Ex Alderman Newsletter 344 and Chesterfield Unapproved 289

EX ALDERMAN NEWSLETTER 344 AND CHESTERFIELD UNAPPROVED 289

August 26, 2018

TOWN AND COUNTRY AND CHESTERFIELD DEER REPORT

Town and Country had the same number of Deer vs Vehicle incidents in July of 2018 (5) as in July of 2017. After killing 364 deer in January of 2018 the Deer vs Vehicle rate only decreased for three months. Since then it has been the same or slightly more in 2018. However the YTD numbers still show 9 fewer deer collisions so far in 2018.

2018 Town and Country Deer Vs Vehicle report Aug 22, 2018 32

Ballas Road 1 Ward 1

I-64 at I-270 2 Ward 1

I-64 at or near Mason Road 3 Wards 2 or 3

I-64 at or near Hwy 141 1 Ward 4

I-270 4 Ward 1

Des Peres Road 1 Ward 1

Municipal Center Drive 1 Ward 1

Clayton Road (Mason to Bopp) 2 Wards 1 & 2

Westmoor Place 1 Ward 2

Mason Road south of Clayton Road 2 Ward 2

Mason Road North of I-64 2 Ward 4

South Outer Forty 2 Wards 1, 2 & 4

North Outer Forty 2 Wards 1, 2 & 4

Hwy 141 5 Wards 3 & 4

Ladue Road 1 Ward 4

Woods Mill Road 2 Wards 3 & 4

IT SEEMS LIKE CHESTERFIELD HAS FUDGED DEER-ACCIDENT NUMBERS: The Chesterfield Police Department claimed there were no deer-vehicle accidents in July. Then they report how officers were dispatched to shoot and kill three deer badly injured on the side of the road and how officers found four other deer dead on the side of the road. How does the police department think the deer were injured and killed?

DEER CAUSES CRASH IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI KILLING 75-YEAR-OLD WOMAN: Phillip Long, 74, was driving the 2012 Harley Davidson Motorcycle. His 75- year-old wife, Sheilah Long was riding behind him on the motorcycle at 8:40 PM Thursday 08/09/18 on Rt. C in Macon County. A deer jumped into their patch causing a crash followed by the motorcycle leaving the road and striking a fence. Phillip was in serious condition while Sheilah was dead. This is from the Missouri Highway Patrol online accident report.

EXTERIOR REPAIRS TO THE JARVILLE HOUSE (QUEENY HOME) CONTINUES UNDER A GRANT: The Jarville House that many people refer to as the “Queeny Mansion” facing Mason Road in Queeny Park is undergoing a face lift.

The house was built in 1853 and much later purchased by Edgar Queeny, son of the founder of Monsanto. (1928-1960) It is now part of the St. Louis County Parks system.

On the north side of the building is a very modern addition that is the entrance to the AKC Museum of the Dog. On the rear of the building is a large special function room. The Museum is shutting down at the end of September as the art work will be packed up over the last three months of the year to be shipped to the Museum’s new home in New York City.

Here is the sign in front of the Jarville House ref the improvements:

Here are the bid specs of the work being done:

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING AND ZONING: After failing to attend Planning and Zoning meetings, where he has a seat and a vote, for two years Mayor Jon Dalton suddenly appeared at two meetings this summer. But he was back to his old ways in August when he missed the August 15 meeting. Alderman Fred Mayland-Smith was also missing.

The first item on the agenda was Grant Dino, the new owner of 18 Brookwood, who wants an over-the-top pool to go with the mega-McMansion he is building.

Dino

Brookwood used to be an interesting street. There are a lot of ranch houses, many of unusual designs. One of the more interesting was the all stone house at 18 Brookwood Road that sat on a 3.3 acre lot. The house and lot were sold in 2017 for $1,391,000 and the house was torn down.

The ranch houses on Brookwood (off of Topping Road) are now in the minority and McMasions or full blown mansions are in the majority.

