Dear Editor,
I would like to share a few words with your readers regarding recall. This seems to be a live topic these days. The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of our recall group. Early this year I joined a group circulating a petition to recall Mayor York. Before I share a few thoughts on that subject let me state a few facts.
Our group has no major funding. We don’t need any. We are not inundating the population of St. Charles with hateful literature. We are simply a group of St. Charles City registered voters circulating a petition. Most of us are up in years and we are longtime residents. No one active in the circulation of our petition is pad to do so. I don’t believe citizenship should be hired out.
When I first decided to immerse myself in this activity I had to do some soul searching. I had to ask myself a few questions. What right did I have to attempt to unseat a public official, our top local public official, who had been placed in that position by a majority of the St. Charles citizenry? The Mayor is reported to be a fine Christian woman, a woman active in her church. It is right for one Christian to put themselves against another Christian? What is the morality of a recall action? I thought about these issues.
The legal right to take such an action was no problem. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution speaks “of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances”. Our City Charter spells out the right of the people to recall a local public official and gives explicit instructions for doing so.
What about the fact that our Mayor was chosen by a majority of the electorate? Is our recall group attempting to subvert the will of the majority? Not at all. We are attempting to determine what is the current will of the majority. Do people feel the same about her, her actions, and the people behind her, as they did when she was first elected? The temperament and preferences of the electorate may have changed. The temperament and actions of the Mayor may have changed. Situations in our City may have changed. I think the electorate has remained fairly constant in their desires and expectations but I think the Mayor and the political scene in our City has changed considerably. A recall petition, and a recall election should things progress that far, are simply a sampling of public opinion to determine whether the public still feels as they did when that official was first elected. If the majority is proven to still support the Mayor, nothing changes, and nothing should change. In our country the majority rules. On the other hand, if the majority is proven to desire change, then we have not only the right but the duty to pursue this recall activity.
What about the morality of a recall action? I had a problem with this. I attempted to find a biblical parallel. I couldn’t find one, or more accurately, I didn’t recognize one. I was discussing this issue with a friend, telling her of my concern. It didn’t take her very long at all. She said, “We are chasing the money changers out of the temple”. I felt she was right on. We are indeed chasing the moneychangers out of the temple of our City government. Moneychangers? Yes! Organizations of home builders and developers have circled the wagons around our Mayor and are now desperately trying to change the composition of our City Council so they can have a City government which will do their bidding; so they can have a free hand in the control of our government; so they can get sweetheart deals from City Hall; so they can build homes and subdivisions outside our boundaries to standards less than our City standards and then expect to bring them into our confines; so they can devise huge projects for our City, with the blessing of the Mayor and the council, which we don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford. They are indeed moneychangers, changing our money into their money. We need a Mayor who does not answer to these groups. I feel the only way to drive the money changers from the temple is to find a new Mayor – if a majority of the St. Charles electorate agrees.
If you share these views, drop by the library any Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm and add y our name to our petition. The library is not involved in our group or its activities but merely furnishes a place for petitioners to circulate petitions – any duly authorized petition.
Join our fight; help us take back our City.
Glen Dashner
Dear Editor,
During the month of September, probably now the worst time in history to conduct a fundraiser, we at Veterans & Citizens for Truth conducted such an event for wounded Missouri veterans. That particular event we had hoped to raise a lot of money for the wounded but due to a strict enforcement of our contract with the Westin Hotel and a very low turn out, it was a dismal turnout.
I would, however, like to give what little we did collect in the form of $500 aid checks to 8 of the neediest wounded veterans families in the state to help them through the holidays. It is nearly impossible to get information from the Pentagon on the wounded returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and although I personally know of a few, I wanted to ask the papers in the area, if you may have access to information of some of the veterans you may possibly have run stories about or know through other papers. I remember a young man in Festus (I believe) and the story recently run about the young woman paralyzed in a fall. If it is possible to get me that information or to ask them to contact us, it would be greatly appreciated. We promised those who contributed that the money would go directly to those in need and not to a bureaucracy for salaries and such.
I thank you in advance if there is anything you might be able to help us with on this search.
Most Respectfully,
Sandra M. Vago
President, Veterans & Citizens for Truth & Voices of America Coming Together
10241 Tesson Valley Ct.
St. Louis, MO 63123
314-544-5000
Non Profit, Missouri Charter Organization
First Capitol News
I recently read two interesting articles in the St. Charles Journal. That in itself is something unusual because I have remarked for years that the Journal is a waste of good trees. Perhaps they will finally prove me wrong. I hope so. Back to the articles. The first was an article about Eminent Domain, and the second was the growth of Lindenwood. Anyone who knows me or has read my letters to the papers knows I am not a fan of either.
What I really found interesting was Councilman Muench’s comment about the proposed thoroughfare through Powell Terrace, “If the residents of Ward 2 don’t want this road project, it won’t go through.” I don’t remember many people being for the First Capitol re-alignment, but it went through. In fact, I have never spoken to anyone who was for it. To be fair, I have never met Mr Spellmann, whom I’m sure was for it.Nor have I met any city official who has become an “Associate Professor” while if office. I believe it was Councilman Herman Elmore who proposed putting the project to a vote of the residents. But the city council decided we didn’t need that. (I believe Mr. Riddler was for a vote of the residents, but not sure)
I think most residents would agree with me that we don’t want our neighborhoods bulldozed to put in another road. Most subdivisions North of 70 have been there for decades. The roads in these areas have worked for years.I personally think that is what cost Dan Foust the Mayoral race. Many people didn’t like his ideas of widening Kingshighway or running Droste Road through to First Capitol.Many homes would be destroyed. The biggest increase in traffic has come from more students living in Lindenwood owned houses.
The last letter I wrote to the FCN was also forwarded to some of the city council members. Councilman Koester and Councilman Brown both were kind enough to write back and thanked me for sharing my views and urging me to talk to other residents and have them share their opinions. Our council is supposed to work for us. I urge everyone to talk to your councilperson, send an e-mail, or attend a council meeting. Most people have sat back and done nothing for years (Myself included) If we the citizens don’t get involved, we will have another re-alignment and more people forced out of their homes. The First Capitol News is a great place to have your opinions heard.Make the most of it. Let’s all try to do a little to make our city the best for all citizens, not just a select few.
Mike Femmer
To The Editor,
I had a Birkenstock (shoes) booth at the Working Women’s Survival Show and was located on the upper level directly adjacent to the Embassy Suites hotel entrance and witnessed what Rhona Lococo wrote you.
I talked to the gentleman in charge of the facility on the first day of the show and he explained to me for security purposes the doors on the upper level needed to be locked. Also because of the layout of the show, (it was throughout both the 1st floor and Lower Level,) the show patrons needed to enter through the Convention Center entrance on the back of the facility adjacent to the huge parking lot to pay for their admission.
The majority of the parking lot on the upper level is for hotel guests, especially during a big event as the Working Women’s Show. Several of the vendors for the show stayed at the hotel (tax revenue for the City) taking up a majority of the parking spaces on the front parking lot.
I feel the majority cause of the problems was two
fold:
1.) A $5.00 parking fee was being charged for this event, therefore patrons were parking in the commuter lots across the street from the Convention Center and walking across the street trying to gain access through the doors on the first level.
2.) Large signage needs to be installed directing individuals attending events at the Convention Center to around the back of the building.
I would like to know if it’s truly necessary to charge patrons a parking fee if the City of St. Charles owns the facility and the parking lot is part of the facility, is it legal that a parking fee is being charged?
As a vendor I would much rather have free parking for the patrons coming to an event, the fee we pay for our booth should adequately cover parking expenses. From patrons I spoke to the parking fee was their major complaint.
When attending events downtown St. Louis the majority of us know we will be paying for parking, we’re just not used to paying for parking in St. Charles.
I talked to a couple of vendors who were not thoroughly please with this event. Over the years I have had a booth at Fair St. Louis and the Working Women’s Show when it was downtown St. Louis. All of
us need to realize when it is a new facility and the first time for an event this size, there are going to be some challenges. Hopefully, come time for the next Working Women’s Survival Show, lessons will have been learned and improvements made.
I was very pleased with the event, I passed out approximately 700 coupons, talking to many individuals informing them of our business.
All of the employees I talked to from the Convention Center, Embassy Suites Hotel and the staff from the Working Women’s Survival Show were very professional and accommodating as possible.
I feel I cannot close without saying, if you have yet to visit our St. Charles Convention Center/Embassy Suites Hotel, be sure to make it a destination, it’s spectacular! From the wonderful murals on the walls in the Convention Center depicting our city’s history to inside the hotel lobby, where it looks as if you’ve stepped into the French Quarter. There’s a restaurant and a bar and a beautiful waterfall with a flow of
water which winds its way through a seating area in the bar down to the lower level of the hotel. Also, don’t miss taking a walk around the back of the facility, there’s seating and beautiful fountain out there as well.
No, I don’t work for the City of St. Charles, I never have. I have been a resident for 22 years, I’m very excited we have this facility. I still can’t believe it is here in our home town, the beauty of it is
unbelievable! You can view it at:
www.stcharlescity.com then click on St. Charles Convention Center City Website, there’s a place to take a virtual tour.
Best regards,
Mrs. Pat Hamilton
Aaron’s Birkenstock Store & All Brand Shoe Repair St. Peters, MO
Dear Editor,
Sharper than a doubled edge sword. Does everyone know what that means? For those who are ignorant to these words or maybe not sure, let me tell you. This means that God’s word is sharper than a double edge sword. That is TRUTH.
There is more strength in his word than all the big money cronies can come up with to fight against good. Let me tell you something. His word says, “Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world.” Very powerful words. There is NO big money or NO special interest groups and NO people from out of our City and no men walking around allowing themselves to be called the Pop or the Godfather and NO people being paid for each signature, NO anonymous hate mail or e-mail. NO books being thrown at anyone, NO BIG Politicians changing laws for special interests, and NO threatening phone calls by our group called NICE to recall the poorest excuse of a Mayor this City has ever voted into office.
There are a number of citizens who would say, “The people voted her in.” (Not by much). The list of recall reasons for the Mayor is not personal. This recall has to do with the abuse of her power and the abuse of our taxpayer’s money. She seems to think this City belongs to her along with our hard earned money. WRONG. Our group is backed by a lot of dedicated taxpayers who are volunteering their time to collect signatures for her recall. History always repeats itself and it is a shame that we do not learn from history.
We should all remember the man who gained his power by placing fear in those around him and gaining control of the police and powerful people. This man had the citizens in fear of retaliation if they dared to question or not agree with him. This of course is only my opinion but if good people would have stood up and taken him out of office before he gained all of his power the holocaust would never have taken place and our young men would not have gone to war.
The civil rights movement would never have taken place without the good men and women who marched without fear of retaliation. Thank God for Martin Luther King and his peaceful way to turn wrong into RIGHT. Good dedicated people, who choose the Freedoms – right over fear, also backed him. The double edge sword has paved the way through history and will continue to clear the way for the good of his people.
Let us not forget the Watergate scandal that brought President Nixon down. It was a few good dedicated reporters who believed the freedom of the press could expose the wrong of a president and let the people know the TRUTH. While this was truly an act of fearless men, they could not have obtained the truth without deep throat. This man also had to walk and talk without fear of retribution to come forward and speak the TRUTH. History has a way of guiding the future if people would only care enough to get involved.
Our group of citizens will continue to search out the TRUTH about what is really taking place in our City Hall. Some people think if no one is watching they can get away with anything, WRONG. We may not be able to watch every move, but we will be watching. Of Course God sees it all. The word and the TRUTH will continue Hebrews 4:12. “The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing”, Edmond Burke.
Our group will be supporting Dottie Greer and Mark Brown – what have these two good people done to deserve a recall? “Nothing.” Look at the list for the Mayor and see what a real recall is all about.
We all know the Mayor needs to control a couple more seats on the Council to enable her to continue her control over OUR CITY for her special interests. Let me tell you something, I strongly believe there are good citizens who will come forward with the TRUTH and help take back Yorktown to the original owners, OUR CITIZENS.
Thank God for the First Capitol News
GOD BLESS & Speak Out!
Joyce Bredensteiner
First Capitol Capitol New
It is distressing to find that within the short span of only a few weeks there were three instances of unbridled rage directed at citizens of our City who are engaged in the petition drive for the recall of Mayor Patti York. To briefly recap, the first was a threat of physical violence directed at Bob Breidensteiner, the second occurred in the Kathryn Lindemann Library on Elm where an enraged man threw a heavy book accompanied by a stream of obscenities at two people sitting quietly at the table with the recall petition, and the third and most recent an anonymous letter mailed to the parishioners of St. Charles Borromeo Church with accusations primarily directed at Mr. Breidensteiner for his letters to the editor of the of the First Capitol News and at the same time somehow connecting one of the councilmen to Mr. Breidensteiner’s letters.
It would be almost reassuring to think these three instances of out of control rage came from the same person. More likely, several people in our City are so angered and apparently feel so threatened by a small group of taxpayers they feel their response is normal. It is not. A recall petition is a right of the democratic process whether it involves the Mayor or the two council persons. The difference here appears to be the people with the other recall petitions do not inspire the rage Mayor York’s does.
Carol Diller
Dear Editor:
They brought out their big guns at the City Council meeting. It was millionaire TR, Sneaky Clyde, Silent Kevin, Kielty (daddy and boy) along with St. Chuck Tommy. Laughing stock of the midwest. When you throw in Linda Meyer the “re-call know it all”, you really get to chuckling. They were passing around a note among members of their party telling everyone about a victory party to be held after they got little lady Dottie Greer taken care of for not letting the Mayor swear her into office.
As I sat there I just told myself, this isn’t going to happen. You know what? It didn’t happen.
There were nine other people voting on Dottie’s future on the Council and you know what? Eight of them did not get sworn in by the Mayor.
You have lockstep #1 Kneemiller and lockstep #2 Muench from the previous Council. Lockstep #3 Weller, the only one to be sworn in by the Mayor and then you have lockstep #4 Reese known as the school board turncoat and lockstep #5 Mr. “Battlin for the Mayor” Bob Hoepfner.
Ready - now everybody laugh. No victory party last night. TR probably saved a little money and got a restless nights sleep.
Bob Bredenstiner
PS The “Laundry business man Jamboretz” did not show, one of his sidekicks did but did not stay long - he looked lost without Jambi.
Dear Editor:
The Lindenwood Effect is in full force and nobody is going to stop them. Councilman Larry Muench has sold out Ward 2 to the Spellmann forces. Larry has lied and denied that reports and maps existed. Want to know why? Last Tuesday we saw why, Tom Hughes who is a member of the Board of Directors at Lindenwood is actively trying to recall one of the few voices that stands in the way. Councilwomen Greer has held firm on her opposition to Lindenwoods never ending lust for power and public funding. Hughes has bought and paid for this re-call effort and we can all thank Dennis Spellmann for helping.
P. Jackson
Sunday, November 20, 2005
THE CONSERVATIVE FACTOR - Alex Spencer
To run for office, politicians have to raise money from private donors to pay for their signs and glossy mailers. But Missouri campaign finance laws limit local politicians to taking a maximum contribution of $300 from any one donor. The idea is to limit any single rich guy or company from simply buying a local politician.
But St. Peters Mayor Shawn Brown came up with a scheme to get around this law. He started taking in big checks in the $1,500 to $3,000 range from builders who had matters before the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission where Shawn has a vote. (Isn’t it surprising how quickly the builders turn over big checks when their multi-million dollar projects are held up by P&Z?) Because of the contribution limit, Shawn did not have the builders make the checks out to his own campaign committee. Instead, he created a deceptively named committee called Citizens for Fair Government. And he had his wife, Rhonda Brown, sign the committee’s formation paperwork as treasurer.
Strangely, the committee’s contributors included a $1,500 donation by Esteem Homes. A couple months ago, County Prosecutor Jack Banas investigated allegations of a dirty deal between Esteem Homes and the Mayor. Banas closed his investigation saying that he couldn’t find any proof that Esteem Homes gave Shawn or his campaign any money. I guess it depends on how hard you look?
Another bizarre contribution to the committee came from a lady who listed her address as a local trailer park. Normally, you don’t see many political contributions from folks living in trailer parks—particularly for $3,000! So a local reporter did a little digging—turns out the lady is an employee of Tom Johnson Construction, which has a large housing project in St. Peters. Somehow I am guessing she may have gotten a BIG Christmas bonus this year.
