Click on image to enlarge. First Capitol News Photos by Bob BartonSCROLL DOWN TO READ ENTIRE EDITION
Friday, May 12, 2006
FRONT PAGE - FIRST CAPITOL NEWS - May 13, 2006
Click on image to enlarge. First Capitol News Photos by Bob BartonSCROLL DOWN TO READ ENTIRE EDITION
MONEY LAUNDERING OR SMART POLITICS - The People Have A Right To Know
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
and Tony Brockmeyer
FIRST IN A SERIES
From a quiet, unassuming home at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles millions and millions of dollars of political contributions are being funneled into Republican political campaigns with no limits on how much can be contributed or on how the money can be spent. Some call it “Money Laundering” while others say it is “Smart Politics’.
To circumvent political contribution limits, Legislative Party Committees have been formed. Unlimited contributions are given to these Legislative District Committees and are then funneled through backdoors making it almost impossible for the public to know who is giving and who is receiving.
In this and coming editions we will tell you what we discovered, who is trying to hide their contributions, how these backdoor committees effect your daily lives and how all this relates to the problems we are having in the City of St. Charles and the State of Missouri.
The First Capitol News has discovered TEN of those back door funding Legislative Committees being operated out of a home at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles with the only treasurer for each committee listed as Thomas W. Smith, Jr. We have also discovered several fictitious registered companies, apparently unlicensed, owned and operated by Smith, receiving funds from these same committees.
According to information received from the office of Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Thomas W. Smith is a state employee and Legislative Aide to State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) St. Charles. He is paid $53,530 a year in taxpayer funds by the State of Missouri.
When the campaigns to recall Councilwoman Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown first began, signs supporting the recall began sprouting up around the City. There was a telephone number on the signs and it was suggested people call for information, or to support the recall efforts. An answering machine answered the telephone; it was identified as a company called Survey St. Louis.
Research we conducted revealed Survey Saint Louis, L.L.C. was a fictitious registered name in the Secretary of State’s office, owned by Display Stuff, L.L.C at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles. It was filed on February 24, 2004. Display Stuff L.L.C. was registered on October 26, 2000 as a Limited Liability Corporation with the registered agent being Thomas W. Smith, Jr. at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles.
We were unable to locate a St. Charles business license or home occupation license for either Survey St. Louis or Display Stuff L.L.C. even though the address given by both are about one block from City Hall. Apparently those companies have not paid any business license tax to the City.
Advisors in Finance, LLC is also a fictitious Name that lists its address as 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles. Display Stuff, LLC is registered as the owner and is listed at 320 Monroe Street. Tom Smith signed the paperwork on file at the office of the Missouri Secretary of State. The registration was filed on February 18, 2004. We could find no St. Charles business license or home occupation license for Advisors in Finance.
Gateway To Victory Fund is a fictitious registered name. It was registered with Missouri Secretary of State, Matt Blunt on July 16, 2003. Thomas W. Smith signed the papers on file with the state and the owner is listed as Thomas W. Smith, Jr. at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles.
Thomas W. Smith, Jr. is a member of the St. Charles City Park Board. His term expired several months ago. When his name was brought up by the Mayor for reappointment to the board the City Council voted not to reappoint him. It would appear Smith is in arrears with the City. The Mayor has not submitted any other name so he continues to serve on the board even though his term expired, his reappointment was not approved and he is apparently in arrears. We also learned that Smith had Survey St. Louis do work for the St. Charles Park Board.
The property at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles lists Thomas W. Smith, Jr. as the owner.
State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) represents the 18th Legislative District, which covers a large part of the City of St. Charles. Dempsey is a former St. Charles City Councilman and is the manager and part owner of the Columns Banquet Center on Veterans Memorial Parkway in St. Charles. His father, Ernie Dempsey, is the owner of Pio’s Restaurant in St. Charles and was recently given the patronage state license office on Randolph in St. Charles. That office is said to be one of the highest grossing in the State. Ernie Dempsey has been heavily involved in the Republican Party and has been a large contributor to them and their candidates. Ken Kielty who operated it for several years had previously owned the patronage state license office in St. Charles. Kielty had been given the office by a Democratic governor. A corporation that is owned by Kielty and Dempsey reportedly owns the building on Randolph that houses the patronage license office.
There have been reports in the major press in recent weeks that a Federal Investigation is underway regarding the patronage state license offices and how they were appointed by Governor Matt Blunt. The United States Attorney from Arkansas is reportedly overseeing the investigation of the patronage appointments. The United States Attorney from the Eastern District of Missouri is Catherine Hannaway who recently served as the Republican Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives.
Both Kielty and Dempsey are close confidants and supporters of St. Charles Mayor York. York has been openly active in the recall campaigns of Councilwoman Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. We have been told Kielty handled her last Mayoral race against St. Charles County Councilman Dan Foust. Kielty has also been active in the recall campaigns attempting to oust Councilwoman Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Kielty and Glennon Jamboretz formed St. Charles Citizens for Responsible Government with a stated purpose of recalling St. Charles City officials. They terminated their committee shortly after Councilwoman Greer defeated the recall effort. Brown recently claimed York diverted taxpayer funds to the recall campaign using fictitious names and companies, with the money finally arriving at a company owned by Glennon Jamboretz. He indicated that a investigation is being conducted. It is believed to be by Federal Officials but Brown would neither confirm or deny.
The First Capitol News believes the people have a right to know. Where does the money come from, where does it go and what do the givers expect to receive for it? How does it affect the problems we are experiencing in the City of St. Charles and the State of Missouri? Our investigative series will continue in our next edition.
and Tony Brockmeyer
FIRST IN A SERIES
From a quiet, unassuming home at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles millions and millions of dollars of political contributions are being funneled into Republican political campaigns with no limits on how much can be contributed or on how the money can be spent. Some call it “Money Laundering” while others say it is “Smart Politics’.
To circumvent political contribution limits, Legislative Party Committees have been formed. Unlimited contributions are given to these Legislative District Committees and are then funneled through backdoors making it almost impossible for the public to know who is giving and who is receiving.
In this and coming editions we will tell you what we discovered, who is trying to hide their contributions, how these backdoor committees effect your daily lives and how all this relates to the problems we are having in the City of St. Charles and the State of Missouri.
The First Capitol News has discovered TEN of those back door funding Legislative Committees being operated out of a home at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles with the only treasurer for each committee listed as Thomas W. Smith, Jr. We have also discovered several fictitious registered companies, apparently unlicensed, owned and operated by Smith, receiving funds from these same committees.
According to information received from the office of Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Thomas W. Smith is a state employee and Legislative Aide to State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) St. Charles. He is paid $53,530 a year in taxpayer funds by the State of Missouri.
When the campaigns to recall Councilwoman Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown first began, signs supporting the recall began sprouting up around the City. There was a telephone number on the signs and it was suggested people call for information, or to support the recall efforts. An answering machine answered the telephone; it was identified as a company called Survey St. Louis.
Research we conducted revealed Survey Saint Louis, L.L.C. was a fictitious registered name in the Secretary of State’s office, owned by Display Stuff, L.L.C at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles. It was filed on February 24, 2004. Display Stuff L.L.C. was registered on October 26, 2000 as a Limited Liability Corporation with the registered agent being Thomas W. Smith, Jr. at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles.
We were unable to locate a St. Charles business license or home occupation license for either Survey St. Louis or Display Stuff L.L.C. even though the address given by both are about one block from City Hall. Apparently those companies have not paid any business license tax to the City.
Advisors in Finance, LLC is also a fictitious Name that lists its address as 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles. Display Stuff, LLC is registered as the owner and is listed at 320 Monroe Street. Tom Smith signed the paperwork on file at the office of the Missouri Secretary of State. The registration was filed on February 18, 2004. We could find no St. Charles business license or home occupation license for Advisors in Finance.
Gateway To Victory Fund is a fictitious registered name. It was registered with Missouri Secretary of State, Matt Blunt on July 16, 2003. Thomas W. Smith signed the papers on file with the state and the owner is listed as Thomas W. Smith, Jr. at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles.
Thomas W. Smith, Jr. is a member of the St. Charles City Park Board. His term expired several months ago. When his name was brought up by the Mayor for reappointment to the board the City Council voted not to reappoint him. It would appear Smith is in arrears with the City. The Mayor has not submitted any other name so he continues to serve on the board even though his term expired, his reappointment was not approved and he is apparently in arrears. We also learned that Smith had Survey St. Louis do work for the St. Charles Park Board.
The property at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles lists Thomas W. Smith, Jr. as the owner.
State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) represents the 18th Legislative District, which covers a large part of the City of St. Charles. Dempsey is a former St. Charles City Councilman and is the manager and part owner of the Columns Banquet Center on Veterans Memorial Parkway in St. Charles. His father, Ernie Dempsey, is the owner of Pio’s Restaurant in St. Charles and was recently given the patronage state license office on Randolph in St. Charles. That office is said to be one of the highest grossing in the State. Ernie Dempsey has been heavily involved in the Republican Party and has been a large contributor to them and their candidates. Ken Kielty who operated it for several years had previously owned the patronage state license office in St. Charles. Kielty had been given the office by a Democratic governor. A corporation that is owned by Kielty and Dempsey reportedly owns the building on Randolph that houses the patronage license office.
There have been reports in the major press in recent weeks that a Federal Investigation is underway regarding the patronage state license offices and how they were appointed by Governor Matt Blunt. The United States Attorney from Arkansas is reportedly overseeing the investigation of the patronage appointments. The United States Attorney from the Eastern District of Missouri is Catherine Hannaway who recently served as the Republican Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives.
Both Kielty and Dempsey are close confidants and supporters of St. Charles Mayor York. York has been openly active in the recall campaigns of Councilwoman Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. We have been told Kielty handled her last Mayoral race against St. Charles County Councilman Dan Foust. Kielty has also been active in the recall campaigns attempting to oust Councilwoman Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Kielty and Glennon Jamboretz formed St. Charles Citizens for Responsible Government with a stated purpose of recalling St. Charles City officials. They terminated their committee shortly after Councilwoman Greer defeated the recall effort. Brown recently claimed York diverted taxpayer funds to the recall campaign using fictitious names and companies, with the money finally arriving at a company owned by Glennon Jamboretz. He indicated that a investigation is being conducted. It is believed to be by Federal Officials but Brown would neither confirm or deny.
The First Capitol News believes the people have a right to know. Where does the money come from, where does it go and what do the givers expect to receive for it? How does it affect the problems we are experiencing in the City of St. Charles and the State of Missouri? Our investigative series will continue in our next edition.
Express Scripts Demands $200,000 From City - Mayor York Signed Contract Without Council Approval
By Tony Brockmeyer
At an executive meeting of the City Council on Tuesday evening, City Attorney Mike Valenti told the Council members that Express Scripts had made a demand on the City for a payment of $200,000.
The demand was made because Mayor York signed a contract without City Council approval in violation of the City Charter and City ordinances and Express Scripts is claiming damages because of her actions.
On February 5, 2005 the First Capitol News reported:
The St. Charles City Council asked the City Administration to bid the City’s health insurance. Since the polices were due for renewal, the Administration informed the City Council that there were out clauses and the policies in force would be renewed. The companies would be told the Council was taking bids and would exercise the out clauses provided for in the policies if they were able to obtain better rates.
After appointing a new broker of record and obtaining quotes from several companies, the Council members determined the City could save between $700,000 and $1 million in insurance premiums by changing companies. The City Council members told the administration to notify the insurance companies the City was exercising their right to cancel the policies.
After the companies were notified, the City was contacted by Express Scripts, who provided prescription drugs to the employees. The City was told there was no out clause in their contract. In fact, their contract had been renewed in June of 2004 and had been signed by Mayor York.
A search of City Hall failed to locate any such contract. The City Clerk, who by state law is the keeper of all city records, could not locate a contract with Express Scripts and had no knowledge of it. The City legal department did not know the contract existed and could not locate a copy of it. Express Scripts provided the City a copy of the contract, which had indeed been signed by Mayor York. Apparently on June 22, 2004 Carrie Caskey, former St. Charles City Human Resources Director, requested and received Mayor Patti York’s signature on a contract with Express Scripts Inc. (ESI). The contract was for a three-year period and was part of the City’s prescription drug benefit plan.
Seabury Smith and Marsh Advantage, who were previously handling the insurance for the City, both recommended this program and documents show Seabury would be paid .35 cents to $1 for each prescription filled by Express Scripts. ESI also promised numerous rebates that would be paid for special prescriptions.
The contract with ESI was signed and dated, yet no record of the contract existed at City Hall. Council President Rory Riddler told the First Capitol News, “It is highly unusual for no one in City Hall to be in possession of the City’s copy of a signed contract. Our City Clerk’s office and City Attorney’s office are both extremely careful about how records are kept and would have a copy on file if it had gone through proper channels.” State Law requires the City Clerk to be the keeper of all records and this contract was never submitted to her office.
Sources within City Hall tell us Caskey did not follow the proper protocol which requires the City’s legal department to review the contract before passing it on to the Mayor. Also, it appears York violated a City Ordinance by executing the contract without the approval of the City Council.
Section 40.23 of the City’s code of ordinances states “No contract for the provision of any services, materials, supplies, or equipment shall be extended for a period in excess of one year without an opportunity for public bidding or a request for proposals, unless the extension is by the Mayor and City Council by ordinances.”
This section also provides for a penalty if any violation occurs, 10.99 of the code of ordinances says, (A) “Whenever in this code or in any ordinance of the city, any act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or a misdemeanor, except where a specific statutory penalty is provided for, the violation of any such provision shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both such fine and imprisonment, as may be just for any offense, recoverable with cost of suit:provided, however, that, where the city and the state both prescribe the same offense, the penalty for violating the city provision shall be the same. (B) Each act of violation and every day upon which a violation occurs or continues shall constitute a separate offense. (C) The failure of any officer or employee of the city to perform any official duty imposed by this code shall not subject such officer or employee to the penalty imposed by this section unless a penalty is specifically provided.” The ordinance provides the above penalty. City Hall sources said both Mayor York and Caskey could be prosecuted under this section,
Marsh Advantage was the broker of record, Seabury and Smith the Third Party administrator and Mercer the insurance consultant for the City of St. Charles. These companies are all subsidiaries of Marsh and McLennan who recently settled with the Attorney General of New York for $850 million. The settlement might include money for St. Charles if it is determined Marsh violated the law in dealing with the City.
On July 13,2004, Marsh representatives gave a presentation reviewing the City’s health insurance plan and the cost associated with the plan. During the meeting, the City Council was told that using benchmarks provided by Mercer, the City is just below the average increase.
Councilman Mark Brown told the FCN, “Of course we will appear to be paying comparable rates when we are being compared to only Marsh plans by the Marsh consulting company, Mercer. When you get down to it, if you are charging everyone higher rates, then ours will naturally look normal.” Brown’s comments appear to have merit. The new Broker of Record quickly pointed out every bid the City received for insurance was lower than the bid Marsh claimed was the best the City could hope for. Brown went on to say, “Anytime you meet with the resistance this Council met regarding the insurance, you know something is wrong.”
During the presentation the Marsh representative explained her close relationship with the City and Caskey’s department. Some on the Council believe this close relationship may be the reason for the blatant disregard for policy, procedure and ordinances when dealing with contracts that obligate the taxpayer’s money. Caskey left the City’s employment during the bid process and after it became apparent the City would no longer use the services of Marsh.
Councilman John Gieseke was very outspoken about Marsh, “This Company has violated the trust of the people they claim to represent, and their motive was profit. I argued in the past that having one company as the only source of information was dangerous, but Caskey fought for Marsh all the way. The cost savings we were able to achieve, and now the backroom deal with this contract demonstrates bad things can happen when you deal in this manner.”
Since the Council took office, they have complained about city staff directing and entering into contracts and then presenting them to the Council after the contract had been executed. It appears this happened with this contract. ESI told the City they are not willing to release the City from their obligation. The City might incur costs upwards of $200,000. This has many on the Council questioning why York and Caskey would enter into a contract knowing the Council had not been informed and knowing they did not have the authority to do so.
Council members are reviewing their options.
An attempt was made to have an investigation conducted by the City Council and subpoena witnesses to testify. Several members of the Council including Larry Muench, Mike Weller, Jerry Reese and Bob Kneemiller refused to allow the investigation to continue and made attempts to stop any further attempts to obtain information. They refused to vote to issue subpoenas to require witnesses to testify.
