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EX ALDERMAN NEWSLETTER 377 AND CHESTERFIELD UNAPPROVED

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April 21, 2019

TOWN AND COUNTY HIDDEN LEGAL BILLS: It’s a monthly ritual. City Attorney

Steve Garrett and his law firm Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe submit a monthly bill

that includes a very large amount title simply “Legal Services Hourly.” In their last bill

which was for February and was approved at the March Board of Aldermen meeting the

“Hourly Services” was the most expensive item at $5,250. But the law firm refuses to

break down what the hourly services were for. The citizens and elected officials have a

right to know what they are paying for.

As usual we made a “Sunshine” request for the itemized portion of the bill. Several on

going litigation items are redacted, but show the time spent.

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WHAT IS A SMALL CELL? If you noticed City Attorney Steve Garrett kept charging for

research on “Small Cell.” It is a bill to allow more cell transmitters. Here is the definition

from the bill:

SECTION 1. Chapter 505 of Title V of the Municipal Code is hereby

amended by the addition of a new Article III and Section 505.300 which shall read as follows:

TITLE V BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION

CHAPTER 505 STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND PUBLIC PLACES

ARTICLE III SMALL WIRELESS FACILITY DEPLOYMENT

SECTION 505.300 SMALL WIRELESS FACILITY DEPLOYMENT

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A. Title and Intent.1 This Section shall be known and may be cited as the

"Small Wireless Facility Deployment Code", and it is intended to encourage and streamline the deployment of small wireless facilities in the City and to

help ensure that robust and dependable wireless radio-based communication services and networks are available throughout the City, consistent with

state and federal law including sections 67.5110 to 67.5121 RSMo (while in effect) and sections 67.1830 to 67.1846 RSMo. The provisions of Article II of

Chapter 505 (which regulates use of public rights-of-way) and Section 504.155 (which regulates utility facilities on private property) shall apply to

small wireless deployments except to the extent inconsistent with this Section 505.300.

DEER REPORTS:

Town and Country: In February there were no reported Deer-Vehicle incidents. Here

are the March locations:

Here are the Town and Country Deer-vs-Vehicle so far in 2019:

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2019 Town and Country Deer Vs Vehicle report January- March

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I-64 Ballas to Mason 0 Wards 1 and 2

I-64 Mason to Hwy 141 1 Wards 3 and 4

Highway 141 2 Wards 3 & 4

Clayton Road Mason to Bopp 2 Wards 1 and 2

Clayton Road Mason to Woods Mill 2 Ward 3

Mason Road South of Clayton Rd 2 Ward 2

Mason Road north of Clayton Rd 1 Ward 4

Weidman Road 1 Ward 3

CHESTERFIELD DEER REPORT:

February:

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March Chesterfield Deer Reports

2019 Chesterfield Deer vs Vehicle locations Jan-Mar 20

I-64 2

Hwy 141 2

Baxter Road 4

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Clarkson Rd 1

Conway Road 1

Eatherton Road 1

Grantley 1

Kehrs Mill Road 1

Ladue Rd 1

Olive Blvd 2

Scohetller 1

Wild Horse Creek 2

Wilson Rd 1

TOWN AND COUNTRY UCR MONTHLY POLICE STATS: the Uniform Crime Report

list what the crimes were. At the top of the report are the police activities. This is the

most recent one released by the T&C PD through February 2019.

Town and Country:

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HERE ARE THE CHESTERFIELD CRIME AND ACTIVITY STATS THROUGH

MARCH 2019:

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DRIVER MAYBE DROWNS AFTER CRASHING INTO SUBDIVISIOIN ENTRANCE

SIGN AND THEN INTO RETENTION POND Late on Tuesday night 04/18/19 the SUV

driver, Anthony Scarfino, 46, from Ballwin possibly drowned in his SUV after crashing

into a stop sign, then a stone subdivision sign to The Estates of Town and Country

Crossing and finally into a retention pond. (He could have died from a medical event

before crashing.)

Town and Country Crossing Estates is the subdivision next to the Target store filled with

houses that do not meet any Town and Country housing codes pushed through by

Mayor Dalton and Ald. Meyland-Smith.