By “shaking down” the St. Peters builders (and sometimes their employees), Shawn’s committee quickly raised over $18,000. The committee gave more than $10,000 back to Shawn’s campaign and spent more than $3,000 on his wife’s campaign for school board. The rest of the money was spent on Mark Lafata and the other anti-administration school board candidates running with Rhonda Brown (by the way, they all won as a slate on those funneled funds).
Interestingly, Rhonda didn’t open her own campaign committee for her school board race. Legally, she was required to open a campaign if she was going to spend more than $1,000 on her race. But who needs to go to the trouble of forming a campaign committee to try to raise money at $300 a pop for a school board campaign when a single donation from a lady living in a trailer park can cover your entire campaign?
St. Peters Alderman David Hayes uncovered the whole convoluted flow of dirty money when he discovered that the Mayor was faxing the illegal committee’s paperwork out of the Mayor’s office at City Hall. (It’s hard to claim you’re not running a committee that your wife started and that has your fax header on its paperwork.) Hayes logically turned it all over to the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Like a Federal grand jury, the Ethics Commission investigates complaints to determine if there is probable cause for prosecution. In the case of the allegations against the Mayor, the Ethics Commission voted to move forward with a prosecution and turned it over to Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. The question is whether Jay Nixon will prosecute the case or sweep it under the rug (reminiscent of Banas’ “insufficient evidence” bit).
While the Mayor is now under the Missouri Ethics Commission’s equivalent of an indictment, he has other problems that would make even Lewis “Scooter” Libby stop and take notice. Shawn “Skippy” Brown’s business venture has hit the skids.
Remember Shawn’s Haunted House of Fraud? Shawn, together with a local convicted thief, Chris Blevins, set up the Haunted House. But Shawn tried to hide that he owned the business by putting down a false address on the company’s formation papers. And then he slipped the project past the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission without telling them that he owned it. When caught, he claimed that he didn’t put down his real address because “nobody needed to know it was the Mayor.”
Well, sometime on Halloween, one of Shawn’s employees took off with $11,000 of stereo equipment. Turns out, the employee was a fugitive from justice with an outstanding warrant for burglary. You’d think Shawn, who had an outstanding warrant for filing a police report when he ran for mayor, or his partner the convicted thief, who still owes $14,000 in restitution, would be more careful of who they hire.
Regardless, the St. Peters police recovered all the stolen equipment for the Mayor. But according to the Mayor, he still lost about $14,000 on his Haunted House. Wait a minute! Isn’t that what Chris Blevins owes in restitution? Maybe the Mayor should check Blevins’ share again. After all, there is no honor among thieves.
But Skippy shouldn’t panic. I doubt he will have to file for bankruptcy, again. Instead, he can always turn back to his personal ATM machine—Citizens for Fair Government.
But Mr. Mayor, a word to the wise, this time keep Rhonda Brown out of it. Because all I know is that if Mrs. Spencer’s picture ended up on the front page in a scandal, I’d be sleeping on the coach for a longtime…
But St. Peters Mayor Shawn Brown came up with a scheme to get around this law. He started taking in big checks in the $1,500 to $3,000 range from builders who had matters before the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission where Shawn has a vote. (Isn’t it surprising how quickly the builders turn over big checks when their multi-million dollar projects are held up by P&Z?) Because of the contribution limit, Shawn did not have the builders make the checks out to his own campaign committee. Instead, he created a deceptively named committee called Citizens for Fair Government. And he had his wife, Rhonda Brown, sign the committee’s formation paperwork as treasurer.
Strangely, the committee’s contributors included a $1,500 donation by Esteem Homes. A couple months ago, County Prosecutor Jack Banas investigated allegations of a dirty deal between Esteem Homes and the Mayor. Banas closed his investigation saying that he couldn’t find any proof that Esteem Homes gave Shawn or his campaign any money. I guess it depends on how hard you look?
Another bizarre contribution to the committee came from a lady who listed her address as a local trailer park. Normally, you don’t see many political contributions from folks living in trailer parks—particularly for $3,000! So a local reporter did a little digging—turns out the lady is an employee of Tom Johnson Construction, which has a large housing project in St. Peters. Somehow I am guessing she may have gotten a BIG Christmas bonus this year.
By “shaking down” the St. Peters builders (and sometimes their employees), Shawn’s committee quickly raised over $18,000. The committee gave more than $10,000 back to Shawn’s campaign and spent more than $3,000 on his wife’s campaign for school board. The rest of the money was spent on Mark Lafata and the other anti-administration school board candidates running with Rhonda Brown (by the way, they all won as a slate on those funneled funds).
Interestingly, Rhonda didn’t open her own campaign committee for her school board race. Legally, she was required to open a campaign if she was going to spend more than $1,000 on her race. But who needs to go to the trouble of forming a campaign committee to try to raise money at $300 a pop for a school board campaign when a single donation from a lady living in a trailer park can cover your entire campaign?
St. Peters Alderman David Hayes uncovered the whole convoluted flow of dirty money when he discovered that the Mayor was faxing the illegal committee’s paperwork out of the Mayor’s office at City Hall. (It’s hard to claim you’re not running a committee that your wife started and that has your fax header on its paperwork.) Hayes logically turned it all over to the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Like a Federal grand jury, the Ethics Commission investigates complaints to determine if there is probable cause for prosecution. In the case of the allegations against the Mayor, the Ethics Commission voted to move forward with a prosecution and turned it over to Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. The question is whether Jay Nixon will prosecute the case or sweep it under the rug (reminiscent of Banas’ “insufficient evidence” bit).
While the Mayor is now under the Missouri Ethics Commission’s equivalent of an indictment, he has other problems that would make even Lewis “Scooter” Libby stop and take notice. Shawn “Skippy” Brown’s business venture has hit the skids.
Remember Shawn’s Haunted House of Fraud? Shawn, together with a local convicted thief, Chris Blevins, set up the Haunted House. But Shawn tried to hide that he owned the business by putting down a false address on the company’s formation papers. And then he slipped the project past the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission without telling them that he owned it. When caught, he claimed that he didn’t put down his real address because “nobody needed to know it was the Mayor.”
Well, sometime on Halloween, one of Shawn’s employees took off with $11,000 of stereo equipment. Turns out, the employee was a fugitive from justice with an outstanding warrant for burglary. You’d think Shawn, who had an outstanding warrant for filing a police report when he ran for mayor, or his partner the convicted thief, who still owes $14,000 in restitution, would be more careful of who they hire.
Regardless, the St. Peters police recovered all the stolen equipment for the Mayor. But according to the Mayor, he still lost about $14,000 on his Haunted House. Wait a minute! Isn’t that what Chris Blevins owes in restitution? Maybe the Mayor should check Blevins’ share again. After all, there is no honor among thieves.
But Skippy shouldn’t panic. I doubt he will have to file for bankruptcy, again. Instead, he can always turn back to his personal ATM machine—Citizens for Fair Government.
But Mr. Mayor, a word to the wise, this time keep Rhonda Brown out of it. Because all I know is that if Mrs. Spencer’s picture ended up on the front page in a scandal, I’d be sleeping on the coach for a longtime…
CASE IN POINT By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
History in the Remaking
What’s St. Charles got that no other town in the county’s got? A sense of history, architecture, diversity, community and common sense layout of streets (at least in the older parts of town). That which is wrong with suburbia was pointed out by a recent e-mail forwarded on in the council’s weekly pack of information. In the e-mail letter, Mrs. Shannon Walsh states, “I trekked out several times the first few months I moved here looking for neat areas to shop, walk, get a feel for the neighborhood — plug in. I found only one — downtown St. Charles. The rest of Saint Charles County is just as so many had described. A cluttered jungle of ugly, scattershot, out of control development, strip malls, with no hint of neighborhood or character. I got lost every time I went out because it all looked exactly the same!”
Welcome to “community” as imagined by most developers who are not directed by government (rare to nonexistent in our county) to imagine something beyond plastic-skinned houses lining the pleasant sounding curvilinear streets named after that which they have annihilated! For fun, think up a pastoral sounding street name such as, “Sunny Meadow” and then look in the local street guide. If you make it “Pleasantville” sounding enough, you will be sure to find it somewhere in our county. Next, take a drive to the street and you will not see a Meadow but a beige or white sided house stuck on a cul-de-sac where a through street could have very easily connected to the next development and maybe even led you by foot to a grocery store!
Ms. Walsh is, of course, correct in her assessment of what she sees and in her letter she continues (emphasis added is hers), “I don’t really LIVE in St. Charles...I sleep in St. Charles County but that’s it.”
Early on, many of us had a vague notion of what disturbed us about the way developers were allowed to build but it wasn’t articulated as such. We knew that commutes were getting longer and longer and that left-hand turns onto some streets were increasingly difficult and life threatening. We knew that the greenspace that was sought was disappearing and in its place a carbon copied strip center was built. For many the “local” place to get “good” food became a franchised restaurant surrounded by a sea of asphalt. Housing developments are waxing while community is waning.
What does the current expansion format cost us? Have you ever thought about the price tag that comes along with the way that we build? Consider the following:
increased cost of maintaining massive infrastructure for low density development
increased cost of transportation due to the curvilinear layout of streets
increased commute time that costs us leisure time with family and friends
increased health costs created from an automobile-mastered society that promotes sedentary existence
Those are a few of the real monetary costs, but the thing that has cost us just as greatly and that which Ms. Walsh is lamenting in her letter is loss of community, loss of meaningful space, loss of connection to her surroundings. Meaningful space is exactly what draws thousands of us to Main Street over and over again. Main Street has many individual private owners but yet we still feel like we all own the whole space! Main Street is an eclectic use-of-space mix — boutiques, parks, homes, businesses, large buildings, small buildings, old buildings and new buildings alike help define this special space!
We here in Saint Charles have a head start on other communities and have some promising things planned. For example, I have mentioned before that I feel St. Charles City is a rivertown with little relationship to its great river but the Mayor and Council have common ground working for fruition of the riverfront development plan that will make the Missouri more than the muddy water you cross over to drive to work or to the baseball games.
We have a trails plan developed and will work towards connecting all parts of our City via bike/pedestrian paths. The whole community has embraced new urbanism in New Town. The ca. 750 acres of New Town under development will house far more residents than a Levittown-style development would have and offers far more desirable space in which to LIVE! The population growth here is creating demand for retail! Furthermore, this development saves greenspace and infrastructure costs!
We are rebuilding our older neighborhoods and offer financial assistance for home improvements to help out in this area. Our City is taking some steps in the right direction.
Truly, our community will do well to understand that ignoring the problems of suburbia may end up costing us dearly when young professionals choose another place that offers them something more than a Wal-mart Supercenter. St. Charles is in a good position to demonstrate to the rest of the county how community is made meaningful by mixed use, public space, and pedestrian friendly developments.
I know you wrote that you plan to move back to St. Louis County Ms. Walsh, but you may want to consider coming home to Saint Charles City!
"MONEY TALKS" Kevin Daniels Main Street Financial
KEVIN DANIELS - Main Stret Financial
Hitting Home Runs
If I were writing this column about baseball, I would only have another few sentences before I would have revealed all I know about baseball. None-the-less, I am sure of this: there are very few Mark McGuires in this city. I’m sure there are some that were never discovered for various reasons. But, compared to the general population, there are few home run hitters like “Mac”. By all means if you can hit financial home runs, press on! But for most of us we have to admit, we do not hit like Mr. McGuire.
My advice would be to not focus on hitting financial home runs. Yet nearly every week I will have a client that wants to try. Better yet, they expect to knock it out of the park every time they step up to the plate, of course with my help. I raise my eyebrows and say, “you are not a home run hitter and neither am I.” Furthermore, a consistent home run King has no need for your few hundred thousand when they have millionaires already standing in line. I then explain that my goal is NOT to make 47% on the star fund pick. These clients have unrealistic expectations and unless they begin to abandon the home-run-every-time syndrome, I will not be able to help them.
My goal with finance is to get a base hit, consistently. We all have been taught that the turtle wins the race but our pride would be better fed TRYING to be the hare. The crowd sure cheers louder for the hare! But this can quickly lead to all flash and no cash! Ouch! My mom used to call this “Big hat, no cattle.” It is very hard to make money when you are striking out while trying to hit a home run.
Try this at home. Use boring, methodical, routine, consistent plans to build wealth. Bunting is allowed! I suggest you not be in too big of a hurry either, it usually takes time to build anything of value. Using a go-slow approach will not give you a very exciting story to tell at the lunch table tomorrow, but it will likely help you buy the lunch table someday. Everyone has to pick a strategy. Even not picking any strategy ends up being a strategy in and of itself. So my advice is be reasonable and avoid trying to go over the fence with investment performance. I believe with that “home-run” strategy, you may indeed strike out, or even worse, not have another opportunity to bat for a long while! Kevin Daniels is securities licensed through Investacorp, Inc. a registered broker dealer, member NASD, SIPC.
FIRST CAPITOL Counseling Connection - Dr Howard Rosenthal
First Capitol Counseling Connection
Dr. Howard Rosenthal
What In The World Is This New Brief Mental Health Treatment?
Dear Dr. Rosenthal,
My best friend told me that she solved her personal problems in just a few sessions by seeing a brief therapist. I personally went to therapy years ago and I attended sessions for several years. I’m experiencing difficulties again and was wondering if brief therapy might work for me. What in the world is brief therapy? - Lisa
Dear Lisa,
Brief therapy – which also goes under the names of brief solution oriented therapy, brief strategic therapy, solution focused brief therapy (SFBT), an offshoot, dubbed as narrative therapy, and possibility therapy – is extremely popular right now. Many textbooks and graduate schools are pushing this model to the hilt. In addition, I’ve received a number of questions about this approach since I began writing this column.
One advantage to brief therapy is that . . . well, it’s brief . . . and generally takes less time to complete than traditional psychotherapy and counseling. Insurance companies, HMOs and managed care programs often prefer this model since it helps keep treatment costs down. There is not an insurance company on the face of the earth (at least that I’m aware of one, nor or other the experts I’ve consulted with) that will pay the whole bill for you to see a classical Freudian analyst for five days a week for approximately three or four years. Simply put: In most cases an insurance company would prefer short- term treatment to a long-term approach.
I can’t truly do justice to this form of intervention in this short article; however, here are a few insights into this paradigm. In brief solution oriented therapy, the emphasis (just like the name implies) is on the solution, not the problem. Hint: Your therapist won’t allow you 30 sessions to talk about your childhood or the fact that your mother liked your sister best! (They always do you know.)
The therapist will help you focus on exceptions to your problem. For example, if you are depressed, are there ever times when you are not depressed? If you can’t get along with your teen-age daughter, are there ever times when you do get along with her?
By focusing on what occurs during these rare periods, the therapist can often help you behave in a more productive manner. Therapists of this ilk often give homework assignments for you to perform after each session.
If you are looking for a therapist to build a long-term therapeutic relationship with or a helper to analyze the nuances of your childhood, let me state forthrightly that this isn’t the treatment of choice for you.
On the other hand, if the aforementioned factors are not an issue why not give brief therapy a whirl and see if it does the trick? Many, though not all, of the people who have tried this approach have given it thumbs up. Remember that no model of treatment works in every case.
Dr. Howard Rosenthal, is professor and program coordinator of Human Services at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. He is the recipient of several clinical and teaching awards and the author of the Encyclopedia of Counseling and the Human Services Dictionary. His website is www.howardrosenthal.com.
LOCAL NEWS NOTES
Christmas Tree Lot Opens Nov. 26 –
First Capitol Lions
The First Capitol Lions Club will be selling Christmas Trees beginning on Saturday, November 26, 2005. The finest pines from Nova Scotia, Canada will be available in sizes from 4 feet to 9 feet and include Douglas and Frasier Firs, Balsams and Scotch pines. The club will also sell pine roping, grave mats and wreaths. Free delivery of Christmas trees is available to St. Charles City residents.
The lot will be open from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays through December 19th. The tree lot is located in the parking lot of Lyon’s Frozen Custard at the corner of Elm Street and Duchesne in St. Charles.
FIRST BANKS, INC. ANNOUNCES COMPLETION ACQUISITION
OF NORTHWAY STATE BANK
First Banks, Inc. (“First Banks”) and Northway State Bank (“Northway”) jointly announce completion today of the previously announced acquisition of Northway by First Banks.
Allen H. Blake, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Banks, said, “We are delighted to welcome the customers and employees of Northway to First Banks and are committed to continuing Northway’s dedication to providing the highest level of financial services to its customers.” Mr. Blake added, “Northway is located in Lake County, a growing and dynamic area that leads in business expansions and relocations. This acquisition provides an exciting enhancement to our growing Chicago franchise, which now totals 26 banking offices throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. Our new customers will benefit from an expanded branch banking and ATM network that offers a broad array of financial products and services.”
