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The Difference A Local Paper Makes: Seven Years of Bringing St. Charles News That Matters

The Difference A Local Paper Makes:
Seven Years of Bringing St. Charles News That Matters

The First Capitol News is proud to enter into its seventh year of bringing St. Charles real news stories that go above and beyond the meaningless chatter of other out-of-town publications. It has been our privilege to continue in the tradition of local papers that stretch back to the first paper printed west of the Missouri, “The Missourian.”

Over the years, local newspapers have been as much a part of St. Charles as Lewis and Clark. Our research has identified thirteen local newspapers in whose footsteps we follow, including the German language paper, “The Democrat.” The last incarnation of such a newspaper prior to the First Capitol News was, “The Banner-News.” The Banner-News was a daily that many St. Charles residents still remember.
The importance of a locally owned newspaper is made evident each time the First Capitol News goes to print. We bring both a deeper understanding of news stories and the ability to delve further into stories that are worthy of closer examination. Our local publication has, in fact, scooped our competition over and over again; first on our daily blog and then again weekly in the hard copy edition of our paper.

The out-of-town papers regularly find themselves playing catch-up with the First Capitol News and, frankly, we are proud of our record and consider it an honor when these guys at least cover stories of local interest. To our amazement, the First Capitol News has also been the sole newspaper source of critical information that the conglomerate papers have failed to print. This is, of course, what sets our publication apart from others in town. It should also be noted that the First Capitol News is currently the only newspaper located in the City of St. Charles. In this story, we want to recapitulate (and in some cases update) some of the main news stories of 2006 and provide you, our valued readers, with a record of several stories that have been First Capitol News exclusives. We also encourage you to pull up some of these stories yourself at our blogspot where you will find a chronology of past editions:

firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com.

RECALL
In January of 2006, the First Capitol News continued reporting on fraud committed during the attempt to recall Mark Brown and Dottie Greer in a story titled, “Recall Fraud Admitted.” It was soon after discovered that some members of the Citizens Empowerment Committee profited personally from their involvement in the recall. The investigation by the First Capitol News continued to uncover more about this story with each passing week. Depositions linked developers T.R. Hughes and Mike Sellenschuetter to the recall efforts including paying out-of-town signature gatherers $10 for each signature gathered and for the printing of literature and signs. Eventually, some associated with the recall effort wanted to create a “Do-the-Right-Thing” committee; however, this attempt seemed to have lost steam after widespread forgeries and other problems arose during the recall efforts within their own ranks.

In the April 8, 2006 edition, the First Capitol News ran a story titled, “David Beats Goliath” when Councilwoman Greer rebuffed recall efforts using almost no money compared to tens of thousands of dollars poured into the recall attempt by wealthy developers and other disgruntled special interests.


Local Paper Announces Daily Update

The First Capitol News became the first locally owned newspaper in the town’s history to create a website where readers can turn to check up on the latest local St. Charles news. The February 4th edition announced, “First Capitol News Daily on Net.” Today, your local newspaper can be read entirely online at: FirstCapitolNews.com and daily updates can be read on our blog at: firstcapitolnews-today.blogspot.com. It should be noted that the blog address must be entered all lower case into your computer’s web address bar.

Top Cop’s Suit Ends
February 17th, 2006, the First Capitol News announced the end of a lawsuit brought against the City by Thomas Mayer, an employee of St. Charles City who had been fired. The city spent thousands of dollars defending itself against a lawsuit that asked for $100 Million. The true story was discovered later to be the fact that York failed to inform defense attorneys for the City that she had sent a letter on City stationary to the Chief of Police in St. Louis supporting the claims made by Mr. Mayer and thereby putting the finances of our City into greater jeopardy. York also testified under oath that Chief Joe Mokwa asked for the letter of recommendation. In Mokwa’s testimony he told the court that he did not ask York to send any letter to him and did not contact her regarding Mayer. This was a fact brought out exclusively by the First Capitol News.

This story ended with a settlement of $57,500 for Mr. Mayer – a sum that certainly would amount to very little after attorney fees were paid. The council was prepared to continue to fight, but it was believed that settling the suit was in the City’s best interests in light of the letter penned by the mayor.

Eminent Domain
After the state legislature failed to create any real protection for property owners, the city council under the direction of Councilman John Gieseke passed legislation that was more restrictive and protective than anything offered by the state general assembly. Under the new city ordinance no private home may be taken for private development and businesses were offered greater protection. The issue became a hot topic in 2006 when the U.S. Supreme Court placed the matter into state and local hands.

Express Scripts
A First Capitol News exclusive informed the public about how the illegal signing of a contract by York could culminate in a lawsuit by Express Scripts. When city council attempted to investigate further into this matter, five on the council provided coverage for York by refusing to subpoena witnesses who could bring details to light. These five council members claimed they wanted the facts but refused to bring in those who could provide these facts.
Currently, Express Scripts does in fact have a lawsuit against St. Charles seeking compensation of $200,000. The First Capitol News is proud to lead in this story, so that the taxpayers of St. Charles may stay informed of this matter. We will also continue to watch the development of this story and report further updates.


