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HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010
HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010 - CLICK ON PHOTO FOR THIS YEARS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Lobbyist treats: Summer wine, birthday cigars and a wedding gift
BY JAKE WAGMAN
post-dispatch.com
September 14, 2011
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ST. LOUIS • Summer is the time that lawmakers are supposed to get away from Jefferson City and the lobbyists who walk the Capitol's marbled halls.
But even when the Legislature is not in session, the state's corporate influence peddlers are on the clock.
The monthly report of lobbyist expenditures for July, released Thursday, shows lawmakers and other Missouri public officials received more than $40,000 in freebies from those seeking to sway public policy.
Highlights include $158 in cigars purchased for State Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, by Microsoft through their Missouri lobbyist, William Shoehigh. The cigars, according to the Ethics Commission report, were for Lembke's "50th birthday event in St. Louis." He turned the big five-o on July 24.
The St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association paid $3,200 to fly three state senators — Republicans Eric Schmitt, Tom Dempsey and Rob Mayer — to West Plains, Mo. and back.
The RCGA has been lobbying hard for the General Assembly to approve tax credits for a China cargo hub at Lambert Field, though whether that has anything to do with West Plains, about 20 miles from the Arkansas border, is unclear.
Closer to home, an RCGA lobbyist spent $125 on an unspecified wedding gift for Kit Crancer, chief of staff to State Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield.
House Republicans enjoyed a case of wine from the lobbying firm of Franc Flotron, whose clients include wineries in Hermann and St. James. Meanwhile, Noranda Aluminum — which has been fighting an attempt to hike utility rates —spent $476 on Noranda t-shirts for the entire General Assembly. (The wine was probably a bigger hit.)
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Facebook 'Smart Lists' For Friends Makes Organizing Your Contacts Easier
huffingtonpost.com
September 14, 2011
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NEW YORK — It's a modern-day dilemma: You really want your Facebook friends to see that wild party photo of you wearing bunny ears. But you're not so keen on explaining it to your mother-in-law.
Well, Facebook aims to make life easier.
Beginning Wednesday, the social network will make it easier to share photos, posts and links with smaller, isolated groups of people. While the site has allowed users to separate their friends into lists since 2007, this option took quite a bit of work and only a small fraction of Facebook users took advantage of it.
Now, Facebook will automatically group your friends based on whether they live near you, went to your school or work with you. You can read posts or share updates with specific groups instead of dozens, or hundreds, of "friends" at a time. Facebook will use the colleges, workplaces and geographic locations that users share on the site to organize people into groups. Called "smart lists," the feature is optional to use, and the lists are customizable.
"Users don't really want to spend a lot of time creating and maintaining friend lists," said Naomi Gleit, the director of product at Facebook who worked on the feature.
In addition, you can create your own friend groups with as few or as many as you would like, based around hobbies, work projects or relatives, for example.
Listing people as "close friends," meanwhile, will ensure that you will see the posts and photos from the dozen or so friends you care about the most. Updates from these people will feature more prominently in your news feed and you can opt to receive email notifications every time they post something on Facebook, Gleit said.
Conversely, those categorized as "acquaintances" will feature less prominently on your Facebook page, and you will see just big news, such as marriages and new babies.
Facebook's latest move takes a page from Google Plus, the fledgling social network launched this summer by the online search leader. Google's service so far has not threatened to unseat Facebook as the world's biggest online social network. But its sleek design and innovative, privacy-focused features piqued the interest of many Facebook users and critics, helping to foster healthy competition among these Silicon Valley neighbors.
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The state senate has voted to kill 25 tax credit programs in the next seven years. Some programs will be reduced in steps before they disappear.
Two of the biggest credits marked for eventual execution are for low income housing construction, to be cut by $40 million in three years, and historic preservation credits, which will be cut by $60 million this year. Both programs are to disappear in 20-18.
One of the strong advocates for the cuts is Maryville Senator Brad Lager, who says Missouri is on the hook for $1.3 billion of low income housing tax credit redemptions in the next ten years.
Lager says the state is giving away millions of dollars for low income housing and historic preservation at a time when it can’t fund education. He says historic preservation and low income housing tax credits give the state only ten to 20 cents in return for each dollar the state invests in those projects.
Lager says Kansas is doing it right…and Missouri is not. Sen. Lager :33 mp3
–most of which, he says, don’t generate long-term jobs.
The tax credit changes are part of the economic development bill sent to the House. That’s the one that provides tax credits making the first step to establish a China trade hub at Lambert-St. Louis airport. The proposal could be taken up by the house in the middle of next week.