More information can be found on firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com in our archives. See FCN of March 12, 2005.
At an executive meeting of the City Council on Tuesday evening, City Attorney Mike Valenti told the Council members that Express Scripts had made a demand on the City for a payment of $200,000.
The demand was made because Mayor York signed a contract without City Council approval in violation of the City Charter and City ordinances and Express Scripts is claiming damages because of her actions.
On February 5, 2005 the First Capitol News reported:
The St. Charles City Council asked the City Administration to bid the City’s health insurance. Since the polices were due for renewal, the Administration informed the City Council that there were out clauses and the policies in force would be renewed. The companies would be told the Council was taking bids and would exercise the out clauses provided for in the policies if they were able to obtain better rates.
After appointing a new broker of record and obtaining quotes from several companies, the Council members determined the City could save between $700,000 and $1 million in insurance premiums by changing companies. The City Council members told the administration to notify the insurance companies the City was exercising their right to cancel the policies.
After the companies were notified, the City was contacted by Express Scripts, who provided prescription drugs to the employees. The City was told there was no out clause in their contract. In fact, their contract had been renewed in June of 2004 and had been signed by Mayor York.
A search of City Hall failed to locate any such contract. The City Clerk, who by state law is the keeper of all city records, could not locate a contract with Express Scripts and had no knowledge of it. The City legal department did not know the contract existed and could not locate a copy of it. Express Scripts provided the City a copy of the contract, which had indeed been signed by Mayor York. Apparently on June 22, 2004 Carrie Caskey, former St. Charles City Human Resources Director, requested and received Mayor Patti York’s signature on a contract with Express Scripts Inc. (ESI). The contract was for a three-year period and was part of the City’s prescription drug benefit plan.
Seabury Smith and Marsh Advantage, who were previously handling the insurance for the City, both recommended this program and documents show Seabury would be paid .35 cents to $1 for each prescription filled by Express Scripts. ESI also promised numerous rebates that would be paid for special prescriptions.
The contract with ESI was signed and dated, yet no record of the contract existed at City Hall. Council President Rory Riddler told the First Capitol News, “It is highly unusual for no one in City Hall to be in possession of the City’s copy of a signed contract. Our City Clerk’s office and City Attorney’s office are both extremely careful about how records are kept and would have a copy on file if it had gone through proper channels.” State Law requires the City Clerk to be the keeper of all records and this contract was never submitted to her office.
Sources within City Hall tell us Caskey did not follow the proper protocol which requires the City’s legal department to review the contract before passing it on to the Mayor. Also, it appears York violated a City Ordinance by executing the contract without the approval of the City Council.
Section 40.23 of the City’s code of ordinances states “No contract for the provision of any services, materials, supplies, or equipment shall be extended for a period in excess of one year without an opportunity for public bidding or a request for proposals, unless the extension is by the Mayor and City Council by ordinances.”
This section also provides for a penalty if any violation occurs, 10.99 of the code of ordinances says, (A) “Whenever in this code or in any ordinance of the city, any act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or a misdemeanor, except where a specific statutory penalty is provided for, the violation of any such provision shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both such fine and imprisonment, as may be just for any offense, recoverable with cost of suit:provided, however, that, where the city and the state both prescribe the same offense, the penalty for violating the city provision shall be the same. (B) Each act of violation and every day upon which a violation occurs or continues shall constitute a separate offense. (C) The failure of any officer or employee of the city to perform any official duty imposed by this code shall not subject such officer or employee to the penalty imposed by this section unless a penalty is specifically provided.” The ordinance provides the above penalty. City Hall sources said both Mayor York and Caskey could be prosecuted under this section,
Marsh Advantage was the broker of record, Seabury and Smith the Third Party administrator and Mercer the insurance consultant for the City of St. Charles. These companies are all subsidiaries of Marsh and McLennan who recently settled with the Attorney General of New York for $850 million. The settlement might include money for St. Charles if it is determined Marsh violated the law in dealing with the City.
On July 13,2004, Marsh representatives gave a presentation reviewing the City’s health insurance plan and the cost associated with the plan. During the meeting, the City Council was told that using benchmarks provided by Mercer, the City is just below the average increase.
Councilman Mark Brown told the FCN, “Of course we will appear to be paying comparable rates when we are being compared to only Marsh plans by the Marsh consulting company, Mercer. When you get down to it, if you are charging everyone higher rates, then ours will naturally look normal.” Brown’s comments appear to have merit. The new Broker of Record quickly pointed out every bid the City received for insurance was lower than the bid Marsh claimed was the best the City could hope for. Brown went on to say, “Anytime you meet with the resistance this Council met regarding the insurance, you know something is wrong.”
During the presentation the Marsh representative explained her close relationship with the City and Caskey’s department. Some on the Council believe this close relationship may be the reason for the blatant disregard for policy, procedure and ordinances when dealing with contracts that obligate the taxpayer’s money. Caskey left the City’s employment during the bid process and after it became apparent the City would no longer use the services of Marsh.
Councilman John Gieseke was very outspoken about Marsh, “This Company has violated the trust of the people they claim to represent, and their motive was profit. I argued in the past that having one company as the only source of information was dangerous, but Caskey fought for Marsh all the way. The cost savings we were able to achieve, and now the backroom deal with this contract demonstrates bad things can happen when you deal in this manner.”
Since the Council took office, they have complained about city staff directing and entering into contracts and then presenting them to the Council after the contract had been executed. It appears this happened with this contract. ESI told the City they are not willing to release the City from their obligation. The City might incur costs upwards of $200,000. This has many on the Council questioning why York and Caskey would enter into a contract knowing the Council had not been informed and knowing they did not have the authority to do so.
Council members are reviewing their options.
An attempt was made to have an investigation conducted by the City Council and subpoena witnesses to testify. Several members of the Council including Larry Muench, Mike Weller, Jerry Reese and Bob Kneemiller refused to allow the investigation to continue and made attempts to stop any further attempts to obtain information. They refused to vote to issue subpoenas to require witnesses to testify.
More information can be found on firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com in our archives. See FCN of March 12, 2005.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
A Web Of Deceit
How quickly the Mayor forgets when it comes to wrong doing. Tuesday night she lectured the public that it takes six votes to pass a contract and if Councilman Mark Brown had a problem with the way contracts are awarded it is the Council's fault. Oh what an evil web we weave, but we should be used to her weaving a web of deceit. The Mayor forgot that she had just told the Council that the City administrator could award contracts under twenty thousand dollars without Council approval. She also forgot the way she awarded a contract to Sarah Collins - Glennon Jamboretz, but the real biggy was Express Scripts. We
will all be reminded of that in short order because the city is in receipt of a demand for $200,000 from Express Scripts. Remember this was supposed to be a non monetary contract. The Mayor signed it without Council approval and didn’t tell anyone. In fact there was not even a copy of the contract in City Hall.
Was it that she didn't remember? Was she confused? Or does she think that we all believe whatever she says? The First Capitol News has her depositions from the Thomas Mayer lawsuit that shows she has a problem with the truth.
There was discussion regarding corruption. I guess the un-fab five forgot that they have a chance to learn if corruption really exists if they would allow retired City employee Joe Buehrle to speak about what he knows. But that wouldn't fit into their plan to discredit Councilman Mark Brown. You see Brown had the guts to tell it like it is. The un-fab five have taken the position that Brown is making unfounded accusations. The FCN has learned that there are some who have taken the evidence of wrongdoing serious and are doing their job.
WELLER Leave The Police Chief Alone. He’s a professional
For some unknown reason at the Council worksession on Tuesday evening Councilman Weller was determined to try to chastise Police Chief Tim Swope for conducting an official investigation into petition signature gathering fraud. Wake up Mike there was fraud and the Prosecutor has issued charges and hopefully more to come. And no matter what you think Allan Williams was right in not getting involved in the investigation. It was not his place and he acted with integrity in staying out of it and letting the law enforcement officials handle it.
Is Muench Gone Next Election?
Word on the street is that Councilman Larry Muench is going to have much needed competition for the Ward Two seat in the April elections. Word is the voters are tired of his inability to handle discord and heated discussions. Tuesday evening he ran out of the Council chambers. They say if it was not for his good hearted father-in-law, the gracious John Dengler, Muench would not have lasted this long.
How quickly the Mayor forgets when it comes to wrong doing. Tuesday night she lectured the public that it takes six votes to pass a contract and if Councilman Mark Brown had a problem with the way contracts are awarded it is the Council's fault. Oh what an evil web we weave, but we should be used to her weaving a web of deceit. The Mayor forgot that she had just told the Council that the City administrator could award contracts under twenty thousand dollars without Council approval. She also forgot the way she awarded a contract to Sarah Collins - Glennon Jamboretz, but the real biggy was Express Scripts. We
will all be reminded of that in short order because the city is in receipt of a demand for $200,000 from Express Scripts. Remember this was supposed to be a non monetary contract. The Mayor signed it without Council approval and didn’t tell anyone. In fact there was not even a copy of the contract in City Hall.
Was it that she didn't remember? Was she confused? Or does she think that we all believe whatever she says? The First Capitol News has her depositions from the Thomas Mayer lawsuit that shows she has a problem with the truth.
There was discussion regarding corruption. I guess the un-fab five forgot that they have a chance to learn if corruption really exists if they would allow retired City employee Joe Buehrle to speak about what he knows. But that wouldn't fit into their plan to discredit Councilman Mark Brown. You see Brown had the guts to tell it like it is. The un-fab five have taken the position that Brown is making unfounded accusations. The FCN has learned that there are some who have taken the evidence of wrongdoing serious and are doing their job.
WELLER Leave The Police Chief Alone. He’s a professional
For some unknown reason at the Council worksession on Tuesday evening Councilman Weller was determined to try to chastise Police Chief Tim Swope for conducting an official investigation into petition signature gathering fraud. Wake up Mike there was fraud and the Prosecutor has issued charges and hopefully more to come. And no matter what you think Allan Williams was right in not getting involved in the investigation. It was not his place and he acted with integrity in staying out of it and letting the law enforcement officials handle it.
Is Muench Gone Next Election?
Word on the street is that Councilman Larry Muench is going to have much needed competition for the Ward Two seat in the April elections. Word is the voters are tired of his inability to handle discord and heated discussions. Tuesday evening he ran out of the Council chambers. They say if it was not for his good hearted father-in-law, the gracious John Dengler, Muench would not have lasted this long.
School Board Votes To Close Blackhurst and Benton Schools, Keep Lincoln & Null Open
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
As we went to press Thursday evening we learned that the St. Charles School Board voted to Close Blackhurst and Benton Schools and keep Lincoln and Null schools open.
More than 150 parents and school employees attended the emotional packed meeting. A number of teachers whose schools were being closed were observed crying as they left the meeting.
School board member Wayne Oetting pointed out that 77 percent of Null school Students were not bus riders and that appeared to be one of the deciding factors in keeping Null open.
At the meeting there were five speakers asking that Null be kept open and only one person asking to keep Blackhurst open. Null sits on 14 acres and is close to McNair Park. The students at Null also have one of the highest test scores in the district. Board member Oetting was pushing to keep Null open and board member Towers was pushing to keep Blackhurst open.
The recent tax increase the School Board had requested at the April election failed by 72 percent.
The School Board is planning on moving the administration offices into Benton School which is located on North Sixth Street.
As we went to press Thursday evening we learned that the St. Charles School Board voted to Close Blackhurst and Benton Schools and keep Lincoln and Null schools open.
More than 150 parents and school employees attended the emotional packed meeting. A number of teachers whose schools were being closed were observed crying as they left the meeting.
School board member Wayne Oetting pointed out that 77 percent of Null school Students were not bus riders and that appeared to be one of the deciding factors in keeping Null open.
At the meeting there were five speakers asking that Null be kept open and only one person asking to keep Blackhurst open. Null sits on 14 acres and is close to McNair Park. The students at Null also have one of the highest test scores in the district. Board member Oetting was pushing to keep Null open and board member Towers was pushing to keep Blackhurst open.
The recent tax increase the School Board had requested at the April election failed by 72 percent.
The School Board is planning on moving the administration offices into Benton School which is located on North Sixth Street.
THE CITY DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
Bear Baiting Local Official
Easy Target For TV News
Bear baiting was a popular sport in England for centuries. Chain a bear to a post and then let the dogs loose.
That fine tradition is carried on today by some in television news…at least in the way they choose to cover some local officials.
KSDK (Show-Me Five) had a film crew at City Hall Tuesday night. They were there for the first item on the agenda of the Council’s Work Session. The agenda said we were going to see a clip from a Channel Five news broadcast.
Specifically we were shown a clip of an interview Cordel Whitlock had with Councilman Mark Brown over two months ago. Some of Mark’s detractors on the Council were upset with his remarks at that time. They felt he had intimated the Council was corrupt. It therefore appeared the intent of placing the item on the agenda was to call Councilman Brown on the carpet.
Being a dyed in the wool Missouri boy, I needed someone to “Show-Me”, so I watched the short clip from the Show-Me Five folks with the rest of the Council, the audience and viewers at home. I also got to watch the Channel Five crew filming their own news clip being shown at the meeting. Covering your own previous news coverage seemed a bit desperate to me. It’s the journalistic equivalent of taking your cousin to the Prom. Of course it did guarantee Channel Five an “exclusive” since no other television news station is going to cover the showing of one of their competitor’s old news clips.
Controversy is fair game. We all say we want to hear and read more good news, but if there was a newspaper devoted exclusively to good news, it wouldn’t sell. Part of being an elected public official is answering questions from the press. I routinely talk with the reporters for this and other newspapers. I’ve done my share of television interviews as well. I’ve also seen my share of ambush journalism where provocative questions are posed in such a way to elicit a certain response. I once had a television news reporter ask me the same question ten different ways because I wouldn’t give her the answer she wanted. I wasn’t being the least evasive, I just wasn’t giving her the response she needed to fit her preconceived vision for that report.
Where I’ve drawn the line is talking with other opinion columnists or going on entertainment talk shows. The regular rules of journalism don’t apply to opinion columnists or talk show hosts. Their aim is primarily to fuel controversy, not report the news. I don’t mind being publicly hung on occasion, but I’m under no obligation to provide the rope.
Councilman Brown, however, was in no mood to be hung out to dry Tuesday night. He asked that the interview be played again, but this time in its entirety and not just the brief segment that had been selected. Hearing the entire interview put it in context that he was primarily referring to events surrounding the investigation of flawed recall petitions and forged signatures against Councilwoman Greer. The only person in the clip to say there was corruption involving the Council or City was the reporter “paraphrasing” what Councilman Brown said.
Now what someone forgot about the ancient sport of bear baiting is that the bear, while at a disadvantage, always fights back. This resulted in the next hour of the Council’s time being taken up with acrimonious debate. Channel Five only had to film a few minutes of the debate. Their reporter and cameraman got to go home. The rest of us got to stay till 12:30 in the morning. I tip my hat to the newspaper reporters that regularly cover our meetings. They stay to the end. Electronic journalists seldom do. They are there to cover the fire…not the cleanup.
Regular viewers of the Council on cable television (and there are more of you than people think) are drawn to watch for a variety of reasons. One has to be the occasional verbal slugfests between Councilman Brown and Councilman Weller. It doesn’t matter who you are rooting for to appreciate these bouts. However, I do believe we’re missing a great opportunity not putting gloves on them.
Tuesday night I would have to say the decision went to Councilman Brown.
The biggest losers, however, were the viewers of broadcast television news. What Channel Five could have covered was the compromise this Council forged to protect the interests of those opposed to the use of eminent domain and those wanting to encourage redevelopment and investment in an area of town most people agree could use it. But solving problems and reaching a political consensus on a major issue apparently isn’t as newsworthy as some officials being mildly annoyed at what a political antagonists may or may not have said two months ago.
Easy Target For TV News
Bear baiting was a popular sport in England for centuries. Chain a bear to a post and then let the dogs loose.
That fine tradition is carried on today by some in television news…at least in the way they choose to cover some local officials.
KSDK (Show-Me Five) had a film crew at City Hall Tuesday night. They were there for the first item on the agenda of the Council’s Work Session. The agenda said we were going to see a clip from a Channel Five news broadcast.