Police Learn of City Hall Embezzlement After Story Runs in First Capitol News
In a First Capitol News scoop regarding embezzlement by a city employee, the First Capitol News not only informed the general public about events that concerned their tax money but also the local authorities learned of wrongdoing at city hall because of our headline. Again, this story was seemingly ignored by out-of-town publications reportedly printing for St. Charles. In comparison, a story in our competition read, “Rex-Plex Naming Rights up for Grabs.” While The First Capitol News reported news directly concerning St. Charles City, our competitors were running stories from a neighboring town. Our publication is proud to operate in, and serve St. Charles City.

Federal Grand Jury Subpoena City Records
The First Capitol News was the first to report the story of a grand jury subpoena requesting documents from St. Charles City Hall. The subpoena demanded all e-mail correspondences, telephone records, and financial records including the illegally signed contract that York executed with Express Scripts who in turn filed suit against the city for damages of $200,000. The City hired an attorney to handle the subpoena request at a cost of $25,000. The First Capitol News has been critical of this matter and first wrote about the possible forthcoming lawsuit in 2005. Readers of the First Capitol News were able to anticipate this suit and the potential financial fallout it would cause. In 2005, an attempt by half of the council to use their legislative authority to oversee the executive branch of city hall by employing subpoena power to bring in witnesses regarding the illegal signing of the Express Script contract was blocked by councilmen: Kneemiller, Weller, Reese, Hoepfner and Muench. Without seven votes, the remaining council members were powerless to use their oversight in this matter and the issue appeared to have stalled. Land developer T.R. Hughes helped spearhead efforts to block council’s attempts to investigate this matter calling it a, “Kangaroo Court.” Hughes and others attempted to disrupt the council proceedings by jeering in and making inappropriate comments while the investigation was underway. Apparently the grand jury feels that the matter does indeed arise to investigatory level. Those on council who wanted to investigate made certain to point out that no charges were being made and that they simply wanted to ask questions in order to find out where the system broke down and whether any inappropriate measures were taken, and if so, by whom. We broke this story in our November 18th edition and we await further news regarding this matter and will bring you any updates that come to light.

Money Laundering
In a series of exclusive news reports, the First Capitol News began to investigate large sums of money that were passing through more than ten committees under the direction of Thomas Smith of 320 Monroe Street. Smith, who served on the Parks Board, was the paid legislative director of Representative Tom Dempsey (R). The millions of dollars passing through Smith’s control was in some cases directed to The Columns Banquet Center which is managed by Tom Dempsey and owned by Dempsey’s father, Ernie Dempsey. In other instances, Smith was paid thousands of dollars to act as treasurer for the numerous committees – a task that was claimed to be a volunteer position.

As the First Capitol News continued to investigate, we uncovered some of the financial sources for the various committees including donations from the casino, T.R. Hughes, and other wealthy developers. The reason for using various committees was to circumvent finance laws that limit donation amounts. This was in essence the same activity that brought charges against Congressman Delay of Texas. Dempsey passed legislation that removed donation caps for future elections.

A further important aspect of this story was the timing of a fundraiser held that funneled money into various committees. A committee called, “Citizens for Responsible Government” raised over $200,000 in one event. It was learned that the treasurer and vice treasurer were T.R. Hughes employees. This fundraising event was held after Representative Dempsey passed special legislation for the developer at St. Andrews that forced the City of St. Charles to provide sewer service for a development that was not annexing into the corporate borders although the city was reaching sewer capacity for development within its own limits.

Since the passage of this narrow interest legislation, the Missouri Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that such special legislation is unconstitutional. After the November election, Representative Dempsey stated that he too was unaware of some of Smith’s actions and planned to look into the matter.

2007
In 2007, the only locally owned St. Charles newspaper, the First Capitol News, will work hard to continue investigative journalism that provides its readers with real, meaningful news that goes beyond the fluff seen in other publications. We are confident that we will continue to scoop the competition despite their larger budget and greater manpower. We thank you, our readers, for making us the most read newspaper in town for the past seven years! Thank You!


St. Charles Newspapers

Missourian
Clarion
Free Press
The Democrat
Advertiser
The Western Star
The Chronotype
The Reveille
The Sentinel
The Cosmos
St. Charles News
Banner News
First Capitol News

Judge Not Lest You Be Judged; Alternatively, Condemn Not Lest You Be Condemned... Councilman Plans To Condemn University Prop.

Councilman Koester To Introduce Legislation To Condemn & Take Back Property City Gave to Lindenwood University -
Suggests Sculpture Park

he First Capitol News has learned that Councilman Koester of ward nine is planning on introducing a bill that would condemn Lindenwood University property along First Capitol Drive located between the old stretch of First Capitol Drive that is now used for parking and the current First Capitol Drive just west of Kingshighway. The idea is to use the property to display sculptures that the city has acquired through the “Arts Around Town” program.

Koester told the FCN, “I am opposed to spending $50,000 a year on rented art. If we are going to make this investment, then it seems more appropriate for our town to own the art and build up a display for public viewing. What better location than adjacent to the university and on property that most of us in town believe was snookered from the city anyhow under the guise that Lindenwood would ‘straighten out’ highway 94. What we got was a curve in the opposite direction and two stop lights where there had been one.”

