It is not the common practice of the First Capitol News to mention other publications or columnists/journalists in town by name. I will try and respect this, however, I want to make a point about a recent letter to the editor I penned simply to respond to a letter coming from an O’Fallon resident criticizing our city council. At this point, I would hope that many a resident in St. Charles would be scratching their head wondering why anyone from O’Fallon would bother throwing stones at their neighbors with all of the things going on in their own yard. In fact, maybe the only residents in our county able to criticize their neighbors with a straight face would be from Femme Osage. Maybe even they have their turmoil, I don’t know. Right here is a good time to insert a quote from an American statesman:
“This Republic was founded because of the arrogance of a king who expected his subjects to do as they were told, without question. Our forefathers... adopted a system where dissent is not only important, but mandatory.” April 7, 2004
Robert C. Byrd
I don’t mind a good honest battle about policy, budgets or ordinances. What is disturbing is the politics of personal attacks that do nothing but try and destroy the other side. Even when Bob Hoepfner called me a “village idiot” in another publication, I didn’t respond to his name calling. It was strange to see him throw this out at me since I have almost never spoken to him and have no contact with him. This is a good time to illustrate my point: Mr. Hoepfner made a personal attack, it wasn’t based upon anything other than his own biased opinion. Let me take a moment to use what I think is fair criticism of Mr. Hoepfner. Self-declared, Battling Bob made claims that he wanted to give everyone trash service but the rest of the council just wouldn’t go along with him. Mr. Hoepfner never made a serious proposal of how this would be paid for in budget discussions or by bringing something to the council floor. He also wants the City to eliminate the utility tax. This tax is around $7 million in revenue for our town. I think it might have been a good idea to make every stepped decrease in this tax directly offset our trash costs. This would have been a way to help reduce trash costs by employing a progressive tax.
Think about it, if an elderly resident, living alone, doesn’t use much electricity or natural gas, then his or her utility tax would be comparatively low to a family of five or seven in a large house with a higher utility tax bill. But, the single resident would share the same reduction in trash costs as the family of five. Everyone’s trash costs would sink, but the man or woman living presumably on Social Security would receive a relatively higher benefit from the redirection (rather than elimination) of this tax source. Oh, and before I forget, I wanted the city to pay everyone’s mortgage payment in December but my fellow councilmen wouldn’t go along with it...
I have really moved far too far from my topic, so let me put the focus back on my point about my letter to the editor in another paper. Mrs. Shirley Bryan of O’Fallon wrote a letter asking for those on council to resign from either the Democratic Party or City Council because she was *embarrassed about the goings on in our city politics. *Wow, what a difference a couple of weeks can make! O’Fallon has now stolen our thunder in the controversy category! I’m sure paid PR firms will make certain that doesn’t continue to be the case!
Since I am the only person on the council able to resign from anything to do with a Party, I sent in a letter. I asked them not to edit my letter without my permission. I waited. Surely they would allow me to respond. Nothing. So, I wrote the editor an e-mail asking whether they would print my response. I got feedback! My letter would be printed in the next issue or two and I was told that they are printed in the order they are received. I understood and accepted that until...in one week’s time, Mr. Kneemiller got a letter published. Now my letter outdated his by at least ten days! Only after I registered a complaint was I told that my letter needed editing in order to be printed. I would like to reprint my letter here for you to see the censored parts. I will put those lines in bold and underlined which I was not allowed to include in my original letter. Also, make note, I don’t call Mrs. Bryan names, one can appreciate her perception based upon the way stories coming out of St. Charles are handled by much of the press!
In a recent letter to the editor, Shirley Bryan of O’Fallon wanted those who are both on the St. Charles City Council and members of the Democratic Party to resign from one or the other because she feels we give Democrats a bad name. Since, “we” only refers to me, I wanted to briefly respond.
If the image of the council you derive is only from the news blurbs from local papers, then you should quickly realize our frustration as a council when these same papers make headlines with any story they feel will harm us, and do not report or try and diminish any positive stories about the same. Of course, we do not enjoy a hired PR company as our detractors do.
Let me give a brief recap of some of the things you can be proud of: rehiring of a 20-plus-year police officer who lost his job due to work-related injuries; re-bidding of health insurance that saved our city several hundred thousand dollars with no loss of coverage for our employees; reduction for the first time on the dependence of gaming revenues from ongoing expenses; an alternative solution to an aging sewer system that will result in millions of dollars in savings.
It’s laughable to think the politics of St. Peters, O’Fallon, Wentzville and the county government are any less contentious. St. Peters has recently had a taste of aldermen and mayor representing different interests, and O’Fallon went through this a couple of years ago. In fact, the Old Town Preservation Committee (in O’Fallon) did battle with some of the same characters we now face! So then, allow a hired PR firm in concert with a local columnist to paint the picture and I’m certain any board’s shortcomings can be
`highlighted and any good doing ignored.
Reasons given for editing my letter were none of those mentioned in this publication that include offensive material, grammar, length, and clarity. The first line they didn’t like because they felt it wasn’t true. Truly, I am the only one on council able to resign from a Party position. The publication determined that Mrs. Bryan meant something else. Maybe a little initial editing on clarity would have been helpful here. The second line was too vague. Any columnist could be inferred but the person on the phone admitted that they knew whom I meant. I said, just name the columnist then. The response was something about not attacking another paper and professionalism, yada, yada, yada. I questioned why they worried about that since they insert a competing newspaper into their own every two weeks. I was told that that isn’t a newspaper but a paid advertisement. I wonder if the articles of incorporation state, “Paid Advertisement Company?”
Really, it is their business to do with it what they will. They have the right to print biased headlines and articles all they choose. It was this one-sidedness that gave The First Capitol News its *raison d’être. I mentioned to the Mayor that three papers to one isn’t bad, she should be happy! Oh, and by-the-way, I have the utmost respect for Mrs. Bryan, she has the courage to sign her name to letters!
*If anyone reads this to Mr. Hoepfner, please replace, “raison d’être” with “reason for existence.” I don’t want to alter his image of me.
Joe Koester
Ward 9
