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HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010
HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010 - CLICK ON PHOTO FOR THIS YEARS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
_________________________________________________________________________ The Real story behind Occupy Wall Street, the bank fraud and corruption of our political system!
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. END THE FED!!! STOP THE BAILOUTS!!! JAIL THE FRAUDSTERS!!!
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VIDEO: MISSOURI THE BEAUTIFUL Take a patriotic tour of the Show Me State's natural wonders . . ========================================================== .
by: Tim Sampson missouri-news.org October 8, 2011
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JEFFESON CITY, Mo. – Hope of bringing back Callaway II flickered to life briefly on the floor of Missouri House of Representatives this week only to be snuffed out again – as it has been often times this year.
During floor negotiations over the jobs bill at the heart of the current, contentious special legislative session, Rep. Chris Kelly made a last ditch effort to attach an amendment that would have put the issue of repealing the so-called CWIP law from the Missouri constitution and cleared the way for public financing of a second nuclear power plant in Missouri.
“When we are in economic trouble, the best solution is to build something,” said Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, who offered the amendment.
CWIP, which stands for constructions work in progress, was first passed by Missouri voters in the mid-1970s in response to the building of the first nuclear reactor in Callaway County. The law forbids utility companies from raising rates on customers to finance the construction of new power generating facilities that are not yet operational. Throughout the current special session and the preceding regular legislative session, a consortium of utility companies led by Ameren Missouri has led the charge to try and repeal this law, but with no success.
The original bill to repeal CWIP was sidelined, in part, by renewed controversy over nuclear power stemming from the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan earlier this year. Although an attempt to salvage the bill in the final days of the regular session was made, it was ultimately unsuccessful.
That led to Kelly’s amendment. With the Callaway II bill not on the formal agenda for the special session, the only route for supports has been to try and attach the language to another piece of legislation.
But the language was tossed out on a procedural ruling by House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville. He said the language was not germane to the main content of the jobs bill, which deals primarily with economic development incentives and tax credit reform.
But Kelly said the jobs bill has grown from its initial scope of reforming tax code, and he said construction of a second nuclear reactor at Callaway would bring jobs to mid-Missouri.
“The concept, the very thought that anything could be beyond the scope of this legislation is ludicrous,” Kelly said.
But others disagreed. Rep. Rory Ellinger, D-St. Louis, spoke against the amendment, arguing that its inclusion in the bill would sink it and take down other provisions, including $360 million in proposed foreign trade incentives for the Lambert-St. Louis Airport area.
“The very issue of nuclear power is in its nature fundamentally controversial,” Ellinger said. “There’s no question about that. No matter how the people have voted, that has nothing to do with the Aerotropolis Bill.
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VIDEO: MISSOURI THE BEAUTIFUL Take a patriotic tour of the Show Me State's natural wonders . . ========================================================== .
The River Cleanup towboat pushed into Hermann Monday evening with a sand flat trash barge and house barge for crew quarters preparing for a week of educational activities with local school children and a cleanup of the river on Saturday.
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‘We All Live Downstream’
By Karen Cernich
emissourian.com
October 5, 2011
You may not pay any attention to the trash you see along the roads in your neighborhood or any of the streets around town, but those empty water bottles, soda cans, Styrofoam cups, plastic drinking straws and other bits of plastic that you see lying on the ground, forgotten, are ending up in the Missouri River.
Heavy rains and winds carry the trash from the streets into storm drains and creeks, which then empty into the Missouri River and eventually reach the oceans.
Steve Schnarr, program director with Missouri River Relief, “a grassroots, volunteer and equipment-based organization dedicated to reconnecting people to the Missouri River through hands-on river cleanups and education events,” describes it as “incidental trash,” or in other words, trash left behind by well-meaning people who just weren’t paying attention and are unaware of how their forgotten trash could end up polluting rivers and oceans.
