The Columbia Heart Beat

FAMED MEDIA GURU: "Autopsies" Columbia Tribune

2009-11-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

1) CITY HALL: Billing mess, legal violations widen

2) ST. ROMAINE SHOCKER: Raising rates better than cutting costs

3) FAMED MEDIA GURU: "Autopsies" Columbia Tribune

4) YULETIDE BUMMER: Ashland City Hall to hold Christmas party -- out of town!

5) MU RESEARCHERS: Put AIDS on a "leash"

6) MISSOURI MATH: Middle school scores improve

7) AMAZING ARCHIVE: Missourian newspapers show Columbia's past

8) ONLINE PET GROUP: Helps MidMo animals

9) HOUSING NEWS: With Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

CITY HALL: Billing mess, legal violations widen

Part 4 of a series

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- A decades-long practice of underbilling large sewer users may be part of wider failures to follow city law at City Hall.

Columbia's Protective Inspection Department -- like the sewer utility, a branch of Public Works -- failed to collect sewer connection fees from a Boone Hospital-owned office building, in violation of section 27-52 of Columbia City ordinances. The fees are assessed to connect newly-constructed buildings to the city sewer.

"I asked [protective inspection director] John Sudduth how much in sewer connection charges were collected for the 28-unit medical office building across from Boone Hospital at 1605 E. Broadway," 34-year City of Columbia employee and sewer maintenance superintendent Bill Weitkemper emailed his supervisor, sewer utility manager Terry Hennkens. "Sudduth's records show that there were never any sewer connection charges collected."

Weitkemper discovered in March 2006 that city utility accountants weren't billing thousands of sewer utility users, sparking a process that has yet to be resolved. His alert about the uncollected sewer connection fees set off a similar chain of confusion.

"Sewer connection fees have been in effect at least as far back as City Ordinance 15324-1, dated 9/2/97. Connection fees are a significant source of revenue for the sewer utility," Hennkens informed public works operation manager Mary Ellen Lea in a followup email. "I believe the building Bill Weitkemper is referencing is Plaza 2....Plaza 4 was recently completed this year (2007). Wonder if a collection fee was collected for it?"

"Good grief," Lea replied. "Another one for the list. Only this one is a Protective Inspection issue, not Utility Accounts Billing."

"The sewer connection fee collection procedure may need to be reviewed," Hennkens added.

LACK OF INTEREST

In emails obtained by the Columbia Heart Beat under the Freedom of Information Act, Hennkens -- also a decades-long city employee -- supports fixing the problems Weitkemper identified. And like Weitkemper, Hennkens expresses frustration with his superiors.

"This situation has been allowed to develop due to the lack of interest in the proper management of sewer utility billing methods since at least 1987," Hennkens told Mary Ellen Lea in a Dec. 20, 2007 email. "It is something that needs to be addressed."

Hennkens also seemed surprised about the terms of a University of Missouri/City of Columbia agreement to increase MU's long-underbilled sewer rates, orchestrated without city council approval by public works director John Glascock.

"Discussions have been held with the University about paying for their approximately 8,100 equivalent residential units," Hennkens emailed Weitkemper on July 17, 2008. "Ironically, they agreed to begin paying more, but Glascock gave them ten years to ramp up to get where they should be."

Weitkemper characterized the MU/City Hall agreement as illegal, unfair favoritism.

"The University of Missouri should not be given ten years to 'ramp up' to what the City and the University both agree the University should be paying," he wrote in a formal report to City Manager Bill Watkins on Sept. 20, 2008. "This is not supported by ordinance and the multi-family residential property owners were not given this option."

WRONG JOB

Expressing concern that his department had been dragged into a problem best resolved elsewhere, Hennkens told Lea he wanted to "get out of the billing process. It is not an operations and maintenance function. It is not an engineering function, either. I prefer to be in the position of pointing out billing questions, not trying to resolve them."

Weitkemper's involvement, Hennkens explained, was problematic too. "I don't want Bill involved in billing concerns by making inquiries which may result in criticism of him for pointing out what he perceives to be shortcomings of others. He should not be involved in billing matters at all."

Blaming a failure to update procedures, Hennkens again referred to a legal and political minefield that recurs repeatedly in the many exchanges about the sewer flap: City Hall department heads interpreting the law.

"Prior to 1987, when we had a separate Division Head (Sanitary Engineer) for the Sewer Utility, the rates and ordinance interpretations fell upon that person," Hennkens emailed Lea, dropping the problem at her doorstep. "Since that is no longer the case, you are it."

"My intention is to get our list of billing concerns to the City Manager, then get it moved to Finance," Lea responded. "I plan to tell Bill [Watkins] that these things cannot be fixed through Operations, they are billing problems. We can help with interpretation of ordinances, but we should not the ones trying to fix the problems."

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/shocking-mu-contract-settles-city-hall.html

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/mu-analyst-to-run-for-4th-ward-council.html

ST. ROMAINE SHOCKER: Raising rates better than cutting costs

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- In a surprise peak at guiding philosophies behind City Hall decisions, assistant city manager Tony St. Romaine made an unusual admission to sewer maintenance supervisor Bill Weitkemper, who had inquired about the terms of an employee bonus program.

Getting more money from city residents, St. Romaine said, is better than lowering costs at City Hall.

"Would making a suggestion that resulted in the City collecting significant additional utility revenue qualify an employee for an additional payment or award?" Weitkemper asked St. Romaine in a November 2007 email.

"Absolutely," St. Romaine (left) responded, citing Chapter 19 of the City's personnel rules, which include bonuses for exceptional performance; working beyond the normal schedule; assuming additional duties; and "providing suggestions which result in significant cost savings," a notation St. Romaine underlined -- then undermined!

"I think that ideas that result in increased revenue are just as critical, if not more so, than reducing costs," St. Romaine

concluded.

FAMED MEDIA GURU: "Autopsies" Columbia Tribune

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- In a colorful indictment of business as usual at the nation's newspapers, famed media guru and New York University professor Clay Shirky (below) performed an autopsy of sorts at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center -- on a copy of the Columbia Daily Tribune.

His conclusion: "Most of the substantive part of that day’s Trib wasn’t locally created, and most of it wasn’t news."

Calling the Trib "my old hometown paper," Shirky -- a Columbia native -- "took two copies of the August 27, 2009 edition, slit them down the spine" and separated the content into two piles: "Created" by Tribune staff; and "Acquired," from the Associated Press (AP) or other outside organizations.

Like a pathologist weighing heart, lungs, liver, and other organs, Shirky weighed the paper piles in grams. "The content created by Tribune staff made up less than a third of the total; over two-thirds was acquired from other sources," Shirky wrote. "The paper was about one-third news and about two-thirds 'Other,'" while "news reported by the paper’s staff was less than a sixth of the total content of the paper."

Even more surprising to Shirky: "The number of local reporters who had a byline for hard news in that day’s paper: Six," he wrote. "Janese Heavin, T.J. Greaney, Brennan David, Terry Ganey, Jonathan Braden, and Jodie Jackson Jr."

At first blaming "August vacations or a slow news day" for so few local news stories, Shirky settled on "the most parsimonious explanation: Only six reporters filed news stories that day because the Tribune only has six news reporters, out of a staff list of 59."

Calling these local reporters "expensive lures put on the outside of a product that included none of their work," Shirky expressed surprise at the long list of staff on the Trib's masthead -- few reporters but plenty of editors, and "lots and lots of columnists, writing columns like Granny’s Notes."

"There's nothing wrong with reading your horoscope or being reminded by Granny that May really is one of the nicest months of the year," Shirky wrote. "But it’s not news, it’s not hard to do, and it’s not hard to replace."

What is hard to replace are good reporters, Shirky argued. But reporters -- paid for their work (unlike many columnists) -- come and go in this city like the seasons: Kat Hughes, Matt LeBlanc, Sara Semelka, Jason Rosenbaum, Megan Means, Joe Meyer, and several more at the Trib in the last three years alone.

"What matters in the Tribune, and what’s at risk," Shirky wrote, "is Terry Ganey’s work on a state cover up of elevated levels of E. Coli in Ozark lakes; Jonathan Braden on anti-gay protesters from Kansas picketing in Columbia; Jodie Jackson’s reporting of on a child molestation case against a local politician."

The MinnPost (http://www.minnpost.com) -- a Minneapolis-based version of the Columbia Heart Beat -- covered Shirky's Columbia Tribune dissection, which they termed a "news biopsy."

"If you're not hip to media savant Clay Shirky, he's a media futurist and NYU adjunct professor that all the cool kids swoon over," wrote MinnPost editor David Brauer. "Shirky is unsparing about newspapers, viewing them as inefficient creators of original news content touted as a bulwark of democracy."

About newspapers here Shirky concluded, "There are a dozen or so reporters and editors in Columbia, Missouri, whose daily and public work is critical to the orderly functioning of that town, and those people are trapped inside a burning business model."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/10/rescuing-the-reporters/

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2009/10/07/12267/weighing_the_star_tribunes_local_news_--_literally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Shirky

YULETIDE BUMMER: Ashland City Hall to hold Christmas party -- out of town!

ASHLAND, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- A decision by City of Ashland officials to hold City Hall's annual Christmas party out of town has residents of our neighbor 15 miles to the south feeling Scrooged!

"This is a good example of why so many Ashland businesses are struggling to survive," writes a poster on the message board of that town's newspaper of record, the Boone County Journal. "A lack of support from the community -- and in this particular instance, City Hall itself! Whose decision was it? Mr. Heard's? I know for a fact that at least two local businesses were not even given the opportunity to 'bid' on this year's dinner."

"Mr. Heard" refers to city administrator Chris Heard, Ashland's equivalent of Bill Watkins. Similar responses followed.

"Poor decision, I think, by not supporting a local business," writes "Tony Johnson."

"Are you kidding? With all the restaurants, banquet/meeting facilities and catering options IN town, the city has chosen to have it's holiday party OUT of town?" writes "Taxpayer." "I also ask, who's decision was this, our illustrious city administrator? It is ridiculous, and more than a little sad, that city hall is choosing to not support local business."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.bocojo.com/guestbook/

MU RESEARCHERS: Put AIDS on a "leash"

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- An naturally-occurring antiviral protein aptly called "tetherin" literally puts AIDS-causing HIV on a leash to prevent its escape from infected cells, claims a national research team that includes Devon Gregory and Marc Johnson from the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia.

Reported in the October 30th issue of the journal Cell, the discovery helped the researchers design an artificial version of tetherin that also keeps the AIDS virus in check.

"Tetherin is essentially a rod with anchors at either end that are critical for its function," said team member Paul Bieniasz of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "One anchor gets into the virus and the other in the cell membrane to form a tether.

The team designed "a completely different protein with the same configuration -- a rod with anchors at either end -- and it worked very well," Bieniasz explained.

Tetherin may exist in different forms, some more effective than others, and the AIDS virus produces proteins that can counteract it, which helps explain why HIV progresses differently in different people. One goal is to enhance the power of the artificial version through closer examinations of naturally-occurring tetherin's gene sequence.

http://mmi.missouri.edu/johnson/mj.php

AMAZING ARCHIVE: Missourian newspapers show Columbia's past

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Want to know what really happened, to the day, in Columbia history? Check out the amazing online collection of Missourian newspapers dating back eighty years, to the Great Depression.

Maintained at the Missouri Digital Heritage Archive, the collection offers a search feature I've used several times to uncover what really happened when the city last activated a Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and used eminent domain,

mostly against the black community.

The Missouri Digital Heritage Archive has 18 separate collections, all available for viewing online.

The Missourian newspaper collection

http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fcolmo1

Search the Missourian collection

http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/search.php

The Missouri Digital Heritage Archive

http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/collections.asp

MISSOURI MATH: Middle school scores improve

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Missouri was among 15 states that showed notable improvement in eighth-grade math performance, says a report released last month.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress -- aka the "Nation’s Report Card" -- shows that Missouri gained on Kansas, where scores stayed flat. The math test samples students nationwide every two years in the fourth and eighth grades. Missouri experienced smaller gains at the fourth grade level, again beating Kansas, although both states show scores well above the national average.

Missouri did not make any significant progress on narrowing the so-called "achievement gap" between white and black students. Scores for other academic areas haven't been released yet.

ONLINE PET GROUP: Helps MidMo animals

COLUMBIA, 11/5/09 (Beat Bytes) -- An online group dedicated to helping place adoptable animals is now one of mid-Missouri's largest animal welfare confabs, at 324 members.

Started in response to a pet ban on the giant Columbia Freecycle group, Pet Help for Central Mo offers to "help pet owners find a new home for their pets, find a new pet, or ask for help looking for a lost pet. Or if you have a dog dish, leash, kennel or even extra pet food you no longer need, you are welcome to post that here also."

The group does not accept posts "for breeding purposes."

Check them out at:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/PetHELPforCentralMO/

HOUSING NEWS: From Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

Highlights:

GDP rose by 3.5% for the first gain in a year and the strongest reading in two years.

$8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit set to expire at the end of this month.

Possible addition of $6,500 tax credit for other primary home purchasers, meaning the tax credit would no longer be limited only to first-time homebuyers.

Possibility that qualifying income limits could increase from $75,000 to $125,000 for singles, and from $150,000 to $250,000 for joint tax filers.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.mmgweekly.com/w/index.html?SID=dbec0010cebb295ffb1d96b0af9d77f8

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President
3610 Buttonwood Dr, Suite 100
Columbia, MO 65201
573-874-4700

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

CIRCULATION: 5,216

Visit us on:
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MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Calls MU a "terrorist" organization

2009-11-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

1) MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Calls MU a "terrorist" organization
2) FORMER AP CHIEF ASKS: Why the Jeong Im pseudonyms?
3) FINAL THOUGHTS: Police have solved the murder of Jeong Im
4) AL GERMOND: Tackles the vacant building problem
5) LOCAL AD GIANT: To occupy historic Mule Barn
6) ADOPT-ME: Aruba, from Columbia Second Chance
7) DINERS REVIEW: Hemingways; Flatbranch pumpkin ale
8) READERS WRITE: CPS marching bands; CMHS

MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Calls MU a "terrorist" organization

COLUMBIA, 11/2/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Calling the University of Missouri a "terrorist organization" seems an unusual move for a potential mayoral candidate.

But just one month before Paul Love declared his candidacy for the highest job in the city, he did just that. Addressing the Columbia City Council at its 9/29/2009 meeting about "police intimidation," Love said "7-8 University and Columbia police officers" visited his home to deliver a "no-trespass warning" related to a decade-old dispute with University officials.

A recurring theme in missives Love has posted on the Columbia Tribune website, the dispute involves a bomb threat allegation Love claims University lawyers filed in court during an employment-related lawsuit. The allegation was a felony act of terrorism, Love told council members. Because Columbia police officers helped MU police deliver the no-trespass warning, "Love asked the Council to stop assisting terrorist organizations," the minutes read.

That wasn't the first time Love said MU was perpetrating terrorism at a city council meeting. During the council's June 1, 2009 meeting, Love spoke against a proposed city contract with the University of Missouri "regarding the Fourth of July celebration," minutes from that meeting read. He again alleged that the "Curators of the University of Missouri" had committed "a criminal act and a terrorist act, under both State and Federal law" by "falsely reporting a bomb threat and transmitting this information through the mail or electronically over phone lines."

University officials claimed in court filings that "they could willfully and maliciously falsely report a bomb threat and not be held responsible," Love told the City Council. "He felt an organization that would commit terrorist acts and indicate they could willfully and maliciously harm citizens of the United States was a terrorist organization. He was requesting that the Council not enter into contractual agreements with terrorist organizations."

A former employee at MU's Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet), Love sued the University in Federal court six years ago, alleging University lawyers violated terms of a "forced resignation" agreement, the Columbia Tribune reported. Love was allegedly forced to resign after fellow employees said he threatened to "blow up the workplace and shoot them," an accusation he strongly denies.

"What was falsely reported was that when I worked at MOREnet, I made threats to blow up the building and kill my co-workers and that I had detailed plans regarding the types of devices to be used," Love wrote on the Trib's website beneath the story on his mayoral candidacy.

RELATED:
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Council/Minutes/documents/cm09_sept21.pdf (pg. 1)
http://gocolumbiamo.com/Council/Minutes/documents/cm09_jun1.pdf (pg. 27)
http://www.columbiatribune.com/users/Paul_Love/comments
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/oct/31/third-candidate-files-for-mayor

FORMER AP CHIEF ASKS: Why the Jeong Im pseudonyms?

COLUMBIA, 11/2/09 (Beat Bytes) -- A former Jefferson City Associated Press bureau chief and MU spokesperson has questioned the use of pseudonyms in a recent Heart Beat series on the 2005 murder of Dr. Jeong Im.

"I always enjoy the Heartbeat blog, and I appreciate your efforts," Scott Charton (left), who now runs Charton Communications and Consulting in Columbia, emailed. "As a retired journalist, I'm a bit puzzled about the technique of using pseudonyms in your Dr. Im followups. What's the reasoning?"

Instead of real names, I used pseudonyms for two alleged suspects; an MU police officer who named one of the suspects; and two women who won stalking and harassment restraining orders against the other suspect on unrelated matters.

Though I will release those names on background to reporters with bona-fide credentials and law enforcement officials, I used pseudonyms to achieve a balance. MU police have filed no charges; and neither suspect has, to my knowledge, retained legal counsel, leaving them at an extraordinary disadvantage to the legal system. At the same time, the public has a right to know what public officials are doing, in a manner that does not compromise an investigation.

Though no one insisted that I omit their name, and though I was under no obligation to do so, I felt it best to tread lightly, and report what I found the best way I could.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Police have solved the murder of Jeong Im

COLUMBIA, 11/2/09 (Commentary) -- To prepare for what became a seven-part series on the murder of MU biochemist Jeong Im, I read several dozen stories across half-dozen newspapers, including the Columbia Missourian, the MU Maneater, the Columbia Daily Tribune, and the Kansas City Star.

One thing stood out: a striking change in the MU police department's behavior. Coupled with information from our own series -- the revelation of not one, but two suspects, and the idea that an MU police officer would reveal intimate details about the case while firmly insisting to a credible source that his department had solved it -- a logical, albeit arguable,

conclusion is suggested:

The University of Missouri police department has indeed solved the murder of Dr. Jeong Im. They simply can't prove it -- yet -- in a court of law.

A flurry of police-public interaction highlighted the aftermath of Im's stabbing in the University of Missouri's Maryland Avenue parking garage. For over a year, MU police officers actively solicited public input, working with big-name investigators from out of the area, and routinely releasing information -- about the murder weapon, footprints, the crime scene, even a suspect description.

Then, nothing, coupled with standoffishness toward reporters whose help the police had earlier courted.

"MU Police Chief Jack Watring was even less forthcoming about the case," wrote Columbia Tribune reporter Janese Heavin in a July 2008 update. "He instructed a reporter to use information from archived news stories and at one point asked why the Tribune was interested in writing another article about Im’s murder." http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/jul/20080721news004.asp

In an age when John Walsh and America's Most Wanted have solved some of the nation's thorniest homicides with help from press and public, Watring's comment is unbelievable -- unless he doesn't need any more help. Carefully read news accounts of the case and you can almost pinpoint, to the month, that police attitudes changed. The logician in me suggests they have all the information they need.

They know who did it, and why, and how, and when. They have the Big Three of any homicide investigation: motive, means, and opportunity.

But as the OJ Simpson case starkly reminds, that can be a far cry from proving murder to a jury.

The Unsolved Murder of Dr. Jeong H. Im
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/08/unsolved-murder-of-dr-jeong-h-im.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/09/beat-byte-im-murder-discovery-changes.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/09/im-murder-mystery-elevator-person-last.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/09/columbia-heart-beat-92009.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/09/beat-byte-police-may-have-prime-suspect.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/im-murder-suspect-steps-forward-tells.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/im-murder-suspect-steps-forward-tells_11.html

LOCAL AD GIANT: To occupy historic Mule Barn

COLUMBIA, 11/2/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Local advertising and PR giant Woodruff Sweitzer, best known in Columbia for backing the Roots and Blues and Barbecue fest with Blue Note owner Richard King, is on the move -- not only in Columbia, but in Kansas City, too.

From their former downtown headquarters, the 20-employee firm is moving to a historic, environmentally-friendly labor-of-love called the Wright Brothers Mule Barn, an 18,000-square foot behemoth restored by architect Brian Pape that sports Columbia's first and only "green roof." After 10 years at 515 Cherry St., the 17-year-old company will take up 5,000 square feet in the Mule Barn building, located across from Columbia College in the North Central Village, the Columbia Business Times reports.

Woodruff Sweitzer also started construction on a new office in Kansas City's Crossroads District.

"Our Kansas City client base has grown exponentially in the last few years," says president Terry Woodruff. "We recognized an increased need and desire to expand our Kansas City office into a building that reflects how we do business. We enjoy the Crossroads District and were happy we found a space to fit our needs in the area."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/6106/2009/10/30/woodruff-sweitzer-moving-to-historic-leed-certified-building
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Woodruff_Sweitzer/Crossroads_District/prweb3128094.htm

AL GERMOND: Tackles the vacant building problem

from the Columbia Business Times

Doesn’t there seem to be an abundance of vacant commercial buildings for sale or rent around Columbia these days?

Based on my own “drive-by” survey (to borrow a term appraisers employ as they cruise around and spot check properties) the number of “available” properties seems inordinately high and apparently growing. The abundance includes factory and warehouse opportunities, along with a surfeit of retail leaseholds.

A new listing is the former MiTek Inc. premises at 1391 Boone Industrial Drive, a 85,000-square-foot building that can now be yours for a cool $2.7 million. The stealth-like departure of this employer of 35 people to the tax-friendly climes of St. Charles County was arranged this summer but only recently reported.

The move comes from the desire to consolidate operations under one roof, legitimately aided and abetted by a $634,000 property tax abatement from St. Charles County.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/6175/2009/10/30/from-the-roundtable-mitek-departs-empty-building-roster-goes-up-another-notch

ADOPT-ME: Aruba, from Columbia Second Chance

We're starting a new series featuring adoptable animals from Columbia Second Chance.

Aruba is a Female Siamese/Domestic Shorthair, 3 years 1 month old. She's best in a home with no small children or
other pets. She's very affectionate and for you fitness junkies out there, Aruba knows how to walk on a treadmill!

CHECK OUT ARUBA:
http://www.columbia2ndchance.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=2&tabid=23

DINERS REVIEW: Hemingways; Flatbranch pumpkin ale

CoMo Whine and Dine has new reviews of Hemingway's and pumpkin ale from Flatbranch restaurant and brewery.

"Wow. Why did I wait so long to give Hemingway's a try?" the editors write. "I knew that Hemingway's specialized in crepes so I felt that this was a must. I went with the crepe champignon with grilled chicken, asparagus, mushrooms and spinach finished with a creamy swiss cheese sauce.

"The crepes were really large. My husband and I split one and were still plenty full. I don't normally eat mushrooms but there were delicious - possibly because they were doused in cheese sauce. There was an abundance of cheese sauce and all the ingredients were perfectly tender, not at all crunchy. I ate every last bite and had I been at home would have licked my plate.

"It was that good."
http://comowhineanddine.blogspot.com/2009/10/hemingways-crepes-on-my-favorite.html

Pumpkin Ale is also back at Flatbranch:
http://comowhineanddine.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-ale-is-back.html

READERS WRITE: CPS marching bands; CMHS

On MU's "nuclear battery"
Hey Mike, Just to let you know, I sent an email to Buzz Out Loud (one of my fave podcasts) and quoted your article about the nuclear battery. They talked about it and it's on their website:
http://www.cnet.com/buzz-out-loud-podcast/?tag=contentBody;podcastMain
Keep up the good work.
-- Tony Thorpe, Columbia

On the CPS marching band controversy
Mike, Thank you for the article regarding the attempt to eliminate the very heart and base of a wonderful, inspiring and successful marching band program.

We recently moved away from Columbia (but still have a home there), and two of my children enjoyed Jeff Junior and Hickman High School's Marching Band programs. My daughter is participating in a "marching band" program where we live now, and my heart breaks for these kids. They have no idea how wonderful they could have it, and my daughter is sad because she knows. My point in all this is, participation at the younger levels is an important developmental and inspirational step.

Marching in middle school might be considered a minimal exposure, and therefore expendable, but is serves as an essential platform from which they launch into the incredibly complicated and award winning programs at HHS and Rock Bridge.
Throwing kids into an exciting and very complex marching band program in high school, without first exposing them to the basics in middle school, would be detrimental for our high school programs and our children.

Eliminating the marching band component will undoubtedly undermine this rich and classic experience. Please do everything in your power to keep marching band in the middle schools, or risk losing it in the high schools as well!
-- Tracey, formerly of Columbia

Mike, Please be advised that the CPS Band issue, I feel, is being handled differently and more judiciously by the School Board itself than maybe as things may have appeared in the past.

Any suggested changes purely came from the committee and NOT the Board. Note the Board did move cautiously and removed the Junior High band piece far before approval of the rest of the curriculum. In my opinion once again, it will be a matter of weighing the arguments and comments of the parents vs. the need to concentrate on instrumental instructional time at that level as suggested by expert faculty.

I sure wish we could get an honest opinion from the students at that level as well (which may, not surprisingly, not be the same as their parents). Again, these are my OWN opinions and not necessarily the viewpoint of the Board. I appreciate your dedication to getting all sides of the story.
-- Tom Rose, member, Columbia, Mo Board of Education

On use of the term "snafu"
Mike: One of my pet peeves is the use of the term "snafu." The meaning has changed over the years and the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary has the following definition:

Pronunciation: \sna-ˈfü, ˈsna-ˌfü\
Function: noun
Etymology: situation normal all f---ed up (formerly fouled up)
Date: circa 1941
Definition: A situation marked by errors or confusion; muddle; also: an error causing such a situation, e.g. a scheduling snafu.

I would be terribly offended to read “f---ed up” in BEAT-BYTES. So can we find something else to use for situations of this nature? I have had this same issue with the COLUMBIA TRIBUNE for years and have had no luck in getting them to change their ways. Here is hoping that you have more moral courage than [Tribune managing editor] Jim Robertson. Thanks!
-- Dick Otto, Columbia

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

CIRCULATION: 5,216

Visit us on:
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Shocking MU contract settles City Hall debt-- 10/30/09

2009-10-31T09:25:00.000-07:00

1) SHOCKING MU CONTRACT: Settles City Hall debt

2) NEW NON-PROFIT: Seeks city money to hire director

3) CITY COMMISSION: Questions water quality

4) "TIGER" JOHN CLEEK: National advocate for scholarships

5) STAN KROENKE: At City Hall hog trough Monday night

6) FINAL NUMBERS IN: For Roots and Blues Fest

7) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Local Announcements

8) HOUSING NEWS: From Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

SHOCKING MU CONTRACT: Settles City Hall debt

Part 3 of an investigative series

COLUMBIA, 10/30/09 (Beat Bytes) -- On September 24, 2009, with neither the advise nor consent of the Columbia City Council, public works director John Glascock entered into a formal agreement with University of Missouri facilities director Gary Ward, following a meeting between city and campus officials on July 14, 2008 -- one month before Glascock would submit a $1.1 million sewer rate hike for approval to the city council.

Years of underbilling for sewer service at MU was costing the city nearly $1.2 million annually by estimates of sewer maintenance superintendent Bill Weitkemper, a career city employee who uncovered city-wide underbilling in March 2006. The MU contract gradually ramps up payments, starting at $60,000/year ($5,000/month) and increasing by that same amount for 10 years, finally reaching $600,000/year. The contract is unclear about how the past underbilling is collected, if ever, and never approaches $1.2 million yearly.

A letter confirming the deal reveals the true nature of the astonishing oversight, raising the University's sewer rate over 1,000 times! "Dear John [Glascock]," writes Ward. "The University of Missouri...agreed to increase the sanitary sewer basic monthly service charge from $4.35 to $5,000.00 per month."

That's right: From $4.35 to $5,000 per month!

The flabbergasting MU/Glascock contract also departed substantially from protocol in which the City Council reviews and approves virtually every city-related deal or project, as one look at any given council agenda attests: http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/cfforms/agenda/agendadetail.cfm?&UID=264

At this Monday's meeting, for instance, council members will be considering just such an agreement with MU, this one related to solid waste:

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=9827

Why Glascock and city manager Bill Watkins chose to withhold the MU sewer agreement from public scrutiny speaks volumes about how it came to be in the first place. It also raises questions about why Glascock and Watkins have prodded the council to raise sewer rates while pushing the public to vote for multi-million dollar sewer bond issues absent knowledge about this critical and ongoing shortfall.

Business as usual?

In a November 2007 report entitled "City of Columbia Sewer Utility Billing Irregularities and Recommendations," Weitkemper referenced a play from the good ol' boys handbook. Identifying the University of Missouri as the "single largest source" of uncollected sewer revenue, Weitkemper wrote, "Apparently many years ago, someone with the City made some type of unwritten agreement with someone at the University, and the University has only ever been charged a single basic sewage service rate."

The unwritten agreement violated city law and cost ratepayers a fortune. "It is my understanding that recently the University has agreed to pay the City an additional $1.2 million per year in sewer revenue," Weitkemper continued.

That was in November 2007. It wasn't until September 2009 that Glascock revealed the real deal, which is nowhere near an additional $1.2 million annually.

Gross underestimates, "special" agreements

In a detailed September 2008 email to city manager Watkins, Weitkemper complained that in an employee award citation, his supervisor Terry Hennkens lopped nearly 4,000 underbilled premises from 6,000 identified in an internal audit.

"My bonus recommendation stated that my suggestion resulted in an additional 2,328 units being billed [for sewer]," Weitkemper wrote. "That is not even close. I told Terry that this number was not correct before it was published in the City Insider [an employee newsletter]. Apparently he feels he can do whatever he chooses."

Then, citing his largest find, Weitkemper dropped the MU bombshell.

"I had indicated in March 2006 that the University of Missouri, Columbia (UMC) was not being billed properly. I was told then that there was a 'special' agreement with UMC that allowed them to only pay a single base sewer charge. I asked for a copy of this 'special' agreement. Apparently, it never existed."

That was on September 2. On September 16, 2008 the Columbia City Council approved the $1.1 million sewer rate hike, with no knowledge of the ongoing billing problems; no knowledge of the unwritten agreements; and under the false impression that they'd heard everything during commentary from a public equally in the dark.

(See item E under Public Hearings: http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/sep/20080916fort003.asp)

PARTS 1 and 2:
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/sewer-stink-scandal-swamps-city-hall.html

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/mu-analyst-to-run-for-4th-ward-council.html

NEW NON-PROFIT: Seeks city money to hire director

COLUMBIA, 10/30/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Cynics, start your engines.

In this era of budgets so tight city employees are shouldering cuts and city services aren't happening, supporters of a new

"community foundation" will seek $40,000.00 from the Columbia City Council this Monday night to hire an "Executive

Director." City Hall would employ the as-yet-unnamed foundation's director, and in a miraculous move, city staff "have identified funding which could be used to hire a person for the balance of 2010," according to a city council report on the issue.

Community foundations are non-profit organizations that accept donations to better the community. But with a surfeit of non-profit groups clamoring for a pie city officials claim is shrinking, support for this latest group seems untimely. "With city support, an Executive Director should be hired quickly," the staff report for Monday's council meeting reads. "Funding for operating expenses are needed. A board of directors will need to be identified...of 12 to 18 persons, all prominent in the community."

Backed by local VIPs like accountant Bob Gerding and Columbia Tribune managing editor Jim Robertson, the community foundation's proposal reads like so many other non-profits, with talk of marketing brochures, leading citizens, directors, staffers, and money, money, money.

Too bad all that money, time, and effort can't go directly to the people -- or existing non-profits -- who need it now. How about a group of leading citizens going through our more impoverished neighborhoods, fixing, cleaning, and doing, rather than planning, meeting, and marketing?