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Scarfino of 306 Holloway Road in Ballwin, had a lengthy arrest record including multiply

convictions for DWI, Felony Persistent DWI, Assault and Assault on a Law Enforcement

Officer. It will be interesting to see Scarfino’s BAC from the Medical Examiner’s final

report.

The Scarfino house on Holloway Rd in Ballwin.

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CATCHING UP ON MY EMAIL: The 45 days I spent in the hospital over parts of three

months I did without a computer or laptop. So I just now am catching up on six weeks of

email. Since the election is over maybe I should forget about the untruthful information

in candidate Laura Baer’s campaign mailers. The following is a letter from a Ward-2

resident to Baer and her reply from the middle of March was interesting.

Laura Baer

1801 Topping Road

Town and Country, MO 63131

Ms Baer,

Your political mailer arrived in our mailbox today. We haven’t met you yet — though we are apparently

Ward 2 neighbors and so I hope we will meet soon. I must say that the family photo you included is just

terrific.

But I wanted to quickly send you this message because what is printed below the photo is not so great

and you should have an opportunity to correct it as quickly as possible.

My wife and I had been out of town for a while and as soon as we returned I began hearing about an

ugly gossip campaign somehow connected to the upcoming election that was smearing both of our

incumbent aldermen. Frankly, what I was hearing sounded so childish I dismissed it as a prank.

Apparently I was wrong: there it is right in the first paragraph of your mailer.

But you deserve the benefit of the doubt, and I have decided to believe that you are only repeating bad

information others have provided and that when you discover the truth you will make it right.

Specifically:

It is objectively untrue that we have “...lost critical staff professionals due to intrusive political agendas

by [your] opponent."

This lie that your mailer repeats has been so magnified, and received such broad distribution through a

sick whispering campaign across our town, that both of our incumbent aldermen and their families are

suffering.

While it is true that two top staff members have departed, neither departure is related to the substance

of this gossip.

One is the director of planning and public works, who announced his resignation soon after the board

voted to direct the staff to seek contractors to conduct an independent audit of his department. The

timeline is this:

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- Resolution R16-2018 was introduced by Ward 3 Alderman Matt Reuter in November 2018.

- This resolution was amended and adopted by the entire board by a voice vote on December 10, 2018.

- The director of planning and public works resigned on January 14, 2019.

According to our city manager, no complaints of bullying or harassment have been filed and no

investigations have been initiated. One reference to harassment or bullying was found in an email that

was presented to the board at its last meeting. In fact, this email was extracted out of context from a

much longer chain of emails that is in the public record, in which one of our aldermen is being forced to

ask repeatedly for truthful answers to questions she is asking about project execution by the planning

and pubic works department. She is asking for this information at the urging of her constituents.

I know this because I am one of many of those constituents who were so urging. Here’s why: If you

have attended the Ward 2 monthly informational meetings through the past couple of years, you will

know that residents in Ward 2 have been clamoring for someone to bring some accountability to this

department that is responsible for overseeing somewhere between one-third and one-half of all Town

and Country expenditures, but that has NEVER had the benefit of a performance audit. You need only to

drive past the muddy mess along Mason Road at Clayton, or have observed similar bungling on

Wideman Road, or count the ridiculously ballooning cost of the Town Center project, to understand why

there is such unhappiness.

The other senior staff member to leave us in the immediate future is our police chief and former city

manager Gary Hoelzer, who has announced a long-planned retirement in order to accept a very lucrative

private sector offer. Gary has been a widely admired public servant in our town for longer than Pam and

I have lived here. He is effective, a diplomat, a person of impeccable character, and he will be missed.

He has enjoyed the full support of our incumbent aldermen along with all of the rest of us and we are all

sorry to see him go, although we celebrate with him the opportunity he has been offered in the private

sector.

Of course we don’t know how this election will end. If you are successful I hope you will continue the

excellent work we have grown to expect from our Ward 2 aldermen. They, like you, are volunteers

sacrificing to serve their neighbors. They, like you, have earned the gratitude and respect of their

neighbors. They certainly do not deserve this sort of ugliness.