This isn’t the first mention of such an idea. Councilman Koester has brought the idea up on the council floor. “Lindenwood sought condemnation of local private property, so they are obviously aware of the procedure and I suspect they may even be open to cooperating in the plan because this location will work well in tandem with their new cultural art center. Furthermore, it is time for Lindenwood to give back to the city since they have spent years now removing property off our tax rolls – both residential and commercial property” Koester concluded.

The past two weeks the FCN tried unsuccessfully to contact Lindenwood University for comment before going to press but our calls were not returned. Look for discussion of this plan during the last council meeting in January or in early February.

The City deeded the property to Lindenwood after the new road was completed as per an agreement with former president Spellmann.

Fire Heavily Damages Park Maintenance Building

A suspicious fire heavily damaged a six bay maintenance building at Wapplehorst Park in the City of St. Charles Friday evening, December 29. The fire was first reported shortly after 10 pm. by a motorist who was driving by the park and saw flames coming from the building.

The building serves as the main garage and heavy equipment storage area for the park. The structure is located on the northwest corner of the park at 1875 Muegge Road.

Firefighters were dispatched at 22:22 hours and arrived four minutes later to find the building heavily engulfed in fire with flames shooting though the roof. Firefighters battled the fire aggressively and were able to bring the fire under control in less than 20 minutes. The fire department was able to save some of the heavy equipment valued at over $50,000.

The building and contents suffered major damage estimated near $30,000. This damage included heavy equipment used to resurface baseball diamonds in the park. No injuries were reported.

The fire is being ruled suspicious and an investigation is continuing. This is the second fire in this building in as many years. A fire destroyed the building two years ago and it was completely rebuilt prior to this incident.

Firefighters from Central County Fire and Rescue assisted in battling the blaze.

RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer

Council Isn’t Lawsuit Happy – Mayor & Her Friends Are

In a recent opinion piece penned by a somewhat biased columnist he wrote that St. Charles was a City Council that was “Lawsuit Happy”. He went on to give some cases that would support his conclusion.

I find it interesting that one case he cited was when four Council members asked for a Court ruling to determine if City Administrator, Allan Williams, had to live up to his word and honor a contract he signed. These four Council members spent their own money to litigate this case and they did this as residents. So they paid for the Court case themselves to make sure the St. Charles taxpayers were being protected.

I would like to refresh your memory as to some of the other cases that the City Council had to defend to keep your tax dollars from being given to those who sued the city:

The County Convention Authority, under the leadership of Ken Kielty, (who is running for Councilman in Ward 8) sued the City because they didn’t like whom the City Council wanted to appoint to the commission. This suit was defended in court. Kielty at that time was an ally of the Mayor.

Gene Carrol sued the city to attempt to force the City Council to place the forgery ridden recall effort against Councilman Mark Brown on the ballot. This of course cost the city money to defend. Mayor York who was heavily involved in the recall efforts rewarded Carrol for his efforts by trying to get him re-appointed to the 4th of July committee.

Police Officer Thomas Mayer sued the City of St. Charles for more than $100 million. Mayer had an ace in the hole that we didn’t know about. Our fearless leader had written a letter of support telling the Chief of Police of St. Louis that she (Mayor York) believed he (Tommy Mayer) would prevail in his case. Then during testimony under oath she told the court reporter that she had written the letter of support for T. Mayer at the request of St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa. She told the court reporter that her husband had taken the call from Mokwa. Chief of Police, Mokwa, told the court under oath that he never asked for the letter from Mayor York, nor did he make contact with her regarding Mayer’s lawsuit against the City of St. Charles. HMMMM, who would you believe? Who do you think lied under oath? So T. Mayer was rewarded with this letter of support and a somewhat biased columnist chastises the Council.

The committee responsible for the recall of Dottie Greer sued the City. The Council defended this action because of forged signatures that were collected. Sure enough there was a reward, the committee got $15,000 in a round about way from the Mayor. It was supposed to pay for a year-end report but you be the judge.

I could go on but I think you get the picture. The council isn’t lawsuit happy at all, the Mayor and her friends are. Keep in mind she sued a resident for slander after he told the truth about the police chief review process. Remember he came forward to say that Lowery wouldn’t be Chief, who told the truth on that one. Of course she dropped the case before anyone testified. The sad part is the Mayor couldn’t come close to having the integrity that this one man had. He knew the process was tainted and told the truth.

The Mayor and her husband also sued the St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau when the Yorks owned a bed and breakfast on Main Street. They did not want to pay the tourism tax.

It is not the City Council who are lawsuit happy. It is the Mayor and her friends.

Case In Point By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”
Johann von Goethe

I quietly watched more than an hour of ceremony surrounding the life and death of President Ford besides all of the radio reports and news blurbs. He was such a likeable figure; I guess those who have been in those high positions often are likeable if they can survive life in politics and come away with good humor. Compared to the scorched earth politics of today, the old guard seemed so much more civil than what we see nowadays. When an idea was good for the country, both sides were not afraid to cooperate for common good. President Ford to me represented one of the last main stream Republicans who was not a neo-con and didn’t pretend that God was directing him – and then spew trash against his political opponents.