Here are the tax credit programs affected and the dates they will disappear:
As soon as the bill goes into effect:
1) The Neighborhood Preservation Tax Credit;
2) The Brownfield Jobs and Investment Tax Credit;
3) The Small Business Incubator Tax Credit;
4) The MDFB Bond Guarantee Tax Credit; and
5) The MDFB Infrastructure Development Contribution Tax Credit
The authorization of tax credits under the following programs will be prohibited after August 28, 2014:
1) The Family Farm Breeding Livestock Tax Credit;
2) The Agricultural Product Utilization Tax Credit;
3) The New Generation Cooperative Tax Credit;
4) The Qualified Beef Tax Credit; and
5) The Wine and Grape Producer Tax Credit.
The authorization of tax credits under the following programs will be prohibited after August 28, 2015:
1) The Domestic Violence Shelter Tax Credit;
2) The Maternity Home Tax Credit;
3) The Pregnancy Resource Center Tax Credit;
4) The Shared Care Tax Credit;
5) The Youth Opportunities Tax Credit;
6) The Disabled Access Tax Credit;
7) The Family Development Account Tax Credit;
8) The Residential Treatment Agency Tax Credit;
9) The Food Pantry Tax Credit;
10) The Neighborhood Assistance Program;
11) The Public Safety Officer Surviving Spouse Tax Credit;
12) The Affordable Housing Tax Credit;
13) The Special Needs Adoption Tax Credit;
14) The Children in Crisis Tax Credit; and
15) The Residential Dwelling Access Tax Credit.
The authorization of tax credits under the following programs will be prohibited after August 28, 2018:
1) The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit;
2) The Historic Preservation Tax Credit; and
3) The Brownfield Remediation Tax Credit.
Where, under current law, a tax credit was subject to the sunset act, the sunset provision is modified to sunset such program on the date provided above.
The limitations on tax credit authorizations provided in the act will not impair an administering agencies ability to issue tax credits that were authorized prior to the date on which authorizations are prohibited, nor will they affect a taxpayer’s ability to redeem such tax credits.
REPEAL OF CERTAIN TAX CREDIT PROGRAMS
This act repeals the following tax credit programs:
1) The Charcoal Producers Tax Credit;
2) The Self-Employed Health Insurance Tax Credit; and
3) The Health Care Access Fund Tax Credit.
(The list is supplied by the Senate Information Office)
A complete summary of the bill as sent to the House can be found at: HERE
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St. Louis (KSDK) - The St. Louis Economic Council released results Tuesday on a study conducted on the economic impact of the Chrysler plant closure.
Experts with the council spent the last 18 months conducting interviews and collecting data on the plant closure.
The study reveals 43,000 jobs, both direct and indirect, were lost throughout the regional economy.
"With this study we are seeking to better understand the scope of the impact and our regional economic strengths, and in so doing, develop a game plan for growing our economy," said St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.
The study calculates the economic impact to the St. Louis region at $15 billion, which affected the bi-state area.
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September 14, 2011
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Crews from Blevins Asphalt, based in Mount Vernon, Mo., prepare to lay a layer of stone chips on top of a fresh coat of oil on Lockhart Road in Franklin County on Aug. 31, 2011. The crews are working on the Franklin County line with Gasconade County which is marked by regular gravel road surface. photo by David Carson post-dispatch.com
_________________________________________________________________________ Push is on to pave roads in Franklin County
BY LEAH THORSEN
post-dispatch.com
September 14, 2011
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FRANKLIN COUNTY • Lockhart Road dead-ends at a small cemetery near the Gasconade County border, about eight miles north of Sullivan.
The narrow country road is surrounded by rolling pastures where cows outnumber houses. Yellow wildflowers and oak trees creep to the edge of the road, which likely was once a wagon trail.
Road crews last month chip-sealed Lockhart Road, previously a stretch of gravel. Trucks squirted oil onto a base that coated the road, then dropped a layer of white trap rocks onto the black glaze. Giant rollers drove across the rocks, creating a hard surface.
"It's converting a goat path to a good road," said Buck Ahrens, a county crew supervisor who oversaw the paving job, as he drove over the hard surface.
The road's new look and feel is part of a push to pave every Franklin County-maintained road. Some residents welcome the change, while others lament the loss of gravel as a loss of rural character.
"People love pavement and there are two primary reasons: it's dust-free, and I think it is associated with a better quality of life," said Ken Skorseth, program manager of the South Dakota Local Transportation Assistance Program at South Dakota State University and lead author of "Gravel Roads Maintenance and Design Manual," the Federal Highway Administration's gravel roads guide.
But economic woes in recent years have kept local governments from paving roads. Skorseth is working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to see if some low-volume roads there should be reverted to save money in asphalt maintenance costs.
He said he's seeing an increase in gravel roads nationwide, due to reverting to gravel from a hard surface because gravel roads are cheaper to maintain and because developers are holding off on paving roads until they're certain they can afford the cost.
Skorseth also said that not everyone favors paved roads.
One opponent is Kay Genovese, 59. She lives on Grand Army Road, a few miles outside of St. Albans in the northeast part of Franklin County.
The road is beautiful and natural-looking, she said, and adds to the rural, rustic feel of the area.
She enjoys horseback riding along the sparsely traveled road, where people drive slowly so stones don't fly up and dent their cars.
"Motorcycle groups won't go touring down a gravel road. Strangers won't go down a gravel road," said Genovese, who has lived on the property for about a decade.
She worries that will change once Grand Army Road is paved — probably this spring. She is already dreading the traffic.
Bill Evans, who lives in the southeastern part of the county east of Lonedell, says more traffic on his now-gravel road will be a small price to pay for a hard surface.
"If that's the only downside, that's fine," Evans said.
His home on Frost Road is just a couple miles from the Jefferson County line. That neighboring county completed paving its 650 miles of county roads in the mid-1990s, said Bill Blackwell, the county highway supervisor. St. Louis County also paved its roads years ago, said David Wrone, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic.
Evans said there's no doubt which county you're in near his house.
"You don't have to look for a sign. When the dust comes up, you know you're in Franklin County," said Evans, who is on the county's Planning and Zoning Commission.
The road is dirty and dusty, washes out in the rain and hurls stones that dent cars and break windshields, he said.
Evans is skeptical of those who think gravel roads are a part of the area's rustic charm.
"It's rustic if you don't live on it," said Evans, 63, who has two miniature donkeys, a horse, a parrot, a potbelly pig and a llama.
He and his wife have a Nissan Murano, which they call their "go-to-town car." They take it out when the road is in good shape, such as a day after a rainfall.
Otherwise, it stays at home and they drive vehicles they care less about.
Evans' road had been slated to be chip-sealed this summer, but a wet spring probably delayed the job to next spring, he said.
Heavy spring rain, coupled with a bad economy, slowed paving across the county. But finances have, too.
Money from a $20 million bond issue approved by voters in 2007 is about to run out, and the county still has about 140 miles left to pave, said Rich Wilson, public works director for Franklin County. The county will pave just 10 to 15 miles this year.
"With the economy going downhill, there's not extra money to do it at a fast pace," Wilson said. He said it's unclear when all the roads could be finished.
And although roads in Franklin County aren't being paved as fast as some would like, the situation is more dire elsewhere around the country. Counties in Iowa, Michigan, California and South Dakota are among those that are replacing paved roads with gravel because of high asphalt prices and lean budgets, according to the National Association of Counties.
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_________________________________________________________________________ Slight Property, Road and Bridge Tax Increases Coming This Year
by dfox
KLPW
September 14, 2011
The Franklin County Commission unanimously approves the new rates during yesterday’s annual tax levy hearing. Last year’s property tax levy was set at $0.332 per 100 dollars of assessed valuation. This year’s rate jumps almost four hundreths of a cent to $0.336 per 100. Officials say the new road and bridge levy will increase by one-fifth of a cent to a new rate of $0.1978 per 100. The levy for the general revenue fund remains unchanged at 13.8 cents. The estimated revenue for this year’s general fund is about $2,526,000. The road and bridge fund’s estimated revenue comes in at over $3,615,000.
_________________________________________________________________________ Minor Pot Bust Claimed to be Significant
September 14, 2011
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Following is a statement by the office of Gasconade County Sheriff Randy Esphorst:
At approximately 5:45 p.m. on September 12, 2011 Deputies from the Gasconade County Sheriff's Office and agents from the Lake Area Narcotics Enforcement Group executed a search warrant at a residence on Highway H in the Hermann area. Information received from an anonymous source and confirmed by Captain Chuck Howard of the Sheriff's Office revealed approximately six (6) adult marijuana plants and approximately seven (7) ounces of cultivated marijuana at the residence.
The six adult marijuana plants were growing in a garden area at the residence and the cultivated marijuana was located inside the residence.
Darryl V. Hackman, age 57, and Sandra M. Hackman, age 53, were interviewed and released at the scene pending warrant application by Sheriff s Deputies.
Full grown adult marijuana plants have an approximate "street value" of $10,000 per plant, so this is a significant amount of marijuana that was seized.
This investigation was initiated by a citizen phone call to the Sheriff's Office toll free tip line (1-877-486-4036). Any citizen with information on any criminal activity in Gasconade County is urged to call the tip line. You may remain anonymous and rest assured that your call and/or information will be investigated by the Sheriff's Office.
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HERMANN, Mo. (KMOX)-The Owensville, Mo. man who accidentally shot and killed a three-year-old girl two years ago, has been given a three-year suspended prison sentence, and placed on five years probation.
48-year-old Joseph Novak was found guilty in May of second degree manslaughter in the death of Allison Schneider.
Novak was shooting his pistol at a target next to his home in November of 2009, when a 9mm round travelled across a field, through a grove of trees and hit the girl, 365 yards away, in the head.
Investigators say Schneider was looking at livestock with two others when she fell to the ground.
May 18, 2011stlouis.cbslocal.com
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HERMANN, Mo. (KMOX)-A rural Owensville, Mo. man faces prison time, for the accidental shooting death of a three-year old girl. Gasconade County Circuit Judge Gael Wood has found Joseph Novak guilty of second degree involuntary manslaughter in the death of Allison Schneider. Wood handed down the verdict two weeks after he presided over a nearly three-hour long bench trial. Novak had originally been charged with first degree involuntary manslaughter. Novak now faces one to four years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. He’s expected to be sentenced in July. Allison was walking through a barn with some neighbor children on November 2, 2009, when she was hit in the head by a bullet, which Novak fired while target shooting, 389 yards away. She died the next day. During the trial, Novak testified that he thought it was safe to shoot the weapon, considering the distance and the trees between the properties. He also said he didn’t know that anyone lived on the property across the field.
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A Washington teen will serve at least four months in the Missouri Department of Corrections in a 2009 collision that left one man dead and another driver injured.
Nicole A. Feldmann, 19, was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to a five-year prison term on charges of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault in the Oct. 29, 2009, crash that claimed the life of Michael Prater, 33, of St. Charles. Another man, Terry L. Robinson, 38, Fenton, was injured in the three-vehicle crash on Highway 100 near Jones Lane.
Prosecutor Bob Parks had asked that Feldmann be sentenced to five years. Judge Gael Wood ordered her to serve 120 days in an alcohol and drug treatment program in prison.
If she successfully completes the drug and alcohol treatment program she will be released on five years' supervised probation.
Judge Wood also ordered Feldmann to speak to high school classes about the dangers and consequences of drinking and driving as a special condition of probation.
_________________________________________________________________________ Washington, Mo., teen pleads guilty in crash that killed St. Charles man
BY JOEL CURRIER
post-dispatch.com
July 27, 2011
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FRANKLIN COUNTY • A Washington, Mo., teen pleaded guilty Tuesday in a 2009 head-on crash that killed a St. Charles man.
Nicole A. Feldmann, 19, of the 1000 block of Rose Lane, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Court to involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault in a three-vehicle crash in October 2009 that killed Michael Prater, 33, of St. Charles.
Feldmann was accused of being intoxicated when she crashed head-on into Michael Prater's car along Route 100 on Oct. 29, 2009, just outside Washington.
Prater, 33, was heading west on Route 100 when Feldmann's red Pontiac Grand Prix crossed the center line and struck Prater's 2004 Chevrolet, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. The collision sent Prater's car spinning into an eastbound pickup driven by Terry L. Robinson, 38.
Robinson also was charged with drunken driving and driving without a license. His case is pending in court.
Feldmann told investigators she had been drinking shots of vodka at a friend's house before the crash. She also admitted smoking marijuana.
Court documents said police took blood samples from Feldmann and seized marijuana, rolling papers, a tobacco grinder and two pills of Lorazepam, an anxiety medication, from her car.
Feldmann also had been charged with armed criminal action, marijuana possession and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, but Franklin County Prosecutor Bob Parks said those charges were dismissed as part of her guillty plea.
Parks said prosecutors will seek a five-year prison sentence for Feldmann when she is sentenced Sept. 13.
Prater, a gas station manager, left behind a wife and two children.
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Sen. Lager :33 mp3