I encourage you to distance yourself from this smear campaign immediately. Being associated with such

garbage can only damage your campaign and your effectiveness as an alderman. We need you to be

positioned to succeed if you are elected. I promise that I will personally make sure every resident in our

neighborhood gets this information, but will leave it to you to straighten things out elsewhere in Ward 2

as you see fit.

Steve Krause

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13564 Royal Glen Drive

(we deleted phone number)

AND THE CANIDATE’S RESPONSE:

// response from Ms Baer

On Mar 15, 2019, at 12:52 PM, Laura Baer <laurabaer4alderman@gmail.com> wrote:

Steve

Thank you for your thoughtful note. I do welcome your comments as good government rests on open

and fact based debate.

You and I have very different views on the issues surrounding the departure of the City's former Director

of Planning and Public Works. My concerns about his resignation are the same as those expressed

publicly at each of the last 3 Board of Alderman meetings.

You raise several other matters on which we also disagree. I do not assess the Weidman Rd. trail project

as "bungled" nor do I believe there is "ridiculously ballooning cost" on the Town Square project.

We share living in a wonderful community and my campaign is committed to collaborative governance.

Kindly,

Laura Baer

CHESTERFIELD POLICE BLOTTER:

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REGULAR CUSTOMER FOR DWI:

Does this guy look drunk to you?

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CATCHING UP FROM LAST WEEK: We could not get a mug shot of DWI and crash

driver Frank Humr.

THE HIGH SCHOOL VAPE STORE CASE: TOOK TWO MONTHS TO GET A

BUSINESS LICENSE. The Blue Vapor store located on the south side of Clayton Road

just west of the Parkway West High School continued to operate. Don’t you think a city

ordiance requiring VAPE stores to be so many thousand feet away from high schools?

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The store’s owner, Thomas Gilliam, 38, was cited by the Chesterfield Police for

Operating Business Without a License on January 16, 2019. The clerk, Zach Perino,

28, was cited for selling to an underage person. (You must be 18 to buy Vaping

Products in Missouri.)

Apparently illegally selling addictive substance to 17-year-old and younger persons and

operating a store that sells an addictive product in business without a license to operate

is okay with Chief Ray Johnson and the Chesterfield Police, the city’s administrator and

his staff and elected officials. On February 10 we first reported this incident. The police

department and city took no further action against the store after the first citations were

issued in January.

Blue Vapor did not obtain a city business license until February 27 or 42 days after

being cited.

We have since from a Parkway West HS mom that her neighbor of an underage boy

found out that her son was buying vapor products from the store. It was reported that

mom went to the store with a photo of her son and demanded they stop selling product

to her son. Apparently he is still obtaining vapor products.

Store owner Thomas Gilliam has continued his case of “No Business License” in

Chesterfield Municipal Court until June11.

It appears obvious the Gilliam wants to profit off of kids which means turning them into

nicotine addicts, by opening a store across the street from a high school.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Rex Sinquefield has appeared to have bought off local

politicians, plus other contributions from people not in the public’s interest. .

Derek Grier: It was interesting to see that Grier in July of 2018 reported accepting $50

from Smoke Free Missouri and then $1500 from Cheyenne International of Grover, NC

a cigarette maker of three brands of cigarettes and three brands of cigars. On 09/11/18

he accepted $250 from XCaliber makers of nine different brands of cigarettes. Grier is

a Christian Scientist, where the church does not believe in the use of cigarettes.

The off-brand cigarette companies pay a lower tax than name brands because they

were started after the required tax increase and fell under the old tax law. State Rep

Bruce DeGroot has also accepted campaign money from companies that want to pay

lower taxes to kill people. DeGoot and Grier are supposed to be looking after the

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Health, Welfare and Safety of residents and instead they are helping cigarette

companies kill residents at the lowest price possible.

Grier accepted $250 from FIX MO HVAC PAC. I could find no record of this group. The

addressed used of 11939 Manchester Road in Des Peres is a UPS Mailbox location.

Grier DeGroot Singuefield

TWO FORMER CITY COUNCILMEN NOW STATE REPS ACCEPTING MONEY

FROM GROUPS BACKED BY REX SINGUEFIELD WITH BETTER TOGETHER

CONNECTIONS: In 2018 Derek Grier accepted $3100 from Grow Missouri and

Missouri Growth PAC. Grier is a former City Councilman in Chesterfield and is

accepting money from an organization bankrolled by Rex Sinquefield, a man that wants

to wipe the City of Chesterfield off the map.