Schnarr has seen plenty of incidental trash over the last 10 years as he and teams of volunteers have hauled ton after ton of trash from the Missouri. Last year alone the group pulled out 592 tons of trash.
Missouri River Relief will be in Washington next week to lead a series of events, including a hands-on educational workshop with local fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders on Wednesday and Thursday, a fundraising dinner on the barge Thursday evening and a daylong cleanup on Saturday.
A river festival also will be held Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (See story on 5C.)
It’s all part of the Big Muddy Clean Sweep, the keystone event marking Missouri River Relief’s 10th anniversary this year.
Schnarr is currently looking for volunteers to help with the cleanup here. People can contact him ahead of time by calling him at 573-289-2077 or emailing him at steve@riverrelief.org, or they can show up Saturday morning at 9 at the Washington riverfront.
Missouri River Relief has led cleanups in Washington several times before but this time will be a little different. The crew will be arriving by barge.
The River Cleanup towboat will push into town early next week with a sand flat that looks likes a giant dumpster, a house barge that features the crew’s quarters and kitchen, and a work flat which is simply a flat work area.
This week the boat is docked in Hermann. It arrived Monday evening for a week of activities that will end in a cleanup there on Saturday.
When it leaves headed for Washington, there are no plans to stop along the way, but Schnarr said if people in between Hermann and Washington are inspired to conduct their own cleanups in those places, they can leave the bagged trash at the bank, call him (573-289-2077) to give its location and the barge will stop to pick it up.
‘We Definitely See a Pattern’
At first glance, the river and its banks may look pretty clean, no trash in sight. But when you look closer, you begin to notice it.
Because of the flooding earlier this year, much of the trash has been pushed up into the woods along the banks, said Schnarr. During the clean up in Jefferson City last week, a crew found a slew of trash 150 yards into the woods.
Schnarr said he doesn’t usually get upset anymore at seeing all of the incidental trash. He picks it up and works that much harder at educating people about it.
“We definitely see a pattern,” he said. “Below urban areas where streams come into the Missouri River, we will see all of this plastic garbage, mostly general trash that gets washed into storm drains during rain events and end up in the Missouri.”
Not all of the trash comes from such innocent sources, Schnarr realizes. There are definitely people who intentionally dump things into the river — tires, carpet, old broken down refrigerators that would cost them $10 to place in a landfill, used motor oil . . .
“Anything that costs people money to dispose of are things we find in the river,” said Schnarr.
There are also fishermen and “partiers” on boats who toss trash — beer cans or bait containers — over the side of the boat instead of bringing it back to shore to dispose of properly.
Part of that mindset can be cultural, said Schnarr. It’s something people have always done and they don’t realize the harm it’s doing.
Why Clean It Up?
Regardless of how the trash gets to the river, Schnarr and his crew make it their business to clean it up for several reasons, beginning with the fact that trash just looks ugly, plain and simple.
“If the river is your playground, your place to get nourished by nature, you don’t want a bunch of trash lying around,” said Schnarr.
More than that, however, is that this trash is doing damage, he said. Birds, fish and other wildlife are getting tangled in it, or worse, mistaking it for food and eating it.
“Biologists have found fish that have been damaged by plastics because they get tangled up in it or have swallowed it,” said Schnarr. “It’s more of a problem than people realize. All of it eventually washes into the oceans . . . and we’re starting to find out some of the problems this floating waste is causing.”
There is an “abnormal concentration” of trash that has collected in one area of the Pacific Ocean where historically organic material collects, said Schnarr. Animals have come to this area to feed on that organic patch, which is now mixed largely with trash and broken bits of plastic.
“They die because their stomachs are filled up with these plastics,” said Schnarr.
Another reason to clean up the trash is the chemicals that the trash is releasing into the water.
“If you’ve ever smelled a tire, what you’re smelling is petro chemicals, and those are ending up in our water stream from dumped tires,” said Schnarr, noting it’s also common to find bottles full of waste oil dumped in the river.