DETAILS HERE:

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=9795

CITY COMMISSION: Questions water quality

COLUMBIA, 10/30/09 (Beat Bytes) -- City Hall's top voice on environmental issues, the Energy and Environment Commission, is raising questions about a plan to drill a new water well in the McBaine bottoms, a wetlands area that may be collecting trace contaminants: herbicides, pesticides, and other harmful materials that could leach into the groundwater.

"Based on many years of data from the US Geological Survey; Missouri Department of Natural Resources; and the City of Columbia, the proposed location for alluvial well 16 is questionable from a water quality standpoint," board members explained in a letter to the Columbia City Council for its Monday, Nov. 2 meeting.

Citing numerous unanswered questions, commission members are recommending city staff review different locations for the well and wait for the results of a new water treatment study.

DETAILS HERE:

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=9797

"TIGER" JOHN CLEEK: National advocate for college scholarships

COLUMBIA, 10/30/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Supporting the loyal customers who helped make his rent-to-own furniture chain a household name in mid-Missouri, John Cleek recently spoke up for college scholarships as president of the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations, a national trade organization that has spent seven years building a trust fund to award scholarships nationwide.

"The rent to own industry's commitment to education and scholarship funds is a testament to the industry's growth and establishment as a vital industry and contributor to the economy," said Cleek, best known in Columbia as a major University of Missouri booster. "The rent to own industry is here to help our future with the most powerful contribution to our children through education scholarships."

Cleek became a franchisee of Aaron's, a nationwide rent-to-own chain, in 2008.

http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=275472&Itemid=29

STAN KROENKE: At City Hall hog trough Monday night

COLUMBIA, 10/30/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Billionaire developer Stan Kroenke -- who enjoys some of the region's lowest taxes on some of its most expensive properties and projects -- will be visiting the City Hall trough Monday night to accept two payments totalling nearly $200,000.

Represented by his usual phalanx of lawyers, TDDs, and pseudonyms, Kroenke's Conley Road Transportation Development District and Broadway Crossings II, LLC will be convincing us all that the $180,000.00 we'll be spending on Trimble Road utility improvements -- adjacent to one of Kroenke's tracts -- is for our own good.

The words "City will reimburse TDD for the costs incurred by the TDD" which appear in the contract seem absurd, as the TDD is really John and Jane Q. Shopper, paying a higher tax on any retail goods they purchase at said TDD-funded retail establishments.

"TDD shall complete the improvements on Trimble Road," should therefore read, "Future shoppers shall complete...."

In other Kroenke related business, the council will pay Kroenke's THF Grindstone Plaza Development $20,190.00 for an easement to repair a pump station. THF, for those who don't know, stands for "To Have Fun" -- with your money in many cases. Too bad Mr. Kroenke can't simply donate the easement, given everything he takes out of here.

Ahh, where to have fun with all that taxpayer money? The soccer field, of course! Mr. Kroenke just increased his stake in the UK soccer team Arsenal, taking him to the verge of a complete takeover and knocking out a rival Russian billionaire:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=690116&sec=england&cc=5901

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/media/multimedia/2009/05/01/media/Archive__/boards.html

FINAL NUMBERS IN: For Roots and Blues Fest

COLUMBIA, 10/30/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Presenting a check to City Hall for services rendered during this year's Roots and Blues Fest, Thumper Entertainment has released a full accounting of ticket sales which includes a list of "Festival VIPs" topped by noted dermatologist and HSBM (husband of school board member) Dr. John Despain.

This year's festival grossed $168,170.00 through the sale of 11,523 tickets. Promoters also comped another 2,243 tickets, for a total of 13,766 ticketed attendees, according to a statement on file with the city.

DETAILS HERE:

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=9793

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Local Announcements

The Columbia planning and zoning commission will meet November 5, 2009– 7:00 P.M. DANIEL BOONE BUILDING, CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 4TH FLOOR. On the agenda is a request to rezone by Grindstone Investments to rezone agricultural land to commercial land of property located on the southwest corner of Heller and Rogers Roads, containing approximately 116 acres.

4th Ward councilman and mayoral candidate Jerry Wade will hold coffeehouse office hours this Saturday, October 31. The 3:00p – 5:00p Oct. 31 at the Rendezvous Coffeehouse, 3304 Broadway Business Park Ct., on the south side of West Broadway, west of HyVee.

3rd Ward councilman Karl Skala has kicked off his re-election campaign. "I want to continue to help make our neighborhoods safer, improve our roads and city services, develop more thoughtful city planning, and create a more responsive city government," Skala says. Skala will not hold office hours tomorrow as previously scheduled, but will resume his regular Sven's Kafe office hours NOVEMBER 21, 2009. For more information, contact:

Karl Skala

Columbia Third Ward City Councilman

573-474-2195

SkalaforCouncil@yahoo.com

Columbia Missourian columnist David Rosman invites readers to check out his new commentary blog, devoted to a different set of issues than his long-running Missourian column:

www.inkandvoice.wordpress.com

The City of Columbia's meeting calendar for the week ending November 6 is now available on the City's website at
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Neighborhoods/Neighborhood_Associations/documents/CityCalendar_2009_11-06.pdf

HOUSING NEWS: From Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

"THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS..." Or so the famous saying goes. And when it comes to really understanding the various reports and events unfolding in the economy, it's important to take a look at the details - not just the headlines. Here's what you need to know.

On the inflation front, the Producer Price Index, which measures wholesale inflation, unexpectedly fell due to a drop in energy prices. While that seems like good news on the surface, keep in mind that next month's number could climb higher again, as oil and natural gas have both been on a tear higher lately.

In housing news, Housing Starts and Building Permits both came in a bit below expectations, but this may be a sign that builders are exercising some caution - particularly in the face of the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers that is presently set to expire on November 30th.

Existing Home Sales came in better than expected - and a whopping 45% of those homes were sold to first time homebuyers - rushing to move in on that credit. Recent studies have shown that many who qualify for this tax credit aren't even aware of it...so please let me know if you or someone you know needs more information - the clock is ticking!

Additionally, the level of existing homes inventory shrunk to a 7.8 month supply, down from a recent high of 10.1 months in April.

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President

Office: 573-874-4700
Cell: 573-489-4059
www.bankofmissouri.com
tstone@bankofmissouri.com

MU analyst to run for 4th Ward council

2009-10-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

1) IN-FIGHTING STALLS: Sewer billing stink

2) MU ANALYST GREEVER-RICE: Declares for 4th Ward Council

3) ANGRY TRIB COMMENTS: Spark latest Humane Society flap

4) SULLIVAN SHINES: Mayoral candidate on KFRU radio

5) RUMOR HAS IT: Auto baron/attorney pondering mayor/council races?

6) DINERS REVIEW: Addisons, an American Grill

7) READERS WRITE: Headline error; Susan Taylor Glasgow

IN-FIGHTING STALLS: Sewer billing stink

COLUMBIA, 10/26/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Three and a half years ago, Columbia sewer maintenance superintendent Bill Weitkemper notified his then-supervisor, Dennie Pendergrass, that a long-standing sewer billing practice violated city law.

Weikemper's odyssey through his own bureaucracy is eye-opening, but not for reasons many readers may think. A serious read of over 150 pages of documents related to the billing snafu reveals no corruption, no incompetence, and no stupidity, contrary to the opinion of Columbia Tribune publisher Hank Waters, who called the mess "stupid but innocent" in a recent op-ed.

What it does reveal is a top-down management system that sends mixed messages, on the one hand giving cash awards to employees for their cost-saving and revenue-enhancing suggestions, while on the other hand griping, groaning, and procrastinating on the way to implementing those suggestions. "Why do we have to bother with this stuff?" is an unfortunate undercurrent in dozens of conversations.

MORNING MEETING: March 2006

There's no such thing as a "sewer meter," so sewer bills are based on water meters, "which allow for many apartment complexes with one meter, like Villa Capri...to be charged a single Basic Sewer Service Charge," wrote Weitkemper, a 34-year public works employee, in March 2006. "It also allows the University of Missouri to avoid paying a Basic Sewer Service Charge for most of its individual properties and rental units."

Problem is, city law says each sewer user shall pay the sewer charge, so that sewer bills should be issued, not for a single water meter, but for each unit in an apartment; each store in a mall; each office in a building; and each room in a dormitory.

Keeping notes as part of his official records, Weitkemper transcribed meetings with his superiors. One spring 2006 morning, public works director John Glascock (above, Columbia Tribune photo) "was sitting in my office," Weitkemper writes. "I had just told him we were not billing sewer users according to the sewer ordinance and we were losing a lot of money."

Pendergrass walked in. "Do you think we will change how we are billing?" Weitkemper asked.

"I didn't see that there was any suggestion to do anything different," Pendergrass responded.

"The suggestion was that we need to start following the ordinance and bill every sewer user."

Glascock jumped in. "You mean we aren't following the ordinance?" he asked.

"I thought we were following the ordinance," Pendergrass said. "We charge for sewer based on water meters."

"That's not what the ordinance says," Weitkemper reminded. Pendergrass walked away.

"We'll look into it," Glascock said, ending the discussion.

NO PROGRESS: October - December, 2007

Fully one and a half years after documenting his concerns and following up dozens of times, Weitkemper sent a frustrated 10/25/2007 email to public works operations manager Mary Ellen Lea. "Needless to say, I'm just a little disappointed that we are no farther along on this issue," he wrote. "I brought it to everyone's attention in March 2006....I need to know up front how you and John Glascock wish to proceed. We need to get this done."

Passing the buck right back, "Bill, You need to work with Terry on this," Lea responded, referencing Weitkemper's new supervisor, Terry Hennkens. Pendergrass had since retired. "John and I are relying on you and Terry to make recommendations on how to proceed."

After two months and more exchanges between Weitkemper, Hennkens, and other city employees, Weitkemper emailed Lea for an update. "Have you received any recommendation yet from Terry? He doesn't like it when I communicate with you or John [Glascock] but he does not communicate with me. What a mess!"

"Terry mentioned some more billing issues, old and new," Lea replied. "Frankly, until we get more action from the Utility Accounts Billing department, we're kinda spinning our wheels."

BIG BILL, LITTLE BILL: Christmas, 2007

Weitkemper asked Lea if anyone had informed the city manager about the problem. Hearing nothing, Bill Weitkemper

emailed Bill Watkins. It was the Saturday before Christmas, 2007.

"Writing this is certainly difficult," Weitkemper told Watkins. "I am still not sure if I should be contacting you. I am concerned with retaliation, both from those who failed to correctly apply the ordinance as well as those who have thus far not done much to correct the situation."

After carefully laying out the same case he'd recited so many times before, Weitkemper concluded by saying, "My intent was never to embarass the City or any City employee. My intent has been to assure that the billing ordinance is being correctly applied....There is no question the Sewer Utility has failed to collect SIGNIFICANT revenue because the sewer ordinances have not been correctly applied."

Records show no reply from Watkins.

OVERNIGHT, AFTER 2.5 YEARS: September, 2008

Thirty months, hundreds of emails, and dozens of reports later, the tension surrounding Weitkemper and his discovery was evident. During a September 2008 meeting with Lea, Weitkemper reminded that he had made his way up the chain of command.

"I want you to know that I complained to the City Manager about the billing issue," he told Lea.

"I know," she said. "I'm not sure that's going to do you any good."

"I didn't expect that it would. I just feel that I deserve answers to the questions I've asked."

"You can't expect for everything to be worked out overnight," Lea responded. She pointed toward her old office. "I've been working on billing problems since I was down there."

"I don't expect things to be worked out overnight," Weitkemper said. "It's been 30 months since I brought this up."

"Well, we are trying to work things out."

Two days later, Weitkemper learned that John Glascock was upset about a $3,000.00 employee bonus Weitkemper had received for discovering the sewer snafu. After Watkins had issued the checks, Glascock told another supervisor, "You need to tell Bill [Weitkemper] that this is it. That's all he's going to get."

But the supervisor, referred to in notes as "EE," refused to say anything. "I'm not going to tell Bill that," EE told Glascock. "You are going to have to tell him yourself."

NEXT: Still unresolved, September 2009

PART 1:
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/sewer-stink-scandal-swamps-city-hall.html

MU ANALYST GREEVER-RICE: Declares for 4th Ward Council

COLUMBIA, 10/26/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Former City of Columbia planning and zoning commissioner Dr. Tracy Greever-Rice (right, Columbia Business Times photo), a data analyst with the University of Missouri and long-time 4th Ward resident, has declared her candidacy for the city council seat Jerry Wade is vacating in favor of the mayor's race. By yesterday afternoon, she had collected most of the required signatures on her candidacy petition.

A Columbia Vision Commission member whose husband Glenn currently sits on the planning and zoning commission, Greever-Rice presently serves as the associate director of the MU Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis. She received her Ph.D. in rural sociology at the University of Missouri; has taught courses in juvenile delinquency, public policy, community service, and rural outreach; and published papers on a wide array of issues, from children's health care to retail economics.

A former member of the City of Columbia energy and environment commission, Greever-Rice "has a top-notch, analytical mind and will serve the 4th Ward well," said long-time friend Deanna Walkenbach. "She's an incredibly hard worker and will be very pro-active."

Filing for slots on the city council opened last Friday. So far, Wade and Sid Sullivan have filed for mayor, and 3rd Ward councilman Karl Skala has filed to retain his seat.

RUMOR HAS IT: Auto baron/attorney pondering council/mayor races?

COLUMBIA, 10/26/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Dave Machens (right), whose father Joe started one of the midwest's best-known automobile dealerships, may be considering a run for mayor of Columbia, say folks in the know. Machens took over the dealership, Joe Machens Ford, et. al., after his father Joe passed away in 1997. He later sold his remaining shares in the company to current owner Gary Drewing and according to his website, presently serves as the financial director for Wright Communications, LLC.

Another possible mayoral candidate may be Paul Love, variously noted as an employee of O'Reilly Automotive and CarFax in local newspaper stories. Love has testified before the city council with environmental concerns about development projects. "Paul Love has posted on Facebook that he is running for mayor," a credible source told the Heart Beat. "He already has a petition and is halfway to collecting his signatures."

Attorney Sarah Read (left, Columbia Missourian photo) who mediated a dispute between the Shepard Boulevard and Timberhill Road neighborhood associations and developer Stadium 63 Properties, LLC over the controversial Cross Creek project, may also seek the 4th Ward council seat. Read is listed as president of Columbia Parents for Public Schools in an April 2009 forum post on that organization's website. Friends and acquaintances say she has circulated a candidacy petition.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/12/09/sarah-read-profile/

ANGRY TRIB COMMENTS: Spark latest Humane Society flap

COLUMBIA, 10/26/09 (Beat Bytes) -- A pending change in animal adoption policy at the Central Missouri Humane Society (CMHS) -- allegedly prompted by Columbia Tribune readers -- has animal care advocates crying foul, and Humane Society staffers broadcasting a plea for help that made its way to local online listservs.

"Our Board of Directors is re-drafting our adoption policies in response to the handful of angry folks who leave comments on the Columbia Daily Tribune message board about how 'rigid' the current guidelines are," wrote CMHS Foster Care/Rescue Coordinator Jeffrey Trotter. "They are essentially changing our mission by taking out all screening procedures."

Under the new policy, Trotter said CMHS would no longer: call applicants' landlords to assure that pets are allowed; check veterinary references to see if applicants are vaccinating pets they presently own; or prohibit leaving adopted animals outdoors 24/7.

Trotter urged animal care advocates to voice their opinions at an open board meeting this Tuesday at 6 p.m. A flurry of emails followed.

"This is a desperate plea. Their Board has NO CLUE."

"With all the crazy things going on with CMHS, I think we need to be present and have a statement, but stay level and still supportive."

"The proposed adoption policy for CMHS is disgusting, and potentially puts a lot of needy animals in danger of not receiving the care they should be getting."

"With Tiffany McBee leaving the CMHS board, there are no longer any true animal advocates as members."

Both McBee and longtime CMHS advocate/staffer Heather Duren-Stubbs have recently departed CMHS. Interested parties may call (573) 999-4955 or (573) 443-7387 for more information about the board meeting.

SULLIVAN SHINES: Mayoral candidate on KFRU radio

(Commentary) -- Coming off two small victories on the long road to Columbia mayor, candidate Sid Sullivan outmatched KFRU Sunday Morning Roundtable devil's advocate Skip Walther, a noted attorney, to emerge victorious in a series of mini-debates on the radio program yesterday morning.

By showing up at 5:00 am on the opening of candidacy filing last Friday, Sullivan claimed the top spot on the ballot and handed in one more signature than 4th Ward councilman/candidate Jerry Wade on his candidacy petition: 149 to Wade's 148.

The electoral gods kept smiling on Sullivan during Sunday morning's 45-minute exchange, during which Walther -- who frequently represents developers in front of the City Council -- crystallized Columbia's piecemeal approach to planning. Are you suggesting that we don't simply allow a builder or developer to approach the council with his or her own plans, and then seek approval? Walther asked Sullivan. Are you suggesting that there's a different way?

Developers shouldn't be the city's main planners, Sullivan replied. Rather, planning should be a function of the entire community, and where necessary, individual government entities -- like the school district and City Hall -- must work hand-in-hand to accomplish big projects, like the new high school.

Co-host Al Germond asked Sullivan if he would have voted for the star-crossed Cross Creek project. "I had a lot of problems with that proposal," Sullivan explained. "We need the whole city involved in projects like a huge car lot on a major entrance to the city. But instead, it was a plan that emerged during a fight between neighborhood associations and a developer. After council defeated it the first time, I wouldn't have allowed it back for at least another year. With the economy in the tank, nothing's happened and it's left a big hole on the east side of town."

Callers praised Sullivan. "It's nice to finally hear someone who is willing to say 'no' when necessary," said a woman concerned with unplanned sprawl in the Derby Ridge area. "It's nice to hear from someone who will be the adult on the city council."

Even the normally contentious Broadway Expansion Guy liked what he heard. "It's high time we got away from this elitist planning system, where the builder with the most money dictates where high schools go and what improvements get made." he said. "So far, I like what I'm hearing from Mr. Sullivan."

Sullivan also said he supports council pay "because without it, too many good people, including many small businesspeople, can't even think about serving." He suggested better pay for police officers and a common-sense additive to red light cameras.

"We need to put up signs that warn drivers ahead of time, This Stop Light Patrolled by Camera," Sullivan said. "That way, they really will slow down, and we're not just catching them after the fact."

DINERS REVIEW: Addisons, an American Grill

Calling it "another surprisingly good restaurant in Columbia," diners from Santa Clara, Calif. recently gave Addisons, a downtown dining favorite, 4.5 of 5 stars. "We started by sharing the sweet potato chips, which is a huge and delicious appetizer."

Known for its lifesize David Spear paintings of restaurant life, Addisons combines family-friendliness with adult sophistication. I've dined there with family and friends dozens of times over the years, with consistently good food and service. Readers at Yelp.com share my enthusiasm. Here are some selected comments:

"I had the mediterranean salad and was pleasantly surprised by the tasty addition of basil and artichoke hearts. But I think the best deal was my husband's ahi tuna sandwich. It's not really a sandwich, but more of a large ahi tuna steak on a piece of focaccia. It was delicious, and seemed like a lot of tuna for $8.99!"

"Order the phyllo-wrapped brownie!! It might be the best dessert item at any restaurant in CoMo!"

"The atmosphere is cheery and bright. I remember the wait staff being helpful also. The food was just OK though."

CHECK OUT Addisons on Yelp -- and at 709 Cherry Street in the District

http://www.yelp.com/biz/addisons-an-american-grill-columbia

READERS WRITE: Headline error; Susan Taylor Glasgow

Re: Susan Taylor Glasgow

Hi Mike: I've received many, many fine comments about the article you wrote for American Craft Magazine about my work. Personally, I feel it's the best article about my work to date! Heller Gallery, my representative in NYC, also expressed what an insightful article it was. The timing was perfect too -- right before my show there in September. Thanks again.
-- Susan Taylor Glasgow, Columbia

http://www.americancraftmag.org/blog-post.php?id=8804

Re: Sid Sullivan declares for Columbia mayor

One can't help but support a candidate nicknamed 'Sulley' to pilot Columbia's future.

-- James F. Fairchild, Columbia

Here's a suggestion for Columbia Mayor -- reasoned, seasoned, brilliant, thoughtful: Tim Harlan.

-- Nancy Copenhaver, Columbia

Just wanted to let you know I thoroughly enjoy your informative and entertaining emails. Also, the table of contents says Stephens College: Named top military-friendly school, but in the story, it says Columbia College. Keep up the great work!!

-- Christy Old, Columbia

[Thanks! Several other readers caught that error. Columbia College, not Stephens College, received the honor.]

Mike: I was about to forward this to my husband (he works in public relations at Columbia College), when I noticed that you have "Stephens College" in your table of contents when it should say "Columbia College: Top military-friendly school." Thanks for all the great reporting you do.

-- Marilyn L. Cummins, Columbia

Hello Mike, I was reading your latest “BEAT BYTE” and I noticed that we at Columbia College got a nod for being awarded one of the top military friendly schools. It was jarring however, to see the headline summary giving Stephens College that honor instead. Would it be possible to clarify in an upcoming issue? We’re pretty proud of the exclusivity of this honor, and regard it as a call to action to continue serving our veterans with the respect and professionalism they deserve.

-- Brendon Steenbergen, Director of Development, for Annual and Planned Giving, Columbia College

Mike: The table of contents should read "Columbia College," and not "Stephens College."

-- Bob Hutton, Facilities Director, Columbia College

SEWER STINK: Scandal swamps City Hall

2009-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

1) SEWER STINK: Scandal swamps City Hall
2) SULLIVAN DECLARES: For Columbia mayor

3) FIRST TIME HONOR: MU hosts minority medical student conference

4) COLUMBIA COLLEGE: Named top military-friendly school

5) MASSIVE METH BUST: Rocks Centralia

6) MIZZOU ENGINEERS: Make blast-resistant glass
7) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Boone County Republicans Chili Supper This Friday

SEWER STINK: Scandal swamps City Hall

COLUMBIA, 10/21/09 (Beat Bytes) -- A 150-page soap opera starring personality conflicts, inappropriate job duties, and financial confusion that has cost Columbia residents millions of dollars.

That's one way to describe documents about a so-called "sewer billing scandal" released to the Columbia Heart Beat through a City of Columbia Freedom of Information Act request. The documents -- mostly internal memoranda and emails -- cover three years in the beleaguered life of city sewer maintenance superintendent Bill Weitkemper, a 34-year public works employee who became alarmed when he discovered a strange and costly situation in 2006: Thousands of sewer users weren't being billed; City Hall was violating the law; and the public -- through higher rates and bond issues -- was picking up the tab.

IN THE DARK

"Bill -- I know you well enough to not take your note as some sort of threat, but I must tell you it reads that way."

That's Columbia City manager William Watkins, responding in an email to Weitkemper last August, shortly before city council members adopted the 2008-09 budget. After two years of trying to right the sewer underbilling problem, Weitkemper had finally worked his way to the top of the command chain. He was reminding Watkins of some wisdom from their former boss, city manager Ray Beck.

"I remember what Mr. Beck told me many times about making a decision," Weitkemper wrote. "Always ask yourself, how would this look to the public? Would the public support this decision."

Weitkemper's concerns -- that the city council would adopt yet another budget ignorant of the decades-long problem -- seem justified. Worries about how the public might view the problem on the cusp of a major funding vote had come up before. The idea seems to have been: keep public and council in the dark, so as not to upset the budget cart.

"I've been thinking about what you said about not wanting to take the chance of upsetting voters before the sewer bond election," Weitkemper wrote in Jan. 5, 2007 email to Public Works operations manager Mary Ellen Lea. "This billing issue could turn out to be a critical issue for that election. The city must be very careful to be completely open with the public."

But kept in the dark, voters approved the $77 million bond issue in April 2008. A bond is a loan, to be repaid through utility rate increases in future years. But if all sewer users were paying their fair share, those rates needn't rise nearly as much as they have.

WATER IN, SEWER OUT

Imagine a 100-unit apartment complex with one big water main supplying the whole place. Each apartment has a shower/bathtub, toilet, bathroom and kitchen sinks -- four sewer lines each.

One big water line in; 400 sewer lines out. Now imagine City Hall, which controls the sewer utility, has for years only billed the apartment complex on the basis of the one water line, violating a city law that says you have to bill each individual sewer user. Imagine the problem multiplied, to some 6,000 unbilled sewer lines across the city. Now multiply that by several decades and tremendous growth.

It's a big number, and City Hall's failure to collect it has cost us all in the form of higher utility rates that only keep going up.

A sewer billing problem can be fixed, and city officials have taken action, including a 2007 audit that proved Weitkemper was correct. But the harder fix lies in a dysfunctional management culture that automatically assumes the public and our representatives -- the city council -- are too stupid to understand the way city government works.

"City administrators call us 'The Tourists,'" a former councilman once told me. He had heard some staffers talking about this concept in the hallway. "Tourists are dumber than locals, and always come and go."

Smart as they are, city administrators are encouraged to interpret the laws council passes before they follow them.

You read that right. Department directors at City Hall routinely interpret the law -- like little Supreme Court justices -- before they implement it. City law is clear about how to bill for sewer charges; what hasn't been clear is how individual department chiefs have been interpreting the ordinance over the past several decades, with each new leader adding a new level of confusion and disarray.

"I believe the method of charging for basic sewer service has been dependent on interpretations of the ordinance by Finance and UAB people," wrote Weitkemper's supervisor, Terry Hennkens, in a 4/27/2006 email.

"I plan to tell Bill [Watkins] that these things cannot be fixed through operations, they are billing problems," wrote Mary Ellen Lea in a 12/20/2007 email to Hennkens. "We can help with interpretation of ordinances, but we should not be the ones trying to fix billing problems."

"Does user mean dwelling unit? Can we relate the base fee to the meters? Still don't think this clarifies when and how we apply the base fee," city finance director Lori Fleming emailed public works director John Glascock on 9/30/2009, fully three years after Weitkemper first broached the problem.

Add clashing personalities, miscommunications, and conflicting management styles, and the mess has metastasized. It's a mess we'll be covering in detail, in this Fall investigative series.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/21/sewer-billing-trouble-costly/
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/oct/18/sewer-billing/

SULLIVAN DECLARES: For Columbia mayor

COLUMBIA, 10/21/09 (Beat Bytes) -- Planning advocate Sid Sullivan, who ran an unsuccessful primary campaign against southern Boone County commissioner Karen Miller last year, has formally declared his intention to seek the office of Columbia mayor. Sullivan joins 4th ward councilman Jerry Wade and Eastside Tavern owner Sal Nuccio for the upcoming April 2010 election.

Citing the need to tackle a broad array of citywide issues, Sullivan told the Columbia Heart Beat he wants to be "a mayor for all the people." City Hall's focus on parks and trails "has been great," Sullivan said, "but we need to work on the basics, like crime, roads, and growth. These are issues for everyone."

Sullivan's supporters are gathering signatures for Friday, the official petition opening day, when candidates can first deliver their nomination petitions to City Hall. Mayoral candidates need at least 100 signatures; council candidates need 50. For more information, read Section 122. Nominations by Petition in the Columbia city charter:

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Council/Columbia_Code_of_Ordinances/Chapter_99/01.html

Students who want to work on campaigns and folks who want to sign petitions can contact the three candidates as follows:

Sid Sullivan

573-234-2374

sidsullivan@att.net

Jerry Wade

ward4@gocolumbiamo.com

(573) 447-0064

Sal Nuccio

(573) 256-1500

http://www.facebook.com/people/Sal-Nuccio/1625469553

ABOUT SID SULLIVAN
http://archive.showmenews.com/2008/jul/20080725news009.asp

FIRST TIME HONOR: MU hosts minority medical student conference

COLUMBIA, 10/21/09 (Beat Bytes) -- For the first time ever, the University of Missouri School of Medicine is hosting an annual conference for the Student National Medical Association, the nation's oldest and largest independent, student-run organization for medical students of color. Boasting some 8,000 medical students, pre-medical students, residents and physicians SNMA was established in 1964 by medical students from Howard University School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College, both traditional black colleges.

"SNMA is dedicated both to ensuring culturally sensitive medical education and services, as well as increasing the number of African-American, Latino and other students of color entering and completing medical school," says a note on the organization's website. The conference kicks off October 30th and runs through November 1st, 2009.

RELATED:

http://www.snma.org/

http://www.zjmconsulting.com/region2conf/

COLUMBIA COLLEGE: Named top military-friendly school

COLUMBIA, 10//21/09 (CCIS) -- G.I. Jobs magazine has named Columbia College a top school for educating former military members. The magazine ranked the college in the top 15 percent of all schools nationwide based on military-friendly policies which include the Yellow Ribbon Program, a matching servicemembers' tuition program

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.gijobs.com/

http://www.ccis.edu/newsroom/index.asp?story=860

MASSIVE METH BUST: Rocks Centralia

CENTRALIA, 10/21/09 (Fireside-Guard) -- In Columbia, bikes, pedestrians, and wheelchairs have been on recent city council agendas. But in northern Boone neighbor Centralia, a new state law which enables municipalities to legalize golf carts on city streets was brought up to that city's Board of Aldermen and shelved for later discussion, according to the Centralia Fireside-Guard.

Also in the news: A massive methamphetamine bust earlier this month. Centralia Police officers arrested five people at a duplex, ending a months-long investigation. Officers also found an active meth lab, five miles west of Centralia in rural Audrain County. The Boone County Sheriff's Department assisted.

"This was a lab capable of easily making an ounce of pure meth every 24 hours," Centralia Police chief Larry Dudgeon told the Fireside Guard, noting that waste products posed an environmental hazard. Among those arrested: Jebadiah Romine, 28, for distribution, possession, and maintaining a drug house within 1,200 feet of Chester Boren Middle School and Chance Elementary School.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.firesideguard.com/news/view_sections.asp?idcategory=9&idarticle=3058

http://www.firesideguard.com/news/localnews.asp?idcategory=9
http://twitter.com/FiresideGuard

MIZZOU ENGINEERS: Make blast-resistant glass

COLUMBIA, 10/21/09 (MU News) -- Blast-resistant glass that Mizzou engineering researchers are developing may substantially reduce collateral damage from exploding bombs and natural disasters.

With a $250,000 U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant, Sanjeev Khanna, a mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor, and Zhen Chen, a civil and environmental engineering professor, have developed thinner and less expensive blast-resistant glass. They tested the glass this spring by exploding a small bomb within five feet. The glass panel withstood the blast.

Ultra-thin glass fibers embedded in plastic give the glass its strength. Only about 25 microns thick -- half the thickness of a human hair -- the glass fibers literally have no room for defects that could lead to cracking.

The Mizzou blast-resistant glass is less than a half inch thick and would cost a fraction of what such glass currently costs, Khanna said. For instance, it could protect residential windows from hurricanes, flying debris, or earthquakes.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://engineering.missouri.edu/news/stories/2009/security-with-blast-resistant-glass/index.php

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Boone County Republicans Chili Supper

Longtime local radio talk show host Tom Bradley will host/emcee the Boone County Republicans Annual Chili Supper
this Friday, October 23rd, at the Elks Lodge in Columbia (4747 E. Elk Park Drive). Dinner starts at 6 P.M., Program begins at 7:15 P.M.

Children's Playroom Will Be Open During the Event

Confirmed Speakers include

- Kevin Jackson, conservative author, blogger, and radio host; wrote "The BIG Black Lie", http://theblacksphere.net/

- Keynote: Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, 9th Congressional District*
- Congressman Roy Blunt, 7th Congressional District*, candidate for U.S. Senate
- State Sen. Kurt Schaefer, 19th State Senatorial District
- State Sen. Chuck Purgason, 33rd State Senatorial District, candidate for U.S. Senate
- State Representative Allen Icet, candidate for Missouri Auditor

*Plan to attend but are dependent on House of Representatives' schedule. Other speakers TBA.

