First Capitol News,
We are very pleased you are honoring all those who serve their country. All Americans, whether they agree with the cause or not, should be thankful for all the men and women who have and are sacrificing their lives for our freedom.
I have enclosed a picture of my son who is presently serving in Afghanistan.
Florence Braun
Dear Editor:
I read with great fascination your article, “Great Rivers Habitat Alliance Caught”, appearing in the June 18, 2005 issue of FCN. Along with a number of business owners and citizens of St. Peters who formed and joined our group, I am satisfied that the true intent of GRHA has finally been brought to the forefront.
St. Peters Citizens and Business for Smart Growth was formed in July of 2004 to offer support to the Board of Aldermen and the city staff in their efforts to bring about the Lakeside 370 Business Park. Our group believed that the City Staff and Aldermen had performed professionally to bring about a wonderful project that would stabilize property tax rates, increase tax revenues for St. Peters and St. Charles County, enhance property values and, of course, produce thousands of construction and permanent jobs. We are thrilled that the City has located a developer who will provide an incredible return for the citizens of St. Peters. However, we remain concerned about Great Rivers Habitat Alliance and its shadow groups such as Citizens for Responsible Community. Early on, our group was certain that environmental concerns were not the real focus of GRHA. The City of St. Peters had offered a compromise to GRHA which included the annexation of 25,000 acres of flood plain to be placed into a conservation disrict controlled by GRHA. The group was not willing to trade its opposition to the 1,600 acre business park for 25,000 acres. We felt that a real environmental group would have jumped on this offer without hesitation.
This entire episode, along with the many money connections reported in your article, should provide a loud warning to the citizens of O’Fallon, St. Peters, St. Charles and St. Charles County. Great Rivers Habitat Alliance and Citizens for Responsible Community have maintained an anti-growth agenda and seemingly attempt to subvert progress and change. There is no question that the primary operators of these groups do not live within the city limits of the towns in question, however, they have affected elections through hard and soft money contributions and have not been afraid to brag about the outcomes and their assistance with them. It is, of course, any group’s right to push an agenda and to throw money at the politicians in an attempt to secure the agenda. However, the connections reported in FCN provide a sour taste in the mouth of politics where, once again, big money attempts to secure an outcome for a selected few and at the detriment to the majority of the people. One only has to look at the GRHA attempt to purchase the St. Peters property for $12,000,000 which would have been a terrible deal given that St. Peters will now realize $50,000,000. And, by the way, Tom Hughes, a significant developer in St. Charles County, recently joined forces with Great Rivers Habitat Alliance. Could this be mere coincidence? Or, is this developer really an environmentalist?
Our group applauds St. Peters, its Aldermen and the staff for the tremendous work that has been accomplished for the benefit of the city as well as for St. Charles County. We look forward to providing a voice for progress and growth and to counter the unidentified agendas and meddling of the outsiders who claim membership in organizations such as Great Rivers Habitat Alliance and Citizens for Responsible Community. It is our hope that all citizens will scrutinize future candidates for public office and ask those candidates about their funding especially as to what groups are providing money and support of any kind. We also thank First Capitol News for its reporting of this latest chapter of what can go wrong within our county and within the cities which comprise our great county.
Daniel K. Fetsch
St. Peters Citizens and Business
for Smart Growth