Specifically we were shown a clip of an interview Cordel Whitlock had with Councilman Mark Brown over two months ago. Some of Mark’s detractors on the Council were upset with his remarks at that time. They felt he had intimated the Council was corrupt. It therefore appeared the intent of placing the item on the agenda was to call Councilman Brown on the carpet.
Being a dyed in the wool Missouri boy, I needed someone to “Show-Me”, so I watched the short clip from the Show-Me Five folks with the rest of the Council, the audience and viewers at home. I also got to watch the Channel Five crew filming their own news clip being shown at the meeting. Covering your own previous news coverage seemed a bit desperate to me. It’s the journalistic equivalent of taking your cousin to the Prom. Of course it did guarantee Channel Five an “exclusive” since no other television news station is going to cover the showing of one of their competitor’s old news clips.
Controversy is fair game. We all say we want to hear and read more good news, but if there was a newspaper devoted exclusively to good news, it wouldn’t sell. Part of being an elected public official is answering questions from the press. I routinely talk with the reporters for this and other newspapers. I’ve done my share of television interviews as well. I’ve also seen my share of ambush journalism where provocative questions are posed in such a way to elicit a certain response. I once had a television news reporter ask me the same question ten different ways because I wouldn’t give her the answer she wanted. I wasn’t being the least evasive, I just wasn’t giving her the response she needed to fit her preconceived vision for that report.
Where I’ve drawn the line is talking with other opinion columnists or going on entertainment talk shows. The regular rules of journalism don’t apply to opinion columnists or talk show hosts. Their aim is primarily to fuel controversy, not report the news. I don’t mind being publicly hung on occasion, but I’m under no obligation to provide the rope.
Councilman Brown, however, was in no mood to be hung out to dry Tuesday night. He asked that the interview be played again, but this time in its entirety and not just the brief segment that had been selected. Hearing the entire interview put it in context that he was primarily referring to events surrounding the investigation of flawed recall petitions and forged signatures against Councilwoman Greer. The only person in the clip to say there was corruption involving the Council or City was the reporter “paraphrasing” what Councilman Brown said.
Now what someone forgot about the ancient sport of bear baiting is that the bear, while at a disadvantage, always fights back. This resulted in the next hour of the Council’s time being taken up with acrimonious debate. Channel Five only had to film a few minutes of the debate. Their reporter and cameraman got to go home. The rest of us got to stay till 12:30 in the morning. I tip my hat to the newspaper reporters that regularly cover our meetings. They stay to the end. Electronic journalists seldom do. They are there to cover the fire…not the cleanup.
Regular viewers of the Council on cable television (and there are more of you than people think) are drawn to watch for a variety of reasons. One has to be the occasional verbal slugfests between Councilman Brown and Councilman Weller. It doesn’t matter who you are rooting for to appreciate these bouts. However, I do believe we’re missing a great opportunity not putting gloves on them.
Tuesday night I would have to say the decision went to Councilman Brown.
The biggest losers, however, were the viewers of broadcast television news. What Channel Five could have covered was the compromise this Council forged to protect the interests of those opposed to the use of eminent domain and those wanting to encourage redevelopment and investment in an area of town most people agree could use it. But solving problems and reaching a political consensus on a major issue apparently isn’t as newsworthy as some officials being mildly annoyed at what a political antagonists may or may not have said two months ago.
CASE IN POINT By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
Honey in the mouth; gall in the heart.
German Proverb
Week two of the non-majority selected council president presiding over the meetings has resulted in the longest meeting this council has had followed by the second longest meeting this council has had. We may very well hold the length record for any council meeting, in fact.
The Kneemiller Five (K5) continue in front of the camera and public to speak about their willingness to testify in the voter fraud lawsuit and then cut the legal funding out from underneath the suit; claim they want all the facts, then refuse to pursue any lead that points to wrongdoing; claim they are looking out for the interests of the city and then vote not to appeal a lawsuit in the hopes that the plaintiff will be a good guy and settle without damages!
In front of the camera, they speak about working together but use underhanded tactics to grab control of the president and vice president position.
I think what is the most aggravating about all of this is the sneakiness of it all not the end result. No power shift has taken place – we have been and continue to be a council split by a 5-5 vote. Each side can block the other. Sadly, the role of the legislative branch of government to act as a check within the system has given way to 5 members of council acting as an extension of the administration and therefore, provides the appointed administrator a lot of authority instead of placing this in the hands of the elected body. Council is checking each other while the administration receives a free pass to do whatever it likes. If council chooses not to spend taxpayers’ money on a new gate to the city garage, the administrator simply ignores their will, splits the contract into smaller ones that slides in under the city ordinance that makes council approval necessary if the expenditures exceeds $50,000. Furthermore, the administrator can rest easy knowing that he has the support of half of the council so no action will be taken against him anyhow even if it is obvious that he is simply avoiding the law in his actions.
What the Kneemiller Five can’t do legitimately by way of a vote, they simply let the administration do for them.
What the Kneemiller Five doesn’t seem to realize is that it’s the process that is hurt and the integrity of the elected office that suffers when they hand the gold building cart Blanc authority. Willingly the 5 surrender their authority because it serves a purpose that they agree with. The administration is working in tandem as a kind of ersatz council vote.
“We all need to get along” they might say one minute and then they arbitrarily withhold legal help to council members they see as unfriendly.
Time and again, I have seen Mark Brown agree that any and all of the council members should be able to rely upon legal council when they need it. The “other” five has never denied legal representation to anyone who has requested it. The mayor made much ado about not being given counsel during the council hearings on the Express Scripts matter, (or at least her spin doctors did); however, I was in closed session when it was stated that if and when any charges were made, legal support would be provided. The reason for this decision was actually demonstrated well by The Kneemiller Five – we did not even get to a point where the mayor needed a city-paid lawyer because the K5 was busy at work making sure that the hearings would go nowhere. They succeeded – so why should the city have wasted money on an attorney? Besides, the moneyed-elite came to her rescue and raised her thousands of dollars in a defense fund.
Another confusing and aggravating fact is that one of the most hated members by friends of the mayor and by the police department in council elected in 2004 was Mr. Bob Hoepfner. It was, after all, his “donut” remarks that offended our police and his desire for revenge on a mayor who had personally campaigned against him that caused so much controversy. Once he shifted his allegiance to the administration, wasn’t it arguably then the other “side” who had gained the most embattled council member? My question has always been, “what if Mr. Riddler had changed his allegiance leaving Reese and Hoepfner on the other side of things?” What would the sides have been then?
My solution is this: we all sit down as a council and draw names out of a hat. The first five drawn will be “one side”, the next five is the “other side.”
Maybe the drawing would look something like this: Riddler, Kneemiller, Greer, Gieseke, and Hoepfner. So then, that makes the “other side”: Muench, Brown, Weller, Reese, and me. Who would be the bad guys and the good guys now? Would we all get along and work together? Would we then vote to investigate election fraud; look into Express Scripts; subpoena witnesses concerning city insurance and conduct a forensic audit of the same? Would we enforce contracts as agreed upon; appeal lawsuits despite who it may be filing against us; and would we stop the administration from circumventing council’s role in such matters as moving the fire chief and his office by breaking up the contract into two six-month contracts full well that they will need to be at this location for at least a year?
I guess that if we hurried we might have a couple of weeks where we would do the right thing – then money, developers, engineers, and insurance brokers would enter the picture and one side would come out the “bad guys” all over again...
German Proverb
Week two of the non-majority selected council president presiding over the meetings has resulted in the longest meeting this council has had followed by the second longest meeting this council has had. We may very well hold the length record for any council meeting, in fact.
The Kneemiller Five (K5) continue in front of the camera and public to speak about their willingness to testify in the voter fraud lawsuit and then cut the legal funding out from underneath the suit; claim they want all the facts, then refuse to pursue any lead that points to wrongdoing; claim they are looking out for the interests of the city and then vote not to appeal a lawsuit in the hopes that the plaintiff will be a good guy and settle without damages!
In front of the camera, they speak about working together but use underhanded tactics to grab control of the president and vice president position.
I think what is the most aggravating about all of this is the sneakiness of it all not the end result. No power shift has taken place – we have been and continue to be a council split by a 5-5 vote. Each side can block the other. Sadly, the role of the legislative branch of government to act as a check within the system has given way to 5 members of council acting as an extension of the administration and therefore, provides the appointed administrator a lot of authority instead of placing this in the hands of the elected body. Council is checking each other while the administration receives a free pass to do whatever it likes. If council chooses not to spend taxpayers’ money on a new gate to the city garage, the administrator simply ignores their will, splits the contract into smaller ones that slides in under the city ordinance that makes council approval necessary if the expenditures exceeds $50,000. Furthermore, the administrator can rest easy knowing that he has the support of half of the council so no action will be taken against him anyhow even if it is obvious that he is simply avoiding the law in his actions.
What the Kneemiller Five can’t do legitimately by way of a vote, they simply let the administration do for them.
What the Kneemiller Five doesn’t seem to realize is that it’s the process that is hurt and the integrity of the elected office that suffers when they hand the gold building cart Blanc authority. Willingly the 5 surrender their authority because it serves a purpose that they agree with. The administration is working in tandem as a kind of ersatz council vote.
“We all need to get along” they might say one minute and then they arbitrarily withhold legal help to council members they see as unfriendly.
Time and again, I have seen Mark Brown agree that any and all of the council members should be able to rely upon legal council when they need it. The “other” five has never denied legal representation to anyone who has requested it. The mayor made much ado about not being given counsel during the council hearings on the Express Scripts matter, (or at least her spin doctors did); however, I was in closed session when it was stated that if and when any charges were made, legal support would be provided. The reason for this decision was actually demonstrated well by The Kneemiller Five – we did not even get to a point where the mayor needed a city-paid lawyer because the K5 was busy at work making sure that the hearings would go nowhere. They succeeded – so why should the city have wasted money on an attorney? Besides, the moneyed-elite came to her rescue and raised her thousands of dollars in a defense fund.
Another confusing and aggravating fact is that one of the most hated members by friends of the mayor and by the police department in council elected in 2004 was Mr. Bob Hoepfner. It was, after all, his “donut” remarks that offended our police and his desire for revenge on a mayor who had personally campaigned against him that caused so much controversy. Once he shifted his allegiance to the administration, wasn’t it arguably then the other “side” who had gained the most embattled council member? My question has always been, “what if Mr. Riddler had changed his allegiance leaving Reese and Hoepfner on the other side of things?” What would the sides have been then?
My solution is this: we all sit down as a council and draw names out of a hat. The first five drawn will be “one side”, the next five is the “other side.”
Maybe the drawing would look something like this: Riddler, Kneemiller, Greer, Gieseke, and Hoepfner. So then, that makes the “other side”: Muench, Brown, Weller, Reese, and me. Who would be the bad guys and the good guys now? Would we all get along and work together? Would we then vote to investigate election fraud; look into Express Scripts; subpoena witnesses concerning city insurance and conduct a forensic audit of the same? Would we enforce contracts as agreed upon; appeal lawsuits despite who it may be filing against us; and would we stop the administration from circumventing council’s role in such matters as moving the fire chief and his office by breaking up the contract into two six-month contracts full well that they will need to be at this location for at least a year?
I guess that if we hurried we might have a couple of weeks where we would do the right thing – then money, developers, engineers, and insurance brokers would enter the picture and one side would come out the “bad guys” all over again...
THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS By Jerry Haferkamp
THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Jerry Haferkamp
Some of us older folks will remember a TV show that debuted in 1956 called "To Tell The Truth". It was hosted by Bud Collyer and had 3 guests. One was the real person of interest and the other two were imposters. The panelists would try to guess the person of interest and eliminate the imposters. The imposters were allowed to lie to fool the panel. At the end of the program, Bud Collyer would say something like:
"Will the real Mike Weller please stand up?".
This would have been beneficial to those of us who watch our city council. Is the real Mike Weller the clean shaven one who last week said something like "You know how I am. I like to get as much information as I can before I decide."? Or is the real Mike Weller the one who voted to not supoena the necessary witnesses to get to the bottom of the Express Scripts incident? Or is the real Mike Weller the scruffy bearded thug who voted to kill the investigation into possible fraud in the recalls? The clean shaven one likes information. The scruffy faced one likes to quash any effort to obtain information. Maybe it's in the beard. The evil comes out in the whiskers.
"Will the real Mike Weller please stand up?"
Last nights meeting was a hoot. In a transparent effort to assist those wanting to recall Mark Brown, Bob Kneemiller opened a can of worms that he would have better left closed. The worms in the can Bobby opened flew back into his face when Mark Brown had his chance to speak. After Mr. Brown took little Bobby to the woodshed, his Mommy tried to soften the whoopin' he got by trying to offer another reason for his attack on Brown. Sorry, Mommie Patti. It didn't fly either.
In the effort to get to the bottom of the possible recall fraud, the council contracted an attorney to investigate. In order to continue, his contract would have to be extended. Councilman Gieseke hit a nerve when he slyly stated that if a council member had nothing to hide, they should support the investigation. This, of course, prompted Muench, Weller, Reese, Kneemiller and Hoepfner to vote to block the discovery of the information one of the Mike Wellers said he wants in order to make decisions.
"Will the real Mike Weller please stand up"?
I doubt if he will, but if he does I bet my money that the real one is the bearded one who helps keep the cover on things that aren't right at City Hall.
Question: Now that Weller is on one side of Reese at the meetings and Kneemiller is on the other side, is it Weller's job to wake him up for a vote or is that Kneemiller's job now?
Of course, that's just the view from the cheap seats.
By Jerry Haferkamp
Some of us older folks will remember a TV show that debuted in 1956 called "To Tell The Truth". It was hosted by Bud Collyer and had 3 guests. One was the real person of interest and the other two were imposters. The panelists would try to guess the person of interest and eliminate the imposters. The imposters were allowed to lie to fool the panel. At the end of the program, Bud Collyer would say something like:
"Will the real Mike Weller please stand up?".
This would have been beneficial to those of us who watch our city council. Is the real Mike Weller the clean shaven one who last week said something like "You know how I am. I like to get as much information as I can before I decide."? Or is the real Mike Weller the one who voted to not supoena the necessary witnesses to get to the bottom of the Express Scripts incident? Or is the real Mike Weller the scruffy bearded thug who voted to kill the investigation into possible fraud in the recalls? The clean shaven one likes information. The scruffy faced one likes to quash any effort to obtain information. Maybe it's in the beard. The evil comes out in the whiskers.
"Will the real Mike Weller please stand up?"
Last nights meeting was a hoot. In a transparent effort to assist those wanting to recall Mark Brown, Bob Kneemiller opened a can of worms that he would have better left closed. The worms in the can Bobby opened flew back into his face when Mark Brown had his chance to speak. After Mr. Brown took little Bobby to the woodshed, his Mommy tried to soften the whoopin' he got by trying to offer another reason for his attack on Brown. Sorry, Mommie Patti. It didn't fly either.
In the effort to get to the bottom of the possible recall fraud, the council contracted an attorney to investigate. In order to continue, his contract would have to be extended. Councilman Gieseke hit a nerve when he slyly stated that if a council member had nothing to hide, they should support the investigation. This, of course, prompted Muench, Weller, Reese, Kneemiller and Hoepfner to vote to block the discovery of the information one of the Mike Wellers said he wants in order to make decisions.
"Will the real Mike Weller please stand up"?
I doubt if he will, but if he does I bet my money that the real one is the bearded one who helps keep the cover on things that aren't right at City Hall.
Question: Now that Weller is on one side of Reese at the meetings and Kneemiller is on the other side, is it Weller's job to wake him up for a vote or is that Kneemiller's job now?
Of course, that's just the view from the cheap seats.
CONSERVATIVE FACTOR Alex Spencer
My wife is a fifth grade teacher, and I can’t think of a more noble profession. She absolutely loves her job. She likes working with the students, the parents, and her colleagues. She’s been a teacher for several years, so she’s not that worried about the issues facing the St. Charles School District in a personal way. But, she’s worried about the students. What will happen to the students when they close down schools? What will happen to some of the newest (and most enthusiastic teachers?)