Tickets: $12.00/person in advance; $15/person at the door; Children 3 and under free. Make checks payable to Columbia Pachyderm Club. Tickets are also available for purchase at The Columbia Pachyderm Club meetings on Fridays at Noon at Jack's Gourmet Restaurant on Business Loop 70 (across from Westlake's at Old Hwy. 63).

You can also contact Jerry at 573-489-0106 or via e-mail at Jerrya814@centurytel.net,or at centralmoyrs@gmail.com

Directions to the Elks Lodge of Columbia:

- From Hwy. 63, go East, follow East Broadway/Route WW East approximately 1.5 miles, just past Cedar Ridge School (at street light), turn right onto E. Elk Park Drive.
- Then merge left to access Lodge parking

If you cannot make it, but would still like to support the Columbia Pachyderm Club, please send your non tax-deductible donation to:

Columbia Pachyderm Club
PO Box 30642
Columbia, MO 65205

Also visit:
http://www.centralmoyrs.com/bocochilisupper.htm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149479649519&ref=ts

Missouri United Methodist Church Youth Missions & The Center for Women’s Ministries is hosting a home-made cinnamon rolls fundraiser on October 24, from 8:30 a.m. onward. The church is located at 204 South Ninth Street (across from Shakespeare’s). Contact the YOUTH GROUP at (573)-443-3111.

MORE INFORMATION about tonight's CPS Band Curriculum meeting is at these links:

http://schoolhousetalk.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/band-curriculum-additional-discussion

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/10/21/curriculum-committee-seek-parent-input-open-forum/

WADE v. NUCCIO: Columbia mayor's race so far

2009-10-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

1) WADE v. NUCCIO: Columbia mayor's race so far

2) WADE-ING IN: The councilman's conundrums

3) NUCCIO NOW? Can an Everyman win?

4) BAND AIDE: Are school bands the next big CPS issue?

5) READERS WRITE: Dorothy Kee, "Anus" burgers, nuke battery

POLL: READERS FAVOR COUNCIL PAY 2 to 1

WADE v. NUCCIO: Columbia mayor's race, so far

A case of deja vu put the Columbia mayor's race back in the news last week, as Eastside Tavern owner Sal Nuccio (below) declared his candidacy for the April 2010 mayoral election. Announcing for First Ward city council in 2007, Nuccio ultimately withdrew after failing to secure the fifty signatures necessary for his candidacy petition.

Columbia Tribune readers greeted his mayoral announcement with cheers online.

But Missourian readers -- many of whom remember what happened on the old Trib news forum in 2007, when Nuccio dropped some F-bombs to quash some questions -- weren't as exuberant.

Fourth Ward councilman Jerry Wade (above) wasn't greeted as kindly when he declared. He's not an Everyman like Nuccio and he's not well-known outside his ward. Many of his core supporters have fled his latest ambition. He faces tough challenges on the road to the mayor's dais, but given the floor so early in the race, Wade has chosen reservation over communication -- the same strategy pundits say killed Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign.

So go the first lurching steps toward the biggest change in Columbia governance in nearly two decades. Replacing long-time mayor Darwin Hindman -- who, regardless what you think of his politics, navigated this city's disjointed fiefdoms with astonishing aplomb -- will be the biggest challenge faced by a local politico since Hindman first took office in 1995.

And getting elected is only the beginning. Among challenges facing Columbia and its new mayor: Wresting leadership from the city manager, who is hired at the council's pleasure to manage -- not lead. Problem is, he's been doing both -- as the tag team of Beck and Watkins -- for 25 years. With the population hitting 100,000, an unelected public official cut off from voter approval, advise, and consent who has so much power and control simply doesn't work anymore.

We elect the mayor and council, and they need to start leading on our behalf, not merely following the city manager because it's the easiest, least-confrontational thing to do.

(Photos from the Columbia Missourian)

WADE-ING IN: The councilman's conundrums

As most of his 4th ward supporters know, Jerry Wade has the kind of sassy brilliance that could -- if he chose to exercise it -- move Columbia governance into the 21st century. An aging city charter (constitution) is crying for change, and among his peers on the council, Wade is best suited to tackle real reform. He can be as feisty as a junkyard dog when he knows he's right, and he has the analytical mind to stop a specious argument in its tracks.

There's been talk among council members about moving Mr. Watkins -- the leader of the executive branch -- from his inappropriate center seat at the legislative table to a seat on the side. Jerry Wade is the only person I can envision staring down the sultans of snark who always emerge when the manager is challenged, and pulling off such an uncomfortable but perfectly appropriate trick.

But Wade's fire has grown cold, say folks who know him politically. He has become an apologist for problematic governance in the eyes of many supporters, who regard his swing votes in favor of Cross Creek and the Lemone/Maguire Blvd. extension as nothing less than dual betrayals, sellouts to his future ambitions. He lost scores more supporters when he tacitly supported City Hall's big eminent domain/historical museum play. In each case, Wade has justified his support by blaming "imperfect" processes that need changing, but have to be followed nonetheless.

Today, nearly three years after his election, Wade's once-firebrand consitituency is scratching its collective head. Where they used to ask when he planned to work on the changes he'd been promising, they've given up asking much at all. Wade doesn't return phone calls and emails the way he used to; he shuts down discussion, rather than embracing it; and he's attracted dogged critics, like the "Broadway expansion guy" who calls the morning radio shows, relentlessly attacking the 4th Ward councilman's positions.

If Jerry Wade has made too many deals with the devil, that devil is in the details: The imperfect, ripe-for-reform processes and procedures that Wade can navigate like few others, but that will never change unless a mayor more like the old Jerry -- the brilliant feist-meister -- steps up, and demands that wealthy special interests at City Hall -- and their enduring champion, the city manager -- stand down.

RELATED:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/09/15/jerry-wade-says-he-will-run-mayor/

NUCCIO NOW? Can an Everyman win?

Look at a photo of Sal Nuccio -- with his tattooed arms and Jersey-esque stubble -- and you know you're seeing an Everyman, the kind of candidate whom, according to Columbia Heart Beat polls, would probably win against an incumbent city council person or bureaucratic egghead of almost any legal or academic stripe.

Potential Everyman candidates include Cool Stuff owner Arnie Fagan and former councilman Larry Schuster: A little town, a little gown; a little right, a little left; some business savvy, some progressive chops; a swarthy brow, a feisty grin.   A no-nonsense hardworker too busy to play footsie with City Hall's underworked, overpaid special interests.

But Everymen and Everywomen don't poll well against seasoned, tempered establishment types. In our longtime mayoral poll, banker and Trib pundit Bob Roper wiped the floor with Fagan and Schuster, beating everyone but the other seasoned, tempered establishment choice -- former state rep Vicky Riback-Wilson.  But Roper and Wilson have made clear they will never eat green eggs and ham and never run for mayor, which leaves the race more open, at least for now.

Salvatore Nuccio has vocal supporters, and despite his tough persona, a thin political skin. Peppered with questions on the old Trib news forum, he was crabby and impatient, especially when the questions turned to his lack of establishment cred -- no service on any city panels like Planning and Zoning, for instance -- and his ongoing legal troubles, particularly with the State Department of Employment Security, compliments of Casenet.

F-bombs may work in taverns, but they don't stand a chance with the League of Women Voters.

The average voter has an average checklist that includes basic questions: Have you served in government before? Have you run afoul of the law? Do you have scandals in your closet? Do you pay your taxes and vote? "Change" candidates often avoid checklists. They aren't patient enough with the system to abide it, yet to win they have to show familiarity with it. If Sal Nuccio and other anti-establishment candidates face one hurdle, it's proving they know enough about City Hall to get under the hood and fix it.

The average voter also skews older, with chronically pathetic voter turnouts populated by seniors and the better-healed. Statistically, the young, loud, boisterous, beer-hoisting iconoclasts cheering for Nuccio now are less likely to vote, and even less likely to shovel the kind of cash at him he'll probably need to win.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/10/14/eastside-tavern-owner-sal-nuccio-making-mayoral-bid/
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/01/23/eastside-tavern-owner-drops-out-first-ward-race/

BAND WARS: Are school bands the next big CPS issue?

Joy Piazza may be to the Columbia Public School district what Tracy Greever-Rice is to Columbia's 4th Ward -- a well-informed, critically-minded policy aficionado with big questions about the status quo who doesn't yet hold elected office.

Yet.

Where poorly-planned development has coaxed Greever-Rice into the political spotlight, Piazza -- a former City of Columbia historic preservation commissioner -- is fired up over a move to eliminate 8th and 9th grade marching bands that would adversely affect her daughter. A new plan replaces outdoor marching bands with indoor concert bands, based on what CPS music honchos call "research and best practices."

So-called "research and best practices" also drove the contentious math debate. The same posturing that many observers claim guided math policy, Piazza sees in band: secrecy, opacity, intimidation, shady surveys. And like school board members Ines Segert and Michelle Pruitt -- who rode the math wars to elected office -- Piazza is taking political action.

The idea that concert band trumps marching band for 9th graders is sheer poppycock, she says. And like Pruitt before her, Piazza backs up that charge with hard data. "I did my own survey of Missouri’s marching bands, and haven’t yet found a school that does not include 9th graders," she said. "Why would so many high performing and award-winning high schools have 9th graders in their bands if this is such a poor practice?"

She gave such pitch-perfect commentary at last Monday’s school board meeting that a Missourian article "very nearly quoted my comments without naming me," Piazza said. After the meeting, she sent out a detailed press release to local reporters about what she calls a move to exclude 9th-grade parents from the band debate -- a meeting this Wednesday where parents from grades 6 to 8 only will fill out a survey of possibly dubious design for the school board.

A letter about the meeting "from my child’s band director informs me my point of view is not invited," Piazza told reporters. "The letter makes explicit the current class of ninth graders and their parents are not invited to attend the meeting or otherwise offer input on the curriculum change. The letter is written in a language and style that could be taken as intimidating." And based on CPS' past history, the survey it offers, she says, could be less than objective on many levels.

LETTER HERE:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21257906/CPS-Band-Ltr-10-13-09

In the end, Piazza views the new plan -- call it "integrated band" -- the way Pruitt and Segert viewed integrated math. "As I see it, this plan will hang high school freshmen out to dry," Piazza claims. "My interest is not in engaging in a battle with CPS’ music program, but rather to ensure equal access to quality public education."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/10/13/1012-columbia-school-board-votes-blank-and-more/

READERS WRITE

Re: The Long, Tragic Courthouse Journey of Dorothy Twala Kee

Mike: Dorothy Kee sounds like yet another victim of the economic attack on mental health care. In the "old days," mentally ill people had options. Now they live untreated, alone and self-medicated. I would venture to guess that 75% or more of our crimes are committed by people who would be very different if they (or their parents) had access to mental health care. I'd also guess that 75% of innocent people in prison are there because of a mentally ill person making false accusations.

-- Mickey Havener, Coordinator, Boone County Jail Ministry

Mike: Just a short reply to the “anus” burgers at McDonald’s. It was not a misspelling; it was a prank done after business hours. -- Gary McLaughlin, Columbia

Mike: On the all-important, intergalactically critical "anus" burgers issue: What do the Starship Enterprise and toilet paper have in common? They both circle Uranus looking for Klingons! -- Name (naturally) withheld by request

Mike: Thanks for the MU Nuclear Battery information. This other "energy breakthrough" information was in an article submitted as an opinion piece to the Tribune, but rejected. Recently Drs. Steven Greer and Theodore Loder III of the Orion Project (www.theorionproject.org) and the Advanced Energy Research Organization (www.areo2012.com) submitted an important energy research and development proposal to President Obama and the U.S. Congress. The document provides background information about energy-producing technologies that are outside the usual awareness and attention of mainstream scientists and engineers. -- Bill Wickersham, Columbia

Mike: I realized that I had not received one of your wonderful e-newsletters in a few weeks. Could you check and see if I'm still on your list? A friend just emailed me yesterday's installment. Thanks for looking into this and keep up the good work!

-- Kay Allen, Columbia

[Ed. Note: Thanks for the kind words. You dropped off our e-list, but we've added you back!]

Dear Mike, Thanks for your messages. I feel they keep me in touch with what is going on and I think you help us all. Keep up the good work!! -- Jan Franz, Columbia [Ed. note: Thanks so much! And tell you know who to get well soon!]

Mike: Love your blog!

-- Beth Worley, Columbia

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

CIRCULATION: 5,216

POPULAR ASHLAND MAYOR: To step down

2009-10-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

1) POPULAR ASHLAND MAYOR: To step down

2) MU "NUCLEAR BATTERY": Rocks world news media
3) PIONEERING MU STUDY: Blames teacher pay for global ed disparity
4) TIGER-HAWKS: Build Mizzou alumni group in KU town
5) COLUMBIA COLLEGE: Ends print version of student newspaper
6) MIZZOU McDONALDS: Serves "Anus" burgers
7) COLUMBIA HOOTERS: Named "family friendly"
8) BIG FESTIVAL WEEK: Citizen Jane for films; Bluebird for bands
9) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Boone County Republicans Chili Supper

POPULAR ASHLAND MAYOR: To step down

ASHLAND, 10/15/09 (Beat Byte) -- Campaigning door-to-door by bicycle against southern Boone County commissioner Karen Miller in 2004, Mike Asmus put the Pednet in politics, and a classic Trib photo emerged: Asmus swerving his bike on a literal campaign "swing" through a neighborhood.

Not long after, the Missouri senate speechwriter and long-time Ashland resident was elected mayor of the small town to our south, a position he's held through two elections.

But this month, Asmus announced on Facebook that he is stepping down and moving to Austin, Texas with wife Elaine to be closer to family. "He will resign his elected position sometime after the October 20, 2009 Board of Aldermen meeting," the Boone County Journal reports.

Volunteering for over a decade in southern Boone County, Asmus served on the Ashland Planning and Zoning Committee and the Board of Alderman (city council) before becoming Mayor. He led city officials to make what Boone County Journal (BoCoJo) editor Bruce Wallace calls "major improvements in water, sewer and other infrastructure areas, as well as updating codes and ordinances that will benefit this city for decades."

Five years ago, Asmus led a clean, common-sense campaign against Miller, arguing for action -- like finishing the long-empty third floor of the Roger Wilson county government building in downtown Columbia -- that seems prescient today. He also criticized how commissioners, including Miller, used long-time public works director David Mink as a political football, a problem that would rear its ugly head again in 2006, when county maintenance chief Ken Roberts abruptly quit in a storm of controversy over a contract bidding brouhaha; and in late 2008, when Mink finally resigned his position under yet another cloud of political suspicions and official doublespeak.

"Mike Asmus spent untold hours working for the betterment of this community and not just at City Hall," former BoCoJo publisher Jane Flink wrote with Wallace last week. "If you read Boone County history, in town after town when difficult decisions had to be made, a few men and women stood up and stood out. It is Ashland's good fortune that at a critical time in the city's history the Mayor was Mike Asmus, a man who made a difference."

RELATED:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2004/oct/20041019news005.asp
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2006/nov/20061107news005.asp
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/nov/20081113news005.asp
http://www.bocojo.com/articles/2009/10/15/opinion/opinion3.txt
(bottom of page)

MU "NUCLEAR BATTERY": Rocks world news media

COLUMBIA, 10/15/09 (Beat Byte) -- A tiny nuclear power plant the size of a penny that MU engineering researchers announced last week has news media around the world going ga-ga. Discover, the BBC, UPI, and CNET are among nearly 100 national and international media outlets and blogs to pick up and analyze the story.

"Researchers at the University of Missouri said the batteries hold a million times more charge than a conventional battery," writes the San Francisco Technology Examiner. "Researchers at the University of Missouri in Columbia have demonstrated a penny-sized 'nuclear battery' that produces energy from the decay of radioisotopes," reports the BBC.

“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density,” said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries.” And it's perfectly safe.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8297934.stm
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/10/12/a-penny-sized-nuclear-battery-could-keep-going-and-going
http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=3054
http://research.missouri.edu/news/stories/091007_battery.htm

PIONEERING MU STUDY: Blames teacher pay for global ed disparity

COLUMBIA, 10/15/09 (MU News) -- A groundbreaking University of Missouri study released this month puts the blame for a well-known global disparity in grade school education firmly at the feet of a previously little-acknowledged source: poor teacher pay.

"American teachers work longer hours in the classroom, but are paid less and do less preparation outside of class," claims MU assistant professor of education policy Motoko Akiba and her research partner, Gerald LeTendre. "As a result, U.S. students are achieving less."

Akiba and LeTendre compared qualifications, working conditions, and professional learning opportunities for math teachers in the U.S., Japan and Australia. They found that with better support systems and higher pay, teachers in Japan and Australia are outperforming their American peers -- even though American teachers work longer hours in the classroom. Akiba believes the way to improve teaching quality is to overhaul the way teachers are recruited, trained, hired, distributed, supported and retained.

“Our study proved that developing a coherent policy to support teachers is not only what should be done, but also what must be done in the United States,” Akiba said.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
http://research.missouri.edu/news/stories/091002_teachers.htm

TIGER-HAWKS: Build Mizzou alumni group in KU town

LAWRENCE, Ks., 10/15/09 (Beat Byte) -- Call them Tiger Hawks.

A group of MU alums in Lawrence, Kansas -- ground zero for MU archrivals the University of Kansas Jayhawks -- is forming a KU student group for Mizzou alumni.

Leading the effort, Robert Rescot -- a KU civil engineering graduate student with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri -- calls his group, which includes Mizzou alum/KU students Tiffany Huggard-Lee and Charlie Huggard-Lee -- a rare breed: people who love both schools.

"I’ll root for KU anytime," he told the Lawrence Journal-World. "Except when they’re playing Missouri." He also said he gets strange looks in Lawrence when he dons Missouri garb, recalling a time when a small group of his friends wore Tiger black and gold to a restaurant on a KU football game day.

"I’m pretty sure the waitress was petrified," Rescot said.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/oct/12/mizzou-alums-seek-ku-students-similar-stripe/?city_local

COLUMBIA COLLEGE: Ends print version of student newspaper

COLUMBIA, 10/15/09 (BeatBytes) -- In a nod to changing times in print media, the Columbia College student newspaper, The Columbian, printed its first-ever online edition this month, "marking the first of the last year of printed editions forever," writes editor Amanda Noel. "With ever-changing technology, declining readership of printed newspapers, and more and more people getting their news online, The Columbian has decided to hop on the bandwagon and follow the trend."

The Columbian has a long and storied history at the Columbia, Missouri-based college, starting as The Ragtime Gazette in 1902, which became The Campus Coverall in 1926. Educator Mary Paxton Keeley -- for whom a Columbia elementary school is named -- converted the Coverall into The Microphone in 1929. The Columbian debuted 50 years later, in 1979.

Readers "will still be able to access our printed newspapers from the stands," Noel says, but for the remainder of this year only. "Next year, they will be nonexistent."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://columbian.ccis.edu/

MIZZOU McDONALDS: Serves "Anus" burgers

COLUMBIA, 10/15/09 (BeatBytes) -- It's what happened when "Columbia Public Schools" became "Columbia Pubic Schools" in a press release last year. A minor mis-spelling that became a major gaffe.

McDonald's new Angus burgers became McDonald's new Anus burgers on a misspelled McDonald's sign at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO, last month's Consumerist reported. Anus burgers are apparently sweeping the country, showing up at a McDonald's in Hartford, Connecticut as a "bacon and cheese anus burger," for instance.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://consumerist.com/5366422/anus-burgers-run-wild-across-americas-restaurant-signs

COLUMBIA HOOTERS: Named "family friendly"

COLUMBIA, 10/15/09 (BeatBytes) -- In another rowdy restaurant story, AOL Travel's Gadling.com this month named the Columbia, Missouri Hooters a family friendly restaurant. Best known for its scantily-clad waitresses and bosomy name, the Hooters chain wasn't a first pick for writer Sean McLachlan, who "was driving across Missouri with my friends Rex and Caitlin and Rex's four-year-old daughter Aly. We wanted some wings, so we stopped at Hooters just outside Columbia."

Going in, McLachlan thought their 4-year-old travel buddy would be "the only kid in a room full of frat boys and lonely old men. Boy, was I wrong! Half the tables had children at them. Entire families had come out to enjoy Hooters!" Hooters offers a special kids menu, games and crayons, and a waitress made 4-year-old Aly the center of attention. "While the idea of taking a child to Hooters is a bit odd, the fact is they really are kid friendly," McLachlan writes.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/04/roadtrip-with-the-kids-hooters-is-child-friendly/

BIG FESTIVAL WEEK: Citizen Jane for films; Bluebird for bands

COLUMBIA, 10/15/09 (BeatBytes) -- The Bluebird Music and Arts Festival returns to downtown Columbia this weekend in its second year. So does the Citizen Jane Film Fest and the Columbia Sustainability Fair.

Check them out!

http://www.stephens.edu/news/stephensevents/citizenjane/index.php

http://www.whatisbluebird.com/What_is_Bluebird/Home/Home.html

http://www.slfcolumbia.org/index.php

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Boone County Republicans Chili Supper

Longtime local radio talk show host Tom Bradley will host/emcee the Boone County Republicans Annual Chili Supper
next Friday, October 23rd, at the Elks Lodge in Columbia (4747 E. Elk Park Drive). Dinner starts at 6 P.M., Program begins at 7:15 P.M.

Children's Playroom Will Be Open During the Event

Confirmed Speakers include

*Plan to attend but are dependent on House of Representatives' schedule. Other speakers TBA.

You can also contact Jerry at 573-489-0106 or via e-mail at Jerrya814@centurytel.net,or at centralmoyrs@gmail.com

If you cannot make it, but would still like to support the Columbia Pachyderm Club, please send your non tax-deductible donation to:

Columbia Pachyderm Club
PO Box 30642
Columbia, MO 65205

Also visit:
http://www.centralmoyrs.com/bocochilisupper.htm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149479649519&ref=ts

Third Ward City Councilman Karl Skala invites you to join him at Sven's Kafe′ this Saturday, October 17th, from 8:00-10:00 a.m. Please stop by and share your ideas, concerns, comments and/or questions, 3rd ward and/or citywide. 110 Orr Street, Suite 101, in the North Central Village. www.svenskafegallery.com

BEAT BYTE: Columbia realtor battles new tax idea

2009-10-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

1) LEADING COLUMBIA REALTOR: Battles new tax idea

2) RATE MY COP: Lets Columbians praise or pan police

3) BILL GATES: Helps Centralia Library; Barber steps in for City Hall

4) DIGITAL PATRONAGE: Saves Columbia Record Label

5) MIZZOU STUDENTS: Build solar house on DC's National Mall

6) DINERS REVIEW: Bangkok Gardens

7) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Boone County Republicans Chili Supper

Mid-Missouri Renaissance Fest

Visit us on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BeatByte

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=582262428

LEADING COLUMBIA REALTOR: Battles new tax idea

COLUMBIA, 10/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Yet another new tax is angling its way up the government flagpole, as Missouri realtors battle a sales tax on real estate. Take it from someone who has paid this onerous tax in another state: We don't want it here.

And we won't have it here if REMAX/Boone Realty honcho Elizabeth Mendenhall has anything to say about it. The incoming president of the Missouri Association of Realtors, Mendenhall called sales taxes on real estate "double taxation" in yesterday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She argues that homeowners and landowners already pay property taxes and shouldn't have to pay another tax to sell property.

Missouri is one of only 13 states without such a sales tax, which hits a property owner regardless whether they profit from the real estate sale or not. It can even put sellers in the hole or further in the hole: a 1% tax on the gross sales price of a $200,000 home -- modest by today's standards -- is $2,000.00 In Philadelphia, the tax is 4%, which would mean $8,000.00.

Read Tony Messenger's story on the issue here:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/0BA3BDDD88C84BE18625764C00838A0F?OpenDocument

RATE MY COP: Lets Columbians praise or pan police

COLUMBIA, 10/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Columbia police (CPD) officer Trisha Rigsby gets five stars for being "cool and professional." But officer Latisha Stroer only gets one star, and a nasty note from someone she arrested: "Stroer was involved in an incident where my friend was being held in a cop car (later released). I asked why and was told it wasn't my business so I called my lawyer. When they heard him actually answer my call I was tackled by 4 officers and my phone taken from me. I was arrested for trespassing on a public sidewalk (later dropped)."

It's all part of the dialogue on RateMyCop.com, where citizens get to talk back to police officers and "rate" them with one to five stars. The comments can be tough -- " This guy was a moron. A complete loser," about CPD officer Aaron Wheeler -- or kind, as in this note about CPD officer Michael Youtsey: "Responded quickly and got as much information as he could. We need more like him."

My favorite CPD officers get mixed reviews. Zim Schwartze, writes the same person who hammered officer Wheeler, is "dishonest." while Michael Hayes, who coordinates the Neighborhood Watch program, is "as fair as they come. He is one of the cops who really listen to what you have to say."

Check out RateMyCop.com, Columbia at:

http://www.ratemycop.com/index.php?dept=10071&st=MO&page=2

BILL GATES: Helps Centralia Library; Local barber steps in for City Hall

CENTRALIA, 10/13/09 (Fireside-Guard) -- The Centralia Public Library will receive $9,750 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to purchase six public computers in 2010-11, the Centralia Fireside Guard has reported. This is the third year of the grant program, which awards libraries in selected states across the nation with matching grants for new and updated technology.

The Centralia Public Library will match the foundation's grant with $5,850 over the next two years. The library's first computers were supplied by a Gates Foundation grant seven years ago.

Read all about it at:

http://www.firesideguard.com/news/view_sections.asp?idcategory=47&idarticle=2946

In other recent news, a Centralia barber, fed up with City Hall feet-dragging over an eyesore near his shop, took up the job of painting and fixing it himself -- something Columbians ought to do with the Heibel-March Store/Field Park Building! This summer, six years after a gas-main explosion gutted the building at 105 N. Allen Street, LeeAllen Smith took his wife, two children and 20 gallons of paint and gave the make-shift storefront a makeover, the Fireside Guard reported.

"I understand the city is moving as fast as it can," said Smith, a former Centralia alderman. "But it needed to be done because it was an eyesore."

He found a few people of like-mind to support him: Denny Rusch of LaCrosse Lumber mixed and donated the light tan latex paint, paint brushes and rollers; Charlie Stidham of Stidham Electric loaned Smith a scissor lift to paint the 32-foot tall storefront; and Smith's own business, the Centralia Barber Shop, provided the labor.

Columbia City Hall -- take note!

Read all about it at:

http://www.firesideguard.com/news/view_sections.asp?idcategory=47&idarticle=2910

DIGITAL PATRONAGE: Saves Columbia Record Label

COLUMBIA, 10/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Centuries ago, all the big artists had patrons -- wealthy benefactors who commissioned and supported their work. Michelangelo had the Pope; Mozart and Wagner had kings and emperors; William Shakespeare had Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton.

Turns out patronage is back, online, and not just for the rich. In fact, a unique website called Kickstarter helped save Columbia-based Emergency Umbrella Records from a big headache: How to clear an overcrowded warehouse of a bulging CD backlog.

First reported by by Annie Zaleski in the Riverfront Times, Emergency Umbrella -- label home to a number of local bands including St. Louis-based Gentleman Auction House -- was facing the kind of massive storage crunch that forced Columbia's City Hall and County Courthouse to expand themselves for about $40 million. Artists, sadly, are never so lucky. Instead of relying on unsuspecting taxpayers, Emergency Umbrella turned to Facebook and Kickstarter, Zaleski reported.

The call for help went out on Facebook in September: "Emergency Umbrella Records needs your help! Our warehouses are overcrowded with CD's and LP's and we need to clear them out before they get destroyed or we face high storage costs. Destroying these records is just not an option for us (these are great records that our bands worked really hard on, they're just overstocked)."

Facebookers were directed to Kickstarter, "where people looking to help can become a 'patron' of the label by pledging money. In return, donors receive an assortment of albums" at an amazing, bargain basement price. A $15.00 pledge might merit 10 CDs, for instance.

Emergency Umbrella reported meeting their fundraising goal and clearing out their warehouse thanks to Kickstarter.

Check it out at :

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1118557283/help-emergency-umbrella-records-clear-an-over-crow

http://www.emergencyumbrella.com/

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2009/09/emergency_umbrella_cleaning_out_warehouse_donor_gentleman_auction_house_foundry_field_recordings_bald_eagle.php

MIZZOU STUDENTS: Build solar house on National Mall

COLUMBIA, 10/13/09 (Mizzouwire) -- Two years ago, University of Missouri engineering students stopped a longtime project to build and race a car powered by sunlight.

But Mizzou students aren't done with the sun. As part of the US Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, Mizzou architecture students joined Missouri University of Science and Technology to build a solar house on the National Mall in Washington, DC this month. Sunlight powers every light, appliance, climate-control system, entertainment device and high-tech gadget.

"The three-week-long international competition brings together 20 teams selected by a DOE committee to show off forward-thinking students’ most innovative approaches to sustainable living in solar-powered housing," writes Karen Pojmann in this week's Mizzouwire. "Planned, constructed and decked out entirely by undergrads, each self-sufficient house is evaluated for its integration of earth-friendly, budget-conscious efficiency with user-driven, style-savvy design."

Check it out at:

http://mizzouwire.missouri.edu/stories/2009/power-house/index.php

DINERS REVIEW: Bangkok Gardens

Twelve years ago, when I first arrived in Columbia, I was working on a project to move a restaurant from the downtown area to Ashland. My restaurant was closed and in boxes, but the most scrumptious smells were wafting in from next door. I was starving and John Pham's phabulous Thom Yum Gung soup would be my first meal in a downtown Columbia restaurant. I've been hooked on his establishment, Bangkok Gardens, ever since.

Few people know that Pham is a certified French chef, a training and sensibility that makes his sauces and curries among the best I've tasted in Thai restaurants across the country. I've dined at Bangkok Gardens three times in the past two weeks, bringing friends and business associates to savor what I've long enjoyed. Lately, I've been on a dumpling soup kick, ordering the veggie version of this filling meal each time.

Bangkok Gardens gets 3.5 out of 5 stars at Yelp.com, and here's what other diners have to say. "I've been a Bangkok Gardens fan for a long time. They've moved into a new spacious locale on Cherry Street just west of 9th St. It's bright and airy, with upstairs and downstairs dining areas. Their pad thai is still stellar, and their curries are awesome as well. They have Thai beer (Singha), which, in my opinion, gives Bangkok an extra boost above most Thai places."

"The food was alright. The ingredients seemed fresh enough. The veggie egg rolls were especially fat. I liked them. The rest was just ok..."

"Excellent Thai food. Nice selection of typical Thai dishes and unique dishes with exotic flavors. Good Service. Fair prices. Appeared very clean. What more can I say? Give it a try."

Check out Bangkok Gardens at 811 Cherry Street, just off 9th Street in the Downtown District.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bangkok-gardens-columbia

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Boone County Republicans Chili Supper; Mid-Missouri Renaissance Fest

Longtime local radio talk show host Tom Bradley will host/emcee the Boone County Republicans Annual Chili Supper Friday, October 23rd, at the Elks Lodge in Columbia (4747 E. Elk Park Drive).