The man behind Better Together that wants to wipe out all cities and towns in St. Louis

County and make them part of the bankrupt City of St. Louis, Rex Sinquefield has given

$6,293,000 to Missouri Growth/Missouri Grow.

Grier:

Former City Councilman Bruce DeGroot accepted $2,600 from Grow Missouri and

Sinquefield.

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It has been mentioned that the Missouri Speaker of the House Elijah Haahr has been

holding up a bill by Rep. Dean Plocher of Des Peres that would require a vote of just St.

Louis voters and St. Louis County voters before there could be a merger.

Our checking showed that Haahr has been accepting money from Sinquefield. In 2018

he accepted the maximum contribution allowed from two Sinquesfield groups totaling

$5,200.

Haahr

2017: Haahr accepted another maximum of $2.600 from Sinquesfield’s Grow Missouri

in 2017.

So here is the bottom line. It appears as if Plocher’s bill requiring City and County

residents to vote on any merger and not a state wide vote will be buried by Republicans

on the Sinquefield “Money Train.”

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Rep. Grier refused to answer resident’s question. Here is an email exchange

between Chesterfield resident Dennis Ganahl and Derek Grier where Grier never tells

Ganahl how much money he has gotten from Sinquefield and what he plans to do to try

and stop the merger attempt. This is after Grier privately says he is against Better

Together but not publicly.

On Apr 9, 2019, at 9:02 PM, Dennis Ganahl <dennis.ganahl@me.com> wrote:

Hello Derrick,

I hope you and your family are doing well. I am wondering why you haven’t shared your position on

Better Together. Your district is overwhelmingly against the merger. What is your position? Further,

what are you doing to stop this forced merger?

Thanks,

Dennis Ganahl

On Apr 9, 2019, at 10:25 PM, Derek Grier <Derek.Grier@house.mo.gov> wrote:

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for the email. I really appreciate your feedback. I am opposed to the merger.

Thank you,

Derek Grier

From: Dennis Ganahl

Subject: Re: Better Together

Date: April 10, 2019 at 11:06:10 AM CDT

To: Derek Grier <Derek.Grier@house.mo.gov>

Thanks Derek, my question is what are you doing to stop it?

Dan Plocher is proposing legislation to set up a process. Are you supporting his idea? We need Dave

Schatz to propose legislation in the Senate. Have you and Dan approached Dave? What about Ann

Wagner, Hawley and Blunt? Have you accepted money from Sinquefeld?

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We need action on this issue now.

Dennis

Dennis Ganahl, PhD

15979 Woodlet Way Ct.

Chesterfield, MO

63017

There was no response from Grier after Ganahl’s April 10 email.

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PLOCHER HAS LEGISLATION TO STOP BETTER TOGETHER BUT HAS

ACCEPTED MONEY FROM SINQUEFIELD: State Rep. Dean Plocher of Des Peres,

who represents part of Town and Country has introduced a bill that is out of committee

but stopped from going to a House vote by the Speaker, has also accepted money from

Sinquefield fronts. SO the former judge of the Pine Lawn Municipal Court, at the time

considered one of the most corrupt courts in Missouri, Plocher has made an interesting

choice going after Sinquefield. Of course Plocher also accepted thousands of dollars

from the off-brand cigarette companies that are killing Missourians.

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U.S CONGRESSWOMAN MIGHT HELP LEAD THE CHARGE IN SAVING OUR

SUBURBANS ROM REX SINQUEFIELD. No don’t count on it.

U.S. Congresswoman Ann Wagner lives in the City of Ballwin and in fact was at the

recent ribbon cutting for the new Ballwin City Hall. The vast majority of people living in

her district are very much opposed to the Better Together merger with St. Louis and the

elimination of their suburban cities.

Here is why she is not likely to try and stop this. Here is a list of Wagner’s top campaign

contributors:

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TWO LOCAL ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES WITH NO TIES TO SINQUEFIELD:

Former County Police Chief Tim Fitch accepted no campaign contributions in his

election to the County Council. He financed the race himself.

The other County Councilman serving West County, Mark Harder, did not accept any

funds from Sinquefield or a Sinquefield front group, but he did accept money from

Congresswoman Ann Wagner, who got $20,000 directly from Sinquefield and from

State Rep. Dereki Grier who received a couple of thousand from Sinqufield front groups.

Democratic State Senator Jill Schupp, whose district includes parts of Chesterfield

and T&C has accepted thousands of contributions, mostly from residents and labor

unions. Jill lists every contribution even the $10 and $20 ones which she is not required

to report. She has not accepted a nickel from Sinquefield or any of his front

organizations. She has also never taken any money from one of the off-brand cigarette

companies that shower Republican office holders with money to keep their taxes low

while they kill citizens.

Sen. Jill Schupp

MISSOURI SENATE PASSES RESOLUTION AGAINST A STATE WIDE VOTE: On

Thursday the Missouri Senate in a 26-5 vote passed a resolution opposing a state wide

vote on a City-County merger. However it was merely an opinion resolution and did

nothing to stop the State Wide Ballot Issue.

The Rep. Dean Plocher bill to require an election between the City and the County

before there could be a merger was easily voted out of House committee, but was

stopped by the Speaker of the House Haarh, who has received large campaign

contributions from Rex Sinquefield. As of Thursday Speaker Haarh claimed the bill will

at some time go to the house floor for debate. The legislative session for 2019 ends in

just a few weeks. If passed by the house it would then go to the Senate where it would

likely be passed. It is high time for citizens to push Rep. DeGroot and Rep. Grier to put

aside their apparently being bought by Sinquefield and push for passage to the Plocher

bill.

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THE TOWN HALL MEETING ON BETTER TOGETHER: This was actual more like a

vent session. The council chamber was full and overflowing at times.

This meeting went 2 and ½ hours. We will be providing highlights and “best of” citizens’

comments.

RESIDENTS DISLIKE THE POLICE AND ARE FEARFUL OF THE POLICE PER

BETTER TOGETHER SPOKESMAN: Representing Better Together was Will Krueger,

a late 20-something whose resume was being a busboy at the Washington University

cafeteria, working in the officer of then St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and now with Better

Together. Krueger is a St. Louis resident and apparently would like to see the merger

to help St. Louis rid itself of a $2-billion debt and become the ninth largest city in the

country instead of one under 300,000 residents with one of the highest crime rates in

America.

Will Krueger of Better-Together

He also claimed that the police in St. Louis County are predatory (which he received

boos) and the municipal courts are aggressive harassing people to obtain revenue.

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So far in 2019 the Chesterfield Police issued 705 traffic WARNINGS instead of court

citations with fines. That is not very predatory in search of revenue.

Of the 32 years in law enforcement, the 18 years I was in uniform in neighborhoods

here are some of the predatory things I did:

1) Carried a baseball glove in my car and would spend 15 minutes playing the outfield

in a game of street ball taking to the kids.

2) Would go off-duty and visit a high school guidance counselor in an attempt to help a

troubled teenager in my patrol area.

3) Would stop when a couple kids were shooting driveway hoops to engage them in a

game of “PIG” (Short version of Horse).

4) Pick up dogs I see wandering away from their yards and take them home.

5) Talk to residents raking leaves or going for an evening walk.

6) Get invited to stop by residents homes at the holidays.

I’m not giving myself a pat on the back, because I’m sure there are a lot of other officers

who are welcome familiar faces in neighborhoods despite what Better Together thinks.

Krueger said how the merger would keep Kirkwood and Chesterfield from competing

against each other. This caused Councilwoman Barb McGuinness to ask Kruger exactly

what are Kirkwood and Chesterfield competing over. He admitted he didn’t know.

vs WTF are you talking about? McGuinness to Krueger

Krueger pointed out that the merger would mean one-police department. It was pointed

out that all the officers would be leaving Chesterfield unprotected to patrol the most

dangerous streets in American in North St. Louis.

Also Krueger claimed there would still be cities to oversee parks and trash service.

It was pointed out that the Better Together Task Force that is making the policies and

writing the state wide ballot are five people who were not elected. Their meetings are

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not open to the public nor are their records. There would be local zoning board with no

power that would just make recommendations to the mega-city government.

