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Saturday, December 22, 2007
College Foundation Selects Grace Harmon For Achievement Award
Will Recognize Her Lifetime of Community Betterment
The St. Charles Community College Foundation has chosen local civic leader Grace Harmon of St. Charles as the 2008 recipient of the Professional Excellence Achievement Recognition (PEAR) award.
Harmon will be the guest of honor at the Foundation’s annual PEAR Award Gala Dinner on Feb. 23 at Whitmore Country Club in St. Peters.
Each year, PEAR award recipients are recognized by the community college Foundation Board for their personal and professional contributions to the quality of life for St. Charles County and its residents.
Harmon, who with her late husband, Ray, previously operated the world’s largest and most successful baby photo company, has spent a lifetime contributing back to society through her leadership, volunteerism, and philanthropy.
“It is easy to understand why our Foundation Board of Directors has selected Grace, whose love of community clearly demonstrates a true spirit of caring and giving,” said Julie Bartch, president of the Foundation. “Her causes have been many – supporting and encouraging economic development, education, health care, the arts, the disabled, and those who simply need a roof over their heads or a head start in seeking career and job opportunities.”
A savvy businesswoman in her own right, Harmon worked with husband Ray as he developed First Foto-HASCO International 50 years ago in Alexandria, Va., later establishing St. Charles as the headquarters in 1977. By 1999, HASCO was serving 2,750 hospitals in 50 states, photographing roughly 78 percent of all American babies. As the company grew, Grace would step in to start up new departments – “a jack of all trades,” she called herself. She found her real niche in the personnel department hiring and placing new employees.
For the Harmons, professional success was a blessing that reflected a joy for living, a respect for work, and a love of family, church, and education. Their business success afforded them a means to become active in their community with a goal of supporting change and innovation for the greater good.
Now retired, Grace Harmon is a past president of the area’s Business and Professional Women’s organization. Active in the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce since 1986, she served as its president in 1999 and was selected as the chamber’s Citizen of the Years award recipient in 2002. She is a graduate of Leadership St. Charles (1990) and Leadership St. Louis (1995), was a member of the Regional Business Council of the RCGA, and she received Rotarian of the Year accolades from the St. Charles Sunrise Rotary Club in the year 2000. She and Ray were honored by the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce and by Youth in Need (1996) for their involvement in activities supporting young people.
Harmon has also been honored with the Athena Leadership Award and the Dove Award for her community service, mentoring others, and supporting the development of women in leadership. A champion of education, she has served a number of years on Lindenwood University’s Board of Directors. She was a charter member of the St. Charles Public Schools Foundation, where she served for 10 years. She participated in career awareness fairs for eighth-graders and the annual Ethics Seminar for high school seniors.
“Young people are the future of St. Charles County,” Harmon said, “and it pleases me to see the busy leaders of institutions and corporations working together to help develop students’ skills and talents.” Harmon credits business organizations like Partners for Progress and people like Randy Shilling, president of Quiligy; James Evans, president of Lindenwood University; and John McGuire, president of St. Charles Community College for their collective contributions to educating the future workforce.
Harmon currently serves on the boards of Partners for Progress, Foundry Art Center, Mosaics Festival for the Arts, and ShowMe Aquatics. She chaired the St. Joseph Health Center Foundation in 1991, and the Harmons’ monetary gift in 1998 enabled the hospital to build a new rehabilitation center for patients suffering from heart and lung conditions. She is the 2007 chair of the St. Joseph Health Center Advisory Board.
Harmon served on the board of Connections for Success, where she supported the needs of women breaking the cycle of poverty to enter the job market. She also joined the Habitat for Humanity Board and is currently a church elder who is active with New Hope Presbyterian Church.
“As a workplace leader and as a community servant, Grace has always strived to lift up people who are less fortunate,” Bartch said. “A person of great compassion and optimism, her style is to contribute and to serve, and she encourages businesses and corporations to do the same.”
Foundation Executive Director Edie Kirk said the gala dinner in Harmon’s honor will be an opportunity to raise funds in support of SCC students while at the same time recognizing Harmon for “a lifetime of compassion, of leading the way, of revitalizing our community, and empowering others to success.” “We are pleased to honor someone who has contributed so much over so many years to the quality of life in this area,” Kirk said.
The theme for the Foundation gala is “Destination Education,” a lively roast and toast in keeping with a passion for travel that Grace and Ray Harmon shared over more than 50 years of marriage. The Harmons’ company captured the baby photo business at nearly all the hospitals in Canada and Australia, and they also set up operations in Paris, France. Their work and their vacations took them to more than 20 countries around the globe, including a balloon trip across the Serenghetti Desert.
Grace and Ray both graduated from St. Charles High School in 1943, and the couple married in 1947. They had two daughters, Jan and Lynn, six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. The Harmons often took family vacations, which Grace continued to do after Ray’s death in 2005.
But Harmon’s heart remains in St. Charles County. She still sets a major priority on participation in her community. “It’s part of belonging,” she says.
Veit Attempts Parlimentary Ploy In Attempt To Fool Residents of Frenchtown
By Tony Brockmeyer
A ploy by Councilman Richard Veit, Ward 1, at the recent city council meeting may have backfired on him.
Veit has been attempting to rezone properties on North Fourth Street from residential to industrial in defiance of the requests of neighborhood residents. When the bill came to a vote. Councilmen Kneemiller, Stivison, Ermeling, Beckering voted for the rezoning. Feldman and Weller did not attend the meeting, Councilmen Muench, Reeese and Klinghammer voted against the rezoning. Veit was the last to cast his vote and when asked for his vote he hesitated and then to the surprise of those in the audience he voted no.
Veit voted no in an apparent attempt to keep the rezoning issue alive until the two missing council members could be present at a later meeting and vote in favor.
The city council meetings are run by Roberts’s rules of Order. Those rules allow someone who votes in the majority on an issue to be able to have the issue reconsidered at the next meeting. Thus once Veit voted no and was therefore in the majority he could have asked for reconsideration of the matter at the next council meeting. Perhaps one at which the opposition, not aware of his ploy, would not be in attendance.
However, apparently City attorney Mike Valenti rules against that procedure. According to city hall sources, Valenti has ruled that the city council rules say the matter must be called for reconsideration at the same meeting as the original vote. It is Valenti’s opinion that the city council rules overrule Roberts Rules of Order. Therefore, unless Valenti is over ruled or convinced to change his mind Veit’s ploy did not work.
Since being elected Veit has been pushing hard to rezone properties at 1427, 1501, 1503 and 1517 North Fourth Street from residential to industrial. The properties are currently being used for an out building manufacturing company and several automotive businesses such as a body shop, transmission repair and used car lot.
The zoning was changed several years ago by former City Council President Rory Riddler at the request of residents of the area. Riddler’s rezoning grandfathered all the businesses currently being operated there and would have allowed the property to be used for the same type of business if and when they were sold.
In an apparent attempt to help some of the people who helped during his election campaign Veit introduced a bill to eliminate the residential zoning and rezone the properties to industrial. The bill for industrial rezoning was changed to commercial rezoning at the urging of councilman Beckering.
The bill has been on the agenda for several weeks causing the residents in opposition to have to attend each meeting to make their feelings known At one meeting Veit told the residents in attendance that he was not interested in what they wanted, he was voting for the rezoning and they had nine other council members they could try to convince. The bill was to have been voted on at the November 20th meeting of the council but was postponed due to one of Veit’s frequent absences.
At the December 4th meeting Councilman Mike Weller and Councilwoman Laurie Feldman were both absent.
A ploy by Councilman Richard Veit, Ward 1, at the recent city council meeting may have backfired on him.