Dinner starts at 6 P.M., Program begins at 7:15 P.M. Several speakers are tentatively confirmed, including Congressional representatives Blaine Luetkemeyer and Roy Blunt; and State Senator Kurt Schaefer. More details to follow, but meanwhile check out:

http://www.centralmoyrs.com/bocochilisupper.htm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149479649519&ref=ts

The 4th Annual Central Missouri Renaissance Festival will be held October 17 & 18 at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Columbia, MO. Come experience the valor of Medieval Europe from 10am to 6pm each day. Admission is $5 at the gate. Children 5 and under are free. More details: http://centralmorenfest.com/content/view/1/2/

2009 Honor Ball benefiting Central Missouri Honor Flight

The Central Missouri Honor Ball will be held Saturday, October 17, 2009 from 5:30 pm onward at the Holiday Inn Select in Columbia. The Honor Flight, works in the mid-Missouri area to raise money to take our WWII veterans to DC to see their memorial. We have made four trips (185 veterans) since May 5. Our next trip is scheduled for Oct. 13. We will take 80 more veterans with us that day, and we hope to have at least one more trip before the end of the year. For more information, contact Mary Paulsell at PaulsellM@missouri.edu

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

CIRCULATION: 5,164

THE COLUMBIA HEART BEAT -- 10/4/09

2009-10-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Columbia's Alternative News Source

1) THE TROUBLE: With Local Newspapers

2) FIRST CHANCE: Nixes Heibel-March renovation

3) COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL: Tackles massive housing bill

4) A COLUMBIA LANDLORD: Laments rising crime

5) COUNCILMAN SKALA: Downtown cameras bad idea

6) THINK TRIB COMMENTS ARE ROUGH? Check out Ashland!

7) READERS WRITE: On Dawson Shoe Repair; Im murder; hate mail

THE TROUBLE: With Local Newspapers

by Mike Martin for the Columbia Business Times

Anymore, it seems like newspapers—both local and national—are doing almost everything wrong.

Rather than lower prices to encourage what economists call "quantity demanded," print publishers have raised prices—at 25 percent a whack—to absurd levels: $2 for a New York Times or Wall Street Journal at the newsstand and (gasp) $6.95 for a slender copy of Newsweek. That's right: Almost $7 for little more than a rehash of news that's been flying around free on the Internet for a week.

Quirky pricing

Locally, prices have stayed reasonable. But newspapers in Columbia struggle with a number of weird quirks. Take the three levels of pricing. At Gerbes supermarket, you can buy any newspaper without paying sales tax. The store picks up the tax, artificially lowering the paper's cost at the checkout stand. A New York Times at Gerbes is $1.86 before tax. A Columbia Daily Tribune, $0.43.

Buy a Trib or a Times from a machine and you'll pay fifty cents or two bucks, no tax. But buy a Trib or a Times from D&H Pharmacy—or other small retailers—and you pay $0.57 for the Trib or Missourian, $2.15 for the Times.

Confused yet? Try showing up at D&H just after 7:30 a.m., when their entire stock of three New York Times newspapers has already sold out! "We ask for more, but that's all we get," the clerk told me. And newspapers are struggling with declining sales. Go figure.

Porch spam

The biggest quirk that plagues local papers remains the free newspaper problem. Call it the world's worst case of spam. Call it heinously wasteful. Call it the most deliberately environmentally unfriendly thing anyone could do. I've called it lots of things over the years, and still they come: free copies of local newspapers, thrown in all weather, unordered and unwanted, onto your porch; in the street; on the sidewalk; in the gutter; on your lawn; and in two instances I reported, in large bundles on a vacant lot and a trash bin by lazy carriers who wanted to unload their entire day's stock in one shot.

"After probably a dozen requests to stop them over the past 5 years, I’m still picking up free newspapers," I wrote last month in an e-mail to the circulation gurus at one local press, trying again to stop the litter at my rental properties.

To emphasize, I got graphic:

"Door-to-door campaigning for various political candidates over the years (including myself), I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of houses that have these free newspapers stacked up—in boxes; on porches; and in wet, mildewing piles. Elderly and physically disabled people occupy many of these homes; they just aren’t able to pick up the papers and dispose of them, or don’t know whom to call to stop them."

Then I played the Green Card:

"A city building inspector once related to me how several times she’s had to pick up the papers as they float down gutters and pile up—in their environmentally unfriendly plastic wrappers— around drainage ports near her home."

Finally, the Smoking Ban Card:

"If the newspapers continue, I will publicly address the issue during the city council’s 5-minute public forums, and propose—just like smoking—banning the practice. The waste here is extraordinary," I concluded, "and the trash it creates a real menace."

I cc'd the City Council, and received a few responses. "I'm with you on this one, Mike," e-mailed one councilperson, whose name I don't dare expose for fear of editorial reprisals. "I contemplated many times driving by the newspaper office every week and throwing the papers back at them and asking about 100 neighbors to do the same."

"Bravo!" wrote another councilperson. "A long time ago, I wrote a satire about this local phenomenon."

I don't know whether it's satirical, ironic, farcical or tragic, but it's surely the slow demise of a once grand enterprise. Who knows where it will all end. All I know is that even when it's free, the American newspaper just ain't what it used to be.

FIRST CHANCE: Nixes Heibel-March Store renovation

COLUMBIA, 10/4/09 (Beat Byte) -- Citing skyrocketing cost estimates, the First Chance for Children (FCFC) board of directors voted Friday to scrap a long-anticipated project to renovate the Heibel-March Store, aka the Field Park building on the corner of Rangeline and Wilkes, a City of Columbia Notable Historic Property. A long-time parks department push to demolish the building could now move forward.

Facing cost estimates in excess of $300,000.00 to renovate the 2,300 square foot brick structure, a former drug store that has sat empty and deteriorating for over a decade, FCFC board president Tom Rose told the Columbia Heart Beat that, while his organization regretted their inability to pursue the project, "we are simply not in a position at this time to take on the loans and fundraising efforts it would require. That doesn't mean we will never do it, but right now we're in a pretty good position financially that we can't afford to jeopardize."

Exisiting in a no-man's land ever since the City of Columbia acquired the building from the Hinshaw family to construct next-door Field Park, the Heibel-March store has passed to and from several local non-profit groups, including the North Central Columbia Neighborhood Association and Central Missouri Community Action.

City Hall owns the land on which the building sits, so bank financing has proven difficult. What's more, donors have privately balked at giving large sums to renovate a publicly-owned park building; in-fighting and mismanagement plagued the non-profit groups that had previously tackled the project; and a city Parks department plan to demolish the structure originally championed by then-city councilman Bob Hutton and Parks director Mike Hood perpetually stalled support from where it was most needed and appropriate: City Hall.

Weary neighbors say they'd just like a hazardous eyesore removed. "They shot it up last year, busted out the front door and boarded it up," said a Rangeline Street resident. "I keep waiting for one of those brick walls to fall down on some kids. They should just be done with it, before anyone gets hurt."

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/02/group-wants-to-rehab-drugstore/

COLUMBIA CITY COUNCIL: Tackles massive housing bill

COLUMBIA, 10/4/09 (Beat Byte) -- A sweeping HUD-supported plan to address affordable and so-called "special needs" housing is on the public comment agenda for the Monday, October 5th meeting of the Columbia City Council. Titled the Consolidated Housing and Community Development Plan, it identifies several groups as in special need, including ex-offenders; homeless youth; persons with disabilities; and (gulp) African-Americans.

Laid out across 29 individual objectives, the nearly $3 million proposal promises a great deal more government involvement in the local housing market.

Targeting 728 "units of affordable housing," including 103 new rental units for special needs groups; 100 tenant-assisted rentals; and 257 owner-occupied units, the plan includes a new Housing Trust Fund; an "affordable housing planner"; several new committees; and new "universal design standards" for low-income housing projects.

Mapping out residential living space by race -- specifically "African American" and "Asian" populations -- the plan recounts several interesting statistics. Since 2000, housing stock has increased 24% while the population has only increased 17%. It suggests Columbia will need 5,300 new housing units within the next 5 years.

Most telling: homeownership in the black community trails the white community by nearly 2:1 -- 27.6% of black households owned homes, versus 51.5% of white households.

Though the plan is well-intentioned in several areas, including increasing homeownership rather than renting, three failings immediately present. The plan does not encourage much private enterprise, instead directing funds at city departments and a new "not for profit organization that will develop, purchase, and manage affordable housing units in Columbia," a strategy that has historically paid low dividends and seen frequent failures.

The plan also has a glaring omission: It doesn't address the root of most neighborhood decay, crime.

Finally, where African-Americans and race-relations are concerned, City Hall has a ham-handed record. Basically, it's too many white folks telling too many black folks what's what. That's a prescription for the same old problems, IMHO, and in this writer's opinion, it would be great if race and ethnicity were removed from the affordable housing equation, at least where supposedly color-blind government programs are concerned. That's why I gulped at the beginning of this story, at the unusual notion that African Americans are some kind of "special needs" population that requires particular mention, Federally mandated or not.

RELATED: City Council agenda and housing plan
http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=9103

A COLUMBIA LANDLORD: Laments rising crime

One of Columbia's largest rental property owners recently sent me this missive:

Mike,

I own rental property in North Central Columbia. I'm a "landlord." That seems to have a negative connotation, but a lot of us work hard to provide a needed service and when things work against us...well...landlords never get much sympathy.

Having said that, I want to relate a short saga. I have been remodeling a building near Washington Avenue in the North Central Village area of the First Ward. It has a new roof, new fascia, new soffit, new gutters, several new doors, new energy efficient thermopane windows, new insulation in both the attic and the exterior walls, new kitchen and bathroom cabinets, new furnaces, new a/c, new electrical wiring, new ceiling fans, new paint, new oak floor finishes, etc.

I am obviously very proud of the work and investment in this great older apartment building in Central Columbia. I am a proud owner and hope it serves many people who will call it their home for years to come. It is beautiful, practical, well-located, energy efficient and easy on people's budgets.

We rented the first apartment to a young woman who was very happy with the apartment until she and another female friend were followed home one night by a group of young "thugs" who made them very nervous. This happened less than a week after she moved in! They feared for their personal safety. She was scared and wanted to move out of the neighborhood immediately!

We did absolutely NOTHING WRONG, but we suffer with another vacancy because of crime and the fear of crime. A reasonable fear of crime or a reputation of crime is often enough to steer good people away from an area.

I will be honest and hope that it doesn't offend too many people. There are streets and areas with bad reputations and it hurts all of us. It is harder to lease to anybody in those areas. And much harder to attract good renters.

Sometimes you get lucky and find a good renter who doesn't know about the neighborhood's reputation or doesn't care or doesn't believe it's that bad. But usually you are forced to lease to marginal tenants or have lots of vacancies. I have chosen to have lots of vacancies, but it is a burden that I can't afford to carry much longer.

For example, on Quail Drive, 5 of my 6 units are vacant! It's impossible to pay the bills when you are not getting any rental income. Just mention Quail and some people don't want to hear anything about the apartment. You couldn't give an apartment on that street to some people.

What can be done? It doesn't matter how much I fix up a building, they just won't live in "that" neighborhood. It is very frustrating and a very real problem that needs to be dealt with. It affects many, many people. Not just me. Normal people are afraid to walk home! They are afraid of being robbed, insulted, assaulted or worse! What can be done?

A concerned landlord

COUNCILMAN SKALA: Downtown cameras bad idea

However, I do not support government sponsored and taxpayer financed downtown surveillance cameras placed in high visibility public areas such as our streets and sidewalks for three reasons:

1) Existing comparative data do not demonstrate significant positive effects on crime deterrence or apprehension with continuous public surveillance in high visibility, high traffic areas, such as public streets and sidewalks. What does have a significant effect on both deterrence and apprehension is a significant police presence.

2) The data also suggest that the cost of general surveillance camera programs may be a waste of limited public safety resources, when compared to the value and flexibility of an increased police presence downtown. That is one reason why, after two public hearings and a Scheduled Public Comment on the matter, the City Council voted against reconsideration of funding them.

There is simply no effective substitute for well trained, dedicated and strategically deployed police officers. I firmly believe that local public safety policies ought to be data driven and optimized with regard to both effectiveness and cost. Accordingly, surveillance cameras have long been used in city-owned high-risk properties such as parking facilities.

Real police presence in the downtown area has also been significantly enhanced, consistent with the Columbia Police Department’s new data and resource driven policy of “geographic policing.” Concurrently, I would encourage the downtown merchants and property owners to make their own decisions with respect to the benefits and costs of private property surveillance.

3) There is no "probable cause” associated with continuous general public surveillance. Without “probable cause” citizens do have a "right to privacy" conferred by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures, even in public areas. Nonetheless, I continue to support the use of city surveillance cameras in high-risk public areas such as city parking garages, where probable cause is likely to exist because of poor sight lines, limited public activity, etc.

As the record indicates, I have voted accordingly.

Karl Skala
Columbia Third Ward City Councilman

THINK TRIB COMMENTS ARE ROUGH? Check out Ashland!

COLUMBIA, 10/4/09 (Beat Byte) -- "Quite frankly, I think this message board has become a DISGRACE...Look at what it's turned into! Take your gossip and conspiracy theories about things like cheerleading, vandals, prom dresses, and local football somewhere else."

"...it was ridiculous that it was taken to this level on the message board."

"...you might remember that this is a messageboard, not a gossip-board."

Sound like Columbia? Think again! These comments hail from our neighbor to the south, Ashland, and the Boone County Journal's "Guestbook Message board."

Censorship, incivility, nasty verbal assaults on nice folks. Complaints like these have swirled around online comments at the Columbia Tribune and Missourian newspaper websites for over a year. But things are just as rough -- if not rougher -- in that tiny town of 1,500.

One reader even took Journal editor Bruce Wallace to task.

"Bruce: I read the Journal every week. I look forward to receiving it, but there has been one very common pattern: mistakes. Hardly a week goes by that one is not found. Often it is in your own articles, and most should be found by using spell check. This week you reported that the former Hartsburg residents were killed in Oklahoma. In fact, they were shot in Jeff City and the suspect was caught in Oklahoma. I know in your business you get pressed for time but I find it very distracting that these mistakes are constantly being made. I will continue to be a subscriber but would suggest it be revised more closely."

OUCH!

CHECK OUT THE JOURNAL'S GUEST BOOK:
http://www.bocojo.com/guestbook/

READERS WRITE: Letters to the Blogitor

Mike: Thanks for the bit on Dawson Shoe Repair and Bob Wood. I, too, have found the service provided to be considerably below reasonable in price and the proprietor to be more than helpful and friendly.

I don't own any $400 loafers, but I do have fairly expensive backpacking boots. A few years ago - when I was young and spry - and prior to taking a "Walk in the Woods" on the Appalachian Trail, I took my well-worn Merrell Wilderness hiking boots in to Dawson to be re-soled since the original Vibram sole was slick. I was a bit concerned about leakage from the new soles as my walk was in the very-wet springtime, but Bob assured me that my feet wouldn't get wet unless I crossed a stream that was over the top of the hiking boots.

Sure enough, no leakage and now, about 5 years and many hiking miles later, the boots look as good as new or at least the soles do. All of this for $10.00!

-- Ken Midkiff, Columbia

How do we find the mayoral poll in order to vote in it? Thanks for the great column.

-- Vince Winn, Columbia

[The new mayoral poll is at http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com]

Regarding the Im murder back in 2005, I seem to remember in the first reports that Im went to have the muffler on his car worked on at a muffler shop at some point in that day. Have I missed hearing this information in the revamp of the investigation? The hooded sweatshirt, mask and shoes would seem to be the attire of someone working in a muffler shop.

-- Interested Amateur Sleuth

Mr. Martin: I subscribe to your blog and appreciate your coverage of local events. Thanks.

-- Steve Spellman, CISP

Asst. Vice President and Relationship Manager

Central Trust and Investment Company

Columbia

Mike: Thanks for posting the info on the 10/5/09 Eminent Domain meeting. I would have missed out on this opportunity if I had not read about it in Columbia Heart Beat/Beat Bytes. It’s great to have you on-point. I appreciate what you do.

-- Kelly Veach, Shelter Insurance, Columbia

Mike: Regardless of what your detractors might write, I think you are doing great work with the BEAT BYTE newsletter. I look forward to your missives and, if they arrive at a time when I am not able to read them, I mark them so they do not get lost in the weekly shuffle. Your candid assessment of how things work in our fair town of Columbia are refreshing and insightful. Keep up the good work!

-- Sandra Weisman, Columbia

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

CIRCULATION: 5,164

Noted 4th Ward residents mull city council race

2009-10-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

THE COLUMBIA HEART BEAT -- 10/2/09

Columbia's Alternative News Source

1) ROPER DEFINITE: "No" on mayors race

2) NOTED 4th WARDERS: Mull city council race

3) CITY HALL: Over-charging local landlords for permits?

4) BACK TO THE FUTURE: At Chert Hollow Farm

5) COUNTY UPDATE: Ashland, Centralia tackle hate crimes and sexual orientation

6) LOCAL BURGER KING: Becomes national family favorite

7) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Central Mo Renaissance Fest; Council Office Hours

Wonderful mini-documentary

ROPER DEFINITE: "No" on mayoral run

COLUMBIA, 10/2/09 (Beat Byte) -- Earlier this week, Columbia banker and Tribune pundit Bob Roper told listeners of the KFRU Sunday Morning Roundtable that he was "definitely not running for mayor." Polling just ahead of Arnie Fagan and just behind "Other" in our long-running online tally, Roper was the 3rd most popular candidate, behind former state representative Vicky Riback-Wilson, whom sources also say will not be a candidate. Telling hosts Al Germond and David Shorr that he had talked about a possible candidacy with his wife, former Boone County circuit court judge Ellen Roper, Bob Roper sounded final and decided.

With that in mind, we've tightened up our Columbia Heart Beat mayoral poll, leaving the hypothetical candidates who polled the highest votes; removing the definite "no's"; and removing the lowest vote getters. As of the close of this poll, the vote counts are in the order below. VOTE IN OUR NEW POLL UP NOW!

And though he received the lowest number of votes, if you still want Hank Waters to do the job he knows he was born to do, you can draft him with our new online petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/thebutterflyin2010/

Hypothetical candidate........Number of votes

Vicky Riback-Wilson, former state rep.....123

Other.....64

Bob Roper, banker and pundit......49

Arnie Fagan, Cool Stuff owner.......46

Larry Schuster, former councilman......42
Barbara Hoppe, council person.....40
Fred Parry, Inside Columbia publisher.....28

Gary Nolan, Libertarian radio host.....27

Jerry Wade, council person.....22

Karl Skala, council person.....21

Laura Nauser, council person.....15

Don Stamper, developer lobbyist.....11

Ray Beck, former city manager.....9
Hank Waters, Trib publisher.....7

TOTAL VOTES.....504

NOTED 4th WARD RESIDENTS: Mull city council race

COLUMBIA, 10/2/09 (Beat Byte) -- A historically-minded realtor, a civically-involved engineer, and an MU data analyst many consider the smartest person they've ever met are considering April's 4th Ward council race to replace Jerry Wade.

This weekend, historic preservation commission member and long-time local realtor Brent Gardner (right) stated that he might throw his hat into the ring, and that the Columbia Heart Beat was welcome to print such. Gardner specializes in historic properties, and has sold and renovated many of them, particularly in the Old Southwest, during his Columbia career.

Dan Goldstein, Councilman Wade's campaign adviser, is also in the throes of serious consideration. A mechanical engineering Ph.D who works as a research scientist for a firm out of Colorado, Goldstein is a member of the Visioning Committee and largely considered one of the city's best-informed citizens on a wide variety of civic topics. He confirmed that he is "seriously considering the race, and the big commitment it will all entail," with the Heart Beat last night.

Finally, if you've ever read one of her brilliant ruminations on local public policy, you'll know why folks in the know call Tracy Greever-Rice (above), associate director for community and economic development at the University of Missouri Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis, the smartest person they've ever met. She's been on the 4th Ward council recruitment radar ever since Wade declared his candidacy for mayor, but -- like the other considerees -- has yet to decide.

CITY HALL: Over-charging local landlords for permits?

COLUMBIA, 10/2/09 (Beat Byte) -- In a departure from city law, the City of Columbia has been overcharging local landlords for so-called "Occupancy Certificates Without Inspection." With some 6,000 rental units in Columbia, a rough estimate has City Hall taking in roughly $250,000 to $300,000.00 more than it should have in occupancy permit overcharges.

City ordinance requires all rental properties to maintain occupancy permits. Every six years, the ordinance requires a physical inspection of the premises, at a cost of $35.00. These permits are termed renewals WITH inspection.

But every third year, the certificate is renewed WITHOUT inspection, at a cost of $25.00.

For the past decade, the city's Department of Protective Inspection has been charging local landlords -- who may own just one house or an entire apartment complex -- $35.00 per certificate no matter what, or $10.00 more than the law allows for the second type of occupancy permit that requires no inspection.

Informed of the situation, 1st Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz assured that it would be thoroughly investigated.

RELATED:

Sec. 22-191, City of Columbia Code of Ordinances, Pg. 47.

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Council/Code_of_Ordinances_PDF/documents/chapter_22.pdf

BACK TO THE FUTURE: At Chert Hollow Farm

Imagine visiting a real, working, certified organic farm to enjoy the following goodies on the evening menu: Black Cherry tomatoes, Sheepnose pimento, Costata Romanesco squash, Burmese okra, White Acre cowpeas, cornbread made with fresh-ground cornmeal, farm yogurt, farm eggs, served with Missouri honey or sorghum and finished off with an Apple-pecan cake made with Missouri apples, pecans, honey, and wheat flour.

Visitors to Boone County's Chert Hollow Farm -- "set in a narrow, Ozark-type valley with bottomland fields along a winding stream and upland slopes covered in a mix of pasture, prairie, and forest" -- enjoyed just such a feast last month, at an event farm proprietor Eric Reuter called "a whole-farm dinner for members of our local Slow Food chapter" in his Food for Thought blog.

As a sustainability/technology savvy farmer-blogger-businessperson duo, Reuter and his wife Joanna appear to be combining the best of past and present with what can only be described as a 21st century hip take on the very old profession of farming and agriculture. They practice a green, resource conservation ethic that involves growing -- and sharing -- much of their own food and even logging their own lumber, while keeping waste -- and utility bills -- to a minimum.

"Our total electric bill averages $50 a month, we use virtually no gas, and produce about one bag of trash every 4-6 weeks," they write on their website.

They also practice sophisticated growing methods that involve everything from crop mapping (http://www.cherthollowfarm.com/images/growing/market_garden_2009.jpg) to what Reuter calls "the complex process of organic management, which integrates ecology and agriculture by working with natural systems rather than against them."

For their efforts, Chert Hollow Farm received organic certification in April 2009 from the Midwest Organic Services Association: http://www.mosaorganic.org

Blogging -- and posting virtually everything about their operation -- is another 21st century ag innovation that Reuter attributes to a goal of "complete openness about our growing methods, so that customers can make an educated evaluation regarding the quality and price of our products."

The end result is a uniquely post-modern approach to farm and food management that adds philosophy to utility: A guiding ethic of conservation and sustainability to utilitarian concerns like soil conditions, crop rotations, and weather.

CHECK OUT CHERT HOLLOW FARMS:
http://cherthollowfarm.blogspot.com/

http://www.cherthollowfarm.com/

COUNTY UPDATE: Ashland, Centralia tackle hate crimes and sexual orientation

COLUMBIA, 10/2/09 (Beat Byte) -- The newspaper of record for southern Boone County including Ashland and Hartsburg, the Boone County Journal (http://www.bocojo.com) is reporting that Ashland police arrested two Ashland men last Thursday on charges of felony vandalism.

The two men allegedly painted the letters 'KKK' and 'AV' -- possibly for Ashland Vandals -- on the top of the City of Ashland water tower and curse words on the tower legs. Taken to mean Ku Klux Klan, the KKK lettering has left open the possibility of a hate crime charge.

More at:

http://www.bocojo.com/articles/2009/10/01/news/news1.txt

The newspaper of record for northern Boone County including Hallsville and Centralia, the Fireside-Guard (http://www.firesideguard.com) is reporting that Centralia alderpersons tabled a nondiscrimination ordinance dealing with gender identity and sexual orientation until their Nov. 16, 2009 meeting. The ordinance would address such discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation. The Board of Aldermen -- Centralia's city council -- also enacted a novel ordinance that makes harassment by texting or e-mail a crime punishable in municipal court.

More at:

http://www.firesideguard.com/news/view_sections.asp?idcategory=47&idarticle=3027

LOCAL BURGER KING: Becomes National Family Favorite

COLUMBIA, 10/2/09 (Beat Byte) -- A national publication called The Examiner gives the Burger King at 3400 Clark Lane -- off exit 128-A from westbound I-70 -- "a very enthusiastic recommendation" as one of the best places to stop with kids on a cross-state I-70 journey between Kansas City and St. Louis.

The big attraction: What Burger King bills as the world's largest indoor playground. "Kids will have a blast climbing, crawling, and sliding in this Burger King's gigantic, colorful indoor play structure," reports writer Maria Roth. It's the “coolest play place I've ever been at,” said her seven-year-old Zach. "The enclosed play area is twice the size of the main dining room. On the ground level, you will see padded flooring and a crawl-through train. Up higher, kids will find an airplane-shaped tunnel and two twisty slides—a yellow one and a blue one."

Writers for The Examiner, which has various incarnations around the nation, weighed in favorably. Rachel de Carlos from the Los Angeles Cultural Travel Examiner said, "That's awesome! How did you ever get them out of that place? I wish they had these kinds of places for adults. LOL!"

Check out the story

And here's a website for parents in and around Columbia and Boone County:

LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The 4th Annual Central Missouri Renaissance Festival will be held October 17 & 18 at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Columbia, MO. Come experience the valor of Medieval Europe from 10am to 6pm each day. Admission is $5 at the gate. Children 5 and under are free. More details: http://centralmorenfest.com/content/view/1/2/

3rd Ward councilman Karl Skala OFFICE HOURS at SVEN'S KAFE′ & GALLERY this Saturday, October 3rd. Please stop by and share your ideas, concerns, comments and/or questions, 3rd ward and/or citywide. Sven's Kafe′ & Gallery, 110 Orr Street, Suite 101, Village Art District www.svenskafegallery.com

8:30-11:00 a.m.

Everyone is Welcome!

TOPICS: The Mayoral race, the proposed downtown Community Improvement District (CID) and the continuing controversy swirling around general surveillance cameras! If you can't make it to my Saturday morning Office Hours at Sven's Kafe′ but would like assistance, additional information or your questions answered, just send me an e-mail at ward3@gocolumbiamo.com If you wish, I'll also put you on my personal e-mail distribution list.

The City Council Meetings are now available with "live streaming" with "searchable archives" on your computer. For more details please visit the city's website: www.gocolumbiamo.com/Council/Meetings/meetings.php

4th Ward Councilman Jerry Wade office hours, Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Rendezvous Coffeehouse from 9:00 am to 12:00noon to talk to anyone who would like to visit with me. Rendezvous Coffeehouse is at 3304 Broadway Business Park Ct., which is on thesouth side of West Broadway west of HyVee.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THESE UPCOMING MEETINGS

1. Wednesday, Oct. 7. The Columbia Parks and Recreation Department is hosting a public park planning meeting for the Bonnie View Park area (Russell donation property). The meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, October 7 at the ARC, 1701 W. Ash Street.

2. DATE CHANGE: The Safe Routes to school design Charrettes scheduled for Tuesday, October 20 have been rescheduled:

Monday, March 15 (5:30-8:30pm): Main design charrette at Grant School.
Tuesday, March 16 (5:30-6:30pm): Shorter public feedback meeting at Grant.

3. Tuesday, October 27, Reichmann Pavillon, Stephens Lake Park. Fall "Keys to the city" event.

BOARDS & COMMISSIONS: The Columbia city clerk is accepting applications for boards and commissions. Applications must be received by the clerk’s office, 701 E. Broadway, 4th floor, by noon on Friday, Oct. 9. Applications are available at the clerk’s office or on the city’s Web site at www.GoColumbiaMo.com on the City Council page.

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

CIRCULATION: 5,164

2009-10-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

1) BREAKING FIASCO: Humane Society, ZooToo Brew

2) COLUMBIA AND DARWIN: Make nation's largest circulation magazine
3) FALL BUSINESS FAVE: Dawson Shoe Repair
4) MORTGAGE AND HOUSING NEWS: From Tom Stone

5) ANNOUNCEMENTS: Peaceworks, Eminent Domain, Habitat

Thompson

BREAKING FIASCO: Humane Society, ZooToo Brew

The Columbia Daily Tribune is reporting that ZooToo honcho Richard Thompson may be demanding the resignation of Central Missouri Humane Society director Patty Forister over allegations of impropriety. ZooToo had problems earlier this year with an animal shelter-makeover winner in St. Louis that forced both sides to withdraw from the makeover competition.

Read about it here:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/28/humane-society-champions-withdraw-support/

Forister responded late this morning in a press release:

The Central Missouri Humane Society (CMHS) was saddened by the news that the Huhman and Burkes families have withdrawn support from the shelter they once rallied around.

"Working with Angie, Liz the girls to win the Zootoo.com Shelter Makeover contest has been a wonderful experience," said Patty Forister, CMHS Executive Director. "We are so grateful for the time they have devoted to the shelter and the animals will definitely see an improved quality of life thanks to them."

While specific complaints remain a bit unclear, CMHS submitted a completed application and all documentation by the required deadline as requested by Zootoo.com for review by contest representatives.

"CMHS has made some amazing accomplishments thanks to the community, Zootoo-ers, volunteers, staff, and board members," said Forister. "The organization has a bright future if we can all focus on the needs of the animals. They have to be our number one priority."

COLUMBIA AND DARWIN: Make nation's largest circulation magazine

COLUMBIA, 9/29/09 (Beat Byte) -- With an astonishing 33 million readers as a Sunday insert in 470 national newspapers, Parade Magazine is widely considered America's -- if not the world's -- largest circulation publication.

And Columbia mayor/bicyclist Darwin Hindman made last Sunday's issue, as the subject of a feature story about "bike friendly cities."

"For a bicyclist, Darwin Hindman is rather nattily attired, wearing a crisp tweed blazer and an orange silk tie as he pilots his ancient mountain bike through the center of Columbia, Missouri," writes Parade reporter Bill Donahue. "Hindman, 76, is this Midwestern town's mayor and a survivor of both esophageal and prostate cancer. As he glides along, coattails flying, he is savoring the streets of Columbia, which he's transforming into one of the nation's premier cycling cities."

READ ALL ABOUT IT AT:

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/09/27-a-free-wheeling-city.html

FALL BUSINESS FAVE: Dawson Shoe Repair

Ten years ago, I blew nearly $400.00 on a pair of black leather dress shoes from some fancy Italian designer. I bought the shoes in Hollywood, Calif. at Beverly Hills prices, and for several years wore them with care. But as they aged, I slowly relented, wearing them everywhere, in all weather, even in mud.

I bought some other dress shoes, only to discover I've never had a more comfortable pair than my $400.00 Hollywood loafers. After listening to my lament, my wife pulled them out of the closet and took them downtown, to Dawson's Shoe Repair, a surprisingly bustling place filled with the rich smell of polished leather (if you've ever enjoyed the equally rich smell of aromatic pipe tobacco in a tobacco store, you know the feeling).

My wife bragged on the nice man who runs the shop, Bob Wood, returning my shoes a week later looking brand new! New soles, new polish, at extremely reasonable prices. A way to save something, rather than just throw it away. Sustainable footware.

Getting ready for some out-of-town trips, I took the shoes back and met Bob myself. My wife was right. Not only is Mr. Wood nice, he may indeed be the nicest businessman I've met in Columbia, and I've met a lot of nice businesspeople. Unfailingly pleasant and always smiling, Bob noticed a small scuff that had appeared on my shoe after he polished it. Immediately, he took it back to his machine and polished it up once again. The shoes looked brand new, all for only $5.00.

Check out Dawson Shoe Repair and meet Columbia's nicest businessman for yourself. They're located at 212 South 8th Street, next to the Missouri Press Association building and kitty-corner from the Columbia Missourian. You can also call 573-442-1014.

MORTGAGE AND HOUSING NEWS: From Tom Stone

Last week, the Fed met and stated they would not be buying more bonds. This means that between now and the end of the first quarter of 2010, we should see a gradual rise in interest rates. I predict by the end of that time frame, the 30 year rate will be in the neighborhood of 6% to 6.5%. I would also expect some volatility during that time frame also.

