Best News Series Grotto Sculpin

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Scarce grotto scuplin a ‘worry’

Amanda [email protected]

It’s no secret that Perry County is home to an abundance of caves nestled just under the surface. But, as evidence suggests, in only a handful of our 600-plus caves dwells a rare, ancient fish, the grotto sculpin — a fish that is in danger of becoming extinct, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice.

To correct the problem, the Service has proposed to protect the species under the Endangered Species Act. In conjunction, the agency has proposed implementing underground aquatic habitats for the fish to live, as their water source has become heavily polluted over time due to debris and other pollutants populating sinkholes.

Though a Service representative was not available for comment, a press release from the federal agency reads, “The area where the grotto sculpin lives is character-ized by hundreds of caves and thousands of sinkholes, where pollutants and other sub-stances can rapidly find their way to under-ground waterways.”

Placing the animal on endangered species list could have both positive and negative impact.

Photo by AmAndA LAyton

Patsie Jokerst, center, recently was honored by Experience Works, a national proogram that encourages senior citizens to be a vital part of our work force. With Jokerst are (left to right) daugh-ter Cheryl Win-schel, daughter Kris Niccum, Jim Johnson, an un-identified mem-ber of Experience Works, Darrell Niswonger and Julie Allison.

Older Worker of the Year is Jokerst

By Amanda [email protected]

The number of birthdays doesn’t matter when a per-son has a drive to stay ac-tive, and nobody makes that statement truer than Patsy Jokerst, the administrative assistant at Niswongers and Johnson.

Jokerst was honored last week with a certificate from

representatives from Ex-perience Works, a national program whose primary mission is to recognize and train senior citizens to con-tinue being a vital contribu-tion to the work force.

Each year, Experience Works in Missouri selects the Outstanding Older Worker of the Year from a list of applicants nominated by employers across the state. This is the 22nd year the contest has been held.

At 80, she is a big part of Johnson and Niswonger operation.

See SCULPIN/PAge 5A

HOMELESS ... FOR A NIGHT

Submitted Photo

Saturday at the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal saw VMY members camping out in a “cardboard city” to learn just what’s it like to be homeless. Shown are (front, from left) Jarrod Davis, Brian Otte, (back) Trevor Klump, Parker Davis and Matt Naeger.

Teens sleep in boxes, beg for funds to learn about being poorAmanda [email protected]

The Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville was home to a cardboard city Saturday night, as sev-eral area teens involved in Vincentian Marion Youth (VMY) slept in card-board boxes to have an understanding of what homeless life is like.

Titled the Mission Box Experience, the annual event is an all-day experi-ence that begins with community ser-vice to others, visiting the Cathedral Basilica and Planned Parenthood, as well as “begging” for money to re-

ceive as donations to the organization. The night ended with the teens —

all from Perryville or St. Genevieve — sleeping around a campfire in re-frigerator boxes.

“All these kids are going to be homeless tonight,” said coordinator and city alderman Curt Buerck on Sat-urday.

The community service took up much of the day, but was rather re-warding.

“The afternoon was full of service time at several locations throughout Perryville,” said VMY Coordinator Lynn Davis. “From power washing

homes and yard work to installing new toilets, the teens worked to help others in need.”

The money the teens “begged” for will go toward a deck and wheelchair ramp that the teens will build for a dis-abled 12-year-old to have better access to his home, and to enjoy the outdoors on his deck, Davis said.

VMY member and Lynn’s son Parker, 17, said, “Begging is an un-comfortable experience for us, but it helps to understand what many have to do to survive. It never gets any easier to have to beg and it is a humbling ex-perience.”

See JOKERST/PAge 5A

FiLe Photo

The grotto sculpin fish, a species that has evolved for thousands, if not millions of years, populates only a handful of Perry County’s many caves, and is in danger of becoming extinct, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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But, with prevention of endangerment comes pos-sible changes to Perry County land, particularly privately owned land.

The release reads, “The Service … proposed 36 square miles of under-ground aquatic habitat in recharge areas, plus 19 miles of surface stream in Perry County, Missouri, as critical habitat for the grotto sculpin. Of the total acreage identified, 89 per-cent of the underground aquatic habitat and all of the surface stream miles are located on private lands, and 11 percent of the underground aquatic habitat is on state, city, or county lands.”

Specific areas include four units of underground aquatic habitat, which in-cludes recharge areas of the Moore Cave system, the Crevice Cave sys-tem, Ball Mill Spring, Keyhole Spring, Mystery Cave, Rimstone River Cave, Running Bull Cave,

Thunderhole Resurgence, four miles of Blue Spring Branch and roughly 15 miles of Cinque Hommes Creek.

The release reads, “Crit-ical habitat does not re-quire landowners to carry out any special manage-ment actions or restrict the use of the land. Nor does the designation mean the government intends to ac-quire or control the land.”

Though he feels it’s cer-tainly a worthy cause, Per-ryville City Administrator Brent Buerck is worried about possible problems this may cause for land-owners.

“We have an obligation [to preserve the sculpin], but at what cost?” he said. “To me, this seems based solely based on science, and it worries me a little bit.”

Here, Buerck refers to a statement written in the release, that reads, “… the final identification of areas containing habitats essen-tial to the species will be based on the best scientific information available.”

But, what about the

landowners? Do they get a say?

To answer these ques-tions, the Service is host-ing a public meeting Oct. 30 to provide more infor-mation on the proposal.

“This is the one shot for landowners, and the pub-lic, to comment on their thoughts on this,” Buerck said.

Missouri Caves and Karst Conservancy (MCKC) member Jim Sherrell says there’s a pos-sibility this could be a win-win situation for both the fish and the landowners, though it’s not confirmed.

“There’s a chance that this won’t negatively affect any current landowners or farming practices,” he said. “For instance, if I’m a farmer, this won’t affect me unless I’m willing to help out, or adhere to this cause [of preserving the fish]. I’d receive payment to help [through using my land]. But it’s only if I want to do it.”

Again, this has not been confirmed, which is all the more reason that both Buerck and Sherrell en-

courage those interested to attend the Oct. 30 meeting, held at the Perryville High-er Education Center from 5-8 p.m.

“I think [the Service] might be a little heavy-handed in what they’re proposing,” Sherrell said. “I’d like to see the public and government agencies make a policy that’s ac-ceptable to all.”

As perhaps one alter-native, Sherrell suggests doing a massive clean-up of the many sinkholes that are causing the pollution in the first place.

“MCKC has cleaned up trash-filled sinkholes in the sculpin habitat areas in the past,” he said.

“Perhaps funding could be used to help clean more sinkholes and keep contaminants out of the ground water.”

Though the grotto scul-pin has not officially been placed on the endangered species list, and no final-ized plans have been made on preserving them, the possibility of both could very much become a real-ity.

OBITUARIES, FROM PAGE 1AThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Tuesday, October 23, 2012 • Page 5A

Deaths

SterlingLake St. LouiS

Sandra “Sandy” Sterling of Lake St. Louis, formerly of Perryville died Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. She was 70.

Loving wife of Richard Leslie Sterling; devoted daugh-ter of the late Cecil R. and Bessie D. Hudson; devoted mother of Todd B. (Angie) Sterling and Chad L. (Holly) Sterling; dear sister of Cecil R. (Linda) Hudson, Jr. and Roger L. (Betty) Hudson; cherished grandmother of Kay-lyn, Jacob, Jordan, Sam, Jack and Jill.

Sandy enjoyed traveling and boating, was an avid Car-dinal’s fan, but most of all she loved her family especially her grandkids. She was the first female driver and when she retired after 21 years, she was the longest active female UPS worker.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Rex Hudson.Memorials may be made to SSM Hospice. Share your

condolences and memories at baue.com.The funeral service was held Saturday, Oct. 20 at Baue

Funeral and Memorial Center Chapel in St. Charles. Inter-ment was at St. Charles Memorial Gardens.

SheaPerryviLLe

Joseph Alexander Shea of Per-ryville died at his home on Friday, Oct. 19, 2012. He was 77.

He was born on July 18, 1935 in Spring-field, Ill., the son of George Edward and Agnes Elizabeth (Mueller) Shea. He was married on May 30, 1959 to Vivian A. Wal-lace of Perryville, who survives.

Survivors include five daughters and one son, Therese (Mark) Unverferth; Maureen (Jeff) Schroeder; and Kathryn (Randy) Wibbenmeyer, all of Perryville; Lou-ise (Robert) Hayden of Fenton; Rebecca (Raymond) Barre-ras of Orlando, Fla.; and George (Tanya) Shea of Ballwin; 14 grandchildren, Cole (Jenni) Schroeder, Aislinn (Jason) Carter, Dane Schroeder, Jesse (Jenna) Unverferth, Peter (Alicia) Unverferth, Samantha Unverferth, Ryan Shea, Ashley (Colby) Thompson, Jennifer Wibbenmeyer, Tara Wibbenmeyer, Daphne Hayden, Drew Hayden, Alexander Shea and Isabella Shea; and six great-grandchildren, Ca-mille Schroeder, Lincon Schroeder, Roman Carter, Aidan Unverferth, Jack Unverferth, and Makenzie Unverferth.

Mr. Shea was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. He graduated from the St. Louis College of Phar-macy in 1962 and received a gold certificate for 50 years, he served in the United States Army and Commemorative Air Force. He was a member of Boy Scout troop no. 155 and 250, he spent 62 years in scouting. He was also a member of American Legion, Knights of Columbus 4th degree and past faithful navigator, member of S.N.A.G. organization. He loved to hunt, fish and was an avid airplane enthusiast. He loved being with his family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, five sisters, four brothers, one nephew and two granddaughters.

Memorials are preferred for Little Explorers Learning Center in Perryville or for family use.

Visitation will be held at Young & Sons Funeral Home on Thursday, Oct. 25 from 4-8 p.m. with a Catholic Vigil and K of C Wake at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue on Fri-day, Oct. 26 from 6:30-9:30 a.m. The funeral Mass will be held at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church on Friday at 10 a.m. with Rev. Milton Ryan C.M. officiating. Burial will be at Mount Hope Cemetery with military graveside service provided by American Legion and Delta Team.

Young & Sons Funeral Home, Inc. in Perryville provid-ed the arrangements.

JosephShea

DentonMarbLe HiLL

Ioma E. Denton of Marble Hill died Sun-day, Oct. 21, 2012 at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was 82.

She was born on May 15, 1930 in Harvel, the daughter of Chester and Elsie I. (Stout) Horn. She was married on Nov. 23, 1946 to Wilson L. Denton, who preceded her in death on July 13, 2005.

Survivors include three sons and one daughter, Gerald Lee (Margaret) Denton of Marble Hill; William M. (Sharon) Denton of Troy, Mont.; Bonita J. (Alan) Bryson of Libby, Mont.; and Randy J. (Betty) Den-ton of Perryville; one daughter-in-law, Ellen Denton of Bowling Green, Ky.; one brother and two sisters, Willis Horn of Cape Girardeau; Pearl Horn of Herman; and Ruth (John) Melton of Perryville; 15 grandchildren; 31 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Denton was a homemaker and had worked at Ster-lings and Dollar General Store. She was also a secretary at Denton Plumbing & Heating, all in Perryville. She was a member of Sedgewickville Baptist Church. She enjoyed crocheting, reading and watching western movies.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; one son, Ronald Denton; and three sisters, Opal Diamond, Ruby Clayton and Virginia Statler.

Memorials are preferred to American Cancer Society. Friends may call at Young & Sons Funeral Home on

Tuesday, Oct. 23 from 4-8 p.m. and on Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 6:30-8:30 a.m. The funeral service will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at Sedgewickville Baptist Church at 11 a.m. with Rev. Mike Dugan and Rev. Les Bequette co-offi-ciating. Burial will be at Sedgewickville Baptist Cemetery.


IomaDenton

FroM Page 1a

Sculpin

“Older workers play a vital role in our economy,” said Diane Chambers, state director for Experience Works Senior Community Service Employment Pro-gram and one of this year’s organizers said in a release. “They’re highly valued for qualities such as judgment, commitment to quality, attendance, and punctual-ity. Companies that recruit mature workers can attract top talent in a changing workforce.”