In addition to getting all of these items out of the river, the cleanups are about educating people, said Schnarr.
“We’re not going to make any major changes to that (trash patch) with this, but a big part of what we do is education,” he said. “We want to open people’s eyes to the impact cities have on the Missouri River.
“One-sixth of the continental U.S. drains into the Missouri.”
The education workshops that Schnarr will be leading with local school groups will have two main points to get across — the scale of the river and that trash lying on their street will eventually end up in the river — that includes lost balls that rolled away never to be seen again.
“They end up in storm drains and then in the river,” said Schnarr, picking up a mud-covered tennis ball from one of the bags collected in Jefferson City last week.
“We all live downstream,” Schnarr remarked.
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VIDEO: MISSOURI THE BEAUTIFUL Take a patriotic tour of the Show Me State's natural wonders . . ========================================================== .
Kansas City police hunt for clues on missing 10-month-old Lisa Irwin
By Camille Mann
cbsnews.com
October 5, 2011
__________________________________________________________________________ (CBS/KCTV/AP) KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Detectives looking for missing 10-month-old, Kansas City infant Lisa Irwin are struggling to find leads in the investigation Wednesday after an intense search a day earlier turned up few substantial clues, police said. . . Lisa was last seen on Monday around 10:30 p.m. when her mother put her to bed in a crib, police said. Her father, who is an electrician, arrived home from an overnight shift about 4 a.m. . . He discovered Lisa missing and frantically called police, friends and family tell CBS affiliate KCTV. Authorities are speculating that the suspect entered through a bedroom window and snatched the baby from her bed as she was sleeping. Police said they issued the Amber Alert about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday in part because Lisa lived with both of her parents, who were at home and are accounted for. The alert was cancelled at 7 p.m. since the public awareness has been raised but police said they would continue to search for the baby. More than 100 law enforcement officials are looking for the girl. This includes local, state and federal officers including agents from the FBI. Officers on horseback are involved in the search along with police dogs. Firefighters with rappelling equipment are also assisting. The couple has two other young children who have also been interviewed. Police discounted the notion that Lisa could have crawled away. "The family is being cooperative with detectives," said Capt. Steve Young said reports the station."If there were any holes in their story, we would know by now. There are no holes in their stories. . . . There is a 10-month-old who isn't where she belongs and we are trying to find her. We will keep going bigger as long as we need to." Lisa has blue eyes and blonde hair. She is 30 inches tall and weighs between 26 and 30 pounds. She was last seen wearing purple shorts and a purple shirt with white kittens on it. The baby is described as having two bottom teeth, a small bug bite under her left ear, a beauty mark on her right outer thigh and currently has a cold with a cough. One neighbor told police that a stranger was seen walking with a baby wearing only a diaper about 1 a.m. in the street by the baby's home. Young said police are investigating this tip and ask for any and all tips from the public. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. ___________________________________________ _____________________________________ . .
VIDEO: MISSOURI THE BEAUTIFUL Take a patriotic tour of the Show Me State's natural wonders . . ========================================================== .
... Frost advisory in effect from 4 am to 8 am CDT Sunday...
The National Weather Service in St Louis has issued a frost
advisory... which is in effect from 4 am to 8 am CDT Sunday.
* Timing... frost will develop early Sunday morning and last to about
an hour after sunrise.
* Temperatures... low temperatures in the mid 30s.
* Impacts... sensitive outdoor plants and other vegetation could be
damaged or even killed by the cold temperatures if left
unprotected.
Precautionary/preparedness actions...
A frost advisory is issued when frost is expected to develop
during the growing season. Those with agricultural interests in
the advisory area should protect tender vegetation. Also... potted
plants normally left outdoors should be covered or brought inside
away from the cold.
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The two photos below were provided by Nicholas Presser via Facebook on March 4, 2011. Thanks Nicholas!!!
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