If you are a first-time buyer and qualify for the $8000 federal tax credit, NOW IS THE TIME. The tax credit is set to expire on November 30, 2009. October is almost here and with changes in FHA lending starting October 1, lenders may need more time to close.

READ THIS WEEK'S NEWSLETTER HERE:

http://www.mmgweekly.com/w/index.html?SID=dbec0010cebb295ffb1d96b0af9d77f8

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President
www.bankofmissouri.com
tstone@bankofmissouri.com

LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

From Peaceworks

MAJOR PEACE RALLY: Plan to come out on Sunday, October 11 for Eight is (More Than) Enough, the Columbia Peace Coalition's big fall event. Courthouse Sq., 1:30 p.m. Details TBA.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING FAIR: Join us Saturday, Oct. 17 for our annual Sustainable Living Fair. This FREE event will run 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Columbia College Student Commons. Workshops, booths, displays, mini-solar tours, kids' activities, keynote and more. Details at www.slfcolumbia.org

PEACEWORKS' ANNUAL DINNER: Don't miss this celebration of our community and the best potluck of the year. We'll gather on Saturday, Nov. 14, 6 p.m., at First Christian Church. Details TBA.

From The Show-Me Institute

Presentation: Eminent Domain and the Missouri Constitution
Speaker: David Roland
When: Monday, October 5, 2009
Time: Noon until 1:30
Where: Room 208A, Reynolds Alumni Center, University of Missouri
Parking: Meters on the street, and in the Turner Parking Garage
Lunch: Breast of Chicken Milano (or special diet choice)
Price: $20 for the general public, or $15 for Show-Me Institute members
For more information, or to reserve a seat if you do not register online, please contact Breck Frerking

at (573) 424-1713 or Breck.Frerking@showmeinstitute.org.

From Habitat for Humanity

Ambassador Dinner and Fundraiser
7pm on Tuesday, October 20th
Peachtree Banquet Center.
Music, dinner, program, bar and live auction.

RSVP by October 1st
email lunn777@hotmail.com or call 268-2405

Chris Lunn
President
Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity
www.showmehabitat.net

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

Endorphins, beer, bay mist and fresh sunburn

2009-09-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

1) SUNDAYS WITH ANDY: Endorphins, beer, bay mist and fresh sunburn
2) AT THE FOOD BANK: The right way to work with a board of directors
3) NOTED ACTIVIST CHALLENGES: Councilman on Humane Society
4) RESEARCH REVEALS: Who built Columbia's shotgun house
5) SEPTEMBER COMMENTARY: Germond, Rosman, Kennedy, Miller
6) READERS WRITE: A little hate mail
7) ANNOUNCEMENTS

Endorphins, beer, bay mist and fresh sunburn
from Reflections on a Lived-In Life by Amanda Clifton

I found myself on welfare at the age of 26 with a two-year-old and a GED. I wanted better for my son before he was old enough to remember, a quiet, pokey life like his father had growing up, going to the same school with the same bunch of kids in the same dinky, uneventful town.

I'd been told I should learn a trade, and while I think they meant hairdressing, I needed something that paid better and I wanted something that allowed for some alone time, some isolation, for when I felt cranky, sarcastic, or down. I thought of the lady welders who built the ships during WW2. I could do that. And as soon as Baby was old enough to say "Bye, Mom" I went to Laney College in Oakland to learn how.

I was surprised to discover that I was better at welding than most of the guys in my class. They were clumsy, slow to pick up the feel of the thing. I knit, crochet, do needlepoint, all that girly crap. I already had the fine muscle control of a good welder.

After I got certified, my teacher suggested I shop around for a union. The Shipfitters wanted too much money to sign up. The Millwrights couldn't put me to work right away. The Ironworkers laughed at me. Finally, I tried the Piledrivers, the guys who build bridges, docks, and foundations.

From the moment I walked into their union hall, I knew how it felt to be a varsity recruit. The Piledrivers signed me up and put me to work in three days.

My first job was on the Cypress Freeway replacement in Oakland. According to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Cypress Freeway was built in the 1950s to connect Alameda County to San Francisco and Oakland's industrial waterfront.

The freeway's path through West Oakland split the black community in half, uprooting 600 families and dozens of businesses. It cut off roughly four square miles from downtown and more affluent sections of West Oakland. In time, neighborhood businesses withered, and residents endured fumes and noise from thousands of cars overhead.

Millions of baseball fans were watching the third game of the World Series at Candlestick Park when history came calling and on October 17, 1989, the 7.1 Richter scale Loma Prieta earthquake struck.

Of all the scenes of destruction, the lasting image was the Cypress Freeway's collapse (right). Concrete pillars supporting the double-deck buckled. And forty-two people died, a terrible possibility we who live where the Earth shrugs have learned to accept and abide.

Rebuilding the freeway would change the local dialogue because this time, Caltrans would work with the people rather than through them. History would get better, and I would be a small part of it. Thinking about things this way helped keep me sane and get me through.

“You! Get in the hole!” That was my first foreman, a hulk from Idaho named Heber Floyd still fuming about being assigned a female apprentice. I don't think Idaho missed him.

It was mud season, and walking across the jobsite on my way to the hole (my first mistake), I got stuck in mud up to my knees and stepped out of both boots.

The hole was a footing, the foundation for a bridge support, 20 feet square and 20 feet deep, with five more holes in the bottom, 3 feet wide by 75 feet deep, laid out like spots on dice. I went down a sketchy, mud-encrusted wooden ladder with two guys and we steered and braced reinforcement cages lowered by crane into the smaller holes.

All day, I ran in mud steering and securing cages with large, panicky men screaming at me to keep my goddamn hands out of the way, stupid. By day's end, I was filthier than I 'd ever been, covered with mud dried black. That first night I was too tired to eat and too hungry not to. I lay in bed dozing and chewing, chewing and dozing, leftover Chinese food. The hardest thing I've ever had to do was get up the next day and go back.

It got better. I got faster and stronger and smarter. Eventually they put me on a different crew working 60 feet in the air on the roadbed itself, connecting the columns whose footings I'd braced. The work was just as hard, but different. I got a chance to look around.

I was surprised at how I felt, normal cynical me, awestruck by the tightly choreographed mayhem of freeway construction, the whole bizarre Stonehengeyness of what we were trying to accomplish, the backdrop of the San Francisco bay. I began to think of this as a bubble: This time, this place would only exist once; right now. I would make myself remember, from this point on, not just how everything looked, but how it all felt.

The wonder of hitting the debris layer from the 1906 earthquake on a foundation job in the Financial District, finding bits and shards of lives, a teacup handle, a picture frame, a broken toothbrush, an opium pipe.

The thrill and the fear of crowding with five men into the bed of a pickup, watching a tide of swine that could kill me if I fell sweep toward Pittburg's main drag after a livestock train derailed.

Bright sun and cold spray, boating atop 15-foot swells to the middle of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

The desolation of the almond orchards in Linden with their giant squirrels and the lonesome desperation of San Quentin.

The unsettling quiet of 9/11/01 at the San Jose airport.

The feel of welding, of throwing lightning. Of driving 16-penny nails in two hits, of racing the other guys nailing up handrail, of beating them.

The wind on my skin, the smell of fresh plywood, the feel of muscles working, of bay mist on fresh sunburn in the evening, the smart of it cutting through endorphins and beer.

I wrote my son's name on the inside of the bridge with a big lumber crayon, before they covered it with roadbed. It was tradition, proof that you were there. Our Lascaux. I wrote that his mama loved him.

Maybe they'll find us, if the bridge falls down again.

Preparing Good Food with the Food Bank's Good Board
by Mike Martin for the Columbia Business Times

Earlier this year, University of Missouri marketing professor Joel Poor invited me to a board of directors meeting.

Poor, a board member, and I, his guest for the evening, stood across the table from one another. Commerce Bank president Teresa Maledy, another board member, stood next to me, and we never sat down.

On the agenda: frozen peas. And frozen beans. Huge boxes full, loaded into the boardroom by forklift and eagerly repacked into individual bags for future distribution.

Repacked by hand, that is. By the board. During the board meeting. And under the upbeat direction of a leader who many say is this community's most dynamic nonprofit executive, Peggy Kirkpatrick.

Welcome to the Central Missouri Food Bank, where team building, hands-on involvement and mutual respect define a board of directors that defies the rubber stamp stereotype of disengaged overseers who hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil until evil comes pounding at the boardroom door.

The Good Board

After the inauspicious departure of Executive Director David White from the Missouri Theatre, I opined in these pages about a host of directorial dysfunctions that have cost many agencies in Columbia and Boone County dearly in the past: Superintendents and school boards erupting in embarrassment; the city manager and city council going their separate ways; secrecy, dissension and the strange politics of board dynamics squatting like dead weight on organizations and their missions.

Then I saw Kirkpatrick and the Food Bank board, packing food and talking; packing food and planning; packing food and laughing and doing something most boards never get accomplished in a single meeting: actually getting something done, something tangible, real and worthwhile.

"Projects like this build a sense of team among the board members," Maledy told me. "It is a great way to get to know the other board members on a more personal level. It also gives the board a close-up and practical look at what is involved with getting the food out to our customers."

In other words, a practical look at the heart of the mission in a way that "connects us personally and perhaps emotionally to those in need," Poor said.

Team-building exercises are also about fostering trust and respect, he explained, the twin glues of healthy board interaction. "When one of us disagrees or some of us dissent, that's fine. We don't turn away; we don't turn a cold shoulder if someone doesn't go along. We respect each other, and we know that if someone takes issue with something, it's important that we listen and learn."

Plugging in

Recruiting board members who have a "clear vision of what your organization is trying to accomplish" is the most important part of building a good board, Kirkpatrick told me. As with most nonprofit groups, the food bank seeks "representation from various segments of society" and a wide geographical distribution "since we serve 32 counties."

But board members aren't demographics, an insight Kirkpatrick emphasizes with an uncommon mantra: "We try to help each board member plug in to the mission in a way with which they are most comfortable." Plugging in by packing food "was actually the board's idea," Kirkpatrick said. "They wanted to know firsthand how the volunteer process worked, the challenges we have with bulk product, and they wanted to expose their friends to the food bank in a fun way."

Encouraging engagement

For board members like Poor and Maledy, service to a most worthy cause — feeding the hungry — keeps them interested, excited and coming back for more.

As a bank president, Maledy, a longtime member of the food bank board, is in demand and has to be choosy about where she spends her limited time. "I need to believe in the organization," she said. "I want to contribute ideas and support based on my experience and skills. I also believe in lifelong learning."

But Poor reminds us that not every organization, or its executive director, encourages the level of engagement and learning that Kirkpatrick does. "Our board members know she really appreciates each of us," Poor said. "And how important is that? A director who actually wants you there."

Kirkpatrick sees board service as a two-way street down which her organization gets tangible assistance while giving something far less tangible but just as meaningful in return. "My hope is that each board member will become aware of the faces of hunger," Kirkpatrick said. "And by their involvement, become the faces of hope."

NOTED ACTIVIST CHALLENGES: Councilman on Humane Society

A couple of weeks ago, 4th ward councilman and mayoral candidate Jerry Wade criticized my position on funding the Central Missouri Humane Society. When I suggested that humane society supporters campaign and vote against any politicians who refuse to support them, Wade said, "The tactic you suggest they pursue is one of innuendo and threats of reprisal if funding requests are not met. That is not an appropriate, necessary, nor likely successful, approach." He also criticized my journalistic integrity.

Columbia Citizens listserv founder Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, who also co-founded TARRIF (http://www.tarrif.org), a group that successfully opposed a number of developer-friendly tax increases, responded.

Dear Councilman Wade:

Over the past year, I have heard a number of news reports about Humane Shelters across the country getting hard hit with a surge in animals. With the tremendous loss of jobs and homes, many people have abandoned, given up and/or have been unable to afford care for their animals. Humane societies across the country have increased fees and cobbled together creative partnerships to meet increased demand.

I am sure the local economic climate has presented fiscal challenges for the Central Missouri Humane Society (CMHS) as a not-for-profit organization. I am also aware of the City's reported budgetary challenges.

That said, is there a plan or is it possible for the City to help CMHS find financing sources (grants, etc.) in the event that they are unable to secure adequate dollars in these extraordinarily difficult economic times? What alternate plans are in place or being discussed to aid in the protection and care of unwanted or abandoned animals? What will happen if CMHS is unable to secure additional financing?

While you may disagree with Mr. Martin, in my personal opinion to challenge his professionalism because he questioned [5th ward councilwoman] Laura Nauser; challenged the City's spending priorities; and encouraged citizens to "get political" to advocate for change is unfortunate.

It bothers me when elected officials accuse community members and the press of being irresponsible and uncivil, when they aggressively challenge a situation. You seemed to intimate that Mr. Martin is also remiss by NOT celebrating enough of the positive things in our community.

I think it is both inappropriate and unprofessional to make a public issue so personal. Via The Columbia Heartbeat, Mr. Martin frequently does what I consider to be very good work with his reporting, not only in his investigative efforts, but in shining a bright light on many positive aspects of the community. Mr. Martin is quite frankly so effective that he challenges our local media to work a bit harder.

Like Mr. Martin, I feel that citizens should become political -- expecting, demanding and advocating for policies they feel adequately address their priorities.

These concerns aside, I appreciate that you answered Mr. Martin in a point by point fashion, explaining the facts as you see them. I do think it is appropriate to give the public an informed understanding of the City's contracts, budgets, challenges and capabilities. I also think it is wise to deal with the public's expectations, especially when you feel they may far exceed the City's financial capacity. People want the City to spend our tax dollars wisely and hold contracting agencies accountable.

Seems to me the big positive here is that we already have much common ground. Many people in the Columbia community care deeply about animals and the viability of CMHS.

Best regards, Traci Wilson-Kleekamp

RESEARCH REVEALS: Who built Columbia's shotgun house
by the Boone County Historical Society

Research on the shotgun house -- recently moved to the Boone Junction Historic Village from the corner of Garth and Worley Streets -- has revealed that the first owner and probable builder was Luther McQuitty. McQuitty was born about 1871, probably near the old Boone county community of Everett of at least one parent who was a former slave. One of his parents or grandparents was also white.

City Directories, census enumerations, and deed records first document the shotgun house at the northeast corner of Garth and Worley in 1911. Mr. McQuitty owned the lot and his family lived there for about ten years.

He married Ella Davenport in 1892 and they had three children. About 1911, Luther and his third wife, Lottie Wright, moved into their new home, a 16'x34', three-room house at what was then 423 N. Garth, on the northeast corner of Garth and Worley.

Pushing aside obstacles in post-Civil War Boone county, McQuitty went from being a laborer to a plasterer to an owner of a dozen properties in the general vicinity of Garth and Worley in Columbia, making him one of Columbia's largest landlords.

One of McQuitty's descendants sent a photograph of Luther McQuitty which will be displayed inside the house when it opens to the public at the Boone Junction Historic Village south of town. If you'd like to volunteer time to work on the house, work sessions are held each Thursday from 8 am to 1 pm.

SEPTEMBER COMMENTARY: Germond, Rosman, Kennedy, Miller

George Kennedy on Columbia activist Paul Albert
We old-timers remember, with varying degrees of delight and revulsion, Paul Albert. For the benefit of any newcomers in the audience, I’ll just say that Mr. Albert was our pre-eminent gadfly of city government. His harangues, directed mainly at Ray Beck and the City Council Ray dominated during his years as city manager, were notorious for their length and their vitriol.

J Karl Miller on downtown cameras
I am also in Mayor Hindman's corner for installing mobile surveillance cameras in downtown Columbia....Where public safety is concerned, the city must err on the side of individual protection and crime deterrence whenever possible.

David Rosman on a new mayor
There are problems and directions that the next winner of the coveted “Councilman at Large” seat cannot avoid. The new mayor will be able to see Columbia and Boone County not only through the next decade, but for the 2020s and beyond.

Al Germond on the history of David Lile's Quickie Quiz
It began with a call from David Lile, host of the Morning Show on News Talk 1400. A listener wanted to know when KFRU’s daily “Quickie Quiz” feature first aired, and Lile asked me if I could come up with the date. The answer came after rolling through microfilm copies of both Columbia daily newspapers in the superb newspaper library at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia. The mission was successful, but it also sprung a trap.

READERS WRITE: Collected hate mail, unedited

I'M SICK AND TIERD OF GETTING THIS BULLSHIT AND IF IT DOESNT STIP I WILL REPORT YOU AND YOUR PROPAGANDA TO THE ATT. GENERALS OFFICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-- Greg Smith, Columbia
Mike Martin the Blowhard. He is nothing but a hack with a blog and a small column in a local business rag [the Columbia Business Times]. Not a real reporter, and totally biased in his reports. I'm tired of seeing his spam all over the place--you can't hit a locally based group site without his weekly beg being posted to visit his site--like any of us care....
-- Marla D. H., aka Insanidea, Columbia

First allow me a comment on Blogs in general and yours in particular. There are no rules and no accountability when it comes to publishing a Blog. You and your fellow bloggers can say anything without suffering any consequences when what you publish is false. Sadly many people believe what you say, especially when you knowingly write what you think they want to believe. I think this is called pandering. Shame on you! -- Bob Pugh, Columbia

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe will host a meeting on safety issues at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2615 Shepard Boulevard, on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 starting at 6:30 p.m. Representatives of the Columbia Police and Health departments and from the Neighborhood Response Team will be available to listen to residents, address any concerns they may have and answer questions.

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat

BEAT BYTE: Bizarre cell phone sale offers MU athletic dept. secrets

2009-09-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

BEAT BYTES -- 9/23/09
News and Notes from the Columbia Heart Beat

1) CONVERSATION WITH: The City Manager
2) BIZARRE CELL PHONE SALE: Offers MU Athletic Dept. Secrets
3) TRAFFIC SAFETY: Grant School, four years after an accident
4) MU SCIENTIST: Studies Fall foliage
5) SANS PEPPER AND MOUSER: Advertisers drop KOMU
6) MORTGAGE AND HOUSING NEWS: From Tom Stone
7) GET ALL THE LOCAL HEADLINES: At www.Columbia360.com

Listening Whilst Writing: A Fistful of Dollars, Ennio Morricone

CONVERSATION WITH: The Columbia City Manager

It's not everyday a schlep like me gets to chat it up with Columbia City Manager Bill Watkins. Depending on your perspective, our conversation either went well...or not.

Our convo started with an email from a constituent to the City Council about the unfolding sewer billing scandal, cc'd to me:

----- Original Message -----
From: A Constituent
To: Jerry Wade; Karl Skala; Barbara Hoppe; Paul Sturtz
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 2:48 PM
Subject: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

Council Members,

I'm hoping you will look into this before you vote to increase the rates. From what I can tell, this should be a "no" vote.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/21/sewer-billing-trouble-costly

Today: "As the Columbia City Council votes tonight on a 2010 budget with a proposed increase in basic service rates for each city sewer user, there is a source of money that some in the Public Works Department believe is being ignored...According to multiple e-mails by Weitkemper, he believes the city is enforcing the sanitary sewer billing ordinance haphazardly and is giving certain users preferential treatment."

Talbert said the rate increase is necessary to cover debt incurred for the $69 million wastewater treatment plant upgrade voters approved in 2008. "We have to have enough cash to cover our debt. That's what the bulk of that is," she said.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/04/08/sewer-bonds-passed-overwhelmingly

April 8, 2008: "voters were told the rise would be steeper--and come sooner--without the bonds."
http://gocolumbiamo.com/Public_Comm/Public_Information/Press_Releases/documents/April08.pdf

Regards,

A Constituent

I added my two cents:

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Martin
To: Paul Sturtz; Barbara Hoppe; Karl Skala; Jerry Wade; A Constituent
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 3:35 PM
Subject: Re: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

I've heard about this sewer fiasco at length already -- glad somebody else did the heavy lifting on putting a story together on it.

What a bunch of the same old crap this is, eh? Favoritism for the few at the expense of the many -- and right here, in good ol' progressive Columbia!

Mr. Watkins admonished me about an hour later:

----- Original Message -----
From: William Watkins
To: Mike Martin: CityMan; Darwin Mayor; Paul Ward1; Jason Ward2; Karl Ward3; Jerry Ward4; Laura Ward5; Barbara Ward6; Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 4:23 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

It would be very nice if you would consider all the facts before rushing to a decision.

I replied:

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Martin
To: CityMan; William Watkins
Cc: Barbara Ward6; Laura Ward5; Jerry Ward4; Karl Ward3; Jason Ward2; Paul Ward1; Darwin Mayor
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 4:36 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

Bill:

With all due respect, that's part of the problem in this community. Only a select few have "all the facts," doling them out as need be. The rest of us schleps just have to get by. As one of those schleps, I do the best with what I have, and everything I write or say is as carefully considered as it can be, given my intrinsically limited circumstances.

Mike

Councilman Skala jumped in:

----- Original Message -----
From: Karl Skala
To: Jason Thornhill; Paul Sturtz; Karl Skala; Jerry Wade; Laura Nauser; Barbara Hoppe; Darwin Hindman; William Watkins; Mike Martin; A Constituent
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

A Constituent, et al.,

Tonight, I will ask Bill Watkins for his explanation regarding this information.

Best Regards,

Karl

Feeling naughty, I dashed off some satire:

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Martin
To: Karl Skala;
Cc: Jason Thornhill; Paul Sturtz; Jerry Wade; Laura Nauser; Barbara Hoppe; Darwin Hindman; William Watkins;
A Constituent
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

Karl:

You know darned well you can't ask Bill to explain anything. It's a violation of the City Charter, Chapter 205-A, Section 6B, Subchapter 7D.5, Paragraph 3A:

"No council member shall ever ask the city manager or any assistant city manager to explain anything, at any time, whatsoever, ad infinitum. Doing so will result in immediate removal from the council."

[City Attorney] Mr. Boeckmann sent me the relevant passage. It's right below the passage about how council members can't be paid.

See you out here in Schlep Land.

-- Mike

Mr. Watkins was not in a satirical mood:

----- Original Message -----
From: William Watkins
To: Mike Martin
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 4:55 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: tonight's Council vote on sewer rate increase

Mike -- I think your attempt at humor is way out of line.

Ever conscientious, Councilman Skala hunted for the ordinance I had cited:

----- Original Message -----
From: Karl Skala
To: Mike Martin
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 9:21 AM
Subject: The Sewer Thing

Mike,

....I am not sure what you meant by "City Charter, Chapter 205-A, Section 6B, Subchapter 7D.5, Paragraph 3A" as a reference; perhaps you would clarify this reference for me (I was unable to locate a City Charter, Chapter 205-A).

Best Regards.

Karl

I replied:

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Martin
To: Karl Skala
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: The Sewer Thing

...no, there's no such thing as those charter citations. I was kidding...Many old-line senior staffers disdain answering council's questions, and I'm sure they wish there was such a charter citation....

BIZARRE CELL PHONE SALE: Offers MU Athletic Dept. Secrets

COLUMBIA, 9/23/09 (Beat Byte) -- In one of the weirdest stories to cross our desk in a while, a Craigslister is offering nearly 30 cell and smart phones for sale as "unique souvenirs." Why unique? They used to belong to the MU Athletic Department and still contain information from their former owners. The seller claims he purchased the old phones at a university disposal sale.

He says he offered to sell them back, but that the Athletic Department turned him down.

"Ever wanted to know how those sports dignitaries use their electronic stuff?" the seller writes. "What do they say in a chat? Who do they get tweets from? Now you can get a little bit of UNFILTERED insight. The price is reflective of the rarity and ensures only SERIOUS offers."

The smart phones, cell phones, and flip phones allegedly contain "conversations, text messages, email, memos, calendar entries and address books from all over the MU Athletic Department. Coaches and Directors of Volleyball, Soccer all the way up to Football and Basketball. In some cases there are conversations FROM the people as well. One seems to be from a sports doctor or pharmacist. Some seem to be from players and interns."

CHECK IT OUT AT:
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/mob/1384339670.html
http://web.me.com/mikebellman/MU_Souvenirs/MUCellPhones.html

TRAFFIC SAFETY CHECK: Grant School, four years after an accident

COLUMBIA, 9/23/09 (Beat Byte) -- "One parent who witnessed Monday's accident said she didn't think she'd ever be able to forget the horrid sound of a child's body bouncing off a car's fender. A playground teeming with schoolmates and families witnessed the accident and it's aftermath. This should not happen again. The accident at Grant Elementary on Monday afternoon has to be a wake-up call to all drivers in Columbia."

That was the conclusion of an April 2005 Columbia Missourian guest column about a first grade girl at Grant Elementary struck by a car on Garth Avenue a month earlier.

In May 2005, Jacque Cowherd, then a Columbia Public Schools assistant superintendent, coordinated a meeting about traffic safety at Grant, a still-dangerous affair. Sandwiched between both the library and the elementary, Garth Avenue simply can't handle a traffic burden that has only grown in the past 4 years.

Attended by representatives from City Hall, Columbia Police Department, First Student Bus Service, assistant superintendent Jack Jensen, then-Grant principal Crystal Church, and school district safety coordinator Preston Bass, Cowherd's meeting addressed two goals, wrote Julie Davis in the Grant PTA newsletter:

1) To effect better enforcement of parking and speed
2) To request extension or maintenance of the yellow curb zone on Garth

Back then, Davis noted that among 360 total students, 100 rode the bus to and from school, while another 40 students attended Adventure Club, a popular after-school program held in the Grant auditorium.

"That leaves 220 students either walking home or picked up by car," Davis noted. She then provided what today could be used as a followup checklist: Was this done? Was that done? Crosswalks, crossing flags, and better rules have all been instituted.

But basic road and traffic issues remain largely unchanged.

"We have zero parking spaces at Grant and currently have no good safe spot for a drive-up student pickup area," Davis wrote.
She then noted that police will be "enforcing and ticketing speeders and vehicles parked, stopped or standing along Garth. The school district specifically asked the police department to help us in this way."

A number of other approaches were discussed, including traffic-calming devices, such as speed humps, on Garth; and developing a "drop-off/pick-up plan" Davis said would be "enforced very consistently by both our school and the Columbia Police Department" and having the library add another entrance/exit on Crestmere Ave., as the old library had.

Taking a serious look at this checklist today is like reviewing compliance with a series of expert recommendations. Writing to 4th Ward councilman Jerry Wade last year, Davis said she had been "heavily involved over the last 3-7 years working to address traffic safety issues at Grant. I worked with parents, school personnel and a city traffic engineer named Richard Stone during and after the library construction project. Stone was extremely knowledgable and worked very hard to help us. He probably still has a very deep file of Grant-related notes."

Davis concluded with a call to action in her 2005 PTA story, addressing a situation that continues to plague Grant school at least twice daily.

"As long as I've had children at this school, folks have been concerned about the traffic safety issues. The unfortunate accident last month has people paying attention. Please join me in doing your part to keep Garth Avenue safe by driving the speed limit, staying off the yellow curb, and crossing only in the crosswalk. Thanks for your help and cooperation!"

MU SCIENTIST: Studies Fall foliage

COLUMBIA, 9/23/09 (Mizzouwire) -- Meet John Walker, Plant Detective. His mission: To investigate one of the most common occurrences in nature -- abscission -- something that happens in plain sight billions and billions of times every year, every time a leaf falls from a tree or an apple drops to the ground.

Walker, a biologist who has been at the University of Missouri since 1987, and his MU colleagues in the University's Interdisciplinary Plant Group have been attracting international press for discovering links in the chain of genetic events that control abscission. With funding from the National Science Foundation, they tracked the process in a small flowering weed that grows in Europe, Asia and Africa.

"John is a pioneer," said Frans Tax, a plant biologist at the University of Arizona. "His research is an elegant combination of genetics and biochemistry. Because these genes are found in all plants, manipulation in crops to regulate abscission could be fairly straightforward."

Before following Walker on his path to discovery, let's review for a moment the case file on plant abscission: The autumn turning of leaves has always been part of the human experience, an activity has attracted at least as much interest from poets as from scientists.

When Walker does a PowerPoint presentation of his work he includes a citation from Emily Bronte:

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.

"That just about says it all," Walker says.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

SANS PEPPER AND MOUSER: Advertisers drop KOMU

COLUMBIA, 9/23/09 (Beat Byte) -- Now that Pepper and Friends has departed from the airwaves, local businesses are following through with threats to pull their advertising from Pepper's former home, television station KOMU.

The businesses include Affordable Cruises and Travel, LLC; Appletree Quilting Center; Children's Orchard; Dancearts of Columbia; Hazel Kinder's Lighthouse Theater; Hearing Solutions; The MacXprts Network; Missouri River Monuments; World Harvest International and Gourmet Foods; and Columbia Catering Company.

In August, Mac Xperts owner and former congressional candidate Duane Burghard wrote MU Chancellor Brady Deaton, Vice-Chancellor Jacquelyn Jones and KOMU General Manager Marty Siddall. "Unhappily, if the University insists on this course of action (cancellation), my business will be included in a group" of advertisers who've pulled their business.

Longtime MU associate professor of consumer and family economics Mel Zelenak, who owns Affordable Cruises and Travel, said that, "In total, Affordable Cruises and Travel has been responsible for approximately $5,000 in revenue sales for KOMU-TV through the first nine months of 2009. Once our contractual obligations end in September; I will terminate our five year relationship with the station. My decision is solely because of the management team's decision to eliminate Pepper and Friends programming."

Public relations executive Barbara Carman of Creative Concepts called Pepper and Friends a "front-porch" outlet.

"In the past, I have always considered 'Pepper and Friends' as the absolute best advertising resource to reach the Mid-Missouri people. If the show goes, KOMU-TV has nothing for me to recommend that has that wide local appeal."

MORTGAGE AND HOUSING NEWS: From Tom Stone

"I'M ON MY WAY...JUST SET ME FREE...HOME SWEET HOME." The lyrics from Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home sound a lot like something the housing industry might have sang last week, after the Commerce Department reported that the number of Housing Starts in August came in better than expected.

As you can see in the chart below, Housing Starts have fallen significantly since June 2008, but in last week's report, they broke free to come in at their highest level since last November. Building Permits were a bit lower than expectations, but the overall report suggests that while we're not entirely out of the woods yet, the worst in the housing market may have passed and that the industry may be on its way to stabilizing.

READ THE FULL REPORT

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President
Columbia, MO
Office: 573-874-4700

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

DINOsaurs AT COUNTY HALL: Do small "d" Dems dominate?

2009-09-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

Local Opinion and Commentary

1) AND THERE WERE RATS: Liz Schmidt talks Land Clearance and Black Injustice
2) DINOsaurs AT COUNTY HALL: Do small "d" Dems dominate?
3) THE HARD TRUTH: Freedom at the Frederick Douglass Coalition
4) READERS WRITE: Eminent domain, journalism, Mediacom

Listening Whilst Writing: Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score from "Papillon"
Hey you bastards -- I'm still here!

In Brief:
GET ALL THE LOCAL HEADLINES: At Columbia360.com
CITY FEE INCREASES TOP: Tomorrow's Council Agenda

AND THERE WERE RATS: Liz Schmidt talks Land Clearance -- and Black Injustice

Few people in Columbia or Boone County have the institutional memory -- or command the respect -- of Liz Schmidt.

The long-time Columbia resident wrote a lengthy response to our recent stories on City Hall's insidious use of eminent domain to acquire land from the black community under the guise of "urban renewal" in the 1950s and thereafter.

In so doing, Schmidt confirms some devastating historical details -- and exposes the roots of a practice that has become a part of City Hall's DNA: Taking liens against central city property in exchange for Federally-funded loans and grants -- that's right, grants -- to fix it up. Then, if things don't go quite right, taking the property.