Here is a traditional ranch at 16 Brookwood:

And here is what is at 20 Brookwood. (Below)

Here is what they are building at 18 Brookwood: (Below) 7

Front of 18 Brookwood

Current construction at 18 Brookwood

rear 18 Brookwood

Here is what they want to add:

Grant Dino talked about how all three neighbors would not be able to see the pool and pool house (that looks more like a mausoleum). That made me think back to when I was growing up in Webster Groves. The neighborhood was considered wealthy. But we had walkways to our neighbors. I would play with their dogs, learn to swim next door at the only pool in the subdivision. We knew the neighbors, their dogs and they knew us. Times have apparently changed. A new neighbor in our subdivision was telling my wife, who was walking the dog, how “sterile” the subdivision was with no one stopping to talk. Welcome to “Snoburbia!” In our subdivisions in Kansas City and Maryland, 30 minute walks with the dogs would turn into 90 minutes when neighbors would wave you over to have drinks on their patios. That is not something that happens much in T&C.

The house I grew up in where all the neighbors knew each other.

The swimming pool with a mausoleum passed on a 5-1 vote with longtime member Dennis Bolazina voting against it.

MARYVILLE UNIVERISTY EXPANSION: Does anyone really care what is happening on the upper campus of Maryville University? People care when Maryville wants to expand the campus in public view along Conway Road, not so much on campus..

Maryville wants to add a 3-story 137,516 square to the existing academic building.

Academic Science addition

Plans were also passed by the Planning Commission to expand the auditorium from 450 seats to 1,000. This expansion would eliminate all close by parking, meaning people attending something at the auditorium will have to park on one of the west side large lots and take a hike.

Auditorium addition

TOPPING ROAD TASK FORCE: This is another one of Mayor Jon Dalton’s political creations to get nine more people to back him in future elections. The task force met at the Longview Farmhouse on Thursday August 16. Those present introduce themselves 10

and there was no one who claimed any experience as an engineer, although we know that one is a mechanical engineer. Perhaps Andrew Selkirk gave the best qualifications of being selected.

“I was having a beer with the mayor when he asked me to be on this,” said Selkirk, who lives nowhere near the project. Selkirk is an “art appraiser.” His family ran the Selkirk auction on the east edge of Gaslight Square for years. In 2002 the company then run by Andrew was sold to Malcolm Ivey. In 2013 Ivey sold the company still using the Selkirk name to Jeff Jeffers and the lawsuits from customers claiming to have been cheated soon followed.

+ + = Task Force Selkirk Dalton Beer = qualified

The Task Force was told their first job was to select one of five engineering firms to handle the street and sidewalk job. There is currently $190,000 in the budget for engineering. The engineering choices are not driven in Missouri by lowest bids, but on design. The staff has reduced the number of applicants to five for the task force to consider. Instead of the Task Force members deciding if they want a presentation from each of the five firms, City Services Director Craig Wilde, strongly suggested they hear from each potential project manager rather than a detailed presentations with power 11

points. Wilde suggested that the personalitiesof the project managers were important since they would be dealing with residents.

The first phase on the project is Topping Road from Kent Manor to Clayton Rd.

The project is likely to be in two phases. Wilde cut the project in half making the applications for grant money lower and more likely to be granted.

It was also announced that the grant application for Phase Two of the street and sidewalk project from Kent Manor or Topping Estates depending on what side of the street the sidewalk is on, was turned down days earlier.

The five engineering firms selected for final consideration by the staff are: Burns & McDonnell CBB CDG Horner & Shifrin HR Green

Right Away and easement acquisition would not begin until October of 2019 and construction would not start until 2020. Keith Godding brought up one excellent point. Just like Clayton Road after the extra wide sidewalks were installed large groups of bicyclists continued to ride in the street. The problem with Topping is it is narrower with no left-turn lanes and has lots of blind hillcrests. 12

The next problem for the Task Force to deal with is Mayor Dalton’s history of not using eminent domain for sidewalk projects.

Right now there is a lot of tax money about to be spent on Mason Road. The original goal was a sidewalk from Clayton Road to the 500-plus acre Queeny Park. However four or five residents refused to sell property as easement and Dalton refused to use eminent domain, not wanting to piss off rich people.

PGA #2 We learned from one source that Whitfield Academy at Mason Road and Ladue Road (across Ladue Road from the Bellerive CC) will be getting a new parking lot and new athletic fields. The PGA covered the athletic fields with plastic flooring planks and then brought in trailers filled with electronics to help televise the event worldwide. (A friend of mine who is the president of a golf club in Dublin reported that the tournament was not available to many homes in Ireland.) A smaller portion of the athletic fields were covered and used to park over a hundred golf carts. There were so many people working in the trailers that they were several soft drink machines outside of trailers.