I noticed that she was intently grading papers the other night, so I asked her what the students were working on. (See I used to ask her what she was working on, and she would not so gently remind me that she doesn’t do the work – the students do the work.) She said that she was teaching the students to compare things. I asked her to explain it to me, because her explanation lacked some clarity in my mind. She explained that she is teaching the students to note comparisons between similar things and contrast differences between things. So, I asked her if she meant things like the comparison between St. Charles and St. Peters with regard to the controversy surrounding the selection of a Board President contrasted with O’Fallon, where the process went smoothly. She sarcastically pointed out that I would probably get an A in fifth grade, so I thought I better leave her alone, but that got me to thinking…
Let’s play the compare and contrast game right here in St. Charles County:
Update on Council/Board President Selection/Election in St. Charles and St. Peters:
Both St. Charles and St. Peters had issues regarding the selection of a leader for the legislative branch of government. One can compare these two cases and there are a number of similarities (compare), but there are also a lot of differences (contrast).
As you all know, the St. Charles City Council was having trouble choosing a Council President. After the Mayor’s failure to tip the scales in her favor (when Darling Dottie survived the recall effort aimed to unseat her), the Council was split 5-5, with 5 members supporting the re-election of Councilman Riddler as Council President and 5 members supporting the election of the Mayor’s favorite Magic Mirror, Councilman Kneemiller as Council President. It was a political stalemate, with no provision in the City Charter to break a tie.
You can compare the situation in St. Charles to the one in St. Peters where things got a bit sparky during the normally perfunctory process of selecting a President for the Board of Aldermen. Basically, Alderman Barclay is whining to anyone who will listen that it is his “turn” to be Board President. He seems to have forgotten that the Board elects its own President under state statute, and he also seems to have forgotten that no one can really tolerate him or his general weakness as an elected official. He does share the same fan club as Alderman Pagano, and the malcontent bunch that likes to speak at the meetings all support him. Barclay also seems to be confused since it’s the votes of his colleagues that he needs, not the support of the malcontent. Hopefully, the Board in St. Peters will not let the malcontent and their leader, Barclay, bully them into making Barclay President. I’m not sure that the people of St. Peters need a Board President who abstains on votes relating to the Operating Budget for the city. Barclay and his partner, Pandering Pagano are slinging as much mud as they can at Alderman Hawkins, we’ll see if it sticks. Either way, Barclay just doesn’t seem to get it, and he probably never will.
In St. Charles, 2 members of Riddler’s coalition missed the last meeting of the Council. The Mayoral bunch seized on this opportunity and elected Kneemiller as Council President by a majority vote of those present.
But in St. Peters, when 2 board members were absent, since Pandering Pagano and Barclay were incapable of seizing this golden opportunity, the Board agreed to postpone the discussion until the members were present. See, that’s what you call contrast.
One last time, we can compare and contrast these 2 cities. In St. Charles, the Council President is very powerful because he/she presides over Council meetings and sets the agenda, but in St. Peters, the title is more or less ceremonial and the Board President only oversees a portion of the work session meeting while the Mayor is the Presiding officer.
Just for fun, let’s take a quick look around at what’s going on in our school districts:
In St. Charles School District, the School Board is grappling with a crippling election loss and taking tours of some of the schools to determine which schools will be closed. They are planning to close their administration building as well.
In Fort Zumwalt School District, Bernie DuBray managed to convince the voters that the district needed additional funds to build the new high school. (As an aside, you might recall that last year’s increase was defeated because one of the major improvements was going to be a new swimming pool – who knows whether a pool is still part of the plan or if DuBray was engaged in an orchestrated campaign culminating with his most recent victory.) That wily Bernie DuBray had some school principals mail hand signed postcards to students’ parents – nice job Dr. DuBray.
Finally, in Francis Howell School District, the voters signaled that they were tired of business as usual, when they sent in two new board members, but the most important issue is re-naming Winter Break. Now, it’s Christmas Break, and no one seems to have a better explanation than Mark Lafata’s insatiable desire for press coverage.
Well, after all that comparing and contrasting, seems like I might do okay in fifth grade after all.
I noticed that she was intently grading papers the other night, so I asked her what the students were working on. (See I used to ask her what she was working on, and she would not so gently remind me that she doesn’t do the work – the students do the work.) She said that she was teaching the students to compare things. I asked her to explain it to me, because her explanation lacked some clarity in my mind. She explained that she is teaching the students to note comparisons between similar things and contrast differences between things. So, I asked her if she meant things like the comparison between St. Charles and St. Peters with regard to the controversy surrounding the selection of a Board President contrasted with O’Fallon, where the process went smoothly. She sarcastically pointed out that I would probably get an A in fifth grade, so I thought I better leave her alone, but that got me to thinking…
Let’s play the compare and contrast game right here in St. Charles County:
Update on Council/Board President Selection/Election in St. Charles and St. Peters:
Both St. Charles and St. Peters had issues regarding the selection of a leader for the legislative branch of government. One can compare these two cases and there are a number of similarities (compare), but there are also a lot of differences (contrast).
As you all know, the St. Charles City Council was having trouble choosing a Council President. After the Mayor’s failure to tip the scales in her favor (when Darling Dottie survived the recall effort aimed to unseat her), the Council was split 5-5, with 5 members supporting the re-election of Councilman Riddler as Council President and 5 members supporting the election of the Mayor’s favorite Magic Mirror, Councilman Kneemiller as Council President. It was a political stalemate, with no provision in the City Charter to break a tie.
You can compare the situation in St. Charles to the one in St. Peters where things got a bit sparky during the normally perfunctory process of selecting a President for the Board of Aldermen. Basically, Alderman Barclay is whining to anyone who will listen that it is his “turn” to be Board President. He seems to have forgotten that the Board elects its own President under state statute, and he also seems to have forgotten that no one can really tolerate him or his general weakness as an elected official. He does share the same fan club as Alderman Pagano, and the malcontent bunch that likes to speak at the meetings all support him. Barclay also seems to be confused since it’s the votes of his colleagues that he needs, not the support of the malcontent. Hopefully, the Board in St. Peters will not let the malcontent and their leader, Barclay, bully them into making Barclay President. I’m not sure that the people of St. Peters need a Board President who abstains on votes relating to the Operating Budget for the city. Barclay and his partner, Pandering Pagano are slinging as much mud as they can at Alderman Hawkins, we’ll see if it sticks. Either way, Barclay just doesn’t seem to get it, and he probably never will.
In St. Charles, 2 members of Riddler’s coalition missed the last meeting of the Council. The Mayoral bunch seized on this opportunity and elected Kneemiller as Council President by a majority vote of those present.
But in St. Peters, when 2 board members were absent, since Pandering Pagano and Barclay were incapable of seizing this golden opportunity, the Board agreed to postpone the discussion until the members were present. See, that’s what you call contrast.
One last time, we can compare and contrast these 2 cities. In St. Charles, the Council President is very powerful because he/she presides over Council meetings and sets the agenda, but in St. Peters, the title is more or less ceremonial and the Board President only oversees a portion of the work session meeting while the Mayor is the Presiding officer.
Just for fun, let’s take a quick look around at what’s going on in our school districts:
In St. Charles School District, the School Board is grappling with a crippling election loss and taking tours of some of the schools to determine which schools will be closed. They are planning to close their administration building as well.
In Fort Zumwalt School District, Bernie DuBray managed to convince the voters that the district needed additional funds to build the new high school. (As an aside, you might recall that last year’s increase was defeated because one of the major improvements was going to be a new swimming pool – who knows whether a pool is still part of the plan or if DuBray was engaged in an orchestrated campaign culminating with his most recent victory.) That wily Bernie DuBray had some school principals mail hand signed postcards to students’ parents – nice job Dr. DuBray.
Finally, in Francis Howell School District, the voters signaled that they were tired of business as usual, when they sent in two new board members, but the most important issue is re-naming Winter Break. Now, it’s Christmas Break, and no one seems to have a better explanation than Mark Lafata’s insatiable desire for press coverage.
Well, after all that comparing and contrasting, seems like I might do okay in fifth grade after all.
THE PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters to the editor
First Capitol News,
In the First Capitol News May 6 – 12, 2006 issue in the Conservative Factor the statement was made that “Doc Riddler ultimately runs a better campaign than his enemies, and he was able to soundly defeat the rather uninspired efforts of Cowboy Carl and Cowboy Ray to recall Darling Dottie”. This statement would lead people to believe that Riddler ran my campaign in the Recall election of me on April 4, 2006 which is not a true statement. My husband and I ran my campaign.
Sincerely,
Dorothy “Dottie” Greer
Councilwoman, Ward 7
To the Editor:
St. Charles Yellow Cab is applying for a conditional use permit to move the cab operation to the Moore Oil site in Frenchtown (with the intention of keeping it there temporarily); this represents a step forward, not a step backward in the Frenchtown redevelopment process.
Mr. Griffey has been the owner of St. Charles Yellow Cab for some 2 years now. Mr. Griffey has also agreed to purchase the Moore Oil site for future redevelopment. Moving the cab company to Second Street is further proof of Mr. Griffey’s commitment to this redevelopment as it will serve as an important “place holder” for the project. When redevelopment begins on that block, the cab company will be moved to a permanent home of its own.
Kim Paris
Project Manager
Griffey Construction
When is enough, enough?
This Country is fast going down the drain, with the cost of energy, health care, gasoline etc. going up at the rate of 10-20 percent and salaries only three percent or less if you are on minimum wage which hasn’t rose in 10 years.
The very rich and special interest groups want this country back in the dark ages where you worked for the company, lived in the company houses and got your supplies at the company store and never got out of debt.
Now we see this as evident in our City as we watch the antics going on with our gang of Five Council members and their attorney which is supposed to be our City Attorney. These are the same special interest members who helped with the recall efforts to gain control but even with the special interest money and fraud, could not win. Now with their hook and crook effort after one Council member said he would not be at the May meeting that they called a special meeting and with five votes elected a new Council president. “Our” city attorney always said six votes was needed but for this meeting he changed his opinion to five. This just shows he is not an attorney for the city but is one for special interests.
At the last meeting a developer came in with an attorney and stated if he didn’t get what he wanted that he would sue. Now we read the Mayor said if the Council didn’t vote for the developer the City would be open to a lawsuit; one can only wonder if she is going to write a letter for this person to help in his lawsuit against the City.
I for one can only hope that the voters in these five wards can see if the actions of their representatives are for their interest or for special interests. At the next elections we should oust these “carpet baggers” and the Mayor out of office and elect people who are for the residents and not for special interests. Just my opinion which I think is as good as theirs.
Walter Dietz
Dear Editor FCN
I’ve been out of commission for about 3-4 months and have been wanting to write a letter to the editor for quite some time. “Bear with me now!” It’s going to be about “Nobody Patti”, Nobody Ken and Nobody Tom. The Mayor and two of her cronies. Just to inform you the taxpayers about Nobody Patti and how she operates if you tick her off and present the public with facts.
After Nobody Patti had someone send a letter to some friends (taxpayers) of this town about myself stating about how violent a man I was and for them to check out a web site concerning me - I went to the next meeting and confronted her. After I continued to write letters to the editor about her actions as Mayor another letter went out to Rory Riddler - Memo to Rory Riddler Re: Questionable Choices From John Semplekamp (my insert) “Alias” Nobody Ken probably - that’s my intuitiveness kicking in - with CC to Brown, Brockmeyer, Gieseke, Koester, Greer, Hoepfner, Kneemiller, Weller, Munch, Reese, York and Sonderegger. This memo besides attacking myself, Rory and Tony, the Nobody Ken attacked three other members of Patti’s recall committee.
As all this is taking place Nobody Tom has been very active on his web site going after anyone who may look at Nobody Patti the wrong way, much less expose her and her deceitful tactics in the FCN.
In the October 22 issue of the FCN I wrote a letter stating some facts as I recalled from many years ago at St. Charles Borromeo and how I believed these facts were covered up by some members of the parish. I also mentioned Patti was a Eucharistic minister. To the best of my memory I believe Patti used this in her campaign for Council or her first run for Mayor. I did not in any way question anyone’s moral character in that letter. What I did was give the facts about what took place then and was going to write another letter later about Patti, Henry and Pastor Tillman and the churches’s letterhead being used to promote “Nobody Patti” for Mayor. Also Pastor Tillman’s involvement in Patti’s legal defense fund. (Lest we forget separation of church and state much less the nonprofit organization aspect)
What the heck? The Chamber of Commerce can get by with it. Remember the Charter Amendment and how Officer Meyer used this in the full page ads to vote against Charter amendment #1. When its political, the laws of the land don’t mean a thing in this town. If its political and the laws don’t favor the right people, we all know who they are, they will bend them to the braking point and if this isn’t good enough we’ll just quit talking about it. It seems to work for the nobodies who think they are somebody.
After My October 22 letter in the FCN Nobody Ken’s name being used in the letter, it seemed to tick Nobody Ken off to the extent that a threatening phone call was made to me from Nobody Ken’s phone. Someone in a very vulgar way told me he did not appreciate his name being used in the letter and that whoever was making the call would beat my f_____g head in when he sees me out in public.
After Nobody Ken found out he was found out by myself and (SBC trace call) and that this info was forwarded to the Police, Nobody Ken had to defend his nobody name as well as Pastor Tillman and Nobody Henry and Nobody Patti as he accused me as questioning the moral character of those three nobodies. Nobody Ken was the one who used the words “moral character” in his sleazy letter. His sleazy letter was sent to my neighbors. This is the way these nobodies operate. Nobody Ken got caught at some of his underhanded tactics and he’s got to stand up for the nobodies to take the focus off of himself. I know it was Nobody Ken and Nobody Ken knows it was him and God knows it was him.
Not to forget Nobody Tom and his web site and how this letter that probably Nobody Ken wrote was posted on Nobody Tom’s web site. Not to forget Nobody Ed and his ad supplement. He printed a scaled down version of said letter as an “Open Letter to the Members and Friends of St. Charles Borromeo Parish.” As usual with letters in the ad supplement “nobody” wrote the letter, Nobody signed it. The letter just appeared to get the public eye off of Nobody Ken and for him to vent his hatred toward Rory Riddler and used myself as his ways and means of getting his nobody name back on track with the nobodies who call themselves the do the right thing nobodies.
On Halloween night right after nobody Ken found out I knew where the threatening phone call was made from, on Nobody Tom’s web-site there were some of the filthiest, sleazy, scum printed about myself and my wife and their concern for parents of the children that may come to our house for treats. Our address was listed and a caution given to stay way that there could be some harm come to them if they rang our doorbell.
I write this letter today to inform the taxpaying public of this town what can happen if you tick Nobody Patti off. Does it ever make you wonder what kind of people are running our City? It does me when Nobody Patti and the likes of Nobody Henry,Nobody Kevin have to have other Nobodies like Nobody Ken and Nobody Tom do their dirty work for them and go after a guy like myself just because of stating facts and the truth s I best know it for the good of all the taxpayers of this town.
Bob Bredensteiner
PS I’ve cautioned Nobody Patti before - just remember, Martha Stewart did not go to jail for Insider Trading, she went to jail for lying to a Grand Jury.
In the First Capitol News May 6 – 12, 2006 issue in the Conservative Factor the statement was made that “Doc Riddler ultimately runs a better campaign than his enemies, and he was able to soundly defeat the rather uninspired efforts of Cowboy Carl and Cowboy Ray to recall Darling Dottie”. This statement would lead people to believe that Riddler ran my campaign in the Recall election of me on April 4, 2006 which is not a true statement. My husband and I ran my campaign.
Sincerely,
Dorothy “Dottie” Greer
Councilwoman, Ward 7
To the Editor:
St. Charles Yellow Cab is applying for a conditional use permit to move the cab operation to the Moore Oil site in Frenchtown (with the intention of keeping it there temporarily); this represents a step forward, not a step backward in the Frenchtown redevelopment process.
Mr. Griffey has been the owner of St. Charles Yellow Cab for some 2 years now. Mr. Griffey has also agreed to purchase the Moore Oil site for future redevelopment. Moving the cab company to Second Street is further proof of Mr. Griffey’s commitment to this redevelopment as it will serve as an important “place holder” for the project. When redevelopment begins on that block, the cab company will be moved to a permanent home of its own.
Kim Paris
Project Manager
Griffey Construction
When is enough, enough?
This Country is fast going down the drain, with the cost of energy, health care, gasoline etc. going up at the rate of 10-20 percent and salaries only three percent or less if you are on minimum wage which hasn’t rose in 10 years.