Although not a state winner, Jokerst, 80, who has been employed at John-son and Niswongers for six

years, was recognized for being the selected finalist from Missouri’s Region 8 that had 13 seniors nomi-nated for the contest.

The Outstanding Older Worker of the Year was open to all nominees age 65 and older who are em-ployed at least 20 hours a week at a Missouri job site. Annually, the Experience Works statewide winner is invited to Jefferson City for a luncheon with the governor.

Jokerst has many re-sponsibilities at Johnson and Niswonger, includ-ing answering the phone, scheduling appointments and general clerical duties.

Niswonger said that Patsy is “like family,” and

they would be lost without her.

“She takes care of Jim and I,” Niswonger said. “We are one big family. We rejoice in each other’s successes and lean on one another in the bad times.”

Johnson agreed. “We would be lost with-

out her,” he said. “It isn’t just about Patsy working for us. She also takes the time to volunteer at the nursing home, and for her church.

“She can be a little bossy,” he said jokingly.

Delivering Jokerst’s cer-tificate of recognition last week at the Johnson Nis-wonger office in Perryville were Experience Works representatives JoAnn

Roberts and Julie Allison. Jokerst’s two daughters, Cheryl Winschel and Kris Niccum, were also there to witness their mother’s sur-prise recognition.

“I had no idea I was nominated,” Jokerst said. “I am so honored.”

She also said that she loves her job.

“I’ll be working here until they have to carry me out,” she said laughing.

Experience Works has a wide variety of programs geared toward putting se-nior citizens to work, in-cluding the Senior Commu-nity Service Employment Program. All 104 counties in Missouri currently have programs available through Experience Works.

FroM Page 1a

Jokerst

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The little town of Perryville saw big things happen this past weekend, as several an-nual events kept folks on their toes, whether they perused the square in costume or sampled hot local chili on a cold, windy day.

As is tradition, the last weekend in Octo-ber for Perryville calls for many local events, including Thursday’s Moonlight Madness (a decades-long tradition), Friday’s Poker Walk/Costume Contest and Saturday’s Chili Cook-Off and Perry Park Cen-ter craft fair.

“The weekend really offers family-oriented events in a safe environ-ment,” said Perryville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Me-lissa Hemmann.

The weekend offi-cially kicked off with Moonlight Madness, which was yet again an-other success. Kids and parents showed up in droves, dressed to im-press the judges for the costume contest later in the evening, and to make the annual trek around the square to show off their threads.

There were several little Batmans running around, as well as prin-cesses and pirates — even a miniature Hulk Hogan showed up to show off his mustache and rippling muscles.

One family — grand-parents Allen Richardet

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Grotto scuplin is topic tonight

Political forum is this week

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials will be here to answer questions.

Free event will be at the Park Center, 7 p.m., Thursday.

Landowners and those interested in learning more about the recent news sur-rounding the rare grotto sculpin fish, that can only be found in caves in Perry County, are encouraged to attend a meeting at 5 p.m., tonight, at the Higher Edu-cation Center in Perryville.

Present will be represen-tatives from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Services to an-swer questions.

According to a news release from the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation, the informal informational meeting will center around the proposal to list the grot-to sculpin fish as an endan-gered species.


Interested citizens of Perry County will have an opportunity on Thursday evening to learn more about the candidates and issues that make up the Novem-ber ballot when those seek-ing office take the stage in the main auditorium of the Perry Park Center for a community election forum.

The event begins at 7 p.m., is free of charge and open to the public.

The four local candi-dates from the two con-tested races have agreed to participate in the evening, including incumbent Perry County District One Com-missioner Patrick Heaps, a Democrat, and challenger Republican Donna Ball-man. Also available for questions will be incumbent Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf, a republican, and his challenger, Democrat Ted Christisen.

The Perry County Dem-ocrat Central Committee sponsors the forum, and committee member Mary Bock will serve as the eve-ning’s moderator. It is also co-sponsored by the Perry

See FISH/Page 5A

See FORUM/Page 5A

GHOULS, GOBLINS AND GOOD TIMES

Photo by amanda Keefe

Clayson Harris-Perez, 10 months, Michael Perez-Perez, 2, and Guatalupe Banda, 3, were just three of many costume-clad young-sters on a bench Thursday night for Moonlight Madness.


Pictured are the Best Group winners of the Poker Walk costume contest — the Jamaican Bobsledding team. Winners include Tyler Paulus, Danny Kirn, Brian Buerck, Chance Thompson and Coach Jonathan Paulus (not pictured).

Perryville madness


Little scarecrow Braydn Wibbenmeyer was quite the winner Thursday night at the costume contest, as he placed first for Cutest Baby and Best Home-made Costume.

Thousands partake in several weekend events.

See EVENTS/Page 7A

OBITUARIES, NEWS, FROM PAGE 1A, 4AThe Republic-Monitor Tuesday, October 30, 2012 • Page 5A

Deaths

RhynePerryville

Dorothy Marie Rhyne of Perryville died Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 at The Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was 96.

She was born June 18, 1916 in Cross-town, the daughter of Elia E. and Christina (Bohnert) Sandlin. She was married on May 27, 1937 to Herbert Pingel, who preceded her in death on Aug. 4, 1961. She and Theodore Rhyne were married May 17, 1968, who pre-ceded her in death on Oct. 18, 2001.

Survivors include one daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Jerry Brueckner of Cape Girardeau; three daughters-in-law, Shirley Pingel of Perryville; Betty Roth of Cape Girardeau; and Judy Douglas of Farmington; 10 grandchil-dren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Rhyne had been a sales clerk for Rozier’s Variety Dept for 25 years. She was a member of Immanuel Lu-theran Church, Concordia Ladies Aid, VFW Auxiliary Post 4282, and former DAV Auxiliary member.

She was preceded in death by her parents; both hus-bands; three sons, Robert, Don and Dwight Pingel; and two brothers, Clifford and Willard Sandlin.

Memorials are preferred to Immanuel Lutheran Church or American Heart Association.

Friends may call at Young & Sons Funeral Home on Tuesday, Oct. 30 from 4-8 p.m. with VFW Auxiliary wake at 6:30 p.m. Visitation will continue on Wednesday, Oct. 31 from 6:30-8:30 a.m. The funeral service will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church with Rev. Matthew Marks officiating. Burial will be at the church cemetery.


DorothyRhyne

McDowellFredericktown

Charles “Henry” McDowell of Fredericktown died Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 at his home. He was 92.

He was born May 3, 1920 in Perry County, the son of Charles and Laura (Hawthorne) McDowell. He was mar-ried in Doe Run on April 18, 1947 to Virginia “Gin” Pogue, who preceded him in death on Oct. 26, 2011.

Survivors include two sons, Daniel (Rhonda) McDow-ell of Granite City, Ill. and Ray McDowell of Frohna; one daughter, Nancy Glass and fiancé Jim Flieg of Ste. Geneveive; one sister, Gladys Pogue of Fredericktown; nine grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren and numerous friends.

Henry was a United States World War II Army Veteran. He lived in the Perry County area for several years and had worked at International Shoe Company in Perryville in ma-chine maintenance. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and sit-ting on his front porch visiting with friends and neighbors. He was a member of the Fredericktown VFW Post 4320.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; son, Charles Wayne McDowell; and granddaughter, Stephanie (McDowell) Spotanski.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Honor Tour of Missouri or the Oak Grove Cemetery Fund.

The funeral service will be held Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 11 a.m. at Wilson Funeral Home in Fredericktown with Pastor Lindell Sikes officiating. Burial will be at the Oak Groce Cemetery near Fredericktown with full military honors under the direction of the Missouri National Guard Honors Team.

www.wilson-funeral-home.com

percent of the white vote was Ronald Reagan in 1984.n Statistically,

Romney expects to get 0 percent of the black vote.

Of course, the popular vote doesn’t always mat-ter … just ask Al Gore. In America, the popular vote is more of a show. The United States president is elected by the Electoral College, a group of dis-tinguished citizens sent to Washington to cast their vote based the decision of their state’s voters.

All but two states do that, throw all of their electoral votes to the win-ning candidate. Nebraska and Maine allocate their electoral votes propor-tionately. In Missouri if Obama defeats Romney by a single vote, all 10 of the Show Me State’s electoral votes will go to Obama. In Nebraska, its electoral votes would be split evenly between Obama and Romney.

In the 2000 presiden-tial election, Gore won 48.38 percent of the popular vote and received 266 electoral college votes. Bush got just 47.87 percent of the popular vote, but received 271 electoral college votes to win the election.

That’s happened three other times in our nation’s history. In 1824, Andrew Jackson won both the popular and electoral vote, but not a majority. So members of the U.S. House of Representatives decided the outcome, and they chose John Quincy Adams, won had finished

second to Jackson in both categories. (I’ll bet the newspapers of the period had a field day with that one.)

In 1976, Samuel J. Tilden got 51 percent of the popular vote, while Rutherford B. Hayes captured 48 percent. But Hayes won 185 electoral votes and Tilden got 184. A special electoral com-mission picked Hayes to be president.

In 1888, Benjamin Harrison became presi-dent, winning 233 elec-toral votes. But Harrison received just 47.8 percent of the popular vote. His opponent, Grover Cleve-land, got 48.6 percent of the popular vote, but just 168 electoral votes.

Missourians have elected a Republican in seven of the past 10 elec-tions. Democrats won the Show-Me State in 1976 (Jimmy Carter), and 1992 and 1996 (Bill Clinton).

In fact, in the past 10 elections, the only time Missourians didn’t give the majority of their votes to the person who cap-tured the presidency was in 2008.

One week from today, take a little time to vote. You owe it to yourself to participate in our great Democracy. Plus, we’ve got a long way to go be-fore we catch Mongolia.

(Tay Smith is the edi-tor and publisher of the Republic-Monitor. Email him at [email protected].)

From Page 4a

From Page 4a

Naeger

SmithCounty Republican Central Committee, the Perry Park Center and the Republic-Monitor.

“We invite citizens to bring in questions that they would like to ask of the candidates, or we will have paper and pen available for them to submit questions,”

moderator Bock said. “We welcome all input.”

Bock said the evening will begin with short pre-sentations from each can-didate, followed by a pre-sentation from Associate Circuit Court Judge Mi-chael J. Bullerdieck to offer information about Amend-ment 3 that will be on the November ballot, which, if passed, would grant the governor the power to ap-

point four members to the Appellate Judicial Commis-sion.

In addition to the town hall style questioning from the audience, Perryville City Administrator Brent Buerck will deliver short addresses updating citizens on the cur-rent happenings in the city of Perryville. “We will close the evening with questions from the audience,” Bock said.

Also on the ballot next month will be: Proposition A, which would require that all municipal police forces or departments be controlled by the local governing body; Proposition B, that would impose an additional $1 tax on each package of 20 cigarettes; and Proposition E that, if passed, would pro-hibit the creation of a health insurance exchange unless created by legislature or ini-tiative.

(DPP) trial found that reducing fat and calorie and increasing physical activity led to modest weight loss and a 58 percent reduction in Type 2 diabetes in high-

risk adults. Better Yet? The benefits of these lifestyle changes lasted over several years. It had the biggest bang for the buck in people 60 and older.

Other simple diet changes may make a huge difference as well. For example blueberries and

apples are tied to a lower diabetes risk. And, one re-cent study showed a strong link between white rice and diabetes, with a 10 percent increase in risk for each additional serving eaten! Instead, explore the world of whole grains — brown rice, barley, quinoa or

buckwheat. You may find you’ve been missing some nutritious — and delicious — alternatives.

Still perplexed? Not sure what to do? Remember to check out the resources at www.heathmart.com.

(Barry Naeger is a phar-macist in Perryville.)

Because of the uncertain effects on land use and eco-nomic development, the Perry County Farm Bureau and Perryville Mayor Deb-bie Gahan are urging the

public to attend this impor-tant meeting. The public will be able to ask questions of the USFWS biologists.

Part of the listing process would include designat-ing critical habitat. Experts believe the small fish lives in underground caves only in Perry County. U.S. Fish

and Wildlife is proposing to place 36.8 square miles of underground aquatic habi-tat and 19.2 miles of sur-face stream under a critical habitat designation. All of the proposed areas would be east of Interstate 55 and include properties part of U.S. Highways 61 and 51,

and the city of Perryville.Of the total area of land

identified, 89 percent of the underground habitat and all of the surface stream miles are located on privately-owned land.

The Higher Education Center is located at 108 South Progress Drive.

colleague Kit Bond charged a “criminal enterprise” and called for a federal investigation into a judge’s decision to keep some polling places in St. Louis City open past legal closing hours. The state party’s chair charged there had been an organized effort to steal the election.

Eight years later, the Republican loser for gov-ernor took a quite different approach to defeat. “I love Missouri too much for our state to remain divided,” Kenny Hulshof said.

Campaign staffers are affected almost as deeply as the candidate in defeat. Many are dedicated to their candidates. They have sac-rificed enormous hours and time on their candidate’s behalf.

Like their candidates, some are magnanimous in defeat. Often they become remarkably candid with reporters because they no longer are obligated to protect their employers. Or, for some, you almost sense a desire to distance themselves from a failed campaign by spilling dirt on how things would have been better if they had been in control.

But some staffers get bitter, even more bitter than their candidates.

Among the most bitter I’ve encountered were some of the campaign staff for the 1992 GOP can-didate for governor, Bill Webster.

Arriving at the election-night watch for a campaign that clearly was going to lose, I was told by top staff that I would not be given any information by them because of how I had

covered reports of a federal criminal investigation that had sunk Webster’s cam-paign.

The story actually had been broken by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in what was one of the best investigative reporting ef-forts I’ve seen in Missouri. But in picking up on the newspaper’s investigations, I became the target of staff bitterness.

It turned out that it actu-ally gave me a reporting advantage.

Seeing me excluded be-cause of staff revenge, I was invited to the private table where sat the candidate’s mother and the long-term administrative assistant to the candidate’s father, the late Sen. Dick Webster, who had been one of the lions of the Missouri Senate.

From there I got a unique perspective on the passing of a major Mis-

souri political dynasty and the pain that political loss inflicts on family. It reminded me of the pain I first encountered in Haskell Holman’s 1970 defeat.

We should not forget that Webster, his family and his staff suffered the pain of loss because of Webster’s own criminal ac-tivities for which he spent time in federal prison.

But for so many others, I’ve come to understand that part of the sacrifice paid by some public ser-vants and their families is the pain of loss.

(Phill Brooks has been a Missouri statehouse re-porter since 1970, making him dean of the statehouse press corps. He is the state-house correspondent for KMOX Radio, director of MDN and a faculty member of the Missouri School of Journalism.)

From Page 1a

Brooks

From Page 1a

Fish

From Page 1a

Forum

Questions? Call R-M at 547-4567.


Perryville’s community efforts and projects were recognized recently at the Missouri Community Better-ment (MCB) conference held at Lake Ozark, where the city received three first-place awards.

MCB helps Missouri communities enhance their quality of life through community development, and every year encourages Missouri cities to submit the top projects they feel better their town.

This year, Perryville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Me-lissa Hemmann said the city submitted several community projects, including the newly implemented TIF district, the recycling center, Challenger Base-ball and the Ladies of Charity Food Pantry. For their respective category, Perryville took first for having the best

collection of projects for towns in its population group.

Perryville also submitted a youth-oriented project, Teen Council: Build-ing Communities Together, and placed not only first for its community cate-gory, but also won the overall award for all youth groups, the Glenn Smith Youth Group of the Year Award.

“Every year, we pick projects that we felt adhered to our own community betterment,” Hemmann said. “It’s re-ally a way to spotlight what your com-munity has done. This shows that your community is proactive.”

During the summer, presentations are given for each project to MCB judges who visit respective towns. Then, in September, awards are given based on the presentations.

“We won because the people that were the presenters [of our projects] when the judges were here were so passionate,” Hemmann said. “And it

totally showed through. You could see and feel the passion in the room that day. Kudos to those who presented.”

For Hemmann, this is the first year since she’s been a Chamber member that Perryville has received a first-place win, let alone three. Before Hemmann worked with the Chamber, Perryville took a first place award in 2004, and in 1986 won the Gene Speichinger Community of the Year Award. Hemmann said Perryville has entered every single conference held for the last 49 years.

On Nov. 20 at noon, MCB will present a sign that reads, “We’re a First Place MCB Town,” and then post it on the bypass.

“We’ll also represent the commu-nity with their awards again, so we can bring it back to a local level,” said Jan Simon, MCB executive director. “We do it so people in town, and out of town, can see what you won.”

Perryville honored for excellence

Submitted Photo

Those representing Perryville at the 49th annual Missouri Community Betterment conference in Lake Ozark include (front, from left) Teen Council Representative Hannah Lee, Chamber Board Member Robynne Duvall, Chamber Administrative Assistant Cari Barnes, Chamber Executive Director Melissa Hemmann, Kathleen Brue-genhemke (back) EDA Director Chris Pieper, Teen Council champerone Terry Lee and Teen Council representa-tive Jordan Lee.

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Election Day is TuesdayPolls are open 6 a.m.-7 p.m.; voters can still make address changes, says county clerk.By Amanda [email protected]

After months of political ads blanketing the print and airwaves, Perry County voters will finally head to the polls Tuesday, along with citizens from across the nation, to cast their ballots to elect officials to serve ev-erywhere from Washington, D.C., to local county offices. Polling places will open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Perry County Clerk Randy Taylor wants to remind residents that there is still time to make address changes to their existing voter registrations.

“Voters that have not voted in several years and have moved will want to update their Perry County addresses to eliminate hassles on Election Day at the polls,” Tay-lor said.

For the past five weeks, those Missouri-ans unable to visit their local polling place on Election Day have been casting their votes via absentee ballot. Taylor said that his office has received several absentee bal-lots thus far.

“We have had quite a few absentee votes in,” he said.

Taylor is expecting a higher-than-av-erage number of voters to turn out for the election, since it is a presidential race, and with more people comes longer lines at the polls. For the last presidential election held in 2008, 8,727 people in Perry County voted, and according to Taylor, at that time, there were 11,609 registered voters, result-ing in 75 percent of those eligible to cast a ballot taking the time to do so. This time around, there are 11,827 active registered voters, so he is expecting the number of people at the polls to be just as high, if not higher.

“We need to remind voters to be patient

See Vote/Page 5A

Submitted Photo

Paramy Mahathath’s brother Pom, his niece Marinna and nephew Marcus play a round of Frisbee golf at a course in Cape Girardeau. Mahathath is on a mission to make Frisbee golf mainstream in Perryville and thinks the city park would be the ideal location for a course. He has made plans to approach city leaders in the beginning steps of making his idea a reality.

Could Frisbee golf be the next big thing for the Perryville City Park?


Paramy Mahathath is a man on a mission, and that mission is educat-ing the public about an inexpensive sporting activity called Frisbee golf that he’d like to see become main-stream in Perryville, and he thinks the Perryville City Park provides the perfect location for a course.

Mahathah became a fan of Fris-bee golf during his “poor days” as a broke college student.

“I had buddies that would want to play golf, and I just couldn’t af-ford the course fees,” Mahathath said. “Then someone introduced me to Frisbee golf and I was hooked. Most courses are free, and the discs you use to play are relatively inex-pensive, about $4 or $5 each. It’s an activity that is a lot of fun and

Paramy Mahathath is working to make his favorite pastime mainstream in the community.

See Frisbee/Page 10A

BIG TALK ABOUT A LITTLE FISH

PhotoS by amanda Keefe

More than 120 people turned out Tuesday to get the facts from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the possibil-ity of endangering the grotto sculpin, and what this means for landowners. USFWS biologist Shauna Marquardt is pictured addressing the crowd.

Fish’s fate stirs dialogue


It was a full house Tuesday at the Perryville Higher Education Center as Perryville and Perry County residents squeezed into tight quarters, shoulder to shoulder, to listen and ask questions about the recent fish that has made quite a splash in the community.

The grotto sculpin fish, said to dwell only in the caves of Perry Coun-ty and nowhere else in the world, is in danger of becoming endangered — but what does it have to do with the Perry County community, and how does it affect them?

In recent weeks, there has been discussion that, should the fish be deemed endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 89 percent of

privately owned Perry County land would be considered critical habitat for the cave-dwelling species.

This worried not only city and county officials, but also landowners

and residents. Did that mean landown-ers would have to abide by specific federal rules in order to protect this

Worried land owners pack the Higher Ed Center for meeting about the fate of a rare fish.

See FisH/Page 10A

Pirate volleyball team to play in state tourney

Perry County School District 32 will dismiss at 1 p.m. on Friday to allow students, teach-ers and parents of athletes to attend the first round of play at the Show-Me-Center in Cape Girardeau. Lady Pirates face off against Westminster at 3 p.m.

U.S. Fish and Wild-life Service biologist Shauna Marquardt explains to Perry County residents why the federal agency could list the grotto sculpin as an endan-gered spe-cies.

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fish? Or furthermore, would it mean they’d have to “turn over” their land to the fed-eral government?

To answer these ques-tions, a public meeting was held Tuesday — one that stirred the crowd and perhaps spirited even more questions.

Before said questions could be answered, USFWS representative and biologist Shauna Marquardt spoke on behalf of the agency Tuesday, attempting to shed light on exactly how and why this all came about.

It began when USFWS was sued by two separate entities.

First, in 2004, they were sued by the Center for Bio-logical Diversity (of which Marquardt called a “watch-dog agency”) to “move forward with the listing of potentially endangered spe-cies.”

“The species became a candidate for endangerment [in 2002]. This didn’t mean we were moving forward with the listing process, it just means it’s a species of concern, and we implement conservation measures that might stop the need for listing the species [as en-dangered],” Marquardt said Tuesday.

“In 2004, we were sued by the Center for Biological Diversity who petitioned us to move forward with the listing for this species. We were only given two years at that time to remove the need to list the species.

“Not a lot happened as far as moving forward with this. It remained on the candidate list from 2004 to 2012 … it didn’t gain a lot of traction, and the move-ment went away. That’s what led to the most recent lawsuit. It was a big one for us.”

Earlier this year, USFWS was sued a second time by the Wild Earth Guardians (WEG) to move forward with the listing process as well.

“They sued us to move forward with the list for over 400 species in the United States,” Marquardt said. “The grotto sculpin happened to be one of them. We were told to basically make a determination — do we list it? Do we not? I can say that it wasn’t a high spe-cies on our priority list prior to this lawsuit … because of this lawsuit, the sculpin was on the first tier of species.”

Marquardt reiterated

time and again that USFWS was given only a year from the time they were court-ordered (late September) to discern whether the fish is, in fact, endangered. Though a settlement was made in the lawsuit, this action is still a must in the eyes of the law. Currently, Marquardt said they’re in the “public comment phase,” of which they’re given 60 days to enact. By next September, they are to come up with an answer.

The main reason for list-ing the fish as endangered is because of the pollution, chemicals and toxins leach-ing through sinkholes into the water systems of which the sculpin dwell.

“Sinkholes function similar to surface streams in the area,” said Mar-quardt. “Water entering the sinkholes travels rapidly through the surface.”

To alleviate the problem, USFWS proposed creating a partnership, and/or plan, with Perry County to rid the sinkholes of the constant collected pollutants that populate them.

“The idea is to create a partnership as we move for-ward,” she said. “We would work with private landown-ers on incentive programs.”

Marquardt said there would be no regulations on private land activities — as long as certain rules were followed. They include: no unlawful harm, harassment or killing of species, and no unlawful adverse modifica-tion of designated critical habitat.

“We do not tell landown-ers what they can or cannot do with their land,” she said.

“No ultimate decision has been made. This is not meant to stop anything that happens in Perry County,” she said. “We don’t antici-pate major changes in your life. This doesn’t stop agri-culture or industry.”

After Marquardt spoke, President and Senior Hy-drogeologist of Ozark Underground Laboratory Thomas Aley spoke to the crowd.

He claimed to wear two hats — one advocating for wildlife conservation, and one as a private landowner himself, who happened to live on Missouri property where endangered spe-cies dwelled. He said that no real repercussions have come of living on “endan-gered species property,” and that he’s actually gotten benefits from it.

“I’ve had nothing but

good experiences with the [USFWS],” Aley said. “No-body has come down to tell me what I do with my land. Nobody. Endangered species don’t need to be a threat. They are an asset.”

Afterward, Missouri De-partment of Conservation representative Jason Crites spoke on behalf of some of the preventative measures that can be taken by local landowners and commu-nity members to eliminate the pollution problem, ulti-mately alleviating the pos-sibility of listing the sculpin as endangered.

“What can you do as landowners?” Crites asked. “The best management practices include vegeta-tive buffers, sinkhole clean-outs, spring protection and improving land-use man-agement.”

The Question SessionAfter a quick break, the

time came for the 100-plus residents to ask the ques-tions they’d been sitting on all night.

A man in the crowd asked, “What happens if the grotto sculpin actually be-comes extinct? What is the impact?”

Marquardt responded,

“If the sculpin goes extinct, it’s an indicator of a bigger problem. It’s sort of going to be some sort of omen of, hey, we’ve got a bigger problem.”

Another question arose from the crowd.

“If the [grotto sculpin] gets put on the list, you talk about water quality; drain off. Is it going to effect farmer’s chemicals close to a sinkhole or spring? What’s the recourse of it if you find water quality con-taminated where the fish is at — what can happen to the landowner?”

Marquardt said, “Those practices that [Crites] showed earlier are what we’d like to see. If there’s no federal permits/fund-ing, then you don’t have to implement those practices. Those would be voluntary at that point. A connection would have to be made — if there’s a mortality event of fish, there has to be some sort of connection. We’d have to prove where that fish kill originated … it’s not likely we’d be able to do that. We wouldn’t know ex-actly where that water that killed the fish came from.”

Then, a man piped up from the crowd regarding the specific figure USFWS gave earlier in their presen-tation regarding the number of grotto sculpin in exis-tence, configured in 2008.

“You said there’s 4,200 individual fish?”

“Yes, that’s an estimate,” Marquardt said.

“Why don’t you base it more on fact, and not just what you think? How many were there in 1991 [when they were first discov-ered]?”

“We don’t exactly know,” she said.

“So how do you know there hasn’t been an in-crease and not a decrease?”

“We know that we only can census what we can census,” she responded. “… In order to determine popu-lation, you have to mark every individual fish ... I’m not going to say it’s impos-sible. It could be done, but it’s a tremendous study. We have to work off our best available data, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”

The man continued, claiming that USFWS posed a lot of inadequacies and guesses, and continu-ously called what they pre-sented “not factual.”

Crites chimed in and said, “For us to continue to learn [about the sculpin] is what we want to do.”

Water conditions were

brought up among the crowd, and how somehow, the sculpin managed to sur-vive all this time in less than decent conditions, so why do this now?

“You say the fish survive amongst these water condi-tions,” Marquardt respond-ed. “... We have two docu-mented fish kills that wiped out populations of cavefish. It’s documented, on the re-cord, in Perry County. It took about six years before we had any individual fish back in that area.”

Someone asked, “How do you know they’re endangered?” She responded, “It’s based on a threat analysis. We know we have fish kills, so what kind of things cause those kills?”

“Are they in decline?”“It doesn’t have to be in

decline to be listed on the endangered species list,” Marquardt said. “Decline is only one aspect, and it’s not a requirement. It’s basically if this species is sitting on the edge, on the brink. Ba-sically, the perfect storm is there, and given the nudge at some point, it could cause extinction or population level declines to the point where it could not recover.”

In the midst of discus-sion, USFWS Field Su-pervisor Amy Salveter re-sponded to angry comments as to why, again, must this decision be made?

“We have been court-or-dered to make a decision … we have statutory require-ments on how we make that decision … our hands are tied,” she said.

“We did not choose to do this … I know you make conservatory success by winning trust and that is the course that we want to take. That’s what we thought we were doing.”

The debate continued for more than an hour, and questions were thrown around the room regarding whether landowners would be responsible or held liable should this fish become en-dangered.

The possibility, again, of a “community plan” arose, as well as the USFWS urg-ing citizens to put all their thoughts and questions in writing, and submit it to them via post mail or through www.regulations.gov. A final decision must be made by September 2013 on the USFWS’s part. In the meantime, both the agency and the community agreed to create some kind of community plan to make this happen in the most neu-tral of terms.

From Page 1a

Fish

doesn’t cost a lot.”The game is played just

like golf, but instead of hit-ting a small ball into a cup in the ground, a player tosses a Frisbee or disc at a wire basket set on top of a waist-high pole. Like golf, there are courses with either nine or 18 “holes.”

According to the Disc Golf Association, disc or Frisbee golf was said to have been established by Ed Headrick, who founded the International Frisbee As-sociation among other disc sport activities, and eventu-ally went on to create and standardize the sport of disc golf in 1975.

The first rudimentary course was installed at Oak Grove Park in Los Angeles, Calif. Today, there are more than 3,000 formal courses

in the United States. Mahathath said there

are several surrounding communities with Frisbee golf courses, including Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and Farmington, to name a few.

“My family and I have played at courses all over the place,” he said. “The best thing about this sport is anyone can play. It appeals to so many age groups. You don’t have to be a super athlete, but it is a great way to get some light exercise. Plus it is a terrific family activity.”

He says he also thinks that a course would attract Frisbee golf enthusiast to Perryville, which could be great for the local economy.

The growth of the sport locally could lead to addi-tional leagues for the Parks and Recreation Depart-ment, and the potential of added local revenue should

a large Frisbee golf tour-naments be hosted in Per-ryville.

Mahathath feels that the Perryville City Park has more than enough room to fit the 18 stations that make up a course, and he says he thinks it would be a great way to uti-lize certain areas of the park that are currently void of any field, or path.

“I’ve talked with Jared Tanz and Chad Unterreiner at the Perry Park Center, and both seemed enthu-siastic about the prospect of installing a course. We have drawn a rough map of where each basket would be placed in the park.”

Should the course be located in the city park, it would give the local school the ability to utilize the course and teach children

about Frisbee golf during physical education classes, creating a whole new gen-eration of fans for the sport.

Mahathath estimates that a course could be installed for roughly $18,000, of which he would like to see enough interest generated in the sport that local busi-nesses or individuals would contribute money to make the course a reality.

“I don’t want to see the city fund the entire cost of the course,” he said. “My estimation is high, for the cost, figuring $1,000 for a basket set on a concrete slab. I would like to try and raise the money privately, then the city would only be in charge of mowing around the pads.”

City Administrator Brent Buerck has spoken

informally with Mahathath about the prospect of bring a course to Perryville.

“This idea will be con-sidered along with other budget priorities during our process,” Buerck said.

Recently, Mahathath made plans to get his idea

formally on the books. “I talked to my alder-

man, and he suggested I ap-proach the city council, so that is what I’m doing.

“I am on the agenda to address the board in one week, and I am excited about the meeting.”

From Page 1aFrisbee

Photo by AmAndA KeeFe

Resident Pat Naeger had plenty to say at Tuesday’s meeting regarding listing the grotto sculpin as an endangered species in Perry County.

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THURSDAY >>> NOVEMBER 8, 2012 >>> 75¢ VOLUME 133 >>> ISSUE 89


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At the 11th hour of the 11th day of 11th month, people across the nation will pause to pay tribute to veterans.

This year’s Veterans Day ceremony will be held on the north steps of the Perry Coun-ty Courthouse located on the downtown square in Perryville at 10 a.m. Sunday.

VFW Post 4282 will host the annual observance that will include a welcome ad-dress from Perryville Mayor Debbie Gahan.

Parade participants will assemble at the American Legion at 9:30 a.m. and depart from the Legion at 10 a.m.

Keynote speaker Ross Gartmanis, a for-mer Missouri National Guardsman, was instrumental in working with legislation known as the Heroes Way Interchange Des-ignation Program, which allows relatives of fallen service men and women to submit their loved one’s name to the Missouri De-partment of Transportation for recognition at a highway interchange.

Gartman was inspired to seek recognition for his friend and fellow soldier, Staff Sgt. Bradley Skelton of Gordonville who was


In the midst of the grotto sculpin controversy that has

come to Perry County, it was suggested at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) public meeting a few weeks back that a com-munity plan would greatly benefit the area.

Community plans are fairly common when pro-posals arise like the one

from USFWS, and though it would seem a rare, small, white fish is the pivotal piece in all of this, a com-munity plan addresses envi-ronmental issues on a much broader spectrum.

To mediate the process


A wreck in Perry County Monday in-volving a mother and her three children sent all four passengers to the hospital, as none were wearing a safety device.

The family, from Frohna, was travel-ing westbound on Highway A when driver Connie Roth, 39, failed to negotiate a curve to the right, according to a Missouri High-way Patrol report.

Roth lost control on the wet pavement and her vehicle, a 2004 GMC Envoy, trav-eled off the right side of the road, ejecting Roth and two of her children.

“From witness testimony, though no one was there at the time of the accident, three of the four people were ejected, though one of the children is not confirmed,” said Troop C Missouri Highway Trooper Jim Sauer. “No one actually saw the wreck.”

The vehicle was totaled, and both Roth and one of the children, 8, were seriously injured. The 3-year-old and 6-year-old sus-tained minor injuries, according to the report.

“No one has died as of yet,” Sauer said. “Though [Roth] was in pretty bad shape and the oldest child had some pretty serious injuries.”

All four were transported to St. Francois Medical Center.

“It was a typical rollover,” Sauer said. “The top sides were smashed in, as well as the roof, and the windows were broken out. The car overturned one and a half times.”

See Veteran/Page 13a

Veterans Day service Sunday

Two children are ejected when a vehicle wrecks on Highway A. Their mother remains in serious condition.

SUV flips, injures four


Although a high voter turnout was expected, only 68 percent of the registered voters in Perry County cast a ballot on Tuesday. Local incumbents won big

Tuesday night, with long-time Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf being overwhelmingly favored for a sixth term, easily defeating Democratic challenger Ted Chris-tisen, 6,457 to 1,362, according to unofficial election results.

Also coming out on top was Perry County District 1 Commis-sioner Democrat Patrick Heaps, who squeaked by Republican

challenger Donna Ballman, with 51.69 percent of the vote to Ballman’s 48.12 percent.

Heaps expressed gratitude at being re-elected.“I would like to thank all my supporters, Donna

ran a tough campaign. It was close. You have to take your opponent seriously. I will do the best I can to serve the people of my district. I think the commis-sion works well together, and I look forward to con-tinuing with them.”

Despite local voters favoring Todd Akin in the

Photo by amanda Layton

The end of the workday saw lines at Precinct 2, located at city hall, full as Perryville residents scrambled to get their vote cast before the 7 p.m. deadline. Perry County voted Republican in nearly every race; the clear exception being the District One Commissioner seat, won by incumbent commissioner Patrick Heaps, a Democrat.

Photo by amanda Layton

Election officials from Precinct 5 in Perry County were the first to turn in ballots to the County Clerk on Tuesday night after the polls closed. The precinct reported just under the county average with 66 percent casting a ballot.

Perry picks red; Mo. goes blue

See results/Page 5a

See Plan/Page 5a

Perry County bucked state trend by picking Republicans in a majority of state and local races. Local incumbents win big.

Plan aims to enhance environmental stability in area, address fish.

Area officials devise community plan

THE VOTES ARE IN

FiLe Photo

Community leaders work on a plan addressing the rare grotto sculpin.

WantMore?Complete precinct election results can be found on Page 10A.

of creating a plan, Commu-nity Development Special-ist Celeste Vanderbrugen was called in.

“Sometimes, a commu-nity representative will call me and say, ‘Something just happened, and we’re not exactly sure what our op-tions are to handle this,’” Vanderbrugen said. “I look at it first as a mediator. How do we bring everyone together to have the same conversation? My job is to put together pieces of the plan and to facilitate. The process is just as important as the product.”

The main motive behind the plan?

“For the community to have a voice,” she said. “We want the community to be heard.”

The aim behind Perry County’s particular plan, Vanderbrugen said, is to ad-vocate, enhance and better represent the environmen-tally friendly measures that Perry County has already taken, and to see them progress in the future. For instance, Perry County has assumed the responsibility of cleaning sinkholes, in-stalling a successful recy-cling system, creating an air quality board and creating a septic replacement pro-gram, among other things.

“Perry County has been addressing quality of life for generations,” Vanderbrugen

said. “There are people here with good common sense, the know-how and tremen-dous skills and abilities.”

Perry County Economic Development Director Scott Sattler expounded on this.

“We’re expanding on our current economic and environmental success,” Sattler said. “We’ll docu-ment all the successes of Perry County and the good management practices that our farmers, citizens, busi-nesses etc. adhere to.”

And, as Vanderbrugen said before (and as the com-munity plan suggests), it’s not about the grotto sculpin — the small cave-dwelling fish is merely an element of it.

“This isn’t about the fish,” she said. “It’s more about the quality of life. The fish is considered an indicator spe-cies, which indicates when there are bigger problems. In this case, it’s an indicator of water quality [in the area].”

Sattler added, “We know there’s a water quality report out there which identifies is-sues. How do we compensate that now? How do we make it better for the future?”

The community plan would act as the catalyst to correct the problems for the future.

But, as both Vanderbru-gen and Sattler insisted, the community has a voice in developing this plan.

“We’re working with landowners, Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) and the Farm

Bureau to determine best management practices and building on current commu-nity successes,” Sattler said.

They also insisted that this is not about regulations — “it’s about doing more of what [Perry County] has al-ready been doing,” Vander-brugen said. “This is so the community can survive, and continue to thrive.”

To make the plan hap-pen, Perry County and Per-ryville are partnering with USFWS, as well as other entities.

“We’re working with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Department of Natural Re-sources to make sure the community plan integrates concerns in an effective manner, and to keep con-sistent with community goals,” Sattler said.

Those representing the community plan include the Perry County Commis-sion, the City of Perryville, EDA, SWCD and the Farm Bureau.

But, there is another component to all of this — as was evident after the public meeting Oct. 30, residents left the four-hour conference with un-answered questions and comments. Sattler and Vanderbrugen urge Perry County to make it a point to comment in all means pos-sible (via the website, www.regulations.gov, or via mail, addressed to Public Com-ments Processing, Attn: FWS-R3-ES-2012-0065

Division of Policy and Di-rectives Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 4410 N. Fairfax Dr., MS 2042-PDM Arlington, VA 22203), as there are only three weeks left for the community to put in their two cents, or ask questions.

“Right now, we’re in the middle of the comment period,” Sattler said. “The public needs a voice. There are only three comments, and they are all from en-vironmental groups. None are from people who live and work here. Please com-ment.”

The deadline to com-ment is Nov. 26.

The EDA has set up public open houses to as-sist the community to make thoughtful comments. Per-sonnel will be available to answer questions. The fol-lowing locations and dates are available:

Higher Education Center:Tuesday, Nov. 13, 3 p.m. to

6 p.m.Wednesday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m.

to 9 p.m.Tuesday, Nov. 20, 3 p.m. to

6 p.m.Wednesday, Nov. 21, 5 p.m.

to 9 p.m.

Perryville Area Career Center:

Thursday, Nov. 15, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

People can come to the Missouri Extension Office for computer availabil-ity Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

NEWS AND OBITUARIESThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Thursday, November 8, 2012 • Page 5A

Deaths

SchillingNashville, ill.

Ray Schilling of Nashville, Ill. departed this life at St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon,

Ill. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012. He was 81.He was born on Oct. 30, 1931 in Alten-

burg, the son of Rudolph and Clara (Loebs) Schilling. He was united in marriage on Sept. 10, 1960 to Virginia Fornkahl, who preceded him in death. He later was united in marriage on April 24, 1982 to Kay Woytus, who preceded him in death. Ray then was united in marriage on Nov. 6, 2010 to Cecilia Stanowski of Nashville, Ill., who survives.

Other survivors include three children, Stephanie (David) Ritter of Buffalo Grove, Ill.; Tamara (Paul) Muel-ler of Collinsville, Ill. and Christopher Schilling of Wauke-gan, Ill.; 10 step-children, Sharon Tworek of Carol Stream, Ill.; Theresa (John) Dietzman of Plover, Wis.; Robert (Mar-cie) Woytus of Ballwin; Carol Gilbert of Plover, Wis.; Ste-ven (Cari) Woytus of Mesa, Ariz.; Richard (Alison) Woy-tus of Elk Grove Village, Ill.; John Rolf and special friend Kim of DuBois, Ill.; David (Pat) Rolf of Nashville; Carol (Joel) Gann of Sarasota, Fla. and Kevin (Laurie) Stanowski of Posen, Ill.; three sisters, Myrtle Kuehnert and Lillian Fiehler, both of Altenburg; Lorene (Leonard) Haertling of Nashville; two brothers, Melvin (Mary) Schilling of Froh-na; and Harold Deb) Schilling of Jackson, MO; 37 grand-children; seven step-great-grandchildren; nieces, nephews, other relations and friends.

Ray was a member of the United States Army. He then worked as a service representative for Allis Chalmers for 25 years until his retirement. He was a member of the Trin-ity Lutheran Church in Nashville, Ill., the Agri Business and the Good Samaritan Auxiliary. Ray enjoyed gardening, boating and camping.

He was preceded in death by his parents; first wife; sec-ond wife and a brother, Leonard Schilling.

Should friends desire memorials can be made to the St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital Auxiliary or to a Luther-an Church of the donor’s choice and will be accepted by the Campagna Funeral Home.

Friends may call at the Campaga Funeral Home in Nash-ville, Ill. on Friday, Nov. 9 from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 10 at the church from 10 a.m. until the service hour.

The funeral service will be held at the Faith Lutheran Church in Mt. Vernon, Ill. on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. with Pastor Josepha Lecke and Pastor Russell Johnson offi-ciating. Interment will be at Mt. Vernon Memorial Gardens in Mt. Vernon.

Online expressions of sympathy can be made at www.campagnafuneralhomes.com

RaySchilling

the first administration to reform our medical care system.

n Systemic reform of medicare and social security focused on insur-ing that middle class and working class citizens are covered and those who with substantial wealth pro-vide more compensation to insure the solvency of these important programs.

n A massive publicly financed jobs/work pro-gram focused on rehabili-tating our decaying infra-structure and building state of the art rail mass transit, and a stepped increase of our minimum wage.

n A green energy/en-ergy conservation program focused on significant incentives for green energy conversion by businesses and individual citizens and significant government investment in green energy research and development.

And how in the world do we achieve these re-forms in the face of all the anger, distrust and acri-mony we’ve seen over the last four years and another divided Congress?

The above problems are serious and will not go away just because we hide our heads in the sand or try to blame them on the other side. We must find a way to sit down together and accomplish these reforms. Cutting taxes and cutting

government programs will not, cannot solve them, virtually any economist understands this. Citizens who don’t understand the need for these reforms, or are afraid of the cost of them will, in all likelihood rant and complain. But office holders from both parties must be able, must have the courage to stand up and make the tough decisions, whatever their constituency says, whatever the complaints whatever the rants and raves.

So what will get us where we need to be, where we must get to if this nation is to survive and have an opportunity to retain its position as the moral and economic leader of this world of ours?

- Political courage and conviction from office holders of both parties, and awareness of, and convic-tion by citizens of this country that we must take this country back from the wealthy few who for the last 40 years have more and more have come to domi-nate it and take it from us. It’s time to move forward. Do we have a mandate? Folks, the real mandate is the voices of our children and the dreams of our grand children. Let us give them the country we desire for them and the country which they deserve. It is time.

(Jim Martin is a resi-dent of Perryville. Email him at [email protected].)

and red tape. He finally admitted that government regulations and red tape get in the way of progress. Probably an unintended consequence of not reading from a teleprompter. He actually spoke the truth, even though unintended.

Relative to Mega-storm Sandy, here’s a concept. To the many Middle East coun-tries that sponsor terrorism, hate us, want us dead and receive billions in foreign aide, here’s your sign. You’re cut off. We’re finished with you. Since no other country has offered assistance to us in our tragedy, we’re gonna need all of our money to

Help our own people. Ok, Libs., tell me where I’m wrong. Please!

With a Romney presi-dency, which I hope has happened by the time this goes to press, I guarantee you there will be no look-ing back and blaming the last guy for everything bad that happens. Mr. Romney will not simply take office on Jan. 20, 2013, he will accept responsibility for that office, as well. Let’s reach out to our neighbor with that “other” yard sign and walk with them toward a bigger, brighter future for our kids and grandkids. Let’s get this economy moving with fewer gov-ernment regulations and red tape. Let’s become energy independent, and

put control of our education system back in the hands of moms and dads, teach-ers, and students….not the Federal Employee Unions and Teachers Unions. Let’s take our country back and not bow to any King, or acquiesce to any foreign government. Let’s act like our land is worth defending and protect our board-ers with conviction….not empty words. Let’s take care of our own before we try to take care of the rest of the world, and let’s not continue to apologize for being great. Let us once again become the envy of the rest of the world. Four more years of the same, and blame someone else, will not get us there.

So, excuse me, but I’m

just not available for a warm campfire moment with any of these people. Regardless of whom we get for the next four years, we have a ton of hard, gut-wrenching, unpopular work to do. It’s gonna take real leadership, which means it’s gonna require a change from the last four years. Here’s hoping that change has happened. Regardless, God Bless our great country and that for which it stands. And never fear…the United States of America will be back. Stay positive, stay focused, and be true to your heart.

(Jim Johnson is a resi-dent of Perryville. Email him at [email protected].)

From Page 4a

From Page 1a

Johnson

Plan

From Page 4a

From Page 1a

Martin

Results

SeitzGreeN river, WyomiNG

Dorothy Seitz of Green River, Wy. died Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012.

She was born March 26, 1923 in Perryville, the daughter of August and Rose (Moore) Kiefer. She was married in 1961 to George Seitz, who preceded her in death.

Survivors include two sisters of Montana.She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; one

daughter; 10 brothers and six sisters.Burial was at Riverview Cemetery in Green River, Wy.

U.S. Senate race, incum-bent Democrat Claire Mc-Caskill was the clear win-ner statewide, making her the first Democratic sena-tor in Missouri to win re-election since 1980.

In the presidential race, Perry County was red, as Republican Mitt Romney captured just more than 70 percent of the vote, and President Barack Obama received a mere 2,184 votes of the more than 8,000 casted.

Longtime U. S. District 8 Representative, Repub-lican Jo Ann Emerson, received more than 80 per-cent of the vote in Perry County, and made easy work of her challengers to win her ninth term repre-senting southeast Missouri.

Incumbent Governor Democrat Jeremiah (Jay) Nixon was not the favorite in Perry County, but did win the statewide nod for another term.

Peter Kinder was heav-ily favored for lieutenant governor in Perry and also took the state. Although Shane Schoeller was Perry County’s pick, Democrat Jason Kander will be Mis-souri’s secretary of state.

In the race for treasurer, Republican Cole McNary received 62 percent of the vote in Perry County, but

incumbent Clint Zweifel took the state with just over 50 percent.

Perry County voters said no to Proposition B, regarding an increase on cigarette tax, and the state of Missouri agreed, with the measure being narrow-ly defeated.

Proposition A over-whelming passed in the state, which requires all municipal police forces or departments be controlled by the local governing body, instead of the state legislature.

Proposition E, the pro-posal aimed at prohibit-ing the establishment of a health care exchange by the Missouri governor passed with 68 percent of the vote across the state, and Constitutional Amend-ment 3, regarding judicial appointments, was voted down with a commanding 68 percent. Of the 11,834 voters in Perry County, 8,066 cast a ballot on Tues-day, for a percentage of 68, down from the 75 percent that voted in 2008.

“Lack of local races and issues contributed to less turn out,” Taylor said. “Ac-cording to national media, Missouri was a heavy Romney state, which also probably contributed to fewer people feeling the need to cast a ballot.”

For a chart of Perry County’s unofficial elec-tion results, see page 10A.

Princess tea party is set for SaturdayBy Amanda [email protected]

While dads spend the weekend in the woods hop-ing for a shot at trophy deer, mothers and daughters have been invited to attend an afternoon tea party fit for a princess.

Due to overwhelming success in the past, organiz-ers are putting together the 3rd Annual Princess After-noon Tea, providing little girls in the community to dress like princesses and have afternoon snacks with their favorite Disney Prin-cesses. The tea will be held on 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church in Perryville.

“We want to invite all the little maidens ages 3-12 in the community to attend this magical day,” organizer Linda Buff said.

Admission is $15 a per-son, and will include lunch, a framed photograph with a princess, an autograph book and other treats. “We will have face painting, games, prizes and lots of special stories,” Buff said.

Girls are encouraged to come dressed in their favor-ite princess attire. Young ladies can look forward to meeting Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinder-ella, Rapunzel and Jasmine, who will be in attendance for the tea party.

“Seating is limited, but

tickets are still available,” Buff said. Tickets are on sale at the bypass branch of the Bank of Missouri.

Organizers ask that all children attending the after-

noon tea be accompanied by an adult.

“This is a wonderful event for little girls, and we hope to have another suc-cessful turnout.”

File photo

Young girls in the community got out their prettiest dresses, flashiest jewelry, and matching shoes for the Princess Tea Party in 2010.

Advertise your business in The Republic-MonitorCall Ad Sales

Representative,

AlisonPorter

e-mail: aporter@

perryvillenews.com

cell: 768-6775office: 547-4567

NEWSPage 12 • Tuesday, November 13, 2012 The Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com


A rare, cave-dwelling fish has been a hot issue in Perryville and Perry Coun-ty as of late, and resurfaced once again at Wednesday’s city council meeting.

Perryville City Admin-istrator Brent Buerck ex-plained to council what was discussed at an Oct. 30 public meeting, held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice (USFWS). The meet-ing revolved around the grotto sculpin, a fish that is said to dwell only in Perry County caves and is in po-tential jeopardy of becom-ing endangered.

After hours of USFWS officials explaining their mission on Oct. 30 — a

court-ordered mission stemming from a sticky lawsuit — and another hour or two for the public to comment and ask ques-tions, the city and county teamed up to create a com-munity plan at the agency’s suggestion.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Buerck and Perry County Economic Develop-ment Director Scott Sattler touched on what a commu-nity plan would do to lessen

a potential blow if the fish became part of the endan-gered species list.

“We visited privately with USFWS, and they’re stuck between a lawsuit and an unhappy community,” Buerck said Wednesday. “It is what it is at this point.

“I don’t know if the [grotto sculpin] population is increasing or decreas-ing, but there are qualifiers and indicators that this is a problem.”

Buerck passed out an extensive list of possible questions and comments that the city could express to USFWS through the agency’s official comment process (an online com-ment/question system).

“Some of the questions are personal, and some are

from the city’s point of view,” he said. “We want to ask fair questions and get fair answers. I’d ask that we consider moving to post these questions on [the site].”

And, at this point, it’s critical for not just city and county officials to com-ment/ask questions, but for the community to do so as well.

Without comments, Buerck said, it makes the community seem as if they’re either “accepting of the plan and what it comes with, or they’re indifferent to respond.”

“A lot of minds are way better than just one or two,” he added.

Sattler then took the floor to explain the newly

implemented community plan.

“We looked at all options to fight this legally,” Sattler said Wednesday. “But it’s costly, and there’s probably no different outcome than what we have now.”

So, a community plan was the next choice. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice is giving the commu-nity plan board 90 days to complete and submit a final plan to both the community and the agency. The aim behind the plan is to ad-vocate, enhance and better represent the environmen-tally friendly measures that Perry County has already taken, and to see them prog-ress in the future.

Also in the 90-day time-frame, focus groups will be

created that adhere to agri-culture, landowners, busi-ness, industry, etc., Sattler said.

“Eventually, we’d like to see the fish listed as threat-ened and not endangered, which would alleviate the need for critical habitats,” he said.

“Hopefully USFWS will be quick to say, after look-ing at our plan, that there’s no threat and don’t need critical habitats,” said Al-derman Gary Schumer. “It’s critical that our plan is good enough to hold up in court so USFWS doesn’t get sued again.”

“It really comes down to this: we could do nothing, we could fight it, or try to work with these folks,” said Mayor Debbie Gahan.

Grotto sculpin fish still hot-button issue

Brent Buerck

Debbie Gahan


Wednesday night’s Perryville city council meeting saw a presen-tation from two avid Frisbee golf players, proposing the creation of an 18-hole course within the Per-ryville City Park.

As was covered in the Nov. 1 Republic-Monitor article, Paramy Mahathath and his wife Jessica have been advocating for the sport for some time, and have taken all measures possible to see a course implemented in the city.

“I’ve been trying to get a disc golf course put in to make Per-ryville a better place to hang out, and to give us something to do,” Mahathath said Wednesday.

Frisbee golf is an inexpensive activity, and the course itself re-quires minimal maintenance, he told council. Mahathath presented a rough “mock map” of where he’d like to see the course within the park. Parks and Recreation Director Jared Tanz, who has worked closely with Mahathath on this venture, expounded on the area that could potentially be uti-lized for the course.

“The space needed is fairly small, and we’d put [the course] in places of the park that aren’t cur-rently utilized,” Tanz said.

Perryville City Administrator Brent Buerck added to this.

“The neatest part is that the places the court would cover in the park are places where all we’ve done is mow for 30 years. Now it will serve a purpose,” he said.

Mahathath’s wife Jessica also spoke on behalf of the course, and very readily told council that they could raise the majority of the money for this venture, but asked council to consider contributing $6,000.

“The average cost [country-wide] is $15,000 to put in an 18-hole course,” Jessica Mahathath said. “We’d try to get it done at right around $10,000-$12,000.

We’ve already started raising money for this. Right now we’re at $1,300 [as of Nov. 7]. I think we could have the money raised in a matter of months.”

The board was overwhelming-ly in support.

“I think this offers the com-munity a way to exercise and have fun,” said Alderman Randy Leible.

Mayor Debbie Gahan agreed. “We thank you for your passion and commitment. This sounds like a big plus for Perryville.”

A motion to allow the Maha-thahs to proceed with their pro-posal was approved, 6-0. Those voting included Larry Riney, Tom Guth, Curt Buerck, Gary Schum-er, Randy Leible and Prince Hud-son. Gahan did not vote.

In other action:n Council discussed a sinkhole

agreement involving the Industrial Park. The Perryville Development Corporation (PDC), a not-for-profit corporation who sold stock to area citizens to purchase indus-trial property, approached the city requesting help and expertise in

improving several sinkholes found on their property. According to the agenda notes, PDC would pay for the materials if the city provided labor and equipment. But, with the newly implemented community plan in place, Alder-man Schumer suggested includ-ing this sinkhole project into the plan. “I’m not certain it wouldn’t be better if it was tied to the plan,” he said. “This could go a long way toward helping us with it.”

The plan specifically adheres to enhancing and advancing Perry County and Perryville’s environ-mental measures, and improving sinkholes was already a serious component of it.

The board agreed unanimously to proceed with the project, and to tie it into the community plan.

n Larry Ward presented a proposal to council concerning health insurance renewal for city employees. A bid was received by Coventry Insurance (formerly GHP) and, overall, the coverage is nearly identical to what city em-ployees are currently provided, but with nearly 11 percent sav-

ings. The switch was approved by first read, and at the next meeting, an emergency ordinance will be presented for a new life insurance policy.

n The new and improved city website is slated to launch of-ficially on Nov. 21, but a “grand unveiling,” as Buerck put it, will occur the night before at Nov. 20’s city council meeting.

The following “consent agen-da” items were approved unani-mously through a single vote Wednesday:

n Invoice for Crawford, Mur-phy and Tilly regarding engineer-ing design services for the mu-nicipal airport airfield electrical, rehabilitation, shoulder removal and grading project, in the amount of $20,270. 54. This project began officially on Nov. 5.

n Final invoice from MTS Contracting relative to the Perry Park Center exterior masonry sealing project, in the amount of $37,540.

n Bids received for the tennis court renovation project; award bid to General Acrylics per the recommendation of Parks and Recreation Director Jared Tanz, in the amount of $13,900.

n Proposals received for fi-nancial and utilities management software and services, awarded to Logics, Inc., per the recommen-dation of City Clerk Tracy Prost. For license fee, amount comes to $84,875. For annual maintenance, amount comes to $14, 025.

n Proposals received for fi-nancing the purchase of police vehicles, with proposal from U.S. Bank, per the recommendation of city staff.

n Request from Alan Stark, on behalf of River Hills Eagle Aerie 4034, for a Retail Liquor by Drink-Picnic License for the TG holiday party to be held at the Perry Park Center on Dec. 8. This liquor license is for the Eagles to provide liquor at their event.

n Request from Perryville Area Chamber of Commerce to close streets for its annual holiday lighting event on the downtown square on Friday, Dec. 7, and also to allow the use of the city park for holiday displays. This would also allow city personnel to assist with placing holiday decorations on light poles.

n Biosolids Land Application request was approved for prop-erty owned by Bernard Clifton on Perry County roads 202 and 204.

The following bills and resolu-tions were approved Wednesday:

n Resolution to authorize the City of Perryville to apply for EDA funds as a co-applicant with Perry County and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) for construction of a road to assist two local compa-nies. The city is looking to secure up to $1.5 million in additional grants to put a new street through the Industrial Park. This would be a MoDOT-owned and maintained highway connecting Highways 51 and 61, and MoDOT would be responsible for half the total cost.

n The first reading of calling for a general election, the initial step for the city’s required April 2013 municipal elections.

n The first reading of approv-ing and confirming amendments to the major street plan of the City of Perryville. The major street plan is part of the city’s compre-hensive plan. Changes include the modified extension of Rand Street (which will be known as Elk Street).

n The first reading of accept-ing the final plat of the Chloe Street addition. Thomas and Sha-ron Hotop recently purchased five substandard lots on Chloe Street. The property was recently re-zoned as an R-5 general residen-tial. The Hotops wish to re-sub-divide the property into three lots for the construction of two-family dwellings.

File Photo

The Perryville City Council board approved the implementation of a disc golf course in the city park last week.


Paramy and Jessica Maha-thath got good news at the Per-ryville City Council meeting on Wednesday when the aldermen gave approval for the couple to proceed with their plan to work with the parks and recreations department to bring Frisbee golf to the Perryville City Park.

“The city has been really great working with us. We were just wanting to get permission from the city council by New Years,” Paramy said. “But then all the sudden, councilman Randy Li-eble made the motion to let us proceed. Then it was ‘I second,’ down the line.”

Jessica too was thrilled with the city’s quick action on the matter.

“It is nice to know the city is behind us,” Jessica said. “We think it would be a great thing for this city. It is something that lower-income levels and less ath-letic people will be able to go out and play. All they need is to get a disc.”

The Mahathaths explained that Frisbee golf is a sport that could appeal to many demo-graphics in the community.

The game is played just like golf, but instead of hitting a small ball into a cup in the ground, a player tosses a Frisbee or disc at a wire basket set on top of a waist-high pole. Like golf, there are courses with either nine or 18 wire baskets.

The couple’s next step is soliciting sponsorship for the course, and they are counting on the support of local businesses,

as well as smaller contributions from families and individuals.

“Basically what we are trying to do now, is figure out the spon-sorship side of making this hap-pen,” Jessica said. “We are look-ing for verbal commitment of support to make this happen. We don’t need to collect the money at this time. We want to try and raise the full amount ourselves, so the city doesn’t have to do more than maintain the course.”

On Friday, the Mahthaths, along with Perry Park Center officials, began researching the city’s ordinances regarding the proper postings of signage list-ing the course’s sponsors, nota-bly the size and height.

The amount of the sponsor-ship commitment will determine the level of mention a business or individual receives. For exam-

ple, those donating $25 to $100 makes someone a “Friend of the Course,” while a $750 or above donation qualifies the sponsor as “Platinum.” Thus far, the couple has already received more than $2,000 in commitments from in-dividuals and businesses to make the course happen.

“The Park and Recreations department and the city will be supplying us with a letter about why adding the course will be beneficial, and we will add to the sponsorship packets,” Jessica said. “We welcome any dona-tions.”

The Mahathaths are estimat-ing that they will need to raise roughly $12,000 to make the course a reality, and expect that instillations of the Frisbee golf baskets would begin in early spring, making the course ready

for play for the summer of 2013.According to Perryville City

Administrator Brent Buerck, the city is very much on board for the course instillation.

“Essentially council approved the plan, and budgeted $6,000 for the project,” Buerck said. “They (the Mahathaths) said they could get the rest.”

That money is expected to go towards maintenance and upkeep of the course.

The Mahathaths are excited about moving the project for-ward.

“We want to have an open-ing day for the course where we could hand out free discs to families,” Jessica said.

Anyone interested in becom-ing a sponsor for the Frisbee golf course should contact the Maha-thaths at (573) 768-4543.

Disc golf course implementation needs sponsors

Frisbee golf course in city park approved

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A MEETING FOR A FISH

Photo by AmAndA Keefe

Missouri Extension Engineer Frank Wideman addresses the crowd of roughly 60 farmers and landowners last Thurs-day about what they can do on their property, and in their farming practices, to help alleviate the need for critical habitat for the grotto sculpin.

Controversial grotto sculpin draws a crowdAmanda [email protected]

Perry County farmers gathered into the Perryville High School Career Cen-ter Thursday night to learn more about

the measures we as a community — and they as farmers — could take in address-ing the recent grotto sculpin controversy.

Perry County resi-dent and Missouri Extension Engineer Frank Wideman was the night’s primary speaker, as he first delivered a brief syn-opsis of the Oct. 30 public meeting, spon-sored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the steps the community could take to deal with the rare fish found in Perry County caves.

But, perhaps the most important as-pect driven home Thursday was the se-rious need for community comments to flood USFWS’s site.

“My objective is to bring in enough comments about the good things we’re doing in Perry County [environmen-tally] to move the fish from endangered to threatened, and to remove the need for critical habitat,” Wideman told the crowd.

Five computers were set up in the multipurpose room, with the comment site up and ready, as well as a table full of already-addressed envelopes waiting to be stuffed with comments and ques-tions.

But, before the roughly 60 people in attendance could conjure their com-ments, Wideman explained the com-munity plan, which would promote and enhance the environmentally friendly measures Perry County is taking to alleviate the need for critical habitat. Water quality has surfaced as the main problem in all of this; a problem the plan would look to resolve.

“As farmers, we need to talk about the things we do to keep soil and con-taminants out of cave systems to help alleviate issues with the fish,” he said. “I’d like to see this not be about the fish. The real crux? This is a water quality issue … if we take care of the water quality, the fish can take care of itself.”

Wideman then asked what they, as farmers, have already done to adhere to the environment.

Answers like “no till,” “less harsh chemicals,” “using septic tanks and

Photo by AmAndA Keefe

Community Development Specialist Celeste Vanderbrugen (right) aids a Perry County resident in making a comment toward the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the recent grotto sculpin issue.

WantMore?The next two grotto sculpin meetings will be held at the Higher Education Center:n Today, Nov. 20, 3-6 p.m.

n Wednes-day, Nov. 21, 5-9 p.m.

See FISH/PAge 5A

Perryville to unveil new website tonightAmanda [email protected]

Tonight marks the official launch of the City of Perryville’s new and improved website. A “grand unveiling” of the site will occur at tonight’s city council meet-ing, and the community is invited to attend to catch a first glimpse.

After months of working with contrac-

tor CivicPlus to tackle design, decide what elements the site should offer and make it more compatible for today’s technology, the site will be up and running by this eve-ning.

“We designed it for those who live here, and for those outside the community as well,” said Perryville City Administra-tor Brent Buerck. “[Perryville] residents can report concerns, be notified about new

jobs or new bids offered and they can also access council agenda notes.”

The new site also offers a link to pay bills online, a link to find out what films are playing at the Perry Park Center and also offers an extensive list of city depart-ments, boards and officials. The site will still maintain the same address as the for-

See WEBSITE/PAge 5A See CLEWIS/PAge 5A

Quick action saves a life

Submitted Photo

Baby Cutler Clewis is here today thanks to his quick thinking mother, Brittney Leimbach and a group of men and women from the Perry County Sheriff’s Department and Perry County Memo-rial Hospital Ambulance service.


Brittney Leimbach has a lot to be thank-ful for this year, namely the charges of res-cue workers who responded to her distress call earlier this month when her five-month old son was facing a life or death situation.

Little Cutler Clewis, son of Leimbach and Cody Clewis, has faced a lot of adver-sity in his short life.

Born 10 weeks premature, baby Cutler spent the first 99 days of his life in a neo-natal intensive care unit. Diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, Culter underwent surgery to repair the damage to his tiny little heart.

“Cutler had his surgery on Oct. 23,” Leimbach said. “He stayed in the hospital another week before finally getting to come home.”

Leimbach said things were going well with the baby, until Nov. 5, when in a blink of an eye, her world was turned upside down.

Leimbach had just pulled into her drive-way along Highway 61, and Cutler was fussing in his car seat in the back of their family automobile. There was a drizzling rain falling and it was chilly outside.

“He was crying, but nothing outrageous or excessive. He just sounded mad. I was getting him out of his seat, and he just kind of coughed, went stiff and went blue in the face,” Leimbach said. “Then he kind of coughed before he went blue and stiff again.”

Leimbach said he was turning gray and had gone completely limp in her arms; his life was slipping away from her.

Thankfully, Leimbach works in the medical field, and was trained in infant

Mom didn’t panic, rescue crews arrived quickly and little Cutler Lewis kept fighting to live.

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CPR. “Before we brought Cutler home from the hos-pital we were instructed on what to do in case some-thing like this ever hap-pened, and I am thankful I pulled it together enough to start CPR on him.”

With her other child, a three-year old at her feet, Leimbach continued to try to resuscitate her baby, and called 911 between breaths for him. “The sheriff’s de-partment got here first, Dep-uty Jason Klaus and Blaine Kohm,” she said. “Then the ambulance. They were here in less than five minutes.”

Upon the PCSD ar-rival, Leimbach had baby

Cutler breathing, but it was very shallow. Deputy Klaus didn’t hesitate. He snatched the blanketed infant from her arms and raced him to the ambulance, while Kohm ran along side, removing his hat, holding it over the baby to keep him dry on his short trip to the waiting paramed-ics that worked to keep the infant breathing en route to the hospital.

Baby Culter was trans-ported to Perry County Me-morial Hospital before being transferred back to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, where the little baby underwent another surgery to move his feeding tube and to help with acid reflux.

“They think it was a com-bination of things that caused Culter to stop breathing,”

Leimbach said. “He was a little congested, has narrow airways and it is likely the reflux contributed.”

Baby Cutler will soon be released from the hospital, and the family is expected to reunite by the Thanksgiving holiday this week.

Leimbach can’t say enough to express her grati-tude to the men and women who came to her aid.

“I just want to thank ev-eryone who was there that day,” Leimbach said. “I am thankful they got there so fast, and that everyone han-dled the situation so well. The ambulance got there so quickly, and I appreciate all the help they provided.”

Deputy Klaus is flattered by the show of gratitude, but says it is just part of the job.

“This is just what we do,” Klaus said. “When people ask what did you do at work today, and we jokingly say, ‘Fought crime and saved lives,’ there is more crime fighting with the job, but this was an opportunity to save a life. When we hear of a call of this nature, with a child that small not breathing, it is definitely all hands on deck, and quick reaction.”

Klaus said Leimbach is the one who should really be commended.

“She is the one who de-serves credit,” he said. “She stayed composed and did what she had to do to save her child. Had she broke down crying, or gone into hyster-ics before we could get there, this story may have had a very different outcome.”

buffer zones” sprouted from the group.

“And tell me, what was the sinkhole used for on the backside of the farm back in the day?” Wideman asked.

The crowd chuckled and unanimously agreed — “trash dump.”

“Has that changed?” he asked.

Everyone agreed it had. “These are the kinds

of things we need to men-tion in our comments [to USFWS],” Wideman said. “Things along the lines of, ‘This is what I’m doing to improve my farm.’ What we do in Perry County is not as ‘back hills and hickish’ as some people think it is. We need to relay that message.”

Brian Koenig, with the Farm Bureau, was continu-ously reinforcing the need for concise, thoughtful comments.

“We have to be sure we take our time,” Koenig said. “Comments need to be well thought-out … also, get a question or two in as well. USFWS does have to re-spond to every comment, so this makes them come back with an answer. It makes them do more research.”

During the open forum, the night suddenly had simi-lar glimpses of the Oct. 30 meeting, where many of the same questions were asked, or concerns were expressed.

“Is water quality really an issue in the county?” a man asked. “Missouri has done tremendous gains in water and air quality … I can’t imagine there’s a problem in Perry County after Clean

Water Act. I was really set back by [the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s] so-called explanations [at the Oct. 30 meeting]. That meeting was a dog and pony show.

“I guess what really gets me is that this fish was found, what, 21 years ago? Now all of a sudden, the world’s going to come to an end if we don’t do some-thing?

“You’re right to get those questions out there and hold their feet to the fire.”

After more questions regarding the legitimacy of the amount of sculpin in the caves, why they’re con-sidered so unique and if we are, in fact, in danger of di-minishing our water quality, Wideman leveled with the group.

“I don’t think it’s impor-tant for us to question the number of fish,” he said. “It’s

important for us to point out the good things we’ve done in Perry County.

“If we make some off-the-cuff comments [on the site], we’re no better than the environmentalists that called us ‘hicks,’” he said. “Make comments that question the validity of this ruling, but make them thoughtful.”

Before the open forum came to a close, Wideman shared his last sentiments with the mostly agriculture-related group.

“It’s one county. We can come together as a group and hopefully build a case to stop this from happening,” he said. “We’re called to duty here. Let’s make some comments.”

And with that, folks took to the computers and USF-WS-addressed envelopes to put in their two cents about the rare, cave-dwelling fish.

NEWS, FROM PAGE 1A, OBITUARIESThe Republic-Monitor Tuesday, November 20, 2012 • Page 5A

Deaths

RehmFestus

Violet Irene Rehm of Festus died Thurs-day, Nov. 8, 2012 at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. She was 97.

She was born March 13, 1915 in Mc-Comb, Ill., the daughter of the late James J. and Emma L. (Lanham) Maness.

Survivors include numerous nieces, neph-ews and cousins.

In addition to her parents she was preced-ed in death by her husband, Earl J. Rehm; brothers, Ray, Chester and Robert Maness; and sisters, Madeline Patter-son, Winnie Roberts and Helen Hamers.

Memorials are preferred to Masses or Sacred Heart Church in Crystal City.

The funeral Mass was held Monday, Nov. 12 at Sacred Heart Church in Crystal City with the Rev. Joseph Wormek officiating. Burial was at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Crystal City.

VioletRehm

situation, good or bad.The paper could have

taken the path of uniting the area in support for this family but instead allowed a comment to be printed that was not sensi-tive to the severity of the situation.

The friends and families of the Roth’s will continue to pray, surround them with love and sup-port and we ask that you and the rest of our Perry County community do the

same.Sincerely,

CAROL & TODD WORD

FrohnaPATTY & ADAM

HOEHNEFrohna

CHRISTI & DAVID LOHMANN

PerryvilleMICHELE KAUFMANN

Uniontown, Mo.BECKY & STUART

RUEHLINGFrohna

VIOLET & NORMAN HELLWEGE

Frohna

From Page 4a

From Page 4a

From Page 4a

Brooks

Smith

Letter

destination, the mouth of the Hudson River at what is now New York City. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Mas-sachusetts Bay and the Pilgrims began the feeble process of establishing a village, named Plymouth.

The first winter was brutal, and most settlers stayed on the ship. They were decimated by vari-ous contagious diseases, exposure and scurvy (a vitamin C deficiency) — half of the pilgrims never saw their first North American spring.