Terrance M. McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of First Banks, said, “First Banks offers the customers of Northway an extensive menu of consumer and commercial loan and deposit product lines in addition to other financial services, including telephone and internet banking, debit cards, mortgage banking, small business lending, brokerage services, trust, private banking and institutional money management services.” Mr. McCarthy added, “We look forward to serving our new customers and further expanding our activities within the local communities.”
Joseph F. Tomasello, President of Northway, said, “Our affiliation with First Banks provides our customers with greater convenience through an expanded branch and ATM network, in addition to enhanced financial products and services that are available through a larger financial institution.”
Mr. Tomasello added, “First Banks will continue to build on the strong foundation that Northway’s directors, management and employees have established as they continue to serve the customers and businesses in our community.”
Northway, an Illinois state chartered bank, is headquartered in Grayslake, Illinois, and operates one banking office in the northern Chicago metropolitan area. At September 30, 2005, Northway reported assets of $50.4 million, loans, net of unearned discount, of $41.9 million, deposits of $44.8 million and stockholders’ equity of $5.2 million.
At September 30, 2005, First Banks reported assets of $9.01 billion, loans, net of unearned discount, of $6.63 billion, deposits of $7.38 billion and stockholders’ equity of $665.1 million. Following completion of the acquisition, First Banks will operate 177 branch banking offices in Missouri, Illinois, California and Texas.
CRESCENDO CONCERT SERIES RECEIVES MAAA GRANTS FOR THREE CONCERTS
The Crescendo Concert Series has announced that it was among a select group of Midwest presenters chosen to receive three Mid-America Arts Alliance grants in support of its 2005-2006 concert season. These awards will support upcoming performances of the Manhattan Brass Quintet on January 26, 2006 at St. Charles Presbyterian Church, Chanson (a male vocal sextet) on March 19, 2006 at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, and cellist Andres Diaz on May 21, 2006 at First United Methodist Church. These concerts begin at 3:00 p.m. and are all in St. Charles.
These presentations are supported by the Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, and foundations, corporations, and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. The Alliance enables individuals and families throughout America’s heartland to share in and enjoy the arts and culture of our region and the world.
Mary Kennedy McCabe, Mid America Arts Alliance Executive Director said, “The Crescendo Concert Series is to be commended for its community service with these distinctive events. Audiences in St. Charles and St. Charles County will have the opportunity to hear the exciting work of the Manhattan Brass Quintet, Chanson, and Andres Diaz, many for the first time, and Mid-America Arts Alliance is proud to help support this work and the Crescendo Concert Series.”
These three performances are part of Crescendo Concert Series’ seventh season. Before each event Nancy Rubenstein, Ph.D. will provide an instructive introduction to the music of the concert at 2:30 p.m.
For further information call board spokesman Herb Pundmann at 636-724-2507 or visit the Web site at http://crescendoconcerts.org/. For further information on Mid-America Arts Alliance call their staff at 816-421-1388.
FIRST BANK’S MEREDITH KELLY NAMED CO-CHAIR OF 17TH ANNUAL CHARITY BENEFIT
Community Women Against Hardship (CWAH) event to be held Sunday, November 13
Meredith Kelly, community affairs officer at First Bank and vice president of the Community Women Against Hardship (CWAH) board, has been selected as auction co-chair at the CWAH 17th Annual Charity Event, scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 13 at the Sheldon Concert Hall (3648 Washington Blvd).
Kelly has co-chaired this CWAH annual event for the past four years. In addition to serving on the CWAH board, Kelly is a board member of Vision for Children at Risk and Union West Community Corp. She serves on the advisory boards for Beaumont Academy of Finance, Gateway to Financial Fitness, St. Louis Coalition to Promote Reputable Lending, and Get Checking. Kelly sits on the steering committee for the Habitat for Humanity Friends Group as well.
Community Women Against Hardship is a nonprofit community organization that feeds, clothes, teaches and houses families undergoing hardship in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
First Bank is one of the largest privately owned banks in the country with more than $9 billion in assets and over 175 locations in Missouri, Illinois, Texas and California.
First Capitol Lions
The First Capitol Lions Club will be selling Christmas Trees beginning on Saturday, November 26, 2005. The finest pines from Nova Scotia, Canada will be available in sizes from 4 feet to 9 feet and include Douglas and Frasier Firs, Balsams and Scotch pines. The club will also sell pine roping, grave mats and wreaths. Free delivery of Christmas trees is available to St. Charles City residents.
The lot will be open from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays through December 19th. The tree lot is located in the parking lot of Lyon’s Frozen Custard at the corner of Elm Street and Duchesne in St. Charles.
FIRST BANKS, INC. ANNOUNCES COMPLETION ACQUISITION
OF NORTHWAY STATE BANK
First Banks, Inc. (“First Banks”) and Northway State Bank (“Northway”) jointly announce completion today of the previously announced acquisition of Northway by First Banks.
Allen H. Blake, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Banks, said, “We are delighted to welcome the customers and employees of Northway to First Banks and are committed to continuing Northway’s dedication to providing the highest level of financial services to its customers.” Mr. Blake added, “Northway is located in Lake County, a growing and dynamic area that leads in business expansions and relocations. This acquisition provides an exciting enhancement to our growing Chicago franchise, which now totals 26 banking offices throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. Our new customers will benefit from an expanded branch banking and ATM network that offers a broad array of financial products and services.”
Terrance M. McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of First Banks, said, “First Banks offers the customers of Northway an extensive menu of consumer and commercial loan and deposit product lines in addition to other financial services, including telephone and internet banking, debit cards, mortgage banking, small business lending, brokerage services, trust, private banking and institutional money management services.” Mr. McCarthy added, “We look forward to serving our new customers and further expanding our activities within the local communities.”
Joseph F. Tomasello, President of Northway, said, “Our affiliation with First Banks provides our customers with greater convenience through an expanded branch and ATM network, in addition to enhanced financial products and services that are available through a larger financial institution.”
Mr. Tomasello added, “First Banks will continue to build on the strong foundation that Northway’s directors, management and employees have established as they continue to serve the customers and businesses in our community.”
Northway, an Illinois state chartered bank, is headquartered in Grayslake, Illinois, and operates one banking office in the northern Chicago metropolitan area. At September 30, 2005, Northway reported assets of $50.4 million, loans, net of unearned discount, of $41.9 million, deposits of $44.8 million and stockholders’ equity of $5.2 million.
At September 30, 2005, First Banks reported assets of $9.01 billion, loans, net of unearned discount, of $6.63 billion, deposits of $7.38 billion and stockholders’ equity of $665.1 million. Following completion of the acquisition, First Banks will operate 177 branch banking offices in Missouri, Illinois, California and Texas.
CRESCENDO CONCERT SERIES RECEIVES MAAA GRANTS FOR THREE CONCERTS
The Crescendo Concert Series has announced that it was among a select group of Midwest presenters chosen to receive three Mid-America Arts Alliance grants in support of its 2005-2006 concert season. These awards will support upcoming performances of the Manhattan Brass Quintet on January 26, 2006 at St. Charles Presbyterian Church, Chanson (a male vocal sextet) on March 19, 2006 at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, and cellist Andres Diaz on May 21, 2006 at First United Methodist Church. These concerts begin at 3:00 p.m. and are all in St. Charles.
These presentations are supported by the Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, and foundations, corporations, and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. The Alliance enables individuals and families throughout America’s heartland to share in and enjoy the arts and culture of our region and the world.
Mary Kennedy McCabe, Mid America Arts Alliance Executive Director said, “The Crescendo Concert Series is to be commended for its community service with these distinctive events. Audiences in St. Charles and St. Charles County will have the opportunity to hear the exciting work of the Manhattan Brass Quintet, Chanson, and Andres Diaz, many for the first time, and Mid-America Arts Alliance is proud to help support this work and the Crescendo Concert Series.”
These three performances are part of Crescendo Concert Series’ seventh season. Before each event Nancy Rubenstein, Ph.D. will provide an instructive introduction to the music of the concert at 2:30 p.m.
For further information call board spokesman Herb Pundmann at 636-724-2507 or visit the Web site at http://crescendoconcerts.org/. For further information on Mid-America Arts Alliance call their staff at 816-421-1388.
FIRST BANK’S MEREDITH KELLY NAMED CO-CHAIR OF 17TH ANNUAL CHARITY BENEFIT
Community Women Against Hardship (CWAH) event to be held Sunday, November 13
Meredith Kelly, community affairs officer at First Bank and vice president of the Community Women Against Hardship (CWAH) board, has been selected as auction co-chair at the CWAH 17th Annual Charity Event, scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 13 at the Sheldon Concert Hall (3648 Washington Blvd).
Kelly has co-chaired this CWAH annual event for the past four years. In addition to serving on the CWAH board, Kelly is a board member of Vision for Children at Risk and Union West Community Corp. She serves on the advisory boards for Beaumont Academy of Finance, Gateway to Financial Fitness, St. Louis Coalition to Promote Reputable Lending, and Get Checking. Kelly sits on the steering committee for the Habitat for Humanity Friends Group as well.
Community Women Against Hardship is a nonprofit community organization that feeds, clothes, teaches and houses families undergoing hardship in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
First Bank is one of the largest privately owned banks in the country with more than $9 billion in assets and over 175 locations in Missouri, Illinois, Texas and California.
FIRST CAPITOL NEWS SPORTS - Mike McMurran Editor
MY COLUMN - Mike McMurran, Sports Editor
Never have I claimed to be a journalist, nor a columnist – rather I am simply a lowly, certified 7-12 English teacher. During my years of studying to be a teacher I was required to take more literature and grammar courses than I would ever need. You see I am what most would call an “old school” teacher – I know the content, grammar, literary analysis and such, as that is what they taught us. Today’s educators focus more on “how to teach,” how to address different learning styles, how to create an environment conducive to learning. Though professional development old school teachers, like yours truly, are schooled on how to address the different learning styles, etc. Why do I mention this? There are a couple of reasons: 1. I love to write, both formally and informally. When the opportunity presented itself to write for Tony and Phyllis I jumped on it. 2. I love high school sports – nothing pleasures me more than attending a competitive high school contest, and 3. I love my family. Yeah sure, everyone loves their family, but for the longest time I was not sure that I would have a family. I was 41 years old when Margo, my oldest was born.
It seems the correspondence I receive is equally divided between “stick to sports” and “I love reading about your family.” How do I keep everyone happy? Its kinda like dealing with my wife: damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Lets not forget to factor in I occasionally enjoy sharing my political point of view.
It has been one year now since I have been writing this column, and I have learned a few things. I like my narratives to be as “fresh” as possible. My deadline for submitting articles is noon, or so, on Tuesday. No matter how hard I try I cannot bring myself to sitting down and writing until Tuesday morning (presently it is 9 a.m.). This week I had a column written as early as last Thursday – but I threw it away this morning. The “freshness” I speak of is currently throwing me for a loop. You see, I must submit my articles by noon on Tuesday, but at the same time the U. S. Mail doesn’t bother to deliver my FCN until several days latter. This throws my clock off, significantly. Kindly hang in there with me as I become more tuned in with the new schedule.
The column I originally planned on submitting dealt primarily with the Fort Zumwalt School District’s drug and alcohol policy – and how I admired and respected Dr. Bernie DuBray for standing up for what is clearly best for the student athletes. My clandestine informants tell me there is a star athlete from a Class 6 football semifinalist team facing drug charges. It seems the court proceedings are being put off until the conclusion of the season – “he’s innocent until proven guilty – therefore he keeps his eligibility,” I am told. Something tells me this wouldn’t happen in the Zumwalt District.
Speaking of football semifinalists, Charlie Elmendorf’s Duchesne Pioneers are one win away from a date at the Edward Jones Dome and the Show Me Bowl. Since we do not publish next week due to Thanksgiving, we will not be covering the Pioneer’s semifinal game with Affton. Rest assured ladies and gentlemen, should the Pioneers make it to the Dome, Bob and I will be there. Here’s a trivia question: Since the MSHSAA started football playoffs in 1968, Duchesne has made it to the final four, 4 times (82, 83, 99 and this year). Who is the only Gateway Athletic Conference representative to win a football state championship? (answer at the end of column)
Since we do not publish next week, I would like to share what I am most thankful for with you this week. This Thanksgiving, November 24th, will mark the 21st Thanksgiving I have spent with my wife, Lynn. Remember how I earlier said there was a time in my life when I was not sure if I would ever have a family? Well, on Thanksgiving Day in 1985, my first with Lynn and her family, I knew that she was the person I wanted to raise a family with. I also knew that the holiday environment I was experiencing was one I would someday love for my children to experience. You see, cousins in Lynn’s family are closer than many brothers and sisters I have met. This Thanksgiving, Margo, Joe and Dee will share Thanksgiving with at least 7 of their cousins: Phillip, Stevie (his wife Sarah), Tasha, Meghan (home from Rockhurst), Brad, Paige and Mason. Others may pop in from Tennessee and Texas, we never know, but you can be certain those 10 will be at Lynn’s brother Dave’s (and Debby) house on Thursday. I am thankful for the past 20 Thanksgivings with Lynn, 10 of which we have had a family of our own. Here’s to my wife Lynn, I love you and hope the next 20 Thanksgivings are as special as the past 20.
In November of 1982, head coach Jim Williams’ St. Charles Pirates defeated O’Hara 10-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, for the Class 4A state football title.
RAGE By Mike Thompson
FALL LEAGUE MEETINGS BRING AWARDS TO RAGE, EXPANSION TO NIFL
By Mike Thompson
By the end of the evening Thursday at the Adam’s Mark Hotel, after the annual NIFL Fall Banquet had been cleared away, I sat with Rage owners Tye Elliott and Scott Wilson, who were seated between Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt. It was hard for me to determine which of the three looked more like the Cheshire Cat who had suddenly swiped the canary out of mid-flight and gulped it down before grinning from ear to ear. I knew how hard everyone had worked in the past two weeks to put together the three most important days in the current off-season, so I had to ask the question, but ask it I did.
‘Well, was it worth all the planning, catering, all the shuttling to and from the airport, all the t-r-o-u-b-l-e to get this baby up and running?” Rolling his eyes, sighing, and with a half-laugh, Tye summed it up. “Hey, I can finally quit holding my breath, and I probably need to be re-introduced to my wife and kids, but yeah, four awards, it was worth every minute.” Then all heads at the table nodded in agreement when he exclaimed, “but I sure wouldn’t want to have to do it again next month!”
A full agenda, a hectic array of meetings, new owners, new teams, plenty of growth for the league fast becoming the biggest in indoor football, and it’s helmets held high to the RiverCity Rage and the City of St. Louis. If I may be allowed to say so myself, we did the NIFL and the best sports city in the USA quite proud! The annual get-together was a success, and League President Carolyn Shiver left on Friday morning with new reason to be excited about the NIFL in 2006. “Expansion was the key focus of these meetings, and we leave St. Louis with eleven new teams ready to excite football fans in their respective cities. Not only does this type of growth help the league and it’s image, but also it will geographically design our divisions to help reduce travel cost while keeping a national footprint in the sports community. It’s the best of both worlds for the NIFL.”
And the world is getting bigger.... or smaller...larger, of course in terms or more teams, more divisions, more fans drawn to the indoor game. Smaller, when you consider the travel between cities will become less. The idea is to align each respective division and conference with teams in relative proximity to each other, so as to reduce the travel costs in the coming year.
So, introducing the new teams and cities ready to step up and be part of the National Indoor Football League in 2006...
Fort Collins, Colorado
Rapid City, South Dakota
San Antonio, Texas
Katy, Texas
Lafayette, Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Charlotte, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Jacksonville, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
The 2006 home and away schedule has yet to be finalized for The Rage and the league, but one or more of those teams could be coming to Savvis Center next season. And lest one think expansion weakens the product, remember this....two expansion teams battled for the NIFL Title last year!
RAGE AWARDS
It was a big night for the RiverCity Rage on Thursday when the ‘Maggie’ (management and entertainment awards) trophies were presented. The home team walked away with four of the more prestigious awards up for grabs. Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt was presented the award for Coach of the Year, although he shared that award, and it was thus labeled Co-Coach of the year. Regardless, Wyatt says it’s really a thrill to be honored by one’s peers and the league owners. “To be in the league for two years and to be honored both times (Wyatt was the Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in 2004) is really exciting. It’s a great feeling to be that well thought of, but it’s also an award, really, for our entire coaching staff. I’ve got top-notch help in every department, and that makes my job a bit easier.”
Wyatt shared the next award with no one as I had the honor to present to him at the podium the trophy for Atlantic Division General Manager of the Year! And again, Coach gave credit to others in the organization in accepting the award. “It’s an honor that is certainly reflective on everyone at the office, a lot of the credit goes to a very active management team, especially Morris Groves, our Director of Operations. He and I work together in making decisions and implementing those directives for the success of the team in regards to ticket sales, marketing and community outreach. For me, it’s an accent, if you would, to doing what I really enjoy best, and that’s coaching football and working towards putting a quality product on the field for our fans. But, hey, this is sweet!”
The Rage also brought home awards for two of the more celebrated ‘game-day’ type awards.....Best Game Day Presentation and the trophy for having the Most Fun Organization.
Rage Operations Manager Morris Groves normally puts in a 12 to 14 hour day at Rage home games, and the hard work is shared by many others, a fact that doesn’t go unnoticed by him.
“From paid personnel, to volunteer’s, to interns, it’s a joint effort to give the fans the exciting pre-game, halftime and post-game presentations that we’ve been honored for. From the moment we get here (usually 4 to 5 hours before a home game) to the time we leave late at night, everyone knows their job, does their job and really puts heart and soul into making a night at Rage football an all-around fun night for fans of all ages.”
Soooo, a huge THANK YOU to......
Kathy Martinez....who handles the script for the game, including everything from the ‘reads’ (PA announcer), to all the promotions, the cheerleaders, lights and music. Kudos to her husband Steve, who assists.
Don Adams, Jr....The Rage photographer
Diane Burkholder...who also assists Kathy Martinez
Jeff Vossenkemper.... our top-notch audio man
Alicia, Lauren and Anna Hollenbeck.... who handle the Rage merchandise table
Ferd Fetch.... our media co-coordinator
Mark Juen and his wife Denise...Rage game-day radio spotters
John Moberly...with help, here, there, and everywhere
Chris Procasky and Mike Kadillac.... otherwise known as ‘Raggie’ (team mascot)
Rodney Gerdes and David Solomon...Stat crew
Kyle Wilkinson.... Video
KFAV Radio’s Brian Richardson.... Rage PA Announcer
T.L. Ricks.... on-field announcer
And finally, a grateful Rage team salutes our Rage Cheerleaders, our Bellboys and Ball girls, and our interns Casy Moran, Emmalee Steiger, Travis Cooper and Mark Luebbert, and anyone else who contributed to the success of the team in 2005...see ya next year!!
FOOTBALL/CLASS 4 QUARTERFINAL
Duchesne tops defending State Champs
By: Mike McMurran Sports Editor
One of the oldest cliches in sports goes something like this: the game was much closer than the score indicated. The opposite might be said in reference to Duchesne’s 7 – 0 Class 4 quarterfinal win at Concordia Seminary over defending Class 4 state champions, Clayton.
“We put the defense in a tough spot, failing to get in the end zone more, but the defense stepped up,” said head coach Charlie Elmendorf. “At the same time you have to give their defense credit,” as they stopped the Pioneers twice inside the 5-yard line.
Even though the winning margin could have been much larger, the outcome was not finalized until the final play of the game. With less than three minutes remaining in the game, and Clayton driving to the end zone, Duchesne defensive end Matt Dalton did what he does best; he sacked the quarterback. “We were nervous, no doubt,” Dalton said. Clayton’s defense had just stopped Duchesne at the 1-yard line, and were putting together one of their best offensive drives of the game. They drove 67 yards to the Duchesne 26-yard line. That’s when the Pioneer’s defense stepped up and took control of the game.
Following Dalton’s sack, the ‘Hounds faced a third and long. Clayton’s quarterback Carter Sapp tried to throw a screen pass, only to have the Pioneer defense smother it. With less than two minutes remaining, facing a 4th and 20, Sapp’s pass was intercepted by Jeremy Elmendorf. “That’s the biggest play I’ve ever made in my life,” Elmendorf said. “I made the interception, but the play was made by the pressure put on the quarterback by the D-line.”
Most of the first half was a game of field position. Slowly, the Pioneers, though a series of punt exchanges, managed to gain some yardage. With just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Mitch Kohnen galloped 37 of his 105 yards to the Clayton 1-yard line. On the next snap Kohnen gave the Pioneers a 7-0 lead with 50 seconds remaining in the half.
Duchesne moved the ball, almost at will in the second half, as the Duchesne offensive line took control of the game. “The O-line did their job, no doubt about it,” said the senior Elmendorf. “We moved the ball up and down the field, but couldn’t get it in the end zone.” Clayton stopped the Pioneers inside the red zone on three separate occasions. “We should have gone up 10-0 on the second to last drive,” said Elmendorf. “I should have gone for the field goal, which would have required Clayton to score twice.” Instead, Collin Magilligan was stopped at the one-yard line.
Duchesne travels to South County to take on the Suburban East tri-champions Affton Cougars Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. kick off. The winner of Saturdays game will play at the Edward Jones Dome on Friday, November 25, at 3 p.m. for the Class 4 state title.
United Hockey League
River Otters Still
Need Consistency
Players Turn to Violence When Frustrated
Finally get their first win at Fort Wayne
By Louis J. Launer
“They’ve got to get this monkey off their backs,” River Otter fan Colleen Cooke said after the team recorded its eighth consecutive loss at Family Arena.
The River Otters did get their first win at Fort Wayne last week, a 4-1 victory, thanks to a new acquired forward Scott Horvath, who got a goal and two assists in the game. Goaltender Kevin Reiter stopped 33 shots and appeared back in what he was last season during the playoffs, ironically against Fort Wayne. It’s only one win, but there are still problems with the team.
The Missouri River Otters are a cellar dweller in the Western Division standings. Fans and sportswriters notice a lack of consistency in every position this season. The River Otter defensive unit has been lackluster and allows the opponent to cross the blue line untouched and appear in the middle in front of the goaltender ready to dump the puck in. The offense can’t control the puck and constantly has the puck knocked away by the opponents’ defense. The team itself cannot play three periods of consistent hockey.
Long-time River Otters fan Nik Woodward noticed a little consistency in the first game of November at Family Arena compared to the previous month.
“If Reiter had gotten the defense that [Cuthbert] got today, we’d win every game,” he said. “I think the problem has just been a lack of cohesion. But we’re getting there now.”
Woodward still has concern about the Otters’ forwards and their lack of making the play. “[Damian] Surma needs to pass more than he did today. He’s a center for [goodness] sake.”
Released this month from the River Otters are center Dan Carney, right winger Bret Peppler and defenseman Jared Newman. J.P. Beilstein was reactivated after being released a week earlier. Dimitri Toupikov is now on the active playing roster. Brad Church has been out of the lineup for three weeks with a very bad bone bruise on his ankle. Church was struck hard in the foot by a slap shot puck in early November.
Players are starting to express frustration over the problems. The River Otters traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan to open the first weekend of November. In that game in the first period alone, the K-Wings had 20 shots on goal, compared to the Otters’ 6, enroute to an 8-1 loss. Unnecessary penalties also hurt the River Otters. In the first period, left winger Jimmy Callahan became frustrated with the immediate stoppage of play by the officials that he expressed his displeasure. Callahan was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, along with a 10-minute misconduct. That set of penalties cost the Otters two goals by the K-Wings and most likely took the momentum away from the River Otters including a chance for their first win.
Another costly penalty for the River Otters that put the game out of reach (including starting a 4-goal third period by the K-Wings) was Brian Heckendorn’s blatant slash of Kalamazoo’s Joe Seroski, who assisted on the first K-Wing goal in the third period. The referee interpreted it as a cheap shot and gave Heckendorn a 5-minute major for slashing. Heckendorn continued to retaliate and argue with the referee and was given an additional 10-minute misconduct for “abuse of officials.”
When the team returned to Family Arena the next evening, there were questions as to what is really wrong with the River Otters. Some River Otter fans are putting the blame right square at General Manager Frank Buonomo for not getting Head Coach Kevin Kaminski the players needed to win UHL games.
It is also frustrating to welcome 60 Rockford IceHog fans who arrive at Family Arena and find the place much better than their MetroCentre located in downtown Rockford. IceHog fans have reason to celebrate and travel this autumn with their team. The team remained undefeated in the first six weeks of the season—never achieved before since the franchise existed. IceHog fans dream of having an arena like Family Arena in their hometown. But they also appreciate the hospitality of River Otter fans, who are considered the best sportsmanlike of all UHL teams. It’s quite complementary to River Otter fans. But a losing record and positive compliments on the arena really don’t mix well.
Playing Rockford several times during the first five weeks of the regular season could be exciting or devastating. This year, it was the latter. The November 5 game against the IceHogs started as a dull game in the first period, with Rockford scoring two quick goals. Fans and sportswriters had a feeling inside of their heads of “here we go again.”
River Otter retaliation started at 17:19 of the second period when Lars Pettersen stick slapped Rockford defenseman Evgue Nourislamov in the face. The referee saw the entire incident as he skated right next to both of them. Pettersen received a five-minute major plus a game misconduct. Pettersen was finished for the night and took any potential opportunity for the River Otters with him.
River Otter players continued their frustrated rage. At 19:26 of the second period, right winter Frank Littlejohn started a fight with Jason Noterman, where Littlejohn threw continuous right hands at the Rockford left winger. Both linesmen and the referee had to pull them apart and try to restore order. But once Littlejohn skated by the Rockford bench on the way off the ice, Rockford’s Corey Hessler high sticked Littlejohn while sitting on the bench. Littlejohn approached the bench in fighting mode and both benches almost cleared.
At 3:47 of the third period, defenseman Tim O’Connell scored on a Dave Stewart pass, cutting Rockford’s lead in half. The River Otters had a chance to tie and turn around their woes. But unnecessary penalties by Tyler Butler, Mark Lindsay, Jim Murphy and Brad MacMillan put the River Otters two men short for six minutes—at a time when Rockford regrouped and returned their rested players to the ice. The River Otters lack of simple passing, the inability to pick up loose pucks and further inconsistency got the River Otters nowhere.
Late in the game at 18:49, the River Otters pulled goaltender Kevin Reiter for an additional attacker. Rockford’s Evgue Noruslamov cleared a loose puck intended for Dave Stewart. Noruslamov slapped the puck away and it went 125 feet directly into the empty net. That gave Rockford a 3-1 lead and eventually the victory. After that score, the River Otters decided to go all-out on the violence.
At 19:50, Rockford’s Oliver Proulx and Missouri’s Damian Surma roughed up each other along the boards behind the Rockford goal. Both received roughing minors. After the horn sounded ending the game, Rockford’s Robin Big Snake decided to retaliate again, just like what he did two weeks before. This time, Big Snake stick slapped Missouri’s Damian Surma and again drew blood.
Three days after the game, the UHL League Office in Lake Saint Louis announced four players were punished for their actions after the game at Family Arena. Rockford defenseman Corey Hessler was suspended for one game after receiving a match penalty for high sticking. Rockford’s Robin Big Snake was given a three game suspension, which included another game against Missouri in Rockford. The three-game suspension was for being an instigator in the last five minutes of a game and also making contact with the referee.
River Otter players Brad MacMillan and Frank Littlejohn were given one game suspensions by the league office. MacMillan was another instigator in the final five minutes of the game and Littlejohn engaged the Rockford team bench.
Without MacMillan and Littlejohn, the River Otters continued their losing ways, losing to Port Huron, 4-1. By mid-November, the River Otters remain the UHL’s only winless team. Head Coach Kevin Kaminski said scoring is a problem.
“It’s hard to win, too, when you’re only scoring one goal a game,” Kaminski said. “When you score 12 goals in nine games, you won’t win many.”
Fans and the front office are discovering that it is going to be a long season. Being more of a consistent team is a first start to salvaging the season.
First Capitol News High School Athlete of the Week
Logan McGuire, Junior, Duchesne High School
By: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
Duchesne High Junior football player Logan McGuire has been a busy fellow the past six days. All he has done is lead the Duchesne Pioneers into semifinal action of the Missouri Class 4 football tournament.
McGuire seldom leaves the field as he starts at both inside linebacker and running back. All he did against Gateway Athletic Conference – North Division rival Timberland was open the scoring with a 2-yard run, make 5 unassisted tackles on defense, and run the ball 24 times for 88 yards in leading the Pioneers to a 14-6 sectional win.
As the old Bachman, Turner Overdrive song suggested: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” In Wednesday night’s 7-0 quarterfinal win over defending state champion Clayton, McGuire led the Pioneers with 105 yards rushing in 17attempts. A day’s work for most, but not McGuire, as he also led the defense in tackles with 11 unassisted and 5 assisted.
For his accomplishments on the football field, Logan has been selected the First Capitol News High School Athlete of the Week.
Never have I claimed to be a journalist, nor a columnist – rather I am simply a lowly, certified 7-12 English teacher. During my years of studying to be a teacher I was required to take more literature and grammar courses than I would ever need. You see I am what most would call an “old school” teacher – I know the content, grammar, literary analysis and such, as that is what they taught us. Today’s educators focus more on “how to teach,” how to address different learning styles, how to create an environment conducive to learning. Though professional development old school teachers, like yours truly, are schooled on how to address the different learning styles, etc. Why do I mention this? There are a couple of reasons: 1. I love to write, both formally and informally. When the opportunity presented itself to write for Tony and Phyllis I jumped on it. 2. I love high school sports – nothing pleasures me more than attending a competitive high school contest, and 3. I love my family. Yeah sure, everyone loves their family, but for the longest time I was not sure that I would have a family. I was 41 years old when Margo, my oldest was born.
It seems the correspondence I receive is equally divided between “stick to sports” and “I love reading about your family.” How do I keep everyone happy? Its kinda like dealing with my wife: damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Lets not forget to factor in I occasionally enjoy sharing my political point of view.
It has been one year now since I have been writing this column, and I have learned a few things. I like my narratives to be as “fresh” as possible. My deadline for submitting articles is noon, or so, on Tuesday. No matter how hard I try I cannot bring myself to sitting down and writing until Tuesday morning (presently it is 9 a.m.). This week I had a column written as early as last Thursday – but I threw it away this morning. The “freshness” I speak of is currently throwing me for a loop. You see, I must submit my articles by noon on Tuesday, but at the same time the U. S. Mail doesn’t bother to deliver my FCN until several days latter. This throws my clock off, significantly. Kindly hang in there with me as I become more tuned in with the new schedule.
The column I originally planned on submitting dealt primarily with the Fort Zumwalt School District’s drug and alcohol policy – and how I admired and respected Dr. Bernie DuBray for standing up for what is clearly best for the student athletes. My clandestine informants tell me there is a star athlete from a Class 6 football semifinalist team facing drug charges. It seems the court proceedings are being put off until the conclusion of the season – “he’s innocent until proven guilty – therefore he keeps his eligibility,” I am told. Something tells me this wouldn’t happen in the Zumwalt District.
Speaking of football semifinalists, Charlie Elmendorf’s Duchesne Pioneers are one win away from a date at the Edward Jones Dome and the Show Me Bowl. Since we do not publish next week due to Thanksgiving, we will not be covering the Pioneer’s semifinal game with Affton. Rest assured ladies and gentlemen, should the Pioneers make it to the Dome, Bob and I will be there. Here’s a trivia question: Since the MSHSAA started football playoffs in 1968, Duchesne has made it to the final four, 4 times (82, 83, 99 and this year). Who is the only Gateway Athletic Conference representative to win a football state championship? (answer at the end of column)
Since we do not publish next week, I would like to share what I am most thankful for with you this week. This Thanksgiving, November 24th, will mark the 21st Thanksgiving I have spent with my wife, Lynn. Remember how I earlier said there was a time in my life when I was not sure if I would ever have a family? Well, on Thanksgiving Day in 1985, my first with Lynn and her family, I knew that she was the person I wanted to raise a family with. I also knew that the holiday environment I was experiencing was one I would someday love for my children to experience. You see, cousins in Lynn’s family are closer than many brothers and sisters I have met. This Thanksgiving, Margo, Joe and Dee will share Thanksgiving with at least 7 of their cousins: Phillip, Stevie (his wife Sarah), Tasha, Meghan (home from Rockhurst), Brad, Paige and Mason. Others may pop in from Tennessee and Texas, we never know, but you can be certain those 10 will be at Lynn’s brother Dave’s (and Debby) house on Thursday. I am thankful for the past 20 Thanksgivings with Lynn, 10 of which we have had a family of our own. Here’s to my wife Lynn, I love you and hope the next 20 Thanksgivings are as special as the past 20.
In November of 1982, head coach Jim Williams’ St. Charles Pirates defeated O’Hara 10-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, for the Class 4A state football title.
RAGE By Mike Thompson
FALL LEAGUE MEETINGS BRING AWARDS TO RAGE, EXPANSION TO NIFL
By Mike Thompson
By the end of the evening Thursday at the Adam’s Mark Hotel, after the annual NIFL Fall Banquet had been cleared away, I sat with Rage owners Tye Elliott and Scott Wilson, who were seated between Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt. It was hard for me to determine which of the three looked more like the Cheshire Cat who had suddenly swiped the canary out of mid-flight and gulped it down before grinning from ear to ear. I knew how hard everyone had worked in the past two weeks to put together the three most important days in the current off-season, so I had to ask the question, but ask it I did.
‘Well, was it worth all the planning, catering, all the shuttling to and from the airport, all the t-r-o-u-b-l-e to get this baby up and running?” Rolling his eyes, sighing, and with a half-laugh, Tye summed it up. “Hey, I can finally quit holding my breath, and I probably need to be re-introduced to my wife and kids, but yeah, four awards, it was worth every minute.” Then all heads at the table nodded in agreement when he exclaimed, “but I sure wouldn’t want to have to do it again next month!”
A full agenda, a hectic array of meetings, new owners, new teams, plenty of growth for the league fast becoming the biggest in indoor football, and it’s helmets held high to the RiverCity Rage and the City of St. Louis. If I may be allowed to say so myself, we did the NIFL and the best sports city in the USA quite proud! The annual get-together was a success, and League President Carolyn Shiver left on Friday morning with new reason to be excited about the NIFL in 2006. “Expansion was the key focus of these meetings, and we leave St. Louis with eleven new teams ready to excite football fans in their respective cities. Not only does this type of growth help the league and it’s image, but also it will geographically design our divisions to help reduce travel cost while keeping a national footprint in the sports community. It’s the best of both worlds for the NIFL.”
And the world is getting bigger.... or smaller...larger, of course in terms or more teams, more divisions, more fans drawn to the indoor game. Smaller, when you consider the travel between cities will become less. The idea is to align each respective division and conference with teams in relative proximity to each other, so as to reduce the travel costs in the coming year.
So, introducing the new teams and cities ready to step up and be part of the National Indoor Football League in 2006...
Fort Collins, Colorado
Rapid City, South Dakota
San Antonio, Texas
Katy, Texas
Lafayette, Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Charlotte, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Jacksonville, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
The 2006 home and away schedule has yet to be finalized for The Rage and the league, but one or more of those teams could be coming to Savvis Center next season. And lest one think expansion weakens the product, remember this....two expansion teams battled for the NIFL Title last year!
RAGE AWARDS
It was a big night for the RiverCity Rage on Thursday when the ‘Maggie’ (management and entertainment awards) trophies were presented. The home team walked away with four of the more prestigious awards up for grabs. Rage Head Football Coach Mike Wyatt was presented the award for Coach of the Year, although he shared that award, and it was thus labeled Co-Coach of the year. Regardless, Wyatt says it’s really a thrill to be honored by one’s peers and the league owners. “To be in the league for two years and to be honored both times (Wyatt was the Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in 2004) is really exciting. It’s a great feeling to be that well thought of, but it’s also an award, really, for our entire coaching staff. I’ve got top-notch help in every department, and that makes my job a bit easier.”
Wyatt shared the next award with no one as I had the honor to present to him at the podium the trophy for Atlantic Division General Manager of the Year! And again, Coach gave credit to others in the organization in accepting the award. “It’s an honor that is certainly reflective on everyone at the office, a lot of the credit goes to a very active management team, especially Morris Groves, our Director of Operations. He and I work together in making decisions and implementing those directives for the success of the team in regards to ticket sales, marketing and community outreach. For me, it’s an accent, if you would, to doing what I really enjoy best, and that’s coaching football and working towards putting a quality product on the field for our fans. But, hey, this is sweet!”
The Rage also brought home awards for two of the more celebrated ‘game-day’ type awards.....Best Game Day Presentation and the trophy for having the Most Fun Organization.
Rage Operations Manager Morris Groves normally puts in a 12 to 14 hour day at Rage home games, and the hard work is shared by many others, a fact that doesn’t go unnoticed by him.
“From paid personnel, to volunteer’s, to interns, it’s a joint effort to give the fans the exciting pre-game, halftime and post-game presentations that we’ve been honored for. From the moment we get here (usually 4 to 5 hours before a home game) to the time we leave late at night, everyone knows their job, does their job and really puts heart and soul into making a night at Rage football an all-around fun night for fans of all ages.”
Soooo, a huge THANK YOU to......
Kathy Martinez....who handles the script for the game, including everything from the ‘reads’ (PA announcer), to all the promotions, the cheerleaders, lights and music. Kudos to her husband Steve, who assists.
Don Adams, Jr....The Rage photographer
Diane Burkholder...who also assists Kathy Martinez
Jeff Vossenkemper.... our top-notch audio man
Alicia, Lauren and Anna Hollenbeck.... who handle the Rage merchandise table
Ferd Fetch.... our media co-coordinator
Mark Juen and his wife Denise...Rage game-day radio spotters
John Moberly...with help, here, there, and everywhere
Chris Procasky and Mike Kadillac.... otherwise known as ‘Raggie’ (team mascot)
Rodney Gerdes and David Solomon...Stat crew
Kyle Wilkinson.... Video
KFAV Radio’s Brian Richardson.... Rage PA Announcer
T.L. Ricks.... on-field announcer
And finally, a grateful Rage team salutes our Rage Cheerleaders, our Bellboys and Ball girls, and our interns Casy Moran, Emmalee Steiger, Travis Cooper and Mark Luebbert, and anyone else who contributed to the success of the team in 2005...see ya next year!!
FOOTBALL/CLASS 4 QUARTERFINAL
Duchesne tops defending State Champs
By: Mike McMurran Sports Editor
One of the oldest cliches in sports goes something like this: the game was much closer than the score indicated. The opposite might be said in reference to Duchesne’s 7 – 0 Class 4 quarterfinal win at Concordia Seminary over defending Class 4 state champions, Clayton.
“We put the defense in a tough spot, failing to get in the end zone more, but the defense stepped up,” said head coach Charlie Elmendorf. “At the same time you have to give their defense credit,” as they stopped the Pioneers twice inside the 5-yard line.
Even though the winning margin could have been much larger, the outcome was not finalized until the final play of the game. With less than three minutes remaining in the game, and Clayton driving to the end zone, Duchesne defensive end Matt Dalton did what he does best; he sacked the quarterback. “We were nervous, no doubt,” Dalton said. Clayton’s defense had just stopped Duchesne at the 1-yard line, and were putting together one of their best offensive drives of the game. They drove 67 yards to the Duchesne 26-yard line. That’s when the Pioneer’s defense stepped up and took control of the game.
Following Dalton’s sack, the ‘Hounds faced a third and long. Clayton’s quarterback Carter Sapp tried to throw a screen pass, only to have the Pioneer defense smother it. With less than two minutes remaining, facing a 4th and 20, Sapp’s pass was intercepted by Jeremy Elmendorf. “That’s the biggest play I’ve ever made in my life,” Elmendorf said. “I made the interception, but the play was made by the pressure put on the quarterback by the D-line.”
Most of the first half was a game of field position. Slowly, the Pioneers, though a series of punt exchanges, managed to gain some yardage. With just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Mitch Kohnen galloped 37 of his 105 yards to the Clayton 1-yard line. On the next snap Kohnen gave the Pioneers a 7-0 lead with 50 seconds remaining in the half.
Duchesne moved the ball, almost at will in the second half, as the Duchesne offensive line took control of the game. “The O-line did their job, no doubt about it,” said the senior Elmendorf. “We moved the ball up and down the field, but couldn’t get it in the end zone.” Clayton stopped the Pioneers inside the red zone on three separate occasions. “We should have gone up 10-0 on the second to last drive,” said Elmendorf. “I should have gone for the field goal, which would have required Clayton to score twice.” Instead, Collin Magilligan was stopped at the one-yard line.
Duchesne travels to South County to take on the Suburban East tri-champions Affton Cougars Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. kick off. The winner of Saturdays game will play at the Edward Jones Dome on Friday, November 25, at 3 p.m. for the Class 4 state title.
United Hockey League
River Otters Still
Need Consistency
Players Turn to Violence When Frustrated
Finally get their first win at Fort Wayne
By Louis J. Launer
“They’ve got to get this monkey off their backs,” River Otter fan Colleen Cooke said after the team recorded its eighth consecutive loss at Family Arena.
The River Otters did get their first win at Fort Wayne last week, a 4-1 victory, thanks to a new acquired forward Scott Horvath, who got a goal and two assists in the game. Goaltender Kevin Reiter stopped 33 shots and appeared back in what he was last season during the playoffs, ironically against Fort Wayne. It’s only one win, but there are still problems with the team.
The Missouri River Otters are a cellar dweller in the Western Division standings. Fans and sportswriters notice a lack of consistency in every position this season. The River Otter defensive unit has been lackluster and allows the opponent to cross the blue line untouched and appear in the middle in front of the goaltender ready to dump the puck in. The offense can’t control the puck and constantly has the puck knocked away by the opponents’ defense. The team itself cannot play three periods of consistent hockey.
Long-time River Otters fan Nik Woodward noticed a little consistency in the first game of November at Family Arena compared to the previous month.
“If Reiter had gotten the defense that [Cuthbert] got today, we’d win every game,” he said. “I think the problem has just been a lack of cohesion. But we’re getting there now.”
Woodward still has concern about the Otters’ forwards and their lack of making the play. “[Damian] Surma needs to pass more than he did today. He’s a center for [goodness] sake.”
Released this month from the River Otters are center Dan Carney, right winger Bret Peppler and defenseman Jared Newman. J.P. Beilstein was reactivated after being released a week earlier. Dimitri Toupikov is now on the active playing roster. Brad Church has been out of the lineup for three weeks with a very bad bone bruise on his ankle. Church was struck hard in the foot by a slap shot puck in early November.
Players are starting to express frustration over the problems. The River Otters traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan to open the first weekend of November. In that game in the first period alone, the K-Wings had 20 shots on goal, compared to the Otters’ 6, enroute to an 8-1 loss. Unnecessary penalties also hurt the River Otters. In the first period, left winger Jimmy Callahan became frustrated with the immediate stoppage of play by the officials that he expressed his displeasure. Callahan was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, along with a 10-minute misconduct. That set of penalties cost the Otters two goals by the K-Wings and most likely took the momentum away from the River Otters including a chance for their first win.
Another costly penalty for the River Otters that put the game out of reach (including starting a 4-goal third period by the K-Wings) was Brian Heckendorn’s blatant slash of Kalamazoo’s Joe Seroski, who assisted on the first K-Wing goal in the third period. The referee interpreted it as a cheap shot and gave Heckendorn a 5-minute major for slashing. Heckendorn continued to retaliate and argue with the referee and was given an additional 10-minute misconduct for “abuse of officials.”
When the team returned to Family Arena the next evening, there were questions as to what is really wrong with the River Otters. Some River Otter fans are putting the blame right square at General Manager Frank Buonomo for not getting Head Coach Kevin Kaminski the players needed to win UHL games.
It is also frustrating to welcome 60 Rockford IceHog fans who arrive at Family Arena and find the place much better than their MetroCentre located in downtown Rockford. IceHog fans have reason to celebrate and travel this autumn with their team. The team remained undefeated in the first six weeks of the season—never achieved before since the franchise existed. IceHog fans dream of having an arena like Family Arena in their hometown. But they also appreciate the hospitality of River Otter fans, who are considered the best sportsmanlike of all UHL teams. It’s quite complementary to River Otter fans. But a losing record and positive compliments on the arena really don’t mix well.
Playing Rockford several times during the first five weeks of the regular season could be exciting or devastating. This year, it was the latter. The November 5 game against the IceHogs started as a dull game in the first period, with Rockford scoring two quick goals. Fans and sportswriters had a feeling inside of their heads of “here we go again.”
River Otter retaliation started at 17:19 of the second period when Lars Pettersen stick slapped Rockford defenseman Evgue Nourislamov in the face. The referee saw the entire incident as he skated right next to both of them. Pettersen received a five-minute major plus a game misconduct. Pettersen was finished for the night and took any potential opportunity for the River Otters with him.
River Otter players continued their frustrated rage. At 19:26 of the second period, right winter Frank Littlejohn started a fight with Jason Noterman, where Littlejohn threw continuous right hands at the Rockford left winger. Both linesmen and the referee had to pull them apart and try to restore order. But once Littlejohn skated by the Rockford bench on the way off the ice, Rockford’s Corey Hessler high sticked Littlejohn while sitting on the bench. Littlejohn approached the bench in fighting mode and both benches almost cleared.
At 3:47 of the third period, defenseman Tim O’Connell scored on a Dave Stewart pass, cutting Rockford’s lead in half. The River Otters had a chance to tie and turn around their woes. But unnecessary penalties by Tyler Butler, Mark Lindsay, Jim Murphy and Brad MacMillan put the River Otters two men short for six minutes—at a time when Rockford regrouped and returned their rested players to the ice. The River Otters lack of simple passing, the inability to pick up loose pucks and further inconsistency got the River Otters nowhere.
Late in the game at 18:49, the River Otters pulled goaltender Kevin Reiter for an additional attacker. Rockford’s Evgue Noruslamov cleared a loose puck intended for Dave Stewart. Noruslamov slapped the puck away and it went 125 feet directly into the empty net. That gave Rockford a 3-1 lead and eventually the victory. After that score, the River Otters decided to go all-out on the violence.
At 19:50, Rockford’s Oliver Proulx and Missouri’s Damian Surma roughed up each other along the boards behind the Rockford goal. Both received roughing minors. After the horn sounded ending the game, Rockford’s Robin Big Snake decided to retaliate again, just like what he did two weeks before. This time, Big Snake stick slapped Missouri’s Damian Surma and again drew blood.
Three days after the game, the UHL League Office in Lake Saint Louis announced four players were punished for their actions after the game at Family Arena. Rockford defenseman Corey Hessler was suspended for one game after receiving a match penalty for high sticking. Rockford’s Robin Big Snake was given a three game suspension, which included another game against Missouri in Rockford. The three-game suspension was for being an instigator in the last five minutes of a game and also making contact with the referee.
River Otter players Brad MacMillan and Frank Littlejohn were given one game suspensions by the league office. MacMillan was another instigator in the final five minutes of the game and Littlejohn engaged the Rockford team bench.
Without MacMillan and Littlejohn, the River Otters continued their losing ways, losing to Port Huron, 4-1. By mid-November, the River Otters remain the UHL’s only winless team. Head Coach Kevin Kaminski said scoring is a problem.
“It’s hard to win, too, when you’re only scoring one goal a game,” Kaminski said. “When you score 12 goals in nine games, you won’t win many.”
Fans and the front office are discovering that it is going to be a long season. Being more of a consistent team is a first start to salvaging the season.
First Capitol News High School Athlete of the Week
Logan McGuire, Junior, Duchesne High School
By: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
Duchesne High Junior football player Logan McGuire has been a busy fellow the past six days. All he has done is lead the Duchesne Pioneers into semifinal action of the Missouri Class 4 football tournament.
McGuire seldom leaves the field as he starts at both inside linebacker and running back. All he did against Gateway Athletic Conference – North Division rival Timberland was open the scoring with a 2-yard run, make 5 unassisted tackles on defense, and run the ball 24 times for 88 yards in leading the Pioneers to a 14-6 sectional win.
As the old Bachman, Turner Overdrive song suggested: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” In Wednesday night’s 7-0 quarterfinal win over defending state champion Clayton, McGuire led the Pioneers with 105 yards rushing in 17attempts. A day’s work for most, but not McGuire, as he also led the defense in tackles with 11 unassisted and 5 assisted.
For his accomplishments on the football field, Logan has been selected the First Capitol News High School Athlete of the Week.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
FRONT PAGE FIRST CAPITOL NEWS - November 5 - 18, 2005
BECAUSE OF VETERANS DAY OUR NEXT EDITION WILL BE ON NOVEMBER 19, 2005.
Check Our Web Log daily for any breaking news. Call with news tips 636 724-1955
THREATENING CALL TRACED TO KEN KIELTY’S PHONE
The threatening phone call allegedly came from a phone registered to KEN KIELTY, former City Councilman, former Chairman of the Convention and Sports Facilities Authority, confidant to Mayor York. First Capitol News File Photo by Tony BrockmeyerBy Tony Brockmeyer
A threatening telephone call made against Bob Bredensteiner on Sunday, October 23, 2005 was traced to a telephone registered to Ken Kielty.
Bob Bredensteiner told the First Capitol News, “I had SBC trap the call and although they would not tell me where the call came from they said they would fax it to the police department. A couple of days latter I was told by the police the call came from a phone registered to Kenneth Kielty.”
According to Bredensteiner he received a threatening telephone call after a letter he had written was published in the First Capitol News. The letter was regarding a former priest at St. Charles Borromeo Church who has since been defrocked because of complaints that had been leveled against him.
Bredensteiner said, “The police told me they talked to Kielty and asked him to come into the Police station to discuss the call. They said he would come in the following day. The police told me the next day they received a call from Kielty’s son, who is an attorney, and he told them his father would not be coming in for an interview. The police told me since I wanted to prosecute they would forward my complaint to the prosecuting attorney.
Bredensteiner has been a frequent writer of Letters to the Editor and has been a very vocal opponent of Mayor Patti York who also serves as a Eucharistic minister at the church. He has been at the front of a movement to recall the Mayor and is a frequent visitor and spokesman at City Council Meetings.
Kielty is a former City Councilman, former owner and operator of the Missouri State License Agency office on Raymond, former school counselor and former Chairman of the Greater St. Charles Convention and Sports Facilities Authority. Kielty is a confidant of Mayor York, one of the founders of the Mayor’s Defense Fund Solicitation Group, a contributor to the Citizens for Responsible Government political mudslinging group headed by Raymond Stone and Carl Maus, a confidant of Adolphus Busch IV and his Greater Habitat Alliance and co-founder with Glennon Jamboretz of St. Charles Citizens for Responsible Government a group that is working on the recall of City Councilman Mark Brown and Council woman Dottie Greer.
When Kielty was replaced on the County Convention and Facilities Board by Governor Blount he attempted to have the board hire him as a consultant. Failing that he is now trying to have County Executive Orthwerth appoint him to the office of County Collector. The County Collector has resigned and the County Executive has to appoint a member of the same party, Democratic, to fill the position until the next election. The FCN has been told that the St. Charles County Democratic Committee has sent a letter to the County Executive asking that Kielty not be considered for the interim appointment as collector.
Councilman Jerry Reese Votes NO On Resolution Urging Benton, Lincoln, Blackhurst Schools Be Kept Open
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
At the City Council meeting Tuesday evening, Councilman Jerry Reese, Ward 6 voted no on a Council Resolution urging the St. Charles School Board to keep Benton, Lincoln, and Blackhurst Schools open. The School Superintendent, Dr. James Cale and the Board have been going over their options and it has been reported they are considering closing those schools. All of those schools are neighborhood schools and a great deal of money was spent recently in making upgrades to the buildings.
The Resolution of the City of St. Charles, Missouri Encouraging the St. Charles City Board of Education to Keep Benton, Lincoln and Blackhurst Schools open was passed by the Council with Reese’s NO vote being the lone dissenting vote.
Reese told the Council members Dr. Cale had asked him to have the Council hold off on passing the resolution until such time he and the Board of Education made their final decision.
Councilman Larry Muench, Ward 2, told the Council members he had attended some of the recent meetings held by the School Board and the residents in attendance were outspoken in their desires to keep the neighborhood schools open.
Councilman John Gieseke, Ward 8 told the First Capitol News, “We have been elected to represent our wards and protect our investments in the Community. We are not here to cater to Dr. Cale and his wishes. This resolution demonstrates our resolve to protect our neighborhood schools and the integrity of our property values.”
Councilman Mark Brown said, “It is imperative we keep our schools open. The parents should not have to transport their children any further than necessary and we don’t need to overcrowd our classrooms. It is sad to have one Council member who wants to take the administration’s side over the parents and students of St. Charles.?
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
NEXT EDITION
NOVEMBER 19th
Because of the Veterans Day Holiday next week our next edition will be published on Saturday, November 19, 2005. If there is any breaking news we will publish it on our web log at firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com. Each week we publish the First Capitol News online at firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com.
DELIVERY BY MAIL
Each Saturday over 20,000 copies of the First Capitol News is delivered to the homes in St. Charles by the United States Postal Service. Since delivery by mail is a new venture for us at First Capitol News we are still experiencing some snags. If you know of anyone who is not receiving the First capitol News by mail every Saturday please let us know their address so we can make sure they are placed on the mailing list.
The cost of mailing the First Capitol News is about double that of delivery by newspaper carrier we believe it is worth the added expense. No longer do our readers have to venture outside during all types of weather to retrieve the most read newspaper in St. Charles. We are working on fine tuning our system and we will soon have all the snags eliminated.
SEVERAL INVESTIGATIVE
REPORTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
We would like to thank our readers for all the news tips they have been calling in. We have several investigative reports under development and will be making them public shortly. If you have not yet seen a story about your news tip on the pages of the First Capitol News please be patient. We will eventually get to all of them.
INCIDENT AT LIBRARY
Every Saturday members of the Committee to Recall the Mayor are at the Library at Elm and Duchesne, sitting at a table collecting signatures of registered voters. We were told that this past Saturday a man became upset when the librarians refused his request to have them removed. He became angry and threw a book at the committee members and was then escorted from the library. First telephone threats and now attempted assault with books. I wonder what they have in store next.
MAYOR MAY BE BACK ON DAIS
There are indications the Mayor may soon return to the DAIS. Shortly after the last election, and at the insistence of Councilman Bob Hoepfner, the Mayor was moved off the DAIS and was seated on the floor next to the City Administrator and the City Attorney. Council President Riddler suggested moving her back during discussion at Tuesday’s meeting. Even though Hoepfner had engineered her move off the DAIS he evidently proffered no objections at Riddler’s suggestion. Since Hoepfner recently moved to the Mayor’s side he has been awfully quiet and says little about his earlier claims to be battling for the rights of the ‘citizen taxpayers’.
Hoepfner has been trying hard to be elected as City Council President and maybe he hoped by switching his allegiance to the Mayor and her cronies he might achieve his goal.
Rumor has it that Councilman Mike Weller has made the remark that as long as he is there Hoepfner can forget about ever being Council President. Weller, with the help of his campaign manager, Tom Hayden, has been trying to maneuver himself into a position of power on the Council. Even though he has missed a great majority of the City Council meetings he evidently thinks he should be in charge.
ANONYMOUS LETTERS
We have recently received several letters to the editor that were unsigned and we were unable to identify the author. If you write a letter to the editor and want your name withheld we will be happy to comply. However, your letter must be signed so that we can identify the writer before we can print the letter. Thank you for reading the First Capitol News.
NOVEMBER 19th
Because of the Veterans Day Holiday next week our next edition will be published on Saturday, November 19, 2005. If there is any breaking news we will publish it on our web log at firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com. Each week we publish the First Capitol News online at firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com.
DELIVERY BY MAIL
Each Saturday over 20,000 copies of the First Capitol News is delivered to the homes in St. Charles by the United States Postal Service. Since delivery by mail is a new venture for us at First Capitol News we are still experiencing some snags. If you know of anyone who is not receiving the First capitol News by mail every Saturday please let us know their address so we can make sure they are placed on the mailing list.
The cost of mailing the First Capitol News is about double that of delivery by newspaper carrier we believe it is worth the added expense. No longer do our readers have to venture outside during all types of weather to retrieve the most read newspaper in St. Charles. We are working on fine tuning our system and we will soon have all the snags eliminated.
SEVERAL INVESTIGATIVE
REPORTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
We would like to thank our readers for all the news tips they have been calling in. We have several investigative reports under development and will be making them public shortly. If you have not yet seen a story about your news tip on the pages of the First Capitol News please be patient. We will eventually get to all of them.
INCIDENT AT LIBRARY
Every Saturday members of the Committee to Recall the Mayor are at the Library at Elm and Duchesne, sitting at a table collecting signatures of registered voters. We were told that this past Saturday a man became upset when the librarians refused his request to have them removed. He became angry and threw a book at the committee members and was then escorted from the library. First telephone threats and now attempted assault with books. I wonder what they have in store next.
MAYOR MAY BE BACK ON DAIS
There are indications the Mayor may soon return to the DAIS. Shortly after the last election, and at the insistence of Councilman Bob Hoepfner, the Mayor was moved off the DAIS and was seated on the floor next to the City Administrator and the City Attorney. Council President Riddler suggested moving her back during discussion at Tuesday’s meeting. Even though Hoepfner had engineered her move off the DAIS he evidently proffered no objections at Riddler’s suggestion. Since Hoepfner recently moved to the Mayor’s side he has been awfully quiet and says little about his earlier claims to be battling for the rights of the ‘citizen taxpayers’.
Hoepfner has been trying hard to be elected as City Council President and maybe he hoped by switching his allegiance to the Mayor and her cronies he might achieve his goal.
Rumor has it that Councilman Mike Weller has made the remark that as long as he is there Hoepfner can forget about ever being Council President. Weller, with the help of his campaign manager, Tom Hayden, has been trying to maneuver himself into a position of power on the Council. Even though he has missed a great majority of the City Council meetings he evidently thinks he should be in charge.
ANONYMOUS LETTERS
We have recently received several letters to the editor that were unsigned and we were unable to identify the author. If you write a letter to the editor and want your name withheld we will be happy to comply. However, your letter must be signed so that we can identify the writer before we can print the letter. Thank you for reading the First Capitol News.
THE CITY DESK - City Council President Rory Riddler
Where Are Flags On The Play
As Greer Gets Face Masked?
Welcome back sports fans to Tuesday Night Political Football. At least it seems like a football game when people are piling on you at the end of a tackle.
Have you ever wondered why professional football players can’t seem to remember its illegal to grab another player by his face mask? Here’s a hint. It isn’t because they are that forgetful. “Gee coach, I know you’ve told me every game not to do that, but as an overpaid professional athlete in the NFL, you can’t expect me to remember every little rule (wink).”
No, they do it because they think they can get away with it.
Tuesday night, Councilwoman Dottie Greer got face masked. The good news is, a lot of people saw it.
The other team calls themselves the “Citizen Empowerment Committee.” I think that’s because the name “Front Group For Rich Special Interests” was already taken.
This is the committee that has raised and spent the ungodly sum of $32,000 so far trying to recall two members of the Council. The group that had to pay workers $5 per signature to go door to door collecting signatures on the recall petition. The group who used workers from Belleville and Cahokia, Illinois, Berkeley, St. Louis, Ferguson, Florissant, St. Peters, Rolla and Wright City because they had no grassroots organization in Dottie Greer’s ward willing to get out and collect the signatures themselves.
Their paid lawyer was the only person to address the Council. He doesn’t live in the 7th Ward. Neither do the two co-chairs of the committee which loaned the Citizen Empowerment Committee $7,500. Nor does millionaire home builder Tom Hughes, who was the single largest contributor to their effort.
It is hard to find anyone associated with this effort who can even vote in the 7th Ward. But the millionaires and their paid mercenaries all piled on one lone Councilwoman to try to drag her down.
You can watch it when they replay the Council meeting on Channel 20. You can even tape it and play it back in slow motion. As local television personalty Uncle Leonard would say hawking his big screen tv, “It’s like having your own fifty yard line right there in your own home there.”
Word went out on their official website for everyone to show up in mass to press for the recall. The City Administrator even left me a message he was going to make sure there was extra security because he had been told they were going to “pack the Council chambers”.
It turned out to be more hype than Disney is giving the new Chicken little movie. Only about eight people showed up sporting green “Recall Dottie Greer” stickers. Sitting among them was Tom Hayden, Councilman Mike Weller’s campaign manager.
Hayden doesn’t live in Ward 7 either.
Of course he might have been there to support Councilman Weller who was helping the recall group by “fast tracking” the introduction of an ordinance to set the recall election in February. He called the City Clerk to sponsor the bill before she had even certified the results to the Council.
If the ordinance hadn’t been introduced that night the election would most likely be in April, not February. Why should Councilman Weller care so much when the election is held? Because they don’t want a lot of Ward 7 voters going to the polls. A February election draws about 10% to 15% turnout. Snow and ice tends to dampen turnout that time of year. April elections get 25% to 30% turnout on average when there is more to vote on than a single issue.
Again, why should Councilman Weller want to go out of his way to try to insure a low turnout election? Why was his hand stuck in Dottie Greer’s face mask?
The obvious answer is that the Dottie Greer recall doesn’t have a lot of popular support among people who actually live in the 7th Ward. They can’t risk a higher turnout of those voters.
A judge may ultimately decide when this election will be held. Other questions I’ve raised about possible violations of State Laws are in the hands of the proper authorities. But the fate of representative democracy, as always, is in the hands of the people. Will big money special interests succeed in overturning the will of the people? Will officials who work hard and have committed no crime be kicked out of office for offending people with money?
Or as one exasperated 7th Ward woman wrote me, will we start recalling officials for wearing the wrong color tie? Guess I better check my closet.
These are important issues. The famed Roman author Virgil once penned these immortal words:
Facilis descensus Averno; sed ad auras evadere est labor. (Aeneid, VI,126)
For those whose Latin is as rusty as mine the translation is roughly:
Going to Hell is easy; it’s coming back that’s hard.
Likewise, undermining our democracy is easy...it’s putting it back together that’s hard.
CASE IN POINT By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
A short chronology of City Hall Since 2004
The Saint Charles City Council elections of April 2004 resulted in a new make-up of council. There was some anger due to the mayor actively trying to oust Bob Hoepfner and due to letters going out against certain candidates signed by Tom Hughes. The new majority worked together for a short time but allegiances change, sands shift, and that’s part of politics. I would even argue it’s an important part of politics that helps keep any one side from becoming too entrenched.
One contentious issue that was inherited by the new council was the vacancy of the police chief’s position. This one issue would do more to splinter the new council than any other issue.
In an attempt to end the stalemate, the question was placed on the ballot whether the council should be able to override the mayor’s decision on department head appointments with a supermajority of eight votes because the charter was silent on the question of what would happen if no agreement could be met. A couple of deep pockets in town created a campaign to fight the proposed change and framed things as a power grab by the new council. Remember, the problem being faced by council had never happened before and the change called for eight votes to override the mayor! This so-called power grab would have required 80% council approval – a difficult task even when the council is on the same page!
Early on, I didn’t even know what the “sides” were. As far as I could tell, Larry Muench had always seemed quite a friend of Rory’s. Jerry Reese, I didn’t know. I knew that Mr. Kneemiller was a strong backer of the mayor’s, and Mike Weller I had also just met. To continue, I didn’t know Mark Brown and I had only met Dottie Greer once before the election. Even prior to the election each councilman was pigeonholed into his or her side by a clandestine group of movers and shakers. Their actions were a self-fulfilling prophecy because those of us who were targeted as not worthy of their support definitely felt a common bond!
A slow-talkin’ Southerner with a brief history in our City was called to try and save the day and become the city administrator for the next couple of years. He would receive one hell of a pay package and lifetime benefits for his trouble. We were told that he would be fair and that he would also be allowed to choose the chief of his choice with a pledge from the mayor to allow him his pick without interference if we would just approve him. Williams was approved and after a few interviews with several candidates he chose Bob Lowery to fill the chief’s position. I thought a great Missouri compromise had just been struck and that a new spirit of cooperation was prevailing, but it was not to be. The mayor chose to renege on her part and refused to approve William’s pick.
I still never felt that there were solid sides as was claimed by the papers that anointed us the “Magnificent Seven.”
One thing I knew was that some senior council members had some definite goals and wishes for the newly elected council and Bob Hoepfner was front and center with his laundry list of wishes if our “team” was to stay together. Ever wary of Mr. Hoepfner, I wasn’t thrilled to make him the council vice-president but there was a spirit of positive change that was present in the early days and I had no history with which to judge most Council members. My caution came from the fact that I considered Bob to be somewhat of a curmudgeon. I was, however, hopeful that our loose knit group of council would stand up to waste at City Hall, work to take money from studies and put into infrastructure, clean up some of the eye-sores in town, and had our group been 5, 9, or 10 strong, I would have welcomed them into this role. Our role as council is to be a check and balance of the administrative branch and a little friction, in my opinion, is a good thing. One thing for sure, I had no intention of fighting the Police department – this too was a Battle brought to us by Battling Bob himself. I soon learned that Bob was less interested in battle and more interested in bounty!
Throughout all of our battles, however, politics was pretty much per usual with special interests commanding large sums of money to promote their political viewpoint.
This all changed on November 1st when Mike Weller became the mouthpiece on the council for the recall of Dottie Greer.
If you haven’t been following things since April 2004 this may seem odd to you – why would a councilman actively involve himself with a fellow councilman’s recall? Why would a councilman join force with outsiders who have spent thousands to recall a citizen who is upstanding and is doing the best she can for her city? Talk about abuse of power! Isn’t it rich that this recall is coming from the same people who accused council of abuse of power for proposing a charter change that would have ended stalemates at City Hall with eight votes?