The very rich and special interest groups want this country back in the dark ages where you worked for the company, lived in the company houses and got your supplies at the company store and never got out of debt.
Now we see this as evident in our City as we watch the antics going on with our gang of Five Council members and their attorney which is supposed to be our City Attorney. These are the same special interest members who helped with the recall efforts to gain control but even with the special interest money and fraud, could not win. Now with their hook and crook effort after one Council member said he would not be at the May meeting that they called a special meeting and with five votes elected a new Council president. “Our” city attorney always said six votes was needed but for this meeting he changed his opinion to five. This just shows he is not an attorney for the city but is one for special interests.
At the last meeting a developer came in with an attorney and stated if he didn’t get what he wanted that he would sue. Now we read the Mayor said if the Council didn’t vote for the developer the City would be open to a lawsuit; one can only wonder if she is going to write a letter for this person to help in his lawsuit against the City.
I for one can only hope that the voters in these five wards can see if the actions of their representatives are for their interest or for special interests. At the next elections we should oust these “carpet baggers” and the Mayor out of office and elect people who are for the residents and not for special interests. Just my opinion which I think is as good as theirs.
Walter Dietz
Dear Editor FCN
I’ve been out of commission for about 3-4 months and have been wanting to write a letter to the editor for quite some time. “Bear with me now!” It’s going to be about “Nobody Patti”, Nobody Ken and Nobody Tom. The Mayor and two of her cronies. Just to inform you the taxpayers about Nobody Patti and how she operates if you tick her off and present the public with facts.
After Nobody Patti had someone send a letter to some friends (taxpayers) of this town about myself stating about how violent a man I was and for them to check out a web site concerning me - I went to the next meeting and confronted her. After I continued to write letters to the editor about her actions as Mayor another letter went out to Rory Riddler - Memo to Rory Riddler Re: Questionable Choices From John Semplekamp (my insert) “Alias” Nobody Ken probably - that’s my intuitiveness kicking in - with CC to Brown, Brockmeyer, Gieseke, Koester, Greer, Hoepfner, Kneemiller, Weller, Munch, Reese, York and Sonderegger. This memo besides attacking myself, Rory and Tony, the Nobody Ken attacked three other members of Patti’s recall committee.
As all this is taking place Nobody Tom has been very active on his web site going after anyone who may look at Nobody Patti the wrong way, much less expose her and her deceitful tactics in the FCN.
In the October 22 issue of the FCN I wrote a letter stating some facts as I recalled from many years ago at St. Charles Borromeo and how I believed these facts were covered up by some members of the parish. I also mentioned Patti was a Eucharistic minister. To the best of my memory I believe Patti used this in her campaign for Council or her first run for Mayor. I did not in any way question anyone’s moral character in that letter. What I did was give the facts about what took place then and was going to write another letter later about Patti, Henry and Pastor Tillman and the churches’s letterhead being used to promote “Nobody Patti” for Mayor. Also Pastor Tillman’s involvement in Patti’s legal defense fund. (Lest we forget separation of church and state much less the nonprofit organization aspect)
What the heck? The Chamber of Commerce can get by with it. Remember the Charter Amendment and how Officer Meyer used this in the full page ads to vote against Charter amendment #1. When its political, the laws of the land don’t mean a thing in this town. If its political and the laws don’t favor the right people, we all know who they are, they will bend them to the braking point and if this isn’t good enough we’ll just quit talking about it. It seems to work for the nobodies who think they are somebody.
After My October 22 letter in the FCN Nobody Ken’s name being used in the letter, it seemed to tick Nobody Ken off to the extent that a threatening phone call was made to me from Nobody Ken’s phone. Someone in a very vulgar way told me he did not appreciate his name being used in the letter and that whoever was making the call would beat my f_____g head in when he sees me out in public.
After Nobody Ken found out he was found out by myself and (SBC trace call) and that this info was forwarded to the Police, Nobody Ken had to defend his nobody name as well as Pastor Tillman and Nobody Henry and Nobody Patti as he accused me as questioning the moral character of those three nobodies. Nobody Ken was the one who used the words “moral character” in his sleazy letter. His sleazy letter was sent to my neighbors. This is the way these nobodies operate. Nobody Ken got caught at some of his underhanded tactics and he’s got to stand up for the nobodies to take the focus off of himself. I know it was Nobody Ken and Nobody Ken knows it was him and God knows it was him.
Not to forget Nobody Tom and his web site and how this letter that probably Nobody Ken wrote was posted on Nobody Tom’s web site. Not to forget Nobody Ed and his ad supplement. He printed a scaled down version of said letter as an “Open Letter to the Members and Friends of St. Charles Borromeo Parish.” As usual with letters in the ad supplement “nobody” wrote the letter, Nobody signed it. The letter just appeared to get the public eye off of Nobody Ken and for him to vent his hatred toward Rory Riddler and used myself as his ways and means of getting his nobody name back on track with the nobodies who call themselves the do the right thing nobodies.
On Halloween night right after nobody Ken found out I knew where the threatening phone call was made from, on Nobody Tom’s web-site there were some of the filthiest, sleazy, scum printed about myself and my wife and their concern for parents of the children that may come to our house for treats. Our address was listed and a caution given to stay way that there could be some harm come to them if they rang our doorbell.
I write this letter today to inform the taxpaying public of this town what can happen if you tick Nobody Patti off. Does it ever make you wonder what kind of people are running our City? It does me when Nobody Patti and the likes of Nobody Henry,Nobody Kevin have to have other Nobodies like Nobody Ken and Nobody Tom do their dirty work for them and go after a guy like myself just because of stating facts and the truth s I best know it for the good of all the taxpayers of this town.
Bob Bredensteiner
PS I’ve cautioned Nobody Patti before - just remember, Martha Stewart did not go to jail for Insider Trading, she went to jail for lying to a Grand Jury.
FIRST CAPITOL NEWS SPORTS - MIKE McMurran Sports Editor
MY COLUMN - MIKE MCMURRAN
Someone approached me in reference to last week’s column and shared the following: “As I read the column about the “stuck up” people from Academy of the Sacred Heart, I couldn’t help feel there was a punch line coming, none did. I thought for sure you would lampoon Brian Green or Eric Schaefer or somebody from the Academy, but you were serious.” The fact is my son Joe has two lovely young classmates named Kalei Riggs and Courtney Hughes, both of which have dads who probably are not volunteer subscribers to this fine weekly, but they are Sacred Heart Dads, which to me means something. No, believe me, I am not above lampooning anyone – as a matter of fact, from my perspective nothing is sacred, except maybe music, Romeo and Juliet and Sacred Heart Parents.
You see the education received at ASH is really all encompassing – it really is a way of life. For example, I know a gentleman who was in the first graduating class that allowed boys. This gentleman helped me coach the Titan baseball team for a year or two, and at first I didn’t know how to read him – he was always so darn upbeat and positive and saying nice things about everyone – even the umpires. I just couldn’t take it. No one can be that darn upbeat all the time, or so I thought. No, Tom Clark, a graduate of ASH might just be the most sincere, kind and giving person I have ever met. He impressed me so that during games I would bounce my every thought off of him to insure I was not making an ass out of myself. His son, Andrew Clark no longer plays with the Titans, but has been known to show up and cheer his fellow teammates on to victory (we have a team saying, “once a Titan, always a Titan.”). Tom is such a caring person that I sometimes call him and ask his advice on life in general. O.K., so I am modifying the last sentence in the first paragraph to read “…except maybe music, Romeo and Juliet, Sacred Heart Parents, especially Tom Clark.”
On to sports, or rather sport’s management. Has anyone been paying attention, or is it just me, that the Family Arena either (a) doesn’t care that they cannot hold a minor league team, or (b) doesn’t know what it takes to keep a minor league team. Let’s count the teams they have lost in the past 6 years or so: St. Louis Swarm (basketball), St. Louis Steamers (soccer), RiverCity Rage (football) and now the Missouri River Otters (hockey). Frankly, the building looks terrible. I’ve contacted my County Council person, Joe McColloch, no less than five times, pointing out that there are so many bulbs burned out on the marquee, that when approaching from the south, one cannot read the message. It just keeps getting worse.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting the staff is not doing their job. Every employee I have ever come in contact with goes out of their way to make guests feel welcome. I’m suggesting that maybe someone much higher up might not be doing their job. I cannot but help think the County misses the $300,000 withheld by Saint Charles City.
And for St. Charles City residents, will not the failure to make the $300,000 debt service payment to the County result in additional interest payments – payments made with tax dollars. Sounds to me like a story for Louis to look into – he likes that investigative type of stuff.
We welcome back the “FCN High School Athlete of the Week.” Remember, if you would like to nominate a St. Charles City resident contact me at 314.280.9189 or mcmurran@charter.net.
First Capitol News High School Athlete of the Week
Duchesne senior Matt Pohlman ready to finish baseball career with a bang.
By: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
Duchesne senior outfielder/pitcher Matt Pohlman has been playing varsity baseball now for head coach Patrick Steagall for four years, so it is safe to say Steagall probably knows Pohlman rather well. “It would sound so cliché to say Matt ‘leads by example,’ or the other popular phrase is ‘he is a rah-rah type of leader.’ With Matt you never know what he is going to do, but you know it will be for the benefit of the entire team. Is he a team leader? Yeah, but he is so much more, he provides, I don’t know, intangible leadership.”
Pitching, Matt has a perfect 5-0 mark going into the final week of regulation play. But its his bat that the opposition had better pay the closest attention. Matt leads the team in runs scored (24), hits (31), singles (24), doubles (6) and RBI’s (20). Last Friday he went 5 for 9, scored 3 runs while driving in 6 as the Pioneers swept cross-town rival St. Charles 12-4 and 11-5 in a twi-night doubleheader.
An interview with Duchesne baseball player Matt Pohlman:
Age: 18; throws R/bats R
With whom do you live: Parents, Alan and Joyce Pohlman, St. Charles City
Where did you attend grade school: St. Cletus
When did you first start playing baseball: I’ve been playing baseball for as long as I can remember. I guess I started playing tee-ball when I was 4 years old or so
Do you play any other sports: Football and basketball
Favorite sport: Football, I love football and that is what I am going to play in college (Editor’s note: my kind of guy!)
Fondest baseball moment: Hitting a home run in the district title game my freshman year. We lost 4-3 to St. Charles West.
Fondest moment in sports: Making it to the state semifinals in football this year. We were beat by Affton.
Have you set any personal goals this season: Drive in at least 25 runs and lead the GAC (Gateway Athletic Conference) in runs scored
Team goals: Getting out of districts is our first goal. Once out of districts anything can happen.
Have you anyone special in baseball you look up to: My brother Scott has taught me pretty much everything I know about baseball, basketball and football. He is so much more than a big brother to me, I really can’t explain it
What about your role model in life: No doubt about it, my dad. What can I say, he did a pretty good job of teaching me right from wrong – I will carry that with me wherever I go in life.
Favorite subject in school: English (Editor’s note: I really do like this kid!)
Favorite teacher: My religion teacher, Dr. Guido Stucco
Advice for underclassmen: Give 100% at practice, if you practice hard you will naturally play hard
Any final thoughts: My grandpa has made every game I have ever played in since the 7th grade, and that is a lot of games. In 7th grade I made a traveling team and we would play 100 games a year. Right before I made that team my grandma, Mary Pohlman died. When I look into the stands and see my grandpa I get a strange, yet special feeling that my grandma is sitting right next to him. I know it sounds corny, but it helps me play better.
The restaurant question: Ah man, I don’t know. I would probably go to Bristol’s (Bristol Bar and Seafood Grill) and order 5 or six crappie plates. I can eat some crappie.
United Hockey League
Finger-Pointing Time
Fans Express Concerns With Their Teams League-Wide
By Louis J. Launer
The United Hockey League season has only been over here in Missouri for almost a month, yet fans and a few movers and shakers have become quite vocal over the situation concerning the Missouri River Otters.
To some of the “experts,” the collapse of the River Otters as an organization was not a surprise. Yet it still leaves fans scratching their heads as to why Mike Shanahan, Jr. decided to “pull the plug” on the team.
The fan reaction to a comment that Shanahan said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch left bad tastes in some mouths. Shanahan referred to the operation of the River Otters organization as a “hobby.” The mutual reaction of the fans was “I can’t believe he said that.” Most fans, including season ticket holders who paid $2,000 to $3,000 for season tickets for River Otter games, felt that Shanahan had really no interest in the team, except last season, when the NHL lockout made the River Otters and the UHL the only game in the area.
But not all UHL teams are hobbies. Michael Franke, who is part owner of the Fort Wayne Komets, is a very serious businessman and his family has operated the Komets franchise for decades, the last ten of those years in the United Hockey League.
“It’s really a good league and great hockey,” Franke said while in St. Charles for the UHL All-Star Classic in January. “If a front office puts enough effort and builds a team and promotes it, it can be fairly successful. But it takes time to build a team.”
The Rockford IceHogs eliminated Franke’s Fort Wayne Komets in the first round of this year’s Colonial Cup playoffs. Rockford was a team who spent years at the bottom of the UHL standings after being a transplanted team from Thunder Bay, Ontario. But after some changes in the front office and improvements to their 7,000-seat facility the MetroCentre, the IceHogs wound up in first place in the UHL’s Western Division and the number 3 seed in the Colonial Cup playoffs. They are currently facing the number-one seed Kalamazoo Wings.
Like the Komets, the Wings also have had a long minor league history, but have only been in the UHL for six seasons. Kalamazoo has one of the smaller and older hockey arenas, known as Wings Stadium. It only seats 4,000—plus there is free parking at the facility. In the last three seasons, the Wings have built themselves up to become a winning franchise, both in the front office and on the ice. They were the UHL’s Franchise of the Year in 2003-04. This season, the Wings won the Tarry Cup, being the team posting the best regular season record. The Wings’ coach, Mark Reeds was the UHL’s Coach of the Year in 2003-04 and 2004-05. This year, the Wings could win the Colonial Cup championship if they continue their winning ways in their current semi-final series. What is ironic about the Wings was that several of their players, front office personnel and Coach Mark Reeds were with the River Otters only a few seasons ago.
For some fans, a little of the blame of the River Otters’ second demise points directly to the United Hockey League and their offices in Lake Saint Louis. There are a few fans who feel that since the league office is in St. Charles County, that there would be more effort to keep a franchise just 25 miles away. Some fans who feel they are hockey experts claim the UHL referees and off-ice officials are worse than amateur and high school hockey. Yet, even a further minority of fans feels that the officiating problems are deliberate. The UHL itself claims that it is fan loyalty that is overextended.
“This is the time of the year where fans feel that their team should have been better and place the problems on the officials and us,” said UHL media relations representative Brian Werger. “A team has to win and a team has to lose.”
Werger denies that the UHL does anything deliberate to favor a game. But many fans are honestly demanding a better hockey product from the United Hockey League—better players, better operational personnel and stable franchises. Fans would like to see more fan participation in some of the teams; something more than just a booster club that most minor league franchises have and the league endorses. The lack of opportunities for fan participation was one of the claims Missouri fans did not go to as many hockey games in the last four seasons. Some fans say they aren’t asking much as far as improvements. But some loyal fans would expect the UHL to award them something for being at the games, yet feel that their team and also the league dejected them, especially at the end of the season.
The UHL has been recognized for awarding franchises to certain markets, expecting them to succeed outstandingly. By the end of the season, there is a good chance that the franchise fails, folds or gets relocated. There is a claim by most fans that it happens much more in the UHL compared to other leagues in their same AA caliber. The fans have a point. The UHL has had at least four franchise moves, failures and additions in the last five seasons. Its ratio of failures is more than what the ECHL and CHL have encountered in the same time span. However the ECHL is much bigger and lost franchises this season due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, since a number of their franchises are along the Gulf coast.
Even the UHL’s cornerstone franchises, such as the Quad City Mallards, Flint Generals and Fort Wayne Komets have fans that feel that their teams should step up to a better level of hockey, more to the style of the American Hockey League, the AAA level of the minor leagues. Just recently, there was a fan movement to try to get the Quad City Mallards to move to the AHL. But it was quashed when the new owners of the franchise announced that it was remaining in the UHL.
Missouri River Otter fans have wanted a further explanation from the team and the league as to why the team has crashed and burned for a second time in three years. Some fans feel they haven’t been told everything. Some fans are fed up with the UHL for remaining quiet.