Besides the a newly paved parking lot and entrance to the school we learned that the PGA was going to pay to rebuild the athletic fields using tons of sand as a subsurface to allow better draining of the turf and soil (no artificial turf).

John Delautre sent out a letter to parents of Whitfield students and contributors to the school that was veiled in spin. He spent half of the letter talking about what a great event the PGA Championship was before he got to the point that the PGA was not swooping in to repair (replace) the driveway and parking lots but they were going into talks to the PGA about “restoring” the driveway and parking lot.

Also the fall sport teams will have to play off campus. He wrote that the new fields should be in by the end of fall and ready for spring sports. We will have to wait and see. From Delautre’s letter:

As you may already know, Whitfield’s main role during the Championship was to host the technical equipment and the majority of the personnel that made the global television transmission of the event possible.

On a related note, if you have been on campus in the last week, you will have noticed that our parking lot has sustained some wear and tear, and that for the near future we will have to cope with a sizable pothole near the “garden” island closest to South Mason Road. Rest assured that the conversation with the PGA about restoring the parking lot to its previous state began 13

immediately after the conclusion of the tournament, and we expect a timely resolution. The installation of our new athletic fields is also to begin shortly, so that we will enjoy full access to them in the spring.

There is no question that this experience has resulted in some extra work and inconvenience for many of our constituents, and especially our field hockey and boys’ soccer teams. However, the importance of the PGA event for the entire St. Louis community and its resounding success has…

I have to admit that while I read Delautre’s letter my “Bullshit” meter tested from my days as a cop, police detective, arson investigator, magazine news reporter, sportswriter and local politician, began to go off.

10 days after the final shot of the tournament tractor trailers were being loaded on the former Whitfield School athletic fields with the plastic planks used to cover the sports fields lifted onto the trucks by large forklifts.

Westminster Christian Academy: This was the drop off point where people taking Uber, taxis, Lyft or being dropped off by friends went. The large busses did not do the type of damage we saw at Whitfield. However we did notice a few dips in the asphalt pavement on the main drive in.

KIRK OF THE HILLS CHURCH AND SCHOOL: Kirk of the Hills where large interstate busses dropped off and picked up passengers from the tournament was another story. The church property was also used for storage of material and golf carts by the PGA. Here is some of the damage inflicted:

BABY FIRST AND PIZZA GETS CANCELLED: The Yappy Hour or Yap in the Park event on Saturday August 18 at Longview Park was a success with an estimate of 400 people and 200 dogs in attendance. However it was advertised that Katie’s Pizza would be on the site and there was no Katie’s pizza (which as a native St. Louisian I do not consider to be pizza, but a lot of people like it). Katie herself was handling this event and went into early labor on the day of the Yap in the Park.

One of many stands for dog accessories at the park.

PARK COMMISSION VOTE 7-0 AGAINST JEFFERSON STATUE: Last week we reported how the Public Art Commission voted 6-to-1 against accepting one of 36 statues of Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence while sitting on a bench.

The Art Commission felt that since Jefferson was a slave owner and impregnated slave Sally Hennings three times, a statue could spell trouble. They voiced an opinion that art of political figures is not appropriate for city parks and could lead to trouble, especially after the riots in Ferguson.

The Art Commission meeting opened with members taking exception with the minutes of the combined meeting of the Arts Commission and Parks and Trails Commission.

The minutes read the following:

“”the majority of those present thought the City should accept the donation and saw Thomas Jefferson owning slaves as representative of the times.”

Arts Commission member Bill Schawacker stated he was against the statue on a number of grounds and said so at the joint meeting in July. Other members then joined Schawacker in opposing accepting the statue and voting 6-1 against accepting it with only Ald. Skip Mange voting for it. It was Mange who brought the gift proposal from a friend forward.

It was a repeat performance at the Parks Commission. Parks Director Anne Nixon who takes the minutes for the Park and Arts Commissions must have been at another meeting. Steve Korbecki said exactly what Schawacker said a week earlier, that he was against accepting the statue.

“Parks should be apolitical and we need to keep them that way,” said Korbecki.

“Is our mission at Parks and Trails to create potential controversy with all that is going on in St. Louis,” said Jack Dunning.

“I’m concerned about putting any kind of statue on public property,” said Roger Fagerberg. “To put it on City property is a problem and you will have a real problem.”