Here's Liz, with some editing and clarification:

Ninety years after Emancipation, time and circumstance had put the black community in one area of the city. The 1935 Hare Planning and Zoning report stated that they should be treated fairly, have their own stores and houses, etc. etc. But by the 1950s, other things had intervened.

During so-called Urban Renewal starting around 1956, Columbia not only instituted Land Clearance, but also voted in a Housing Authority, to see that displaced people had a place to go. Many cities had only land clearance, and thus the people had to fend for themselves.

In your story, Sehon Williams was right -- at that time, black residents didn't go past 8th street, except for work. Park Avenue was lined with row-shacks. And the complaint about Sharps End was that the police didn't do anything about black-on-black crime, such as if a black person stabbed another black person during a craps game.

The area east of the cemetery on West Broadway was called Cemetery Hill. Providence (then Third Street) was not paved. Privies were in yards and electricity was one light bulb in the middle of a single room. The houses were in terrible disrepair. The principal from Grant School went to take clothing to a family there once, and stepped through the boards on the porch. There was one pump in the yard to get water to carry into the shacks.

And there were rats. When the city began clearing for Urban Renewal, the rats began to flee.

The city got some of its money for Land Clearance by building streets and putting in water and electricity and sewers. The State probably put in some for Providence Road. The rest of the money for land clearance came from the Federal government under Housing Authority regulations.

We did not have "open" or "fair" housing until 1968, so many people were not fully compensated for what they lost. More importantly, entire neighborhoods were disrupted when people who had been neighbors were assigned to different housing areas.

Some of the more affluent "negroes" (as the term was used then) did have help in either moving a house, or getting some money to get another house. Noble Court, Switzler Street, and Miles Manor were places the more affluent could go. However, the help they received was underfunded.

White landowners, on the other hand, were almost-certainly fully compensated, as evidenced by the fact that they cobbled together enough land to build the Housing Authority.

[At this point, Schmidt describes what I call a private version of eminent domain].

Several of our "illustrious citizens" got a lot of property through private "foreclosures." The owner of the house or land -- usually black -- would have a sick child, or get sick, or something else would happen and they would borrow money against the house from a private party, [as banks back then didn't often lend to black folks]. The private-party lender -- usually white -- would have a "hard time," call the loan, and take the house. But the borrower could go on living there by paying rent.

By the time the city instituted Land Clearance, most of the shanties and shacks were owned by a handful of these "lovely landlords," [many of whom had acquired their properties as collateral for small loans]. I can name names if you like, as one of my League of Women Voters jobs was to go to the courthouse and see who owned these parcels.

When the Urban Renewal votes came along in 1954 and 1956, landlords threatened their tenants, that "if you vote tomorrow, we might have to raise your rent. And you wouldn't want that. You know how nice we've been about the rent."

Needless to say, whatever the grown ups of today remember, they were kids then. And kids remember the good stuff, and are protected from the other.

DINOsaurs at County Hall: Do small "d" Dems dominate?

Earlier this month, Boone County Treasurer Kay Murray told the Trib that Boone County government has several elected officials who are “dyed-in-the-wool Democrats.”

What the heck? I don't know any dyed-in-the-wool Democrats who pay taxes just so their money can go into a big, dead piggy bank called a reserve fund. All the dyed-in-the-wool Dems I know want their tax dollars spent helping those who can't help themselves.

But that doesn't seem to matter much at the Roger B. Wilson county government building these days. Check out what county clerk Wendy Noren wrote on the Trib's website a few days ago.

"Our current reserves are 28.82% of expenditures. If we do not do the tax increase they will be 28.22% of expenditures. This is a minor decrease and our reserves are still way above the County's reserve policy of 15 to 20% of expenditures."

Lawdy m'lady! Nearly 29% reserves -- when 15% is adequate and when we rightly squawked about the Columbia school district's 22% reserve? And all this bitchin' about tight budgets?

Contrast this multi-million dollar piggy bank and the county commission's fancy new offices with 25-year county public works employee Greg Mullanix, who told the three all-Democrat county commissioners last week that he has "gone without a pay raise for seven years," and that he's "forced to cut costs every day as a homeowner and breadwinner."

I could go on -- and I have, many times -- about how parts of county government run by "dyed-in-the-wool Democrats" have become vehicles for rich, powerful patrons who contribute big campaign bucks and sadly, call far too many shots, which is terrible news for a political party that prides itself on taking care of the little guy and gal.

When politicians but a "D" or an "R," or any other partisan label after their names, it's like stamping their service with the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, an imprimatur, or the union label. People wearing it are expected to live up to a certain set of politico-moral standards, a code if you will, defined historically as a party platform.

Big R Republicans stand for smaller government, less taxes, and fiscal frugality. Big D Democrats support helping those who can't help themselves.

DINOs and RINOS -- Democrats and Republicans in name only -- use the party label, but only to get elected. And with all these DINOsaurs -- Democrats in Name Only, who've been in office too long -- running local government, I've started to wonder if we need a certification or accreditation process before the label backs up the politician's name.

Vote for a Certified Big D Democrat. Support a fully-accredited Big R Republican.

Bless her heart for joining with Murray to stop the commission's planned tax hike, but still, "the County's budgetary policy calls for a fund balance of 15% to 20% of budgeted expenditures," Noren writes. "Our current fund balance exceeds the high end of that by $2,234,000 and the low end by $3,393,000."

If that's true, live up to the Big D and give it back to the folks. Spend it on that mental health care program Skip Elkin talked up a few years ago. Build a new shelter for the humane society or some other animal welfare facility. Make sure folks like the residents of Paquin Towers don't lose measly allowances for simple pleasures like recreation.

Get more sheriff's deputies on the street. Lower taxes. Don't hammer our best manufacturers with big property tax increases.

Get together with the city and the housing authority and fix up all that run-down, obsolete public housing in the center of the city. And boost your indigent burial fund. Commissioners have only allocated $3,000 to bury people too poor to bury themselves? Some Dems they are, eh?

Finally, quit making us all feel like guilty schmucks by complaining about tight budgets that aren't that tight. If they were, how could this be true in April:

County cash balance lowest in decades
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/apr/09/county-cash-balance-lowest-in-decades/

and all this stuff Wendy Noren wrote be true today?
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/17/county-rejects-property-tax-hike/#c69849

And for heaven's sake: Give Greg Mullanix a long-overdue raise.

THE HARD TRUTH: Freedom at the Frederick Douglass Coalition

Thank the Lord for people like Vivian Hearn.

Vivian is mentioned in a Trib article today about central city slumlords and a new city program that may make slumlording as taboo as smoking.

At this week's meeting of the Frederick Douglass Coalition at the Armory, Vivian spoke out -- truthfully, but always catching herself as though she might offend the three white guys in the room -- me, Councilman Paul Sturtz, and central city builder Amir Ziv.

"All the crappy, run-down, torn up houses in this city are in the black neighborhoods," Vivian said. "It's been that way ever since I can remember."

She's right, but it wasn't always that way. Before Land Clearance and hard-core segregation, a local statistic was reversed. Around the turn of the last century in Columbia, black home and landowners outnumbered black renters. Today, the oppposite is true.

Promised easy loans for new homes, black homeowners displaced during Land Clearance instead found themselves red-lined, effectively shut out from the American dream they were busily creating as both freed slaves -- and newly inaugurated American immigrants. The Harlem Renaissance represented the peak of that nationwide rebirth, which found expression here in the work of jazz musician Blind Boone, restauranteur Annie Fisher, and myriad stories in Rufus Logan's newspaper, The Professional World, founded in 1901.

The society page, for instance, reported a local Black physician's appointment to the Republican Party convention; the business page reported the success of a Black-owned transfer company.

In too many ways, Columbia is still a racially-divided mess driven by the same lack of real, honest communication that plagues the rest of the nation. Changing that part of our shared history is key to this city's future, and starts with telling the unvarnished, often politically-incorrect truth.

The truth, they say, will set you free and folks like Vivian Hearn should never have to pause or stop themselves on the road to that freedom.

RELATED

READERS WRITE

Hey Mike. Another great read!
-- Renee Hulshof, Columbia

Your reporting on how eminent domain affected (and practically destroyed) the minority community has been excellent. What I like getting from you is fearless reporting that no other media outlet in Columbia has the ability or guts to match.
-- An admiring attorney, Columbia

About our story, Outrage rises over Mediacom outages
Mike: I too, was down all day yesterday with Mediacom high speed internet. Couldn't reach a real person so send an email to the corporate "contact us" and got a lame answer referring me to call the 866 number in your story. Guess what - more automated gibberish. Waiting for another reply today.
-- Linda Dellsperger, Columbia

About our story, MU RESEARCH: Readers like local, negative online news BEST!
Dear Mike, Thank you for linking the news release of our research to the recent Heart Beat e-newsletter. I am both a subscriber to and fan of the newsletter.

I’d like to briefly clarify the headline pertaining to our research: We found no evidence that people like local/negative news better, only that they pay more attention to it and remember details from it better, relative to distant/negative news. We did include a physiological measure of unpleasantness in the experiment but found no meaningful difference between responses to the local and distant news stories.

Thanks again for including our research in the newsletter. I look forward to the next issue.
-- Kevin Wise, Assistant Professor
Strategic Communication Faculty
Co-Director, PRIME Lab
Missouri School of Journalism, Columbia

Mike Martin
Blogitor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat

ABOUT Our New Mayoral Poll

2009-09-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

The people in our new mayoral poll to succeed Darwin Hindman (far left) have either:

1) Expressed interest in running for mayor

2) Have supporters who'd like them to run

3) Run the town before or run it now

4) Both 1 and 2

Yes folks: It's gonna be a helluva race!

BEAT BYTES: Liens, Foreclosures Slam Prominent Developer

2009-08-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

News Briefs from The Columbia Heart Beat

1) Liens, Foreclosures Slam Prominent Developer
2) Zany, Wacky, Crazy: Columbia, Missouri, The Musical

3) Accountant Accusations Left on Downtown Cars

4) The Grasslands' Ann Koenig: 2009 Tree Climbing Champion

5) LET'S DO LUNCH: Mugs Up, A Columbia Institution

6) The Most Complete Look Ever at Stan Kroenke's Humongous Empire

7) READERS WRITE: Did Trib play fair with TIF opposition?

8) Commission urges action on water supply safety

9) Councilman Speaks Out on Downtown Cameras

10) Housing News from Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

1) Liens, Foreclosures Slam Prominent Developer

COLUMBIA, 8/25/09 (Beat Byte) -- It's been a tough year for Glen Strothmann, a man people in the know call a "good guy" who's done a lot of "great things" for Columbia.

The prominent realtor and developer -- whose real estate empire stretches across the city -- has lost one of downtown's crown jewels to foreclosure and seen his well-regarded Delta group of development companies hit with liens and lawsuits.

The trouble seems to have kicked off in earnest last October, when Columbia-based A.D. Harris, Inc. filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Delta Roads Development; a sister company, Delta Park Development; Strothmann; and his partner, homebuilder Andy McVey (left). The case dragged on for several months, ultimately resulting in a $10,876.00 judgment and bank account garnishment.

The trouble continued after construction firm Emery Sapp and Sons filed a $47,567.00 lien and subsequent lawsuit against Strothmann, et. al. this month, apparently related to work on property he and partners own along Rock Quarry Road.

Strothmann occupies a uniquely diversified niche among local developers, taking on both new subdivisions and historic preservation.

Larger liens -- around $280,000.00 from contractors working on a major downtown preservation project -- started bedeviling Strothmann's companies last February. The restoration of 904 E. Broadway -- the former Puckett's women's wear store -- was to be both "state of the art" and vintage, "an original structure that dates to the early 1900s" when the building had a mezzanine, balcony and fancy railing, Strothmann told the Columbia Daily Tribune in 2007, shortly after he had purchased the building from serial preservationist John Ott.

But this month, Strothmann and Delta Roads lost the building after defaulting on a $1.3 million loan, along with several parcels at Springdale Estates after defaulting on another $600,000.00 in loans.

http://archive.showmenews.com/2006/sep/20060923busi003.asp

2) Zany, Wacky, Crazy: Columbia, Missouri, The Musical

COLUMBIA, 8/25/09 (Beat Byte) -- "Columbia, Missouri -- where everyone's White and Normal. We spend every week-end maintaining our lush front lawns."

What, you say? Who dares be so politically incorrect! It was the hit of a dinner party I attended this weekend, singer-songwriter Frank Reed's zany, catchy, twistedly toe-tapping take on our little burg, the song "Columbia, Missouri" from his 2008 album "I Regret Everything."

(The humorless, smug, pompous, overly-serious, or overly-sensitive should cover their eyes now).

In Columbia, Missouri, "everyone's shirt is tucked in," Reed sings. And "we all like brave new ideas in the arts --as long as they're not controversial or overly smart."

And sorry, First Ward Councilman and too-successful-for-those-sandals guy Paul Sturtz. According to Reed, who relishes twisting his tongue around the words,

"If we go to the Ragtag, downtown to see a show

Then we can expose our children to left-wing hip-py pro-pa-ganda!"

Imagine an Off-Broadway, full-on musical production designed with actor-singers devilishly delighting in poking fun at a town that -- from bikes v. cars to Hank "The Butterfly" -- often takes itself WAY too seriously and you've got this delightful ditty.

"Columbia, Missouri

Where Wal-Marts Outnumber People.

Col-um-bia, Miss-ouri

Yourrrree Okayyyyy!"

LISTEN FOR FREE

"Columbia, Missouri" is song #3, and if you just click "Listen" it plays with stereophonic quality. You can also download the song for free.

3) Accountant Accusations Left on Downtown Cars

COLUMBIA, 8/25/09 (Beat Byte) -- "Render Unto Caesar that which is Caesars!" proclaims a flyer left on dozens of cars downtown this past weekend.

But it wasn't an add for a Bible School or a pitch for a new religion. The flyer was an accusation against a local accountant, James Berry, CPA, for supposedly embezzling "hundreds of thousands of dollars." Signed "Betsy Murphy" with an email address betsymurphy@rocketmail.com, the flyer says Murphy and her husband -- local small business owners -- entrusted employee tax payments to Berry as part of a payroll service.

But "Berry kept the money for himself," resulting in IRS and State tax actions, including "liens filed against our house," that "have drained our savings," Murphy writes.

A quick Casenet search of both parties turns up two recent judgments and several State of Missouri delinquent tax actions against a "James R. Berry, CPA."

Neither Berry nor Murphy returned calls for comment.

4) The Grasslands' Ann Koenig: 2009 Tree Climbing Champion

COLUMBIA, 8/25/09 (Beat Byte) -- According to the women who know them, the guys who live around Ann Koenig (left) in Columbia's Grasslands neighborhood have a terrible case of chainsaw envy.

Rumor has it that Koenig, 35, has about eight shiny new chain saws, her collected prize-winnings from a brief but high-flying career as one of the world's best tree climbers.

Not only did Koenig -- a Missouri Dept. of Conservation forester -- climb away with the 2009 Midwest Tree Climbing Championship this June, but she was also the second highest placing U.S. finisher at the 2009 International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) held July 24 and 25 in Providence, Rhode Island. Koenig placed 8th overall, behind women climbers from New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Sweden.

Started 35 years ago as a fun and competitive way to "preserve the classic skills that would prepare a climber equipped with nothing more than a rope to have the ability to save a life in an aerial rescue," the ITCC tests tree climbers across a number of important categories, from aerial rescue to basic climbing skills. Koenig started climbing competitively in 2005, and now ranks with the best.

She's also a Grant Mom (Grant Elementary School), where just yesterday I heard a Grant Dad openly wondering if he could persuade her to part with one of her championship chainsaws.

MORE AT:

http://www.mwisa.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=34121

http://itcc.isa-arbor.com/results/resources/2009_preliminarytotals_web_final.pdf

http://itcc.isa-arbor.com/home.aspx

5) LET'S DO LUNCH: Mugs Up, A Columbia Institution

Tucked away over on Orange Street just off Business Loop 70 is a tiny reminder of a day long past when A&W dominated the fast food business and "drive in" was all part of America's new-found love for the automobile.

Opened by Raymond Kewley in 1955 and famous for its root beer, the Mugs-Up Drive In may have Columbia's best hamburgers and chili cheese dogs. I had both on a particularly gluttonous recent luncheon, and because I eat faster than Carl Edwards does a back flip, both entrees were gone before my lunch-time buddy -- the amazingly brilliant and deeply compassionate Amir Ziv (paid plug) -- had even slipped the wrapping off his order.

As the city's only non-chain drive-in, Mugs Up is a cute keeper, a great place to take the kids on the way to the pool; pick up a student study snack; or grab dinner on the way home from work. It's open 11 am to 9 pm Monday thru Saturday, but keeps seasonable hours, closed for most of the winter (open mid-February to late-October).

6) The Most Complete Look Ever at Stan Kroenke's Humongous Empire

Click here for the most complete list ever of Columbia developer Stan Kroenke's (left) endless empire.

7) READERS WRITE: Did Trib play fair with TIF opposition?

Mike: In my capacity as President of the Columbia Apartment Association (over 50% of Columbia's residential units are rental and we pay lots of taxes), I held several discussions about TIFs and the board voted unanimously to oppose the two downtown projects recently granted TIFs. I wrote our thoughts and reasons in an email to the Mayor, City Council members and the two papers: the Missourian and the Tribune.

I think it significant that the Missourian published my letter, but the Tribune did not. Why not? Hank? Are you there? Do you shy away from opposing opinions? I didn't think so until this happened.

Anyway, it was just kind of "buried" and the TIFs were rushed through. We felt like their minds were already made up before the public hearing and they simply did not want to hear any opposition. We also go into whether or not these areas are "blighted" and whether or not downtown is losing its economic base. We don't think so.

I enjoy your emails. Lots to think about. And we did feel that there were powerful forces at work behind the scenes. -- Mark Stevenson, Columbia

Columbia Apartment Association opposes TIF funding in city

Mike: Between you and I, as a business and landowner in downtown Columbia, I really don’t know if anyone (Special Business District, CCA, or Downtown Leadership Council) has my back.

I am sure I am overly naïve, but if someone on the board of one of these organizations hears or sees anything about my business or land, I feel that I should be informed immediately with a courtesy email, call or letter.

The only thing I know to do is to systematically visit each board meeting and ask them what allegiance they feel is owed to me as a member (or entity within their respective geographical boundaries). -- Name withheld by request

Mr. Martin: I look forward to each issue of the Columbia Heart Beat. You prove the importance of free and independent media. And I think you are the best investigative journalist in town. Keep up the good work! -- Mitchell J. Moore, Attorney at Law, Columbia

Hi Mike, Been wanting to thank you for writing the great neighborhood blog. Thanks for the Columbia Heart Beat! -- Mary Lottes, Ashland

8) Commission urges action on water supply safety

Columbia's Environment and Energy Commission sent the following letter to the City Council regarding the wetlands and water supply.

Seventeen years of study indicate that our wetland activities in the McBaine bottoms have fundamentally changed groundwater flow and impacted the quality of our drinking water supply.

Very soon, we will hire a consulting firm to perform an engineering study of our water treatment plant. Prior to drilling new wells, any plant expansion, or change in treatment, it is imperative that we answer some fundamental questions regarding our water supply.

• Should we treat our water to remove any of the unregulated compounds we now find in our water (wastewater tracers, pesticides, drugs, etc.)?
• What levels of these unregulated compounds are acceptable?
• Should we take steps to protect our wells from these contaminants?
• What can be done to minimize the wetlands’ effects on groundwater quality?
• What can be done to minimize the wetlands’ effects on groundwater flow?
• Could conservation measures delay the need for and expense of a plant expansion?

These questions should be addressed and our Source Water Protection Plan should be finalized in an open and public manner so that we as a community can participate in major decisions about our water supply. The Environment and Energy Commission requests to present this topic at a future council work session.

The Environment and Energy Commission recommends that the City Council direct staff to work with the Missouri Department of Conservation to address the questions posed above and to release its assessment at a future Council work session or scheduled evening meeting. It is our hope that Columbians may continue to enjoy the many benefits of the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area and our wastewater treatment wetlands without further compromising our drinking water source.

9) Councilman Speaks Out on Downtown Cameras

The recent attack on Adam Taylor was a terrible crime and I am glad that he has recovered from his injuries. I am also very glad that the surveillance cameras in the parking garage helped the police identify and arrest the perpetrators. I have always supported the use of surveillance cameras in city-owned parking garages. Although they may not deter crime, as in Adam’s case, they can certainly help the police, after the fact.

However, I do not support government sponsored and taxpayer financed downtown surveillance cameras placed in high visibility public areas such as our streets and sidewalks for three reasons:

1) Existing comparative data do not demonstrate significant positive effects on crime deterrence or apprehension with continuous public surveillance in high visibility, high traffic areas, such as public streets and sidewalks. What does have a significant effect on both deterrence and apprehension is a significant police presence.

2) The data also suggest that the cost of general surveillance camera programs may be a waste of limited public safety resources, when compared to the value and flexibility of an increased police presence downtown. That is one reason why, after two public hearings and a Scheduled Public Comment on the matter, the City Council voted against reconsideration of funding them.

3) There is no "probable cause” associated with continuous general public surveillance. Without “probable cause” citizens do have a "right to privacy" conferred by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures, even in public areas.

Nonetheless, I continue to support the use of city surveillance cameras in high-risk public areas such as city parking garages, where probable cause is likely to exist because of poor sight lines, limited public activity, etc.

As the record indicates, I have voted accordingly.

Karl Skala
Columbia Third Ward City Councilman

10) Housing News from Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

The housing market continues to show signs of stabilization, and although home prices are not about to spike higher, the decline certainly seems to have subsided. Existing Home Sales came in better than expectations, reaching their highest level in two years, as you can see in the chart below.

Click here to view newsletter

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President
573-874-4700
573-489-4059
tstone@bankofmissouri.com

Mike Martin

Blogitor-in-Chief

The Columbia Heart Beat

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com

BEAT BYTES: Emails Reveal City Hall's Mystery Lobbyist

2009-08-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

News Briefs from The Columbia Heart Beat

1) Emails reveal City Hall's mystery Lobbyist
2) Celebrated female pastor leaves local Episcopal Church
3) National dental magazine features MU "painless dentistry" invention
4) Alexander Ave. gets overdue speed bumps
5) Cops bust punks robbing historic neighborhood
6) Old Southwest neighbors fret over green belt sale
7) WEEKEND: Children's Maestro Ed Hanson to sing Sinatra
8) ANNOUNCEMENTS: Gerry helps Jerry tackle muscular dystrophy
9) Housing News from Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone
10) Readers Write: About the Health Dept. and Farmers Markets

1) Emails reveal City Hall's mystery Lobbyist
Last Part of A Simmering Summer Heart Beat Exclusive Report

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- When last we visited, our intrepid cabal of uptown schemers had -- with nary a word from the lowly masses (i.e. the Columbia City Council) -- laid out a scathingly brilliant downtown redevelopment plan that included a humongous new multimillion-dollar parking garage (for a town with "tight budgets" that says it LOVES bicycles); and plenty of hanging flowers for flittering butterflies.

In on the action: Columbia city manager Bill Watkins; Columbia Daily Tribune publisher Hank "The Butterfly" Waters; former St. Louis mayor Vince Schoemehl; assistant city manager Tony St. Romaine; and a mysterious figure known only as "The Lobbyist," or "Lobbyist 601."

They all appear repeatedly in a series of public-private emails released to Columbia Citizens Listserv founder Traci Wilson-Kleekamp under a Freedom of Information request. Here's a sampling, mostly from "The Publisher":

"Meanwhile, the lobbyist and I wll discuss possible plans to slip away to St. L. for a social outing,"

"...when we know our city schedule, we'll know how to plan some misbehavior with the lobbyist."

"That would be you and Bill and the lobbyist and girls we might pick up for dinner."

Almost in lock step with the tiny group's big plans, City Hall legislation followed. Particularly revealing: One email that appears to seal the fate of at least one TIF -- the Tiger Hotel.

"Tony: I hope I didn't create any 'disturbance in the force' on Thursday," Schoemehl emailed St. Romaine on Valentine's Day 2009, referring to a public meeting in which Schoemehl addressed a local audience.

"I spoke with Hank on Friday and stressed that I thought every effort should be made to avoid making 'the perfect the enemy of the good,'" Schoemehl continued. "The hotel project is essential and I'd hate to see it slowed down too long by discussion over how to do this better. If this hotel project were going to be done without extraordinary assistance from the City, it would have happened by now. I tried to reach Bill [Watkins] by phone to let him know that I spoke with Hank...could you let him know this?"

Of course, Vince. Anything for the former mayor of St. Louis.

If one thing sticks out about the Tiger Hotel TIF, it's that the hotel's most redeeming quality--its historic appeal--is rarely, if ever, mentioned. The one true social good that could come of TIF legislation -- historic preservation -- is thereby lost, in a discussion that seems mostly motivated by insiders' insiders, who get what they want because of who they are, rather than what they have to offer.

How else are we to interpret publisher Waters' note to Bill Watkins that he should restrict whom he invites to these important -- and frequent discussions? How else are we to interpret all those notes about "the right people," from a guardian of the people's right to know, no less?

Mr. St. Romaine responded to Schoemehl on Feb. 16. "I do appreciate your tempered remarks in light of the audience. I downloaded the Chicago TIF Encyclopedia this weekend and have started to read it, along with the Shoup book you mentioned, The High Cost of Free Parking."

Finally, in an email cc'd to lobbyist601@, the Butterfly lets it slip.

"As you can see, Schlemeier is in on this deal. Terry is an old friend of Vince's," Hank Waters says.

Terry Schlemeier -- the mystery man -- is a prominent state lobbyist who lives in Columbia. Why this group -- which includes two highly-paid public servants -- can't refer to him by name with respect to such a large and public issue is beyond me.

You might say it only adds insult to mystery.

2) Celebrated female pastor leaves local Episcopal Church

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- When she was installed as Calvary Episcopal Church's first female director -- or rector -- in its 153 year history last Fall, the Rev. Paula Robinson was celebrated as a breath of fresh perspective in a mostly male Church hierarchy, at least at the local level.

Columbia Home and Lifestyle magazine called it "breaking through the stained glass ceiling."

The Missourian called Robinson's voice "spirited and lyrical"; her parishioners pleased that she would "best fit the role of pastor for their church" after a long selection/succession process that examined a number of applicants.

Although Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori heads the Episcopal Church nationwide, and its hierarchy includes members of the gay community, locally the Episcopal religion is more conservative and traditional. With her fiery Irish brogue and commanding presence crowned by a closely-cropped coif of white hair, Paula Robinson had an almost angelic quality -- an angel with seniority and substance, as it were, come to deliver some measure of change from on High.

(Think Rosalind Russell, in her fabulous role as Mother Superior in the "Trouble with Angels" movies).

But after a decidedly short tenure, Reverend Robinson left Calvary this month for a new assignment nearer her European home. The parting appears to have been both sweet -- and sorrowful. In an open letter to parishioners and the community, Robinson called her tenure in Columbia joyful and troubled -- the best, and worst, of times.

It was her description of the worst of those times that caught many readers off guard. Though not specific, Robinson described being troubled by disloyalty, feuding, and resistance among members of her flock. She seemed palpably hurt, her choice of words curt, to the point, but painfully telling.

It was an odd way to say goodbye and an even odder way to leave a message -- if indeed it was a message she intended.

"Tell us Lord, oh how we should change, and what displeases you."

But like so many men and women of the Cloth before her -- apostles, disciples, and prophets alike -- Robinson chose to leave that question open. The message was incomplete.

Time will only tell what fruit that choice may bear.

RELATED:

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/10/17/paula-robinson-calvary-epsicopals-first-female-rector-and-more

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/24/calvary-episcopal-held-service-officially-instate-new-rector

http://www.columbiahl.com/2008/11/breaking-through-the-stained-glass-ceiling

[Ed. Note: My family and I are members of the Calvary Episcopal Church].

3) National dental magazine features MU "painless dentistry" invention

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Painless dentistry?

That -- and more durable fillings -- are the promises of a new dental tool that drills and prepares teeth using the stuff of stars and the Northern Lights -- a fourth state of matter called "plasma" (after liquid, solid, and gas).

An invention of MU aerospace engineers Qingsong Yu and Hao Li, the "plasma brush" made it into the July 2009 issue of AGD Impact, the magazine of the national Academy of General Dentistry, the only organization exclusively dedicated to serving the needs and interests of the general dentist and the world's second largest dental association.

“Application of plasma treatment in dental restoration procedures will effectively disinfect cavity-causing bacteria, reduce the use of the painful and destructive drilling currently practiced in dental clinics, and consequently save healthy dental tissues,” says Yu, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC). “It also improves the bonding strength of restoration composites and prolongs the restoration life. Furthermore, it requires no complicated or expensive equipment.”

Calling the technology “novel,” University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry assistant professor Timothy Kosinski, DDS, MAGD, says it could “play a prominent role in all of our dental practices.”

READ THE ENTIRE STORY AT:

From Distant Stars to Dental Chairs
Plasmas May Promise Pain-free and Durable Restorations
By Mike Martin

4) Alexander Ave. gets overdue speed bumps

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Residents of Alexander Avenue in Columbia's central city are rejoicing.

After a 5-year battle -- about twice as long as it took to get that giant downtown parking garage approved -- new speed bumps were installed yesterday by public works crews braving scorching August heat.

So dogged and determined was the bump drive that resident Cherith Moore -- who presented a petition to City Hall -- was featured in a July 4th Columbia Missourian article celebrating her role as a paragon of freedom. From the Missourian:

"With Sturtz's guidance, Moore and about 10 other residents were able to write their formal request to the council for traffic control measures such as speed humps and a 20 mph limit. Moore was able to have it signed by more than 90 percent of the 43 households on the street."

RELATED

5) Cops bust punks robbing historic neighborhood

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- There's nothing like a good bust to get the old rancor up and nothing like neighborhood listservs to keep an eye on law and order. Last week, after roving scofflaws broke into several cars during the wee hours of the morning in the venerable Old Southwest, CPD officers went into action, rounding them up after watchful neighbors called.

Before the capture, the Old Southwest listserv buzzed about the ongoing thefts. Some sample posts:

"This morning I was missing change from my car and noticed the car door may have been slightly ajar. So, this now begins to make sense. Thanks for the heads up."

"I noticed a black backpack under my river birch tree this morning and assumed it was thrown there after some sort of thievery. I called the police to report. Also, I did see patrol officers, at least 2, shining their spotlights around 3 am this morning along Maupin drive (between Lindell and Greenwood)."

"I just wanted to give you a heads up -- last night, B. was driving down Maupin at 1:45 a.m. and he saw a teenage boy running from the driveway of the guy who lives in the two-story red brick house. When B. looked again, he saw a couple of other kids running down the street. Last Friday night sometime, someone stole some items from B.'s unlocked car in our driveway. My Explorer, of course, was responsibly locked, so no trouble there!"

Responsibly LOCKED? Not a good idea, according to Blue Note owner Richard King.

"I hate to say this but breaking into cars in Old Southwest is pretty common," King wrote. "I have had my car ransacked several times in the almost 20 years that I have been in the neighborhood. I treat it like they do in NYC -- I never lock for fear of them breaking in and I leave nothing of value in the car."

6) Old Southwest neighbors fret over green belt sale

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Another email alert on the Old Southwest Neighborhood listserv -- this time about the potential loss of a valuable 3-acre greenbelt near South Garth and Lathrop Streets -- prompted a stampede of responses expressing interest and concern.

"The Smarr family is listing 2.9 acres for sale, which is zoned R3, for multi-family housing. This is the quiet wooded area that was slated for the Garth Trail extension," wrote listserv member Holly Lickos.

At over $900,000, the real estate listing, Lickos said, includes "photos of the Married Student Apartment complex on Providence, which is evidently being presented to potential buyers as the kind of thing they could consider building."

Very quickly thereafter, nearby resident Lise Saffran planned a meeting at her home last week. Nearly a dozen concerned emails followed.