This past week, St. Charles County, under mounting pressure now that Family Arena could be completely tenant-less in the second half of 2006, has begun their search for a buyer of the Missouri River Otters franchise and also looking at other hockey minor leagues for a team to occupy the Family Arena.
We have repeatedly asked UHL Commissioner Richard Brosal for an interview and further explanation into some of the fans’ concerns. But he continues to be unavailable for comment.
Someone approached me in reference to last week’s column and shared the following: “As I read the column about the “stuck up” people from Academy of the Sacred Heart, I couldn’t help feel there was a punch line coming, none did. I thought for sure you would lampoon Brian Green or Eric Schaefer or somebody from the Academy, but you were serious.” The fact is my son Joe has two lovely young classmates named Kalei Riggs and Courtney Hughes, both of which have dads who probably are not volunteer subscribers to this fine weekly, but they are Sacred Heart Dads, which to me means something. No, believe me, I am not above lampooning anyone – as a matter of fact, from my perspective nothing is sacred, except maybe music, Romeo and Juliet and Sacred Heart Parents.
You see the education received at ASH is really all encompassing – it really is a way of life. For example, I know a gentleman who was in the first graduating class that allowed boys. This gentleman helped me coach the Titan baseball team for a year or two, and at first I didn’t know how to read him – he was always so darn upbeat and positive and saying nice things about everyone – even the umpires. I just couldn’t take it. No one can be that darn upbeat all the time, or so I thought. No, Tom Clark, a graduate of ASH might just be the most sincere, kind and giving person I have ever met. He impressed me so that during games I would bounce my every thought off of him to insure I was not making an ass out of myself. His son, Andrew Clark no longer plays with the Titans, but has been known to show up and cheer his fellow teammates on to victory (we have a team saying, “once a Titan, always a Titan.”). Tom is such a caring person that I sometimes call him and ask his advice on life in general. O.K., so I am modifying the last sentence in the first paragraph to read “…except maybe music, Romeo and Juliet, Sacred Heart Parents, especially Tom Clark.”
On to sports, or rather sport’s management. Has anyone been paying attention, or is it just me, that the Family Arena either (a) doesn’t care that they cannot hold a minor league team, or (b) doesn’t know what it takes to keep a minor league team. Let’s count the teams they have lost in the past 6 years or so: St. Louis Swarm (basketball), St. Louis Steamers (soccer), RiverCity Rage (football) and now the Missouri River Otters (hockey). Frankly, the building looks terrible. I’ve contacted my County Council person, Joe McColloch, no less than five times, pointing out that there are so many bulbs burned out on the marquee, that when approaching from the south, one cannot read the message. It just keeps getting worse.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting the staff is not doing their job. Every employee I have ever come in contact with goes out of their way to make guests feel welcome. I’m suggesting that maybe someone much higher up might not be doing their job. I cannot but help think the County misses the $300,000 withheld by Saint Charles City.
And for St. Charles City residents, will not the failure to make the $300,000 debt service payment to the County result in additional interest payments – payments made with tax dollars. Sounds to me like a story for Louis to look into – he likes that investigative type of stuff.
We welcome back the “FCN High School Athlete of the Week.” Remember, if you would like to nominate a St. Charles City resident contact me at 314.280.9189 or mcmurran@charter.net.
First Capitol News High School Athlete of the Week
Duchesne senior Matt Pohlman ready to finish baseball career with a bang.
By: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
Duchesne senior outfielder/pitcher Matt Pohlman has been playing varsity baseball now for head coach Patrick Steagall for four years, so it is safe to say Steagall probably knows Pohlman rather well. “It would sound so cliché to say Matt ‘leads by example,’ or the other popular phrase is ‘he is a rah-rah type of leader.’ With Matt you never know what he is going to do, but you know it will be for the benefit of the entire team. Is he a team leader? Yeah, but he is so much more, he provides, I don’t know, intangible leadership.”
Pitching, Matt has a perfect 5-0 mark going into the final week of regulation play. But its his bat that the opposition had better pay the closest attention. Matt leads the team in runs scored (24), hits (31), singles (24), doubles (6) and RBI’s (20). Last Friday he went 5 for 9, scored 3 runs while driving in 6 as the Pioneers swept cross-town rival St. Charles 12-4 and 11-5 in a twi-night doubleheader.
An interview with Duchesne baseball player Matt Pohlman:
Age: 18; throws R/bats R
With whom do you live: Parents, Alan and Joyce Pohlman, St. Charles City
Where did you attend grade school: St. Cletus
When did you first start playing baseball: I’ve been playing baseball for as long as I can remember. I guess I started playing tee-ball when I was 4 years old or so
Do you play any other sports: Football and basketball
Favorite sport: Football, I love football and that is what I am going to play in college (Editor’s note: my kind of guy!)
Fondest baseball moment: Hitting a home run in the district title game my freshman year. We lost 4-3 to St. Charles West.
Fondest moment in sports: Making it to the state semifinals in football this year. We were beat by Affton.
Have you set any personal goals this season: Drive in at least 25 runs and lead the GAC (Gateway Athletic Conference) in runs scored
Team goals: Getting out of districts is our first goal. Once out of districts anything can happen.
Have you anyone special in baseball you look up to: My brother Scott has taught me pretty much everything I know about baseball, basketball and football. He is so much more than a big brother to me, I really can’t explain it
What about your role model in life: No doubt about it, my dad. What can I say, he did a pretty good job of teaching me right from wrong – I will carry that with me wherever I go in life.
Favorite subject in school: English (Editor’s note: I really do like this kid!)
Favorite teacher: My religion teacher, Dr. Guido Stucco
Advice for underclassmen: Give 100% at practice, if you practice hard you will naturally play hard
Any final thoughts: My grandpa has made every game I have ever played in since the 7th grade, and that is a lot of games. In 7th grade I made a traveling team and we would play 100 games a year. Right before I made that team my grandma, Mary Pohlman died. When I look into the stands and see my grandpa I get a strange, yet special feeling that my grandma is sitting right next to him. I know it sounds corny, but it helps me play better.
The restaurant question: Ah man, I don’t know. I would probably go to Bristol’s (Bristol Bar and Seafood Grill) and order 5 or six crappie plates. I can eat some crappie.
United Hockey League
Finger-Pointing Time
Fans Express Concerns With Their Teams League-Wide
By Louis J. Launer
The United Hockey League season has only been over here in Missouri for almost a month, yet fans and a few movers and shakers have become quite vocal over the situation concerning the Missouri River Otters.
To some of the “experts,” the collapse of the River Otters as an organization was not a surprise. Yet it still leaves fans scratching their heads as to why Mike Shanahan, Jr. decided to “pull the plug” on the team.
The fan reaction to a comment that Shanahan said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch left bad tastes in some mouths. Shanahan referred to the operation of the River Otters organization as a “hobby.” The mutual reaction of the fans was “I can’t believe he said that.” Most fans, including season ticket holders who paid $2,000 to $3,000 for season tickets for River Otter games, felt that Shanahan had really no interest in the team, except last season, when the NHL lockout made the River Otters and the UHL the only game in the area.
But not all UHL teams are hobbies. Michael Franke, who is part owner of the Fort Wayne Komets, is a very serious businessman and his family has operated the Komets franchise for decades, the last ten of those years in the United Hockey League.
“It’s really a good league and great hockey,” Franke said while in St. Charles for the UHL All-Star Classic in January. “If a front office puts enough effort and builds a team and promotes it, it can be fairly successful. But it takes time to build a team.”
The Rockford IceHogs eliminated Franke’s Fort Wayne Komets in the first round of this year’s Colonial Cup playoffs. Rockford was a team who spent years at the bottom of the UHL standings after being a transplanted team from Thunder Bay, Ontario. But after some changes in the front office and improvements to their 7,000-seat facility the MetroCentre, the IceHogs wound up in first place in the UHL’s Western Division and the number 3 seed in the Colonial Cup playoffs. They are currently facing the number-one seed Kalamazoo Wings.
Like the Komets, the Wings also have had a long minor league history, but have only been in the UHL for six seasons. Kalamazoo has one of the smaller and older hockey arenas, known as Wings Stadium. It only seats 4,000—plus there is free parking at the facility. In the last three seasons, the Wings have built themselves up to become a winning franchise, both in the front office and on the ice. They were the UHL’s Franchise of the Year in 2003-04. This season, the Wings won the Tarry Cup, being the team posting the best regular season record. The Wings’ coach, Mark Reeds was the UHL’s Coach of the Year in 2003-04 and 2004-05. This year, the Wings could win the Colonial Cup championship if they continue their winning ways in their current semi-final series. What is ironic about the Wings was that several of their players, front office personnel and Coach Mark Reeds were with the River Otters only a few seasons ago.
For some fans, a little of the blame of the River Otters’ second demise points directly to the United Hockey League and their offices in Lake Saint Louis. There are a few fans who feel that since the league office is in St. Charles County, that there would be more effort to keep a franchise just 25 miles away. Some fans who feel they are hockey experts claim the UHL referees and off-ice officials are worse than amateur and high school hockey. Yet, even a further minority of fans feels that the officiating problems are deliberate. The UHL itself claims that it is fan loyalty that is overextended.
“This is the time of the year where fans feel that their team should have been better and place the problems on the officials and us,” said UHL media relations representative Brian Werger. “A team has to win and a team has to lose.”
Werger denies that the UHL does anything deliberate to favor a game. But many fans are honestly demanding a better hockey product from the United Hockey League—better players, better operational personnel and stable franchises. Fans would like to see more fan participation in some of the teams; something more than just a booster club that most minor league franchises have and the league endorses. The lack of opportunities for fan participation was one of the claims Missouri fans did not go to as many hockey games in the last four seasons. Some fans say they aren’t asking much as far as improvements. But some loyal fans would expect the UHL to award them something for being at the games, yet feel that their team and also the league dejected them, especially at the end of the season.
The UHL has been recognized for awarding franchises to certain markets, expecting them to succeed outstandingly. By the end of the season, there is a good chance that the franchise fails, folds or gets relocated. There is a claim by most fans that it happens much more in the UHL compared to other leagues in their same AA caliber. The fans have a point. The UHL has had at least four franchise moves, failures and additions in the last five seasons. Its ratio of failures is more than what the ECHL and CHL have encountered in the same time span. However the ECHL is much bigger and lost franchises this season due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, since a number of their franchises are along the Gulf coast.
Even the UHL’s cornerstone franchises, such as the Quad City Mallards, Flint Generals and Fort Wayne Komets have fans that feel that their teams should step up to a better level of hockey, more to the style of the American Hockey League, the AAA level of the minor leagues. Just recently, there was a fan movement to try to get the Quad City Mallards to move to the AHL. But it was quashed when the new owners of the franchise announced that it was remaining in the UHL.
Missouri River Otter fans have wanted a further explanation from the team and the league as to why the team has crashed and burned for a second time in three years. Some fans feel they haven’t been told everything. Some fans are fed up with the UHL for remaining quiet.
This past week, St. Charles County, under mounting pressure now that Family Arena could be completely tenant-less in the second half of 2006, has begun their search for a buyer of the Missouri River Otters franchise and also looking at other hockey minor leagues for a team to occupy the Family Arena.
We have repeatedly asked UHL Commissioner Richard Brosal for an interview and further explanation into some of the fans’ concerns. But he continues to be unavailable for comment.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Citizen Advocate Joe Buehrle Wants An Investigation
Retired City Inspector Charges tax dollars misused, substandard work accepted, wrongdoing by City inspectors
By Tony Brockmeyer
At a City Council meeting several months ago, Joe Buehrle, a retired City construction inspector who wants to be called a Citizen Advocate, told the Council members he had evidence of wrongdoing going on in the City. Buehrle asked for an opportunity to present his evidence to the Council so that they make take action.
Buehrle was employed by the City from August 8, 1972 until his retirement on July 1, 2003. He started in the street division and worked in various levels until he retired as a construction inspector for the St. Charles Public Works.
Buehrle told the First Capitol News that sometime after the Council meeting Councilman Brown and also Councilwoman Greer contacted him but that he did not give them the evidence because he wanted to offer it to the City Council as a group. He also received a copy of an e-mail sent by Councilman Riddler to Administrator Williams suggesting Williams set up a meeting for Mr. Buehrle to lay out his documentation and then for Public Works and Williams to respond. Mr. Buehrle told the First Capitol News that Williams would not set up a meeting and wrote him to have some outside agency conduct an investigation.
Mr. Buehrle said, “It pertains to a development that Public Works calls the Thoele tract down at the corner of Little Hills Expressway and Little Hills Parkway. Steve Bender, the City Engineer, and Scott Sharp, one of his construction inspectors both have said in front of credible witnesses, myself and on video that there are some Council members and City Administrator that are telling the City not to enforce any rules against Thoele’s development. They have been told to tear up citations. They have been letting them work for over two and one half years without grading permits and he is still in violation of a stop work order that was issued December 30, 2005. He has been allowed to continue without bringing the site up to compliance and without getting the proper permits. He has been allowed to continue.”
Buehrle told the First Capitol News, “I met with City engineer Steve Bender in his office and he told me Councilman Hoepfner and former City Administrator Jim O’Connor had stopped City inspectors from making Thoele comply with City ordinances. In January Steve Bender told me that Allan Williams was also telling him if there were any violations not to do anything with it. They do not have the proper grading permits, they are not complying with the December 30th stop work order when he was told he had to bring the site into compliance with erosion control, which is your silt fence and straw bales, and was assured by Deborah Alysworth, the Acting Public Works Director at the time that Roy Thoele had complied with everything he needed to resume work on his property which I do have proof that he is still not in compliance with the City’s grading permits, the department of natural resources permits. I have pictures where he has buried tires and railroad ties which are not allowed to be put in any normal fill site and again he is being allowed to work without being in compliance with grading permits issued by the public works department.”
When asked if anyone else was in attendance when Mr. Bender was giving him the information Buehrle replied, “The first time no. It was just me and him in his office. The second time there was Mr. Bender and one of his inspectors Scott Sharp and myself and I had a video camera with me taping the development. We had been on site at the Thoele tract and I had confronted him and his inspector about telling me who the other Council people were who were giving them the okay to not issue any citations or anything like that. According to the video you can tell that the inspector stumbled and couldn’t speak and then finally Steve Bender said don’t tell him anything. And also the inspector met with myself and two businessmen next to this development in December 2005 and Scott Sharp the inspector admitted in front of all three of us that there was two Council members and his boss Steve Bender telling him not to bother this place. To find other places in town to work.”
Buehrle said, “I repeatedly, at least four times I clearly asked who the Council people and different bosses who were telling him not to bother with that site down there and he told us, ‘I am afraid I’m going to get in trouble if I say anything.’ Every time I have asked questions at City Hall no body wants to answer them. “
Buehrle says he has been pursuing this matter wanting an official investigation for at least five months. He has only received an e-mail from Allan Williams telling him to seek someone from outside to investigate his claims.
Buehrle said that at one time when he was questioning Steve Bender at the site in January and videotaping the interview, Bender refused to make any comments on tape and according to Buehrle, Bender slapped the video camera back into his (Buehrle’s) face. “I did go out and file assault charges against Steve Bender and am still waiting for a reply from the Prosecuting Attorney’s office. There was a police report made.”
Buehrle, who resides in St. Charles has asked his Councilman, Larry Muench Ward 2, to help but according to Buehrle Muench has avoided taking any action on his Complaints. Buehrle has no intention of dropping his complaints and has stated he will do whatever necessary to see that his complaints are investigated and that taxpayers are protected.
By Tony Brockmeyer
At a City Council meeting several months ago, Joe Buehrle, a retired City construction inspector who wants to be called a Citizen Advocate, told the Council members he had evidence of wrongdoing going on in the City. Buehrle asked for an opportunity to present his evidence to the Council so that they make take action.
Buehrle was employed by the City from August 8, 1972 until his retirement on July 1, 2003. He started in the street division and worked in various levels until he retired as a construction inspector for the St. Charles Public Works.
Buehrle told the First Capitol News that sometime after the Council meeting Councilman Brown and also Councilwoman Greer contacted him but that he did not give them the evidence because he wanted to offer it to the City Council as a group. He also received a copy of an e-mail sent by Councilman Riddler to Administrator Williams suggesting Williams set up a meeting for Mr. Buehrle to lay out his documentation and then for Public Works and Williams to respond. Mr. Buehrle told the First Capitol News that Williams would not set up a meeting and wrote him to have some outside agency conduct an investigation.