“I don’t want the City to host protesters and fire bombs in Town and Country. They dropped the name Jefferson from the Arch grounds,” said Adam Baer.

The Parks and Trails Commission then voted 7-0 not to accept the statue. Chairwoman Lynn Wright refused to cast a vote. Mange can still present the matter to the Board of Aldermen, but he certainly has had a lesson on what the public thinks of the idea.

TENNIS ANYONE? With the eight tennis courts in Preservation Park now down to two that are safe enough to play on something is about to be done we are told.

Under an agreement with the City CBC high school is using the tennis courts and Preservation Park. Under the same agreement CBC is required to maintain the courts. This is something they have failed to do for years, a fact we have been reporting for years.

When CBC or another school is not using the courts they are open to the public and residents. However six of the courts became so unsafe that the city had taken down nets and only two of the eight courts were available.

These four tennis courts were taken out of service due to long cracks across the playing surface.

Repairs on the horizon! We have learned that CBC has repairs scheduled to begin on the courts starting on September 10. Repairs are not likely to fix some of the long term neglect suffered by the courts and new courts might be the best answer. I don’t see that happening.

UNAPPROVED CHESTERFIELD NEWSLETTER 289

THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUS THE MAYOR BECAME A COMEDY SHOW: Mayor Bob Nation was on vacation in Europe, so President Pro-tem Barb McGuinness was running the City Council meeting on August 20. Just before the start of the meeting McGuinness was huddled with City Administrator Mike Geisel and City Clerk Vickie Hass, as if they were producers for her short lived comedy show.

The meeting opened with McGuinness announcing that she had no “mayoral” appointments to make and added, “Wouldn’t that be something.”

The next laughs were about Chesterfield ceded a 7,200 foot section of the Monarch Levee Trail to the City of Wildwood. When the entire trail was first laid out Chesterfield assumed maintenance of the whole trail even the section in Wildwood.

Wildwood is now taking over the section in its city limits. City Administrator Mike Geisel was asked how much the city would save. He did not respond directly to the question saying he was unsure, but added, “We have not sat back and figured that out and then told them how much it will cost them.”

If you remember at an earlier Planning and Public Works meeting Councilwoman Mary Ann Mastorakos stated how ugly she felt that Residence Inn design was proposed for the Top Golf driving range.

Barb McGuinness agreed and suggested they consider one like in Idaho Falls.

Idaho Falls Residence Inn But this lady (Mrs. Stock-Gitto) got the biggest laugh

The matter was on the Council’s agenda for the Monday August 20 meeting, but there was a request for a continuance. Stock and Associates Engineering was representing Residence Inn at the meeting. George Stock’s daughter, Kate Stock-Gitto was present.

When the matter was called and then voted to be postponed, McGuinness jokingly said, “Doesn’t the mayor want a water feature and maybe gondolas?”

Ms. Stock-Gitto quickly replied by saying, “They stopped having water features in Chesterfield Valley in 1993.”

Chesterfield Valley 1993 Missouri River summer flood 22

Then it was Dan Hurt’s turn. On a vote to renew a contract, Councilman Barry Flachsbart recused himself saying he owned a small amount of stock in the company getting the contact. Hurt immediately piped up without being recognize by McGuinness and said with a smile to Flachsbart, “Don’t you have to say how much you will make?”

WHAT A MESS THE CITY HAS CREATED: The actions of then Councilwoman Connie Fults and City prosecutor Tim Engelmeyer of filing charges against Lynn Dull for having trash cans at the side of her house has created more problems for the city.

Dull’s house on a corner lot faces Wilson Manor Lane but has a Parsonage Drive street address. She was charged with having trash cans out in the front of the house. The charges were later dropped when Dull agreed to place a tarp over the cans, including yard waste recycling cans.

Meanwhile Lynn Dull has found similar “violations” to the one she was charged with, but the city has refused to prosecute or investigate.

Here is the 2015 ordinance Dull was cited under:

Since Dull’s trash cans do not face the same street her house faces she was not in violation, but was prosecuted by Tim Englemeyer nonetheless.

Since this time Dull went out and found and documented 49 trash can violations that the police department’s code enforcement has refused to issue citations, with the police chief claiming the complaints are without merit since Dull does not live in those subdivisions.

