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Saturday, September 23, 2006
FRONT PAGE - FIRST CAPITOL NEWS September 23, 2006
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DEPOSED TESTIMONY LINKS DEVELOPER TO RECALL FRAUD
DEVELOPER SAID, “WITHOUT MARK BROWN IN OFFICE IT WILL BE EASIER TO GET PROJECTS APPROVED”
By Tony Brockmeyer
When we learned from depositions that fraud was revealed in the attempt by the Citizens Empowerment Committee headed by Linda Meyer to recall Councilman Mark Brown, the First Capitol News contacted Councilman Mark Brown for a comment. Brown told the First Capitol News, “My job on the council is to protect the residents not the rich developers. I will not vote to allow developments that will be detrimental to the homeowners of St. Charles.”
Depositions taken in the effort to recall Councilman Mark Brown have revealed the effort is fraught with fraud and lies and spearheaded by developers wanting Brown out of office so they would have an easier time getting their developments approved.
Mathew LaMora, an employee of local developer Mike Sellenschueter testified under oath, “Mr. Sellenschueter never came out and told me if you don’t do this (collect recall signatures) you’re going to lose your job; however, he did state that without Mark Brown in office it will be much easier to get our developments approved. So by you getting the signatures it’s going to help that process along.”
LaMora, of Wright City, Missouri, who was employed by Sellenschueter as a project manager, testified that he was paid $5 to $10 for every signature he collected in the recall effort. By law the circulator of the recall petitions is required to attest with their signature that they were present and observed each person’s signature being placed on the petitions. The circulator then is to put their name and address on the petitions as the circulator and have their signature attested to by a notary public.
LaMora testified that he did not witness every signature on petitions that carried his signature and that in some instances he was told to sign blank forms that would be filled out later.
He further testified that a man, who he did not know, represented himself as being from the Citizens Empowerment Committee and had him sign the blank forms attesting to the fact he had collected signatures. That man told him, “I need you to sign here and I’ll fill out the rest.” He then gave him a check and took the blank forms and told LaMora they would be filled out later.
Linda Meyer notarized LaMora’s signature on the forms, however, LaMora testified he has never met Meyer in his life.He further testified that his address on the forms were wrong. Meyer is the wife of a St. Charles police officer and is the treasurer of the Citizens Empowerment Committee. That committee, formed with the purpose of recalling Councilwoman Dottie Greet and Councilman Mark Brown and was financed by Sellenschueter, Developer TR Hughes, former hospital head and business partner of Tr Hughes Kevin Katz, PR guru Glennon Jamboretz and his partner, former St. Charles Councilman Ken Kielty. All of these individuals are confidants of Mayor York who was also very active in the recall campaigns along with Councilmen Mike Weller and Bob Kneemiller, and Bob Hoepfner. These same four tried to block the investigation by denying funds to uncover these acts of fraud. A story in the last edition of the First Capitol News tells of the Mayor moving to fire Police Chief Tim Swope. She had asked for copies of the recall investigation and Swope refused to give them to her because it was an ongoing investigation. Sources at City Hall told the FCN that she was angry because Swope had his officers investigating the fraud and forgeries.
LaMora said he did not know Linda Meyer, had never met her, had never had his signature notarized in her presence and had turned the forms over to a man, not a woman.
Tara Hart, another person hired by the Citizens Empowerment Committee, testified under oath that she did not witness all the signatures on petitions she turned in for the recall of Councilman Mark Brown. She admitted she had dropped blank forms off at the Rivers Edge Retirement Committee and picked them up several days later. There were 84 signatures on the forms when she picked them up and she never witnessed any of them. Mayor York’s father. John Sinclair (deceased) was reportedly active in the recall campaign and was a resident at Rivers Edge.
Sellenschueter was angry with Brown because of Brown’s refusal to accept Sellenschueter’s development that Brown said was in a creek bed. Brown refused to vote to allow Sellenschueter to hook his St. Charles County development up to St. Charles City water and sewer lines. Councilman Bob Hoepfner, who had voted several times to deny Sellenschueter to hook up to the City lines changed his vote in favor of the development after he received the plumbing contracts for several homes in the development.
Brown had also remarked on the Council floor that he was against the development because it had not been built to City standards and was built too close to a creek. He said he was concerned that City taxpayers would have to pay millions of dollars for the repair of erosion to the creek banks in later years. Brown, on the council floor during a televised council meeting, discussed the fact that he had been offered a payoff for a favorable vote on this development. Brown pointed out several other councilmen had also received offers for their support. Brown stated some of the council people accepted the offers. The matter was passed 5 to 4 with one abstention because of a conflict.
Brown had also voted against allowing TR Hughes’s St. Andrews development in St. Charles County to hook up to St. Charles City water and sewer lines for similar reasons.
State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) 18th District, had a state law passed in one day forcing St. Charles City to allow the TR Hughes development to be hooked up to City sewers without annexation.
Councilwoman Dottie Greer soundly defeated the attempt by the Citizens Empowerment Committee funded by developers Hughes and Sellenschueter and headed by Linda Meyer. Because of fraud uncovered in the Greer recall attempt the Council refused to place the recall of Brown on the ballot.
Eugene Carroll, a disgruntled former member of the 4th of July Riverfest Committee filed suit to have the Brown Recall placed on the ballot. The Mayor had brought up Carroll’s name for reappointment to the Riverfest committee after his term had expired several times and each time it was rejected by the City Council. Carroll was represented by Claude Knight, a friend of the Mayor and her personal lawyer, in the attempt to recall Brown. After several depositions were taken and obvious signs of fraud and misinformation on the part of Citizens Empowerment Committee were uncovered, Knight dropped the suit.
For additional information please see firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com
Of particular interest:
January 14, 2006 – Attorney Invokes 5th Amendment
January 14, 2006 – Recall Fraud Admitted in Deposition
January 27, 2006 – Citizen Empowerment Committee Leaders Profit Personally from Recall efforts
January 27, 2006 – Police Take Suspect Into Custody Involving recall Petitions
February 17, 2006 – Depositions Could Be fatal – Recall Committee Attempts to Delay
March 4, 2006 – Recall Petitions, Criminal Violations – Widespread forgeries
April 1, 2006 – Councilmen Brown, Greer, Koester file suit to stop Sellenschueter’s Hook Up To City Water and Sewer System
Brown Files Counter Suit Against Sellenschueter’s Company for $25,000 Damages
April 8, 2006 – David Slays Goliath – Greer Beats recall Attempt
May 20, 2006 – Prosecutor expected to file more charges in Citizen Empowerment Committee recall Effort
June 3, 2006 – Investigation Into Recall Uncovers More Fraud – Evidence turned Over to FBI
September 16, 2006 – Forgeries Found in Brown Recall
By Tony Brockmeyer
When we learned from depositions that fraud was revealed in the attempt by the Citizens Empowerment Committee headed by Linda Meyer to recall Councilman Mark Brown, the First Capitol News contacted Councilman Mark Brown for a comment. Brown told the First Capitol News, “My job on the council is to protect the residents not the rich developers. I will not vote to allow developments that will be detrimental to the homeowners of St. Charles.”
Depositions taken in the effort to recall Councilman Mark Brown have revealed the effort is fraught with fraud and lies and spearheaded by developers wanting Brown out of office so they would have an easier time getting their developments approved.
Mathew LaMora, an employee of local developer Mike Sellenschueter testified under oath, “Mr. Sellenschueter never came out and told me if you don’t do this (collect recall signatures) you’re going to lose your job; however, he did state that without Mark Brown in office it will be much easier to get our developments approved. So by you getting the signatures it’s going to help that process along.”
LaMora, of Wright City, Missouri, who was employed by Sellenschueter as a project manager, testified that he was paid $5 to $10 for every signature he collected in the recall effort. By law the circulator of the recall petitions is required to attest with their signature that they were present and observed each person’s signature being placed on the petitions. The circulator then is to put their name and address on the petitions as the circulator and have their signature attested to by a notary public.
LaMora testified that he did not witness every signature on petitions that carried his signature and that in some instances he was told to sign blank forms that would be filled out later.
He further testified that a man, who he did not know, represented himself as being from the Citizens Empowerment Committee and had him sign the blank forms attesting to the fact he had collected signatures. That man told him, “I need you to sign here and I’ll fill out the rest.” He then gave him a check and took the blank forms and told LaMora they would be filled out later.
Linda Meyer notarized LaMora’s signature on the forms, however, LaMora testified he has never met Meyer in his life.He further testified that his address on the forms were wrong. Meyer is the wife of a St. Charles police officer and is the treasurer of the Citizens Empowerment Committee. That committee, formed with the purpose of recalling Councilwoman Dottie Greet and Councilman Mark Brown and was financed by Sellenschueter, Developer TR Hughes, former hospital head and business partner of Tr Hughes Kevin Katz, PR guru Glennon Jamboretz and his partner, former St. Charles Councilman Ken Kielty. All of these individuals are confidants of Mayor York who was also very active in the recall campaigns along with Councilmen Mike Weller and Bob Kneemiller, and Bob Hoepfner. These same four tried to block the investigation by denying funds to uncover these acts of fraud. A story in the last edition of the First Capitol News tells of the Mayor moving to fire Police Chief Tim Swope. She had asked for copies of the recall investigation and Swope refused to give them to her because it was an ongoing investigation. Sources at City Hall told the FCN that she was angry because Swope had his officers investigating the fraud and forgeries.
LaMora said he did not know Linda Meyer, had never met her, had never had his signature notarized in her presence and had turned the forms over to a man, not a woman.
Tara Hart, another person hired by the Citizens Empowerment Committee, testified under oath that she did not witness all the signatures on petitions she turned in for the recall of Councilman Mark Brown. She admitted she had dropped blank forms off at the Rivers Edge Retirement Committee and picked them up several days later. There were 84 signatures on the forms when she picked them up and she never witnessed any of them. Mayor York’s father. John Sinclair (deceased) was reportedly active in the recall campaign and was a resident at Rivers Edge.
Sellenschueter was angry with Brown because of Brown’s refusal to accept Sellenschueter’s development that Brown said was in a creek bed. Brown refused to vote to allow Sellenschueter to hook his St. Charles County development up to St. Charles City water and sewer lines. Councilman Bob Hoepfner, who had voted several times to deny Sellenschueter to hook up to the City lines changed his vote in favor of the development after he received the plumbing contracts for several homes in the development.
Brown had also remarked on the Council floor that he was against the development because it had not been built to City standards and was built too close to a creek. He said he was concerned that City taxpayers would have to pay millions of dollars for the repair of erosion to the creek banks in later years. Brown, on the council floor during a televised council meeting, discussed the fact that he had been offered a payoff for a favorable vote on this development. Brown pointed out several other councilmen had also received offers for their support. Brown stated some of the council people accepted the offers. The matter was passed 5 to 4 with one abstention because of a conflict.
Brown had also voted against allowing TR Hughes’s St. Andrews development in St. Charles County to hook up to St. Charles City water and sewer lines for similar reasons.
State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) 18th District, had a state law passed in one day forcing St. Charles City to allow the TR Hughes development to be hooked up to City sewers without annexation.
Councilwoman Dottie Greer soundly defeated the attempt by the Citizens Empowerment Committee funded by developers Hughes and Sellenschueter and headed by Linda Meyer. Because of fraud uncovered in the Greer recall attempt the Council refused to place the recall of Brown on the ballot.
Eugene Carroll, a disgruntled former member of the 4th of July Riverfest Committee filed suit to have the Brown Recall placed on the ballot. The Mayor had brought up Carroll’s name for reappointment to the Riverfest committee after his term had expired several times and each time it was rejected by the City Council. Carroll was represented by Claude Knight, a friend of the Mayor and her personal lawyer, in the attempt to recall Brown. After several depositions were taken and obvious signs of fraud and misinformation on the part of Citizens Empowerment Committee were uncovered, Knight dropped the suit.
For additional information please see firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com
Of particular interest:
January 14, 2006 – Attorney Invokes 5th Amendment
January 14, 2006 – Recall Fraud Admitted in Deposition
January 27, 2006 – Citizen Empowerment Committee Leaders Profit Personally from Recall efforts
January 27, 2006 – Police Take Suspect Into Custody Involving recall Petitions
February 17, 2006 – Depositions Could Be fatal – Recall Committee Attempts to Delay
March 4, 2006 – Recall Petitions, Criminal Violations – Widespread forgeries
April 1, 2006 – Councilmen Brown, Greer, Koester file suit to stop Sellenschueter’s Hook Up To City Water and Sewer System
Brown Files Counter Suit Against Sellenschueter’s Company for $25,000 Damages
April 8, 2006 – David Slays Goliath – Greer Beats recall Attempt
May 20, 2006 – Prosecutor expected to file more charges in Citizen Empowerment Committee recall Effort
June 3, 2006 – Investigation Into Recall Uncovers More Fraud – Evidence turned Over to FBI
September 16, 2006 – Forgeries Found in Brown Recall
STING OPERATION LEADS TO CRACKDOWN ON MINOR’S PURCHASE OF ALCOHOL
St. Charles Police Chief Tim Swope on right congratulating Eric Gentz, District Supervisor for Motomart on their vigilance. FIRST CAPITOL NEWS PHOTO BY TONY BROCKMEYERPolice Chief Commends Motomart For Vigilance
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand & Tony Brockmeyer
According to St. Charles Police Chief Tim Swope, a police sting Wednesday night at package liquor establishments in St. Charles netted his officers seven violators.
St. Charles Police School Resource Officers, Dare Officers and selected minors working undercover, all under the command of Sergeant Mike Akers visited 35 package liquor establishments in the City. The minors attempted to purchase alcohol and in seven instances were successful.
“We will not tolerate this illegal behavior in our City,” said Police Chief Swope. “We are doubling our efforts to bring the illegal purchase of alcohol by minors to a halt.”
Working with a grant provided by the State that paid for the overtime, on Wednesday evening between the police detail visited 35 of the 41 St. Charles businesses licensed to sell package liquor. At seven of those businesses clerks sold liquor illegally to minors sent in by the police.
Sgt. Akers said, “The minors we use are volunteers from the local schools. Usually that have suffered a tragedy in which a relative or friend has been killed or injured by an intoxicated driver. We do not try to fool anyone, it is obvious they are under the legal age to purchase liquor.”
“We tremendously appreciate the grant money from the state but it doesn’t pay for all of the program expenses,” said Chief Swope. “”Even if we did not receive the grant our enforcement efforts would continue. We have doubled our efforts from last year. We have had too many kids deaths caused by intoxicated drivers in St. Charles County. Even one death at the hands of a drunk is too many.”
When asked about punishment for the offenders Chief Swope said, “There will be an administrative follow up by our City Liquor Control Board and also a follow up by the State Liquor Control.”
When asked for the names of the businesses that sold to the minors Captain Gerry Pollard told the First Capitol News, “When the purchase is made the clerk who made the sale is responsible and any charges will be brought against them. Therefore, we are unable to release the names of the businesses until such time as action is taken against the license holder.”
“We are surprised at the number of repeat offenders,” said the Chief. “We will continue our enforcement and believe that the City Liquor Control will start suspending liquor licenses of the guilty parties.”
Motomart Commended By Police
On Liquor Control Policy
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
Eric Gentz, District Manager of Motomart and Dawn Hecht, manager of the Motomart stores in St. Charles received commendations from the St. Charles Police Department for their stringent liquor sale policy.
Eric Gentz told the First Capitol News, “I have a personal interest in making sure that our employees do not violate any liquor control laws and make any sales to underage individuals in any of our eleven stores. My sister was killed by a drunken driver 25 years ago I am a stickler for this.”
Dawn Hecht, who manages the two Motomart stores in St. Charles and has been with the company for twenty years said, “We do not tolerate sales of liquor to minors. If one of our employees is caught making a sale or in a police sting they are dismissed.”
“Motomart is an exemplary company,” said Chief Swope. “Dawn and Eric deserve a lot of credit for the concern they have shown and the company policy they have developed regarding this serious problem.”
“We provide training tapes and meetings on just the minor issue,” said Eric. “We do not tolerate the illegal sale of liquor or tobacco. We even have a private company that comes into our stores to check out our employees to make sure they are not violating the law. It is automatic termination if they are caught making illegal sales to minors of either liquor or tobacco”
“If our employee is involved in a police sting and they do not make the sale they receive a $100 bonus,” said Dawn. For years I have been writing on their paychecks, ‘REMEMBER TO CARD.”
“Leadership starts at the top,” said Chief Swope. The management at Motomart takes this matter seriously and we appreciate their efforts in helping us prevent these illegal sales.”
Police Sgt. Mike Akers said, “The incidents of illegal sales are still too high and we are working to eliminate this serious problem.”
Motomart, with headquarters in Belleville, Illinois has two stores in St. Charles, South Fifth Street and Highway 94 North and one in Earth City. The South Fifth Motomart has been recently remodeled. “I am a firm believer that if all liquor establishments showed the concern and training as Motomart this would no longer be a problem,” said Captain Gerry Pollard.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
We are proud that we are investigative reporters and continually scoop other publications including the daily paper. Many news tips have been received and there are several investigations pending. A couple of these investigations are taking a great amount of our time. So that we can provide accurate information that we can back up we must spend the time necessary to dig up the facts so we can provide our readers with the information.
The First Capitol News reaches a very large audience who anxiously look forward to the arrival of each and every edition.
A former competitor, Ed Watkins, the former publisher of the now defunct St. Charles Citizen, remarked in an article in another publication;
“I think people really underestimate the First Capitol News and the power of the First Capitol News. I have a healthy respect for them because I have been in the business now and the newspaper business is a difficult one for anybody today.”
It is a difficult job but one we enjoy. We appreciate our readers and thank them for all the telephone calls, letters and e-mails we have received from them complimenting us on our publication.
Because we want to provide the best publication possible, it is sometimes necessary that we take time off from publishing in order to follow up on the investigative reports we are working on. We have a couple of large ones in the fire and the more we investigate the more involved it becomes. To discover the truth we must follow all the leads and gather all the information.
We want our readers to understand that occasionally there will be a week without a printed publication. We just need the time to gather the facts.
On our weekly web log on the internet at
firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com we will let our readers know our next publication date. Even though we may not publish on a particular week you can keep informed about St. Charles news on our daily web log which can be found at firstcapitolnews-today.blogspot.com. We are striving to keep it updated daily with fresh information.
We also have other exciting news. A new web page is under construction on the internet. You will be able to pull up each and every page of each edition each week of publication. It will include all the information that is in the printed edition including all the ads from our fine advertisers. You will also be able to purchase display and classified advertising as well as photos on line. We appreciate your support of our advertisers and please continue to visit them.
We are excited about our new web pages and as soon as construction is completed we will provide you with the web address.
Our next publication will be on October 7, 2006. Check our daily web log for updates of St. Charles news.
MAYOR WITHHOLDS APPOINTMENTS
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting the Mayor did not present her new appointments to the Park Board. She had notified the Council earlier she was planning on attempting to re-appoint Thomas Smith, TJ Slattery and submit the name of Lynn Porterfield as a new appointment.
After the story of Thomas Smith and his involvement in political money laundering appeared in last weeks’ First Capitol News we were told the Mayor decided to wait on the appointments as she did not have the votes for passage.
You can read about Smith on our web log, firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com.
Slattery is the president of the Park Board and it appears he is getting the board and the park department involved in city politics and this could be trouble for both him and the board down the road. He is also on the 4th of July Riverfest Committee and is a confidant of Smith.
Porterfield is the former City Attorney and City Administrator whose wife ran against Councilman Bob Hoepfner in the last Council election. During that election the Mayor became actively involved in an attempt to defeat Hoepfner.. She and her husband even worked the polls on election day. It will be interesting to see if Hoepfner votes against Porterfield or if he has made a deal with the Mayor. That would not be a surprise to anyone.
How about it Bob, deal or No Deal?
The First Capitol News reaches a very large audience who anxiously look forward to the arrival of each and every edition.
A former competitor, Ed Watkins, the former publisher of the now defunct St. Charles Citizen, remarked in an article in another publication;
“I think people really underestimate the First Capitol News and the power of the First Capitol News. I have a healthy respect for them because I have been in the business now and the newspaper business is a difficult one for anybody today.”
It is a difficult job but one we enjoy. We appreciate our readers and thank them for all the telephone calls, letters and e-mails we have received from them complimenting us on our publication.
Because we want to provide the best publication possible, it is sometimes necessary that we take time off from publishing in order to follow up on the investigative reports we are working on. We have a couple of large ones in the fire and the more we investigate the more involved it becomes. To discover the truth we must follow all the leads and gather all the information.
We want our readers to understand that occasionally there will be a week without a printed publication. We just need the time to gather the facts.
On our weekly web log on the internet at
firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com we will let our readers know our next publication date. Even though we may not publish on a particular week you can keep informed about St. Charles news on our daily web log which can be found at firstcapitolnews-today.blogspot.com. We are striving to keep it updated daily with fresh information.
We also have other exciting news. A new web page is under construction on the internet. You will be able to pull up each and every page of each edition each week of publication. It will include all the information that is in the printed edition including all the ads from our fine advertisers. You will also be able to purchase display and classified advertising as well as photos on line. We appreciate your support of our advertisers and please continue to visit them.
We are excited about our new web pages and as soon as construction is completed we will provide you with the web address.
Our next publication will be on October 7, 2006. Check our daily web log for updates of St. Charles news.
MAYOR WITHHOLDS APPOINTMENTS
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting the Mayor did not present her new appointments to the Park Board. She had notified the Council earlier she was planning on attempting to re-appoint Thomas Smith, TJ Slattery and submit the name of Lynn Porterfield as a new appointment.
After the story of Thomas Smith and his involvement in political money laundering appeared in last weeks’ First Capitol News we were told the Mayor decided to wait on the appointments as she did not have the votes for passage.
You can read about Smith on our web log, firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com.
Slattery is the president of the Park Board and it appears he is getting the board and the park department involved in city politics and this could be trouble for both him and the board down the road. He is also on the 4th of July Riverfest Committee and is a confidant of Smith.
Porterfield is the former City Attorney and City Administrator whose wife ran against Councilman Bob Hoepfner in the last Council election. During that election the Mayor became actively involved in an attempt to defeat Hoepfner.. She and her husband even worked the polls on election day. It will be interesting to see if Hoepfner votes against Porterfield or if he has made a deal with the Mayor. That would not be a surprise to anyone.
How about it Bob, deal or No Deal?
THE CITY DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
Want To Float A Trial Balloon?
CIP Debate Puts Ideas Into Play
The annual debate over the City’s Capital Improvements Plan is an excellent time to float trial balloons. Have a road project you want considered or a beautification project? Just fill it up with helium (and you thought politicians only used hot air) and release it during one of the Council Work Sessions.
Of course, not every idea gets off the ground. These quickly turn from trial balloons to the lead variety. Then there are those that get off the ground just far enough for your fellow Council members, the Mayor, City staff, press or public to riddle with arrows. It’s amazing how good your aim becomes with practice.
Fortunately, those that launch enough new ideas get a little better with practice. We try to take into account the direction of the prevailing political winds and political landscape.
The Capital Improvements Plan is a six-year planning document on how to spend the ? cent Capital Improvements Tax, the bulk of our gaming revenues and other miscellaneous funds and grants designated to pay for infrastructure or other capital items. We call it the CIP Budget for short. It seems a lot of programs or boards at City Hall eventually get reduced to initials. Sometime I’ll explain what HLPARB, CID, NID, TDD, TIF, CDBG, COW and PUC all mean other than a higher score at Scrabble.
Like the City Operating Budget, the City Administrator and Finance Director prepare the CIP. They start with a “wish-list” from every Department Director and sometimes input from elected public officials. There are always more requests than anticipated funds available, so their unenviable task is to pare down what everyone asks for. They then turn the plan over to the Mayor who can add, subtract or eliminate money from any line item she cares to before presenting it to the City Council the first week in July.
I always look forward to the CIP discussions and bring out my own wish list I’ve been saving all year like a kid about to visit the department store Santa. But this year didn’t feel much like Christmas in July. The economy is still weak and gaming funds are down. Couple that with the fact that surplus land we were expecting to sell by now was until recently tied up in court. The City kept winning, but the plaintiff kept appealing.
Then there is the County Executive Joe Ortwerth. He’s determined to leave office at the end of the year managing to have offended just about everybody. His latest “temper tantrum” was to hold $3 Million hostage that the County Road Board owes the City of St. Charles. This is money from the tax we all pay and was promised to reimburse us for projects the Road Board and the County had already agreed to pay a portion of.
He is doing it to force the City into paying the County $300,000 that we are disputing from 2005 as a payment for the Family Arena. At odds is whether or not the County lived up to its obligation to have a minimum of 115 “ticketed” events that year. To stretch to that number they have been counting things like high school graduation ceremonies where tickets are given out for crowd control, but not “sold” to the general public.
Rather than let the issue go to Court and be resolved Ortwerth resorted to his signature strong-arm tactics. All shall fall before the great and terrible Joe Ortwerth, yadda, yadda, yadda. I think the next County Executive will spend his first week taking down all the mirrors in the County Executive’s Office. They are the fun-house variety that makes you look more important.
So until that issue gets resolved (and yes, cooler heads are working on it), we have to cover those shortfalls ourselves. But I’m not one to let all the doom and gloom spoil my proposing a few changes in the CIP.
I want to see more funding for the façade grant program that I began a couple of years ago. It has been a boost to North Main and Frenchtown helping entice property owners to make larger investments in the upkeep or remodeling of their business properties. It’s been so successful that it was expanded to areas of First Capitol to Kingshighway and West Clay. Last year the council adopted a plan I proposed to expand the program to include small grants to help people with residential façade upgrades to help with neighborhood stabilization.
At our first CIP meeting I was successful in getting the Council to agree to add $50,000 to our efforts to upgrade lighting and other infrastructure along North 2nd in Frenchtown. I hope to get other monies set aside for capital projects and beautification on North Main and North 94 as well.
Of general interest is my desire to see us plan next year for a police and fire memorial to be built in 2008. I would also like to see the City continue the Historic Personages Statue program I instigated last year, which resulted in the wonderful new bronze statue to Daniel Boone. Next in the series would be Saint Philippine Duchesne, which would become a real icon for the First Ward at the corner of 2nd and Clark.
My most important goal is to get engineering money in the budget for the extension of Randolph from Fox Hill Road to Little Hills Expressway. Earlier in the year I proposed we add this project to our future goals and to request some of the funding from the County Road Board. I’m happy to say the County Road Board liked the idea and has agreed to add it to their list of projects to reimburse the City for in the future. The goal now is to get the project moved up.
In short, this “short” section of additional roadway will allow hundreds of residents of Fox Hills, DeVilla Trail, Fox Bluff, Country Bluff and Stable Ridge to be able to access the new Fifth Street Extension (Mel Wetter Parkway) without having to drive down Fox Hill Road, South on 94 and then back up the hill via Little Hills Expressway. I’ve had positive feedback from dozens of residents of these neighborhoods that such a connection will save time, gas and money for them every day.
There are other projects already in the CIP I will seek to enhance. I think I have identified an additional million dollars in 2009 that could be shifted to the proposed Community Center. There is also a new line item for a rental “conversion” program. The council has yet to establish the guidelines for this new program, but the goal is to help new first-time homebuyers afford to buy and convert to single-family use property formally used as rental property. It will most likely include a forgivable loan towards a down payment if the people agree to homestead the property for five years.
There are other line items I hope to protect from marauding bands of my fellow Council members as they do the same. When the smoke clears in a few weeks and all the wounds are bound, the City will have a new Capital Improvements Plan to guide us…till this same time next year.
CASE IN POINT - Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
I believe that professional wrestling is clean and everything else in the world is fixed.
Frank Deford
Political junkies around the country are excited that it’s election season while a larger portion of the populace has no use for the entire affair. It’s understandable why the process is looked upon with such disdain. Sound bytes have replaced platforms; telephone calls asking, “If the election were held today…” seem to always come at dinner time; and one political advertisement is followed by the next and each one is telling us that the last one we saw or heard was a lie. It doesn’t change the fact, however, that we all need to be engaged as much as possible in the process keeping an eye on our democratic-republic.
Too often campaigns are seen as personality battles while public policy is left out of the discussion altogether. Races are too much about individuals and too little about public policy and governing. The consequence of this is a system where incumbents are sent back to govern in spite of voter dissatisfaction because the electorate reasons that this guy or that lady is nice. Nice people can pass bad laws that hurt senior citizens, children, etc. If the race were more about policy, the question can be asked, “Has the governing Party done its job and have improvements been realized in areas that are our priority?”
An election in this case is not about the individual but about platform. Political parties living under these rules have to advance a “ contract” that can achieve support of 51% of the voters. We will never have a platform that we agree with 100% of the time, but each of us can weigh each party’s entire platform and decide where we best fit.
A primary is a horse of a different color since two like partisans are facing off and their influence may determine their party’s future platform. Within the Party, an individual’s platform is taken into account and it is his or her fellow partisans who bless or rebuff a candidate’s positions. Think back to the Republican primary for president in 2000 and you may recall that John McCain was leading in polls and primaries. His own party decided to use a tactic called, “push polling” where leading, or misleading questions are asked about a candidate to give the impression that the questions being asked are factual. A push poll may go something like this, “If you knew that candidate x had the worst attendance record in the Missouri House, would you be more or less inclined to vote for him?” Hmm, tough question, right?
In McCain’s case, the question led voters to believe he had an illegitimate child. McCain has an adopted child, but hey, the question is just theoretical…
The question worked and McCain lost in the South Carolina primary and shortly thereafter he withdrew from the race.
A local columnist recently had a state senator commenting on how some on city council have been sniping at him for passing legislation that applies only to St. Charles regarding its casino revenues. What seemed to go unmentioned was the fact that this law is specifically for our town that makes it egregious, not the law per se. What I have asked for is equal treatment under the law for our City. If the good senator prefers legislating locally, he should resign from state government and run for council. The infringement of local control goes against the oft-touted claim that these guys want small government with more local control. Fact is they want small government when some corporate interest has written the checks and they can repay them with special favors that usually mean removal of regulations for those giving the money; oftentimes we pay a greater price by loss of consumer protection.
Furthermore, the same columnist indicated that vote totals in the primary are indicative of the election results in November. Using this logic, Ted House, Jim Primm, and Barb Walker would have never won an election. Fact of the matter is, there were far more contested races on the Republican ballot than on the Democratic ballot. The local contested races are of great interest to people so many independent voters and even some Democrats asked for a Republican ballot to vote for a friend running for county council or collector or sheriff.
Finally, our city sewers are strained – we have a lot of upgrading to be done because we are getting close to capacity at our treatment plants. Depending on how many more county developments the state forces our City to take sewage from, we could max out sooner rather than later. Upgrades are being made, so while we are at it, I am asking the city to keep the residents on Buckingham in their thoughts and take care of an undersized line there.
Grants and statues are nice, but our main purpose is to provide services to our residents – we have to do that well or the other things don’t really matter much.
Let’s end with a quote that I think Frank Deford would like:
“Democracy is a team sport. It is not like going to a ballgame where you sit passively and decide if you like the players and evaluate their abilities after watching the game. We are the players, we are the team, in a democratic nation or a democratic world.”
John Renesch
THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS By Jerry Haferkamp
The View From The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
Leadership, noun: the act or an instance of leading.
After reading the past issue of the FCN, I was left wondering about leadership in St. Charles.
The front page had major articles on what may be an attempt by the mayor to fire Police Chief Swope and on Mr. Smith, currently under the microscope for campaign finance activities. What, you ask, has this to do with leadership?
The article states that Smith’s term on the park board has expired, and he refuses to give up the seat that was formerly his. He obviously gets his form of “leadership” from our former City Administrator, Mr. Williams, who refuses to honor his contract and still occupies the office he shouldn’t. The president of the Park Board should show “leadership” and not allow Mr. Smith to hold a seat at the meetings. Mr. Williams could show “leadership” by taking a hike.
If Mr. Smith and the former city administer don’t have to vacate, Chief Swope should take his “leadership” cue from Williams and refuse to leave if he is fired. When his contract expires, he should thumb his nose at the mayor and sit tight. What the heck, she endorsed the former city administrator’s actions so she should endorse Chief Swope’s if he does likewise. Like I said in my last column, “Consistency, Madame Mayor, consistency”.
Anyway, what’s up with Swope investigating possible crime? For a man who grew up in St. Charles, why is it so hard for him to understand that the mayor, her family and her confederates are considered by her to be above the law?
By the way, leadership in the Prosecuting Attorney’s office would mean indicting the person who, according to sworn testimony, submitted the fraudulent petitions. What did I say about the mayor’s confederates being above the law? Somebody poke Banas and wake him up.
I was approached by one of our prominent citizens a few days ago. He owns properties in the Frenchtown area. He questioned why money is going to be wasted on the “roundabout” (also known as a traffic circle or traffic circus) on North Third at Tecumseh. He stated that we need sidewalks in many neighborhoods where the children have to walk in the streets to get to school or a school bus stop. If the roundabout is using city funds, he wondered if the money would be better spent on sidewalks for our children’s safety. I agree. I’m not sure if this project is strictly a MoDOT waste of money, or whether our city is also flushing your money down this unwanted and unneeded bumper car track. It needs to be stopped. There is no traffic problem at that intersection.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
By Jerry Haferkamp
Leadership, noun: the act or an instance of leading.
After reading the past issue of the FCN, I was left wondering about leadership in St. Charles.
The front page had major articles on what may be an attempt by the mayor to fire Police Chief Swope and on Mr. Smith, currently under the microscope for campaign finance activities. What, you ask, has this to do with leadership?
The article states that Smith’s term on the park board has expired, and he refuses to give up the seat that was formerly his. He obviously gets his form of “leadership” from our former City Administrator, Mr. Williams, who refuses to honor his contract and still occupies the office he shouldn’t. The president of the Park Board should show “leadership” and not allow Mr. Smith to hold a seat at the meetings. Mr. Williams could show “leadership” by taking a hike.
If Mr. Smith and the former city administer don’t have to vacate, Chief Swope should take his “leadership” cue from Williams and refuse to leave if he is fired. When his contract expires, he should thumb his nose at the mayor and sit tight. What the heck, she endorsed the former city administrator’s actions so she should endorse Chief Swope’s if he does likewise. Like I said in my last column, “Consistency, Madame Mayor, consistency”.
Anyway, what’s up with Swope investigating possible crime? For a man who grew up in St. Charles, why is it so hard for him to understand that the mayor, her family and her confederates are considered by her to be above the law?
By the way, leadership in the Prosecuting Attorney’s office would mean indicting the person who, according to sworn testimony, submitted the fraudulent petitions. What did I say about the mayor’s confederates being above the law? Somebody poke Banas and wake him up.
I was approached by one of our prominent citizens a few days ago. He owns properties in the Frenchtown area. He questioned why money is going to be wasted on the “roundabout” (also known as a traffic circle or traffic circus) on North Third at Tecumseh. He stated that we need sidewalks in many neighborhoods where the children have to walk in the streets to get to school or a school bus stop. If the roundabout is using city funds, he wondered if the money would be better spent on sidewalks for our children’s safety. I agree. I’m not sure if this project is strictly a MoDOT waste of money, or whether our city is also flushing your money down this unwanted and unneeded bumper car track. It needs to be stopped. There is no traffic problem at that intersection.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
COMMENTS & COMMENTARY by Charles Hill
If you thought Steve Powell’s departure from the Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau would stop the spending of taxpayer dollars on things that would never make a return on the investment, you need to look at this week’s celebration of the return of Lewis and Clark. Powell and Venetia Macintire have once again received taxpayer money to fund the grand opening of their new venture on South Main in conjunction with the return of Lewis and Clark. If it wasn’t for government money, one has to wonder if Powell could make a dime. These two received $25,000 plus extra funds from City Arts and Culture Commission for the return celebration. If you do the math the event this weekend has to increase sales in town $250,000. A monumental task if you ask me after the flop of the bicentennial.
One should look and call those involved with tourism in Peoria, Illinois and ask the question, why did Powell leave there so suddenly? I have to hand it to the good people of Peoria, they figured out much quicker than us that Powell’s expertise isn’t in tourism.
The City of St. Charles should look at all the indispensable department heads that have worked in their jobs for long periods. Maybe the first place to look is the economic development department. I think that this city is very undersold by this department.
Let’s get back to Steve and Mac; they have voiced opposition to a development that is sorely needed on Main Street. A condo development is proposed and this development will bring the needed population base that most smart thinkers know is needed to reinvigorate Main Street after the lack of vision that has been the norm for the past ten years. These new residents will help reshape the retail stores along the street. We would see retail that supports and serves the locals on the street would come with this development. Of course those who are selfish and small-minded are against this like so many other good things that have been introduced but shoot down.
Please call your councilman in support of this development to insure that we don’t have to continue the never ending funding of a street that doesn’t understand the amount of money they use that the rest of the City could benefit from.
One should look and call those involved with tourism in Peoria, Illinois and ask the question, why did Powell leave there so suddenly? I have to hand it to the good people of Peoria, they figured out much quicker than us that Powell’s expertise isn’t in tourism.
The City of St. Charles should look at all the indispensable department heads that have worked in their jobs for long periods. Maybe the first place to look is the economic development department. I think that this city is very undersold by this department.
Let’s get back to Steve and Mac; they have voiced opposition to a development that is sorely needed on Main Street. A condo development is proposed and this development will bring the needed population base that most smart thinkers know is needed to reinvigorate Main Street after the lack of vision that has been the norm for the past ten years. These new residents will help reshape the retail stores along the street. We would see retail that supports and serves the locals on the street would come with this development. Of course those who are selfish and small-minded are against this like so many other good things that have been introduced but shoot down.
Please call your councilman in support of this development to insure that we don’t have to continue the never ending funding of a street that doesn’t understand the amount of money they use that the rest of the City could benefit from.
ELM ST WINE & SPIRITS OPENS
By Tony Brockmeyer
St. Charles County residents Raj Desai and Nick Shah have opened Elm St Wine and Spirits at 2303 Elm Street in St. Charles. The business is located at the intersection of Elm and Hawthorne.
As an opening special, they are offering a 15 percent discount on all purchases of $25 or more accompanied by a coupon located in this newspaper. The coupon expires on October 7, 2006 so be sure to take advantage of this special offer.
In addition to offering fine wines, cigars, beer and kegs to go, they also take special requests. “We can order just about anything,” said Raj. “All our customers have to do is let us know what they want. We will be happy to accommodate their requests.”
The Elm St. Wine and Spirits is open 365 days a year. “As long as we can get to the store through rain, sleet or snow we will be open to provide excellent service to our customers,” said Raj.
Elm St. Wine and Spirits is proud of their wide selection. They will provide delivery service on large orders.
They also offer a selection of premium cigars.
Stop by and take advantage of their opening offer of 15 percent off purchases over $25 and welcome Raj and Nick to St. Charles.
SPORTS - First Capitol News Sports Section - MIKE MCMURRAN Sports Editor
MY COLUMN - MIKE MCMURRAN FIRST CAPITOL NEWS SPORTS EDITOR
Cardinal baseball was introduced to me by my grandmother in 1964. That means I was able to watch Lou Brock in his first season as a Cardinal, watch Bob Gibson, Timmy McCarver, Bill White, Julian Javier, Dick Groat and others overtake the Phillies on the last day of the season to win the National League pennant. 1964 was the year the Cardinals beat the Yankees in seven games to win the World Championship. The Yankee lineup included such names as Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. What better introduction to Cardinal Nation could a 10 year-old boy ask for?
I’m somewhat certain I’ve mentioned it here before, but it warrants repeating. In the 70’s and early 80’s, Cardinal Nation was more like “Cardinal Village,” in that tickets were easy to come by. It was not unusual, nor difficult, to purchase front row box seat tickets on game day. Most would not even waste their money on box seats because they knew they could purchase general admission seats and simply move down to the box seats. I remember being at Bob Forch’s first no-hitter in April of 1978; there were less than 17,000 in attendance.
Through the years I have remained a loyal Cardinal fan. On the day Lynn and I were married, the entire wedding party had their pictures taken at the foot of Stan Musial’s statue. Both Lynn and I have insured all three of our children have been exposed to Cardinal baseball. It is not unusual to find all three kids, after they finish their homework, watching the Cardinal’s on television. Just last evening I caught Joe watching the game some 10 minutes or so past his bedtime. “Ah Dad, c’mon! Molina is batting with the bases loaded and he’s never hit a grand slam before. Can’t I just watch what he does?” How could I turn him down?
This past Sunday Joe and I were the guests of Harry and his son Derrick Griffits at Busch. Even though we sat through 3 hours of rain, and never so much as saw a pitch, Joe and I witnessed the retiring of Bruce Sutter’s number “42.” “Pay close attention, Joe,” I told my son, “someday you will come here with your son and you will be able to tell him you were at the game Bruce Sutter’s number was retired. You will be able to tell your son how your dad took you to the game, just like you are taking your son.” That’s how it is suppose to work!
After the game was called I offered Harry his tickets back. He told me to keep them. “Harry,” I offered, “these are like cash, now that the game has been cancelled.” I knew that to be true because in years past should a game be cancelled, or not completed, all you had to do was take your ticket stubs to the ticket window and you would either (a) receive a full refund, or (b) trade the tickets in for a different game.
Such is no longer the case! According to the Cardinal ticket office, all season tickets will simply receive a credit on next year’s bill – no matter who had the tickets. Now, in my situation I really can’t complain. The tickets were a gift to Joe and me. But I couldn’t help think of all those, and I guess there to be hundreds, if not thousands, who bought tickets outside the stadium, on the street. It is rather well known throughout Cardinal Nation, season ticket holders will unload tickets outside the stadium. These tickets are far, far better than any tickets one can purchase at the tickets window; after all, they are season tickets. Sometimes one must pay a premium (scalper), sometimes not. The closer it gets to game time, the closer to face value the tickets become.
So, let’s say a family of four wished to go to Sunday’s game, had no tickets, and planned on buying them downtown. I think it is safe to say one might drop $200 for 4 tickets – 4 decent tickets. Once the game was cancelled, those tickets became worthless! The Cardinals refuse to issue any cash refund to the ticket holder! “That is our policy,” is the only response they would give. “We will credit the season ticket holder’s account next season.” I guess that means that any season ticket holder who doesn’t renew is also out of luck.
What does all this mean? It means the Cardinals’ owners are doing their best to insure Cardinal Nation dies after this generation. Baseball is about tradition – age-old tradition! For the past two centuries, baseball fans held on to their ticket stubs until the 5th inning. Why? Because they were as good as money, that’s why! Not now!
What does all this mean? I’m not sure. Does it mean I will boycott Cardinal baseball? Nah, I’m addicted. I am concerned about the future of Cardinal Nation.
On a positive note, we’ve only 44 days remaining until we vote Sally Unfaithful out of office. For those with a short memory, she is the candidate who unseated Rep. Tom Green in ’04, with a campaign based on untruths and out right lies. The timing of the malicious mailings were well planned and thought out – preventing Mr. Green to respond in ample time. To use a boxing metaphor, she sucker punched him. It won’t happen again.
BATTLE OF THE WARRIORS
St. Charles West still knows Warrenton’s Weaknesses
By Louis J. Launer
Welcome to bare-bones football at Steve Stahl Stadium at St. Charles West High School. The Marching Warriors were traveling to Murray, Kentucky for a band contest. So there was no band for the football game. Those who came to the game expected to see a football game that would make up for the last two games that provided embarrassment for the St. Charles West Warriors.
After going 0-2 in the first two weeks of the season, West needed a confidence boost. They got that and more against the Warrenton Warriors. Since joining the GAC four years ago, Warrenton has never beaten St. Charles West. With no band, someone or some people had to create excitement. The fans did quite well without a band, especially the student-fans.
Brannon Champagne started for St. Charles West at quarterback. His first two games were not good at all due to fumbles and interceptions that cost West the two losses. West returned to its traditional running game out of the wishbone formation.
Warrenton made mistakes early. A bad punt deep in their own territory on their first series in the first quarter gave West the ball on the 1 yard line. Chazz Davis scored the first touchdown of the game for St. Charles West. Davis carried the ball 7 times in the game for a total of 84 yards. Davis also scored his second touchdown for West from 2 yards out late in the second quarter.
Matthew Jones, who really did not see much action in the last two games, showed he could carry the ball as he had 13 carries for 90 yards. He scored a touchdown in the first quarter from 10 yards out.
Champagne, who definitely had something to prove in this game, attemped a pass late in the first quarter, only to see a big hole opened up thanks to the St. Charles West offensive line. Champagne scored a 30-yard touchdown and summed up most of the offensive highlights for St. Charles West.
Warrenton’s troubles on defense didn’t affect their offense after a 21-0 first quarter shutout by St. Charles West. West placed its second string defensive line in while Warrenton kept their first-string offense. That gave Warrenton’s Alex Tobben a chance to run a 3-yard touchdown and ruin West’s shutout.
St. Charles West’s Scott Butler, another player who didn’t receive a lot of playing time during the first two games of the season, scored a 4th quarter touchdown, just to get some experience. But Warrenton’s Alex Tobin, took advantage of a sleepy St. Charles West second-string defense and caught one pass and scored a 40-yard touchdown.
Two field goals in the fourth quarter by St. Charles West’s Zach Ring made the final score 34-18 in favor of St. Charles West. This past weekend, St. Charles was the only winner of the three high schools in St. Charles. St. Charles High and Duchesne had problems of their own and both of those teams played in the annual Gateway Gridiron Classic held at Lindenwood University.
MICDS 51, DUCHESNE 26 (at Lindenwood University) – In three weeks and three games, Duchesne can only get their offense going late in the game. Anthony Suber and Joey Zimring had two touchdowns each for MICDS and the rout was on. Duchesne’s Dan Friedel caught four touchdown passes for all four of Duchesne’s scores. His longest reception was from 35 yards out. To add insult to injury, MICDS’ Tyler Johnson at the end of the game received the last kickoff after Duchesne’s fourth touchdown. Johnson ran the ball back 90 yards for the final score.
WASHINGTON 14, ST. CHARLES HIGH 6 (at Lindenwood University) – The Washington Blue Jays are 3-0 thanks to a balanced offensive attack. In the first quarter, Andrew Gildehaus ran one touchdown in from a yard out. Denodus O’Bryant caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Scheible in the second quarter and that was all Washington needed to defeat the SCHS Pirates. O’Bryant had 120 yards rushing for the Blue Jays. St. Charles High’s Clifton Brown did have a 48-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for the Pirates’ only score.
There was one touchdown called back by the Pirates. Quarterback Jake Bornhop passed to Eric Henningsen for what was supposed to be a 19-yard touchdown pass. But a holding call by the officials wiped out the touchdown and the offensive momentum of the Pirates.
The Ladies’ Battle of St. Charles
Warriors Raid the Pirates in Exciting Match
By Louis J. Launer
No matter what sport these two schools play, St. Charles High and St. Charles West are serious rivals. Girls volleyball is definitely taken seriously by the students who packed the Gene Bartow Gymnasium at St. Charles High School last Thursday night.
St. Charles West’s Erika Holmes had two kills in a row in the first game of the match. Holmes is a freshman on the varsity squad. Her teammate, junior Mary Cunningham served a few aces. But some mistakes by Cunningham forced a side out and sparked a rally by the St. Charles Pirates. Erin Bekebrede and Emily Jacobs of the Pirates worked well together by putting together a 5-point rally keeping in pace with the Warriors, who led the entire first game. The Warriors’ good communication among their teammates kept the lead for the Warriors, although no was expecting either team to dominate.
Brianna Baldwin is a good setup player. She’s the tallest player for the Warriors at 6 feet 2 inches and only a sophomore. She set the ball for senior Courtney Champagne and sophomore Allison Naumann to make the score. Game point saw the Pirates’ serve as going out, with the Warriors watching. St. Charles West took the first game, 25-21.
St. Charles High regrouped for game 2. Led by Molli Wilkerson, the Pirates communicated and took advantage of several West serves going either out of bounds or striking the net. West regrouped and tried to stay focused. Erika Holmes still provided a couple of kills for the Warriors. But senior Abby Schulteheinrich and junior Tori Fenemor helped each other with the setup and scores for the Pirates as they kept West behind, forcing the Warriors to catch up in game 2. Wilkerson blocked two Baldwin tappers and also tapped in a few scores to keep the Pirates ahead. St. Charles West tried to rally and come back. But falling behind in a volleyball game is the first fundamental learned. St. Charles High took the second game, 25-16.
The student fans as well as parents on both sides were pumped up ready for game 3 of the match. Even several male students, apparently members of the varsity football team for St. Charles West, had their faces painted and cheering on the volleyball team. Game 3 is where one St. Charles West player began to dominate. That was Mary Cunningham. The 6’0” middle hitter scored two aces, set up several scores with key bumps and was able to surprise the Pirates who appeared either afraid to touch the ball or was not focused on the location of the ball. The Pirates did attempt one comeback after two Warrior mistakes close to match point. But the Warriors did take the third game and the match win over the Pirates, 25-16.
Both teams still have Duchesne on their schedule, another team that has been quite dominant recently in girls’ volleyball.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
FRONT PAGE FIRST CAPITOL NEWS SEPTEMBER 16, 2006
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Mayor Making Moves To Fire Police Chief Swope
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has received information that St. Charles Mayor Patti York is apparently planning on firing Police Chief Tim Swope.
York recently vetoed a City Council bill that would give Chief Swope up to $11,000 a year for college tuition and would add an additional year on his contract as Police Chief. Sources at City Hall told the First Capitol News, although York was making an issue about the tuition, she was really against the additional year on his contract. York, who has announced her candidacy for an attempt at a third term as Mayor, has shown her dislike for Chief Swope. The City Council overrode her veto and authorized the tuition and the additional contract year for Chief Swope.
Chief Swope was appointed Chief of Police in March of 2005 after St. Charles was without a Chief for almost a year. The City Council wanted Major Robert G. Lowery Jr., the Commander of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad and Assistant Chief of Police in Florissant, appointed Chief of St. Charles. York refused to go along with Lowery’s appointment saying, “He is not the right fit.” York and her husband Lionel met with Lowery and tried to talk him into taking his name out of the running. Lowery was later appointed City Administrator of O’Fallon, Missouri.
Swope’s problems evidently began with York when he fired Sgt. Tommy Mayer who was the president of the Fraternal Order of Police. Mayer was fired in April of 2005 shortly after he ordered City Administrator Allan Williams from his vehicle on the parking lot of police headquarters at gun point and had him spread eagle on the ground. Mayer is a confidant of York and she has traveled the state for him speaking at FOP functions. At a City Council meeting she referred to Mayer as, “Missouri’s Top Cop.”
Prior to his firing, Mayer filed suit against the City, City Administrator and the 10 Councilmen for $101 million dollars. The suit was eventually settled for over $50,000, more than five times what the Council was authorizing for Chief Swope’s tuition. Prior to the suit being settled, York wrote a letter of recommendation to St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa, telling Mokwa how wonderful Mayer was and she expected him to be successful in his suit against the City. Mayer is currently a St. Louis City police officer.
York’s son, Adrian York, a St. Louis police officer, has been telling people that Swope is history. He has said that his mother intends to fire Swope and if she can’t do it now, she will fire him after she is reelected Mayor. Adrian York was recently arrested and charged by Officers of the Missouri State Water Patrol for Boating While Intoxicated. The First Capitol News has learned that in a videotape of the arrest, York is being belligerent and abusive to the arresting officers and is heard telling them his Mother is the Mayor of St. Charles and will take care of it.
Swope also butted heads with York when an investigation was begun involving her daughter. Sources at police headquarters told the First Capitol News that several months ago a local heroin addict stole his parent’s checkbook and wrote checks to several of his friends forging his parent’s signatures on the checks. A police officer investigating the incident called the Mayor directly and allegedly told her of the incident and said that her daughter was not going to be involved in any reports. Several weeks later Chief Swope learned what happened and ordered an investigation into the incident. One of the checks was written to the Mayor’s daughter for $500, which she cashed.
Sources at City Hall told the First Capitol News that the Mayor was mad that Chief Swope had started an investigation into the recall efforts against City Councilwoman Dottie Greer and City Councilman Mark Brown. Our source told us that York ordered Swope to turn over the investigations to her and he refused making her angry. The St. Charles City Charter does not allow the Mayor to give direction to City employees. They are to receive direction from the City Administrator.
Our source told us shortly after York ordered the Chief to give her the recall investigation reports and he refused, she ordered him to provide her with a weekly activity report listing everyone he met with and his daily activities hour by hour. If the Chief has contact with any of the Council members on or off duty the Mayor requires that it must be recorded on his activity report.
Prior to Swope being appointed Chief the police department was thought to be pretty much under control of the Mayor and her Top Cop, Mayer. She allowed individual officers to report directly to her and allegedly gave them direction in direct violation of the City Charter.
Chief Swope also angered the Mayor when he reprimanded Officer Paul Jokerest and transferred him from a desk job in the station to street patrol. Swope took the action when it was discovered that Jokerest had been leaking privileged information to PR Guru Glennon Jamboretz another of the Mayor’s confidants. Jokerest was known to go directly to the Mayor’s office and meet with her while on duty bypassing the chain of command. Jokerest resigned from the department shortly after being transferred but has continued to write letters to the Council critical of Chief Swope.
Mayer, now a St. Louis officer, was quoted recently as saying that Swope would be gone as soon as the Mayor had an opportunity or when she was reelected.
Chief Swope is a 1984 graduate of St. Charles High School and attended college at Central Missouri State University on a baseball scholarship. He has three children and resides in St. Charles.
We contacted Chief Swope for his comments regarding this story but he declined to make any comments. We were unable to contact the Mayor prior to publication.
Many at City Hall believe that the Mayor would attempt to bring Tommy Mayer back as Chief of Police if she is successful in removing Swope and is reelected to a third term.
The First Capitol News has received information that St. Charles Mayor Patti York is apparently planning on firing Police Chief Tim Swope.
York recently vetoed a City Council bill that would give Chief Swope up to $11,000 a year for college tuition and would add an additional year on his contract as Police Chief. Sources at City Hall told the First Capitol News, although York was making an issue about the tuition, she was really against the additional year on his contract. York, who has announced her candidacy for an attempt at a third term as Mayor, has shown her dislike for Chief Swope. The City Council overrode her veto and authorized the tuition and the additional contract year for Chief Swope.
Chief Swope was appointed Chief of Police in March of 2005 after St. Charles was without a Chief for almost a year. The City Council wanted Major Robert G. Lowery Jr., the Commander of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad and Assistant Chief of Police in Florissant, appointed Chief of St. Charles. York refused to go along with Lowery’s appointment saying, “He is not the right fit.” York and her husband Lionel met with Lowery and tried to talk him into taking his name out of the running. Lowery was later appointed City Administrator of O’Fallon, Missouri.
Swope’s problems evidently began with York when he fired Sgt. Tommy Mayer who was the president of the Fraternal Order of Police. Mayer was fired in April of 2005 shortly after he ordered City Administrator Allan Williams from his vehicle on the parking lot of police headquarters at gun point and had him spread eagle on the ground. Mayer is a confidant of York and she has traveled the state for him speaking at FOP functions. At a City Council meeting she referred to Mayer as, “Missouri’s Top Cop.”
Prior to his firing, Mayer filed suit against the City, City Administrator and the 10 Councilmen for $101 million dollars. The suit was eventually settled for over $50,000, more than five times what the Council was authorizing for Chief Swope’s tuition. Prior to the suit being settled, York wrote a letter of recommendation to St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa, telling Mokwa how wonderful Mayer was and she expected him to be successful in his suit against the City. Mayer is currently a St. Louis City police officer.
York’s son, Adrian York, a St. Louis police officer, has been telling people that Swope is history. He has said that his mother intends to fire Swope and if she can’t do it now, she will fire him after she is reelected Mayor. Adrian York was recently arrested and charged by Officers of the Missouri State Water Patrol for Boating While Intoxicated. The First Capitol News has learned that in a videotape of the arrest, York is being belligerent and abusive to the arresting officers and is heard telling them his Mother is the Mayor of St. Charles and will take care of it.
Swope also butted heads with York when an investigation was begun involving her daughter. Sources at police headquarters told the First Capitol News that several months ago a local heroin addict stole his parent’s checkbook and wrote checks to several of his friends forging his parent’s signatures on the checks. A police officer investigating the incident called the Mayor directly and allegedly told her of the incident and said that her daughter was not going to be involved in any reports. Several weeks later Chief Swope learned what happened and ordered an investigation into the incident. One of the checks was written to the Mayor’s daughter for $500, which she cashed.
Sources at City Hall told the First Capitol News that the Mayor was mad that Chief Swope had started an investigation into the recall efforts against City Councilwoman Dottie Greer and City Councilman Mark Brown. Our source told us that York ordered Swope to turn over the investigations to her and he refused making her angry. The St. Charles City Charter does not allow the Mayor to give direction to City employees. They are to receive direction from the City Administrator.
Our source told us shortly after York ordered the Chief to give her the recall investigation reports and he refused, she ordered him to provide her with a weekly activity report listing everyone he met with and his daily activities hour by hour. If the Chief has contact with any of the Council members on or off duty the Mayor requires that it must be recorded on his activity report.
Prior to Swope being appointed Chief the police department was thought to be pretty much under control of the Mayor and her Top Cop, Mayer. She allowed individual officers to report directly to her and allegedly gave them direction in direct violation of the City Charter.
Chief Swope also angered the Mayor when he reprimanded Officer Paul Jokerest and transferred him from a desk job in the station to street patrol. Swope took the action when it was discovered that Jokerest had been leaking privileged information to PR Guru Glennon Jamboretz another of the Mayor’s confidants. Jokerest was known to go directly to the Mayor’s office and meet with her while on duty bypassing the chain of command. Jokerest resigned from the department shortly after being transferred but has continued to write letters to the Council critical of Chief Swope.
Mayer, now a St. Louis officer, was quoted recently as saying that Swope would be gone as soon as the Mayor had an opportunity or when she was reelected.
Chief Swope is a 1984 graduate of St. Charles High School and attended college at Central Missouri State University on a baseball scholarship. He has three children and resides in St. Charles.
We contacted Chief Swope for his comments regarding this story but he declined to make any comments. We were unable to contact the Mayor prior to publication.
Many at City Hall believe that the Mayor would attempt to bring Tommy Mayer back as Chief of Police if she is successful in removing Swope and is reelected to a third term.
October Trial Date Expected For Lawsuit Against Republican State Committee
Former State Representative Tom Green Believes Republican State Committee Lies Cost Him 2004 Election
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
A lawsuit former Democratic State Representative Tom Green has against the State Republican Committee is expected to go to trial in October. Green is accusing the State Republican Committee of defamation of character and libel.
St. Charles County Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham recently denied a motion by the State Republican Committee for a summary judgment to dismiss the lawsuit. After hearing arguments on the motion Cunningham ruled that there was sufficient evidence against the State Republican Committee for the lawsuit to go to trial.
In the 2004 general election, State Representative Tom Green (D) lost his seat to St. Charles County Council member Sally Faith (R). Green believes “out and out lies” published by the Republican State Committee caused him to loose the election.
In late October of 2004, just before the November general elections, registered voters in Green’s 15th State Representative District received post cards that displayed an Alaskan scene on one side and on the other implied Green had taken a state paid Alaskan vacation.
At that time Green told the First Capitol News, I have never been to Alaska and have never taken a state paid vacation to Alaska. I am amazed at the audacity of the Republican Committee to publish out and out lies in an attempt to give my opponent an advantage. The proper thing for them to do would be for them to send another mailing to the same people who received the first correcting their misinformation and apologizing for misleading the voters.” The First Capitol News was unable to get any comments from Representative Faith. The Republican State Committee has admitted making the mailing but is denying it cost Green the election.
Green told the First Capitol News, “The voters in my district were given lies and misinformation about me and that allowed my Republican opponent to steal the election. This is not fair to the voters.”
When asked if he believed Faith was a participant in the mailing Green said, “We will have to see when she takes the oath and testifies in Court.”
Green also said, “This made up information from the Republican Party broke the trust I had with the voters in my district. They had them believing trumped up lies they were telling about me. I have never been to Alaska much less had the taxpayers of the state pay for such a trip.”
St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil has also accused the Republican State Committee of similar tactics against him when he ran against State Senator Rupp in the August Republican primary election.
Residents of Green’s ward told the First Capitol News in addition to the mailing, push polling was also conducted during the Green-Faith primary. They said that they received phone calls telling them bad things about Green they later learned were untrue.
Green, who is challenging Faith in the November general election, is a pro-life candidate. He is also active in St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Catholic Parish. He points to the sound wall along the Page Avenue Expressway, the new Highway 94/70 Interchange and his work for children and senior citizens as some of the highlights of his time in office.
“We are in other countries fighting for truth freedom but in St. Charles County elections are being won on lies. When I was in office the people of the 15th District were well represented,” said Green. Now the representation is being given to St. Charles special interests not the taxpayers.”
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
A lawsuit former Democratic State Representative Tom Green has against the State Republican Committee is expected to go to trial in October. Green is accusing the State Republican Committee of defamation of character and libel.
St. Charles County Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham recently denied a motion by the State Republican Committee for a summary judgment to dismiss the lawsuit. After hearing arguments on the motion Cunningham ruled that there was sufficient evidence against the State Republican Committee for the lawsuit to go to trial.
In the 2004 general election, State Representative Tom Green (D) lost his seat to St. Charles County Council member Sally Faith (R). Green believes “out and out lies” published by the Republican State Committee caused him to loose the election.
In late October of 2004, just before the November general elections, registered voters in Green’s 15th State Representative District received post cards that displayed an Alaskan scene on one side and on the other implied Green had taken a state paid Alaskan vacation.
At that time Green told the First Capitol News, I have never been to Alaska and have never taken a state paid vacation to Alaska. I am amazed at the audacity of the Republican Committee to publish out and out lies in an attempt to give my opponent an advantage. The proper thing for them to do would be for them to send another mailing to the same people who received the first correcting their misinformation and apologizing for misleading the voters.” The First Capitol News was unable to get any comments from Representative Faith. The Republican State Committee has admitted making the mailing but is denying it cost Green the election.
Green told the First Capitol News, “The voters in my district were given lies and misinformation about me and that allowed my Republican opponent to steal the election. This is not fair to the voters.”
When asked if he believed Faith was a participant in the mailing Green said, “We will have to see when she takes the oath and testifies in Court.”
Green also said, “This made up information from the Republican Party broke the trust I had with the voters in my district. They had them believing trumped up lies they were telling about me. I have never been to Alaska much less had the taxpayers of the state pay for such a trip.”
St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil has also accused the Republican State Committee of similar tactics against him when he ran against State Senator Rupp in the August Republican primary election.
Residents of Green’s ward told the First Capitol News in addition to the mailing, push polling was also conducted during the Green-Faith primary. They said that they received phone calls telling them bad things about Green they later learned were untrue.
Green, who is challenging Faith in the November general election, is a pro-life candidate. He is also active in St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Catholic Parish. He points to the sound wall along the Page Avenue Expressway, the new Highway 94/70 Interchange and his work for children and senior citizens as some of the highlights of his time in office.
“We are in other countries fighting for truth freedom but in St. Charles County elections are being won on lies. When I was in office the people of the 15th District were well represented,” said Green. Now the representation is being given to St. Charles special interests not the taxpayers.”
Dempsey’s Abramoff?
By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
Pictured in a First Capitol News photo by Tony Brockmeyer, is Thomas Smith of 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles. Smith is the aide to State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) 18th District and is the treasurer of more than 10 legislative committees that are being used to circumvent Missouri election donation laws. Smith controls several million dollars in contributions to the committees which are registered to his home at 320 Monroe Street.
In addition to drawing a salary from the state, Smith has earned thousands of dollars running these committees, a job that is often a volunteer position. After the First Capitol News first broke the story about apparent unethical campaign financing that is run out of 320 Monroe Street, Dempsey ironically began claiming that election finance reform will be a priority in his reelection bid.
Councilman Joe Koester is running for State Representative in the 18th District and has expressed concern about the wide-reaching influence of corporate dollars and special interest legislation that may be tied to such large contributions.
Smith’s position on the St. Charles City Park Board expired a year ago and when Mayor York brought his name forward for reappointment, it was rejected by the Council. However, Smith has refused to step down and claims to be the current vice president of the board. When the First Capitol News entered a park board meeting in progress, Smith, upon seeing the photographer, covered his face for the duration of the meeting including when speaking to the board in an apparent attempt to prevent his photo from being taken (See additional Smith photo on page 9). ttt
Forgeries Found In Brown Recall
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has learned from employees at a senior citizen residence that the St. Charles Police have discovered forgeries on petitions calling for the recall of City Councilman Mark Brown.
The employees said that they learned of the forgeries after the police began questioning employees and residents of the facility.
Mayor York’s father, who recently passed away, was a resident at the facility and was acting in the attempted recall of Councilman Brown. The Mayor was also actively involved in the recall attempt.
The First Capitol News contacted St. Charles Police Chief Tim Swope for comments regarding the forgeries. Chief Swope said the investigation was still an open investigation and he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
Swope did say that if forgeries were discovered the reports would be forwarded to St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas for prosecution.
The recall attempt against Brown was headed by Linda Meyer, the wife of a St. Charles Police Officer. It was being financed by T.R. Hughes, Kevin Kast, Glennon Jamboretz, and others, all confidants of St. Charles Mayor York.
The First Capitol News has learned from employees at a senior citizen residence that the St. Charles Police have discovered forgeries on petitions calling for the recall of City Councilman Mark Brown.
The employees said that they learned of the forgeries after the police began questioning employees and residents of the facility.
Mayor York’s father, who recently passed away, was a resident at the facility and was acting in the attempted recall of Councilman Brown. The Mayor was also actively involved in the recall attempt.
The First Capitol News contacted St. Charles Police Chief Tim Swope for comments regarding the forgeries. Chief Swope said the investigation was still an open investigation and he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
Swope did say that if forgeries were discovered the reports would be forwarded to St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas for prosecution.
The recall attempt against Brown was headed by Linda Meyer, the wife of a St. Charles Police Officer. It was being financed by T.R. Hughes, Kevin Kast, Glennon Jamboretz, and others, all confidants of St. Charles Mayor York.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
We lost a friend the other day
Several years ago I received a call from President Spellmann of Lindenwood University. He asked if we could come by his office and give him fifteen minutes of our time. That was the first time we had met him although we had heard a lot about him shortly after we started the First Capitol News. He wanted to tell us how much he liked the paper and thought it was good for St. Charles. The fifteen minutes passed by quickly so knowing he was a busy man we attempted to leave but he would not hear of it. When we finally left his office we discovered the fifteen minutes had grown to several hours. President Spellmann was an amazing man and we enjoyed listening to his plans and discussing the City and politics.
Over the past several years we would often receive calls asking for fifteen minutes and each time the fifteen minutes grew to several hours of enjoyable conversation.
We were surprised to learn, that among all his talents, he was also a City planner. He would bring out plans, drawings, and conceptual ideas and ask for our opinions and tell us his ideas. We always left those meetings with greater knowledge than we entered. He was a teacher.
On occasion he would ask us to intervene on his behalf and arrange meetings with those who didn’t share his views. We didn’t always agree with the actions he took but we always enjoyed his company. Especially when he told us how much he liked the First Capitol News and how he thought it was good for the City. He made us promise that if we ever wanted to sell the paper we would give him the right of first refusal. He used to say, “Some of my friends say they never read the First Capitol News but they sure know what is in it.”
We especially are proud of the fact that when he was trying to get his Cultural Art Center (now under construction) started he asked if we would talk to some of the Council members to see if they would pass a resolution encouraging the College Board of Trustees to proceed with the project. He even had us arrange a meeting with him and a Council member with whom he had not spoken for several years. They then became friends.
St. Charles will miss President Spellmann. Despite his detractors, he did a lot of good for the community. He liked to remark that the University brought more tourists to St. Charles than the Convention and Visitors Bureau and he was proud of that. President Spellmann had visions far ahead of the rest of us and we hope that who ever takes his place is able to carry out his dreams.
Several years ago I received a call from President Spellmann of Lindenwood University. He asked if we could come by his office and give him fifteen minutes of our time. That was the first time we had met him although we had heard a lot about him shortly after we started the First Capitol News. He wanted to tell us how much he liked the paper and thought it was good for St. Charles. The fifteen minutes passed by quickly so knowing he was a busy man we attempted to leave but he would not hear of it. When we finally left his office we discovered the fifteen minutes had grown to several hours. President Spellmann was an amazing man and we enjoyed listening to his plans and discussing the City and politics.
Over the past several years we would often receive calls asking for fifteen minutes and each time the fifteen minutes grew to several hours of enjoyable conversation.
We were surprised to learn, that among all his talents, he was also a City planner. He would bring out plans, drawings, and conceptual ideas and ask for our opinions and tell us his ideas. We always left those meetings with greater knowledge than we entered. He was a teacher.
On occasion he would ask us to intervene on his behalf and arrange meetings with those who didn’t share his views. We didn’t always agree with the actions he took but we always enjoyed his company. Especially when he told us how much he liked the First Capitol News and how he thought it was good for the City. He made us promise that if we ever wanted to sell the paper we would give him the right of first refusal. He used to say, “Some of my friends say they never read the First Capitol News but they sure know what is in it.”
We especially are proud of the fact that when he was trying to get his Cultural Art Center (now under construction) started he asked if we would talk to some of the Council members to see if they would pass a resolution encouraging the College Board of Trustees to proceed with the project. He even had us arrange a meeting with him and a Council member with whom he had not spoken for several years. They then became friends.
St. Charles will miss President Spellmann. Despite his detractors, he did a lot of good for the community. He liked to remark that the University brought more tourists to St. Charles than the Convention and Visitors Bureau and he was proud of that. President Spellmann had visions far ahead of the rest of us and we hope that who ever takes his place is able to carry out his dreams.
THE CITY DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
Electric Utility Management Thinks
We Owe Them For Poor Performance
You can “take it” from Ameren UE…they are doing a great job.
It’s all right here in their own press release.
They paid good money for a survey to tell them what a great job they were doing, how everybody loves them and they have the least outages of any other electric company. I’m not surprised the survey said good things about Ameren, after all when you spend that kind of money stroking your ego, you don’t want to be disappointed with the results.
The press release by the way, goes on to tell us how lucky we are to live in area where the cost of electric service is so low and how “generous” Ameren has been in letting it be so low for so long.
Who can argue with that? Makes you want to run outside and hug an electric pole.
Did I mention that buried somewhere in this press release they also want to raise our electric rates by around 35%? A mere trifle when you consider that last year Ameren UE generated $6.8 BILLION in revenue. What’s a few billion between friends?
Of course, they could just tell us all to go stick our finger in a light socket to approximate the shock we’ll get if these rate hikes are approved. It helps if you are standing in a puddle of water at the time.
Tuesday night I am happy to say the City Council stood up for consumers and passed a resolution calling on the Public Service Commission to deny Ameren’s request. It cites among other things their poor record of management and response to emergencies and power outages. It also carefully separates what we see as the shortcomings of upper management from the hard work of most rank and file Ameren employees.
These are the same employees the management of Ameren likes to “hide” behind whenever anything goes wrong. Yes we lost power to hundreds of thousands of customers for days, putting lives at risk and destroying tens of millions of dollars of perishable food and many more millions of dollars in lost wages and productivity of area businesses. Yes we were woefully unprepared to handle a crisis of this magnitude and had no idea when power could be restored. Yes, our skimping on the tree-trimming budget the last few years to save a few bucks made the problem far worse. But did we mention our employees work hard and work outside in harsh conditions?
I am proud to have been the sponsor of this council resolution and pleased to say it passed unanimously (not always an easy task on the Council). But I also want to share the credit with local Attorney Steve Martin, the Chairman of the City’s Landmarks Board. He brought the idea to me of doing the resolution and much of the research. It seems an elderly relative of his in a nursing facility was put in harm’s way by the duration of the power outages this summer. Steve never seemed like the kind of person to let a rose colored press release gloss over the facts.
For those who care to read the entire resolution, here it is:
Whereas, during major outages this summer, workers for Ameren worked 16 hour shifts, endured searing heat and even suffered one fatality, and
Whereas, the public is appreciative of the dedication of these workers, and
Whereas, the record of management of Ameren has not matched the sacrifice and dedication of its rank and file workers, and
Whereas, in the Ameren service area there have been three major outages in three summers, while other major metropolitan areas have not suffered the same rate of outages, and
Whereas, the summer outage of 2004 left 220,000 Ameren customers without power for up to four days, and
Whereas, Ameren says it had a plan to restore power within 72 hours, but failed to do so this summer leaving over 600,000 customers without power, and
Whereas, the utility had been cited by the Public Service Commission for skimping on its tree trimming budget, and
Whereas, this same management of Ameren failed to maintain the Tom Sauk Dam which failed, and
Whereas, Ameren’s poor planning resulted in the deaths of both people and pets, this summer, and
Whereas, Ameren customers lost over $60 MILLION in spoiled food by a conservative estimate, and
Whereas, restaurants and supermarkets lost a like or greater amount of food, and
Whereas, the elderly and those in hospitals and under medical care had their lives put at risk, and
Whereas, the loss of business productivity and wages was of an untold staggering amount during this prolonged power outage, and
Whereas, Ameren has pending before the Public Service Commission a major rate increase that will cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars,
Now Therefore Be It Resolved, By The City Council of the City of St. Charles, that while we applaud the dedication of individual workers of Ameren during the 2006 outages, we believe it is time that Ameren’s management stop hiding behind the efforts of those individuals and be held accountable for the poor management of this vital utility, and
Be it further resolved, that the public has no confidence in the current management of this company, and that the Public Service Commission should not consider any rate increase until the current management has implemented changes to reduce power outages and respond with the necessary resources and manpower immediately if they do occur and
Be it further resolved, that the Governor should not appoint or reappoint Public Service Commission members who do not, or will not, hold Ameren responsible for the worst series of outages of this company in its 100 year history.
[Note To Editor: If my column next week is a little late it’s because I’ll be writing it out long hand by candlelight the minute Ameren gets a copy of this week’s paper. Thanks]
THE PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor
Letter to the Editor:
I’m writing in regards to the embarrassment I feel as a St. Peters resident. First of all, we elect a Mayor who has zero experience in any political office. Next, we watch him every week negate any progress that the board of aldermen try to make; trying to make us feel sorry for him. In the end, the FBI pick him up on bribery charges and he ends up in Federal court and could possibly head to prison. Let’s elect the Mayor we should have elected the first time: Mayor Tom Brown. Mayor, if you’re reading this, please consider running in April of 2007. Let’s get St. Peters’ government back in good standing with its residents and with the FBI!
Ron Steininder
St. Peters, MO
To the Editor,
It looks like the City of Berkeley and the City of St. Peters have a lot in common these days. Both of their ranking officials, City Administrator King and Mayor Brown were in the news for conspiracy and bribery charges for $25,000 and $2,700 respectively. King has been doing this for over 3 years. Makes you wonder how much Mayor Brown would have gotten away with if this would not have happened early in his career. Maybe that is the reason he ran for office in the first place.
Dick Auckley
St. Peters, MO.
Editor,
I have some comments on the recent developments in St. Peters. Mayor Shawn Brown ran his campaign on “honesty” and “change”. There certainly was a change; we got a dishonest Mayor who throws his political career away over $2700. That’s about the extent of his tenure. Let’s talk about Tom Brown and the changes that he has made. As a resident of St. Peters for over 25 years, I have seen Tom Brown transform St. Peters into a place where people like to live and work. So many good businesses have opened up in St. Peters, allowing people to work in their town without having to drive miles from home. This is in addition to bringing us the Rec-Plex, a great family venue which brought St. Peters worldwide attention in 1994 when we hosted the Olympic Festival. This is the kind of change and attention St. Peters wants, Mayor Shawn Brown, not negative attention like bribery charges and constant fighting with the board of Aldermen.
Lela Baird
St. Peters, MO
Dear Media Editor:
This is a letter to the St. Peters Board of Aldermen: let the impeachment proceedings begin! I think I apeak for most of the citizens of St. Peters when I say we need to get rid of Mayor Shawn Brown. What an embarrassment it has been to watch him on television leaving the Federal Court house on charges of asking for and accepting a bribe! This is the same man who ran a campaign against Tom Brown saying that the board and Mayor should not be so tight and that there should be, some fairness when it comes to getting ordinances passed. Apparently, fairness means not passing something the Board and Citizens want unless you get compensated!
P. Dodson
St. Peters, MO
I’m writing in regards to the embarrassment I feel as a St. Peters resident. First of all, we elect a Mayor who has zero experience in any political office. Next, we watch him every week negate any progress that the board of aldermen try to make; trying to make us feel sorry for him. In the end, the FBI pick him up on bribery charges and he ends up in Federal court and could possibly head to prison. Let’s elect the Mayor we should have elected the first time: Mayor Tom Brown. Mayor, if you’re reading this, please consider running in April of 2007. Let’s get St. Peters’ government back in good standing with its residents and with the FBI!
Ron Steininder
St. Peters, MO
To the Editor,
It looks like the City of Berkeley and the City of St. Peters have a lot in common these days. Both of their ranking officials, City Administrator King and Mayor Brown were in the news for conspiracy and bribery charges for $25,000 and $2,700 respectively. King has been doing this for over 3 years. Makes you wonder how much Mayor Brown would have gotten away with if this would not have happened early in his career. Maybe that is the reason he ran for office in the first place.
Dick Auckley
St. Peters, MO.
Editor,
I have some comments on the recent developments in St. Peters. Mayor Shawn Brown ran his campaign on “honesty” and “change”. There certainly was a change; we got a dishonest Mayor who throws his political career away over $2700. That’s about the extent of his tenure. Let’s talk about Tom Brown and the changes that he has made. As a resident of St. Peters for over 25 years, I have seen Tom Brown transform St. Peters into a place where people like to live and work. So many good businesses have opened up in St. Peters, allowing people to work in their town without having to drive miles from home. This is in addition to bringing us the Rec-Plex, a great family venue which brought St. Peters worldwide attention in 1994 when we hosted the Olympic Festival. This is the kind of change and attention St. Peters wants, Mayor Shawn Brown, not negative attention like bribery charges and constant fighting with the board of Aldermen.
Lela Baird
St. Peters, MO
Dear Media Editor:
This is a letter to the St. Peters Board of Aldermen: let the impeachment proceedings begin! I think I apeak for most of the citizens of St. Peters when I say we need to get rid of Mayor Shawn Brown. What an embarrassment it has been to watch him on television leaving the Federal Court house on charges of asking for and accepting a bribe! This is the same man who ran a campaign against Tom Brown saying that the board and Mayor should not be so tight and that there should be, some fairness when it comes to getting ordinances passed. Apparently, fairness means not passing something the Board and Citizens want unless you get compensated!
P. Dodson
St. Peters, MO
THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS BY Jerry Haferkamp
The View From The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
First things first. The Commemorative Air Force unit that has their headquarters at Smartt Field is having a Hangar Dance there featuring “Big Band” music on Saturday, September 16 from 7-11 p.m. Doors open at 6. Call 636-250-4515 for info and tickets. It should be a good time for those of us who like the “Big Band” sound.
If you’re thinking I’m going to rant about you not being to vote on how your city is run, I’m going to disappoint you. Our mayor has decided that you should not vote and four members of the council agreed and denied you the vote. It is now a dead issue. I just hope you remember her and the councilmen who denied you this privilege when election time rolls around. ‘Nuff said.
You have to wonder if we really have a sign ordinance. There is a truck parked along Veterans Memorial Drive in the vicinity of Mr. Steak that advertises apartments in St. Peters. There is a truck on Droste Road advertising five-dollar pizza. Both are in violation of the ordinance that prohibits such displays.
Here are the paragraphs pertaining to this “not allowed” signage:
(L) All portable signs, except as otherwise provided. Portable signs shall include, but are not limited to, signs which are mounted, attached, or painted on trailers, boats or vehicles when used as additional signage on or near the business premises. Business vehicles displaying signage or advertising shall be parked in an assigned parking space which is not immediately adjacent to a street frontage; (PIZZA)
(M) Signs attached to, suspended from or painted on any vehicle which is regularly parked on any street or private property when one of the purposes of so locating such vehicle is to display, demonstrate, and advertise or attract the attention of the public: (APARTMENTS IN ST. PETERS)
The truck touting the apartments has been there for months. Is there a penalty for these eyesores, or does anyone really care? I know the head of code enforcement cares, but he is only one person. Perhaps the rest of his department should see to it that such infractions are corrected without waiting for a resident to complain. There are signs all over town in the rights-of-way that they must drive past every day. Realtors who place a sign is within eight feet of the curb are probably in violation. If it is in the grass between the street and the sidewalk, it is almost surely in violation.
It is of little cultural value to place artwork in parts of our city if they have to compete with this trashy image. Few will notice the art, but nearly all will remember the eyesores.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
By Jerry Haferkamp
First things first. The Commemorative Air Force unit that has their headquarters at Smartt Field is having a Hangar Dance there featuring “Big Band” music on Saturday, September 16 from 7-11 p.m. Doors open at 6. Call 636-250-4515 for info and tickets. It should be a good time for those of us who like the “Big Band” sound.
If you’re thinking I’m going to rant about you not being to vote on how your city is run, I’m going to disappoint you. Our mayor has decided that you should not vote and four members of the council agreed and denied you the vote. It is now a dead issue. I just hope you remember her and the councilmen who denied you this privilege when election time rolls around. ‘Nuff said.
You have to wonder if we really have a sign ordinance. There is a truck parked along Veterans Memorial Drive in the vicinity of Mr. Steak that advertises apartments in St. Peters. There is a truck on Droste Road advertising five-dollar pizza. Both are in violation of the ordinance that prohibits such displays.
Here are the paragraphs pertaining to this “not allowed” signage:
(L) All portable signs, except as otherwise provided. Portable signs shall include, but are not limited to, signs which are mounted, attached, or painted on trailers, boats or vehicles when used as additional signage on or near the business premises. Business vehicles displaying signage or advertising shall be parked in an assigned parking space which is not immediately adjacent to a street frontage; (PIZZA)
(M) Signs attached to, suspended from or painted on any vehicle which is regularly parked on any street or private property when one of the purposes of so locating such vehicle is to display, demonstrate, and advertise or attract the attention of the public: (APARTMENTS IN ST. PETERS)
The truck touting the apartments has been there for months. Is there a penalty for these eyesores, or does anyone really care? I know the head of code enforcement cares, but he is only one person. Perhaps the rest of his department should see to it that such infractions are corrected without waiting for a resident to complain. There are signs all over town in the rights-of-way that they must drive past every day. Realtors who place a sign is within eight feet of the curb are probably in violation. If it is in the grass between the street and the sidewalk, it is almost surely in violation.
It is of little cultural value to place artwork in parts of our city if they have to compete with this trashy image. Few will notice the art, but nearly all will remember the eyesores.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
Case IN POINT By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
Case In Point
“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
Dwight Eisenhower
During a recent event, Russ Carnahan quoted Dwight Eisenhower – I had heard this quote before and thought it was appropriate for the political climate in which we now live. I think it is hard not to like Eisenhower; he was a rational moderate who had lived warfare but loved peace. We all recall his warnings about a military industrial complex that we should look upon with great caution and healthy suspicion. This was a man who believed in small government, but supported successful government programs such as Social Security because he saw its positive effects in reducing suffering caused by destitute poverty. It is interesting to note that along with Social Security he thinks of unemployment insurance, farm programs, and most notable, labor laws as things worth defending and believes that those who would do away with these things are stupid and negligible in number. Furthermore, in a prophetic way, he goes on to indict oil tycoons as part of this stupid, splinter group. Some others who make up this stupid group, he said, included occasional politicians and businessmen from other areas – say, Wyoming for example.
Sadly, the splinter group he spoke of has turned into the ruling class today.
These oil millionaires sell their snake oil with their smooth talk claiming that they are the down home folks while they say the Democrats are the rich, Hollywood snobs. Sadly, too many Americans gobble this up. In metro St. Louis, it is Town and Country, Ladue, and Chesterfield who vote solidly for the GOP along with much of St. Charles County. The working men and women of our county’s towns provide the votes needed by the GOP to elect those who pass legislation that benefits the affluent of Town and Country, Ladue, and Chesterfield. The St. Charles County GOP gets stagnant wages, rising health care costs, cuts to programs that benefited our poorest children and our most vulnerable seniors while affluent families in Ladue get yet more tax breaks and corporate welfare so they can help widen the gap between rich and poor.
It’s a sad state of affairs when lawmakers in Jefferson City and D.C. can pillage on behalf of the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans and we go along with it. Like the bumper sticker said, “If you’re not mad as hell, you haven’t been paying attention.”
People of St. Charles, it’s time to pay attention. This GOP hegemony has got to come to an end for our nation’s sake. If your party was the GOP of Eisenhower, that party has expired and a few Texas oil millionaires have taken over. They broke their contract with America and we all need to remember that. They wanted to end corruption, end pork barrel spending, adhere to self-imposed term limits, clean up the election process, end un-funded mandates and balance the budget - this was their pledge, this was their contract. What did you get for voting for them? You got rampant corruption; pork spending that has grown by double digits since they have taken control; not one member who stuck to his pledge to step down after eight years; unfunded mandates such as “No Child Left Behind” and a budget that your great grandchildren will be paying off. In fact, we are so far in the red, it now makes sense to me why this is the GOP’s color on the election maps.
Quite literally there is so much wrong that these oil millionaires have done that writing about it becomes overwhelming.
By the way, the next time someone hints at these guys doing a better job at keeping us safe, just remember it is this administration that chooses to give capital gains tax cuts rather than check all cargo coming into our ports. It is this administration that would rather eliminate the estate tax rather than finance Homeland Security. The money they have decided to spend for our safety was determined by political clout rather than what makes sense, resulting in millions of dollars for Homeland Security being spent protecting sites in Montana, Wyoming, and Indiana rather than at our borders, at our airports and seaports, and in our major cities.
We started with Eisenhower, let’s end with another quote from him: “Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and co-operation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
Dwight Eisenhower
During a recent event, Russ Carnahan quoted Dwight Eisenhower – I had heard this quote before and thought it was appropriate for the political climate in which we now live. I think it is hard not to like Eisenhower; he was a rational moderate who had lived warfare but loved peace. We all recall his warnings about a military industrial complex that we should look upon with great caution and healthy suspicion. This was a man who believed in small government, but supported successful government programs such as Social Security because he saw its positive effects in reducing suffering caused by destitute poverty. It is interesting to note that along with Social Security he thinks of unemployment insurance, farm programs, and most notable, labor laws as things worth defending and believes that those who would do away with these things are stupid and negligible in number. Furthermore, in a prophetic way, he goes on to indict oil tycoons as part of this stupid, splinter group. Some others who make up this stupid group, he said, included occasional politicians and businessmen from other areas – say, Wyoming for example.
Sadly, the splinter group he spoke of has turned into the ruling class today.
These oil millionaires sell their snake oil with their smooth talk claiming that they are the down home folks while they say the Democrats are the rich, Hollywood snobs. Sadly, too many Americans gobble this up. In metro St. Louis, it is Town and Country, Ladue, and Chesterfield who vote solidly for the GOP along with much of St. Charles County. The working men and women of our county’s towns provide the votes needed by the GOP to elect those who pass legislation that benefits the affluent of Town and Country, Ladue, and Chesterfield. The St. Charles County GOP gets stagnant wages, rising health care costs, cuts to programs that benefited our poorest children and our most vulnerable seniors while affluent families in Ladue get yet more tax breaks and corporate welfare so they can help widen the gap between rich and poor.
It’s a sad state of affairs when lawmakers in Jefferson City and D.C. can pillage on behalf of the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans and we go along with it. Like the bumper sticker said, “If you’re not mad as hell, you haven’t been paying attention.”
People of St. Charles, it’s time to pay attention. This GOP hegemony has got to come to an end for our nation’s sake. If your party was the GOP of Eisenhower, that party has expired and a few Texas oil millionaires have taken over. They broke their contract with America and we all need to remember that. They wanted to end corruption, end pork barrel spending, adhere to self-imposed term limits, clean up the election process, end un-funded mandates and balance the budget - this was their pledge, this was their contract. What did you get for voting for them? You got rampant corruption; pork spending that has grown by double digits since they have taken control; not one member who stuck to his pledge to step down after eight years; unfunded mandates such as “No Child Left Behind” and a budget that your great grandchildren will be paying off. In fact, we are so far in the red, it now makes sense to me why this is the GOP’s color on the election maps.
Quite literally there is so much wrong that these oil millionaires have done that writing about it becomes overwhelming.
By the way, the next time someone hints at these guys doing a better job at keeping us safe, just remember it is this administration that chooses to give capital gains tax cuts rather than check all cargo coming into our ports. It is this administration that would rather eliminate the estate tax rather than finance Homeland Security. The money they have decided to spend for our safety was determined by political clout rather than what makes sense, resulting in millions of dollars for Homeland Security being spent protecting sites in Montana, Wyoming, and Indiana rather than at our borders, at our airports and seaports, and in our major cities.
We started with Eisenhower, let’s end with another quote from him: “Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and co-operation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
SPORTS - First Capitol News Sports Section - MIKE MCMURRAN Sports Editor
In the back of my mind I keep hearing the lyrics to that famous Country and Western ballad, “Back in the saddle, again.” Personally, I like to think of my self as a highly structured individual. Nothing is better in life than a carefully thought out strategic plan to get oneself through the day – that is how I look at life. While sitting at my desk I can close my eyes and tell you precisely where everything from my favorite pencil to my coffee cup is located. I enjoy waking up at the same time every day and commencing my morning routine. The downside to my highly structured life is when my carefully thought out strategic plan to get through the day doesn’t go quite the way I have planned, I sometimes know not what to do next. For example, my morning routine mandates one of my first tasks is to walk down my driveway to fetch the morning paper. Simple enough, right? Well, maybe not. You see, in my world of highly structured, carefully thought out strategic plan for getting though the day, if thing don’t go as planned I sometimes, maybe even often, freeze up – just like a computer. On more than one occasion I have walked to the end of my driveway to fetch the morning paper only to find it has yet to be delivered. Now I assure you I walk down the driveway at the same time each and every day – never more than a two-minute variance. On those days when my morning paper is not in my driveway, I stand there like a deer caught in someone’s headlights. I don’t know what to do next! But I digress.
“Back in the saddle, again,” because this fine weekly is back to weekly publication. Now I can get back into my weekly writing routine of almost making the deadline for submitting my work. On a related note, Louis, who has been formally schooled in journalism, tells me that it is an unwritten rule of writers and journalists to dodge editor’s deadlines. Don’t get me wrong here, Tony amd Phyllis are great guys to work for, usually they make you feel as though you are working WITH them more than FOR them. But sometimes their deadlines are just unrealistic. That being said, I met it this week.
This past week I experienced one of those special moments that only a father/football coach can experience. Joe and I were driving home from one of his bi-weekly football practices when he said to me, “Dad, you know that sound on the field when two guys hit each other really, really hard?” Now every football fan in the world knows exactly what “sound” Joe was referencing. “Sure, son, I know the sound you are talking about,” I replied. “Well Dad, I think that is my favorite sound in the world.” If I wasn’t such a tough guy I most likely would have teared-up. But ladies and gentlemen, it gets better. Joe, my first-born son, after contemplating what he had said, then added: “Well Dad, maybe my second favorite sound. My favorite sound is hearing you tell me how much you love me.” I swear to God that is exactly how it happened; as Bob Barton says, “Why would I make it up when the truth is better than anything I can make up?”
Corey Nesslage’s Saint Charles Pirates took it on the chin Friday night as Jennings topped the Bucs 29-19. That being said I expect a winning season will present itself this gridiron season from the hallowed halls on Kingshighway. Next to the Titans of Trinity Catholic High School, I am probably most familiar with the Jennings Warriors and their head coach, Ryan Wallace. Wallace inherited a diamond in the rough from former Jennings coach Rob Harper. Don’t get me wrong, the Warriors have Wallace’s fingerprints all over them. But even Wallace will admit he inherited a team with a full cupboard. That being said, the Pirates were beaten by one of the better teams in the region – the only thing is, nobody knows it yet. Remember, you read it here first – Nesslage will have his Pirates firing on all cylinders when district play starts, and his Pirates will reward him with his first district title.
Condolences to two of my favorite, regular readers, Bradley and Brennen Almus on the passing of their grandpa, John Almus. Boys, the same way your dad coaches your basketball teams, your grandpa used to coach your dad’s teams. And some day you will coach your children in youth sports; that’s just part of what being an Almus is all about.
And finally, Friday, September 15th is my daughter Maggie Kurtz McMurran’s 11th birthday. Most everyone told me I received the most special of all birthday presents when she was born on my 41st birthday. BULL! From 9/15/95 on, September 15th has been, and always will be known as “Maggie’s birthday.” She stole my birthday! Any way, Maggie and I have started a tradition. On Friday morning, both she and I will rise extra early, say 5 a.m. or so, and treat ourselves to a birthday breakfast at Al’s Diner on Kingshighway. Happy birthday Margo – have I ever told you that you are my favorite daughter?
First Capitol News
High School Athlete of the Week
Pat Ampleman, senior
Duchesne High School
Editor’s note: I’ve often times said there is nothing wrong with making mistakes. The secret is to avoid making the same mistake twice. That being said, I suspect I should take some pride in the fact that my 6 year-old son was simply imitating his father as he “interviewed” his older brother. The problem lies in he taped over about 15 seconds or so of my interview with Pat Ampleman – this week’s FCN High School Athlete of the Week. That being said, I know not what Pat’s parents’ names are, nor do I know his older sister’s name. I do know he lives with both his mom and dad, and that his sister is studying Early Childhood Education at Lindenwood University.
The lesson I’ve learned is to not leave my tape recorder where my son can get his hands on it.
Vitals: 5’ 10”, 180 lb., senior, goalkeeper
How long have you been playing soccer: I’ve been playing soccer for as long as I can remember. To the best of my knowledge, I started playing when I was 5 years old at Sacred Heart in Florissant.
What is you most memorable soccer moment: When you’ve been playing soccer as long as I have, it all starts to blend together. I guess winning the team’s Most Valuable Player award last season. I pretty much don’t focus on the past as much as I do the future. We won a State title once playing for Lou Fusz on my select team. All I think about is what this team can accomplish this year!
Favorite subject in school: Anatomy
Favorite teacher: My gym teacher, Mr. Bouslob. He is the kind of person you can talk to on just about any subject. He’s really kind of cool for being a teacher – down to earth I guess you would say.
Your role model in life: That would be my dad. He is a very religious man who has taught me right from wrong. What I really admire in him is how he doesn’t care about what other people think.
Words of wisdom for underclassmen: Don’t make the same mistake I made. Your grades as a freshman and sophomore mean as much as when you are a junior and senior. I didn’t try my hardest when I first entered high school, my g.p.a. was something like a 2.0 at the end of my sophomore year, maybe even lower. Since then I’ve learned just how important it is and I’ve raised my gpa up to almost a 3.5.
Restaurant question: Applebee’s is the restaurant I would go to, and I would order the “Steak too,” which is steak and salmon.
High school football teams’ wins are few and far between
Tough schedules to blame?
By: Mike McMurran
Two weeks into the 2006 high school football season, the combined record of Duchesne, High and West is 1-5. The bad news is looking at the difficulty level of all three schedules, things likely to get worse before they get better.
Pirates even ledger with win over Paseo Academy
After opening the season with a 29-19 loss at the hands of Suburban East opponent Jennings, Corey Nesslage’s Pirates rebounded with a 40-0 win over Paseo Academy. The Pirates running game, led by junior Clifton Brown, was more than Paseo, from the Kansas City area, could handle. Brown (6’ 196 lbs) carried the ball 16 times for 133 yards, his second hundred-yard game in as many outings (25 carries/145 yards vs. Jennings).
The Pirates will host Washington, who until this year played in the larger Gateway Athletic Conference – South division, Friday, September 15. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
West drops first two
The Warriors were not playing their best game, but still managed to hold on to a 2-0 lead in the season opener against University City – for a while. With 3:23 remaining in the third quarter, head coach Gary Strauss’ offense looked like they were going to punch the ball in from the 4-yard line. Ah but looks can be deceiving. Just like that U. City’s Mark Burnett recovered a Warrior’s fumble and raced 96 yards to the end zone giving the host Lions a 6-2 win.
Week two the Warriors gave up over 300 yards total offense to Zumwalt South as they fell to the Bulldogs 42-15.
West will get a break in their schedule this week as they host Warrenton on Friday night. Whatever break they get they should enjoy as down the road they must face Timberland, Cape Central, Washington and powerhouse Webb City before entering districts.
Duchesne: enigma!
Year in and year out it is a pretty safe bet that a Charlie Elmendorf coached team, no matter what the sport, is going to be very competitive. That being said, when your high school football schedule includes Suburban East powerhouse Ladue, ABC defending conference champions Mary Institute Country Day, Class 6 contender Marquette, and Jefferson City Helias, you might just be playing over your head.
After falling to Marquette 26-13 in the opener, the Pioneers dropped a 31-24 decision to the Rams. The Pioneers opened up a 24-10 half-time lead over Ladue, only to roll over and play dead and allow the Rams to score 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half.
Its not going to get any easier for the Pioneers as they host Mary Institute Country Day on Friday night. MICDS, who finished 2nd in the state last season in Class 3 play, defeated Ladue 21-17 in week one of the season.
“Back in the saddle, again,” because this fine weekly is back to weekly publication. Now I can get back into my weekly writing routine of almost making the deadline for submitting my work. On a related note, Louis, who has been formally schooled in journalism, tells me that it is an unwritten rule of writers and journalists to dodge editor’s deadlines. Don’t get me wrong here, Tony amd Phyllis are great guys to work for, usually they make you feel as though you are working WITH them more than FOR them. But sometimes their deadlines are just unrealistic. That being said, I met it this week.
This past week I experienced one of those special moments that only a father/football coach can experience. Joe and I were driving home from one of his bi-weekly football practices when he said to me, “Dad, you know that sound on the field when two guys hit each other really, really hard?” Now every football fan in the world knows exactly what “sound” Joe was referencing. “Sure, son, I know the sound you are talking about,” I replied. “Well Dad, I think that is my favorite sound in the world.” If I wasn’t such a tough guy I most likely would have teared-up. But ladies and gentlemen, it gets better. Joe, my first-born son, after contemplating what he had said, then added: “Well Dad, maybe my second favorite sound. My favorite sound is hearing you tell me how much you love me.” I swear to God that is exactly how it happened; as Bob Barton says, “Why would I make it up when the truth is better than anything I can make up?”
Corey Nesslage’s Saint Charles Pirates took it on the chin Friday night as Jennings topped the Bucs 29-19. That being said I expect a winning season will present itself this gridiron season from the hallowed halls on Kingshighway. Next to the Titans of Trinity Catholic High School, I am probably most familiar with the Jennings Warriors and their head coach, Ryan Wallace. Wallace inherited a diamond in the rough from former Jennings coach Rob Harper. Don’t get me wrong, the Warriors have Wallace’s fingerprints all over them. But even Wallace will admit he inherited a team with a full cupboard. That being said, the Pirates were beaten by one of the better teams in the region – the only thing is, nobody knows it yet. Remember, you read it here first – Nesslage will have his Pirates firing on all cylinders when district play starts, and his Pirates will reward him with his first district title.
Condolences to two of my favorite, regular readers, Bradley and Brennen Almus on the passing of their grandpa, John Almus. Boys, the same way your dad coaches your basketball teams, your grandpa used to coach your dad’s teams. And some day you will coach your children in youth sports; that’s just part of what being an Almus is all about.
And finally, Friday, September 15th is my daughter Maggie Kurtz McMurran’s 11th birthday. Most everyone told me I received the most special of all birthday presents when she was born on my 41st birthday. BULL! From 9/15/95 on, September 15th has been, and always will be known as “Maggie’s birthday.” She stole my birthday! Any way, Maggie and I have started a tradition. On Friday morning, both she and I will rise extra early, say 5 a.m. or so, and treat ourselves to a birthday breakfast at Al’s Diner on Kingshighway. Happy birthday Margo – have I ever told you that you are my favorite daughter?
First Capitol News
High School Athlete of the Week
Pat Ampleman, senior
Duchesne High School
Editor’s note: I’ve often times said there is nothing wrong with making mistakes. The secret is to avoid making the same mistake twice. That being said, I suspect I should take some pride in the fact that my 6 year-old son was simply imitating his father as he “interviewed” his older brother. The problem lies in he taped over about 15 seconds or so of my interview with Pat Ampleman – this week’s FCN High School Athlete of the Week. That being said, I know not what Pat’s parents’ names are, nor do I know his older sister’s name. I do know he lives with both his mom and dad, and that his sister is studying Early Childhood Education at Lindenwood University.
The lesson I’ve learned is to not leave my tape recorder where my son can get his hands on it.
Vitals: 5’ 10”, 180 lb., senior, goalkeeper
How long have you been playing soccer: I’ve been playing soccer for as long as I can remember. To the best of my knowledge, I started playing when I was 5 years old at Sacred Heart in Florissant.
What is you most memorable soccer moment: When you’ve been playing soccer as long as I have, it all starts to blend together. I guess winning the team’s Most Valuable Player award last season. I pretty much don’t focus on the past as much as I do the future. We won a State title once playing for Lou Fusz on my select team. All I think about is what this team can accomplish this year!
Favorite subject in school: Anatomy
Favorite teacher: My gym teacher, Mr. Bouslob. He is the kind of person you can talk to on just about any subject. He’s really kind of cool for being a teacher – down to earth I guess you would say.
Your role model in life: That would be my dad. He is a very religious man who has taught me right from wrong. What I really admire in him is how he doesn’t care about what other people think.
Words of wisdom for underclassmen: Don’t make the same mistake I made. Your grades as a freshman and sophomore mean as much as when you are a junior and senior. I didn’t try my hardest when I first entered high school, my g.p.a. was something like a 2.0 at the end of my sophomore year, maybe even lower. Since then I’ve learned just how important it is and I’ve raised my gpa up to almost a 3.5.
Restaurant question: Applebee’s is the restaurant I would go to, and I would order the “Steak too,” which is steak and salmon.
High school football teams’ wins are few and far between
Tough schedules to blame?
By: Mike McMurran
Two weeks into the 2006 high school football season, the combined record of Duchesne, High and West is 1-5. The bad news is looking at the difficulty level of all three schedules, things likely to get worse before they get better.
Pirates even ledger with win over Paseo Academy
After opening the season with a 29-19 loss at the hands of Suburban East opponent Jennings, Corey Nesslage’s Pirates rebounded with a 40-0 win over Paseo Academy. The Pirates running game, led by junior Clifton Brown, was more than Paseo, from the Kansas City area, could handle. Brown (6’ 196 lbs) carried the ball 16 times for 133 yards, his second hundred-yard game in as many outings (25 carries/145 yards vs. Jennings).
The Pirates will host Washington, who until this year played in the larger Gateway Athletic Conference – South division, Friday, September 15. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
West drops first two
The Warriors were not playing their best game, but still managed to hold on to a 2-0 lead in the season opener against University City – for a while. With 3:23 remaining in the third quarter, head coach Gary Strauss’ offense looked like they were going to punch the ball in from the 4-yard line. Ah but looks can be deceiving. Just like that U. City’s Mark Burnett recovered a Warrior’s fumble and raced 96 yards to the end zone giving the host Lions a 6-2 win.
Week two the Warriors gave up over 300 yards total offense to Zumwalt South as they fell to the Bulldogs 42-15.
West will get a break in their schedule this week as they host Warrenton on Friday night. Whatever break they get they should enjoy as down the road they must face Timberland, Cape Central, Washington and powerhouse Webb City before entering districts.
Duchesne: enigma!
Year in and year out it is a pretty safe bet that a Charlie Elmendorf coached team, no matter what the sport, is going to be very competitive. That being said, when your high school football schedule includes Suburban East powerhouse Ladue, ABC defending conference champions Mary Institute Country Day, Class 6 contender Marquette, and Jefferson City Helias, you might just be playing over your head.
After falling to Marquette 26-13 in the opener, the Pioneers dropped a 31-24 decision to the Rams. The Pioneers opened up a 24-10 half-time lead over Ladue, only to roll over and play dead and allow the Rams to score 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half.
Its not going to get any easier for the Pioneers as they host Mary Institute Country Day on Friday night. MICDS, who finished 2nd in the state last season in Class 3 play, defeated Ladue 21-17 in week one of the season.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
NEXT EDITION SEPTEMBER 16
THE NEXT EDITION OF THE FIRST CAPITOL NEWS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 16.
THANK YOU FOR BEING A READER OF THE FIRST CAPITOL NEWS.
THANK YOU FOR BEING A READER OF THE FIRST CAPITOL NEWS.
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