Now and then I get a letter from a cowardly neo-con who spouts off whenever I say anything bad about Republicans but never has the confidence to put his name on his letters. To me it fits in line with the likes of Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney who bravely lead us into war but declined to serve when they were called in the draft. Ford wasn’t like these guys; it was said he liked to argue and hear good argumentation among his cabinet. He didn’t surround himself with yes men.

When all men think alike, no one thinks very much.
Walter Lippmann

Ford fought in World War II and knew what war was. Perhaps, that is why he gave an interview to be released after his death criticizing this administration for leading us into a war without a battle plan.

The acrimony has transferred down to local government too – from the state house to city hall. That said, since the recall ended, I have seen attempts by council on all sides to cooperate more. Things aren’t perfect, nor should they be. When all men think alike…
One divergence from this cooperative spirit that baffles me is the resistance to seek to have special interest legislation that only applies to our city reversed. The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that special interest legislation based upon population is illegal. St. Charles City currently has at least two such laws that hinder our rights to self-determination. Our GOP representation has placed more faith in Big Brother than in the rights of local government. The law itself is not the crux of the problem; the fact that the laws are only applicable to our town is the thing that is so wrong.

Now, I’m baffled because any mayor or council would want self-determination in local matters such as to whom you must give sewer service and how you may spend money relative to surrounding cities and towns. Oddly, this was not the case during out last meeting in December. John Gieseke and I bought forward a resolution to seek to overturn illegal laws aimed solely at our town. The mayor vetoed this. More confusing than this was the fact that several of my fellow council members upheld her veto voting to prevent us from moving forward and having illegal laws removed off the books. The given reason? They didn’t want to spend the money necessary to defend our city because they believe our local state lawmakers will work with us to remove these laws off the books willingly. This same illegal law cost the City of St. Charles hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost tax revenue by forcing us to give away sewer service to the Saint Andrews development without requiring them to annex into our corporate limits. So, while city residents will begin paying large sums of tax dollars to upgrade the sewer treatment plants, our county customers will not contribute by way of real estate taxes to the plants whose services they receive.

I do want to thank Larry Muench for voting for this resolution. If in fact our lawmakers remove these illegal laws from the books, then there will be no need to continue our lawsuit; however, we should not simply wait for their charity but rather begin the process that will guarantee St. Charles citizens the same rights as other communities throughout the entire state.
If the resolution is vetoed, it is my intent to place it on the next agenda and the next until April. I hope that the mayor will allow our resolution to stand. If indeed the matter is worked out, the entire matter will be moot. I simply want to approach the bargaining table with all the tools at our disposal with the rights of St. Charles at stake. This resolution has nothing to do with our state lawmakers per se; it is simply a case of, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

If you get the time, call or write Councilman Kneemiller, Reese, Weller, and Hoepfner and tell them you simply want equal treatment under the law. Council information is available at our city website: StCharlesCity.com.

THE CITY DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1

Red Light Camera Debate
Turns White Hot At Council

The one thing new drivers-to-be should never have to worry about getting wrong on their written test is the question, what does a red light mean. You even get four multiple-choice answers to choose from: (A) Stop (B) Go (C) Slow Down (D) Women Of Dubious Moral Character Nearby. But despite the simplicity of the concept that people should stop at red lights, there are still those drivers who feel that traffic signals are for wimps.

With the exception of that portion of the population that is color blind, there are few excuses for running a full red light. That doesn’t mean those who do run red lights don’t try to spin some creative excuses, especially if an officer happens to pull them over. I thought I had heard them all as well, until the on-going City Council debate Tuesday night on whether or not to use red light camera technology.

One of the opponents of the red light cameras was explaining (with a straight face) that having people stop for red lights would cause more accidents. Why you might ask? This theory went that if they stop, the driver behind them would rear-end them. I had no idea that people running red lights were just trying to avoid rear-end collisions. Talk about your defensive driving. I have enough trouble avoiding accidents to my front and sides without constantly looking in my rear-view mirror to gauge the speed and distance of the driver behind me.

Proponents of the use of red light cameras can get just as silly at times. Tuesday night there was an effort to reserve 50% of the fines generated from the use of the cameras to give additional tax beaks to Senior Citizens. Instead of feeling bad about getting a $70 ticket you can feel good about donating to a worthy cause. Anyone wishing to help seniors with their heating bills next winter can simply go out and run a few red lights.

Despite the sometimes amusing arguments employed, the debate among Council members on installing red light cameras in St. Charles is white hot. While there is a proliferation of the technology among cities, Florissant and St. Peters being two of the latest to sign up, the debate seems far from settled locally.

On the one hand, some opponents seem to view this as an unwarranted further intrusion on privacy. Proponents counter that these are acts done on a public street and that only photos of those actually running the red lights are taken.

Much of the debate seems to center on whether or not the image of the driver is captured as well. There are those who feel it must be to prove that the person the car is registered to was also the one driving. Others feel the identity of the driver, and perhaps whomever that driver was with in the car at the time, is an invasion of privacy. It could make for some awkward moments in some households.

“I want a divorce!”

“Over a $70 ticket?”

“No, over the blond next to you on the $70 ticket!”

There have been national surveys that show that 86 percent of the public has no problems with red light cameras. That’s probably the same percentage that are confident they don’t run red lights. There are a few facts that might help you sort things out in this debate.

First, whatever the cameras captures has to be reviewed by a police officer before any ticket is issued. The camera simply allows the officer to be even more certain than he could trusting to his own senses. But the officer has the same discretion he would have if he had pulled you over. Consider it like a referee or umpire being able to use instant replay.

Second, it is not set up to catch people who were proceeding through an intersection on the yellow caution signal and the light turns red while they are in the intersection. They are activated once the lights were on full red and were full red at the time you entered the intersection.

Third, there are also those intersections that are dangerous for our police to monitor. In rush hour traffic, do we really want traffic on Highway 94 to be even more screwed up because an officer is pulling people over for running red lights? What about the safety of the officer that has to stand on the narrow shoulder issuing the ticket as cars whip past? At certain locations these cameras make more sense than putting an officer at risk or tying up traffic.

Opponents rightfully point to the large sums of money to be made by the private companies that install and operate these lights. That fact didn’t escape the notice of former Mayor Shaun Brown of St. Peters, who ran his political career through a red light and straight into Federal Court with a conviction on bribery charges. Proponents point out that the technology is proprietary and that these firms offer a service for which both they and the local community are compensated.

Frankly, I am not a big fan of putting these kinds of cameras at every intersection. But I do see them being useful at our most dangerous intersections. More than once I’ve been the person pulling out on a green light from Veteran’s Parkway into First Capitol, only to have someone put their foot down on the accelerator and zoom past me when their light had been red for several seconds. Their split-second “bad” decision could easily have wiped out an entire family.

The Council is very much split on the issue and a decision to proceed or not is far from certain. There are good arguments on both sides and some pretty silly ones as well. I wonder how the debate is going in Jefferson City over banning the use of cell phones while driving? That’s one I would probably get caught doing. Gee, I hope my fine will go to a worthy cause.

THE PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor

NO TO RED LIGHT CAMERA SYSTEM
Dear Editor,
I’ve been a resident of the city of St. Charles for 23 years and a St. Peters business owner for 23 years.
I’m glad I watched some of the St. Charles City Council meeting last night. I’m totally against red light cameras being installed at any intersections within our city.
I have a month of personal experience with these red light cameras because our business, Aaron’s Birkenstock SuperStore & All Brand Shoe Repair, St. Peters, MO is practically located exactly in the middle of a stretch of Mexico Road where three intersections have had these cameras installed.
As you can imagine I’m up and down this part of Mexico Road several times a day. I’ve gotten to where I dread seeing that the light is green a block or so away. I’m afraid that by the time I get to the light it’s going to turn yellow and then to the ‘fast red’ and click I’ll be getting a ticket in the mail, at $70 per ticket this can become very expensive.
It seems these lights are turning very quickly from yellow to red. I’m slowing down if I see the green light a block or so away, and then if it hasn’t changed by the time I need to go through the intersection I’m speeding up to be sure I’m not in the intersection before the light turns red, this is not a good situation and it is not a good feeling worrying everyday about this.
In my 35 years of driving I have had three tickets, now I feel as though I risk the possibility of getting a ticket a couple of times a day, depending how traffic moves along Mexico Road from the Cave Springs exit to Jungermann.
I read where the City of St. Peters had their cameras up and running on November 15, only issuing warning notices and then after one month the system would start issuing tickets.
They interviewed St. Peters Assistant Police Chief Mike Townsend, so most likely he’d be able to provide the numbers on how many warnings were issued and how many actual tickets have been issued in this short period of time.
I’m all for safe drivers, I consider myself to be a very safe driver, however, now with these cameras it’s causing me to change my driving habits when approaching an intersection with a green light, this is not a good feeling.
Stop and think about our senior citizens who no longer have the quick reflexes they once did, they’ll be getting plenty of these tickets issued to them, there goes their utility tax rebate.
I agree with Mr. Brown and disagree with Mr. Gieseke. Not everyone is wanting to run a red light and become a law breaking citizen, the majority of us are law abiding citizens, we become victims of circumstance sometime when driving, like the day I had an overly anxious driver on my bumper on West Adams.
There was a St. Charles motorcycle police officer that had set up a radar checkpoint and to my luck I was going seven miles over the speed limit. I’ve traveled West Adams for 17 years up to this day; I know the police set up radar on this part of West Adams. The police officer pulled both of us over in the double fine zone. I asked the officer if he saw how the other driver was tailing me, he responded by saying yes and that he was going to get a ticket as well. The police officer was kind enough to tell me, “I was the slowest person he had caught all day.” Life throws you a curve ball every so often, however, we do not need to cause the citizens of our fine community additional challenges when it comes to driving. Please do not approve the Red Light Camera Systems.
Sincerely,
Pat Hamilton

Dear First Capitol News,

Has it been a month since your last publication? What happened with the Federal investigation of the Express Scripts situation? What is going on with Ward 8 candidate Kielty registering to fill John Gieseke’s Council seat? What is the background of the council needing to pass a ruling twice requesting a change in the state bill Tom Dempsey put thru requiring the City to provide sewer service to a County housing development? Would this establish a precedent for other builders outside of city boundaries to expect the same sewer service? If the residents lose your coverage on city affairs their only news source (an oxymoron) would be the Journal.

I am considering moving out of St Charles.

Carol Diller

Editor’s response,

Thank you for reading the First Capitol News. No, it has not been a month, it just seems that way. We always take off between Christmas and New Years as it is a very slow time and people are more interested in the holidays than newspapers. We do provide daily updates with breaking news on our web log on the Internet that can be found at firstcapitolnews-today.blogspot.com.

The Federal Investigation continues. They provide no information until they make an indictment or an arrest.

Councilmen Koester and Gieseke had to introduce the resolution regarding the unconstitutionality on the City providing sewer service to a County housing development because the Mayor vetoed the first one. She is expected to veto this one also because of her closeness to a developer who has made a demand of $1 million to the City for damages because of the delay he had in hooking his county development up to City sewers. If the bill passed by Representative Dempsey in one day is found unconstitutional, then the Mayor’s friend has no claim against the City for damages and won’t be able to receive $1 million in taxpayer dollars. In future editions you will read about Kielty’s attempt to be elected Councilman in Ward Eight. Councilman John GIeseke is running for the office of Mayor and had to give up the 8th ward seat.

The View From The Cheap Seats BY Jerry Haferkamp

Although I will defend a council member who is attacked by the mayor’s Pit Yorkies, I don’t usually endorse a particular candidate for office. In the upcoming mayoral election, Grace Nichols and John Gieseke are both excellent candidates for the office. We know what the other candidate brings to the office, and it’s not very pretty.

However, I will mention the good feeling I got when I read that Erv Ermeling filed for the council seat in Ward 10. He is a hardworking volunteer that has given a lot to St. Charles and has shown that he loves our city and its residents. Much of the enjoyment you will find on Main Street this year, as well as in past years, is his handy-work. Take a look at the train station in the park when you get a chance.

Erv is also the local businessman that asked me to mention in a previous column that we don’t need that traffic circus known as a “round-about” built at Third and Tecumseh while we still have children walking in the streets to get to school due to lack of sidewalks. He would like to put that money to use for the greater good, safeguarding our city’s children.

The only hesitation I had in mentioning him in this column is that it puts him on a “hit list” that may bring glossy, untrue mailers from hired guns from outside our city attacking him. The local recall squad will probably read this and start falsifying petitions to get a jump-start on their agenda. Erv, I apologize. I only wanted to let people know your dedication and value to us. Thanks for your past work and good luck in the election.

It’s hard to believe that with all Larry Muench has done to gain the mayor’s favor that it was all for naught. All the council knows of the ties between the mayor and Venetia McIntire who is running against Muench. The message to the rest of the council is that when Patti cries “jump”, don’t stop to ask how high. Just jump as fast and as high as you can. If she would do this to Larry, you could be next.

For those who don’t remember McIntire, she is the South Main businesswoman that repeatedly badgered the council for more welfare for South Main. It wasn’t enough that the former head of the C.V.B. funneled a plurality of the guests of the C.V.B. to her Bed and Breakfast. She wanted more of your tax dollars.

Unless McIntire recently moved, her filing should be in Ward 8. However, go ahead and let her run in Ward 2. I wouldn’t like to see the residents of my ward suffering the type of actions allegedly taken against anyone who opposed her on South Main. Actions, I am told, that caused several prominent businessmen to spin her name to “Vendetta”. Ward 2, you are on your own. Good luck!

I have heard that someone named Kielty may run for a council seat. Unlike Vendetta, I am unsure if he has chosen a ward in which to run. He may have waited to see which seat she wanted before declaring which one he wants. Chivalry may still be alive!

I hope he’s not the individual by that name that allegedly had the phone that mysteriously, all by itself apparently, made a call threatening bodily injury to one of our citizens.

Oops! Gotta go. My phone is ringing.

But that’s just the view from the cheap seats.

COMMENTS & COMMENTARY by Charles Hill

A City that is destined to repeat its past is one that doesn’t learn from it. St Charles City is rich in history but doesn’t need to continue to bring it’s past to life. St. Charles needs to break out of the past to move this City forward. Take a look at our past and point to the great accomplishments you would like repeated.

I offer you these for consideration:

During the LCA days on South Main many of the leaders thought it would be a good idea to completely close off South Main Street. One day the logs went up and the cars stopped moving up and down the street. This didn’t last long as the merchants felt the pain of lack of traffic and customers. Did the city learn from this? No, the city then closed off North Main and in the not so distant past the previous City’s Tourism Director actually wanted to close off South Main and only allow carriage rides.

In the early 1990’s the City hired a City Administrator to move the city forward. This person might have been thought of highly after the 12 or so years he put in before leaving, but if you look at his tenure he really didn’t do much to make the city better (Allan Williams). To give credit he deserves he did do a good job with the flood of ‘93 but other than that there’s not much to tell. So what did the city do? They hired him again. What did we get? More of the same. He hasn’t done anything to note that would point to the leadership that we should have received for over $150,000 a year in compensation. Just a note, one of those running now for office of Mayor (Nichols) hired him before the other (York) hired him this time. A strike against the two that who want to again be mayor.

The City has a bad history investing in the tourism industry as well. Two that come to mind, the Goldenrod Showboat and the Miniature Museum. Both of these cost the city millions all for the sake of tourism. Who do we have to thank for them? Grace Nichols. On top of these two gems that person also hired the previous tourism director.

I guess what I’m trying to say is be careful of the past. It took over 12 years to clean up the problems caused by those who say they can lead now. If they could have led then they wouldn’t have been defeated in the first place. You also have to look at the present and ask is the city better off now after eight years under the current leadership that is a mix of old and new. Who made the decisions to take the city backwards in time? In closing I appreciate our historical past but we don’t need repeat it again and again. This city needs to move past the need to keep the status quo and look at moving to a new history of progress. Why would you expect something different with the same old cast?

COMMENTS & COMMENTARY by Charles Hill

A City that is destined to repeat its past is one that doesn’t learn from it. St Charles City is rich in history but doesn’t need to continue to bring it’s past to life. St. Charles needs to break out of the past to move this City forward. Take a look at our past and point to the great accomplishments you would like repeated.

I offer you these for consideration:

During the LCA days on South Main many of the leaders thought it would be a good idea to completely close off South Main Street. One day the logs went up and the cars stopped moving up and down the street. This didn’t last long as the merchants felt the pain of lack of traffic and customers. Did the city learn from this? No, the city then closed off North Main and in the not so distant past the previous City’s Tourism Director actually wanted to close off South Main and only allow carriage rides.

In the early 1990’s the City hired a City Administrator to move the city forward. This person might have been thought of highly after the 12 or so years he put in before leaving, but if you look at his tenure he really didn’t do much to make the city better (Allan Williams). To give credit he deserves he did do a good job with the flood of ‘93 but other than that there’s not much to tell. So what did the city do? They hired him again. What did we get? More of the same. He hasn’t done anything to note that would point to the leadership that we should have received for over $150,000 a year in compensation. Just a note, one of those running now for office of Mayor (Nichols) hired him before the other (York) hired him this time. A strike against the two that who want to again be mayor.

The City has a bad history investing in the tourism industry as well. Two that come to mind, the Goldenrod Showboat and the Miniature Museum. Both of these cost the city millions all for the sake of tourism. Who do we have to thank for them? Grace Nichols. On top of these two gems that person also hired the previous tourism director.

I guess what I’m trying to say is be careful of the past. It took over 12 years to clean up the problems caused by those who say they can lead now. If they could have led then they wouldn’t have been defeated in the first place. You also have to look at the present and ask is the city better off now after eight years under the current leadership that is a mix of old and new. Who made the decisions to take the city backwards in time? In closing I appreciate our historical past but we don’t need repeat it again and again. This city needs to move past the need to keep the status quo and look at moving to a new history of progress. Why would you expect something different with the same old cast?

WARD 8 REPORT - John Gieseke, Councilman Ward 8

Happy New Year to all In Ward 8! The year 2006 was a progressive one for the area and the City. I am going to take a second to recap some of the bigger things that have occurred in 2006 and talk about some of the plans for 2007.


ROAD PROJECTS
Road Projects throughout the Ward have been ongoing. Many concrete slabs have been replaced on our neighborhood streets. The key is to track and determine if the city is replacing the same slabs and why. The street committee has required that each of the pieces be stamped with the logo of the company replacing the slab. This is done in Milwaukee and works to hold the companies accountable for their work. Concrete and asphalt overlay projects across the ward were completed in 2006. There is still a need to increase the funding of our streets, there are too many that do not meet the standards the City of St. Charles has set. Reconstruction of Elm Street is to begin soon.


PROTECTING YOUR PROPERTY RIGHTS
The City of St. Charles was the first to pass meaningful legislation protecting your property rights in the county. I sponsored a bill preventing the transfer of private property to another private entity for development. This use of Eminent Domain was on the front page of newspapers and the lead story on the evening news after the Supreme Court ruled that Eminent Domain could be used to help developers take property from private owners and use it for their developments. Property rights are one of the pillars of our country and needs to be protected. In Frenchtown the property of Jerry Kelly, Frenchtown Transmission, Jac’s Automotive were threatened to be taken just to be handed over to a developer who is looking to grab enough privately owned property to redevelop the area. While I don’t disagree with the redevelopment, I don’t think these established businesses that have served our City residents should be forced to leave their property. These companies helped to stabilize the area for years and should be rewarded not threatened.

The developer of Frenchtown and the City can work together without using Eminent Domain to redevelop and bring the Frenchtown neighborhood up to the standards the residents have been working towards.

KEEPING OUR PROPERTY TAXES LOW
Development in north St. Charles is really beginning to take off. With the $1.5 Billion investment in New Town we have seen a great deal of money being invested in our area. This progressive attitude towards growing our tax base is needed to ensure that all of our property taxes stay low. This year New Town will bring in added revenues to the property taxing entities not including utility and sales taxes collected. The assessed value of New Town for 2006 is around $16 million. New Town has spurred growth along Elm Street as well as in Fountain Lakes. Rookies Restaurant , SSM Health, US Title, Newco, J Hair Gallery, Lion’s Choice, Doozles, Cingular and AutoBahn have all opened over the past year. Glazer Distribution and Mitek ( a Berkshire Hathaway Corporation) are both under construction and will open in 2007 or early 2008. This mix of business is good for a stable tax base.

TAX RELIEF FOR OUR RESIDENTS
In 2006 the Council at the urging of Councilman Bob Hoepfner began giving tax relief to the seniors in our community. The previous council passed a bill I sponsored giving utility tax reductions to all residents. Every year the utility tax is lowered, with the growth in the city we can lower our utility tax and keep the same amount of tax revenue coming into the city. The senior’s receive rebates for their taxes, if you need more information on this program call (636)949-3200. Thanks to the council for passing this relief. We could offer more tax breaks in a same manner but this relief is threatened by the State’s legislation that interferes with local control of our finances.

A YEAR OF GREAT PROGRESS
Yes, 2007 looks to be a year of great progress for the Ward. The New Town at St. Charles will open many new businesses this year. Over 30 businesses owners have committed to open their doors in New Town. This along with Cissel-Mueller, Fountain Lakes, Shockley and the Sansone developments will keep hammers swinging in the Ward.

This investment will continue if the City maintains the infrastructure that supports these developments. Elm Street will see new construction begin in 2007. This road project is a quality of life issue for all of us who travel Elm Street on a daily basis. There is money budgeted for 2007 to take the merge lane on Elm and continue it past McDonald's. Design of both NewTown Blvd and Boschertown road will continue. The much needed stop light at Fox Hill and Highway 94 will be installed this summer.

Upgrades to our waste treatment plants and the replacement of our main sewer line will be completed in 2007 and 2008. The City does need to address the legislation that forces the City to accept any sewer connections that are outside the city. This threatens our ability to annex and to make sure development that abuts the city is up to our standards. If you want to see what can happen to development when city standards are not applied just drive along Elm Point and look at the dump site and quality of buildings that are in the county. Currently we can’t use our sewer treatment to force development outside the city to control quality of development. On top of that anyone outside the city now enjoys more rights than you. They can stop paying for sewer service and the city is prohibited from disconnecting them for two years. If a city resident doesn’t pay you have around 30 days to pay or get disconnected.

I will continue to fight for the residents of Ward 8 in 2007. In the past I have applied simple common sense to issues that we face. This plus a good business sense generally leads the way to good sound decisions for the taxpayers of St. Charles.

John Gieseke

FIRST CAPITOL NEWS SPORTS - MIKE McMurran Sports Editor

I hope everyone had a great Christmas vacation; mine was far, far too short. Most of it was centered around youth sports as both my sons played in the Tony Glavin Holiday tournament (3 games each) and my favorite daughter’s basketball team practiced no less the 4 times during the break.

Speaking of basketball, as poor as the recently completed high school football season was, and it was an unbelievably down season for both St. Charles schools as well as Duchesne, the basketball season might just be at its all time best.

Both Saint Charles and Duchesne traveled to Ladue to participate in the Mary Institute Country Day School Holiday Tournament, where the Pirates were defending champions. Duchesne started out with wins over Howell and Jennings before going heads up with the Pirates in semi-final action. The Pirates inside game was too much for the Pioneers as they topped their conference rival 57-47.

St. Charles went on to defeat Miller Career Academy in the championship game successfully defending their title, while the Pioneers dropped a 76-65 decision to Westminster in the 3rd place contest.

Any high school basketball junkie knows the premier holiday tournament is the Meramec Holiday Festival Tournament. Year in and year out it features the best large schools in the region; this year was no exception.

While High was winning the MICDS Tournament, which has been traditionally know for attracting smaller schools, West was taking on the “big boys” at Meramec. Schools such as Zumwalt West, Hazelwood Central, Lindbergh and Lafayette boast student enrollments over twice that of little ‘ole Saint Charles West – David and Goliath if ever there was such a case. The Warriors were undaunted as they defeated Eureka and Hazelwood Central, setting up a semi-final match between two undefeated teams – the Warriors and Webster Groves. The Warriors fell short conceding their first contest of the season 61-56.

In the third place contest the Warriors defeated DeSmet in a real nail-biter, 44-42.

Each of the three schools boast a true all-state caliber player: West has guard Kramer Soderberg, High has power forward Josh Harrelson, and Duchesne has sharp-shooting guard Zack Plackemeier. Yes, for high school basketball junkies, this is certainly a premier season.

While on the subject of basketball, I would like to wish a certain group of fifth grade girls from the Academy of the Sacred Heart good luck in their upcoming basketball season. Kayla Simon, Paige Theby, Sarah Heise, Emily Holloran, Grace Schwendemann, Hillary Padavan, Isabella Tambone, Madison Flynn, Elizabeth Francis, and of course my favorite daughter, Maggie McMurran, will need all the luck they can get. It is my first endeavor in coaching girls basketball – and I’m scared to death. I’ve coached some great high school football and basketball players, some of whom have gone on to play at the next level, but never have I coached girls. All kidding aside, the girls will do just fine, despite their coach. We’ve had four practices now and the girls cannot wait to play a real game.

Finally, a few people have contacted me and asked if I was serious about running for 4th ward councilman – I couldn’t be more serious. I will submit the paper work next week, and start my door-to-door campaign soon after. Anyone wishing to help or wanting a sign in their front yard feel free to contact me. I’ve already collected the 25 signatures and secured a campaign treasurer, Dr. Daniel Coogan – so I’m ready to go! It should prove to be rather interesting.

mcmurran@charter.net/314.280.9189
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