Here is a house, while not in violation of the 2015 ordinance has been since 2017. There are trash cans at the side of the house just like Dull from 2012 to 2018:

Google earth 2012 2015

2017 2018

Now the city has obtained a grant to make available to residents 80-gallon composting machine, designed to be left outside.

Fults lost her reelection bid to Tom DeCampi. There are dozens and dozens of reasons not to reappoint Tim Engelmeyer as city prosecutor. Drunk drivers don’t end up with points on their licenses, people arrested for stealing have the charges dropped to “littering” if they hire a local attorney, serious traffic violators have their cases reduced to “illegal parking” if they hire a lawyer. Engelmeyer is the enemy of hard working police officers and is not concerned with the safety of the public. He raises revenue for defense lawyers and the city with $225 parking violations that were originally stop light running, careless driving and even Leaving the Scene of an Accident.

If Engelmeyerwas was not reappointed by Mayor Nation, Dull might have stopped her campaign for trash can violation fairness. However, Nation reappointed him and Councilpersons Barry Flachsabart, Barb McGuiness, Dan Hurt, Mike Moore and Maryann Mastorakos went along with him confirming the appointment.

Plain View Violations are ignored and tips are not accepted. If there is a violation in your neighborhood the City will ignore it until it is reported. Under the new ordinance 25-28 you have to give your name and address and cite the specific part of the code that is being violated. This is like someone calling in an Armed Robbery in Progress, but has to cite the Missouri Robbery Statute before the police will do anything.

So if the person who is in violation is a bully and likely to vandalize your property or worse if he knows who made the complaint, the City of Chesterfield does not care that you are about to be a victim. The City is also announcing that if a code enforcement officer sees a violation they will take no action without a signed complaint.

The City has announced that they don’t want tips about violations. It was this attitude that resulted in 28 years of no enforcement of severe code violations in the trailer park along I-64. The City of Chesterfield ignored junked cars, junk, trash piled up outside of trailers and trailers falling apart. I drove through the trailer park and took photos and filed the violations with the city. I was later asked by Bob Nation to withdraw my

complaint. I refused. Poor people have a right to live in a clean community just like rich folks do.

Dull has filed complaints with the State Ethics Commission when Engelmeyer claimed emails sent to him about Dull by then Councilwoman Connie Fults were work product and covered under attorney client privilege after Dull filed a Sunshine Open Records request. Now she is filing complaints against the police department for refusing to enforce the trash can violations she reports.

The city needs to call a truce! Now to stop Dull the city needs to apologize. I can’t see Tim Engelmeyer doing that, but that is what he needs to do. So does Mayor Bob Nation, Police Chief Ray Johnson and City Administrator Mike Geisel. They should sign a single letter saying how they are sorry that the city mishandled this whole mess. Maybe they could also send a YouTube link of Brenda Lee singing “I’m Sorry.”

MAN DIES OF HEART ATTACK AT RED LIGHT WITH FOOT ON THE BRAKE AT BUSY INTERSECTION A Chesterfield resident in his 50’s died Wednesday night in his car at about 7:25pm while he was stopped at a red light on NB Baxter at Clayton Road.

The Chesterfield Police were called for an “unresponsive person” at 7:27 PM. The Metro West Fire Protection District also sent an ambulance and fire truck.

On the arrival of the ambulance it was parked in front of the car so the car would not go into the intersection. Paramedics had to break the window to get to the driver. CPR was started and the man was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital where he was declared dead.

ROAD RAGE AND ASSAULT WITH AUTO: This got our attention.

We asked for additional information and received this from the police department:

MICHAEL MCDONALD, age 35, resides Florissant, arrested 8/17/18 , 7PM at the Chesterfield PD for Property Damage 1st and Assault 2nd. RPAW state charges.

We will try and get the Probable Cause Statement from the court file if charges are issued.

CHESTERFIELD COUPLE IN MOTORCYCLE ACCIDEENT IN ST. CHARLES COUNTY: Jared T. Halfaker, 29, of Chesterfield dumped his 2017 Indian Chieftain on loose gravel on Highway 94 near Highway 67 in St. Charles County. His passenger, Heather Noelker, 32, also of Chesterfield suffered moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to SSM DePaul Hospital.