Mr. Buehrle said, “It pertains to a development that Public Works calls the Thoele tract down at the corner of Little Hills Expressway and Little Hills Parkway. Steve Bender, the City Engineer, and Scott Sharp, one of his construction inspectors both have said in front of credible witnesses, myself and on video that there are some Council members and City Administrator that are telling the City not to enforce any rules against Thoele’s development. They have been told to tear up citations. They have been letting them work for over two and one half years without grading permits and he is still in violation of a stop work order that was issued December 30, 2005. He has been allowed to continue without bringing the site up to compliance and without getting the proper permits. He has been allowed to continue.”
Buehrle told the First Capitol News, “I met with City engineer Steve Bender in his office and he told me Councilman Hoepfner and former City Administrator Jim O’Connor had stopped City inspectors from making Thoele comply with City ordinances. In January Steve Bender told me that Allan Williams was also telling him if there were any violations not to do anything with it. They do not have the proper grading permits, they are not complying with the December 30th stop work order when he was told he had to bring the site into compliance with erosion control, which is your silt fence and straw bales, and was assured by Deborah Alysworth, the Acting Public Works Director at the time that Roy Thoele had complied with everything he needed to resume work on his property which I do have proof that he is still not in compliance with the City’s grading permits, the department of natural resources permits. I have pictures where he has buried tires and railroad ties which are not allowed to be put in any normal fill site and again he is being allowed to work without being in compliance with grading permits issued by the public works department.”
When asked if anyone else was in attendance when Mr. Bender was giving him the information Buehrle replied, “The first time no. It was just me and him in his office. The second time there was Mr. Bender and one of his inspectors Scott Sharp and myself and I had a video camera with me taping the development. We had been on site at the Thoele tract and I had confronted him and his inspector about telling me who the other Council people were who were giving them the okay to not issue any citations or anything like that. According to the video you can tell that the inspector stumbled and couldn’t speak and then finally Steve Bender said don’t tell him anything. And also the inspector met with myself and two businessmen next to this development in December 2005 and Scott Sharp the inspector admitted in front of all three of us that there was two Council members and his boss Steve Bender telling him not to bother this place. To find other places in town to work.”
Buehrle said, “I repeatedly, at least four times I clearly asked who the Council people and different bosses who were telling him not to bother with that site down there and he told us, ‘I am afraid I’m going to get in trouble if I say anything.’ Every time I have asked questions at City Hall no body wants to answer them. “
Buehrle says he has been pursuing this matter wanting an official investigation for at least five months. He has only received an e-mail from Allan Williams telling him to seek someone from outside to investigate his claims.
Buehrle said that at one time when he was questioning Steve Bender at the site in January and videotaping the interview, Bender refused to make any comments on tape and according to Buehrle, Bender slapped the video camera back into his (Buehrle’s) face. “I did go out and file assault charges against Steve Bender and am still waiting for a reply from the Prosecuting Attorney’s office. There was a police report made.”
Buehrle, who resides in St. Charles has asked his Councilman, Larry Muench Ward 2, to help but according to Buehrle Muench has avoided taking any action on his Complaints. Buehrle has no intention of dropping his complaints and has stated he will do whatever necessary to see that his complaints are investigated and that taxpayers are protected.
Criminal Defense Attorney Joe Green Wins Charles M. Shaw Award For Excellence in Trial Advocacy
On Friday, April 21, 2006 the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers presented their annual awards for attorneys who have distinguished themselves in the practice of criminal law. Joe Green received the Charles M. Shaw Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy.
Joe Green is a resident of st. Charles County, a Saint Dominic High School graduate and a graduate of St. Louis University.
Joe Green and five other attorneys from the St. Louis area are involved in the largest criminal indictment ever handed down by the United States Government.
The indictment originates out of Los Angeles. Green and the five other attorneys, find themselves representing defendants in Los Angeles after they tried a six month federal jury trial in a capitol murder case in the Southern district of Illinois. After that case ended with a hung jury, the Government dismissed the charges against the defendants and joined them in the case originating out of Los Angeles. It was his work in these cases, and other capitol litigation cases, that served as the basis for attorney Joe Green receiving the Charles M. Shaw Excellence in Trial Advocacy Award from the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Missouri Supreme Court Justice, Michael A. Wolff, was a guest speaker at the luncheon at which the awards were presented.
Joe Green is a resident of st. Charles County, a Saint Dominic High School graduate and a graduate of St. Louis University.
Joe Green and five other attorneys from the St. Louis area are involved in the largest criminal indictment ever handed down by the United States Government.
The indictment originates out of Los Angeles. Green and the five other attorneys, find themselves representing defendants in Los Angeles after they tried a six month federal jury trial in a capitol murder case in the Southern district of Illinois. After that case ended with a hung jury, the Government dismissed the charges against the defendants and joined them in the case originating out of Los Angeles. It was his work in these cases, and other capitol litigation cases, that served as the basis for attorney Joe Green receiving the Charles M. Shaw Excellence in Trial Advocacy Award from the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Missouri Supreme Court Justice, Michael A. Wolff, was a guest speaker at the luncheon at which the awards were presented.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
The Mayor does it again.
If you have an opportunity to watch a replay of the Council meeting Tuesday evening don’t miss the spot where a concerned citizen, Vince Williams, asked about redevelopment of the I-70-West Clay exchange. He said that a developer had been in contact with them about it. The Mayor gave an amazing performance. At first she made it appear that she was not sure where that area was located and then suddenly a light went off and she remembered where it was. “Straightening the road there? Engineering study?” she asked. “Straightening the road, different developers have looked at that area to see if there would be interest in developing that but we don’t have anything on paper. Not tangible or ready to go or anything like that or we would certainly talk to everybody.” The First Capitol News is aware Pace Properties is planning on redeveloping the area bordered by First Capitol, West Clay from the water tower to Walgreen’s and Interstate 70. They have held meetings with the Mayor, yes the Mayor and some Council member. Pace has acquired some of the property and have produced detailed drawings showing the redevelopment project. It is based on Droste Road being put through to Boone’s Lick. Although eminent domain has not been brought up they have not yet acquired all the properties they need to complete the project. Maybe that refreshes your memory Mayor or was it your intention to lie?
Do you know where your child is drag racing this weekend?
On Saturday, April 22 at approximately 11 pm St. Charles Police Officer Stanczak was able to stop and curb two drag racers in the Elm Street, Fountain Lakes area. The 18-year-old drivers were clocked by the police at 110 miles per hour. They were both arrested and their vehicles were towed.
The St. Charles police also wrote other drivers tickets for excessive acceleration. Officer Witterholt also arrested and towed a drag racer on Saturday, April 23 at 12:40 am in the 3600 block of Truman.
Drag racing in these areas is becoming a problem and the St. Charles Police are cracking down. If you have a young driver out with a vehicle you may want to caution them about drag racing or excessive acceleration before your phone rings some evening telling you your child has been arrested and the vehicle towed.
Kneemiller new Council President
Prior to the start of the City Council meeting Tuesday evening Council President Rory Riddler announced he had been told that even before the opening of the meeting and even before the Pledge of Allegiance it would be necessary to hold the election for Council President and Vice President. Kneemiller, Hoepfner, Reese, Weller and Muench voted for Kneemiller and Riddler, Brown and Greer voted for Riddler. Koester was late for the meeting and Gieseke was out of town on business. Riddler started to move on and was stopped by City Attorney Mike Valenti who told him that it only took five votes to elect the president according to the ordinance. At previous meetings Valenti had advised the Council it would take a majority of the elected officials to elect the president, that being six members. A vote was then taken for Vice President and the same five voted for Reese. Kneemiller then took the President’s chair. No one has been able to produce an ordinance backing up Valenti’s statement. The opinion from an attorney is only that, an opinion. It has no legal standing until upheld by a Court of law. I expect more on this to come up later.
If you have an opportunity to watch a replay of the Council meeting Tuesday evening don’t miss the spot where a concerned citizen, Vince Williams, asked about redevelopment of the I-70-West Clay exchange. He said that a developer had been in contact with them about it. The Mayor gave an amazing performance. At first she made it appear that she was not sure where that area was located and then suddenly a light went off and she remembered where it was. “Straightening the road there? Engineering study?” she asked. “Straightening the road, different developers have looked at that area to see if there would be interest in developing that but we don’t have anything on paper. Not tangible or ready to go or anything like that or we would certainly talk to everybody.” The First Capitol News is aware Pace Properties is planning on redeveloping the area bordered by First Capitol, West Clay from the water tower to Walgreen’s and Interstate 70. They have held meetings with the Mayor, yes the Mayor and some Council member. Pace has acquired some of the property and have produced detailed drawings showing the redevelopment project. It is based on Droste Road being put through to Boone’s Lick. Although eminent domain has not been brought up they have not yet acquired all the properties they need to complete the project. Maybe that refreshes your memory Mayor or was it your intention to lie?
Do you know where your child is drag racing this weekend?
On Saturday, April 22 at approximately 11 pm St. Charles Police Officer Stanczak was able to stop and curb two drag racers in the Elm Street, Fountain Lakes area. The 18-year-old drivers were clocked by the police at 110 miles per hour. They were both arrested and their vehicles were towed.
The St. Charles police also wrote other drivers tickets for excessive acceleration. Officer Witterholt also arrested and towed a drag racer on Saturday, April 23 at 12:40 am in the 3600 block of Truman.
Drag racing in these areas is becoming a problem and the St. Charles Police are cracking down. If you have a young driver out with a vehicle you may want to caution them about drag racing or excessive acceleration before your phone rings some evening telling you your child has been arrested and the vehicle towed.
Kneemiller new Council President
Prior to the start of the City Council meeting Tuesday evening Council President Rory Riddler announced he had been told that even before the opening of the meeting and even before the Pledge of Allegiance it would be necessary to hold the election for Council President and Vice President. Kneemiller, Hoepfner, Reese, Weller and Muench voted for Kneemiller and Riddler, Brown and Greer voted for Riddler. Koester was late for the meeting and Gieseke was out of town on business. Riddler started to move on and was stopped by City Attorney Mike Valenti who told him that it only took five votes to elect the president according to the ordinance. At previous meetings Valenti had advised the Council it would take a majority of the elected officials to elect the president, that being six members. A vote was then taken for Vice President and the same five voted for Reese. Kneemiller then took the President’s chair. No one has been able to produce an ordinance backing up Valenti’s statement. The opinion from an attorney is only that, an opinion. It has no legal standing until upheld by a Court of law. I expect more on this to come up later.
THE CITY DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
Birth Certificates Help Prove, You’re The One & Only You
For over fifty years, since birth to be exact, I’ve been a proud citizen of this great nation. In all that time I’ve left a paper trail a bloodhound with hay fever could follow. Financial records, voting records, employment records, phone records, tax records…not to mention that “permanent” record thing they kept on all of us in school. Though I’ve been a licensed driver in Missouri for over thirty years, that’s no longer good enough to prove to my own government that I’m the person looking back at me from my own photo ID.
In the wisdom of the Federal Government, to renew my Missouri driver’s license, I now must prove that I am…well me. Like Kris Kringle in Miracle On 34th Street, who had to prove he was the “one and only” Santa Claus, I’ve been reduced to proving I am the one and only Rory Riddler.
To do that requires showing my birth certificate.
Now my Scots-Irish heritage and blue eyes probably make me a low risk in the Government’s eyes of being a Middle-East terrorist. But drawing such distinctions wouldn’t be politically correct in a war where we are trying not to offend anyone. We all can appreciate wanting to crack down on potential terrorists getting their hands on real drivers licenses. Make them buy the fake ones they sell on every college campus.
Still, I can’t figure out why the government didn’t just waive the requirement for renewals of licenses for say all those who’ve been licensed for more than twenty years. I can’t believe there are “sleeper” cells of terrorists who have been sitting around for the last twenty years waiting for just the right moment to strike. “Honey, when are we going to strike a blow against the infidels? Right after their kids graduate from Harvard dear.”
So to help in the cause of freedom, I decided to buck up and simply get my birth certificate and go renew my license. Now where did I put that? Let’s see, the last time I needed it was to get a Social Security number so that narrows it down to the last thirty-three years.
I thought about just bringing my Mother and Father to the License Bureau with me as a character witness, but then thought twice about how that might play out.
License Bureau employee: “Do you both solemnly swear that the person standing here is your son?”
Mom: “Well he does look vaguely familiar.”
Dad: “Maybe if he came to visit more often.”
That’s when my wife Sue suggested I could just order a copy from the County Health Departments Vital Records Bureau on Boonslick. The first thing you notice when you approach the desk is a sign that reads, Birth Certificates $15…Death Certificates $13. I’m not sure why it costs less to prove your dead than alive. Maybe there’s less demand so they discounted death certificates to try to generate more business.
There were four other people trying to order birth certificates at the same time I was. Apparently lost records are a real profit center, prompting one man standing at the window to quip that the new rules seemed less about national security and more about $15.
One woman got pretty annoyed when the clerk asked to see her driver’s license to order a copy of her birth certificate. She had her license stolen and was in line to get a copy of her birth certificate to get a new license. The personnel behind the counter were very polite and professional and eventually resolved the woman’s Catch-22. They apparently get yelled at a lot; something I can certainly sympathize with.
I had to wait about fifteen minutes. It gave me time to check out the walls which were covered with helpful advice. There was a poster of Mr. Spock telling me I would “Live Long And Prosper” by not smoking. I learned how to check for ticks and that binge drinking till three in the morning is something expectant mothers should avoid. There was also a big full-color poster of a person licking an ashtray and commenting on the experience being just like kissing someone who smokes. As a non-smoker I wasn’t quite sure if the heavy message was aimed at shaming smokers into quitting to improve their chances with the opposite sex or warning me that kissing smokers would be dangerous to my health.
Of course the surest way to find something you’ve lost is to replace it. I found my birth certificate the very next morning. The original was in a scrapbook my parents had given me a few years ago. It was right there with the baby teeth, lock of hair, hospital wristband and tongue depressor from a house call the doctor made. There are all the report cards, awards, certificates and pages of photos lovingly dated.
Now that I’ve been able to prove, to the satisfaction of Federal and State authorities, that I’m 100% American born and raised, they should be able to reduce the threat level to a bluish green. My wife’s driver’s license isn’t due for another year or so. Till then I guess I’ll just have to take my chances that I might be sleeping with the enemy.
For over fifty years, since birth to be exact, I’ve been a proud citizen of this great nation. In all that time I’ve left a paper trail a bloodhound with hay fever could follow. Financial records, voting records, employment records, phone records, tax records…not to mention that “permanent” record thing they kept on all of us in school. Though I’ve been a licensed driver in Missouri for over thirty years, that’s no longer good enough to prove to my own government that I’m the person looking back at me from my own photo ID.
In the wisdom of the Federal Government, to renew my Missouri driver’s license, I now must prove that I am…well me. Like Kris Kringle in Miracle On 34th Street, who had to prove he was the “one and only” Santa Claus, I’ve been reduced to proving I am the one and only Rory Riddler.
To do that requires showing my birth certificate.
Now my Scots-Irish heritage and blue eyes probably make me a low risk in the Government’s eyes of being a Middle-East terrorist. But drawing such distinctions wouldn’t be politically correct in a war where we are trying not to offend anyone. We all can appreciate wanting to crack down on potential terrorists getting their hands on real drivers licenses. Make them buy the fake ones they sell on every college campus.
Still, I can’t figure out why the government didn’t just waive the requirement for renewals of licenses for say all those who’ve been licensed for more than twenty years. I can’t believe there are “sleeper” cells of terrorists who have been sitting around for the last twenty years waiting for just the right moment to strike. “Honey, when are we going to strike a blow against the infidels? Right after their kids graduate from Harvard dear.”
So to help in the cause of freedom, I decided to buck up and simply get my birth certificate and go renew my license. Now where did I put that? Let’s see, the last time I needed it was to get a Social Security number so that narrows it down to the last thirty-three years.
I thought about just bringing my Mother and Father to the License Bureau with me as a character witness, but then thought twice about how that might play out.
License Bureau employee: “Do you both solemnly swear that the person standing here is your son?”
Mom: “Well he does look vaguely familiar.”