"I know Dave and I are interested as, I'm quite certain, are neighbors with young children on the last block of Garth. I think its a good idea to involve the neighborhood associations ASAP," wrote resident Chris Marshall.

"Please count me in the neighborhood endeavor to prevent purchase of this property for development of apartments," wrote resident Catherine Parke.

"This is a quiet residential area without sidewalks and full of children playing. We are hoping that the sellers will allow the neighbors time to explore a buy-out (perhaps toward putting in a Stewart park like area) but at minimum, we are
determined that no new development should provide a safety hazard to the current neighbors," Lickos concluded.

7) WEEKEND: Children's Maestro Ed Hanson to sing Sinatra

COLUMBIA, 8/13/09 (Beat Byte) -- Widely beloved music director and teacher Ed Hanson has mov ed onto brighter -- and bluer things since his retirement from Columbia Public Schools last year. Highlighting his new career: touring the country as an actor and bringing Ol' Blue Eyes back to life in a tribute to Frank Sinatra this Friday, 9 PM at the Vault Speakeasy, 23 S. 8th St. in The Basement of the Historic Tiger Hotel.

Here's what those in the know are saying: "With a resume of over 22 Sinatra covers, a grand piano, a special appearance by Marylin Monroe, and the atmosphere and drink specials that make VAULT the "Bees Knees", you CANNOT MISS this show."

8) ANNOUNCEMENTS: Gerry helps Jerry tackle muscular dystrophy

TODAY is the day Gerry Blaise is going behind bars to help Jerry's Kids© and MDA. To be released on good behavior I have to raise bail and I still need your help!

All you have to do is click here:

to make a secure, online donation before 08/13/09. Your donation will help families living in our community and help guarantee me an early release. Every little bit helps, even a small donation is GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Gerry Blaise

This Saturday, August 15, I will be at the Rendezvous Coffeehouse from 10:30a to 12:00n to talk to anyone who would like to visit with me. The Rendezvous Coffeehouse is at 3304 Broadway Business Park Ct., which is on the south side of West Broadway west of HyVee.

Jerry Wade
4th Ward Council Representative

Missouri Federation of Young Republicans
2009 State Convention
Where: Les Bourgeois Vineyards and Winery, Rocheport, Missouri
When: Saturday, August 22nd, starting at 9 A.M.

Scheduled speakers:
Keynote speaker: Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani, founder and chairman of http://www.RagingElephants.org. He is the host of The Christian Politician Radio Show, heard on KCHN 1050 AM, in Houston, Texas. He also is the founder and senior pastor of the Corinthian Christian Empowerment Center (CCEC) in Houston. Currently, Apostle Claver is a member of the Republican Party, and sits on the board of directors for the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club.

Other speakers include:
- Representative Therese Sander, 22nd District
- Ed Martin, former chief of staff to Gov. Blunt and possible candidate for U.S. Congress in Missouri's 3rd Congressional District (eastern Missouri)
- Lloyd Smith, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party

Other activities will include:
- Statewide officer elections and appointments
- Grassroots training
- Networking with current and future leaders of the Missouri GOP

Registration is $50, which includes breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. Event will end at approximately 5 P.M. Registration forms can be found at http://www.missouriyr.com.

More information about the convention

Mike Zweifel
Missouri Federation of Young Republicans
zweifelmr@hotmail.com
573-808-2947

9) Housing News from Bank of Missouri's Tom Stone

Hard to believe that school is starting for most in about a week. My oldest girl will start Kindergarten. Makes you wonder where time goes. Speaking of time, we have an action packed week of news. Last week we saw signs of the economy making improvement, lower unemployment and better housing numbers.

This maybe a sign the we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel but it may just mean that some are starting to lose their unemployment benefits and are no longer counted in the employment numbers. I do want to stay positive and believe there are some signs of life.

Click here to view newsletter

Tom Stone
The Bank of Missouri
Asst. Vice President
573-874-4700
573-489-4059
www.bankofmissouri.com
tstone@bankofmissouri.com

10) Readers Write: About the Health Dept. and Farmers Markets

Regarding the Boone County Journal story Another Pie in the Face of Boone County Government, local farmers write:

I would wholeheartedly agree that the Health Dept is asinine in their strictness, especially on farmers markets. I have been to markets all over the country, and nowhere have I encountered such foolishness as our local regulations and their scattershot enforcement.

Take a look at their sampling regulations (from the same publication linked above):

All fruits and vegetables must be rinsed thoroughly in clean water. Melons must be rinsed in a chlorine solution of 50 – 100 ppm prior to slicing.

Fruits and vegetable sample servings must be protected from contamination at all times.

Sampling of processed foods requiring preparation at the site must comply with mobile concession requirements or temporary food event rules.

Sampling of jams, jellies, salsa and other similar foods may be allowed if limited preparation is required. An example might be a vendor putting a dab of jelly on a cracker, serving it to a customer on a napkin.

Not included in that is the requirement that you have a sealed jug of water, like a sports cooler (but not with a push-button spout!) and a catch bucket, and any samples set out must be covered with a screen of some sort. Now, what shopper at a farmers market wants their fresh cherry tomato sample sloshed in chlorine first?

No one has died at the multitude of markets where a farmer can just slice you off a piece of cheese, fruit, vegetable, or whatever. The customer is perfectly capable of determining whether that fresh sample (or the farmers hand) is clean. I know many farmers who think the Heath Dept is nuts and way too uptight for their own or anyone’s good.

But they’re so powerful that few people challenge them.
-- Not nuts about the Health Department

If that's really what happened, the Health Department is potentially contradicting state law and their own publications, while certainly being meddlesome.

I am a farmer and vendor at local farmers markets. In Missouri, you can sell many baked goods and other somewhat processed foods NOT prepared in a commercial kitchen, if they are clearly labeled as such. Here is the relevant passage, taken from the physical handout I received from the Health Dept. last year (I believe these are sourced in state law):

Certain non-potentially hazardous processed foods including, but not limited to: breads, cookies, fruit pies, jams, jellies, fruit butters, honey, sorghum, cracked nuts, packaged spices and spice mixes, dry cookie, cake, bread and soup mixes. The following requirements must be met:

the seller is the individual actually producing the food
the seller sells only to the end consumer
all food items are labeled with the name and address of the processor, the common name of the food, all ingredients in the food, and a statement that the product is prepared in a kitchen that is not subject to inspection by the Department of Health and Senior Services
the sales booth has a sign stating that the food is not subject to inspection by the DHSS
The Health Department has the final authority in determining whether a food item can be sold under these regulations.

You can find this on the web at:
http://tiny.cc/lLyqT

Now, given that they claim to have final authority, they can technically be right in this.

But they allow all sorts of other baked goods to be sold at various markets under the above rules, so I don’t know why they’re picking on Cathy Salter. If nothing else, maybe she doesn’t know about the rule and didn’t label it properly. -- Trying to help

Hi Mike -- The Columbia Heart Beat is great! Valuable service to readers, and you have a great feel for writing in the investigative reporting style. Have you considered teaching a course in electronic journalism? Thanks for your good work. PS Enjoyed your science reporting that you recently pointed us to.
-- John McCormick, Columbia

Biz Columnist Schuster Blasts City/County Downtown Land Grabs

2009-07-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

COLUMBIA, 7/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- In a surprisingly pointed condemnation of public encroachment on the private sector, Columbia Business Times (CBT) columnist and former city councilman Larry Schuster Friday blasted the Columbia City Council for approving two local TIFs and took the Boone County Commission to task for buying up large chunks of once privately owned, property-tax-paying downtown land.

Warning against overly-liberal use of "blight" to secure tax incentives, Schuster intimated that he sees the term as a self-serving misnomer with regard to any parcel of downtown Columbia's legendarily pricey property.

"For the city council to approve each of these TIF applications, a host of acrobatic flips and tumbles have occurred. Beginning with the Tiger Hotel application, they have concluded that the treasure of downtown is in imminent danger of loss or dilapidation -- quite a stretch for even the most imaginative among us," Schuster writes in this week's CBT, a publication owned by Tiger Hotel principals Dave Baugher and Al Germond. "In the case of the Trittenbach application, they have overlooked the applicants’ public testimony that the property they seek to redevelop is among the most expensive real estate available within the city limits."

Schuster then points to an irony of downtown redevelopment: so many public agencies have swallowed once-privately held land that a tax revenue crisis of their own making now requires incentives like TIF and CID to correct.

"City Manager Bill Watkins points to the decline of sales tax revenue and business licenses in downtown as evidence that this particular interference is necessary," Schuster notes. "However, between the city and county governments, blame for the bulk of revenue declines can be laid at their feet. The Daniel Boone Building expansion itself removed two businesses from the private sector. In addition, the county’s acquisition of the Johnston Building, the Johnston Paint & Decorating Building and the Guarantee Land Title Building are further examples of recent moves from the private sector to the public, tax-exempt sector of the downtown economy.

"These acquisitions of prime real estate by public entities who pay top dollar fuels the exit of private enterprise that generates tax revenue. The downtown community is thus divided among those who accept the buyout and those less fortunate to hold properties that are not adjacent to public entities."

And, as Schuster says, divided between those who receive tax incentives and those who don't.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST

Street Do-Overs -- Providence Wall, Broadway Break -- Draw Gasps

COLUMBIA, 7/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- Is it just radio show callers, or have two street do-overs caught Columbians off guard? A huge wall running down the center of Providence -- perhaps to divide football parking crowds -- has appeared without any local media fanfare across from Reactor Field on one side and what I call Stadium Foothills on the other.

And once four-lane Broadway has suddenly become 1+ lanes at Clinkscales, where I've already seen several cars using a new right-hand turn lane to go straight.

It's above my pay grade to find out what's going on with both the Providence Wall and Broadway Bust, but based on disgruntled phone calls and confused drivers, I doubt I'm the only one with questions.

Criminal Parade Continues at Benton-Stephens 8-Plex

COLUMBIA, 7/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- The Tiger Car Wash chain owners may need to wash out tenants at their Benton-Stephens 8-plex. Following up a February story of dozens of arrests, fires, and SWAT team action at 1411 Wilkes Blvd., the parade of tenant arrests continues unabated. Since then, police have made the following arrests, stretching into late July (this month):

Jamall Chavez Cambell, 22, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., probation-and-parole violation, out-of-county warrant, $5,200 bond.
Jamall Chavez Campbell, 22, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., misdemeanor warrant.
Marco Damon Campbell, 24, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., out-of-county warrant, $7,500 bond.
Marco Damon Campbell, 24, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., careless and imprudent driving, driving without a license, $5,114.50 bond.
Marco Damon Campbell, 24, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., two out-of-county warrants, possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana, $5,000 bond.
John Robert Allen, 26, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., first-degree trespassing, stealing, $1,000 bond.
Natasha Deeann Hunter, 35, of 1411 Wilkes Blvd., possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana.

Owners Gregg and Amy Morgan purchased the eight-unit complex in March 2005 with help from a $602,000 mortgage from First National Bank (FNB) of Columbia. The mortgage, which includes another property, was refinanced at FNB in 2008 for $770,000, according to public records on file with Boone County. The Morgans and FNB then consolidated the note last December with several other properties for $1,520,000.

With former Emery Sapp and Sons VP Roland Bartels, Gregg Morgan also owns a chain of Tiger Car Washes and the Briarcrest Apartments at 105 N. Garth. In the four years since the Morgans purchased the Wilkes eight-plex, authorities have made 30 resident arrests, or an average 7 arrests per year, nearly one every other month. Apartment residents have also endured two fires.

Readers Write: About all KINDS of Stuff

2009-07-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

About the Columbia Heart Beat
Mike: I can't live long without a Heartbeat. Columbia is so boring in the summer.
-- Jim Fairchild, Columbia

Mike, I don't know how I got on your email list for the "heart beat" but I appreciate receiving it. Fundamental decisions about the future of Columbia and Boone County are repeatedly being made by a group of "insider" elites while "yahoos" like me remain on the outside looking in.
-- Roland Meinert, Columbia

Dear Mike, All I can say is, WOW! It's a shame more information as included in your whole "offering" isn't generally known. Thank goodness you do it. You are doing a BIG public service.
-- Elizabeth Phillips, Boone County

About Assessor Schauwecker Kudos
Mike, You are an enigma to me. You'll write something brilliant and then (to me, anyway) you'll turn around and go off the deep end and use a howitzer when a flyswatter would do. But the biggest thing that scores brownie points in my eyes is when someone, regardless of their political persuasion, will admit that the other side occasionally does something right. That shows me that someone is truly being objective. So big kudos on your kudos to Tom Schauwecker. Very few people would be big enough to do something like that. Good job. -- Brian Ash, Columbia

About developers who don't take public tax money
Mr. Martin, How about we just let the free market handle these issues? I'd say look at the guys doing it the right way in choosing with whom to do business. How about ol' Bob Lemone? That guy went out and started his business park years ago and did it right. He was one tough hombre to business with. How about David Atkins? He is a sharp guy doing it right. Look to the guys who aren't soaking up taxpayers' resources and do business with them. Be sure to take a pass on the dudes working us over on the downtown TIFs too. That is a story that needs to be smoked out.
Good job on continuing to do some real reporting. -- John Rentschler, Columbia

About our story on City Hall's Low-income housing rehab programs
Mike, Didn't realize that program participants are required to use Columbia Housing Rehab program contractors. Perhaps one of your readers can enlighten me. Assuming that the housing rehab program is federally funded, would a bid request process be required? Does the city conduct QA on these contractors? If the city entered the contract, why would the homeowner have to sue for damages? -- Krissy Heitkamp, Columbia

About the Columbia Area Jobs Foundation and Shovel Ready Sites
Does anyone know the actual inventory of shovel ready sites? Near the opposite intersection of the site referenced in your "Good Ol' Boys" story is about 100 acres of fully completed infrastructure, shovel ready sites. There is the site near the landfill, a site near the airport, a site near Ashland, and sites at Lamone Industrial Park. How much do we need? Is this really the issue: not enough shovel ready sites? -- Name Withheld by Request

About poor planning at the County Fairgrounds
Hi Mike, OK, I now agree, the County continues to go overboard on buildings. The Courthouse expansion, I approved of that and still do. But now comes the "free" building donated to the County for the fairgrounds with 22,000 sf (fire sprinklers required at 12,000 sf) touted for basketball, livestock shows, horse shows etc. The public seems to be going for it.

I e-mailed the Commission asking if this facility was fire sprinkled? No answer. I called Stan Shawver who confirmed "there is a problem". He explained that since it is not sprinkled, the building can only be used for equine practice.
No shows or gatherings whatsoever. So we now have a used building, over budget and unable to be used by the public...ouch...great planning.

Thanks for your work. -- John from Hallsville

About George Parker
Mike, Just saw your article on George Parker. Good job. Someone recently gave me the following quote: “The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." -- Plato I sure wish everyone would pay more attention to public affairs.
-- Carol Van Gorp, Columbia

About the ongoing bikes vs. cars debate
Mike, This issue of 'us vs them' is useless, counterproductive and recognizes a confrontation that does not exist. I am a cyclist and a motorist: I ride my bike to work when I can otherwise I take my car. I believe that the same is true of all Columbia cyclists. So stop giving this issue credence.

The real problem is the waste of $25 million on road markings. An egregious and dangerous example is the westbound lane on Stadium and Forum. The right turn lane, perhaps 50 yards in length, and correctly treated by motorists as a deceleration lane (from 50 mph to a stop), crosses the bike path at the initiation of the lane. Really? The city expects me to cross into 50 mph traffic? Perhaps some of that money should be invested in a direct line to a house of worship, a hospital or a funeral home.

Sharing the many sparsely travelled roads with cars by a simple painting helps cyclists feel less threatened and defines for motorists bicycle paths. But on 50 mph highway the bicycle path must be off the road. One possibility for those heavily travelled roads is sidewalks. Let's make the sidewalks easier for both cyclists and pedestrians.

I like riding my bike, and I like that my community has made a commitment to the safety of it's citizenry that ride bikes. But the joy goes away if I have to force a motorist choose between severely injuring or killing me and damaging cars and possibly injuring themselves.
-- Harry W. Tyrer, Columbia

About our Crimestoppers Forum
http://nccna.20.forumer.com/
A very good idea Mike, especially when it's a cooperative effort between citizens and the CPD. Hope it works out well. -- Lorah Steiner, Columbia

About where to shop to avoid TDDs
Mike, Is it possible for you to put up a city may showing the special sales tax areas so a person can make a good decision as where to shop and save money?? Thanks.
-- Jack Rhoads, Columbia, MO
[Ed. Note: I don't know of any such map, but it sounds like a good idea].

About the "real" West Broadway folly
Mike, I always thought the West Broadway folly was the idea of widening it to 4 lanes. I fail to see a proportional need for such a major project, beyond regular maintenance and upgrade, and wish that someone would state the REAL reason behind the push to widen West Broadway. I don't live on West Broadway, but do enjoy its traditional, if not historical, neighborhood and ambiance, and never see a flow-of-traffic problem outside of a short 5 o'clock period, like so many other streets throughout the city. My opinion is that a major thoroughfare or highway through the center of a city deadens it and detracts from its character, and is divisive.
-- Vicki Smith, Columbia

About Pepper and Friends and Enemies
Mike: Most people whining about Pepper & Friends probably don't understand the logic for this decision. Few people watch this show regularly -- usually only when their relative or club is being featured. Most people are occupied with work or school at 11 AM weekdays. Those who are not, are watching the soaps or Martha Stewart. That leaves a small population. I don't hear the sponsors complaining. They have been very patient over the years in what is probably a poor advertising investment.. done more as a community service. Does anyone blame them for pulling financial support? -- John Dean, Columbia

Post-Meltdown Lending Requirements May Quash Cottage Project

2009-07-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

COLUMBIA, 7/23/09 (Beat Byte) -- The nation's financial crisis may be bad news for what Columbia builder Amir Ziv calls "the little cottages that could," a central city low-income housing project he had planned for Ridgeway Avenue patterned on architecturally aesthetic cottage projects in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.

After humping up the City Hall hill for the past year, Ziv has learned that local banks have lost much of their taste for new construction projects. Though Ziv and a partner were qualified and had financing last year, this year they were asked to re-qualify with new, more onerous terms it's unlikely the group will be able to meet.

"It's gotten a whole lot harder to get financing now," Ziv says. "They practically want you to open a CD (certificate of deposit) with most of the money for the project in it. If I could do that, I wouldn't need a loan."

Though the Columbia City Council twice unanimously approved the project, Ziv was never allowed to break ground. He spent over 18 months with engineers from one of the city's top firms, A Civil Group, rewriting and revamping plans to satisfy what he says was an ever-changing palette of city requirements. The experience has left him dazed and confused.

"It's amazing to me that these controversial, multi-million dollar projects not only get approved but get started in about the same time it's taken me to get this far," Ziv says. "Maybe I should apply for a TIF."

RELATED:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/oct/20081021news005.asp

5) Columbia Heart Beat joins Nationwide New Journalism Project

COLUMBIA, 7/23/09 (Beat Byte) -- The Columbia Heart Beat has joined Brooklyn, NY-based Outside.In, a "hyperlocal" new journalism effort that collects content from thousands of local blogs and newspapers all over the country, organizing the content by location and displaying it to show all the latest headlines from a given area.

MORE AT:
http://outside.in/Columbia_MO

6) Alliance of Columbia Neighborhoods Forms

COLUMBIA, 7/23/09 (Beat Byte) -- Noting that Columbia's neighborhood associations may have feelings of isolation, Country Club Estates Neighborhood Association director Jim Downey has started the Columbia Neighborhood Alliance.

"Individual Neighborhood Associations almost exist in a vacuum, with little or no contact with other Neighborhood Associations, little or no cohesiveness even on issues which effect multiple neighborhoods, Downey says. "Efforts have been made in the past to create something of a formal "alliance", but these were necessarily problematic, given the large geographic area of the city and difficulty in coordinating meetings, or even sharing information, among such a diverse group."

The new alliance, online at
http://columbianeighborhoodalliance.com

"is intended to provide a venue for the sharing of information and ideas," Downey says. "Collectively we're smarter and more experienced than any one individual or neighborhood association."

RELATED:

http://ccena.wordpress.com
www.legacybookbindery.com

The Columbia Heart Beat

2009-05-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Local Opinion and Commentary

1) Maestro Kirk Trevor's Gentle Panache
2) Landlord Nuisance Laws "Ineffective, Meaningless" Councilman Says
3) Roper, "Other" lead Hindman, Wade in Mayor's Race Poll
4) Councilman Wade Speaks out on Mediacom Mess
5) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Local Announcements

1) Maestro Kirk Trevor's Gentle Panache

It's not every day that school age musicians get the chance to study with a real maestro -- a professional conductor that is, who leads orchestras around the world.

That's why my wife and I jumped at the chance to enroll our daughter -- a 6th grade cellist -- in the Missouri Symphony Conservatory's Junior Strings program, directed -- and conducted -- by Kirk Trevor, who has commanded some 40 professional orchestras in 12 countries, from Bern, Switzerland to Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Conservatory's 2009 Spring Concert -- held at the Missouri Theatre April 27 -- featured a quartet of youthful orchestrations: Maestro Trevor leading both the Missouri Symphony's Youth Orchestra and Junior Strings, playing Handel, Dvorak, and Brahms; and Smithton middle school music teacher Melissa Straw conducting the Treblemakers and the Children's Chorus, singing Vivaldi, Handel, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

A frequent guest instructor at Northwestern University who annually gives master conducting classes at the Zurich and Basel Conservatories in Switzerland, Trevor is what our daughter aspires to be -- a classically trained cellist, who graduated from London's Guildhall School of Music.

With those credentials, I might have been concerned that my child was in for too much imperiousness, too great a dose of high-handedness from a demanding prima donna at far too tender an age.

But Trevor has impressed me for years with his leadership of the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, especially during the Missouri Theatre's family-friendly Hot Summer Nights concert series, an inexpensive, musical confection that this summer features Peter the Wolf, Tubby the Tuba, and master jugglers The Gizmo Guys.

"Where in the World of Music is Carmen Sandiego?" a symphonic, edu-taining take on the popular, globe-trotting mystery maven, introduced me to Trevor, who not only commanded the symphony with a steady hand, but also took command -- with a gentle hand -- of an audience filled with children, many of whom had never seen an orchestra before.

Carefully explaining each instrument, and the music it made, Trevor charmed both children and parents, even inviting a couple of young guest conductors (my then 8-year old daughter was one of them) to take a turn with his musical wand.

Columbia is blessed with music educators who specialize in grade school children, retired CPS teacher Ed Hanson chief among them. But Kirk Trevor stands out because he's not a full-time teacher, but rather a full-time practitioner. He came to the U.S. on a Fulbright grant, won the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Competition, and went on to lead the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

A master teacher for the American Symphony Orchestra League and the Conductor's Guild, Trevor also co-founded and has been Artistic Director of the world's largest conducting school -- the International Workshop for Conductors, held in the Czech Republic for a month every summer.

And every year he brings to Columbia a gentle panache: a unique patience in a world of precision, practice, and intense dedication. Our children are lucky to have such a kind introduction to such a powerful art.

RELATED:
http://www.motheatre.org/about_mtca/groups.asp?group_ID=52
http://www.motheatre.org/about_mtca/groups.asp?group_ID=1

2) Landlord Nuisance Laws "Ineffective, Meaningless" Councilman Says

As what he called an "exercise in self reflection for good governance," third ward Columbia city councilman Karl Skala answered parts of our One-Size-Fits-All Candidate Survey this past election cycle. But since he isn't running for re-election until next year, we decided to hold his answers until after the election.

Here are Skala's answers to questions about criminals, landlords, and judges:

Q: What role do you think our courts should play in our struggle with crime? What role do you think local landlords should play in our struggle with crime? How can police be expected to cope if courts and landlords -- if the entire community for that matter -- doesn't also partake in the process?

SKALA: The issue of adding judges and landlords to the criminal justice equation should not be a question of whether but rather should be a question of how. The complete answer to the question involves several actors, i.e., judges, landlords, police and repeat offenders. The role that they each play as a function of their co-dependent relationships not only defines the terms of the equation but also maintains its proper balance.

There is the obvious relationship between repeat offenders and the judges who seem to perpetuate or at least provide ample opportunities for increased recidivism. A potential solution could include e-bracelets and/or house arrest rules with severe, dependable and exception-less sanctions for non-compliance for all repeat offenders. This solution would also positively influence the relationship between the police and those with whom they regularly interact.

There is also the powerful “green” (as in the color of dollars) relationship between landlords and repeat offenders. Even though the City’s nuisance ordinance carries the potential for property forfeiture, this provision has never been enforced, not even once; so much for ineffective disincentives. Perhaps strict landlord licensing would provide an effective and sufficient disincentive.

Q: What can you, as a school board member or city council person, do to encourage our judges, prosecutors, and landlords to reduce crime and keep violent offenders off the street?

SKALA: There is an essential relationship between local elected officials and their constituents that can significantly affect the criminal justice equation solution, especially when considering the apparent disconnect between the city’s recent legal advice regarding nuisance crime and effective law enforcement. If this advice cannot be translated into effective action, perhaps we need to get another legal opinion.

Regardless of the relationship(s) we focus on, we simply must put an end to this “revolving door of meaningless sanctions” and deliver a primary responsibility of local governance, i.e., public safety.

3) Roper, "Other" lead Hindman, Wade in Mayor's Race Poll

Take heart, all ye potential 2010 mayoral wannabes.

Our Columbia Heart Beat online poll has an undefined candidate, aka "Other," leading incumbent Mayor Darwin Hindman 50% to 13% should Hindman run again. "Who Should Run for Columbia Mayor in 2010?" our poll asks, and you've answered with retired banker and Columbia Tribune columnist Bob Roper (22%) leading both Hindman and 4th ward councilman Jerry Wade (13%).

But so far, "Other" is firmly in the lead.

In related polling news, Mayor Hindman enjoys a comparatively dismal 35% job approval rating that puts him in George Bush territory: http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

City Manager Bill Watkins isn't far behind, at 31%.

4) Councilman Wade Speaks out on Mediacom Mess

I have been contacted by a number of people upset about the decision by MediaCom to drop KETC (the public TV station from St. Louis) from its offerings.

People need to understand that the City of Columbia has no authority to do anything about Mediacom’s channel selections. This loss of local control is important.

Some of you may remember back in the 1960’s when the telephone company was General telephone and the service had declined and was pretty awful. The franchise renewal was coming up for renewal. A public movement started with the intent of denying a franchise to General Telephone. Public hearings allowed many citizens to present documentation of extremely poor service. General Telephone responded with major commitments to upgrade the service, which they in fact did. That is why Columbia has had pretty decent line telephone service since.

Over the last several legislative sessions, new laws were passed by the Missouri legislature and signed by the governor denying cities from having any say about the communication companies that provide services to a community. It is one expression of the political agenda of the last several sessions to move local control to corporate headquarters so the corporations do not have to deal with individual communities. Another example of the same political agenda is that it is now illegal for a city to offer cable service as a public utility.

People upset about the impending loss of KETC should complain to Mediacom. However, that is not your only recourse. The control is now with the State of Missouri Public Service Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Letters expressing your concerns should go to them. You may also want to contact the Governor and your state and federal legislators and request returning appropriate local control to communities, where it should be.

Jerry Wade
Columbia City Council
Fourth Ward

5) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Local Announcements

The Columbia/Boone County Board of Health is collecting public comment regarding future animal control ordinances that will address the overpopulation of unwanted pets. The deadline for comments is today, May 14, 2009. Their blog is: www.boonecountypublichealth.blogspot.com.

Columbia Business Times Entrepreneurial Excellence Week (May 18-20) features a series of free educational opportunities for anyone interested in improving how they do business (marketing, leadership, finances). Register at www.ColumbiaBizAwards.com or contact Sean Spence seanspence@earthlink.net.

This Saturday, May. 16, 4th Ward Councilman Jerry Wade will be at the Rendezvous Coffeehouse from 1:00p to 2:30p to talk to anyone who would like to visit. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE. The Rendezvous Coffeehouse is at 3304 Broadway Business Park Ct., which is on the south side of West Broadway west of HyVee. Wade is also available to speak with any Neighborhood Association or any other group on the City Budget. It can be a 20 minute presentation or a 2 hour workshop. If interested, please contact Jerry at ward4@gocolumbiamo.com

Also announced by Councilman Wade:

The public is invited to a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of Scott Boulevard. The ceremony will be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 22, at the Daniel Boone Little League Field on Scott Boulevard, near Chapel Hill Road. The ceremony kicks off the beginning of street improvements to Scott Boulevard.

The GetAbout Columbia Providence/Stadium and Stadium/Forum intersection projects will be completed May 19, 2009.

Monday, June 8, Special Council meeting – Civilian Review Board report, along with a draft ordinance. The Council vote on the ordinance could be at the June 15th Council meeting or held for a later meeting if Council decides to discuss the issue at a work session.

West Broadway Community Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for 4:30 – 6:00p, Wednesday, May 13 has been rescheduled for 4:30 – 6:00p, Tuesday, June 9 at the ARC, 1701 W. Ash. This is the last meeting of the Committee.

Two Scott Blvd/I-70 Interchange meetings: Stakeholder’s Meeting: Staff/Council/Commission on Tuesday, June 16, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Daniel-Boone Building, fourth floor conference room. Public open house, ARC, Monday, June 22, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat

BEAT BYTE: New Eminent Domain Details Surprising, Troubling

2009-04-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

BEAT BYTES: News Briefs from the Columbia Heart Beat

1) New Eminent Domain Details Surprising, Troubling
2) Tom Dresner: Police Chief and...Savvy Blogger?

3) Local Storage Giant Lends Hand to Garage Bands

4) Humane Society Calls Press Conference: Good News?

5) HAPPY EARTH DAY: A Poem

1) New Eminent Domain Details Surprising, Troubling

COLUMBIA, 4/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- Surprising and troubling new details about a plan to take private downtown land using eminent domain for a State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSM) headquarters have emerged in 62 just-released documents from the Society and MU. We have previously reported on related documents from City Hall.

Contrary to public representations from SHSM director Gary Kremer, the documents -- mostly meeting minutes and a letter (right) -- show the group planning to use an eminent-domain driven "Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority" (LCRA) to secure an area that includes Bengals Grill, U.S. Cleaners, and a rental house owned by the proprietors of Addison's Restaurant.

SHSM executive committee meeting minutes also show Columbia Daily Tribune publisher Hank Waters planning and timing at least one editorial to coincide with their decision, making the Tribune editorial page a public relations arm of SHSM.

Finally, contrary to public representations by mayor Darwin Hindman and city manager Bill Watkins, the minutes show that SHSM never had much money coming from either the state, the Obama stimulus package, or anywhere else.

A public information request from Columbia Citizens listserv founder Traci Wilson-Kleekamp unearthed the materials, which she has provided to local media.

TRIB SHOCK

At SHSM's Dec. 16 executive committee meeting, as it was becoming clear they had nowhere near the $1 million Kremer said the land might cost, according to meeting minutes "Hank Waters urged committee members to be ready to purchase the proposed property and indicated that he would be publishing an editorial in the Wednesday edition of the Tribune urging the city to be prepared to use the power of eminent domain to help the city purchase the property in question."

That editorial appeared the next day.

"The plan for downtown redevelopment...cannot be implemented without city authority to help assemble tracts of land," Waters advised Trib readers in his editorial. "The first and ultimately most important project is the new building for the State Historical Society of Missouri. The prospect of eminent domain holds no implication for owners willing to negotiate...city eminent domain authority will be necessary to achieve the exciting goals of overall downtown redevelopment."

Waters also told the committee that he favored putting the cart before the horse: "urging that fundraising for a new building should follow the acquisition of the property, not precede it," according to meeting minutes. Other committee members, including Kremer and Lawrence Christensen, seemed less enthused with this approach, asking the group to look at immediate fundraising, both to build and operate their new headquarters.