Veit has been attempting to rezone properties on North Fourth Street from residential to industrial in defiance of the requests of neighborhood residents. When the bill came to a vote. Councilmen Kneemiller, Stivison, Ermeling, Beckering voted for the rezoning. Feldman and Weller did not attend the meeting, Councilmen Muench, Reeese and Klinghammer voted against the rezoning. Veit was the last to cast his vote and when asked for his vote he hesitated and then to the surprise of those in the audience he voted no.
Veit voted no in an apparent attempt to keep the rezoning issue alive until the two missing council members could be present at a later meeting and vote in favor.
The city council meetings are run by Roberts’s rules of Order. Those rules allow someone who votes in the majority on an issue to be able to have the issue reconsidered at the next meeting. Thus once Veit voted no and was therefore in the majority he could have asked for reconsideration of the matter at the next council meeting. Perhaps one at which the opposition, not aware of his ploy, would not be in attendance.
However, apparently City attorney Mike Valenti rules against that procedure. According to city hall sources, Valenti has ruled that the city council rules say the matter must be called for reconsideration at the same meeting as the original vote. It is Valenti’s opinion that the city council rules overrule Roberts Rules of Order. Therefore, unless Valenti is over ruled or convinced to change his mind Veit’s ploy did not work.
Since being elected Veit has been pushing hard to rezone properties at 1427, 1501, 1503 and 1517 North Fourth Street from residential to industrial. The properties are currently being used for an out building manufacturing company and several automotive businesses such as a body shop, transmission repair and used car lot.
The zoning was changed several years ago by former City Council President Rory Riddler at the request of residents of the area. Riddler’s rezoning grandfathered all the businesses currently being operated there and would have allowed the property to be used for the same type of business if and when they were sold.
In an apparent attempt to help some of the people who helped during his election campaign Veit introduced a bill to eliminate the residential zoning and rezone the properties to industrial. The bill for industrial rezoning was changed to commercial rezoning at the urging of councilman Beckering.
The bill has been on the agenda for several weeks causing the residents in opposition to have to attend each meeting to make their feelings known At one meeting Veit told the residents in attendance that he was not interested in what they wanted, he was voting for the rezoning and they had nine other council members they could try to convince. The bill was to have been voted on at the November 20th meeting of the council but was postponed due to one of Veit’s frequent absences.
At the December 4th meeting Councilman Mike Weller and Councilwoman Laurie Feldman were both absent.
RAMBLING WITH The Editor Tony Brockmeyer
PEOPLE FROM OUT OF TOWN FAVORED TO SERVE ON ST. CHARLES BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS IF BILL PASSES
Several years ago it was apparent to the then members of the city council that the Mayor was filling a lot of the boards and commissions with her cronies. That is to be expected however the council discovered that many of her appointments did not live in St. Charles, did not own property in St. Charles, and were not registered voters. One of those was the Mayor’s aunt who lived in St. Louis. The council believed that to have proper representation on St. Charles Boards and Commission the members should be registered voters and residents of the city. They introduced a bill, which became an ordinance requiring it.
Now that the Mayor owns the current city council she can do whatever she wants. Councilmen Ron Stivison and Councilman Erv Ermeling have introduced a bill that if passed, would do away with that requirement. You would no longer have to neither be a resident of St. Charles nor be a registered voter to be appointed by the Mayor to a St. Charles Board or Commission. It is Bill 9523.
The previous council also passed an ordinance that when the term a member of a board or commission expired they were no longer a member of the board. At the time several patronage friends of the Mayor were serving on the boards. Some of them did not even live in the city. When their terms expired the Mayor would just not appoint anyone else so her patronage friends would continue to serve even though their terms had expired. Stivison and Ermeling’s bill voids that and allows the board members to serve for at least six months after their term expires is no one has been appointed to the seat.
There was also a section that required any member of a board or commission to disclose any financial or other private interest in city legislation. They are taking this requirement out along with the provision prohibiting a board or commission member from having a financial interest, direct or indirect, in any contract with the city or are financially interested, directly or indirectly in the sale to the city of any land, materials, supplies, equipment or services.
On some of the boards, local organizations, such as the Historic Downtown District, Frenchtown Historical District, and South Main Street Historical District would make two nominations to the boards and one would be selected by the Mayor and city council to serve. This section has also been deleted form the bill. Councilman Veit remarked, “I don’t want to see any little fiefdoms built up.”
They have also deleted the Citizen’s Participation and Advisory Committee, Oktoberfest Committee, Lewis and Clark Rendezvous Days Committee, and Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority.
CHANGES TO LIQUOR LICENSE LAW
Another interesting bill is Bill #9527 which is being sponsored by Councilman Veit. This bill, if passed by the city council, would void the provision that currently prohibits possession of an open container in a motor vehicle.
It also will prohibit any dancing, sitting or standing upon a bar, tables or an other raised surface that is used for preparing or serving food or beverages. If would also be a violation if a liquor license holder or any employee failed to prevent or suppress any violent quarrel, disorder, brawl, fight, or other improper or unlawful conduct nor would profane or obscene language, song, entertainment, literature or advertising material be allowed upon the premises.
There is also a section in the bill that restricts to six, the number of liquor licenses that can be issued in the 100 block of South Main Street and the 100, 200 and 300 blocks of North Main Street.
Several years ago it was apparent to the then members of the city council that the Mayor was filling a lot of the boards and commissions with her cronies. That is to be expected however the council discovered that many of her appointments did not live in St. Charles, did not own property in St. Charles, and were not registered voters. One of those was the Mayor’s aunt who lived in St. Louis. The council believed that to have proper representation on St. Charles Boards and Commission the members should be registered voters and residents of the city. They introduced a bill, which became an ordinance requiring it.
Now that the Mayor owns the current city council she can do whatever she wants. Councilmen Ron Stivison and Councilman Erv Ermeling have introduced a bill that if passed, would do away with that requirement. You would no longer have to neither be a resident of St. Charles nor be a registered voter to be appointed by the Mayor to a St. Charles Board or Commission. It is Bill 9523.
The previous council also passed an ordinance that when the term a member of a board or commission expired they were no longer a member of the board. At the time several patronage friends of the Mayor were serving on the boards. Some of them did not even live in the city. When their terms expired the Mayor would just not appoint anyone else so her patronage friends would continue to serve even though their terms had expired. Stivison and Ermeling’s bill voids that and allows the board members to serve for at least six months after their term expires is no one has been appointed to the seat.
There was also a section that required any member of a board or commission to disclose any financial or other private interest in city legislation. They are taking this requirement out along with the provision prohibiting a board or commission member from having a financial interest, direct or indirect, in any contract with the city or are financially interested, directly or indirectly in the sale to the city of any land, materials, supplies, equipment or services.
On some of the boards, local organizations, such as the Historic Downtown District, Frenchtown Historical District, and South Main Street Historical District would make two nominations to the boards and one would be selected by the Mayor and city council to serve. This section has also been deleted form the bill. Councilman Veit remarked, “I don’t want to see any little fiefdoms built up.”
They have also deleted the Citizen’s Participation and Advisory Committee, Oktoberfest Committee, Lewis and Clark Rendezvous Days Committee, and Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority.
CHANGES TO LIQUOR LICENSE LAW
Another interesting bill is Bill #9527 which is being sponsored by Councilman Veit. This bill, if passed by the city council, would void the provision that currently prohibits possession of an open container in a motor vehicle.
It also will prohibit any dancing, sitting or standing upon a bar, tables or an other raised surface that is used for preparing or serving food or beverages. If would also be a violation if a liquor license holder or any employee failed to prevent or suppress any violent quarrel, disorder, brawl, fight, or other improper or unlawful conduct nor would profane or obscene language, song, entertainment, literature or advertising material be allowed upon the premises.
There is also a section in the bill that restricts to six, the number of liquor licenses that can be issued in the 100 block of South Main Street and the 100, 200 and 300 blocks of North Main Street.
THE CITY DESK - Rory Riddler
Strategic Plan Is Shiny Thing
To Distract You From The Truth
The latest newsletter from the City of St. Charles arrived this past week and gave me one of those “stop, rewind, what did that say” moments. The article from the City Council was about a retreat they had in August to discuss a Strategic Plan for the City of St. Charles.
The article described how they “dove” into the strategic planning process. They hope to be able to identify the issues facing the community and establish a vision for our community as a whole.
Now in my day (earlier this year) the Council was “elected” to establish policy for the City. The identification process for the needs of the people, were “identified” through the process of running on a platform, and going door-to-door in a campaign to listen to the people. Council members were elected to roll up their sleeves and begin the job the people elected them to do, not to begin a never ending process of self-evaluation with what amounts to an over-priced therapist asking our elected public officials to just lay back on the couch and tell us about their childhoods.
So four months after they began, nine months after the new council was elected, we are reading a December newsletter about what they talked about last August. They state in the article that the retreat was “…not a forum for the establishment of priorities for specific projects.” Why bother with the details like accomplishing anything.
No, the strategic planning process, or as our President likes to call it, “Strategy”, is like the Never Ending Story or worse, every parent’s nightmare trapped in a car with young children…The Song That Never Ends. You know, “This is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends. Someone starting singing it, not knowing what it was. And now they go on singing it, forever just because…this is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends…” (Must will myself to stop now).
Ahhh, that’s better.
So how long can this process go on? Well, the Mayor’s column in the same newsletter gives us a hint. She writes, “This next year will see us planning for the future with a Strategic plan…we want participation from everyone…It is our gift to you.” Wow, a gift I get to put together myself.
This is how the council described the process, “Only after we have received input from the overall community, and secured the full commitment from stakeholders, business and residents will we begin to formulate our vision, mission statement and goals for the City.” Yawn, this could take longer than I thought. I wonder if they would know a stakeholder if they saw one? We used to call them taxpayers back in the day.
Of course, for the public to come together and plan where the community is going, everyone will have to have the same level of information and knowledge of where we’ve been, where we are, the available monetary resources, types of taxes, funds, previous commitments for those resources and basic finance principles, personnel resources (manpower, training and management capabilities), the limitations placed on change by State and Federal Law and the Courts, and perhaps some experience in urban planning.
That used to be the job of our elected public officials, to educate themselves and work in a political environment to serve the needs of the people. Now, like the advent of self-service gasoline pumps, we are being challenged to do it for them.
All of this is not to say I am against planning, but people with some experience, expertise and authority best do planning. It isn’t like the City doesn’t have a newly updated “Comprehensive Plan” already. The Planning & Zoning commission and the Community Development Department led that effort and it lays out exactly what the Council in their article said they were looking for in a Strategic Plan, “…a widely accepted guidebook to achieve a higher quality of life”.
There is an old joke that goes, how do you spell Government in action…with one word (inaction) or two (in action)? There is also what I like to call “dynamic inaction” which is when government, business or large utility companies (Ameran U.E. is a master at this), talk a lot about what all they are going to do, commission studies, hold hearings, focus groups, think tanks, do public engagements and run full-page ads telling you about how new and improved they are.
Nothing gets done, but they try to look busy doing it. It reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where he asks, “How did people look busy before computers?”
One of the sillier ways in which Washington bureaucrats have decided to waste our money is in requiring a “public engagement process” on larger Federal projects. The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) just signed a contract to spend over half-a-million dollars with a company to see how people feel about them dumping sewage in area streams and rivers because of an outdated collection system for sanitary waste.
My guess is the public feels that is “bad”, but may not want to spend the estimated billions it will take to fix it if it means raising sewer rates. A year from now, and after spending $500,000 to check it out, we will see if my prediction is true.
Of course if City officials truly wanted to know what is on our minds, all they have to do is conduct a scientifically valid public opinion poll. We can know with a range of plus or minus 4% what the majority of people think about any given subject. We have the technology.
But knowing the “real” truth versus shepherding along the development of a “perceived” truth, are two very different things. No one really wants your opinion in this kind of process. They want to have a select group of elites come together and validate their own beliefs. The process will test public opinion, but only the public opinion of those individuals engaged enough to come to meetings and sit through the process. The end results are therefore invalid for the universe of all City residents from the start.
In many ways, these are the same skills magicians employ to distract us from the truth. It is called misdirection. The Strategic Planning Process is a giant shiny thing being dangled in front of the public to explain away a lack of progress and vision for the community…a vision at one time provided by those we elect to public office.
Haggling over the nuance of every word in a one-size fits all mission statement, may be shiny enough to distract a cat, but will it work on real people? What we’re missing is the obvious. They don’t have a clue what to do.
Not everyone in local government can be painted with the same broad brush. Many, I am sure, came to office with ideas, goals, hopes and dreams. But they are being badly served in listening to those who now say the City’s future is better served if we get everyone together for a group hug. Nothing against group hugs…it’s just no way to run a City.
To Distract You From The Truth
The latest newsletter from the City of St. Charles arrived this past week and gave me one of those “stop, rewind, what did that say” moments. The article from the City Council was about a retreat they had in August to discuss a Strategic Plan for the City of St. Charles.
The article described how they “dove” into the strategic planning process. They hope to be able to identify the issues facing the community and establish a vision for our community as a whole.
Now in my day (earlier this year) the Council was “elected” to establish policy for the City. The identification process for the needs of the people, were “identified” through the process of running on a platform, and going door-to-door in a campaign to listen to the people. Council members were elected to roll up their sleeves and begin the job the people elected them to do, not to begin a never ending process of self-evaluation with what amounts to an over-priced therapist asking our elected public officials to just lay back on the couch and tell us about their childhoods.
So four months after they began, nine months after the new council was elected, we are reading a December newsletter about what they talked about last August. They state in the article that the retreat was “…not a forum for the establishment of priorities for specific projects.” Why bother with the details like accomplishing anything.
No, the strategic planning process, or as our President likes to call it, “Strategy”, is like the Never Ending Story or worse, every parent’s nightmare trapped in a car with young children…The Song That Never Ends. You know, “This is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends. Someone starting singing it, not knowing what it was. And now they go on singing it, forever just because…this is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends…” (Must will myself to stop now).
Ahhh, that’s better.
So how long can this process go on? Well, the Mayor’s column in the same newsletter gives us a hint. She writes, “This next year will see us planning for the future with a Strategic plan…we want participation from everyone…It is our gift to you.” Wow, a gift I get to put together myself.
This is how the council described the process, “Only after we have received input from the overall community, and secured the full commitment from stakeholders, business and residents will we begin to formulate our vision, mission statement and goals for the City.” Yawn, this could take longer than I thought. I wonder if they would know a stakeholder if they saw one? We used to call them taxpayers back in the day.
Of course, for the public to come together and plan where the community is going, everyone will have to have the same level of information and knowledge of where we’ve been, where we are, the available monetary resources, types of taxes, funds, previous commitments for those resources and basic finance principles, personnel resources (manpower, training and management capabilities), the limitations placed on change by State and Federal Law and the Courts, and perhaps some experience in urban planning.
That used to be the job of our elected public officials, to educate themselves and work in a political environment to serve the needs of the people. Now, like the advent of self-service gasoline pumps, we are being challenged to do it for them.
All of this is not to say I am against planning, but people with some experience, expertise and authority best do planning. It isn’t like the City doesn’t have a newly updated “Comprehensive Plan” already. The Planning & Zoning commission and the Community Development Department led that effort and it lays out exactly what the Council in their article said they were looking for in a Strategic Plan, “…a widely accepted guidebook to achieve a higher quality of life”.
There is an old joke that goes, how do you spell Government in action…with one word (inaction) or two (in action)? There is also what I like to call “dynamic inaction” which is when government, business or large utility companies (Ameran U.E. is a master at this), talk a lot about what all they are going to do, commission studies, hold hearings, focus groups, think tanks, do public engagements and run full-page ads telling you about how new and improved they are.
Nothing gets done, but they try to look busy doing it. It reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where he asks, “How did people look busy before computers?”
One of the sillier ways in which Washington bureaucrats have decided to waste our money is in requiring a “public engagement process” on larger Federal projects. The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) just signed a contract to spend over half-a-million dollars with a company to see how people feel about them dumping sewage in area streams and rivers because of an outdated collection system for sanitary waste.
My guess is the public feels that is “bad”, but may not want to spend the estimated billions it will take to fix it if it means raising sewer rates. A year from now, and after spending $500,000 to check it out, we will see if my prediction is true.
Of course if City officials truly wanted to know what is on our minds, all they have to do is conduct a scientifically valid public opinion poll. We can know with a range of plus or minus 4% what the majority of people think about any given subject. We have the technology.
But knowing the “real” truth versus shepherding along the development of a “perceived” truth, are two very different things. No one really wants your opinion in this kind of process. They want to have a select group of elites come together and validate their own beliefs. The process will test public opinion, but only the public opinion of those individuals engaged enough to come to meetings and sit through the process. The end results are therefore invalid for the universe of all City residents from the start.
In many ways, these are the same skills magicians employ to distract us from the truth. It is called misdirection. The Strategic Planning Process is a giant shiny thing being dangled in front of the public to explain away a lack of progress and vision for the community…a vision at one time provided by those we elect to public office.
Haggling over the nuance of every word in a one-size fits all mission statement, may be shiny enough to distract a cat, but will it work on real people? What we’re missing is the obvious. They don’t have a clue what to do.
Not everyone in local government can be painted with the same broad brush. Many, I am sure, came to office with ideas, goals, hopes and dreams. But they are being badly served in listening to those who now say the City’s future is better served if we get everyone together for a group hug. Nothing against group hugs…it’s just no way to run a City.
EDITORIAL _ County Executive Steve Ehlmann
AN EDITORIAL OPINION
Rumblings have come from some on the St. Charles City Council members that they are tired of hearing and reading they are the Mayor’s city council. Apparently, the councilmen are so afraid of friends of the mayor claiming they are “micro-managing” the city, they are allowing the administration do whatever, spend whatever, hire whomever the mayor wants.
The council needs to go back and read their civics books and find out their real role in city government. They would find out oversight is a requirement of the job. This oversight might make them think they are “micro managing” but they really are not. This council believes they are part of the administration, not legislative, and haven’t looked at anything with an eye to protect the taxpayers’ money. Now, I would like to say they aren’t with the Mayor on everything, yet, they have voted her way each and every time. So why wouldn’t the rest of us believe they are the mayor’s lap dogs? A free thinker in this group has yet to come forward. This council needs a Bill Conroy or Mark Brown type to ask the thought provoking questions.
This city council can’t continue sticking their heads in the sand leaving all the important decisions up to the mayor. They need to get involved, ask questions and dig into details. Something they are currently not doing. This is not a job they volunteered to do. They are getting a nice salary and yet some of them do not even show up for the meetings.
The previous city council created council committees such as public works, auditing, law enforcement, streets, traffic, etc. to hold hearings and make recommendations to the council as a whole. The current council and the mayor have now made a point to do away with the city council committees and start citizen committees. The city council and York both told us citizen input is what they want. They want to hear what the residents think.
But, evidently, that is not happening. Recently the city staff and the Landmarks committee voiced their opinion on an additional sign for Ameristar that would go on the west side of the building facing Interstate 70. The lighted sign would be 35 feet by 55 feet (1925 square feet) on which the message could be rotated. The mayor and the council went against the staff and citizen committees and approved the Ameristar sign.
The real reason they want the citizen committees goes back to the defeated former councilman and defeated candidate for other offices, Richard Baum. Baum especially liked the citizen committees so he could hide behind them when it suited his argument. Now this council and mayor are employing this tactic and every citizen on these committees should wake up and see that their opinions are not important unless they suit the wishes of the mayor and council.
If this city council would be doing the job of oversight and accountability they were elected to do the mayor would not have fired Brent Schultz, the former assistant city administrator (who worked for the city for over 30 years) and hired three new people to do what he was doing. You allowed the Mayor to balloon the administrative budget and that’s your legacy to date.
I think the fact that the council members are all scared to speak out demonstrates the level York plays politics. York is not a statesmen, she is a bully politician that hurts those who speak against her. The city needs to be investigated by the same group that caught former St. Peters Mayor Shawn Brown.
York gets $60,000 in taxpayer money a year to run the city and now we have to pay newly hired city administrator Michael Spurgeon from Miami, Oklahoma $124,000 plus benefits, plus $1,000 a month for a furnished apartment, plus auto expenses to run the city. York hired Dave Gipson to work as a liaison between the Mayor, council and residents because she does not want to deal with them and is paying him over $50,000 and benefits.
A lot of people voted for York because they believed she was supposed to know what to do? She lied to everybody about being the CEO and having the smarts to run the city. Where are the fiscal conservatives?
The numbers above don’t include the fact that the City now has a City Attorney, Assistant Attorney and has hired a special counsel to handle all of the employee complaints filed since the Mayor has taken charge; and special counsel to handle the federal subpoena for city records and the Express Scripts and Sellenschuetter lawsuits.
Never have so many employees been overlooked for promotion, moved without cause or dismissed. Of course, you don’t hear much of this because it takes place in closed session. This is to hide the hundreds of thousands you will spend on York’s vindictive politics.
Rumblings have come from some on the St. Charles City Council members that they are tired of hearing and reading they are the Mayor’s city council. Apparently, the councilmen are so afraid of friends of the mayor claiming they are “micro-managing” the city, they are allowing the administration do whatever, spend whatever, hire whomever the mayor wants.
The council needs to go back and read their civics books and find out their real role in city government. They would find out oversight is a requirement of the job. This oversight might make them think they are “micro managing” but they really are not. This council believes they are part of the administration, not legislative, and haven’t looked at anything with an eye to protect the taxpayers’ money. Now, I would like to say they aren’t with the Mayor on everything, yet, they have voted her way each and every time. So why wouldn’t the rest of us believe they are the mayor’s lap dogs? A free thinker in this group has yet to come forward. This council needs a Bill Conroy or Mark Brown type to ask the thought provoking questions.
This city council can’t continue sticking their heads in the sand leaving all the important decisions up to the mayor. They need to get involved, ask questions and dig into details. Something they are currently not doing. This is not a job they volunteered to do. They are getting a nice salary and yet some of them do not even show up for the meetings.
The previous city council created council committees such as public works, auditing, law enforcement, streets, traffic, etc. to hold hearings and make recommendations to the council as a whole. The current council and the mayor have now made a point to do away with the city council committees and start citizen committees. The city council and York both told us citizen input is what they want. They want to hear what the residents think.
But, evidently, that is not happening. Recently the city staff and the Landmarks committee voiced their opinion on an additional sign for Ameristar that would go on the west side of the building facing Interstate 70. The lighted sign would be 35 feet by 55 feet (1925 square feet) on which the message could be rotated. The mayor and the council went against the staff and citizen committees and approved the Ameristar sign.
The real reason they want the citizen committees goes back to the defeated former councilman and defeated candidate for other offices, Richard Baum. Baum especially liked the citizen committees so he could hide behind them when it suited his argument. Now this council and mayor are employing this tactic and every citizen on these committees should wake up and see that their opinions are not important unless they suit the wishes of the mayor and council.
If this city council would be doing the job of oversight and accountability they were elected to do the mayor would not have fired Brent Schultz, the former assistant city administrator (who worked for the city for over 30 years) and hired three new people to do what he was doing. You allowed the Mayor to balloon the administrative budget and that’s your legacy to date.
I think the fact that the council members are all scared to speak out demonstrates the level York plays politics. York is not a statesmen, she is a bully politician that hurts those who speak against her. The city needs to be investigated by the same group that caught former St. Peters Mayor Shawn Brown.
York gets $60,000 in taxpayer money a year to run the city and now we have to pay newly hired city administrator Michael Spurgeon from Miami, Oklahoma $124,000 plus benefits, plus $1,000 a month for a furnished apartment, plus auto expenses to run the city. York hired Dave Gipson to work as a liaison between the Mayor, council and residents because she does not want to deal with them and is paying him over $50,000 and benefits.
A lot of people voted for York because they believed she was supposed to know what to do? She lied to everybody about being the CEO and having the smarts to run the city. Where are the fiscal conservatives?
The numbers above don’t include the fact that the City now has a City Attorney, Assistant Attorney and has hired a special counsel to handle all of the employee complaints filed since the Mayor has taken charge; and special counsel to handle the federal subpoena for city records and the Express Scripts and Sellenschuetter lawsuits.
Never have so many employees been overlooked for promotion, moved without cause or dismissed. Of course, you don’t hear much of this because it takes place in closed session. This is to hide the hundreds of thousands you will spend on York’s vindictive politics.
THE PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor
Tony
We hope you will print this letter to the editor in your next addition of your paper, The First Capitol News, regarding comments by Charles Hill.
Bob and Clara Scott, WWII veterans and proud to have served our country when the need arose.
Subject: Disparaging Comments on St. Charles Veteran’s memorial
An opinion piece bearing the authorship of “Charles Hill” in a local publication not only disparages $300,000 spent on the St. Charles City Veteran’s Memorial, but also incorrectly states that the “monument was spearheaded by a group of self-serving veterans who felt they deserved a statue.”
No veteran in St. Charles ever asked or lobbied for this monument. None of us feels that anyone owes us a statue. A unanimous resolution by the members of the City Council for erecting the monument led to the Mayor placing it in the City budget. An amount of $300,000 was unanimously approved by the Council. This was an action taken by the duly elected representatives of the people of St. Charles, not a special interest group of “self servers.”
Leo Zerjav, a local architect and not a veteran, designed the monument. He donated his services. It didn’t cost the City a dime.
The lowest bid for erecting the memorial came in at $330,000 or $30,000 over what the Mayor and Council had budgeted. A Veteran’s Memorial Committee, appointed to provide oversight for the project, did not go back to the Council to ask for additional funds. It was determined to cut costs and/or find alternative funding sources. The St. Charles Lions Club and Councilman Bob Hoepfner should receive great credit for providing the flags and flag poles. That was a donation of $15,000. The remaining $15,000 shortfall was made up through value engineering efforts by the prime contractor, Integra. The landscaping was accomplished as a Boy Scout Eagle project.
“Charles” also mentioned that the $300,000 would have been better spent for helping individual veterans. That’s a judgement call and a separate and mutually exclusive concern. The issue that was voted on and approved was constructing a Monument in remembrance of this City’s veterans, not establishing a local veteran’s relief organization.
Interestingly, the veteran’s of St. Charles and their organizations give back over time much more that the $300,000 appropriated for the monument. VFW Post 2866 alone gives back between $50,000 and $80,000 per year to various St. Charles community activities. Every penny, for example, that we raise at our annual Buddy Poppy sale goes to supporting our less fortunate Heroes in our Veterans’ Homes and Hospitals.
The memorial also draws tourists and conventioneers. From 14 - 16 December a conference of the national VFW Auxiliary will be held in St. Charles. The national Auxiliary President will lay a wreath at our monument. Next year a national reunion of the USS Corpus Christi Bay, a Vietnam veteran’s organization is scheduled. They selected our memorial over all others in the St. Louis area.
“Charles Hill,” continue to visit our beautiful Memorial. All of us Veterans are grateful and appreciative of our generous citizens for providing this quiet and reflective place of remembrance. We are well aware of the financial sacrifice of their tax dollars. Rest assured that we veterans have been will continue to be good stewards of the trust you have placed in us.
Tom Kuypers
Chairman, St. Charles Veteran’s Memorial Committee
Impressed with this community
Thank you. As the campaign chair for the Tri-County Division of United Way of Greater St. Louis for the past two years, I want to let the people in this community know how grateful I am to them.
Because of the record level of generosity in the St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln counties, our division of United Way was able to raise nearly $3.15 million toward the total $68.8 million raised across the region. This means that United Way will put more than one million dollars each week back into this region in 2008. Because of you, nearly 200 local United Way funded agencies will be able to continue to do what they do best – help people.
Out of those nearly 200 agencies, more than 100 of them serve people in our specific region including: Boys and Girls Clubs of St. Charles County; Bridgeway Behavioral Health; Community Council of St. Charles County; Crider Health Center; Emmaus Homes; Family Support Services; Lincoln County Council on Aging; Turning Point; United Services for the Handicapped in St. Charles County; and Youth in Need. In 2008, Almost Home and Life Skills will be added to that list.
As someone who once benefited from a United Way agency, I can tell you that United Way does make a positive difference in lives every day. That it does help build a healthy, strong community for us to live in; that it has a set of standards it expects its funded agencies to adhere to, ensuring quality; and that more than 90 cents of each dollar donated goes directly into programming and services.
You can rest assured that your contribution will be efficiently and effectively used to help build a strong, healthy region throughout the Lincoln, Warren, St. Charles counties and the other 13 counties in Missouri and Illinois.
Brian Bredensteiner
Chairman, 2007 United Way of Greater St. Louis Tri-County Campaign
Bredensteiner & Associates
We hope you will print this letter to the editor in your next addition of your paper, The First Capitol News, regarding comments by Charles Hill.
Bob and Clara Scott, WWII veterans and proud to have served our country when the need arose.
Subject: Disparaging Comments on St. Charles Veteran’s memorial
An opinion piece bearing the authorship of “Charles Hill” in a local publication not only disparages $300,000 spent on the St. Charles City Veteran’s Memorial, but also incorrectly states that the “monument was spearheaded by a group of self-serving veterans who felt they deserved a statue.”
No veteran in St. Charles ever asked or lobbied for this monument. None of us feels that anyone owes us a statue. A unanimous resolution by the members of the City Council for erecting the monument led to the Mayor placing it in the City budget. An amount of $300,000 was unanimously approved by the Council. This was an action taken by the duly elected representatives of the people of St. Charles, not a special interest group of “self servers.”
Leo Zerjav, a local architect and not a veteran, designed the monument. He donated his services. It didn’t cost the City a dime.
The lowest bid for erecting the memorial came in at $330,000 or $30,000 over what the Mayor and Council had budgeted. A Veteran’s Memorial Committee, appointed to provide oversight for the project, did not go back to the Council to ask for additional funds. It was determined to cut costs and/or find alternative funding sources. The St. Charles Lions Club and Councilman Bob Hoepfner should receive great credit for providing the flags and flag poles. That was a donation of $15,000. The remaining $15,000 shortfall was made up through value engineering efforts by the prime contractor, Integra. The landscaping was accomplished as a Boy Scout Eagle project.
“Charles” also mentioned that the $300,000 would have been better spent for helping individual veterans. That’s a judgement call and a separate and mutually exclusive concern. The issue that was voted on and approved was constructing a Monument in remembrance of this City’s veterans, not establishing a local veteran’s relief organization.
Interestingly, the veteran’s of St. Charles and their organizations give back over time much more that the $300,000 appropriated for the monument. VFW Post 2866 alone gives back between $50,000 and $80,000 per year to various St. Charles community activities. Every penny, for example, that we raise at our annual Buddy Poppy sale goes to supporting our less fortunate Heroes in our Veterans’ Homes and Hospitals.