DWI SATURATION PATROL: Chesterfield Police joined in with 58 other Missouri police departments for “Saturation Saturday” with off-duty officers paid overtime to patrol and look for drunk drivers on Saturday August 25. The press release said the patrols would be on “the evening of Saturday August 25.” THE EVENING? Do they anticipate catching drunk drivers at 7:30?

You get the highest level of drunks usually after the bars close. As a cop and magazine reporter in the Washington DC area I remember going off duty as a cop at 10pm and going on a magazine assignment to one of the first DWI checkpoints in the country in Washington DC. From 11 to 1 not much was happening, but from 1:30 to 3, there was an arrest every 10 minutes.

I’m also not sure what is so special about August 25. I used to work overtime DWI patrol in Liberty, Missouri on St. Patrick’s Day. It is now reported that the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest nights for DWI arrests.

Hopefully next week we will learn how the Chesterfield officers did in arresting drunk drivers, who will then go to Chesterfield Municipal Court and be given SIS probation terms with No Fines, No-Points and no permanent record.

STUPID, STUPID AND MORE STUPID: Ladue PD going to bike patrols is stupid. I know because I had to start one in a town as wealthy as Ladue and it was stupid there too.

Here is a headline from the Post-Dispatch online edition: Ladue kicks off bicycle patrol program to promote community-oriented policing

The Ladue Police Department has announced it is going to spend $7,000 on bikes and special uniforms. Take it from someone as an assistant police chief who had to start a bike program in a high end town.

In 1994 the Montgomery County Maryland Police Department started a bike program. However officers did not patrol neighborhoods. Instead they rode in the Bethesda business district where from 3pm to 7pm daily traffic is at a crawl and people are walking from a Metro subway station.

I was the assistant police chief in Chevy Chase Village. The Village trustees loved that the County Police were doing bike patrols. The police chief at the time never tried to talk any sense to elected officials so I was ordered to start a 2-officer bike unit.

The problem was first that I had to train the officers. They represented 20% of the 10- officer force. Next when they hit the streets on bikes we lost something important for a wealthy residential community, “police presence.” From a block or two blocks away you can see a police car and you can’t see that someone riding a bike is a cop.

The bike officers can quietly roll up on someone breaking into cars at 2 AM. However, in wealthy residential communities such thefts were few and far between. Also the elected officials wanted to see the officers on bikes, something that could not be done at 2 AM.

Bike officers are best when there are pedestrians and slow traffic. The above two photos of Chevy Chase show no crowds filing the sidewalks or heavy traffic.

The other problem was response times. An officer in a car in Ladue or Chevy Chase can get answer a call a lot faster than an officer pedaling their way, especially in summer heat.

I was basically paying two officers to have a nice 8-hour workout. We had one road out of Washington DC that was only 20-feet wide that was heavily travelled with a 25 MPH speed limit. The road was too narrow to put a police car on it to run radar. So the only

thing these officers accomplished was occasionally running radar and stepping out to wave over the violator, hoping they would stop.

This was not my only encounter with cops on bicyclists and motor scooters. In some cases it made a lot of sense. I was both a Washington Corresponded and National Feature writer for a police management magazine.

I went to New Orleans and did a story on the challenges for police in the French Quarter. The first problem was year round Bourbon Street and other nearby streets were so crowded with tourists that police cars had trouble responding to calls just a few blocks away.

The New Orleans Police only had one or two cars on duty, mostly to pick up people arrested by officers on foot, bikes or on motor scooters. Seattle also has several areas of heavy pedestrian traffic or entertainment areas where cops on bikes work out nicely. Ladue has nothing like that.

New Orleans bike officer with a Mardi Gras crowd. Seattle bike officers with protesters.

A motor scooter used by New Orleans Police in the French Quarter. Commanders said they like the scooters because the officer wear regular uniforms and can be shifted to a foot beat or placed in the lone patrol car during a shift.

Streets in the French Quarter, in Boston and in Manhattan have huge amounts of slow traffic and need officers on bikes or scooters, but Ladue doesn’t.

I did another article after examining bike units in England, Wales and tourist areas in the US. In these places officers on bikes work. However, Ladue isn’t anything like tourist areas or crowded streets in the United Kingdom. In fact the snobs in Ladue living in huge houses on three acre lots don’t want to see anyone. That is the reason for so many “Private Street” signs at subdivision entrances.

I also wrote an article on how to make residents hate community policing.