Dad: “Maybe if he came to visit more often.”
That’s when my wife Sue suggested I could just order a copy from the County Health Departments Vital Records Bureau on Boonslick. The first thing you notice when you approach the desk is a sign that reads, Birth Certificates $15…Death Certificates $13. I’m not sure why it costs less to prove your dead than alive. Maybe there’s less demand so they discounted death certificates to try to generate more business.
There were four other people trying to order birth certificates at the same time I was. Apparently lost records are a real profit center, prompting one man standing at the window to quip that the new rules seemed less about national security and more about $15.
One woman got pretty annoyed when the clerk asked to see her driver’s license to order a copy of her birth certificate. She had her license stolen and was in line to get a copy of her birth certificate to get a new license. The personnel behind the counter were very polite and professional and eventually resolved the woman’s Catch-22. They apparently get yelled at a lot; something I can certainly sympathize with.
I had to wait about fifteen minutes. It gave me time to check out the walls which were covered with helpful advice. There was a poster of Mr. Spock telling me I would “Live Long And Prosper” by not smoking. I learned how to check for ticks and that binge drinking till three in the morning is something expectant mothers should avoid. There was also a big full-color poster of a person licking an ashtray and commenting on the experience being just like kissing someone who smokes. As a non-smoker I wasn’t quite sure if the heavy message was aimed at shaming smokers into quitting to improve their chances with the opposite sex or warning me that kissing smokers would be dangerous to my health.
Of course the surest way to find something you’ve lost is to replace it. I found my birth certificate the very next morning. The original was in a scrapbook my parents had given me a few years ago. It was right there with the baby teeth, lock of hair, hospital wristband and tongue depressor from a house call the doctor made. There are all the report cards, awards, certificates and pages of photos lovingly dated.
Now that I’ve been able to prove, to the satisfaction of Federal and State authorities, that I’m 100% American born and raised, they should be able to reduce the threat level to a bluish green. My wife’s driver’s license isn’t due for another year or so. Till then I guess I’ll just have to take my chances that I might be sleeping with the enemy.
CASE IN POINT By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
“Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.”
Sophocles
In a scoundrelly act by councilmen Muench, Reese, Hoepfner, Weller, and Kneemiller, the “Fraudulent Five” (in concert with the administration and blessing of City Attorney, Mike Valenti) seized the presidency and vice-presidency of the Council last Tuesday night. This act of cowardice came about after councilman Gieseke informed the City that he would be out of town on business and would not make the Council meeting.
Meanwhile, the council was working towards compromise in these very positions and was, per tradition, horse-trading on some committee positions as well. Instead of honoring their word, these men decided to follow Dr. Williams’ suit and disregard anything they had heretofore agreed upon.
This total disregard for “doing the right thing” should surprise no one. At least two of the same five Councilmen worked hard to try and unseat a fellow council member, not for anything she had done, but in order to get at Councilman Riddler. Furthermore, all five of these Councilmen marched forward with the recall despite knowing that there were allegations (and later charges) of fraud plaguing the recall effort.
I had expected more from at least one councilman, namely, Councilman Muench. Don’t dare confront Councilman Muench in any matter – he decries that “our side” has made his life hell. Was it the installation of the Boone’s Lick Road improvements or the additional fourteen or so gas light on Main Street that has upset him so? Or just what in his long list of things asked for and gotten has made him feel so mistreated? Truly, Mr. Muench would be hard-pressed to come up with anything that the council has not given him or compromised on to his benefit. Still, in Mr. Muench’s mind he has been somehow wronged by Riddler, Brown, Greer, Gieseke, and me. When Council sought to use subpoena power to bring witnesses to city hall in order to ask questions about potential wrongdoing, Mr. Muench decided that he would rather not even attempt to look into the matter, but voted with four others to maintain the status quo regardless of what benefit it may have had to the city to call witnesses. Mr. Weller commented Tuesday night that by now folks know that he wants to know everything he can on the issues but he too chose to deny subpoena power in order to bring in witnesses concerning the insurance case.
So, the result of Tuesday night’s denial of the full council to choose its president and vice-president will result in greater mistrust and enmity among fellow council members as well as still more distrust of the city attorney who has, up until now, consistently stated that six votes are needed to pass said action.
What I would have expected from our city attorney upon realizing that his opinion of a six-vote requirement would change to a simple majority of those present based upon a recently revealed ordinance, would have been a telephone call and an e-mail stating his new position. This little piece of information was withheld from some council members. Do you think it was done so purposefully? Can you see why council has a need for its own representation?
In the first year of the newly elected council, seven members cast votes together that caused change. In the second year, two council members would shift their position on council meaning a split council in a few contested matters.
The new five members of Kneemiller, Reese, Weller, Hoepfner and Muench weren’t happy with a split council and in an attempted power grab, they wanted to use their connections to money to finance a recall and shift power into their hands.
Big money and the efforts of Mayor York, Councilman Weller, and Councilman Kneemiller failed. Faced with compromise and a new call to work together, these five couldn’t handle it. In a pattern that seems to repeat itself over and over, they began to scheme on how they could grab power from Mr. Riddler.
This matter to me has little to do with Mr. Riddler and much to do with honesty and respect for fellow councilmen. Tuesday night, I was running a few minutes late to council and was therefore not allowed to vote in the matter of council leadership. More importantly, Councilman Gieseke had announced his planned absence of the May 2, meeting to city hall. Kneemiller jumped at his chance to do what he could not have accomplished otherwise – become the figurative leader of the city council.
One reason Mr. Kneemiller could not have gathered six votes became obvious that very first night.
In closed session we listened to the mayor question our duty and accuse us of breaking the charter by not putting Mr. Brown on the ballot for recall. You know the song and dance from Mr. Weller and Mr. Kneemiller too, “We have to protect the rights of the voters and move forward with recall.” This line is repeated ad nauseum, despite the recall effort being tainted with problems. My question remains the same: If someone were to sit down and fraudulently sign the names of registered voters until enough were put onto paper to recall an elected official, and then submit those petitions to the clerk who in turn simply verified with the county that the names on the petition are voters, would the signatures be certified and the election placed on the ballot?
Now, imagine that this had happened to Mr. Kneemiller or Mayor York. Do you think they would say, “Ok, let’s put this on the ballot and then we will deal with the matter in court?” Or do you think they would insist that the matter first be handled in court and decry the petitions to be void because they were not collected legitimately?
Now ask yourself if they (or you) would be okay knowing that only half of the signatures “collected” were fraudulent. What about just 25%? What about 10%?
After having the mayor question our adherence to the charter (as if she need to give lectures on this matter) Mr. Brown rightfully criticized the mayor and in a flash, Mr. Kneemiller was crying foul! You see, Mr. Kneemiller is not capable of unbiased judgement because he thinks himself part of the administration instead of the legislative branch of city government.
Way back when we asked for a vote of the people to decide the issue of stalemate in department head appointments, “the other side” accused us of a power grab.... a power grab by asking for a vote of the people. Tuesday night we saw a real power grab from councilman and gang who would have never won a fair election on his own merit.
“Fair election” doesn’t seem to be part of their vocabulary.
Sophocles
In a scoundrelly act by councilmen Muench, Reese, Hoepfner, Weller, and Kneemiller, the “Fraudulent Five” (in concert with the administration and blessing of City Attorney, Mike Valenti) seized the presidency and vice-presidency of the Council last Tuesday night. This act of cowardice came about after councilman Gieseke informed the City that he would be out of town on business and would not make the Council meeting.
Meanwhile, the council was working towards compromise in these very positions and was, per tradition, horse-trading on some committee positions as well. Instead of honoring their word, these men decided to follow Dr. Williams’ suit and disregard anything they had heretofore agreed upon.
This total disregard for “doing the right thing” should surprise no one. At least two of the same five Councilmen worked hard to try and unseat a fellow council member, not for anything she had done, but in order to get at Councilman Riddler. Furthermore, all five of these Councilmen marched forward with the recall despite knowing that there were allegations (and later charges) of fraud plaguing the recall effort.
I had expected more from at least one councilman, namely, Councilman Muench. Don’t dare confront Councilman Muench in any matter – he decries that “our side” has made his life hell. Was it the installation of the Boone’s Lick Road improvements or the additional fourteen or so gas light on Main Street that has upset him so? Or just what in his long list of things asked for and gotten has made him feel so mistreated? Truly, Mr. Muench would be hard-pressed to come up with anything that the council has not given him or compromised on to his benefit. Still, in Mr. Muench’s mind he has been somehow wronged by Riddler, Brown, Greer, Gieseke, and me. When Council sought to use subpoena power to bring witnesses to city hall in order to ask questions about potential wrongdoing, Mr. Muench decided that he would rather not even attempt to look into the matter, but voted with four others to maintain the status quo regardless of what benefit it may have had to the city to call witnesses. Mr. Weller commented Tuesday night that by now folks know that he wants to know everything he can on the issues but he too chose to deny subpoena power in order to bring in witnesses concerning the insurance case.
So, the result of Tuesday night’s denial of the full council to choose its president and vice-president will result in greater mistrust and enmity among fellow council members as well as still more distrust of the city attorney who has, up until now, consistently stated that six votes are needed to pass said action.
What I would have expected from our city attorney upon realizing that his opinion of a six-vote requirement would change to a simple majority of those present based upon a recently revealed ordinance, would have been a telephone call and an e-mail stating his new position. This little piece of information was withheld from some council members. Do you think it was done so purposefully? Can you see why council has a need for its own representation?
In the first year of the newly elected council, seven members cast votes together that caused change. In the second year, two council members would shift their position on council meaning a split council in a few contested matters.
The new five members of Kneemiller, Reese, Weller, Hoepfner and Muench weren’t happy with a split council and in an attempted power grab, they wanted to use their connections to money to finance a recall and shift power into their hands.
Big money and the efforts of Mayor York, Councilman Weller, and Councilman Kneemiller failed. Faced with compromise and a new call to work together, these five couldn’t handle it. In a pattern that seems to repeat itself over and over, they began to scheme on how they could grab power from Mr. Riddler.
This matter to me has little to do with Mr. Riddler and much to do with honesty and respect for fellow councilmen. Tuesday night, I was running a few minutes late to council and was therefore not allowed to vote in the matter of council leadership. More importantly, Councilman Gieseke had announced his planned absence of the May 2, meeting to city hall. Kneemiller jumped at his chance to do what he could not have accomplished otherwise – become the figurative leader of the city council.
One reason Mr. Kneemiller could not have gathered six votes became obvious that very first night.
In closed session we listened to the mayor question our duty and accuse us of breaking the charter by not putting Mr. Brown on the ballot for recall. You know the song and dance from Mr. Weller and Mr. Kneemiller too, “We have to protect the rights of the voters and move forward with recall.” This line is repeated ad nauseum, despite the recall effort being tainted with problems. My question remains the same: If someone were to sit down and fraudulently sign the names of registered voters until enough were put onto paper to recall an elected official, and then submit those petitions to the clerk who in turn simply verified with the county that the names on the petition are voters, would the signatures be certified and the election placed on the ballot?
Now, imagine that this had happened to Mr. Kneemiller or Mayor York. Do you think they would say, “Ok, let’s put this on the ballot and then we will deal with the matter in court?” Or do you think they would insist that the matter first be handled in court and decry the petitions to be void because they were not collected legitimately?
Now ask yourself if they (or you) would be okay knowing that only half of the signatures “collected” were fraudulent. What about just 25%? What about 10%?
After having the mayor question our adherence to the charter (as if she need to give lectures on this matter) Mr. Brown rightfully criticized the mayor and in a flash, Mr. Kneemiller was crying foul! You see, Mr. Kneemiller is not capable of unbiased judgement because he thinks himself part of the administration instead of the legislative branch of city government.
Way back when we asked for a vote of the people to decide the issue of stalemate in department head appointments, “the other side” accused us of a power grab.... a power grab by asking for a vote of the people. Tuesday night we saw a real power grab from councilman and gang who would have never won a fair election on his own merit.
“Fair election” doesn’t seem to be part of their vocabulary.
THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS By Jerry Haferkamp
The View From The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
I like Bart Simpson. For those unfamiliar, the Simpsons are T.V.’s most dysfunctional cartoon family. Unfortunately, their antics also reflect life around us.
I recently quoted Bart in reference to the woman who, according to sworn deposition, conspired to commit voter fraud. “I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can’t prove anything.” would be Bart’s comment. I don’t think there will be further prosecution in this case. After all, Dottie won and the backers of the recall have thrown in their sacrificial lamb already.
This week’s Bart comment is, “Darned if you do; darned if you don’t.” This is in reference to the City Council’s predicament concerning Frenchtown. This area is sorely in need of life support. However, the mechanisms that help in this effort also include eminent domain. As seen by the public outcry across America, people don’t want to see some people ripped off to benefit an already wealthy developer become wealthier.
Some of the businesses have asked that the Council give them the same tax breaks they would give the developer, and they will use them to improve their property. It sounds reasonable, but why should businesses in Frenchtown get benefits the businesses on First Capitol or West Clay don’t? The St. Peters paper had a picture of a Frenchtown business with an “anti” eminent domain sign. If you look closely, you would see tall weeds growing in the picture. If the businessman won’t get off his duff and cut the grass, what ever would make us think he would maintain his property?
One of the speakers spoke of a woman whose deceased husband left her with a mobile home that she hoped would house her for her remaining days. If she is displaced, where will she go? At a previous Council meeting, one councilman suggested she move to another park. Mobile home parks won’t accept older homes and certainly not at the pad rent she now pays. If she is forced out so the developer fattens his bank account, the developer should provide her an apartment at the same rent she now pays for her mobile home pad. Fair is fair.
On the other hand, there is little excuse for the condition of some businesses in the area. Look at Don’s Auto Body. Dave Tritz and his son Adam have re-invested some of their profits to turn a business that some may deem undesirable in an historic area into an asset to Frenchtown. When they needed to expand, they renovated the beautiful home next door into their offices. Some of the other businesses should take notice. Business and residences can live side by side, but it takes extra effort from the businesses. As with the Tritz family business, the extra effort shows.
Sorry, Council. It’s inevitable. You are indeed “darned if you do; darned if you don’t.”
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
By Jerry Haferkamp
I like Bart Simpson. For those unfamiliar, the Simpsons are T.V.’s most dysfunctional cartoon family. Unfortunately, their antics also reflect life around us.
I recently quoted Bart in reference to the woman who, according to sworn deposition, conspired to commit voter fraud. “I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can’t prove anything.” would be Bart’s comment. I don’t think there will be further prosecution in this case. After all, Dottie won and the backers of the recall have thrown in their sacrificial lamb already.
This week’s Bart comment is, “Darned if you do; darned if you don’t.” This is in reference to the City Council’s predicament concerning Frenchtown. This area is sorely in need of life support. However, the mechanisms that help in this effort also include eminent domain. As seen by the public outcry across America, people don’t want to see some people ripped off to benefit an already wealthy developer become wealthier.
Some of the businesses have asked that the Council give them the same tax breaks they would give the developer, and they will use them to improve their property. It sounds reasonable, but why should businesses in Frenchtown get benefits the businesses on First Capitol or West Clay don’t? The St. Peters paper had a picture of a Frenchtown business with an “anti” eminent domain sign. If you look closely, you would see tall weeds growing in the picture. If the businessman won’t get off his duff and cut the grass, what ever would make us think he would maintain his property?
One of the speakers spoke of a woman whose deceased husband left her with a mobile home that she hoped would house her for her remaining days. If she is displaced, where will she go? At a previous Council meeting, one councilman suggested she move to another park. Mobile home parks won’t accept older homes and certainly not at the pad rent she now pays. If she is forced out so the developer fattens his bank account, the developer should provide her an apartment at the same rent she now pays for her mobile home pad. Fair is fair.
On the other hand, there is little excuse for the condition of some businesses in the area. Look at Don’s Auto Body. Dave Tritz and his son Adam have re-invested some of their profits to turn a business that some may deem undesirable in an historic area into an asset to Frenchtown. When they needed to expand, they renovated the beautiful home next door into their offices. Some of the other businesses should take notice. Business and residences can live side by side, but it takes extra effort from the businesses. As with the Tritz family business, the extra effort shows.
Sorry, Council. It’s inevitable. You are indeed “darned if you do; darned if you don’t.”
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)