THE OTHER SIDE: Speaking for common sense and democracy was Prof. Terry

Jones of UMSL. His comments often received loud ovations.

“This plan kills the fundamental right of the people of St. Louis County to decide how

they want to be represented. This violates fundamental democracy,” said Jones.

“Will you have a chance to vote on a charter? No you will not!! Who selected the five

people of the Better-Together Task Force? We didn’t! Don’t be fooled. If this passes

municipalities will be dead.”

“There have been 20 city-county consolidations in the last 50 years nationwide. How

many saved money? Zero! They at Better-Together are claiming $250,000,000 in

savings eliminating earnings taxes and sales taxes. In realty there will $250,000,000 in

losses,” Jones said.

“Our local sense of democracy is at stake here!”

The People speak: Then it was the residents’ turn. Below are photos of a few of the

speakers.

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Here are some of the comments:

“I have not seen a bigger fraud than Better-Together”

“Now you will hear from a retired person…They (City of St. Louis) are broke because

they made themselves broke. I object to five guys doing this in secret.”

“I object Will (Better-Together’s Will Krueger) insulting everyone here. We are

Chesterfield because we did not have enough say in what St. Louis County did.”

“The five people who wrote this plan never worked in government. Having election

between St. Louis County and St. Louis City; you didn’t do that because it would not

pass.”

“Don’t allow Better-Together to ruin your police department like the same people did to

ruin the St. Louis Police Department,” said a retired St. Louis Police Officer.

Will Krueger then interrupted and said, “There are people who have been killed by

municipal police.”

This caused City Administrator Mike Geisel to speak up. “You say you are not a lawyer

now you are advises people on legal issues,.”

“Mr. Sinquefield does not live in this area but he wants to destroy it.”

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The one person of the night who spoke in favor was Better Together was Robert

Fowler. “I’m for Better Together. I work on relocating companies. I believe there are

benefits.”

“I’m upset with the inference that Better-Together will make our police department

better.” (actually it would eliminate the Chesterfield Police Department)

“I was born in St. Louis and raised in Florissant. Florissant is the third oldest city in

Missouri. If this passes there will be no Florissant.”

“St. Louis government’s corruption make it impossible for them to provide all services.

So you want us to give you our money.”

“I feel like I’m in Russia. The Oligarch are telling us what to do and take our money.”

“Will we call it Rexville or Rexland?”

William Monroe of the City of Wildwood gave excellent comments and got a loud

ovation, but he spoke so fast this is all I got written down: “The offensive thing is how

this is being done.”

William Monroe

“What can we do? It needs to be defeated,” said former Chesterfield mayor Bruce

Geiger.

Councilman Ben Keathley took several minutes explaining that while he is a millennial

he is against this. “You are taking something from the people who have worked hard to

build what we have.”

Ben Keathley

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DOG PARK UPDATE: We just received a message along with a photo from County

Councilman Tim Fitch’s office concerning repairs to the Queeny Park, Dog Park.

From: Artman, Anthony [mailto:AArtman@stlouisco.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2019 4:00 PM To: 'johnhoffmann@charter.net' Cc: Fitch, Timothy Subject: FW: Emailing: IMG_1490 Mr. Hoffmann, We just received this update from the Director of the County Parks department regarding the repair to the Queeny Dog Park. The attached picture shows you the sod being installed. Hopefully in a few weeks the sod will be established and you will be able to again use the park to exercise your dogs. Please let the Councilman know if there are other issues you would like him to know about in the 3rd District. Anthony Artman Executive Assistant for Councilman Tim Fitch 3rd District 314-615-5438

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EVIL REHNQUIST ILLEGAL CUTTING DOWN 100 YEAR-OLD TREES ON MASON

ROAD: Rob Rehnquist continues his hate of trees campaign in his building projects

along Mason Road. The City issued a “Stop Work” order at 1919 S. Mason after

Rehnquist took down two stately elms that had dodged Dutch Elm Disease, but not

developer Rob Rehnquist.

Here is the Stop Work Order:

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CARTOONS:

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The first of the Mueller Report cartoons:

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