When I worked in Rock Hill and Manchester I would carry a baseball glove in the truck and for 10 minutes play outfield in a street baseball game. If I saw a kid shooting hoops by themselves, stop and see if they wanted to play a quick game of HORSE. I built a lot

of goodwill with younger people. I don’t think there is any kid playing street ball with their buddies in Ladue. If they are shooting baskets they on at the rear of the mansion and can’t be seen from the street.

Putting officers on bikes in Ladue in one word is: STUPID.

MEDIA: AT FIRST I THOUGHT THEY WERE PUNISHING JOHN CARNEY, BUT THEN I REALIZED THEY WERE PUNISHING ME: I have to admit that I’m old fashion. I still have a “Flip Phone” only because shoe phones with rotary dials are no longer available. I also still listen to AM radio, even though I was a FM disc jockey 47 years ago. I did enjoy listening to John Carney on KTRS, until recently.

Suddenly Julie Buck got transferred (or kicked off) from the afternoon drive-time Guy Phillips Show to the midday John Carney Show. At first I thought that Carney was being punished. Buck is so very annoying! Listening to her is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard or former Alderwoman Amie Anderson. Not only was Buck’s voice annoying, she comes across as a Queen of Snoburbia. Then I released that not only is Carney being punished, I AM BEING PUNISHED having to listen to Buck.

John Carney Julie Buck Fingernails on a chalkboard

SPEAKING OF GUY PHILLIPS: The afternoon drive time host at KTRS is 64-years- old. He should know this. But he recently claimed all the Lassie Movies came after the 39

TV Show. Normally I would think anyone can make a mistake. But, geez the TV show first hit the air in 1954.Jon Provost as Timmy replaced Tommy Rettig in 1958. The TV show ran from 1954 to 1974. But there were a lot of LASSIE Movies with well know Hollywood stars even before there were any TV stations. Here are a few:

1943 Lassie Come Home starring Roddy McDowell, Elizabeth Taylor , Edmund Gwenn and Elsa Lancaster 1945 Son of Lassie starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart (who was later Timmy’s mom on TV’s Lassie in 1959. 1946 Courage of Lassie starring Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan (Wizard of Oz) and Tom Drake (The Boy Next Door, in Meet Me in St. Louis) 1948 Hills of Home starring Edmund Gwenn and Tom Drake 1949 Challenge to Lassie starring Edmund Gwenn

Liz Taylor and Lassie 1946 LizTaylor and Lassie in 1943 Guy Phillips

LETTER WRITTER TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MAKES A CONNECTION:

MUSIC: Another night when you never know who will show up. We have written about going to Sasha’s on DeMunn in Clayton on Wednesday nights, just to see the famous and the younger musicians who show up to play with or in front of Jim Manley.

Due to medications I’m taking I’m often up when reruns of Peter Gunn are on at 4am. The same week I was listening to jazz at Sasha’s I got to see from 1958 Shorty Rogers on fugelhorn and Lola Albright on vocals at the beginning of Peter Gunn.

Lola Albright as Edie Hart Shorty Rogers on the Fugelhorn

Here is a link to Lola and Shorty doing How High the Moon from a 1958 episode of Peter Gunn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4jFd0XYYb0

RAT PACK MONDAY: This Monday from 7:30 to 9:45 have a very good time, with no cover. Sip a drink for two hours and enjoy they great Dean Christopher backed up by a Jim Manley trio, It is happening at One-19-North at 119 N. Kirkwood Road 1 ½ blocks from the Kirkwood train station. The place only holds 95 people, so call and reserve a table. (314-821-4119) The food is good too if you want dinner.

Dean with piano man Chris Swann and Trumpet man Jim Manley Dean was also the opening act for the late Don Rickles UPCOMING NEXT WEEK:

CURRENT CITY OF CHESTERFIELD NEWSLETTER IS LESS THAN HONEST ABOUT ITS MUNICIPAL COURT

OUR FIRST RESTAURANT REVIEW IN SIX MONTHS

A LOOK AT NEW ART AT THE CHESTERFIELD CITY HALL

STILL THE FUNNIEST CARTOON IN THE LAST DECADE

CARTOONS: Oddly enough there was a theme to most of the editorial cartoons this week.

Keep in mind the number of 25-year-olds who have no idea who either Fred Astaire or Fred Flintstone were.