The problems that existed between council members were routine, but the level to which Mike Weller stoops in actively attempting to recall a fellow council member shows where his allegiance is – too bad Dottie doesn’t have deeper pockets, maybe she could buy back some council support!
CONSERVATIVE FACTOR Alex Spencer
To the far right and the radical left, presidential political races matter mainly because of the office’s role in picking Supreme Court Justices. Because of their lifetime tenures, nothing impacts the culture wars more than who sits on that Court.
On his first chance, President Bush replaced Chief Justice Rehnquist with Judge John Roberts (who was so perfect a duplicate of his predecessor that I wondered if he wasn’t actually the first example of human cloning).
Then to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the President tried to promote from within by selecting his own White House Counsel—Harriet Miers. But the legal conservatives in the Federalist society and conservative pundits started taking shots at Ms. Miers for not really being a conservative.
Did my conservative brethren honestly believe that the President was unclear on Ms. Miers’ views on important issues? Maybe, thought the White House, someone needed to vouch for her. So leading Christian conservatives James Dobson and Pat Robertson (after apparently speaking with Karl Rove) endorsed Ms. Meirs. That was supposed to be the “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” to us conservatives that Ms. Miers was one of us and we should calm down.
But in classic Goldwaterian style (i.e., we’d rather be “Right” than win), the conservative pundits wouldn’t drop it. The Democrats smelled blood and came up with the cleverest way to kill Ms. Miers’ nomination: they spoke well of her. And if Democrat Senators Harry Reid and Dianne Feinstein liked her, then she couldn’t be what the conservatives had fought for. So the conservatives started complaining that she wasn’t qualified (as if serving as White House Counsel wasn’t a fair indication that she was a talented lawyer), and she withdrew herself from consideration.
Now, our own Governor Matt Blunt should take a lesson from the President’s misstep in judicial selection: make sure your own base thinks your pick is on your team.
Because of our growing population, St. Charles County is scheduled to get a new judge. But the legislature had to agree to fund it. And at the eleventh hour during the budget process, St. Charles State Senator Chuck Gross (Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee) saw to it that appropriations would find their way to fund the new position.
So in January, Governor Blunt will have the opportunity to appoint a new Associate Circuit Judge here in St. Charles County. But according to the Republican rumor mill, Chuck Gross figures that since he funded the position, he should get to pick the nominee.
Now Governor Blunt has already been very good to Senator Gross. Senator Gross’ good friend, Julie Eckstein, was appointed Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services at the Senator’s request. And the Senator’s wife is reportedly drawing a salary from one of the largest Motor Vehicle Licensing Offices in the state.
But Senator Gross’ state-sponsored “friends and family” rewards program may not be cashed out yet. Senator Gross is reportedly pushing to force the Governor to appoint his cousin, Rick Zerr, to the new bench.
Now, Rick Zerr used to be a judge here in St. Charles County. But when he served as an elected judge, he ran as a DEMOCRAT.
It gets worse. Rick Zerr’s wife is the Circuit Clerk for the St. Charles Court. The judges supervise the Circuit Clerk. So we have a nepotism question in husband being in charge of wife.
It gets worse. Rick Zerr wants the job because when he was on the bench before, he fell just short of getting the twelve years time in service to qualify for the judicial pension system in this state. Governor Blunt’s appointment (which would last a year before the next election) would qualify Zerr for the pension. And the rate of the pension would be set based off the current judges’ salary, which is much higher than it was when Rick Zerr served. So Senator Gross is not just trying to get his cousin a job for a year: he is getting his cousin a pension worth a fortune.
It gets worse. When he was on the bench, Judge Rick Zerr got in trouble. His court clerks embezzled a bunch of money from his court—$195,000. The Missouri Supreme Court thought Judge Zerr had been negligent in failing to supervise the clerks. The Supreme Court suspended Zerr for three weeks. Hey you don’t suppose that those missing three weeks is the reason that Zerr doesn’t already have his twelve years for the pension, do you?
It gets worse. Virtually every time Governor Carnahan and Governor Holden considered appointing someone to a St. Charles judicial vacancy, Zerr was on the Democrats’ short list. But it seems that the Democrat Governors always balked at appointing Zerr given his ethical challenges. I hate to think that Governors Carnahan and Holden set a higher ethical bar for judicial nominees than Governor Blunt.
And finally, it gets worse—much worse. When Matt Blunt ran for Governor, he made political hay off Governor Holden appointing Holden’s buddy Senator Ken Jacob to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. Remember, Holden appointed Jacob for a couple weeks so that Jacob could get his pension based off a much higher salary, thus scoring thousands more in retirement benefits from the public treasury. Candidate Blunt rightly criticized the practice and promised that he wouldn’t engage in similar shenanigans. Will Governor Blunt allow his relationship with Senator Gross to cause him to back slide on that pledge?
Justice may be blind but she is politically savvy. And so is the Republican base in St. Charles County. Recent national polling shows that Matt Blunt has the highest disapproval rating (61%) of any Governor not embroiled in criminal investigations. Upsetting his conservative base by appointing to the bench an ethically-challenged DEMOCRAT in a scam to enrich a key Senator’s family with a taxpayer pension may prove to be the proverbial nail in his political coffin. By comparison, the Miers nomination doesn’t smell quite so bad.
On his first chance, President Bush replaced Chief Justice Rehnquist with Judge John Roberts (who was so perfect a duplicate of his predecessor that I wondered if he wasn’t actually the first example of human cloning).
Then to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the President tried to promote from within by selecting his own White House Counsel—Harriet Miers. But the legal conservatives in the Federalist society and conservative pundits started taking shots at Ms. Miers for not really being a conservative.
Did my conservative brethren honestly believe that the President was unclear on Ms. Miers’ views on important issues? Maybe, thought the White House, someone needed to vouch for her. So leading Christian conservatives James Dobson and Pat Robertson (after apparently speaking with Karl Rove) endorsed Ms. Meirs. That was supposed to be the “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” to us conservatives that Ms. Miers was one of us and we should calm down.
But in classic Goldwaterian style (i.e., we’d rather be “Right” than win), the conservative pundits wouldn’t drop it. The Democrats smelled blood and came up with the cleverest way to kill Ms. Miers’ nomination: they spoke well of her. And if Democrat Senators Harry Reid and Dianne Feinstein liked her, then she couldn’t be what the conservatives had fought for. So the conservatives started complaining that she wasn’t qualified (as if serving as White House Counsel wasn’t a fair indication that she was a talented lawyer), and she withdrew herself from consideration.
Now, our own Governor Matt Blunt should take a lesson from the President’s misstep in judicial selection: make sure your own base thinks your pick is on your team.
Because of our growing population, St. Charles County is scheduled to get a new judge. But the legislature had to agree to fund it. And at the eleventh hour during the budget process, St. Charles State Senator Chuck Gross (Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee) saw to it that appropriations would find their way to fund the new position.
So in January, Governor Blunt will have the opportunity to appoint a new Associate Circuit Judge here in St. Charles County. But according to the Republican rumor mill, Chuck Gross figures that since he funded the position, he should get to pick the nominee.
Now Governor Blunt has already been very good to Senator Gross. Senator Gross’ good friend, Julie Eckstein, was appointed Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services at the Senator’s request. And the Senator’s wife is reportedly drawing a salary from one of the largest Motor Vehicle Licensing Offices in the state.
But Senator Gross’ state-sponsored “friends and family” rewards program may not be cashed out yet. Senator Gross is reportedly pushing to force the Governor to appoint his cousin, Rick Zerr, to the new bench.
Now, Rick Zerr used to be a judge here in St. Charles County. But when he served as an elected judge, he ran as a DEMOCRAT.
It gets worse. Rick Zerr’s wife is the Circuit Clerk for the St. Charles Court. The judges supervise the Circuit Clerk. So we have a nepotism question in husband being in charge of wife.
It gets worse. Rick Zerr wants the job because when he was on the bench before, he fell just short of getting the twelve years time in service to qualify for the judicial pension system in this state. Governor Blunt’s appointment (which would last a year before the next election) would qualify Zerr for the pension. And the rate of the pension would be set based off the current judges’ salary, which is much higher than it was when Rick Zerr served. So Senator Gross is not just trying to get his cousin a job for a year: he is getting his cousin a pension worth a fortune.
It gets worse. When he was on the bench, Judge Rick Zerr got in trouble. His court clerks embezzled a bunch of money from his court—$195,000. The Missouri Supreme Court thought Judge Zerr had been negligent in failing to supervise the clerks. The Supreme Court suspended Zerr for three weeks. Hey you don’t suppose that those missing three weeks is the reason that Zerr doesn’t already have his twelve years for the pension, do you?
It gets worse. Virtually every time Governor Carnahan and Governor Holden considered appointing someone to a St. Charles judicial vacancy, Zerr was on the Democrats’ short list. But it seems that the Democrat Governors always balked at appointing Zerr given his ethical challenges. I hate to think that Governors Carnahan and Holden set a higher ethical bar for judicial nominees than Governor Blunt.
And finally, it gets worse—much worse. When Matt Blunt ran for Governor, he made political hay off Governor Holden appointing Holden’s buddy Senator Ken Jacob to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. Remember, Holden appointed Jacob for a couple weeks so that Jacob could get his pension based off a much higher salary, thus scoring thousands more in retirement benefits from the public treasury. Candidate Blunt rightly criticized the practice and promised that he wouldn’t engage in similar shenanigans. Will Governor Blunt allow his relationship with Senator Gross to cause him to back slide on that pledge?
Justice may be blind but she is politically savvy. And so is the Republican base in St. Charles County. Recent national polling shows that Matt Blunt has the highest disapproval rating (61%) of any Governor not embroiled in criminal investigations. Upsetting his conservative base by appointing to the bench an ethically-challenged DEMOCRAT in a scam to enrich a key Senator’s family with a taxpayer pension may prove to be the proverbial nail in his political coffin. By comparison, the Miers nomination doesn’t smell quite so bad.
THE PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor
An open letter to
Mr. Watkins,
The readers of the “Citizen” need to know where you stand on the recall effort regarding Dottie Greer.
While it seems to be apparent that you would like to see any and all Councilpersons that truly represent their residents removed, you muddy the waters by printing (complete with cute little checkmarks) the reasons she should NOT be recalled.
Telling the members of the Beautification Committee that they need to follow our states LAWS when holding meetings. (Or do you prefer illegal proceedings?)
Fighting the constant cost overruns, including the Boones Lick corridor, that were “business as usual” with the previous council.
Refusing to be sworn in by the mayor. There was nothing like letting her know that the “business as usual” was about to end.
Removing the mayor from the dais. (Why don’t you report that the mayor thought it a good idea when she had her former “rubber stamp” council?)
Refusing to meet with the mayor? Maybe that was because Dottie doesn’t have a “bodyguard”.
Opposing the Convention Center. Although Dottie usually makes good decisions, this was undoubtedly one of her best.
Leading the charge to change the charter. See item 6 above.
You really need to stop praising Dottie or you may make Linda and her gaggle of giggling hens angry.
It might also be a good idea to put the words “Editorial Fantasy” that you use in your ego box on page three directly under the large “Citizen” on page one. You might even change the name to “Non-Citizen”. That way you really could be “Honest”.
I do always read your tabloid. I haven’t laughed so much since Laugh-In was on T.V. Keep up the comedy.
Jerry Haferkamp (A REAL citizen)
St. Charles, MO.
I sent this letter to the non-Citizen over a week ago and for some reason Mr. Watkins chose to print only the letters supporting the recall effort. I wonder why.
In this week’s edition he even has a letter from Mrs. Meyer taking Dottie to task for living up to her oath of office and attending a council meeting. Dottie swore to represent her constituents in CITY matters. She, unlike Jerry Reese, knows the difference between the school board and the city council. From her association with our mayor, Mrs. Meyer apparently thinks an oath of office means nothing, but to Dottie Greer it is obvious that hers does.
Jerry
To The Editor,
Story has it back about 30 years ago two young ladies from our town relieved (embezzled) the taxpayers of this county of about $190,000 from one of the divisions of this court system. From what I remember there was a pretty good case against these two ladies. “Guess what?” The charges were never brought forward into a court of law – seven years passed and the statute of limitations ran out. These two ladies had lost their jobs with the County government and when they weren’t prosecuted, one of these ladies sued the County government to get her job back. My memory is that I believe she won the suit and she was awarded an undisclosed amount to settle this suit.
Pretty good deal, got paid to relieve the taxpayers of this county of their hard earned money.
I wonder who was at fault? How about you? There are still a lot of people working in County and City government who could probably shed some light on this case if they only would for some of their political newcomers in our fine town to weigh in on our past.
Lets look at what is going on in our town for the past six years under the reign of Patricia York as Mayor. I’m referring to all the allegations of wrongdoing that has surfaced against her and some of her cronies that have helped her to deceive us the taxpayers.
Let’s just talk about two wrongdoings of hers’ for now. Express Scripts Gate and Jamboretz Gate and his laundry business particularly.
When she has five councilmen, Muench, Weller, Kneemiller, Reese and maybe Hoepfner vote not to allow the subpoenas for witnesses in the Express Script wrong doing to see that Patti receives the justice that is due everyone, we have a big problem for us the taxpayers.
Now we have Jamboretz’s laundry business that is eating up our tax money to help recall Council persons Greer and Brown from office so she can regain her power and maybe sell an old police station or two before 2007.
We all know about Ken Kietly and Jamboretz and their recall committee they started to help everyone out so Patti can rule with her six – four or maybe even a seven – three vote. Hell, who knows, anything can happen as we all have seen so far, deceit, deceit, deceit, Patti’s style.
When the auditor finds there are problems with bidding procedure and sales of city owned real estate and maybe grant monies and the way they are disbursed and she has the audacity to say she could not find anything legally wrong with the procedures, I believe she should step back and give it to the prosecutor and let him decide if it’s all legal or maybe illegal. Then we could see where the money ends up and whom it benefited. Makes sense to me. How about you the taxpayers?
For whatever it’s worth Mayor York and your legal defense fund and all your political soldiers etc. I urge you to ponder the consequences of your decisions, because God’s forgiveness never relieves you of the consequences of your wrongdoing. You are stuck with them. A friend of mine gave me that advice years ago. Makes sense to me for the last 13 years of my life.
Bob Bredensteiner
Dear Editor,
I would like to share a few words with your readers regarding recall. This seems to be a live topic these days. The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of our recall group. Early this year I joined a group circulating a petition to recall Mayor York. Before I share a few thoughts on that subject let me state a few facts.
Our group has no major funding. We don’t need any. We are not inundating the population of St. Charles with hateful literature. We are simply a group of St. Charles City registered voters circulating a petition. Most of us are up in years and we are longtime residents. No one active in the circulation of our petition is pad to do so. I don’t believe citizenship should be hired out.
When I first decided to immerse myself in this activity I had to do some soul searching. I had to ask myself a few questions. What right did I have to attempt to unseat a public official, our top local public official, who had been placed in that position by a majority of the St. Charles citizenry? The Mayor is reported to be a fine Christian woman, a woman active in her church. It is right for one Christian to put themselves against another Christian? What is the morality of a recall action? I thought about these issues.
The legal right to take such an action was no problem. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution speaks “of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances”. Our City Charter spells out the right of the people to recall a local public official and gives explicit instructions for doing so.
What about the fact that our Mayor was chosen by a majority of the electorate? Is our recall group attempting to subvert the will of the majority? Not at all. We are attempting to determine what is the current will of the majority. Do people feel the same about her, her actions, and the people behind her, as they did when she was first elected? The temperament and preferences of the electorate may have changed. The temperament and actions of the Mayor may have changed. Situations in our City may have changed. I think the electorate has remained fairly constant in their desires and expectations but I think the Mayor and the political scene in our City has changed considerably. A recall petition, and a recall election should things progress that far, are simply a sampling of public opinion to determine whether the public still feels as they did when that official was first elected. If the majority is proven to still support the Mayor, nothing changes, and nothing should change. In our country the majority rules. On the other hand, if the majority is proven to desire change, then we have not only the right but the duty to pursue this recall activity.
What about the morality of a recall action? I had a problem with this. I attempted to find a biblical parallel. I couldn’t find one, or more accurately, I didn’t recognize one. I was discussing this issue with a friend, telling her of my concern. It didn’t take her very long at all. She said, “We are chasing the money changers out of the temple”. I felt she was right on. We are indeed chasing the moneychangers out of the temple of our City government. Moneychangers? Yes! Organizations of home builders and developers have circled the wagons around our Mayor and are now desperately trying to change the composition of our City Council so they can have a City government which will do their bidding; so they can have a free hand in the control of our government; so they can get sweetheart deals from City Hall; so they can build homes and subdivisions outside our boundaries to standards less than our City standards and then expect to bring them into our confines; so they can devise huge projects for our City, with the blessing of the Mayor and the council, which we don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford. They are indeed moneychangers, changing our money into their money. We need a Mayor who does not answer to these groups. I feel the only way to drive the money changers from the temple is to find a new Mayor – if a majority of the St. Charles electorate agrees.
If you share these views, drop by the library any Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm and add y our name to our petition. The library is not involved in our group or its activities but merely furnishes a place for petitioners to circulate petitions – any duly authorized petition.
Join our fight; help us take back our City.
Glen Dashner
Mr. Watkins,
The readers of the “Citizen” need to know where you stand on the recall effort regarding Dottie Greer.
While it seems to be apparent that you would like to see any and all Councilpersons that truly represent their residents removed, you muddy the waters by printing (complete with cute little checkmarks) the reasons she should NOT be recalled.
Telling the members of the Beautification Committee that they need to follow our states LAWS when holding meetings. (Or do you prefer illegal proceedings?)
Fighting the constant cost overruns, including the Boones Lick corridor, that were “business as usual” with the previous council.
Refusing to be sworn in by the mayor. There was nothing like letting her know that the “business as usual” was about to end.
Removing the mayor from the dais. (Why don’t you report that the mayor thought it a good idea when she had her former “rubber stamp” council?)
Refusing to meet with the mayor? Maybe that was because Dottie doesn’t have a “bodyguard”.
Opposing the Convention Center. Although Dottie usually makes good decisions, this was undoubtedly one of her best.
Leading the charge to change the charter. See item 6 above.
You really need to stop praising Dottie or you may make Linda and her gaggle of giggling hens angry.
It might also be a good idea to put the words “Editorial Fantasy” that you use in your ego box on page three directly under the large “Citizen” on page one. You might even change the name to “Non-Citizen”. That way you really could be “Honest”.
I do always read your tabloid. I haven’t laughed so much since Laugh-In was on T.V. Keep up the comedy.
Jerry Haferkamp (A REAL citizen)
St. Charles, MO.
I sent this letter to the non-Citizen over a week ago and for some reason Mr. Watkins chose to print only the letters supporting the recall effort. I wonder why.
In this week’s edition he even has a letter from Mrs. Meyer taking Dottie to task for living up to her oath of office and attending a council meeting. Dottie swore to represent her constituents in CITY matters. She, unlike Jerry Reese, knows the difference between the school board and the city council. From her association with our mayor, Mrs. Meyer apparently thinks an oath of office means nothing, but to Dottie Greer it is obvious that hers does.
Jerry
To The Editor,
Story has it back about 30 years ago two young ladies from our town relieved (embezzled) the taxpayers of this county of about $190,000 from one of the divisions of this court system. From what I remember there was a pretty good case against these two ladies. “Guess what?” The charges were never brought forward into a court of law – seven years passed and the statute of limitations ran out. These two ladies had lost their jobs with the County government and when they weren’t prosecuted, one of these ladies sued the County government to get her job back. My memory is that I believe she won the suit and she was awarded an undisclosed amount to settle this suit.
Pretty good deal, got paid to relieve the taxpayers of this county of their hard earned money.
I wonder who was at fault? How about you? There are still a lot of people working in County and City government who could probably shed some light on this case if they only would for some of their political newcomers in our fine town to weigh in on our past.
Lets look at what is going on in our town for the past six years under the reign of Patricia York as Mayor. I’m referring to all the allegations of wrongdoing that has surfaced against her and some of her cronies that have helped her to deceive us the taxpayers.
Let’s just talk about two wrongdoings of hers’ for now. Express Scripts Gate and Jamboretz Gate and his laundry business particularly.
When she has five councilmen, Muench, Weller, Kneemiller, Reese and maybe Hoepfner vote not to allow the subpoenas for witnesses in the Express Script wrong doing to see that Patti receives the justice that is due everyone, we have a big problem for us the taxpayers.
Now we have Jamboretz’s laundry business that is eating up our tax money to help recall Council persons Greer and Brown from office so she can regain her power and maybe sell an old police station or two before 2007.
We all know about Ken Kietly and Jamboretz and their recall committee they started to help everyone out so Patti can rule with her six – four or maybe even a seven – three vote. Hell, who knows, anything can happen as we all have seen so far, deceit, deceit, deceit, Patti’s style.
When the auditor finds there are problems with bidding procedure and sales of city owned real estate and maybe grant monies and the way they are disbursed and she has the audacity to say she could not find anything legally wrong with the procedures, I believe she should step back and give it to the prosecutor and let him decide if it’s all legal or maybe illegal. Then we could see where the money ends up and whom it benefited. Makes sense to me. How about you the taxpayers?
For whatever it’s worth Mayor York and your legal defense fund and all your political soldiers etc. I urge you to ponder the consequences of your decisions, because God’s forgiveness never relieves you of the consequences of your wrongdoing. You are stuck with them. A friend of mine gave me that advice years ago. Makes sense to me for the last 13 years of my life.
Bob Bredensteiner
Dear Editor,
I would like to share a few words with your readers regarding recall. This seems to be a live topic these days. The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of our recall group. Early this year I joined a group circulating a petition to recall Mayor York. Before I share a few thoughts on that subject let me state a few facts.
Our group has no major funding. We don’t need any. We are not inundating the population of St. Charles with hateful literature. We are simply a group of St. Charles City registered voters circulating a petition. Most of us are up in years and we are longtime residents. No one active in the circulation of our petition is pad to do so. I don’t believe citizenship should be hired out.
When I first decided to immerse myself in this activity I had to do some soul searching. I had to ask myself a few questions. What right did I have to attempt to unseat a public official, our top local public official, who had been placed in that position by a majority of the St. Charles citizenry? The Mayor is reported to be a fine Christian woman, a woman active in her church. It is right for one Christian to put themselves against another Christian? What is the morality of a recall action? I thought about these issues.
The legal right to take such an action was no problem. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution speaks “of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances”. Our City Charter spells out the right of the people to recall a local public official and gives explicit instructions for doing so.
What about the fact that our Mayor was chosen by a majority of the electorate? Is our recall group attempting to subvert the will of the majority? Not at all. We are attempting to determine what is the current will of the majority. Do people feel the same about her, her actions, and the people behind her, as they did when she was first elected? The temperament and preferences of the electorate may have changed. The temperament and actions of the Mayor may have changed. Situations in our City may have changed. I think the electorate has remained fairly constant in their desires and expectations but I think the Mayor and the political scene in our City has changed considerably. A recall petition, and a recall election should things progress that far, are simply a sampling of public opinion to determine whether the public still feels as they did when that official was first elected. If the majority is proven to still support the Mayor, nothing changes, and nothing should change. In our country the majority rules. On the other hand, if the majority is proven to desire change, then we have not only the right but the duty to pursue this recall activity.
What about the morality of a recall action? I had a problem with this. I attempted to find a biblical parallel. I couldn’t find one, or more accurately, I didn’t recognize one. I was discussing this issue with a friend, telling her of my concern. It didn’t take her very long at all. She said, “We are chasing the money changers out of the temple”. I felt she was right on. We are indeed chasing the moneychangers out of the temple of our City government. Moneychangers? Yes! Organizations of home builders and developers have circled the wagons around our Mayor and are now desperately trying to change the composition of our City Council so they can have a City government which will do their bidding; so they can have a free hand in the control of our government; so they can get sweetheart deals from City Hall; so they can build homes and subdivisions outside our boundaries to standards less than our City standards and then expect to bring them into our confines; so they can devise huge projects for our City, with the blessing of the Mayor and the council, which we don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford. They are indeed moneychangers, changing our money into their money. We need a Mayor who does not answer to these groups. I feel the only way to drive the money changers from the temple is to find a new Mayor – if a majority of the St. Charles electorate agrees.
If you share these views, drop by the library any Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm and add y our name to our petition. The library is not involved in our group or its activities but merely furnishes a place for petitioners to circulate petitions – any duly authorized petition.
Join our fight; help us take back our City.
Glen Dashner
LOCAL NEWS NOTES
FIRST BANK EMPLOYEE, CORPORATE GIVING CONTINUES TO SOAR
Bank steps up for American Heart Association, United Way, Katrina victims
First Bank and its employees continue to help people in need with fund-raising and donation efforts totaling nearly $400,000 for the American Heart Association, the United Way, and Hurricane Katrina victims.
“Our employees deserve special thanks for their generous contributions and outstanding support in helping so many in need,” said Terry McCarthy, chairman, president and chief executive officer for First Bank. “Giving for us means a year-round commitment, not just during the holiday season. We could not be more proud of our efforts.”
Through a company match donation and by encouraging community and employee donations at First Bank locations, First Bank employees in September helped raise $82,000 for American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.
Earlier this year, First Bank employees raised more than $111,300 during the 2005 American Heart Association Heart Walk campaign. The event culminated in early May with the annual Heart Walk in Forest Park and at Frontier Park in St. Charles.
First Bank and its employees have also pledged more than $187,983 to date for the United Way.
First Bank is one of the largest privately owned banks in the country with over $9 billion in assets and over 175 locations in Missouri, Illinois, California and Texas.
Local Resident
Re-enlists in Missouri Army National Guard
By Katherine L. Collins,
Missouri Army National Guard
JEFFERSON BARRACKS— St. Charles resident, James D. Skidmore, re-enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard on Sept. 15 for a period of one year. After Skidmore completes his one year, he will be eligible for the $15,000 re-enlistment bonus. Skidmore previously served six years in the MOARNG. He was currently serving in the inactive ready reserve when he re-enlisted. Skidmore re-enlisted as a specialist and will serve as a military policeman with the 2175th Military Police Company in St. Clair. Skidmore said he joined the Guard because he missed the experience and benefits, particularly the camaraderie.
Skidmore is currently employed with Ford Motor Company in Hazelwood. He is the son of Wendy Hester of St. Charles and James Skidmore of Russellville, Al. Skidmore’s brothers, James Skidmore and Joe Hester, and sister, Cassandra Hester, also live in St. Charles.
For more information about the Missouri Army National Guard, please call 1-888-GoGuard or visit www.moguard.com.
EMILE PANDOLFI TO PERFORM LIVE AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
Premier pop pianist Emile Pandolfi will perform live in concert at the Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Center in Historic St. Charles on November 5, at 8 p.m. Concert tickets are $25, and special concert tickets that include an after-performance reception to meet Pandolfi are $50.
Pandolfi is best known for his arrangements of familiar music, applying his classical technique to both Broadway and popular songs. He is the top-selling artist in the alternative music industry, and is known as one of today’s finest pianists.
BEAD YOUR OWN FALL BRACELET AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
The Foundry Art Centre in Historic St. Charles is offering an adult beading class in which students will create a fall-color bracelet using glass beads, crystals and a beaded embroidery technique. The class is on Wednesday, November 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cost is $45 and all supplies are included. To register or for more information, call (636) 255-0270 or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
LOCAL ARTIST TEACHES DOMINO ART CLASS
AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
The Foundry Art Centre in Historic St. Charles will offer a domino art class for adults on Wednesday, December 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Local artist Cathy Flesher will demonstrate how to design, stamp, and color dominos for use in creative art and jewelry. Students will create domino broaches using alcohol inks and rubberstamps. Cost of the class is $25 for non-Foundry members and $22.50 for Foundry members. To register or for more information, call 636-255-0270 or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
PARENTS AND CHILDREN INVITED TO A JOINT ART CLASS AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
The Foundry Art Centre in Historic St. Charles is offering a clay art class for both parents and children between the ages of four and eight. This two-day “Clay Time” class from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 12 and Saturday, November 19 will include pinch, coil, roll and molding techniques. The cost is $40 for non-Foundry members and $36 for members. To register or for more information, call (636) 255-0270, or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
The Foundry Art Centre is a fine arts gallery overlooking the Missouri River at 520 North Main Center, in the Frenchtown district of Historic St. Charles. The Foundry features a Smithsonian-caliber art gallery
hosting juried exhibitions plus 20 working artist studios where visitors can watch the creative process and buy art directly from the artists. This nonprofit organization also has community meeting rooms,
event space and a children’s art gallery. Hours are Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 4
p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. For more information, call (636) 255-0270 or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
Bank steps up for American Heart Association, United Way, Katrina victims
First Bank and its employees continue to help people in need with fund-raising and donation efforts totaling nearly $400,000 for the American Heart Association, the United Way, and Hurricane Katrina victims.
“Our employees deserve special thanks for their generous contributions and outstanding support in helping so many in need,” said Terry McCarthy, chairman, president and chief executive officer for First Bank. “Giving for us means a year-round commitment, not just during the holiday season. We could not be more proud of our efforts.”
Through a company match donation and by encouraging community and employee donations at First Bank locations, First Bank employees in September helped raise $82,000 for American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.
Earlier this year, First Bank employees raised more than $111,300 during the 2005 American Heart Association Heart Walk campaign. The event culminated in early May with the annual Heart Walk in Forest Park and at Frontier Park in St. Charles.
First Bank and its employees have also pledged more than $187,983 to date for the United Way.
First Bank is one of the largest privately owned banks in the country with over $9 billion in assets and over 175 locations in Missouri, Illinois, California and Texas.
Local Resident
Re-enlists in Missouri Army National Guard
By Katherine L. Collins,
Missouri Army National Guard
JEFFERSON BARRACKS— St. Charles resident, James D. Skidmore, re-enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard on Sept. 15 for a period of one year. After Skidmore completes his one year, he will be eligible for the $15,000 re-enlistment bonus. Skidmore previously served six years in the MOARNG. He was currently serving in the inactive ready reserve when he re-enlisted. Skidmore re-enlisted as a specialist and will serve as a military policeman with the 2175th Military Police Company in St. Clair. Skidmore said he joined the Guard because he missed the experience and benefits, particularly the camaraderie.
Skidmore is currently employed with Ford Motor Company in Hazelwood. He is the son of Wendy Hester of St. Charles and James Skidmore of Russellville, Al. Skidmore’s brothers, James Skidmore and Joe Hester, and sister, Cassandra Hester, also live in St. Charles.
For more information about the Missouri Army National Guard, please call 1-888-GoGuard or visit www.moguard.com.
EMILE PANDOLFI TO PERFORM LIVE AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
Premier pop pianist Emile Pandolfi will perform live in concert at the Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Center in Historic St. Charles on November 5, at 8 p.m. Concert tickets are $25, and special concert tickets that include an after-performance reception to meet Pandolfi are $50.
Pandolfi is best known for his arrangements of familiar music, applying his classical technique to both Broadway and popular songs. He is the top-selling artist in the alternative music industry, and is known as one of today’s finest pianists.
BEAD YOUR OWN FALL BRACELET AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
The Foundry Art Centre in Historic St. Charles is offering an adult beading class in which students will create a fall-color bracelet using glass beads, crystals and a beaded embroidery technique. The class is on Wednesday, November 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cost is $45 and all supplies are included. To register or for more information, call (636) 255-0270 or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
LOCAL ARTIST TEACHES DOMINO ART CLASS
AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
The Foundry Art Centre in Historic St. Charles will offer a domino art class for adults on Wednesday, December 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Local artist Cathy Flesher will demonstrate how to design, stamp, and color dominos for use in creative art and jewelry. Students will create domino broaches using alcohol inks and rubberstamps. Cost of the class is $25 for non-Foundry members and $22.50 for Foundry members. To register or for more information, call 636-255-0270 or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
PARENTS AND CHILDREN INVITED TO A JOINT ART CLASS AT THE FOUNDRY ART CENTRE
The Foundry Art Centre in Historic St. Charles is offering a clay art class for both parents and children between the ages of four and eight. This two-day “Clay Time” class from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 12 and Saturday, November 19 will include pinch, coil, roll and molding techniques. The cost is $40 for non-Foundry members and $36 for members. To register or for more information, call (636) 255-0270, or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
The Foundry Art Centre is a fine arts gallery overlooking the Missouri River at 520 North Main Center, in the Frenchtown district of Historic St. Charles. The Foundry features a Smithsonian-caliber art gallery
hosting juried exhibitions plus 20 working artist studios where visitors can watch the creative process and buy art directly from the artists. This nonprofit organization also has community meeting rooms,
event space and a children’s art gallery. Hours are Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 4
p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. For more information, call (636) 255-0270 or visit www.foundryartcentre.org.
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