LAND CLEARANCE

In a Nov. 2, 2008 Tribune article, reporter Sara Semelka wrote, "At a Columbia City Council work session last week, the idea surfaced of having the city use eminent domain to acquire land for such projects. But Kremer said the historical society’s board of directors had not formally entertained that option."

Not true, according to SHSM's Oct. 31 meeting minutes. After a report from Waters, the group's executive committee voted to urge City Hall's use of a new LCRA to acquire the land, necessary for no other reason than to use eminent domain. The group did, however, specifically vote to omit the term "eminent domain" from their letter to City Hall.

Designed to acquire "unsanitary, blighted, and deteriorating areas which constitute a serious and growing menace injurious to the public health, safety, morals and welfare," the LCRA is a creature unique to Missouri state law, and was last used in Columbia 40 years ago to acquire land on the cheap using eminent domain where the Tribune building and downtown post office now stand. See these two links for more information:

http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C000-099/0990000330.HTM

http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C000-099/0990000310.HTM

NO Mo MONEY

In a Heart Beat exclusive, Bengals Grill owner Jack Rader said one reason he was never enthused about selling his properties to SHSM was the most simple reason of all: from what he could tell, they had no money.

Indeed, lack of money takes centerstage at SHSM's January and February 2009 meetings, with Hank Waters pointing to the group's "lack of a fundraising history" and their need to "raise money for the building," according to meeting minutes.

SHSM had to suspend its speaker's bureau for lack of funds, and SHSM board president Doug Crews "alerted trustees to another budget issue by stating there was a possibility the Society would be asked to surrender what remains of the $600,000 state appropriation for building planning." That amount -- for appraisals, architects, and other pre-construction purposes -- was "around $400,000" Kremer told the group, adding that "Governor Jay Nixon has recommended a 7.5 percent reduction in the Society's appropriation for Fiscal Year 2010."

To save money, SHSM suspended microfiching services and sought ways to shift the cost of publishing the Missouri Historical Review. Stimulus funding does come up, but more as dream than reality, with committee members talking about an email campaign encouraging Governor Nixon to include SHSM in any stimulus plans.

The February 25, 2009 meeting ends on a down note, with Kremer, Crews, and committee member Judge Stephen Limbaugh telling the group that "ongoing conversations with the state legislature have revealed that an appropriation for state funds for land is unlikely."

Despite all the glum news, the public got a decidedly different story, in a final pitch for eminent domain just two weeks later.

"After learning that as much as $40 million of federal stimulus money could be available for a new State Historical Society of Missouri building, Columbia's mayor has put the matter of eminent domain back on the city's agenda," Trib reporter Sara Semelka wrote on March 10. "At last week's Columbia City Council meeting, Mayor Darwin Hindman asked that next week's agenda include a first reading of a resolution authorizing the city staff to acquire land on Elm Street. 'I consider it to be a truly valid public purpose where we've got to acquire land in order to make it happen,' Hindman said this morning. 'Our goal is not to use eminent domain, but it is a tool in the tool kit.'”

Our series on the city hall/historical society's eminent domain push:

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/beat-byte-special-report-documents.html

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/12/beat-byte-eminent-domain-bill-leaves.html

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/beat-byte-auto-accident-photos-add-to.html

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/beat-byte-city-managers-secretary.html

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/05/downtown-columbia-meets-rush-limbaughs.html

2) Tom Dresner: Police Chief and...Savvy Blogger?

COLUMBIA, 4/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- Public officials take note: if you can hang with Chuck Dudley, Rick Gurley, and John Schultz, Chairman of the Boone County Libertarian Party, you got it goin' on baby! At least, in the local blogosphere.

Newly-appointed deputy Columbia police chief Tom Dresner was interim chief when he took to blogging on the Missourian's website back in mid-March, to set the record straight in a story about Tasers with Missourian opinion page editor Jake Sherlock.

"Jake, you didn't read my Thursday press release very closely," Dresner blogged, and to good effect. Calling the report "erroneous and "below Missourian standards," Sherlock apologized and made a correction. "Wow, Jake, very nice apology. I appreciate that very much," Dresner blogged in response.

A tall, soft-spoken, distinguished-looking man, Tom Dresner may not be the first person you'd suspect of taking to the blogosphere, especially as chief of police during a period marked by controversy and change. Where other officials tiptoe in, often during an election campaign, and then dash out the minute they get elected or the water gets too rough, Dresner dove in head first and stayed, effectively harnessing the power of a medium that is both one-on-one and public at a time when honest discourse from powerful officials is in short supply everywhere.

"Mary Mary Mary. Wow, where do I begin?" Dresner fired back at Grass Roots Organizing leader Mary Hussmann. "Rick, you're in overdrive today," he quipped on another post, signing it with the online equivalent of a smile :)

The appearance of a public official on a blog -- a police chief, no less -- didn't go unnoticed. "Police chiefs don’t make online comments to stories. It just isn’t done. Public officials don’t speak to the public that way. There’s no filter. Yet Dresner wrote. And wrote some more," Missourian editor Tom Warhover told readers. "The result was extraordinary."

"Lighten up guys. No harm done. Chuck, your argument as stated is too limiting to attempt a reply. Your disdain for Douglass Park is pretty apparent, and your 'solutions' aren't anything that I can begin to reply to."

Powerful words, especially for a police chief. But Dresner -- who has proven an effective communicator across a number of formats, from newspaper to radio -- obviously realizes something that has escaped many of his peers in public service.

To serve and to protect, one must honestly communicate.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/accounts/profiles/Drez/

3) Local Storage Giant Lends Hand to Garage Bands

COLUMBIA, 4/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- There must be about $5 billion between developer Stan Kroenke and nationwide storage barons Gordon Burnam and sons. So when Columbia-based TKG-Storage Mart announced last week that they were starting a new online social network to help garage bands get started, it was big news to struggling musicians, who nowadays play in rented storage units.

"Selfstoragebands.com was created to give musicians and music fans a place to meet, connect and share," says Storage Mart's Tron Jordheim. "StorageMart Self Storage has noticed an increasing trend of bands and musicians using self storage units for rehearsal and storage space. The sounds of bands rehearsing has become a part of the self storage environment in many self storage facilities across North America."

Selfstoragebands.com allows musicians and music fans to set up profiles, share music and video and to link to their favorite social network sites or band fan sites. It's part of a network of social websites with an unusual twist -- selfstorageblog.com, selfstorageowner.com and selfstoragesocialnetwork.com are all related to self storage.

Gordon Burnam's sons, Mike and Cris, run Storage Mart and recently revived Columbia's Parkade Plaza. Self storage -- as a nationwide enterprise -- got its start in Columbia, in an early partnership between Gordon Burnam and Al Price.

StorageMart is has more than 60 self storage facilities across North America.

RELATED:

Self Storage Bands

About Storage Mart

Gordon Burnam builds family empire

Small world tidbit: Gordon Burnam's friend Garland Parman helped him get started in business, by selling eight small houses to Burnam decades ago with no money down. "It was a real estate bonanza," Burnam told the Trib in the article above. Garland Parman was Julie Rader's dad. She owns Bengals Grill with husband Jack.

4) Humane Society Calls Press Conference: Good News?

COLUMBIA, 4/26/09 (Beat Byte) -- Without letting on as to why, the Central Missouri Humane Society (CMHS) has called a "ZooToo.com Press Conference" for tomorrow, the day Zootoo will announce the winner in its Million Dollar makeover contest.

At 616 Big Bear Blvd., Columbia, MO, at 9 a.m., CMHS will "announce changes that will take place after the winner of the zootoo.com contest is announced," said director Patty Forister.

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat

5) HAPPY EARTH DAY: A Poem

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!
by Lena Piazza-Leman

Alas, the earth, it spins around,
Without music, but of war, is sounds,

The love we see from day to day,
Of what in this can we come to say?

Expressing ourselves seems all too easy,
Until we realize how hard it is, and then we see.....

Let us see! Let us rejoice,
But let us all realize the choice,

We have before us now and then,
We must save this place, not just one in ten,

For it's the only home we have,
All together on this arduous path,

Let our love not blind us from the truth,
And our irony not allude us in our civil youth.

The earth is where we are, it's true,
And if we can't keep it, we're surely through!

Lena Piazza-Leman is an 8th grade honors student at West Junior High in Columbia.

BEAT BYTES: Missing Columbia Girl; Magic Flute Review

2009-04-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

1) Missing Columbia girl prompts massive email appeal

2) REVIEW: Missouri Theatre's "Magic Flute" Magnifique!

3) LET'S DO LUNCH: Houlihans, a surprise hit!

4) Alleyway fashion show gets nod despite Fire Dept. concerns

1) Missing Columbia girl prompts massive email appeal

COLUMBIA, 4/22/09 (Beat Byte) -- Ashley Friel is missing and a huge
community called "connected Columbia" is scouring the countryside with massively cc'd emails that started with a frightened, worried father.

From a Fans of the Jonas Brothers chat group to MyMissourian and several local listservs, the plea has gone out e-Far and i-Wide.

At first, police considered Ashley to be a runaway, which may have delayed a search effort. But now, they're apparently not so sure.

From: Friel, Jeffrey
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 1:54 PM
To: MU Univ Registrar All Staff; MU Student Info Sys All Staff
Subject: Missing - Ashley Friel - Please Help Us Find Her

Our daughter, Ashley Friel has been missing since Saturday, April 11th. She was last seen at home in Columbia, MO. She is 15 years old. 5 feet tall and about 105 pounds. She has some scarring on the inside of her forearms. She has brown hair with blonde highlights and hazel eyes. The picture below was taken about 4 months ago. Her hair is shorter now and she does not have her glasses. Please contact detective Curtis Brown at the Columbia Police Department if you have any information on her whereabouts. The number is (573) 442-6131.

PHOTO HERE

Please share this!

Jeffrey Friel

Kim Humphrey, MU Assistant to the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management/Athletics Certification Officer, sent the note to tons more contacts. "One of my co-workers has a missing child. He has asked us to help get the word out."

"This is a co-worker of ours here in Jesse Hall," wrote MU Office of Research compliance officer Jennifer May. College of Education grant writer Larry Nossaman forwarded the appeal to the sizeable College of Education listserv, coe@COE.MISSOURI.EDU.

MU Human Development and Family Studies staffer Alejandra Gudino passed it along to around 100 friends and contacts all over town, @mizzou.edu and @Gocolumbiamo.com; @columbia.k12.mo.us and aol, yahoo, hotmail, gmail, and dozens of others besides.

"This is scary, my own daughter is 13," Gudino wrote. "Please take a look and report. Thank you."

On the Smithton Honor Roll five times, and a winner of a 4H public speaking competition, Ashley told the Missourian when she was just 11 at Russell Blvd. Elementary, "I learned that school can be a fun place or a kind of horrible place, depending on how you look at it."

Looking at the bright side, and hoping for the best, Nancy Harter sent the email plea to me. "Can you put this on your Blog: Missing - Ashley Friel - Please Help Us Find Her!" she wrote.

PS: Ashley Friel, if you're reading this anywhere, lots of folks here miss you and love you. Please, please, please -- come home soon!

2) REVIEW: Missouri Theatre's "Magic Flute" Magnifique!

On their feet, the packed audience was, at the conclusion of a truly delightful three-hour performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Missouri Theatre Saturday night.

With nary flaw nor false note, the MU School of Music's Show Me Opera Company -- under the direction of Ann Harrell and Christine Seitz -- managed several striking feats, most of which involved the same team chemistry that propelled this year's Tiger men's basketball team, but at ticket prices of 15 dollars for adults and five dollars for children 12 and under.

Opera and basketball? Mozart and Mike Anderson? Absolutely.
Sitting right up front with several children, I first noticed team chemistry between the orchestra, positioned in a pit area just below the stage, and the players. Playing off each other in an almost whimsical way at times, conductor R. Paul Crabb and thirty or so musicians matched violins, oboes, trombones, and a host of other instruments with every kind of voice and mannerism, and two all-important stage props -- a "magic" flute and "magic" bells.

So sterling was the interplay that each appearance of the comedic and endearing Papageno prancing and tinkling his magic silver bells became a recurring highlight of the evening.

A German song play, or Singspiel, in two acts, The Magic Flute is Mozart's lightest opera, combining both spoken word and song. It's basically a buddy story about two young guys who couldn't be more different, the handsome and serious Tamino and Papageno, the silly boy who sells birds for a living.

Defeating dark forces while getting between a quarreling queen and emperor, Tamino and Papageno get the girls: Pamina -- the queen's daughter -- and Papagena, whose simple name and light demeanor are an instant hit with her lonely beau Papageno (with an "o").

On stage notables included Kyle Stegall and Molly Clodius, as Tamino and Pamina. Clodius is a slight blonde with a lyric, colorful voice -- maybe a lyric soprano and Stegall an equally slender tenor.

In the range of voices from high to low, for men it's Tenor, Baritone, Bass-baritone, and Bass; for women, Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, and Contralto. Each voice type also has sub-ranges, like "lyric soprano" and "dramatic tenor," for instance.

The best voice of the evening went to the troupe's only non-student, Sarah Tannehill, the Queen, who hit the opera's famous "high F" and sung its most famous aria without a pitchy hitch.

Composers often wrote pieces just for virtuosos to tackle, and the Queen of the Night is this opera's virtuoso performance, demanding extraordinary vocal range. Bass-baritone Jake Clifford tackled the male virtuoso equivalent, routinely dipping into bass territory to hit the opera's equally low F notes, all with the commanding bravado of his emperor Sarastro role.

And last but far from least, the star of the show, Darrell Jason (DJ) Jordan as Papageno. Think Tom Hulce as Mozart himself in the classic film version of Amadeus. Jordan's spirited duet with Kaitlin Foley's Papagena might even have been the performance that stole the show. Papagena didn't appear but a few times, but so sweet, spirited, and delightful was their interaction that these two star-crossed love birds had the entire audience dancing in their hearts and minds.

I understand that this is the first time Show Me Opera performed with an entire orchestra. If that's true, we have a sparkling new force in Columbia's arts scene, an opera company that made a 200-year-old opera contemporary and accessible, by speaking plain but rhyming English and running subtle subtitles over the stage.

The sight of a huge audience on its feet in that stunningly renovated theater was pure Amadeus himself. The master would have been pleased.

3) LET'S DO LUNCH: Houlihans, a surprise hit!

National chain restaurants are not exactly a big hit with the locally-focused, offering -- as they often do -- overpriced, underwhelming fare. But the new Houlihan's, at the Broadway Shoppes near Sam's Club and Lowes, offers an entirely different experience.

The first thing diners will notice is how bright, airy, and friendly it is. Floor to ceiling windows let in plenty of sunshine; a classy, low-key bar sits at the center of the room; and the busy kitchen is partially visible.

But most importantly, the food and service have been consistently excellent and reasonably priced. I've visited four times now, and usually have a wrap of some kind, or their scrumptious fish tacos. The wait staff is friendly and engaging, the food fresh and hot.

Just last week at lunch, a waiter added some insightful comments to a discussion I was having about Martin Luther King's early education as a minister. "For a highly-intelligent, educated black man of that era, the ministry was almost a must," the waiter said. "The black tradition in this country puts an extremely high value on that mix of education and spiritualism."

This led to a brief supposition that the complete removal of God from the classroom may be one root of the achievement gap among black students, so intertwined are education, culture, and religion in the black community (which is true for many cultures worldwide, from Judaism to the Jesuits). Controversial though the notion may be, hey -- sounds like thesis material to me!

But back to Houlihans. With a great lunch, good service, reasonable prices, and a smattering of history and philosophy, what more could you ask for?

4) Alleyway fashion show gets nod despite Fire Dept. concerns

Despite safety concerns expressed by Columbia Fire Marshal Steve Sapp, the Columbia City Council Monday night approved a novel notion: closing a downtown alleyway between 9th and 10th streets to accomodate a 2-day fashion show.

I say -- good for them and the counter-intuitive staff report that supported the idea!

Sapp's concerns were justified, but -- and this is a big but -- they were mostly motivated by City Hall's previous failures to act on alleyway requests, most notably from downtown dynamo John Ott, who has asked both Staff and Council to stop diddling away such a unique, under-used resource. This fashion show may help push the envelope enough to push the city into action, cleaning up, utilizing, and improving our many cool alleys.

Featuring "vintage garments modeled by students," the Stephens College Innovative Fashion Association made the request, for a May 1-2 fashion show between the hours of 4-10 pm. Over-ruling the fire marshal, city staff recommended approval, noting that all hazards would be cleared. The fashion show, called "Stride Against Genocide," seeks to donate funds to families in the African nation of Sudan.

http://www.stephens.edu/academics/programs/fashion/

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat

The Troubles in The Village

2009-04-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, at a meeting of the North Central Columbia Neighborhood Association (NCCNA), I challenged association president Linda Rootes’ continued support for a “troubled youth shelter” planned across from Hickman High School.

Ardently advocating a so-called “overlay ordinance” that would mandate neighborhood design standards and ban so-called “undesirable” activities—including halfway houses—Rootes nonetheless supported the shelter.

An NCCNA member since 2002, I agreed with neighbors, who opposed the proposed six-plex as a striking deviation from nearby single-family homes and, with drug dealers and the now infamous “crime house” at 802 Wilkes operating with impunity nearby, a questionable environment for troubled kids.

But Rootes refused dissent and shut down the discussion.
I walked out of the meeting, and have only returned a handful of times at the urging of friends. It’s become too painful to watch—a personality-based leadership crisis that could harm one of Columbia’s great neighborhoods.

In the Beginning

The NCCNA story is about a scrappy group of neighbors who, fifteen or so years ago, decided to fight back. Reeling for decades from failed segregation and the poverty it caused, North Central Columbia—now known as The Village—fought crime, decay, slumlords, and City Hall apathy with little organization and even less political clout.

Enter sometime mayoral candidate John Clark, a bear of a man whose often-overbearing style was exactly what the troubles ordered. With his equally outspoken partner, Mrs. Rootes, Clark, in a word, worked.

Armed with a law degree and a mind for the kind of minutia that ties unthinking bureaucracies in Gordian knots, Clark countered the siege. With Rootes and a newly-constituted neighborhood association, he raised money; published a newsletter; fired off letters to errant landlords; knocked heads with code violators; shined the Neighborhood Watch light on drug dealers; and rode City Hall until it got tired of NCCNA on its back.

In many ways, John Clark and Linda Rootes wrote the book on organizing substantive, effective neighborhood associations.

But their efforts have become a mixed success story of late, largely because they ignited so much progress that the neighborhood outgrew their leadership. In conflict with Rootes, Clark stepped down and hasn’t attended a meeting in over a year. President for the past two years, Rootes has brought a heightened imperiousness to the job at precisely the time when debate, coalition building, and new ideas are in critical demand.

Troubling Trio

Under Rootes’ leadership, the neighborhood and its association have suffered a trio of stunning defeats.

Just last month, after going through tens of thousands of dollars in donations and tax credits, NCCNA, in partnership with Central Missouri Community Action, lost the historic Heibel March Drugstore, a 10-year renovation project returned in worse repair to its original owner, City Hall.

At a weekly meeting of renovation coordinators that included Rootes and retired Stephens College drama professor Peter Byger, “tempers ran high as committee members spent much of the session sniping at each other,” the Columbia Daily Tribune reported in 2007.

“‘You’ve been antagonistic to everything I’ve put on the table,’ Byger told Rootes, his voice rising.” Acknowledging “dysfunction,” Rootes told the Tribune, “We have a lot of organizational issues. Nobody knows who’s in charge here.”

The Shoe Factor

Deciding they no longer wanted to worry about who was in charge, half the north central neighborhood—the business half—angrily seceded, forming the Shoe Factory District in October.

After donating money to NCCNA for the overlay’s preparation, neighborhood booster Tom Atkins later condemned his firm’s surprise appearance on that list of forbidden enterprises. Atkins said he felt betrayed.

Ironically, it wouldn’t matter. At an NCCNA meeting this year came the third shocker: The overlay ordinance—another 10-year project—appears all but kaput. To NCCNA board member Amir Ziv, the overlay’s sudden death signaled a time to get back to basics like crime and slumlords.

“We have someone killed in Douglass Park, we have gunshots fired off on Fairview Street in the afternoon, and we don't have time to talk about any of this,” Ziv emailed association members after the meeting.

“I am not interested in using our less than two hours each month for venting,” Rootes responded.

Obama Time?

NCCNA should take a page from Barack Obama: It’s time for change. In the president’s case, change apparently means returning to basics by rebuilding roads, bridges, and schools.

In North Central Columbia’s case, change should mean persistent letters that got a one-time neighborhood repository of spent condoms, burned drug spoons, and empty whiskey bottles fenced, posted, and cleaned.

It should mean fundraising drives, membership outreach, and helping low-income neighbors fix household hazards.

Today, change at NCCNA should mean working with the new Shoe Factory association and other central city groups like the First Ward Ambassadors and Ridgeway neighborhood to address crises like the spike in violence at Douglass Park.

As the best-located neighborhood in the city, but working with what association member Sid Sullivan insightfully termed “a housing stock mostly in the code enforcement stage rather than the urban renewal stage,” North Central faces unique challenges.

A neighborhood association should be an instrument of “organic” urban renewal, fighting blight and crime from within, but also supporting the arts; encouraging forward-thinking entrepreneurs like the Atkins family, John Ott, Brian Pape, and Mark Timberlake; and communicating with the larger public through newsletters and the giant Village neighborhood online listserv.

It’s time for NCCNA to start saying “Yes We Can” again. If America can do it, so can one great Columbia neighborhood.

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Business Times

BEAT BYTE: City Manager's Secretary Arrested

2009-04-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

BEAT BYTE: News Briefs from the Columbia Heart Beat

1) City Manager's Secretary Arrested

2) Documents Disclose Land Grab Scheme, Part 2
(READ PART 1 HERE )

City Manager's Secretary Arrested

COLUMBIA, 4/16/09 (Beat Byte) -- For the second time in as many months, a prominent City of Columbia employee has been arrested.

Deidre L. Hoelzeman, 42, secretary to city manager Bill Watkins who handles city council public comment requests, according to the city's website, was arrested Tuesday on charges of supplying alcohol to a minor. Formerly Deidre Briggs, the long-time city employee was married last year to Frank J. Hoelzeman, 40, who was also arrested, on suspicion of sexual misconduct against three female MU students after giving them alcohol at the couple's home in Fulton.

A University of Missouri athletics employee, Frank Hoelzeman lost his job after three of his underage female employees reported a sexual assault. Deidre Hoelzeman appears briefly in the following story, handling meetings and related errands for the city manager.

Responding to a request for comment and rumors of a pending statement, city communications director Toni Messina told the Heart Beat, "We did not issue a statement on this item and do not plan to do so."

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/apr/15/athletics-employee-arrested

Documents Disclose Land Grab Scheme, Part 2

COLUMBIA, 4/16/09 (Beat Byte) -- The Columbia Heart Beat earlier reported on a public information request from local activist Traci Wilson-Kleekamp that unearthed documents implicating mostly non-elected city leaders in a now-defunct scheme to take private land using eminent domain to construct a State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSM) museum downtown.

When last we left him, Columbia Daily Tribune publisher Hank "The Butterfly" Waters, who orchestrated much of the early activity on the idea, had written a couple of coincidentally-timed editorials praising it.

Despite all the plans and meetings, Mark Farnen, a publicist who represented one of the eminent-domain-targeted landowners, wrote that his clients, Fifth Street Investments, LLC, had received "no offers; no notifications; no development plans; and no time frames" of any kind, at any time. In his three page letter to the Council and City Manager, Farnen had crafted a damning indictment of policies at City Hall, enlarging an already growing question mark:

Why did such well-connected, powerful, and longtime Columbia-area residents and business owners -- such as Hank Waters and Jeff Smith -- choose to lobby a non-elected city manager behind the scenes, rather than elected council members -- the choice for the rest of us -- out in the open? Why do Columbia's most powerful people prefer the ears of non-elected city staffers?

And if that's what it takes to get things done in Columbia, how does the uncertainty of such a system affect business and planning?

Our story continues after an October city council work session, where city manager Bill Watkins tells community activist Traci Kleekamp he informed council members about the plan, and that they "expressed willingness to consider eminent domain."

When Kleekamp tells Watkins she "doesn't know why council members later denied knowledge of the plan," Watkins responds, on tape, "I don't know why they denied knowing about it, either. I may not have explained it well enough."

Meanwhile, the following emails had gone out of Watkins' office, to Mayor Darwin Hindman, 1st Ward council member Paul Sturtz, 2nd Ward council member Chris Janku, and assistant city manager Tony St. Romaine. [Emails are labeled (a, b, c) for ease of viewing].

a) "Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:31 AM
From: "Deidre Hoelzeman"
To: "Mayor", "Ward1", "Ward2"

SUBJECT: meeting with Bill Watkins and Hank Waters

Bill would like to have a meeting prior to next Monday's work session. This meeting is regarding the state historical society. Please provide your availability for the remainder of this week and Monday. This can be a lunch meeting, afternoon meeting, or evening (if necessary)."

b) Thursday, October 23, 2008 9:00 AM
From: "Deidre Hoelzeman"

To: "Mayor", "Tony St. Romaine", "Ward1", Chris Janku

SUBJECT: Lunch with Bill Watkins and Hank Waters

This is to confirm lunch meeting with Bill Watkins and Hank Waters on Friday, October 24 at 11:30 in the 5th floor conference room of the Daniel Boone Building. Subject of this meeting is State Historical Society.

I will be ordering lunch from Boone Tavern menu. Please let me know if you have any dietary restrictions and preferences. If you have a Boone Tavern favorite or request, please let me know and I will be sure to order that for your lunch.

Thank you.

Deidre Hoelzeman
Secretary to the City Manager
874-6338

By early December, City of Columbia public works employees were working to secure "relocation assistance" for the two targeted property owners, who still say they had no knowledge anything was up.

c) Thursday, December 4, 2008 8:22 AM
From: "Wendy Lister"
To: "David NICHOLS"

SUBJECT: State Historic Society Potential Site

Dave,

I met with Jerry Martin, Senior Specialist MoDOT about relocation assistance estimation for the bar, dry cleaner and small apartment building. Jerry estimated (please note that he emphasized this is a wag) that the bar would be about $55,000.00 to relocate with an additional $10,000.00 for incidentals, total $65,000.00. The dry cleaner would be about $35,000.00 with $10,000.00 incidental, total $45,000.00. The apartment building is difficult to determine without actually meeting with tenants but if it is a 4-plex, 2 owners to a unit it would be about $4000.00 per unit total $16000.00. Please note that this is relocation assistance only and not the cost of acquiring the properties.

Jerry Martin indicated that protective rents are allowed, basically once the leases have expired the new owner could come in and rent the units (for a short period of time) so that relocation assistance for the tenants could be avoided. This would have to be coordinated with the current owner of the property.

During our meeting with Gary Kremer, Director of the State Historic Society and Doug Crews, Executive Director of the Missouri Press Association, we indicated that we would get back with them about information regarding the Sasaki Plan as well as the relocation information. As you know the Sasaki Plan was accepted by Council. A commission has been created to explore and create a plan for downtown so that the City will create its own plan. Would you like me to contact Gary and Doug with this information or should this just be passed along by someone else?

Wendy

Third Ward councilman Karl Skala weighed in after a Columbia Heart Beat story, two days prior to a planned council meeting, where the eminent domain move appeared on a consent agenda, meaning that it could be passed through without debate or public comment. Skala expressed reservations about continuing.

d) >>> Ward3 12/13/2008 5:36 PM >>>

Bill Watkins, et al.,

I would respectfully ask that you re-evaluate placing bill #B377-08 (Authorizing the acquisition of land for construction and operation of an historical museum and research facility.) within the INTRODUCTION AND FIRST READING section of the Meeting Agenda as well as the related resolution #R284-08 (Setting a public hearing: considering acquisition of land in downtown Columbia for an historical museum and research facility.) placed within the CONSENT AGENDA, for the December 15, 2008 Council Meeting, in view of the appended (and attached) subsection of the reference document entitled City Code of Ordinances:
--
Chapter 20 PLANNING, Article IV. PUBLIC HOUSING AND URBAN RENEWAL

Sec. 20-57. Urban Renewal.

All projects of the land clearance for redevelopment authority of Columbia shall be submitted to the planning and zoning commission for its study and recommendations and to the city council for its approval as provided by Chapter 99 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1978, as amended or as may be amended hereafter. (Code 1964, § 19.580)

This item is offered for informational purposes only.

Best Regards,

Karl

Watkins then emailed city attorney Fred Boeckmann, asking if the ordinance Skala cited would apply. Boeckmann said "no," essentially green lighting the council agenda as it then stood. The day after council members nixed the proposal on Dec. 15, plans to shore it up commenced -- but with virtually no council involvement. The next steps took on the character of a scramble, despite City Hall's repeated representations that everything was fine.

e) ------Original Message-----
From: William Watkins
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 10:33 AM
To: Fred Boeckmann; John Glascock; Mike Hood; Tony St. Romaine; Toni Messina
Cc: Deidre Hoelzeman; Lori Fleming; Sheela Amin; Gary R. Kremer

Subject: land acquisition for state Historical Society

I need to establish a group to quickly pull together an argument and rationale as to why the city should acquire this property or perhaps more accurately intervene to insure the property can be acquired. Diedre will set up a meeting in the next few days to discuss. Please feel free to bring anyone from staff who you think can be of help.

In the mean time, I'm asking Parks and Rec and Public works to prepare a list of any non street, sewer or storm sewer project that we have acquired in the last 20 years or so that included an acquisition ordinance approved by City Council which authorized condemnation. I understand this will be time consuming but I believe we need to show a long track record of various types of projects, even if ultimately we did not actually use eminent domain.

John and Fred, we need a very detailed explanation of the process and what the acquisition costs could include."

Next, city communications director Toni Messina emailed virtually every senior city staffer, warning them that KFRU, for instance, was following the story and looking for the truth.

f) Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:26 AM
From: "Toni Messina"
To: "John Glascock", "Kraig Kahler", "Mike Hood", "Paula Hertwig Hopkins", "Tony St. Romaine", "William Watkins", "Fred Boeckmann"

SUBJECT: Eminent Domain

If you have not already received inquiries from reporters, please expect them. Better yet, it would be helpful to prepare for continuing coverage. KFRU talk show hosts said they would be following the story and providing the truth.

I think there's a popular and unpleasant notion of eminent domain and its uses. While acknowledging that, it's also how local governments provide facilities that voters want. Missouri law has a lot of considerations for property owners so, to my knowledge, if a government gets to that point, it's not a land grab. There's a process. It's my understanding that the City has a record of rarely using eminent domain because we tend to work things out with property owners.

Facilitating location of a museum is not perceived the same as providing utility or park infrastructure; on the other hand, it's not something that will benefit a private developer. I propose a fact sheet, if we can pull one together, and you may have facts you think are relevant from your own experience.

Thoughts?

Toni Messina
Communications Director
City of Columbia

Stepping up to the plate, 2nd Ward councilman Chris Janku sent two ordinances that illustrated the city using eminent domain:

g) Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:34 AM
From: "Sheela Amin"
To: "Fred Boeckmann", "John Glascock", "Mike Hood", "Tony St. Romaine", "Toni Messina", "William Watkins"
"Deidre Hoelzeman", "Lori Fleming", "Gary R. Kremer"

Message contains attachments: ord15494.pdf (296KB), ord14737.pdf (419KB)

Here are two acquisitions Mr. Janku had me pull yesterday for him: Blind Boone Home and Health Center Land.

Sheela Amin
City Clerk

Part 1: http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/beat-byte-special-report-documents.html

NEXT: Obama Bucks -- 2009 dawns and a new "stimulus related" plan emerges

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat