could not agree on a chief. Although the appointment was to be made by the City Administrator, York had made several attempts to have people appointed as chief who had close ties to the Fraternal Order of Police. When those efforts failed, she then wanted her son’s commander (her son is a St. Louis police officer) appointed. She tried to appoint a former chief of Peoria, Illinois who had come under heavy fire because of his actions in that city. York also refused to accept any appointees made by the City Administrator including that of Major Robert G. Lowery, Jr. who was the head of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad.
York has close ties to Tommy Mayer, the former president of the FOP. Mayer, a former St. Charles Police Sergeant, was fired by Swope shortly after Mayer ordered the St. Charles City Administrator from his car, at gun point, on the parking lot of police headquarters.
Mayer filed a $100 million law suit against the City for remarks Councilman Hoepfner had made; and because the City had taken away his drive-home police vehicle which he took home to St. Louis County. He was also upset because the new city council had refused to allow him to perform FOP duties while he was on duty as a St. Charles Police Officer. After Mayer was fired and still had the lawsuit pending, York wrote a letter to St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa lavishing praise on Mayer and telling Mokwa she felt Tommy Mayer would be successful in his lawsuit against the City of St. Charles. The lawsuit was later settled for a little over $50,000.
It is believed that, if re-elected, Mayor York intends to bring Tommy Mayer back to the St. Charles Police Department after she fires Chief Swope.
The First Capitol News contacted Chief Swope regarding the pledge to fire him that York had made to the police association. Chief Swope confirmed that he had heard the Mayor had made the statement that she would fire Swope, Major Bob Boerding the assistant Chief, Captain Gary Pollard and the Chief’s secretary. Swope said he was disappointed and refused to comment further because of this being a personnel matter. Swope is under contract with the City and if fired the city would have to buy out his contract. It is unknown if the others the association wants fired are under contract.
Sources at police headquarters have told the First Capitol News that Chief Swope is extremely frustrated that the Mayor would attempt to undermine his authority to manage the police department and that she would make those promises to the police association. They also told us that by the Mayor making that promise, it has made it extremely difficult for Swope to keep control of the police department putting the safety of the residents in jeopardy.
Tim Swope has three children. Swope is a 1984 graduate of St. Charles High School and attended college at Central Missouri State University – Warrensburg on a baseball scholarship. He played peewee football at J.F.L. and the Boy’s Club. In 1982-83 he was a member of the St. Charles High School Pirates who won the State Championship in football. He also played baseball and coached for American Legion Post 312 in St. Charles. Swope’s education includes thousands of hours of training with the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration; Cook County Sheriff’s Department; Chicago Police Department; Atlanta, Georgia Metro PD; Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; Indianapolis PD; Arkansas State Police; Illinois State Police; Los Angeles PD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He also attended Lindenwood University. Chief Swope has numerous commendations for exemplary performance in the line of duty, including the Sheriff’s “Award of Excellence”. The Sheriff promoted him in February 1997, to Sergeant over the highly successful Drug Unit, having served as an undercover investigator. He was appointed Team Leader for the St. Charles County SWAT Team and in August of 2000 was appointed acting Lieutenant within the patrol division. He was deputized by the U.S. Department of Treasury and served on a Federal Task Force, which investigated organized crime in the metropolitan area. Sheriff Swope received a meritorious service award for his work on the task force.
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has learned that at a recent meeting of the board of directors of the St. Charles Police Officers Association, Mayor York promised the association she would fire Police Chief Tim Swope if she is re-elected to a third term. York will face Councilman John Gieseke in the general election on Tuesday, April 3.
Swope, the former elected St. Charles County Sheriff, took over as St. Charles Police Chief on March 14, 2005. He was appointed after the position had been open for over a year because the Mayor, City Administrator and City Council could not agree on a chief. Although the appointment was to be made by the City Administrator, York had made several attempts to have people appointed as chief who had close ties to the Fraternal Order of Police. When those efforts failed, she then wanted her son’s commander (her son is a St. Louis police officer) appointed. She tried to appoint a former chief of Peoria, Illinois who had come under heavy fire because of his actions in that city. York also refused to accept any appointees made by the City Administrator including that of Major Robert G. Lowery, Jr. who was the head of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad.
York has close ties to Tommy Mayer, the former president of the FOP. Mayer, a former St. Charles Police Sergeant, was fired by Swope shortly after Mayer ordered the St. Charles City Administrator from his car, at gun point, on the parking lot of police headquarters.
Mayer filed a $100 million law suit against the City for remarks Councilman Hoepfner had made; and because the City had taken away his drive-home police vehicle which he took home to St. Louis County. He was also upset because the new city council had refused to allow him to perform FOP duties while he was on duty as a St. Charles Police Officer. After Mayer was fired and still had the lawsuit pending, York wrote a letter to St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa lavishing praise on Mayer and telling Mokwa she felt Tommy Mayer would be successful in his lawsuit against the City of St. Charles. The lawsuit was later settled for a little over $50,000.
It is believed that, if re-elected, Mayor York intends to bring Tommy Mayer back to the St. Charles Police Department after she fires Chief Swope.
The First Capitol News contacted Chief Swope regarding the pledge to fire him that York had made to the police association. Chief Swope confirmed that he had heard the Mayor had made the statement that she would fire Swope, Major Bob Boerding the assistant Chief, Captain Gary Pollard and the Chief’s secretary. Swope said he was disappointed and refused to comment further because of this being a personnel matter. Swope is under contract with the City and if fired the city would have to buy out his contract. It is unknown if the others the association wants fired are under contract.
Sources at police headquarters have told the First Capitol News that Chief Swope is extremely frustrated that the Mayor would attempt to undermine his authority to manage the police department and that she would make those promises to the police association. They also told us that by the Mayor making that promise, it has made it extremely difficult for Swope to keep control of the police department putting the safety of the residents in jeopardy.
Tim Swope has three children. Swope is a 1984 graduate of St. Charles High School and attended college at Central Missouri State University – Warrensburg on a baseball scholarship. He played peewee football at J.F.L. and the Boy’s Club. In 1982-83 he was a member of the St. Charles High School Pirates who won the State Championship in football. He also played baseball and coached for American Legion Post 312 in St. Charles. Swope’s education includes thousands of hours of training with the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration; Cook County Sheriff’s Department; Chicago Police Department; Atlanta, Georgia Metro PD; Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; Indianapolis PD; Arkansas State Police; Illinois State Police; Los Angeles PD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He also attended Lindenwood University. Chief Swope has numerous commendations for exemplary performance in the line of duty, including the Sheriff’s “Award of Excellence”. The Sheriff promoted him in February 1997, to Sergeant over the highly successful Drug Unit, having served as an undercover investigator. He was appointed Team Leader for the St. Charles County SWAT Team and in August of 2000 was appointed acting Lieutenant within the patrol division. He was deputized by the U.S. Department of Treasury and served on a Federal Task Force, which investigated organized crime in the metropolitan area. Sheriff Swope received a meritorious service award for his work on the task force.
Editorial Endorsements
The Best & The Brightest
For Mayor Of The City Of St. Charles
We are proud to recommend City Councilman John Gieseke to be our next Mayor. John has a real vision for the future of our City. One not tied to the whims of wealthy special interests.
John Gieseke will see that your money is spent wisely.
Despite the infusion of tens of thousands of dollars of special interest money from outside the City…
Despite all the money millionaire developers could throw at this election…
Despite those same special interests paying to bring high priced political consultants in from Kansas City and Chesterfield to organize a campaign of distortions and lies…
Despite incessant polling and misleading surveys, wanting to know how people feel on divisive issues in an attempt to drive wedges into our community…
John Gieseke has been building momentum in his grassroots campaign to be your Mayor. His business experience, sincerity and new ideas stand in stark contrast to failed policies, a lack of leadership and no clear direction from the current Mayor. The choice is clear. Vote for JOHN GIESEKE for Mayor.
For City Council
Ward One
City Councilman Rory Riddler is by far the better choice in this three-way contest. He is one of the brightest and hardest working members to serve on the City Council. He excels at coming up with creative solutions and finding ways to get things done. The beautiful Mel Wetter Parkway, Foundry Art Center, residential facade grants, decorative wrought iron stop signs, the new Wellness Commission, improvements to North Second Street and many other projects would not have occurred without Rory’s efforts.
Peggy Whetzel, to her credit, has run a clean campaign, but cannot offer the experience Councilman Riddler brings to the job. She also appears a bit too intense to be able to build consensus.
Also challenging Riddler is Richard Veit, a single Attorney with offices on North Main Street. He ended his Republican campaign for judge this past August $12,700 in debt. There may be a pattern of fiscal irresponsibility voters would be best to avoid.
Ward Two
Here the nod goes to City Councilman Larry Muench. He is a personable and engaging gentleman with few political enemies. We may not always agree with where his vote falls, but he accepts our constructive criticism and takes it to heart. Larry Muench has also been instrumental in setting up a neighborhood association in his ward, working to bring a supermarket to his ward and responding to constituent complaints in a timely manner.
Larry Willis has run a strong campaign and given voters a clear platform, but experience is the key factor for Second Ward voters to consider. We would hope to hear from Mr. Willis in the political arena again.
Neighborhood gadfly Venetia McEntire had visions of seizing the reigns of power at City Hall for herself and close business partner, former St. Charles Director of Tourism Steve Powell. Her campaign seems to have stalled out at Second Street as she may not realize there is more to the City than South Main Street.
Ward Three
City Councilman Mark Brown withstood efforts by millionaire developers to oust him in a recall. The effort fell short of collecting the required valid signatures as residents learned who was bankrolling the effort and the corruption uncovered in the recall effort against Dottie Greer by the same group.
Mark Brown is one of the toughest Councilmen on developers and homebuilders, requiring quality and that they not cut corners. He is fighting with several over the condition they have tried to turn over subdivisions with homes built on the edge of a creek bed. They also have cracked streets, broken sidewalks and lights dangling from entrance signs. He fought other projects he felt would lessen property values or overtax our public streets and sewers. At the same time, Mark Brown has supported developments he feels would enhance the City, such as the redevelopment of the old Noah’s Ark property, which will finally remove this embarrassing eyesore at the front door of the city. Brown has stepped up efforts to protect the residents from the increasing large blasts coming from the quarry.
Now those developers are out to get Mark Brown again. This time their candidate appears to be Laurie Feldman. Rather than campaigning on her own merits, Feldman seems bent on smearing Councilman Brown. She just requested all of Mark Brown’s cell phone records for the past three years. Not once did he exceed his allotted minutes, but Feldman apparently has nothing better to do with her time than pour through hundreds of phone calls to see when citizens may have called their Councilman. Feldman is on an obvious witch hunt.
There are two other candidates in this four-way race. David Burney, who has been a regular attendee at Council meetings for over a year and Eric Frank, whose name appears first on the ballot, and is angry over treatment by developers as well.
Ward Four
Michael McMurran is running a spirited race against Councilman Bob Kneemiller. McMurran is a regular contributor to the pages of the First Capitol News, as a local sports writer. Mike is also an experienced public servant, having served as Mayor of a small community in St. Louis County.
He is sincere and honest in his desire to serve the residents of the Fourth Ward and the City of St. Charles. We are proud to endorse and recommend Michael McMurran for the City council.
Ward Seven
Zack Smithey seems to be the breath of fresh air that people always say they want to see elected. He is not accepting any campaign donations and has been running a door-to-door grassroots campaign. Young, energetic and full of idealism, Zack Smithey could be just what the Seventh Ward needs.
It’s harder to tell the difference between the remaining three candidates for the seat now held by Councilwoman Dottie Greer, who is retiring. Dave Beckering has run before and hopes this one’s the charm. Joseph Kloeppel seems a bit too angry and lost twice before for School Board. Don Borgmeyer may benefit from familiarity with his name, but otherwise hasn’t campaigned much. In the Seventh Ward we recommend Zack Smithey.
Ward Eight
Michael Klinghammer is the clear choice in this contest pitting two former City Councilmen. Michael has a solid platform, wonderful family, is active in the community, Borromeo Parish and serves as Chairman of the Beautification Committee for the City of St. Charles. He has the best interests of the entire community at heart.
In contrast, Ken Kielty was helping to launder money in the Dottie Greer recall effort through a bank account in Jefferson City. He is actively involved in running smear campaigns against other candidates for the council in other wards. On several occasions, Kielty has threatened people in the community with whom he disagreed. As a weird footnote his son, local attorney Michael Kielty, who defended the people involved in the questionable local recall efforts, calling our Police Nazis, has taken up the high profile case of child kidnapper Michael Devlon.
Michael Klinghammer has what it takes to be a great Eighth Ward Councilman and we recommend him without reservation.
Ward Nine
Councilman Joe Koester has set a high standard for responding to constituent concerns. He has also worked to put together a plan for improving the appearance of West Clay and Droste. He has ordered decorative new street and stop signs for his entire ward that will soon be installed. He worked to make sure an old medical building in his ward got a new lease on life as an upscale office complex. Joe Koester has also been working to bring a much needed and modern Senior housing complex to his ward. He also supported efforts to get the old County Seat restaurant and other eyesore trailers and concrete block buildings removed from the corner of First Capitol and West Clay.
His opponent, Ron Stivinson, touts that he was a former State Representative in the 1980s. But the district he represented wasn’t the area that now comprises the Ninth Ward. Beyond that, he has failed to offer any alternative plans to the good works already being done by the incumbent Councilman. Joe Koester has earned reelection.
Ward Ten
Erv Ermeling has been a long-time community volunteer, whose name has been associated with the Festival of the Little Hills. This past Christmas he helped Veterans decorate the KATY Depot and trees in Frontier Park for their special display of the kind of Christmas returning World War Two veterans would have experienced. It was a moving a beautiful tribute. Erv Ermeling also serves as Chairman of the Arts & Culture Commission for the city of St. Charles.
The Ermeling family learned a lot about serving the needs of customers with Jehling’s Hardware. Erv may help to transfer that same dedication to customer service to City Hall.
For the numerous shortcomings of incumbent Councilman Bob Hoepfner you can refer to our feature of last week. The First Capitol News is proud to endorse Erv Ermeling for City Council from the Tenth Ward.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE ON TUESDAY APRIL 3
THE FUTURE OF YOUR CITY IS IN YOUR HANDS
The Best & The Brightest
For Mayor Of The City Of St. Charles
We are proud to recommend City Councilman John Gieseke to be our next Mayor. John has a real vision for the future of our City. One not tied to the whims of wealthy special interests.
John Gieseke will see that your money is spent wisely.
Despite the infusion of tens of thousands of dollars of special interest money from outside the City…
Despite all the money millionaire developers could throw at this election…
Despite those same special interests paying to bring high priced political consultants in from Kansas City and Chesterfield to organize a campaign of distortions and lies…
Despite incessant polling and misleading surveys, wanting to know how people feel on divisive issues in an attempt to drive wedges into our community…
John Gieseke has been building momentum in his grassroots campaign to be your Mayor. His business experience, sincerity and new ideas stand in stark contrast to failed policies, a lack of leadership and no clear direction from the current Mayor. The choice is clear. Vote for JOHN GIESEKE for Mayor.
For City Council
Ward One
City Councilman Rory Riddler is by far the better choice in this three-way contest. He is one of the brightest and hardest working members to serve on the City Council. He excels at coming up with creative solutions and finding ways to get things done. The beautiful Mel Wetter Parkway, Foundry Art Center, residential facade grants, decorative wrought iron stop signs, the new Wellness Commission, improvements to North Second Street and many other projects would not have occurred without Rory’s efforts.
Peggy Whetzel, to her credit, has run a clean campaign, but cannot offer the experience Councilman Riddler brings to the job. She also appears a bit too intense to be able to build consensus.
Also challenging Riddler is Richard Veit, a single Attorney with offices on North Main Street. He ended his Republican campaign for judge this past August $12,700 in debt. There may be a pattern of fiscal irresponsibility voters would be best to avoid.
Ward Two
Here the nod goes to City Councilman Larry Muench. He is a personable and engaging gentleman with few political enemies. We may not always agree with where his vote falls, but he accepts our constructive criticism and takes it to heart. Larry Muench has also been instrumental in setting up a neighborhood association in his ward, working to bring a supermarket to his ward and responding to constituent complaints in a timely manner.
Larry Willis has run a strong campaign and given voters a clear platform, but experience is the key factor for Second Ward voters to consider. We would hope to hear from Mr. Willis in the political arena again.
Neighborhood gadfly Venetia McEntire had visions of seizing the reigns of power at City Hall for herself and close business partner, former St. Charles Director of Tourism Steve Powell. Her campaign seems to have stalled out at Second Street as she may not realize there is more to the City than South Main Street.
Ward Three
City Councilman Mark Brown withstood efforts by millionaire developers to oust him in a recall. The effort fell short of collecting the required valid signatures as residents learned who was bankrolling the effort and the corruption uncovered in the recall effort against Dottie Greer by the same group.
Mark Brown is one of the toughest Councilmen on developers and homebuilders, requiring quality and that they not cut corners. He is fighting with several over the condition they have tried to turn over subdivisions with homes built on the edge of a creek bed. They also have cracked streets, broken sidewalks and lights dangling from entrance signs. He fought other projects he felt would lessen property values or overtax our public streets and sewers. At the same time, Mark Brown has supported developments he feels would enhance the City, such as the redevelopment of the old Noah’s Ark property, which will finally remove this embarrassing eyesore at the front door of the city. Brown has stepped up efforts to protect the residents from the increasing large blasts coming from the quarry.
Now those developers are out to get Mark Brown again. This time their candidate appears to be Laurie Feldman. Rather than campaigning on her own merits, Feldman seems bent on smearing Councilman Brown. She just requested all of Mark Brown’s cell phone records for the past three years. Not once did he exceed his allotted minutes, but Feldman apparently has nothing better to do with her time than pour through hundreds of phone calls to see when citizens may have called their Councilman. Feldman is on an obvious witch hunt.
There are two other candidates in this four-way race. David Burney, who has been a regular attendee at Council meetings for over a year and Eric Frank, whose name appears first on the ballot, and is angry over treatment by developers as well.
Ward Four
Michael McMurran is running a spirited race against Councilman Bob Kneemiller. McMurran is a regular contributor to the pages of the First Capitol News, as a local sports writer. Mike is also an experienced public servant, having served as Mayor of a small community in St. Louis County.
He is sincere and honest in his desire to serve the residents of the Fourth Ward and the City of St. Charles. We are proud to endorse and recommend Michael McMurran for the City council.
Ward Seven
Zack Smithey seems to be the breath of fresh air that people always say they want to see elected. He is not accepting any campaign donations and has been running a door-to-door grassroots campaign. Young, energetic and full of idealism, Zack Smithey could be just what the Seventh Ward needs.
It’s harder to tell the difference between the remaining three candidates for the seat now held by Councilwoman Dottie Greer, who is retiring. Dave Beckering has run before and hopes this one’s the charm. Joseph Kloeppel seems a bit too angry and lost twice before for School Board. Don Borgmeyer may benefit from familiarity with his name, but otherwise hasn’t campaigned much. In the Seventh Ward we recommend Zack Smithey.
Ward Eight
Michael Klinghammer is the clear choice in this contest pitting two former City Councilmen. Michael has a solid platform, wonderful family, is active in the community, Borromeo Parish and serves as Chairman of the Beautification Committee for the City of St. Charles. He has the best interests of the entire community at heart.
In contrast, Ken Kielty was helping to launder money in the Dottie Greer recall effort through a bank account in Jefferson City. He is actively involved in running smear campaigns against other candidates for the council in other wards. On several occasions, Kielty has threatened people in the community with whom he disagreed. As a weird footnote his son, local attorney Michael Kielty, who defended the people involved in the questionable local recall efforts, calling our Police Nazis, has taken up the high profile case of child kidnapper Michael Devlon.
Michael Klinghammer has what it takes to be a great Eighth Ward Councilman and we recommend him without reservation.
Ward Nine
Councilman Joe Koester has set a high standard for responding to constituent concerns. He has also worked to put together a plan for improving the appearance of West Clay and Droste. He has ordered decorative new street and stop signs for his entire ward that will soon be installed. He worked to make sure an old medical building in his ward got a new lease on life as an upscale office complex. Joe Koester has also been working to bring a much needed and modern Senior housing complex to his ward. He also supported efforts to get the old County Seat restaurant and other eyesore trailers and concrete block buildings removed from the corner of First Capitol and West Clay.
His opponent, Ron Stivinson, touts that he was a former State Representative in the 1980s. But the district he represented wasn’t the area that now comprises the Ninth Ward. Beyond that, he has failed to offer any alternative plans to the good works already being done by the incumbent Councilman. Joe Koester has earned reelection.
Ward Ten
Erv Ermeling has been a long-time community volunteer, whose name has been associated with the Festival of the Little Hills. This past Christmas he helped Veterans decorate the KATY Depot and trees in Frontier Park for their special display of the kind of Christmas returning World War Two veterans would have experienced. It was a moving a beautiful tribute. Erv Ermeling also serves as Chairman of the Arts & Culture Commission for the city of St. Charles.
The Ermeling family learned a lot about serving the needs of customers with Jehling’s Hardware. Erv may help to transfer that same dedication to customer service to City Hall.
For the numerous shortcomings of incumbent Councilman Bob Hoepfner you can refer to our feature of last week. The First Capitol News is proud to endorse Erv Ermeling for City Council from the Tenth Ward.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE ON TUESDAY APRIL 3
THE FUTURE OF YOUR CITY IS IN YOUR HANDS
COUNCILMAN MARK BROWN PROVIDES WARD 3 RESIDENTS WITH FREE TRASH CONTAINERS
lick on image to enlargeThursday, March 22 marked the day the Third Ward’s new trash containers arrived in St. Charles.
Councilman Mark Brown purchased 1100 trash containers for the residents of his ward with the discretionary money that was allocated from the Casino’s building permit fees on their new hotel.
Brown and others on the Council had tried to purchase containers citywide in early 2005. That plan was squashed by the administration. With the upcoming change in government and a full time Mayor, that plan could be resurrected. Brown said, “The overwhelming response from the residents of Ward 3 should send a clear message that St. Charles residents care about beautifying their neighborhood. A small group of people don’t like the fact that for the first time the city council is giving something back to the taxpayers of Ward 3. They are upset because we are not spending the money on their friends, the millionaire developers. I think it is time we start giving back to the people not just special interests groups.”
Residents who ordered the cans will start receiving them on Monday, March 25. Councilman Brown was assisted by mayoral candidate John Gieseke for the better half of Thursday doing inventory of the cans and making sure they all arrived. Gieseke was one of the Council members who joined Brown in bringing this concept forward citywide in September 2005.
EDITORIAL Cartoon February 6, 2007 - FIRST CAPITOL NEWS
FIRST CAPITOL NEWS BROKE THE STORY
REPRESENTATIVE DEMPSEY INTRODUCES THE LAW
This past week Representative Tom Dempsey introduced legislation that would make it illegal to pay workers to circulate petitions in the State of Missouri. I have to say that Tom Dempsey listened and took action and he should be commended. The past three years of our City’s history have been stained with corruption in not one but two petition drives. Both these drives were funded by developers, businessmen and council candidates in an effort to recall two sitting council members. Dempsey is doing something Jack Banas has not, take action against those who threaten our democratic process by trying to buy elections.
The fact that he is taking action should stand as a testitmonial to those on the council who wouldn’t succumb to the lure of the rich and famous and stood up to the millionaires, businessmen and council candidate. Tom Dempsey knew that many of the victims of forgery were constituents of his, he knew they had the right to be protected from those who would pay for signatures. Those who paid for the signatures knew that they were illegally gotten when they placed the petitions in the hands of the city clerk and yet nothing has been done by the prosecuting attorney who has taken an oath to uphold the laws.
This paper broke the story and introduced the evidence for all of St. Charles to see. Those who broke the law tried to discount the forgery and fraud. They hired a crack pot attorney to yell at the council. They did everything except take responsibility for their illegal behavior. The First Capitol News has taken a vow to keep you informed. This editorial is letting you know there is hope that our government is listening and trying to protect our interest. It is also letting you know that your government is failing to prosecute those who broke the law. Let Tom Dempsey know that you appreciate his efforts, let Jack Banas know his legacy could be “the one who allowed our democracy to be tarnished”.
REPRESENTATIVE DEMPSEY INTRODUCES THE LAW
This past week Representative Tom Dempsey introduced legislation that would make it illegal to pay workers to circulate petitions in the State of Missouri. I have to say that Tom Dempsey listened and took action and he should be commended. The past three years of our City’s history have been stained with corruption in not one but two petition drives. Both these drives were funded by developers, businessmen and council candidates in an effort to recall two sitting council members. Dempsey is doing something Jack Banas has not, take action against those who threaten our democratic process by trying to buy elections.
The fact that he is taking action should stand as a testitmonial to those on the council who wouldn’t succumb to the lure of the rich and famous and stood up to the millionaires, businessmen and council candidate. Tom Dempsey knew that many of the victims of forgery were constituents of his, he knew they had the right to be protected from those who would pay for signatures. Those who paid for the signatures knew that they were illegally gotten when they placed the petitions in the hands of the city clerk and yet nothing has been done by the prosecuting attorney who has taken an oath to uphold the laws.
This paper broke the story and introduced the evidence for all of St. Charles to see. Those who broke the law tried to discount the forgery and fraud. They hired a crack pot attorney to yell at the council. They did everything except take responsibility for their illegal behavior. The First Capitol News has taken a vow to keep you informed. This editorial is letting you know there is hope that our government is listening and trying to protect our interest. It is also letting you know that your government is failing to prosecute those who broke the law. Let Tom Dempsey know that you appreciate his efforts, let Jack Banas know his legacy could be “the one who allowed our democracy to be tarnished”.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
THE MUDSLINGING HAS STARTED
In our last edition we predicted that mudslinging in the political campaigns would start soon. In the First Ward incumbent Councilman Rory Riddler is being challenged by Richard Viet. A mudslinging piece against Riddler is being distributed to voters in the Ward.
In the third Ward where Incumbent Councilman Mark Brown is being challenged by Laurie Feldman the voters in the Ward are also being barraged with malicious pieces.
The pieces are being sent anonymously, probably because if the senders could be identified they could face civil and possible criminal charges.
We were also told that Citizens for Responsible Government headed by Raymond Stone and Carl Maus have already had mudslinging pieces printed and are getting ready to distribute them to your mail box. Moss and Stone have been involved in races in St. Charles, St. Peters and O’Fallon. In the past their group has been funded by millionaire developers like TR Hughes along with millionaire duck hunter Adolphus Busch. Their claim to fame is their participation in the last St. Peters mayoral election were they claimed responsibility for the victory of Shawn Brown over long time Mayor Tom Brown. Shawn Brown was recently convicted of taking a bribe and is in or enroute to a federal prison.
Maus is also the assistant to O’Fallon Mayor Donna Morrow.
Another contributor to their malicious attacks on candidates they do not favor has been St. Charles Mayor Patti York.
Stone and Maus are expected to attack Mayoral candidate John Gieseke and Councilman Mark Brown. Maus and a couple of other investors own property at Highway 94 and Heritage Landing. They applied to the St. Charles City Council for a permit to put a service station on the property. Both Gieseke and Brown voiced opposition to the proposal which was later withdrawn.
Maus also failed in his attempt to take over the Board at Heritage.
More information on Maus and Stone and their suspect organization can be found in our archives at
firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com
Because of a shortage of red bags the First Capitol News will be delivered in blue bags temporarily. Watch for the blue bags. The red will return when they become available.
Remember to Vote on April 3 for JOHN GIESEKE for Mayor.
In our last edition we predicted that mudslinging in the political campaigns would start soon. In the First Ward incumbent Councilman Rory Riddler is being challenged by Richard Viet. A mudslinging piece against Riddler is being distributed to voters in the Ward.
In the third Ward where Incumbent Councilman Mark Brown is being challenged by Laurie Feldman the voters in the Ward are also being barraged with malicious pieces.
The pieces are being sent anonymously, probably because if the senders could be identified they could face civil and possible criminal charges.
We were also told that Citizens for Responsible Government headed by Raymond Stone and Carl Maus have already had mudslinging pieces printed and are getting ready to distribute them to your mail box. Moss and Stone have been involved in races in St. Charles, St. Peters and O’Fallon. In the past their group has been funded by millionaire developers like TR Hughes along with millionaire duck hunter Adolphus Busch. Their claim to fame is their participation in the last St. Peters mayoral election were they claimed responsibility for the victory of Shawn Brown over long time Mayor Tom Brown. Shawn Brown was recently convicted of taking a bribe and is in or enroute to a federal prison.
Maus is also the assistant to O’Fallon Mayor Donna Morrow.
Another contributor to their malicious attacks on candidates they do not favor has been St. Charles Mayor Patti York.
Stone and Maus are expected to attack Mayoral candidate John Gieseke and Councilman Mark Brown. Maus and a couple of other investors own property at Highway 94 and Heritage Landing. They applied to the St. Charles City Council for a permit to put a service station on the property. Both Gieseke and Brown voiced opposition to the proposal which was later withdrawn.
Maus also failed in his attempt to take over the Board at Heritage.
More information on Maus and Stone and their suspect organization can be found in our archives at
firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com
Because of a shortage of red bags the First Capitol News will be delivered in blue bags temporarily. Watch for the blue bags. The red will return when they become available.
Remember to Vote on April 3 for JOHN GIESEKE for Mayor.
The PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor
Dear Editor,
May I be so bold as to provide your columnist, “Charles Hill”, with a grammatical “tool” that he may employ before he submits his column to future editions of the First Capitol News?
His column that appeared in the March 17-23 edition includes the sentence “Once again this project does require you and I to kick in 5 acres of taxpayers ground.”
If Charles Hill would use the following method of checking his usage of the English/American language, similar mistakes more than likely won’t be repeated. “Once again this project does require you and I to kick in 5 acres of taxpayers ground.” (Omit the words “you and” and say the sentence aloud. Then ask, “Does this sound right?” — …this project does require I to kick in…)
(Also, he may wish to include the oft-misused apostrophe in the word “taxpayers” to read “taxpayers’” since he is indicating group ownership of those 5 acres of ground.)
I must compliment your “Editor’s Eye” regarding recent First Capitol News editions, as you have progressed by leaps and bounds concerning the extensive misspellings, misuse of the ubiquitous apostrophe and publication of extremely poor grammar that used to appear throughout the early issues. I realize you may have been publishing articles and opinions “as they are received” from your columnists, but I would wonder if any of them have little tools named “Spell Check” and/or “Grammar Check” residing within
their software programs.
Again, I am so grateful for the news and insights provided by your publication – especially articles forewarning the public of ugly political moves such as the hiring of the “Goon Squad”. I’m not surprised, but perhaps some of the uninformed public/voters will become aware of such underhanded political moves by reading the First Capitol News.
Thank you!
Sandy Fernstrom
Slf40@charter.net
Editor’s note
Thank you for being a reader of the First Capitol News. Our agreement with our columnists is that as long as their articles do not contain misinformation or libelous statements we print them as written. However we do correct grammatical errors when we catch them. I am forwarding your comments to Charles Hill for his review.
To the Editor:
As a longtime citizen and former Mayor of St. Peters, I am deeply concerned with some of the attributes of one of our mayoral candidates. Alderman Len Pagano is running his campaign on the basis of trust and his accomplishments during his tenure. What has Alderman Pagano done? First of all, he has outright taken credit for being involved in the many endeavors the City has made, beginning with the St. Peters Senior Center. I was there from the conception of the idea to the finished product, and not once was he there to pound one nail or put up a 2x4. The same may be said for the Rec-Plex. While fundraising was going on for this wonderful development, many people who already had full time jobs gave their all to make this happen for the citizens of St. Peters. Again, Mr. Pagano was no-where to be found during this time and spent no effort to aid in this project. In addition, he is never seen at the ribbon cuttings for the small businesses he claims to support, and where was he when the City was trying to pass the last 3 bond issues?
Now let’s talk about what Len Pagano has done. He has sold himself to the Great River Habitat Alliance and Adolphus Busch. This is the same man who put in the entire O’Fallon board of Aldermen and Mayor in power as well as our felonious Mayor Shawn Brown. Ironically, Len Pagano has also credited himself for taking Mayor Shawn Brown and Aldeman Michelle Steins under his wings; his protégés if you will. He has also blamed the city for letting houses be built close to the pipelines, though he’s the only one who was there when whose votes for it were taken! Finally, as far as his campaign is being conducted, there are some questionable billboard donations from Drury sign company totaling $5,000. Alderman Pagano has been heard beginning most of his comments with “I’m really not quite sure”. Well Mr. Pagano, there’s your campaign slogan.
Tom Brown
Former Mayor St. Peters
Dear Editor,
During the March 8th Saint Charles School Board Meeting President Dennis Hahn made this quote, “I think our intent really for the non-resident situation was to try to keep the smaller…Um…the lower grades, smaller class sizes.” He made this comment after Dr. Tower chided the rest of the board about using the money they were suppose to be saving by kicking those children out of our district. Dennis Hahn has backpedaled from his position in February and now what is he telling us. In a district with about 2,000 elementary school students, they are afraid to allow less than 20 additional children because it will “compromise class sizes”? If Dennis Hahn thinks we can’t tolerate a meager 1% increase at the elementary school level, then this district is not ready to close down two elementary schools.
The worst part is that they don’t need to do it. In January their financial update included the new “Assessment Evaluations” which projected next year that they would be receiving a significant increase from the city in tax revenue. The amount stated in January of 4-5 million was not repeated in February or March, but I encourage everyone to look into this, as it is nearly twice the amount of money the board claimed they needed to keep our schools open.
It was no surprise for me to hear that Mr. Weinrich, the Treasurer of the School Board, (one of the three that has been going against the Gang of Four) suddenly backed out of his re-election bid after the board’s closed session meeting on March 15th. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Towers followed suit after her efforts against the fearsome foursome.
Dennis Hahn and his gang are railroading this district to the same end we see happening in Saint Louis. They too started by shutting down schools, which didn’t save any money, and then they lost good teachers, lost their accreditations, and now face a state take-over. Is that what Dennis Hahn is trying to do to our district?
The city is handing our school district all the money they asked for and still Dennis Hahn is willing to sacrifice young lives in his vain effort to “Stay the Course”. I find his disrespect for the teachers, the children and the wishes of this community intolerable.
Jim DuMontelle
May I be so bold as to provide your columnist, “Charles Hill”, with a grammatical “tool” that he may employ before he submits his column to future editions of the First Capitol News?
His column that appeared in the March 17-23 edition includes the sentence “Once again this project does require you and I to kick in 5 acres of taxpayers ground.”
If Charles Hill would use the following method of checking his usage of the English/American language, similar mistakes more than likely won’t be repeated. “Once again this project does require you and I to kick in 5 acres of taxpayers ground.” (Omit the words “you and” and say the sentence aloud. Then ask, “Does this sound right?” — …this project does require I to kick in…)
(Also, he may wish to include the oft-misused apostrophe in the word “taxpayers” to read “taxpayers’” since he is indicating group ownership of those 5 acres of ground.)
I must compliment your “Editor’s Eye” regarding recent First Capitol News editions, as you have progressed by leaps and bounds concerning the extensive misspellings, misuse of the ubiquitous apostrophe and publication of extremely poor grammar that used to appear throughout the early issues. I realize you may have been publishing articles and opinions “as they are received” from your columnists, but I would wonder if any of them have little tools named “Spell Check” and/or “Grammar Check” residing within
their software programs.
Again, I am so grateful for the news and insights provided by your publication – especially articles forewarning the public of ugly political moves such as the hiring of the “Goon Squad”. I’m not surprised, but perhaps some of the uninformed public/voters will become aware of such underhanded political moves by reading the First Capitol News.
Thank you!
Sandy Fernstrom
Slf40@charter.net
Editor’s note
Thank you for being a reader of the First Capitol News. Our agreement with our columnists is that as long as their articles do not contain misinformation or libelous statements we print them as written. However we do correct grammatical errors when we catch them. I am forwarding your comments to Charles Hill for his review.
To the Editor:
As a longtime citizen and former Mayor of St. Peters, I am deeply concerned with some of the attributes of one of our mayoral candidates. Alderman Len Pagano is running his campaign on the basis of trust and his accomplishments during his tenure. What has Alderman Pagano done? First of all, he has outright taken credit for being involved in the many endeavors the City has made, beginning with the St. Peters Senior Center. I was there from the conception of the idea to the finished product, and not once was he there to pound one nail or put up a 2x4. The same may be said for the Rec-Plex. While fundraising was going on for this wonderful development, many people who already had full time jobs gave their all to make this happen for the citizens of St. Peters. Again, Mr. Pagano was no-where to be found during this time and spent no effort to aid in this project. In addition, he is never seen at the ribbon cuttings for the small businesses he claims to support, and where was he when the City was trying to pass the last 3 bond issues?
Now let’s talk about what Len Pagano has done. He has sold himself to the Great River Habitat Alliance and Adolphus Busch. This is the same man who put in the entire O’Fallon board of Aldermen and Mayor in power as well as our felonious Mayor Shawn Brown. Ironically, Len Pagano has also credited himself for taking Mayor Shawn Brown and Aldeman Michelle Steins under his wings; his protégés if you will. He has also blamed the city for letting houses be built close to the pipelines, though he’s the only one who was there when whose votes for it were taken! Finally, as far as his campaign is being conducted, there are some questionable billboard donations from Drury sign company totaling $5,000. Alderman Pagano has been heard beginning most of his comments with “I’m really not quite sure”. Well Mr. Pagano, there’s your campaign slogan.
Tom Brown
Former Mayor St. Peters
Dear Editor,
During the March 8th Saint Charles School Board Meeting President Dennis Hahn made this quote, “I think our intent really for the non-resident situation was to try to keep the smaller…Um…the lower grades, smaller class sizes.” He made this comment after Dr. Tower chided the rest of the board about using the money they were suppose to be saving by kicking those children out of our district. Dennis Hahn has backpedaled from his position in February and now what is he telling us. In a district with about 2,000 elementary school students, they are afraid to allow less than 20 additional children because it will “compromise class sizes”? If Dennis Hahn thinks we can’t tolerate a meager 1% increase at the elementary school level, then this district is not ready to close down two elementary schools.
The worst part is that they don’t need to do it. In January their financial update included the new “Assessment Evaluations” which projected next year that they would be receiving a significant increase from the city in tax revenue. The amount stated in January of 4-5 million was not repeated in February or March, but I encourage everyone to look into this, as it is nearly twice the amount of money the board claimed they needed to keep our schools open.
It was no surprise for me to hear that Mr. Weinrich, the Treasurer of the School Board, (one of the three that has been going against the Gang of Four) suddenly backed out of his re-election bid after the board’s closed session meeting on March 15th. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Towers followed suit after her efforts against the fearsome foursome.
Dennis Hahn and his gang are railroading this district to the same end we see happening in Saint Louis. They too started by shutting down schools, which didn’t save any money, and then they lost good teachers, lost their accreditations, and now face a state take-over. Is that what Dennis Hahn is trying to do to our district?
The city is handing our school district all the money they asked for and still Dennis Hahn is willing to sacrifice young lives in his vain effort to “Stay the Course”. I find his disrespect for the teachers, the children and the wishes of this community intolerable.
Jim DuMontelle
Case In Point By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
“Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.”
Corrie Ten Boom
The first First Capitol News of Spring 2007. Spring being a time for renewal, hope and faith; I thought a quote from Corrie Ten Boom would be timely. If ever a story of faith and hope were written, Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place was it. Anyone who has not yet read Ten Boom’s book about her family’s resistance to the Nazi in Holland can call your favorite book store and order a copy to compliment the arrival of spring.
Recently, State Representative, Tom Dempsey introduced legislation that would prohibit collectors of signatures for recall petitions from being paid. I want to thank Rep. Dempsey for taking this step in an attempt to keep the recall process from being a tool of a few wealthy citizens who create a “grassroots” movement by using a lot of “green”. Citizens still hold the right to remove an elected official from office for malfeasance but a resident in, Town and Country cannot pay someone from Sikeston to collect signatures on an official in St. Charles County.
Rep. Dempsey is responding to a recall effort against councilman Mark Brown and councilwoman Dottie Greer where people were paid per signature collected that opened up the recall to corruption that brought charges on some of the people involved in the endeavor. Again, thanks to Rep. Dempsey for taking action to safeguard the election process.
By chance that Tom Dempsey is reading this here are a couple more areas where we can use your help:
¨Help us outlaw payday loan shops (legislate stricter usury laws and lets drive these predatory lenders out of business)
¨Stop/Reverse legislation that prohibits only St. Charles from certain action (starting with control over our own sewer system)
¨Help keep elections statewide clean by banning paperless, touch-screen voting machines.
¨Help St. Charles City residents along I-70 obtain sound abatement by securing funding for buffers (currently the State won’t help with sound walls unless I-70 is widened; however, it was widened from its original four lanes)
¨Introduce legislation that demarks Lindenwood University’s boundaries at their current extent so that any new property they purchase does not fall under their tax-exempt status (as it stands, the university can continue to buy up property and remove each piece from our town’s tax rolls).
I think it will be beneficial if our city officials meet regularly in the coming years with our state officials. Sometimes communication breaks down without anyone realizing it. We all can take the lesson of a new start that spring brings with it. Again, I really am thankful for the attention paid to cleaning up recall efforts!
Another thing we have to think about with the coming of spring is thunderstorms and tornadoes. More specifically, we have to wonder how many times our power might be out for extended periods. Should I buy a generator or not...? Folks in Illinois had to be slack-jawed when their latest Ameren bills arrived and had doubled and tripled. It is spring and we are supposed to remain hopeful – so, here’s to hoping Mother Nature goes easy on us this Spring so we can read, The Hiding Place and other good books this season by electric light and not candlelight.
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet
Corrie Ten Boom
The first First Capitol News of Spring 2007. Spring being a time for renewal, hope and faith; I thought a quote from Corrie Ten Boom would be timely. If ever a story of faith and hope were written, Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place was it. Anyone who has not yet read Ten Boom’s book about her family’s resistance to the Nazi in Holland can call your favorite book store and order a copy to compliment the arrival of spring.
Recently, State Representative, Tom Dempsey introduced legislation that would prohibit collectors of signatures for recall petitions from being paid. I want to thank Rep. Dempsey for taking this step in an attempt to keep the recall process from being a tool of a few wealthy citizens who create a “grassroots” movement by using a lot of “green”. Citizens still hold the right to remove an elected official from office for malfeasance but a resident in, Town and Country cannot pay someone from Sikeston to collect signatures on an official in St. Charles County.
Rep. Dempsey is responding to a recall effort against councilman Mark Brown and councilwoman Dottie Greer where people were paid per signature collected that opened up the recall to corruption that brought charges on some of the people involved in the endeavor. Again, thanks to Rep. Dempsey for taking action to safeguard the election process.
By chance that Tom Dempsey is reading this here are a couple more areas where we can use your help:
¨Help us outlaw payday loan shops (legislate stricter usury laws and lets drive these predatory lenders out of business)
¨Stop/Reverse legislation that prohibits only St. Charles from certain action (starting with control over our own sewer system)
¨Help keep elections statewide clean by banning paperless, touch-screen voting machines.
¨Help St. Charles City residents along I-70 obtain sound abatement by securing funding for buffers (currently the State won’t help with sound walls unless I-70 is widened; however, it was widened from its original four lanes)
¨Introduce legislation that demarks Lindenwood University’s boundaries at their current extent so that any new property they purchase does not fall under their tax-exempt status (as it stands, the university can continue to buy up property and remove each piece from our town’s tax rolls).
I think it will be beneficial if our city officials meet regularly in the coming years with our state officials. Sometimes communication breaks down without anyone realizing it. We all can take the lesson of a new start that spring brings with it. Again, I really am thankful for the attention paid to cleaning up recall efforts!
Another thing we have to think about with the coming of spring is thunderstorms and tornadoes. More specifically, we have to wonder how many times our power might be out for extended periods. Should I buy a generator or not...? Folks in Illinois had to be slack-jawed when their latest Ameren bills arrived and had doubled and tripled. It is spring and we are supposed to remain hopeful – so, here’s to hoping Mother Nature goes easy on us this Spring so we can read, The Hiding Place and other good books this season by electric light and not candlelight.
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet
The City DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
The Inconvenient Truth
About Inconvenience
Driving down Elm Street the other day, I saw the electronic reader boards the City had put up to notify drivers of the pending reconstruction of portions of Elm. Along with information that the long awaited project would start “sometime” in April, was an emoticon. You know, those funny faces :-) people like to tack onto e-mails, text messages and the like.
At first I wanted to make sure it wasn’t winking, ;-), like this was an inside joke. Sure, we’ll start construction in April…wink, wink. Perhaps it was simply wishing me a nice day, or was it more like saying, good luck…you’ll need it. I was also wondering if they could rig these signs to receive and display text messages from drivers? That could get interesting.
I think it took a few people by surprise because you don’t expect those in government to have a sense of humor, but believe me, it is there…just below the surface. Personally, I applaud the person that added the smiley face to the message. You especially have to have a sense of humor when you work for the Public Works Department. That’s because a lot of what they have to do to reconstruct vital infrastructure like roads, bridges, water and sewer lines ends up creating dust, noise, traffic jams and, well, general inconvenience for neighbors, businesses and the driving public.
Inconvenience is somewhat like pain. Different people have different levels of tolerance. No one was happy the last time Elm Street was torn up for construction, hence the frequent references to the Nightmare On Elm Street.
What we hope makes this experience a better one, is the proactive attitude I have seen demonstrated by Public Works Director Mahesh Sharma and his staff. He came to the Street Committee of the Council months ago, with plans for the use of reader boards, frequent updates on the web site and other ideas of how to keep motorists apprised of the work.
We were candid with him about the type of problems people find infuriating. For instance, the days and sometimes weeks that go by, with no one on the job site and no explanation as to why work was seemingly abandoned. They may still be well within their deadlines for completion, but it is still maddening to not see progress being made every day.
Since contractors work on numerous projects at once, they move men and equipment around to other sites as they wait for ground conditions to be right, materials to arrive or utilities to be moved (a real problem at times getting cooperation from utility companies). One way to get the contractors to want to finish sooner and not push the deadline, is to offer incentives. We have been doing that lately on all major projects and a good example is the Mel Wetter Parkway, which was able to be opened months ahead of schedule.
Our Street Committee suggested adding even further incentives to the Elm Street project by extending the target period in which the contractor could achieve incentives. Incentives may add a $100,000 or so to a seven or eight million dollar project, but it is well worth it for the aggravation it avoids.
Another suggestion I made to city staff, is to never let a road get in as bad a shape as some portions of Elm Street. Those sections that jar you and your car’s suspension, should have been cut out and relaid. Instead, there was a reluctance to do anything to a street that everyone knew would just be torn up for major reconstruction a year or two later. Deferring maintenance that adds to frustration levels on the part of motorists is never a good idea.
Having a great Public Works Department is two-thirds perspiration and one-third public relations. I hope the smiley face is a positive sign of good things to come from a department that seems more committed than ever to public service.
Let me make this point clear, a major reconstruction project is going to be inconvenient no matter what we do. Unless the City flew a helicopter to their house to ferry them to work each day, we are going to make some people very angry and a lot of people somewhat frustrated over the next year with the Elm Street project.
But to the extent they can, I think that Mahesh Sharma and his department, will listen to your concerns and do everything in their power to accommodate and relieve problems as they come up. Don’t be hesitant to contact them with questions or concerns.
For everyone else, I would recommend switching to decaffeinated coffee, finding an easy listening music station and start planning alternative routs. It’s almost time to grin J and bear it.
About Inconvenience
Driving down Elm Street the other day, I saw the electronic reader boards the City had put up to notify drivers of the pending reconstruction of portions of Elm. Along with information that the long awaited project would start “sometime” in April, was an emoticon. You know, those funny faces :-) people like to tack onto e-mails, text messages and the like.
At first I wanted to make sure it wasn’t winking, ;-), like this was an inside joke. Sure, we’ll start construction in April…wink, wink. Perhaps it was simply wishing me a nice day, or was it more like saying, good luck…you’ll need it. I was also wondering if they could rig these signs to receive and display text messages from drivers? That could get interesting.
I think it took a few people by surprise because you don’t expect those in government to have a sense of humor, but believe me, it is there…just below the surface. Personally, I applaud the person that added the smiley face to the message. You especially have to have a sense of humor when you work for the Public Works Department. That’s because a lot of what they have to do to reconstruct vital infrastructure like roads, bridges, water and sewer lines ends up creating dust, noise, traffic jams and, well, general inconvenience for neighbors, businesses and the driving public.
Inconvenience is somewhat like pain. Different people have different levels of tolerance. No one was happy the last time Elm Street was torn up for construction, hence the frequent references to the Nightmare On Elm Street.
What we hope makes this experience a better one, is the proactive attitude I have seen demonstrated by Public Works Director Mahesh Sharma and his staff. He came to the Street Committee of the Council months ago, with plans for the use of reader boards, frequent updates on the web site and other ideas of how to keep motorists apprised of the work.
We were candid with him about the type of problems people find infuriating. For instance, the days and sometimes weeks that go by, with no one on the job site and no explanation as to why work was seemingly abandoned. They may still be well within their deadlines for completion, but it is still maddening to not see progress being made every day.
Since contractors work on numerous projects at once, they move men and equipment around to other sites as they wait for ground conditions to be right, materials to arrive or utilities to be moved (a real problem at times getting cooperation from utility companies). One way to get the contractors to want to finish sooner and not push the deadline, is to offer incentives. We have been doing that lately on all major projects and a good example is the Mel Wetter Parkway, which was able to be opened months ahead of schedule.
Our Street Committee suggested adding even further incentives to the Elm Street project by extending the target period in which the contractor could achieve incentives. Incentives may add a $100,000 or so to a seven or eight million dollar project, but it is well worth it for the aggravation it avoids.
Another suggestion I made to city staff, is to never let a road get in as bad a shape as some portions of Elm Street. Those sections that jar you and your car’s suspension, should have been cut out and relaid. Instead, there was a reluctance to do anything to a street that everyone knew would just be torn up for major reconstruction a year or two later. Deferring maintenance that adds to frustration levels on the part of motorists is never a good idea.
Having a great Public Works Department is two-thirds perspiration and one-third public relations. I hope the smiley face is a positive sign of good things to come from a department that seems more committed than ever to public service.
Let me make this point clear, a major reconstruction project is going to be inconvenient no matter what we do. Unless the City flew a helicopter to their house to ferry them to work each day, we are going to make some people very angry and a lot of people somewhat frustrated over the next year with the Elm Street project.
But to the extent they can, I think that Mahesh Sharma and his department, will listen to your concerns and do everything in their power to accommodate and relieve problems as they come up. Don’t be hesitant to contact them with questions or concerns.
For everyone else, I would recommend switching to decaffeinated coffee, finding an easy listening music station and start planning alternative routs. It’s almost time to grin J and bear it.
First Capitol News Sports - Mike McMurran Sports Editor
Lately I’ve been meeting a large number of new faces, I’m sure you understand where and why, and one of the big questions I get is, “What are your hobbies? I can tell a lot about people by their hobbies,” more than one person has said to me. My honest response is usually, “I don’t have any hobbies, I’ve got three kids under the age of 11.” The strangest thing is no one believes me when I say that – but it’s true.
Since no one believes me when I say that, I had to come up with some type of hobbies; without lying of course. So I did a self-evaluation and really did monitor what I did with my spare time. Now my response is, “I am a youth coach. I coach my kids’ teams.” If you know anything about grammar you will notice I used the plural possessive form of the word kid. I have three children and I coach one of each of their sports.
From January until late March I am Maggie’s basketball coach. She and 9 of her classmates play in the CYA league representing their school, Academy of the Sacred Heart. I was somewhat drafted into the position by Dr. Richard Heise, who was the girls’ assistant coach last season, and serves as my assistant this season. Last season was the girls first season of playing basketball – and it showed. They finished with a 2-8 record, and it was sometimes painful to watch them play. I sat in the stands and kept my comments to myself, but thought that with just a little instruction the girls could be pretty good. I’m not the best basketball coach in the world, but quiet honestly I have hung out with some pretty darn good ones. Remember ladies and gentlemen, I teach in Jennings, and for 6 year I was the high school athletic director. One of my responsibilities was to supervise, which means attend all athletic contests – both boys and girls. For 6 years I would attend well over 100, yes one hundred high school basketball games. When you factor in varsity, junior varsity and freshmen teams, boys and girls, not to mention tournaments that I hosted, the number was probably closer to 150. I watched and I learned. These names won’t mean much to the average person, but I’ve watched such successful high school coaches as, Randy Carter, Lance Hash, Danny Thomas and Tom Burniski. Anyone of the 4 gentlemen has forgotten more about basketball than the average person will ever know.
Any way, Maggie’s team began practicing over the Christmas Holiday, I think we practiced about 5 or 6 times. The parents wondered why we were practicing so much and I told them, “We have to learn the offense and the defense if we are going to be successful.” “Offense and defense,” they questioned. “Please remember these girls finished 2-8 last season. Don’t get their expectations too high,” I was told. Anyone who knows me knows if I am going to do something I give it all I have; I might not always accomplish my objective, but never is it due to lack of hard work and effort. Not only did we learn an offense and defense, we learned two offenses: one to attack a zone defense, one to attack a man-to-man defense. Every Friday afternoon from 3:15 until 5:00 you would find Dr. Heise and myself in the gym with 10 5th grade girls, bouncing basketballs, practicing free throws, and learning silly sayings like: “My side, I pick.” Now, please remember where I started – talking about my hobbies and such. On almost every single one of these Fridays we were practicing, the teachers and beautiful Jennings Junior High School, or at least many of them, would go out to happy hour and discuss with each other how they got through the previous week. Each week I would be invited, and each week I would have to tell them, “Can’t, I have basketball practice.”
I’m not sure of the gratification others receive from their hobbies, but if you could see the look on my girls’ faces when they score a basketball. Remember please, they have all been taught that unlike last season, when they score, act as if they have scored before – even though many had not. Last week after Emily Holloran banked in a jump shot, she immediately looked over to the bench to see if her coach had witnessed her success. Of course I did – we made eye contact as she smiled from ear to ear. You see last season when the girls scored, their celebration would make a Super Bowl winning touchdown celebration look mild. I’ve taken a page from the Notre Dame philosophy – act like you’ve scored before. This year I have at least 5 girls who have scored more points in a single contest than all of last year. I know this to be true because my favorite daughter, Maggie Kurtz McMurran is one of them. I have two players, Grace Schwendemann and Isabella Tambone, who are unstoppable when they get the ball down low. Last season they didn’t even know what “down low,” meant. We really don’t have any star players, but the flip side of that is we have lots of depth. When Grace and ‘Bella take a breather we simply substitute Madison Flynn and Kayla Simon – I still don’t know which combination would be first string or second string. We call our guards, “wings,” and that is where Paige Theby and Hillary Padavan do their damage – simple little jump shots or passing the ball down low – whatever the other team gives us. On defense, if we are looking for a quick turnover, I simply put our pit bull, Sarah Heise on the opposing team’s point guard. If you ever saw Sarah play defense you would know why we call he our “pit bull.” Speaking of point guards, our point guard, Elizabeth Francis, is faster dribbling the ball down the court than most are simply running. She has scored countless times on a fast break.
The team will play their final game of the season Saturday against All Saints. Presently we are sitting on a 6-3 record, and no matter what happens Saturday will have improved greatly over last season. I guess what I really want to do here is thank all 10 girls for a wonderful three months. And while I’m at it, a thank you to their parents for trusting me to coach their daughters. I know there was some question at the beginning of the season as to whether or not I knew what I was doing.
Well it looks as if I have run out of space – I was going to write about Joe’s baseball and Dee’s soccer teams. Maybe I should add “writing” to my list of hobbies. See ya next week.
Since no one believes me when I say that, I had to come up with some type of hobbies; without lying of course. So I did a self-evaluation and really did monitor what I did with my spare time. Now my response is, “I am a youth coach. I coach my kids’ teams.” If you know anything about grammar you will notice I used the plural possessive form of the word kid. I have three children and I coach one of each of their sports.
From January until late March I am Maggie’s basketball coach. She and 9 of her classmates play in the CYA league representing their school, Academy of the Sacred Heart. I was somewhat drafted into the position by Dr. Richard Heise, who was the girls’ assistant coach last season, and serves as my assistant this season. Last season was the girls first season of playing basketball – and it showed. They finished with a 2-8 record, and it was sometimes painful to watch them play. I sat in the stands and kept my comments to myself, but thought that with just a little instruction the girls could be pretty good. I’m not the best basketball coach in the world, but quiet honestly I have hung out with some pretty darn good ones. Remember ladies and gentlemen, I teach in Jennings, and for 6 year I was the high school athletic director. One of my responsibilities was to supervise, which means attend all athletic contests – both boys and girls. For 6 years I would attend well over 100, yes one hundred high school basketball games. When you factor in varsity, junior varsity and freshmen teams, boys and girls, not to mention tournaments that I hosted, the number was probably closer to 150. I watched and I learned. These names won’t mean much to the average person, but I’ve watched such successful high school coaches as, Randy Carter, Lance Hash, Danny Thomas and Tom Burniski. Anyone of the 4 gentlemen has forgotten more about basketball than the average person will ever know.
Any way, Maggie’s team began practicing over the Christmas Holiday, I think we practiced about 5 or 6 times. The parents wondered why we were practicing so much and I told them, “We have to learn the offense and the defense if we are going to be successful.” “Offense and defense,” they questioned. “Please remember these girls finished 2-8 last season. Don’t get their expectations too high,” I was told. Anyone who knows me knows if I am going to do something I give it all I have; I might not always accomplish my objective, but never is it due to lack of hard work and effort. Not only did we learn an offense and defense, we learned two offenses: one to attack a zone defense, one to attack a man-to-man defense. Every Friday afternoon from 3:15 until 5:00 you would find Dr. Heise and myself in the gym with 10 5th grade girls, bouncing basketballs, practicing free throws, and learning silly sayings like: “My side, I pick.” Now, please remember where I started – talking about my hobbies and such. On almost every single one of these Fridays we were practicing, the teachers and beautiful Jennings Junior High School, or at least many of them, would go out to happy hour and discuss with each other how they got through the previous week. Each week I would be invited, and each week I would have to tell them, “Can’t, I have basketball practice.”
I’m not sure of the gratification others receive from their hobbies, but if you could see the look on my girls’ faces when they score a basketball. Remember please, they have all been taught that unlike last season, when they score, act as if they have scored before – even though many had not. Last week after Emily Holloran banked in a jump shot, she immediately looked over to the bench to see if her coach had witnessed her success. Of course I did – we made eye contact as she smiled from ear to ear. You see last season when the girls scored, their celebration would make a Super Bowl winning touchdown celebration look mild. I’ve taken a page from the Notre Dame philosophy – act like you’ve scored before. This year I have at least 5 girls who have scored more points in a single contest than all of last year. I know this to be true because my favorite daughter, Maggie Kurtz McMurran is one of them. I have two players, Grace Schwendemann and Isabella Tambone, who are unstoppable when they get the ball down low. Last season they didn’t even know what “down low,” meant. We really don’t have any star players, but the flip side of that is we have lots of depth. When Grace and ‘Bella take a breather we simply substitute Madison Flynn and Kayla Simon – I still don’t know which combination would be first string or second string. We call our guards, “wings,” and that is where Paige Theby and Hillary Padavan do their damage – simple little jump shots or passing the ball down low – whatever the other team gives us. On defense, if we are looking for a quick turnover, I simply put our pit bull, Sarah Heise on the opposing team’s point guard. If you ever saw Sarah play defense you would know why we call he our “pit bull.” Speaking of point guards, our point guard, Elizabeth Francis, is faster dribbling the ball down the court than most are simply running. She has scored countless times on a fast break.
The team will play their final game of the season Saturday against All Saints. Presently we are sitting on a 6-3 record, and no matter what happens Saturday will have improved greatly over last season. I guess what I really want to do here is thank all 10 girls for a wonderful three months. And while I’m at it, a thank you to their parents for trusting me to coach their daughters. I know there was some question at the beginning of the season as to whether or not I knew what I was doing.
Well it looks as if I have run out of space – I was going to write about Joe’s baseball and Dee’s soccer teams. Maybe I should add “writing” to my list of hobbies. See ya next week.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER ASSASSINS BROUGHT IN FOR ELECTION
Out Of Town Goon Squad Coming To St. Charles
By Tony Brockmeyer
Reminiscent of something out of the Soprano’s, the City of St. Charles has been infiltrated by hired hit men. The difference is these hit men won’t be using automatic weapons and trying to kill their marks. They are hired to destroy lives and the credibility of those who dare challenge the established power in St. Charles.
The First Capitol News has learned that millionaire developers have brought political assassins into St. Charles to conduct a negative campaign against Mayoral Candidate John Gieseke and some of the incumbent City Council members who are running for re-election and who have stood up against the special interests in favor of the residents of St. Charles.
Sources have told the First Capitol News that two of the companies involved in this effort are Aximon Strategies of Kansas City headed by well known Political Assassin, Jeff Roe and John Hancock & Associates of Chesterfield.
Roe has quite the reputation within the political arena. He has been compared to Darth Vadar by the Kansas City Star daily newspaper because of negative campaigns he has spearheaded. Roe has offices in Kansas City and has been hired across the state to create the illusion that candidates who are running for office against his clients are unfit.
Roe likes to distort voting records and goes as far as to go through the trash of his opponents looking for personal information that he can twist and turn. His specialty showed up in the last Mayoral debate when York made the statement, “Just six months ago Councilman Gieseke voted for a tax increase.” Gieseke did no such thing.
Roe doesn’t deny his use of negative campaigns for one reason, they have worked. If the voters continue to vote for those who run negative campaigns Roe will always have a job.
At a time when the public has voiced their concerns and have said they are fed up with negative campaigning the residents of St. Charles City are due to receive more than they have ever seen.
When told about the hit men, Mayoral Candidate John Gieseke said, “I can’t comment to what someone is doing or not doing. I am running a race that has the best interest of the residents in mind. I am not going to use character assassination or misleading statements about Mayor York. This race is about the future and vision of St. Charles, I am going to let the people know my record and my vision of the future. I signed a clean campaign pledge at City hall and I intend to live up to that.”
Councilman Mark Brown told us in last weeks edition, “He had been threatened and warned that if he filed for re-election that the vicious lies and rumors they put out the last time would be insignificant compared to what they have in store for him in this election.” First Capitol News contacted Brown and asked if he was aware of the information brought out in this story. Brown replied, “A Candidate who ties themselves to people like Ken Kielty and Jeff Roe must be held accountable first and foremost for their campaign tactics. If a candidate approves sleazy ads and campaign tactics what does it say about how they will conduct the affairs of the citizens paying taxes? It says anything goes, which isn’t good.”