The memorial also draws tourists and conventioneers. From 14 - 16 December a conference of the national VFW Auxiliary will be held in St. Charles. The national Auxiliary President will lay a wreath at our monument. Next year a national reunion of the USS Corpus Christi Bay, a Vietnam veteran’s organization is scheduled. They selected our memorial over all others in the St. Louis area.
“Charles Hill,” continue to visit our beautiful Memorial. All of us Veterans are grateful and appreciative of our generous citizens for providing this quiet and reflective place of remembrance. We are well aware of the financial sacrifice of their tax dollars. Rest assured that we veterans have been will continue to be good stewards of the trust you have placed in us.
Tom Kuypers
Chairman, St. Charles Veteran’s Memorial Committee
Impressed with this community
Thank you. As the campaign chair for the Tri-County Division of United Way of Greater St. Louis for the past two years, I want to let the people in this community know how grateful I am to them.
Because of the record level of generosity in the St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln counties, our division of United Way was able to raise nearly $3.15 million toward the total $68.8 million raised across the region. This means that United Way will put more than one million dollars each week back into this region in 2008. Because of you, nearly 200 local United Way funded agencies will be able to continue to do what they do best – help people.
Out of those nearly 200 agencies, more than 100 of them serve people in our specific region including: Boys and Girls Clubs of St. Charles County; Bridgeway Behavioral Health; Community Council of St. Charles County; Crider Health Center; Emmaus Homes; Family Support Services; Lincoln County Council on Aging; Turning Point; United Services for the Handicapped in St. Charles County; and Youth in Need. In 2008, Almost Home and Life Skills will be added to that list.
As someone who once benefited from a United Way agency, I can tell you that United Way does make a positive difference in lives every day. That it does help build a healthy, strong community for us to live in; that it has a set of standards it expects its funded agencies to adhere to, ensuring quality; and that more than 90 cents of each dollar donated goes directly into programming and services.
You can rest assured that your contribution will be efficiently and effectively used to help build a strong, healthy region throughout the Lincoln, Warren, St. Charles counties and the other 13 counties in Missouri and Illinois.
Brian Bredensteiner
Chairman, 2007 United Way of Greater St. Louis Tri-County Campaign
Bredensteiner & Associates
The View From The Cheap Seats by Jerry Hafferkamp
The View From The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
It is seldom that an opportunity arises that there is any reason to compliment the St. Peters Journal. They never, ever report on misdoings in the St. Charles city administration. I don’t recall any questioning about who is responsible for dumping thousands of dollars of taxpayer money (in the form of new trash containers) into the weeds. No mention at all of York hosting a dinner at taxpayer expense that assisted a pal in equipping her new restaurant. There is no mention at all of the millions that are spent to subsidize businesses in a twelve block area on South Main and virtually nothing in comparison spent on the rest of the business in our city. After all, the Journal probably considers that all that is O.K. since York got 55 percent of the vote. Isn’t that a “mandate” to abuse the taxpayers if she wishes?
Ahh, but I digress. There is reason to compliment Steve Pokin on his series on the subject of Internet harassment He should be at a paper where news is the issue, not ads. However, as a result of his columns several area cities are enacting ordinances against such activity. But there’s the rub.
I’m sure that the ACLU will be on that like stink on doggy doo. You know they will claim that under the free speech provision of our Constitution, morons are allowed to harass on the Internet, no matter who is harmed.
There is also the question of how many additional law enforcement personnel will be needed to investigate these acts. There would be at least five or six needed to investigate all the harassment on the infamous Stchuckwatch site alone. For the first time in about six months, I accessed the site the other day. I can only tolerate a small amount of stupidity per year, so I enter the site rarely. There they were, anonymous individuals still harassing anyone who fails to bow to their Queen. Harassment in the past was aimed at Mark Brown, John Gieseke, Dottie Greer, Tim Swope, Ron Lloyd and, of course, the First Capitol News and Tony Brockmeyer.
Yes, the factually challenged are still at it, even though the elections are over and the product they purchased was re-anointed. The harassment of the FCN continues in the form of promoting the harassment of business that advertise there. The harassment of Gieseke and Brown continues partly because the council hired an attorney who was later charged with sexually connected crimes. I’m pretty sure neither Brown nor Gieseke spent time peeking into this attorney’s bedroom window, and had no knowledge of his alleged crimes. Oh, and he was hired by the entire council, not just Brown and Gieseke.
If St. Charles passes such an ordinance, will there be an investigation of the continuing harassment on this site? I doubt it as long as Chief York continues to run the police department.
I owe an apology to Jack Banas. With all that is going on, he really doesn’t have time to prosecute the people that attempted to void your vote through fraud. Sorry folks, your Constitutional right to elect and retain your public officials is no longer guaranteed. Not in St. Charles County anyway.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
By Jerry Haferkamp
It is seldom that an opportunity arises that there is any reason to compliment the St. Peters Journal. They never, ever report on misdoings in the St. Charles city administration. I don’t recall any questioning about who is responsible for dumping thousands of dollars of taxpayer money (in the form of new trash containers) into the weeds. No mention at all of York hosting a dinner at taxpayer expense that assisted a pal in equipping her new restaurant. There is no mention at all of the millions that are spent to subsidize businesses in a twelve block area on South Main and virtually nothing in comparison spent on the rest of the business in our city. After all, the Journal probably considers that all that is O.K. since York got 55 percent of the vote. Isn’t that a “mandate” to abuse the taxpayers if she wishes?
Ahh, but I digress. There is reason to compliment Steve Pokin on his series on the subject of Internet harassment He should be at a paper where news is the issue, not ads. However, as a result of his columns several area cities are enacting ordinances against such activity. But there’s the rub.
I’m sure that the ACLU will be on that like stink on doggy doo. You know they will claim that under the free speech provision of our Constitution, morons are allowed to harass on the Internet, no matter who is harmed.
There is also the question of how many additional law enforcement personnel will be needed to investigate these acts. There would be at least five or six needed to investigate all the harassment on the infamous Stchuckwatch site alone. For the first time in about six months, I accessed the site the other day. I can only tolerate a small amount of stupidity per year, so I enter the site rarely. There they were, anonymous individuals still harassing anyone who fails to bow to their Queen. Harassment in the past was aimed at Mark Brown, John Gieseke, Dottie Greer, Tim Swope, Ron Lloyd and, of course, the First Capitol News and Tony Brockmeyer.
Yes, the factually challenged are still at it, even though the elections are over and the product they purchased was re-anointed. The harassment of the FCN continues in the form of promoting the harassment of business that advertise there. The harassment of Gieseke and Brown continues partly because the council hired an attorney who was later charged with sexually connected crimes. I’m pretty sure neither Brown nor Gieseke spent time peeking into this attorney’s bedroom window, and had no knowledge of his alleged crimes. Oh, and he was hired by the entire council, not just Brown and Gieseke.
If St. Charles passes such an ordinance, will there be an investigation of the continuing harassment on this site? I doubt it as long as Chief York continues to run the police department.
I owe an apology to Jack Banas. With all that is going on, he really doesn’t have time to prosecute the people that attempted to void your vote through fraud. Sorry folks, your Constitutional right to elect and retain your public officials is no longer guaranteed. Not in St. Charles County anyway.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
Kratzer's Corner by Mel Kratzer
Christmas Light Viewing 101
By Mel Kratzer
Has the Christmas shopping season depleted your funds from your entertainment column in the worst way? Its time to adapt and implement the cheap date out activity by going Christmas light viewing. A lot of us just get off the highway from work making a bee line straight to our home without checking out the neighborhood decorations. Pile the kids, wife, or significant other into the car and take everyone Christmas light looking. Tonight!
Now with the family in the car for an hour or two Christmas light watching, you may want to set the group’s mood with some merry ol Christmas carols on the radio. That’s not mandatory though as “Jingle Bells” tunes could get old real quick. Go ahead and rock out while Christmas light viewing to some AC/DC, Pearljam, or some Led Zeppelin. I’ve done and it put me in the high-energy festive spirit.
It’s a sure guarantee while you are driving around doing the Christmas light thing, they’ll be a battle over how warm or cold the cars inside temperature should be. Usually my wife likes it as she puts it “toasty” inside. To me it feels like I’m being barbequed in the driver’s seat rotisserie Instead, I like it kind of cool with the chilly air vent blasting air upside my face preventing me from nodding off and slamming into someone’s porch. Every thirty seconds some soul is adjusting the climate control so have a compromising attitude.
When it’s snowing or ice storming, your first reaction is to hunker down inside the nice heat-filled house with your feet warming by the fireplace. Though the roads may resemble an ice rink or ski slope, it still is worth chancing it looking at Christmas lights as they have a special sparkling glistening effect glowing under the frozen precipitation. You’re driving slow to begin with, so spinning out creaming a person’s lawn Santa is a low probability.
Expect when you are slow motioning along taking in the Christmas lights, to have minor disputes or debates about the arrangements. Spending five minutes observing a light set up you like may be like spending five minutes watching paint dry to the backseat passenger. Some give and take on this how long we spend on the lights display will keep a civil car atmosphere.
Quite amazing the length of trouble Christmas light decorators will go to make there illuminated strand stand out. You could have sworn these people hired monkeys to get their lights on treetops and roof gutters. Then again you can tell who put their lights up after chugging the spiked eggnog also.
From near colossal mishap experience, never go out driving to see Christmas lights after going on a soda or water-drinking binge. Never fails that you get lost in one of those rat maze subdivisions with seemingly no way out while you have a full “I gottta go bad” bladder. Crossing your legs while trying to navigate your auto doesn’t work. As you feel like your eyes are turning yellow, you begin to uneasily contemplate whether you might get noticed if you are able to sneak behind that large bush or tree.
Only safety tip I have concerning Christmas light viewing is to stop when taking a long peek. Last thing you want to do is plow into the back of a parked Rolls Royce and spend your Christmas fleeing across the Canadian border from the law. Oh, and stay off the cell phone. Christmas light drivers who talk on that contraption leave their brains in their glove compartment.
When I was a wee young lad, I’d help my pop with the annual light configuration. Untangling the nest like strand was the second hardest part next to locating the burnt out bulb that caused the whole strand to be out. Those lights we put up look primitive caveman- like compared to the modern lights and inflatables they have now covering one’s property.
Every St. Charles area whether it be Main Street, Frenchtown or wherever has its pockets of Christmas light explosions some more than others. Occasionally you will come across a street with “zilch” lights on them. Guess if they did have lights they’d all spell “Humbug”. The economic energy price bug has a bite on us all so you may not see as many light displays as you might have in years’ past. AmerenUE sponsors a Christmas light contest so now you know where your paying the electric bill goes.
When you are finally Christmas lightoutted, I suggest you stop off somewhere, grab a hot cocoa and head over to Jehlings Hardware store to see their massive Christmas light/train display inside. The set up took 9 weeks to complete and will take you around 20 minutes to take it all in. It’s the building on First Capitol with the train caboose in front of it.
Sometimes the simplest things you do in life can be the most fun. I’d say making the Christmas light seeing rounds would fall into that category. It makes my day when my 19-month-old little girl sees Christmas lights swarming a house from the back car seat and says”wow.” Never fails that the kid falls asleep while you are driving. And you keep on driving looking at more Christmas lights. Sort of like coloring the coloring book after your kid has left the room. Happy Holidays to you.
Mel Kratzer
By Mel Kratzer
Has the Christmas shopping season depleted your funds from your entertainment column in the worst way? Its time to adapt and implement the cheap date out activity by going Christmas light viewing. A lot of us just get off the highway from work making a bee line straight to our home without checking out the neighborhood decorations. Pile the kids, wife, or significant other into the car and take everyone Christmas light looking. Tonight!
Now with the family in the car for an hour or two Christmas light watching, you may want to set the group’s mood with some merry ol Christmas carols on the radio. That’s not mandatory though as “Jingle Bells” tunes could get old real quick. Go ahead and rock out while Christmas light viewing to some AC/DC, Pearljam, or some Led Zeppelin. I’ve done and it put me in the high-energy festive spirit.
It’s a sure guarantee while you are driving around doing the Christmas light thing, they’ll be a battle over how warm or cold the cars inside temperature should be. Usually my wife likes it as she puts it “toasty” inside. To me it feels like I’m being barbequed in the driver’s seat rotisserie Instead, I like it kind of cool with the chilly air vent blasting air upside my face preventing me from nodding off and slamming into someone’s porch. Every thirty seconds some soul is adjusting the climate control so have a compromising attitude.
When it’s snowing or ice storming, your first reaction is to hunker down inside the nice heat-filled house with your feet warming by the fireplace. Though the roads may resemble an ice rink or ski slope, it still is worth chancing it looking at Christmas lights as they have a special sparkling glistening effect glowing under the frozen precipitation. You’re driving slow to begin with, so spinning out creaming a person’s lawn Santa is a low probability.
Expect when you are slow motioning along taking in the Christmas lights, to have minor disputes or debates about the arrangements. Spending five minutes observing a light set up you like may be like spending five minutes watching paint dry to the backseat passenger. Some give and take on this how long we spend on the lights display will keep a civil car atmosphere.
Quite amazing the length of trouble Christmas light decorators will go to make there illuminated strand stand out. You could have sworn these people hired monkeys to get their lights on treetops and roof gutters. Then again you can tell who put their lights up after chugging the spiked eggnog also.
From near colossal mishap experience, never go out driving to see Christmas lights after going on a soda or water-drinking binge. Never fails that you get lost in one of those rat maze subdivisions with seemingly no way out while you have a full “I gottta go bad” bladder. Crossing your legs while trying to navigate your auto doesn’t work. As you feel like your eyes are turning yellow, you begin to uneasily contemplate whether you might get noticed if you are able to sneak behind that large bush or tree.
Only safety tip I have concerning Christmas light viewing is to stop when taking a long peek. Last thing you want to do is plow into the back of a parked Rolls Royce and spend your Christmas fleeing across the Canadian border from the law. Oh, and stay off the cell phone. Christmas light drivers who talk on that contraption leave their brains in their glove compartment.
When I was a wee young lad, I’d help my pop with the annual light configuration. Untangling the nest like strand was the second hardest part next to locating the burnt out bulb that caused the whole strand to be out. Those lights we put up look primitive caveman- like compared to the modern lights and inflatables they have now covering one’s property.
Every St. Charles area whether it be Main Street, Frenchtown or wherever has its pockets of Christmas light explosions some more than others. Occasionally you will come across a street with “zilch” lights on them. Guess if they did have lights they’d all spell “Humbug”. The economic energy price bug has a bite on us all so you may not see as many light displays as you might have in years’ past. AmerenUE sponsors a Christmas light contest so now you know where your paying the electric bill goes.
When you are finally Christmas lightoutted, I suggest you stop off somewhere, grab a hot cocoa and head over to Jehlings Hardware store to see their massive Christmas light/train display inside. The set up took 9 weeks to complete and will take you around 20 minutes to take it all in. It’s the building on First Capitol with the train caboose in front of it.
Sometimes the simplest things you do in life can be the most fun. I’d say making the Christmas light seeing rounds would fall into that category. It makes my day when my 19-month-old little girl sees Christmas lights swarming a house from the back car seat and says”wow.” Never fails that the kid falls asleep while you are driving. And you keep on driving looking at more Christmas lights. Sort of like coloring the coloring book after your kid has left the room. Happy Holidays to you.