Roe has been the subject of a number of articles in the Kansas City Star newspaper. In the articles Roe does not deny his use of negative campaigning. Roe went as far as to say an opponent of one of his candidates was a “smut peddler” because a magazine she was selling ads for 20 years ago, Omni a science magazine, was owned by the same company that published Penthouse Magazine.
In another campaign Roe blasted a candidate for supporting the radical gay-rights agenda. He said the candidate had been rewarded with gratuities by pro-gay lobbyists.” He made this charge because the candidate had accepted a $3.18 beverage from a lobbyist who two years later went to work for a gay-rights organization.
John Hancock and Associates is a political consulting firm located in Chesterfield. According to their web site, it is headed by John Hancock. His political experience spans three decades in Missouri politics. He is a former state legislator, was a nominee for Secretary of State in 1992 and 1996. Hancock has worked in the public relations-media industry since 1993 for a number of corporate clients. In addition, he served as the official spokesman for the Blunt for Governor campaign in 2004.
John Prouty, employed by John Hancock and Associates as a research assistant, has collected data from St. Charles City Hall.
Prouty, is a former member of the embattled Bush White House and was part of the speech writing and spin master team.
Freedom of Information requests from City Hall revealed Prouty asked for and received DVD’s from the council meetings dated March 2, 2007, all meetings in June of 2004, June 7 of 2005, December 20, 2005, January 3, 2006, and all council expenditures and council expense reports from April 2001 to present.
The Hancock firm’s website disclosed that one of their clients is AT&T.
Councilmen John Gieseke and Mark Brown both held up the AT&T ordinance trying to ensure all of St. Charles would be served. Their position was the same as the Missouri Municipal League. Like Gieseke and Brown, the MML voiced concerns over “cherry picking of certain areas by AT&T and not providing full service to all residents.” AT&T’s proposed contract with St. Charles was lacking in protection for the residents.
St. Charles is not new territory for Roe. He was brought in by big money interests in the August 2006 primary when St. Charles Councilman Joe Brazil faced off against Scott Rupp in the Republican primary for a state senate seat.
Brazil told the First Capitol News he believed Roe to be the worst type of political operative. “He told lies, misrepresented facts and brought up an incident that happened when I was 18 years old and then lied about it,” Brazil said.
A story in the Kansas City Star newspaper says that Roe specializes in distortions. He likes ads that distort the faces of his clients opponents. But mostly he distorts voting records.
According to another article in the Kansas City Star by Steve Kraske and Mike Rice, Lots of political consultants run hard-hitting TV ads. What makes Roe different is just how far he goes. Not unlike President Bush’s strategist, Karl Rove, Roe’s approach has been compared to blunt-force trauma. The message: You want to run against my guy? Fine, but this is the type of unrelenting misery you’re going to have to put up with. Roe’s mentor at Northwest Missouri State University expresses doubt about Roe; “I’ve never been clear on whether there’s any ethical or moral substance behind him,” said professor David McLaughlin.
Another person commented, “Candidates who use Roe should be very careful. If you sleep with the devil you will get burned.”
Some political insiders believe that Roe’s time has come and gone along with his type of slash and burn politics.
The First Capitol News contacted Roe and he denied any involvement with St. Charles politics. An individual like Roe usually does not want anyone to know he is involved until the campaign is over.
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By Tony Brockmeyer
Reminiscent of something out of the Soprano’s, the City of St. Charles has been infiltrated by hired hit men. The difference is these hit men won’t be using automatic weapons and trying to kill their marks. They are hired to destroy lives and the credibility of those who dare challenge the established power in St. Charles.
The First Capitol News has learned that millionaire developers have brought political assassins into St. Charles to conduct a negative campaign against Mayoral Candidate John Gieseke and some of the incumbent City Council members who are running for re-election and who have stood up against the special interests in favor of the residents of St. Charles.
Sources have told the First Capitol News that two of the companies involved in this effort are Aximon Strategies of Kansas City headed by well known Political Assassin, Jeff Roe and John Hancock & Associates of Chesterfield.
Roe has quite the reputation within the political arena. He has been compared to Darth Vadar by the Kansas City Star daily newspaper because of negative campaigns he has spearheaded. Roe has offices in Kansas City and has been hired across the state to create the illusion that candidates who are running for office against his clients are unfit.
Roe likes to distort voting records and goes as far as to go through the trash of his opponents looking for personal information that he can twist and turn. His specialty showed up in the last Mayoral debate when York made the statement, “Just six months ago Councilman Gieseke voted for a tax increase.” Gieseke did no such thing.
Roe doesn’t deny his use of negative campaigns for one reason, they have worked. If the voters continue to vote for those who run negative campaigns Roe will always have a job.
At a time when the public has voiced their concerns and have said they are fed up with negative campaigning the residents of St. Charles City are due to receive more than they have ever seen.
When told about the hit men, Mayoral Candidate John Gieseke said, “I can’t comment to what someone is doing or not doing. I am running a race that has the best interest of the residents in mind. I am not going to use character assassination or misleading statements about Mayor York. This race is about the future and vision of St. Charles, I am going to let the people know my record and my vision of the future. I signed a clean campaign pledge at City hall and I intend to live up to that.”
Councilman Mark Brown told us in last weeks edition, “He had been threatened and warned that if he filed for re-election that the vicious lies and rumors they put out the last time would be insignificant compared to what they have in store for him in this election.” First Capitol News contacted Brown and asked if he was aware of the information brought out in this story. Brown replied, “A Candidate who ties themselves to people like Ken Kielty and Jeff Roe must be held accountable first and foremost for their campaign tactics. If a candidate approves sleazy ads and campaign tactics what does it say about how they will conduct the affairs of the citizens paying taxes? It says anything goes, which isn’t good.”
Roe has been the subject of a number of articles in the Kansas City Star newspaper. In the articles Roe does not deny his use of negative campaigning. Roe went as far as to say an opponent of one of his candidates was a “smut peddler” because a magazine she was selling ads for 20 years ago, Omni a science magazine, was owned by the same company that published Penthouse Magazine.
In another campaign Roe blasted a candidate for supporting the radical gay-rights agenda. He said the candidate had been rewarded with gratuities by pro-gay lobbyists.” He made this charge because the candidate had accepted a $3.18 beverage from a lobbyist who two years later went to work for a gay-rights organization.
John Hancock and Associates is a political consulting firm located in Chesterfield. According to their web site, it is headed by John Hancock. His political experience spans three decades in Missouri politics. He is a former state legislator, was a nominee for Secretary of State in 1992 and 1996. Hancock has worked in the public relations-media industry since 1993 for a number of corporate clients. In addition, he served as the official spokesman for the Blunt for Governor campaign in 2004.
John Prouty, employed by John Hancock and Associates as a research assistant, has collected data from St. Charles City Hall.
Prouty, is a former member of the embattled Bush White House and was part of the speech writing and spin master team.
Freedom of Information requests from City Hall revealed Prouty asked for and received DVD’s from the council meetings dated March 2, 2007, all meetings in June of 2004, June 7 of 2005, December 20, 2005, January 3, 2006, and all council expenditures and council expense reports from April 2001 to present.
The Hancock firm’s website disclosed that one of their clients is AT&T.
Councilmen John Gieseke and Mark Brown both held up the AT&T ordinance trying to ensure all of St. Charles would be served. Their position was the same as the Missouri Municipal League. Like Gieseke and Brown, the MML voiced concerns over “cherry picking of certain areas by AT&T and not providing full service to all residents.” AT&T’s proposed contract with St. Charles was lacking in protection for the residents.
St. Charles is not new territory for Roe. He was brought in by big money interests in the August 2006 primary when St. Charles Councilman Joe Brazil faced off against Scott Rupp in the Republican primary for a state senate seat.
Brazil told the First Capitol News he believed Roe to be the worst type of political operative. “He told lies, misrepresented facts and brought up an incident that happened when I was 18 years old and then lied about it,” Brazil said.
A story in the Kansas City Star newspaper says that Roe specializes in distortions. He likes ads that distort the faces of his clients opponents. But mostly he distorts voting records.
According to another article in the Kansas City Star by Steve Kraske and Mike Rice, Lots of political consultants run hard-hitting TV ads. What makes Roe different is just how far he goes. Not unlike President Bush’s strategist, Karl Rove, Roe’s approach has been compared to blunt-force trauma. The message: You want to run against my guy? Fine, but this is the type of unrelenting misery you’re going to have to put up with. Roe’s mentor at Northwest Missouri State University expresses doubt about Roe; “I’ve never been clear on whether there’s any ethical or moral substance behind him,” said professor David McLaughlin.
Another person commented, “Candidates who use Roe should be very careful. If you sleep with the devil you will get burned.”
Some political insiders believe that Roe’s time has come and gone along with his type of slash and burn politics.
The First Capitol News contacted Roe and he denied any involvement with St. Charles politics. An individual like Roe usually does not want anyone to know he is involved until the campaign is over.
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