Mel Kratzer
First Capitol News Sports - Mike McMurran Sports Editor
Christmas tradition, I think it is one of the most wonderful experiences in the McMurran household. Some of our Christmas traditions have been passed down from Lynn’s family, some are traditions we started on our own. Together they make for a very exciting time.
Without going into great detail, my family doesn’t gather at Christmas, but Lynn’s certainly does. Like everything else in life, things have a strange way of balancing. My family doesn’t get together, her family over does it. As is usually the case, my kids have the best of both worlds.
Being in education allows me to have two weeks off with Maggie, Joe and Dee – two wonderful weeks. Lynn almost always manages at least one week off, so as a family we have quite the time.
Years before Lynn and I were married, I used to buy her parents season tickets to the Muny as a Christmas gift. Don’t ask me why, but every Christmas Eve I would drive down to the Muny and pay for the tickets. The older I get, the more convinced I am that I am touched with a degree of obsessive compulsive behavior. I think the year was 1990 and I had just finished teaching a unit on drama. One of the plays we studied was Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie. The play focuses around a dysfunctional family (see earlier family comments) from St. Louis. At one point in the play he makes reference to the Jewell Box in Forest Park; talks about the beauty both inside and out. So in 1990, after purchasing the season tickets to the Muny, I decided to visit the Jewell Box. As I walked down the sidewalk I couldn’t help but look at the mature trees and wonder what size they were when Williams viewed them – I sometimes think the strangest things. One year after Maggie was born, Lynn and Maggie took the trip with me, and we’ve been doing it as a family ever since. Easily the most exciting year was about four years ago, when it began snowing as we entered the Jewell Box. By the time we exited there was at least 2 inches of snow on the ground; by the time we returned home it was more like 4 or 5 inches. Lynn’s niece was in from Texas that year and her daughter experienced snow for the first time in her life.
After the Jewell Box we trek over to the zoo and visit the animals. Maggie says we do it because, “The animals don’t smell nearly as bad as they do in the summer heat.” Every Christmas Eve, be it 60 degrees or 10 degrees, and we’ve experienced both, Family McMurran spends an hour or so at the Zoo. My personal favorite animal is the bears – they are far more active when it’s cold.
After that it’s on to Lynn’s mom’s house, for Christmas Eve dinner and distribution of presents – it’s an event worth the admission. Any where from 30 – 50 people, depending upon who is in town, in a 900 square foot condo – per bedlam. I would never let Lynn know this, but personally it’s the highlight of the Christmas season. My children share the time with their aunts, uncles and cousins. It’s a tradition that started long before my wife was born and will continue for generations to come. It really is special.
On a related note, the same group of people gather the very next evening, Christmas evening, at Lynn’ sisters’ house, that I never did understand. “You just saw everyone the night before,” is usually how the conversation goes, “What could you possibly have to say?” Like most all of Lynn’s family gatherings, we take two cars. Lynn, God bless her, likes to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. Not me. My kids can never get enough of their cousins, so they, like their mom, stay until the very end.
I may have shared some of this with you on previous Christmases. But stay tuned, because I guarantee, what I’m about to share, I’ve never shared with anyone.
I would like to wish a very special Christmas greeting to Lynn’s entire collective family – all however many of them there are. Lynn has 4 sisters and 1 living brother – all of whom have children. That means there are brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, mothers-in-law, cousins, aunts, and uncles – and probably most importantly, grandmothers – which to me would be mother-in-law.
I guess what I’m saying is, “thank you” to Lynn’s family – to each and every member of Lynn’s family. As much as most of you find me abrasive, and I know I can be, I have an unconditional love for each and every one of you. It may not always be obvious, but you have to remember I was raised far, far differently than y’all were. I guess the biggest compliment I can give them is this: I am doing my best to raise my children in the same loving environment that each of you were raised. Bud, Lynn’s dad, who died 5 months before Maggie was born, is my role model as a father. I guess what I’m saying is, I want my children to grow up and be like Lynn’s family. Don’t think I don’t know if it were not for Lynn’s family, I wouldn’t have a family at all.
Merry Christmas, may all your dreams for 2008 be realized.
Without going into great detail, my family doesn’t gather at Christmas, but Lynn’s certainly does. Like everything else in life, things have a strange way of balancing. My family doesn’t get together, her family over does it. As is usually the case, my kids have the best of both worlds.
Being in education allows me to have two weeks off with Maggie, Joe and Dee – two wonderful weeks. Lynn almost always manages at least one week off, so as a family we have quite the time.
Years before Lynn and I were married, I used to buy her parents season tickets to the Muny as a Christmas gift. Don’t ask me why, but every Christmas Eve I would drive down to the Muny and pay for the tickets. The older I get, the more convinced I am that I am touched with a degree of obsessive compulsive behavior. I think the year was 1990 and I had just finished teaching a unit on drama. One of the plays we studied was Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie. The play focuses around a dysfunctional family (see earlier family comments) from St. Louis. At one point in the play he makes reference to the Jewell Box in Forest Park; talks about the beauty both inside and out. So in 1990, after purchasing the season tickets to the Muny, I decided to visit the Jewell Box. As I walked down the sidewalk I couldn’t help but look at the mature trees and wonder what size they were when Williams viewed them – I sometimes think the strangest things. One year after Maggie was born, Lynn and Maggie took the trip with me, and we’ve been doing it as a family ever since. Easily the most exciting year was about four years ago, when it began snowing as we entered the Jewell Box. By the time we exited there was at least 2 inches of snow on the ground; by the time we returned home it was more like 4 or 5 inches. Lynn’s niece was in from Texas that year and her daughter experienced snow for the first time in her life.
After the Jewell Box we trek over to the zoo and visit the animals. Maggie says we do it because, “The animals don’t smell nearly as bad as they do in the summer heat.” Every Christmas Eve, be it 60 degrees or 10 degrees, and we’ve experienced both, Family McMurran spends an hour or so at the Zoo. My personal favorite animal is the bears – they are far more active when it’s cold.
After that it’s on to Lynn’s mom’s house, for Christmas Eve dinner and distribution of presents – it’s an event worth the admission. Any where from 30 – 50 people, depending upon who is in town, in a 900 square foot condo – per bedlam. I would never let Lynn know this, but personally it’s the highlight of the Christmas season. My children share the time with their aunts, uncles and cousins. It’s a tradition that started long before my wife was born and will continue for generations to come. It really is special.
On a related note, the same group of people gather the very next evening, Christmas evening, at Lynn’ sisters’ house, that I never did understand. “You just saw everyone the night before,” is usually how the conversation goes, “What could you possibly have to say?” Like most all of Lynn’s family gatherings, we take two cars. Lynn, God bless her, likes to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. Not me. My kids can never get enough of their cousins, so they, like their mom, stay until the very end.
I may have shared some of this with you on previous Christmases. But stay tuned, because I guarantee, what I’m about to share, I’ve never shared with anyone.
I would like to wish a very special Christmas greeting to Lynn’s entire collective family – all however many of them there are. Lynn has 4 sisters and 1 living brother – all of whom have children. That means there are brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, mothers-in-law, cousins, aunts, and uncles – and probably most importantly, grandmothers – which to me would be mother-in-law.
I guess what I’m saying is, “thank you” to Lynn’s family – to each and every member of Lynn’s family. As much as most of you find me abrasive, and I know I can be, I have an unconditional love for each and every one of you. It may not always be obvious, but you have to remember I was raised far, far differently than y’all were. I guess the biggest compliment I can give them is this: I am doing my best to raise my children in the same loving environment that each of you were raised. Bud, Lynn’s dad, who died 5 months before Maggie was born, is my role model as a father. I guess what I’m saying is, I want my children to grow up and be like Lynn’s family. Don’t think I don’t know if it were not for Lynn’s family, I wouldn’t have a family at all.
Merry Christmas, may all your dreams for 2008 be realized.
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