In March, the remain-ing passengers left the Mayflower and moved ashore. Soon after, they received an incredible visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. He had learned the words from another Native American, Squanto, who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping.

Squanto taught the weakened and under-nourished Pilgrims how to survive in the forest, to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants.

In November 1621, after the settlers’ first har-vest had proved success-ful, Governor William Bradford ordered they hold feast of celebration. He invited Native Ameri-can allies to participate in the festival, which lasted for three days.

Historians are not sure of what was eaten during the feast, except for corn. No oven had been constructed, and sugar supplies were long

gone, so there probably was no pie or cake (at least not in form we’d recognize). And there is some evidence that deer was the primary meat, not turkey. And the first meal probably involved a lot of Native American spices and cooking methods.

The meal wasn’t called “Thanksgiving,” but rest assured the colonists that November spent plenty of time thanking God … they were alive. They were thankful that the corn harvest was success, and starvation wasn’t as big of a concern for the upcoming winter. They were thankful for their Native Americans friends (remember, in Jamestown, the Native Americans hadn’t been so friendly.)

Thanksgiving was cel-ebrating in various forms (sometimes different from state to state) for over 100 years. Then, in 1863 at the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lin-coln established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

Now, when we gather on Thanksgiving Day to socialize with family and friends, plan our shopping trips and watch football games, it is appropriate that we — like the Pil-grims did in 1621 — take some time to thank God for His goodness, grace and bountiful provision. Because without His guidance, those gritty Pil-grims probably wouldn’t have survived (remember Roanoke), and our great country might look a lot different today, almost 400 years later.

(Tay Smith is the edi-tor and publisher of The Republic-Monitor. Email him at [email protected].)

mer: www.cityofper-ryville.com.

And, in regard to the former site, Bureck admits that it’s not the most at-tractive, or best represen-tation of Perryville.

“We had some of the economic developers tell us our strengths and weak-nesses as a city, and they said the website was a weakness,” Buerck said in a past interview. “After all, that’s how you learn about the town — you look it up online these days.”

The site’s color scheme is based on the new city logo that was recently designed, and each drop-down menu, graphic and tab had to be determined by the city. Buerck said the tedious process was all worth it, as the site came out looking like something the city could be proud of.

“This is going to be something we can be proud to promote our community with,” he said.

From Page 1a

Website

From Page 1a

From Page 1a

Clewis

Fish


The Perryville High School volleyball team spent a few more moments in the spotlight on Wednes-day when Athletic Director Jeff Steffens introduced the team, along with assistant coach Sierra Paulus, who was the only coach avail-able for the meeting.

The group was being recognized for finishing the season as the winningest volleyball team in Per-ryville High School history, finishing fourth in the state volleyball tournament, an-other first for the school.

In a recent release from the school, the team, and vol-leyball Head Coach David Mirly, expressed their thanks for the show of support given to them by the community during the state run.

“The entire Perryville Volleyball Program wishes to express its gratitude to all the people who supported us throughout the season,” Mirly said.

“We want to extend a special ‘thank you’ to the administrators at PHS for the great send-off when we left for the state tour-nament. That was a very special moment for all the

players and coaches, to see the whole student body, from preschool to seniors, out there wishing us luck.

“Thanks to the teach-ers who had their classes take time to make all the cool signs congratulating us and wishing us luck. Thanks to the Perryville Police Department and Per-ryville Fire Department for escorting our bus through town,” he added.

The team was touched that Immanuel Lutheran School took a break the day the team left for the state tournament to allow stu-dents to cheer for the Lady Pirates as the team left Per-ryville.

In other action:n The school board

went on to recognize Dis-trict 32 Director of Tech-nology Wayne Neathery for his countless hours in making sure all the technol-ogy works properly for each board meeting. n The Missouri School

Boards’ Association video this month focused on Common Core Standards, and went on to remind the board and those attending the meeting that Dec. 11 is the first day of board can-didate filing for the April 2013 election.

n The scheduled build-ing report this month came from Michelle Schnur-busch, Special Services Director, who introduced Little Pirates Director and Assistant, Renea Schnur-busch and Brittany Hecht. The duo gave a report on the Little Pirates Program, highlighting the creative curriculum utilized by the pre-school, and their ac-tions to increase the number of students in the Little Pi-rate program by informing the community that they are more than just a daycare.n Perry County Teach-

er’s Association members Glenda Gremaud and Cher-yl Ray-Layton reported on the activities for American Education Week, which the group organized for the week of Nov. 12-16. The spirit week included spirit days, guest educators a canned food drive where students and faculty mem-bers were asked to contrib-ute money and non-perish-ables to be donated to local food pantries. n The 2012 fiscal year

audit provided by Debbie Johns, CPA with Van de Ven, LLC, was approved. Johns reviewed the main portions of the audit and also some of the changes

Van de Ven LLC is recom-mending. The board accept-ed the report as presented.n The board approved

the current technology program, as presented by Technology Director Neat-hery, and Lisa Bailey, As-sistant Technology Direc-tor. The pair highlighted some of the major under-takings this year, including getting wireless systems in the buildings, laptops for teachers and reviewing one-on-one technology. n The board approved

surplus property bids. The district advertised for bids for numerous surplus prop-erty items. Several bids were received. The board approved the sale of surplus property to each high bid-der as presented. High bids came from Jim Regelsperg-er, David Lohmann, John Blum, David Theiss, Leroy Brewer and Gelnn Stueve. n The board voted to

go to closed session where they approved the minutes from the Oct. 10 closed session. In personnel is-sues, the board accepted the resignation of Gail Moll, food services, effective im-mediately, and accepted the retirement of Velda Am-schler, custodian, effective Dec. 31.

invited to the caucus to “discuss the common ground between the two chambers.”

These are two chambers that in the past two years have devolved into name calling against each other.

I think Richard is a player in this change.

A year or so ago, Rich-ard’s successor as House speaker, Steve Tilley, advised me to keep an eye on Richard. Tilley pre-dicted Richard’s rapid rise to power in the Senate and the corresponding adoption of House tactics to ensure greater legislative efficien-cy and party unity.

Tilley gave credit to term limits that led to the recent large influx of House members into the Senate. When the 2013

legislative session con-venes, nearly one-half of the Senate Republicans will have been members of the House when Ron Richard was speaker.

In the House, things get done quickly. Filibusters do not stop votes. Weekly closed-door caucuses as-sure party unity. If there’s a difference among Republi-can members, it’s resolved in private. Extended debate on the House floor easily can be ended by a simple, quick vote.

What a difference to the Senate of recent years where Republicans filibustered their own party members’ bills and openly attacked their leadership.

It’s far too early to deter-mine if a single November closed-door caucus to de-velop a Senate Republican agenda is the beginning of a new approach in the Senate.

But the foundation has

been laid for fundamental change in Missouri’s Sen-ate to address the frustra-tion House members have voiced about the internal disputes among Senate Re-publicans stalling legisla-tive action on major issues.

Now, however, a lot of former Republican House members are senators and in positions to make changes in the Senate -- and more than a few can thank Richard for contribu-tions to their campaigns.

If there is a policy con-sequence from what I am sensing, I think it will be a possible end to the House-Senate gridlock over tax breaks for developers and business expansion.

Richard is one of the legislature’s leading advo-cates for economic devel-opment and preserving tax credits. As speaker in 2010, he vowed that no cut in tax credits would reach the

governor’s desk that year.At the same time he

takes on leadership in the Senate, several of the leading Senate critics of ex-panded business tax breaks have been term-limited out of office.

I should note that a couple of my colleagues have reported a quite dif-ferent factor in Richard’s selection -- that it was a reaction against ties Rich-ard’s opponent has with Tilley, who has become a registered lobbyist.

Maybe they’re right. But I have a sense that Richard’s rise to a Senate leader signals the potential for some major changes coming from your Missouri General Assembly.

(Phill Brooks has been a Missouri statehouse re-porter since 1970, making him dean of the statehouse press corps.)

School board honors PHS volleyball team

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The Perry County School Dis-trict 32 Board of Education will welcome three candidates for the superintendent’s position to campus on Tuesday.

Board members selected the fi-nalists from 15 applicants.

They include: n Dr. Aaron Cornman, who is

the superintendent at Pierce City R-VI Public Schools in Pierce City.n Scott Ireland, who is super-

intendent of Pleasant Hope R-VI School District in Pleasant Hope.n Dr. Jonathan Oetinger, who

is assistant superintendent for busi-ness and operations of Waynesville R-VI School District in Waynes-

ville. The candidates will be given

tours of the schools and campus on Tuesday afternoon and then meet with District 32 administrators.

The Board of Education will meet in a special session Tuesday evening to allow district staff to meet the candidates. Dr. Cornman will meet the staff at 4 p.m., Mr. Ireland will visit at 5:15 p.m. and

Dr. Oetinger will meet the staff at 6:30 p.m.

The board hopes to have the new superintendent hired by the middle of December.

In September, current superin-tendent Kevin Dunn announced his plan to retire at the end of the school year after 31 years in educa-tion, the last six as superintendent at District 32.

Applicants to tour District 32 campus, meet with the staff today.

AaronCornman

ScottIreland

Superintendent search narrowed to 3

Residents rally for the Roths


Her closest friends say what they will miss most about her is her smile, and her sweet southern voice, but in the end, it is her husband Brent and three small children who will miss Connie Roth the most after she succumbed to injuries sustained in a horrific Nov. 5 car crash that ended her life 15 days later.

“She was pure southern charm,” friend Carol Word of Frohna said. “Everyone was always ‘Miss’ this or ‘Ma’am’ that. She was just good inside and out.”

Word, and another friend of the late Roth, Kellie Engert, are just two of an army of many who’ve made it a mission to show support to Frohna’s Brent Roth, and his three young children, Kallee, 8, Lilly, 6, and three-year old Zachery.

Engert reiterated Word’s warm senti-ments about Roth, saying she was the kind of mother they all looked up to.

“Children flocked to her,” she said. “It didn’t matter whose children. They were drawn to her. She was so kind. I don’t think she had an enemy. I’d never heard a person say a cross word about her, or heard her say anything cross about someone else.”

According to the pair, on a misty Mon-day afternoon last month, Roth, a stay-at-home mom, had just picked up her young children at the end of their school day, and was on the way to take her daughters to dance class when the GMC Envoy they were traveling in slid on wet pavement, and overturned, leaving Roth and her oldest child very seriously injured.

“We actually came up on the accident,” Engert said, referring to Word and herself. “We could see the rescue workers, and the helicopter take off. We didn’t know who was in the wreck yet. Then we drove by, and saw the vehicle. My heart just sank. It was a terrible feeling to see how bad the situation was and know that it was someone you knew in an accident this serious.”

It was shortly after that it was confirmed that Roth and her children were indeed the ones in the accident, and the community immediately began to rally to offer support for Brett and the children.

“I immediately wanted to go to the hos-pital,” said Engert, tearfully recalling the events of the day. “Because I knew those babies were going to need a mommy, and their mommy was too hurt to help them.”

After a three-day stay in the hospital, young Kallee was released, and is recover-ing from her injuries. Her mother, however,

Community offers enormous support for family of woman who died in a tragic automobile accident.

See ROTH/Page 5

CAVE EXPLORERS AND CAVE DWELLERS


On Sunday, Nov. 25, a group of Perry County residents, including several Perryville city officials, took a trip under-ground and explored the Berome-Moore cave system. Cavers hoped to shed light on exactly what it is they do since scrutiny has fallen on them due to the recent grotto sculpin issue. In red is Missouri Caves and Karst President Jim Sherrell, at left is Perryville Alderman Curt Buerck and at far right is Assistant Police/Fire Chief Bill Jones.

Cavers support delay of grotto sculpin endangerment strategyAmanda [email protected]

Since the recent grotto sculpin issue hit Perry County, local cavers have come under scrutiny, though for what,

they’re not entirely sure.

Although there are several cave (or “grotto”) groups that frequent Perry County caves, and have for decades, some residents feel the cavers are par-tially to blame for the recent move by U.S. Fish and Wild-

life to consider listing the grotto sculpin as endangered, which would ultimately lead to the designation of critical habi-tat on landowners’ property.

“There was some anger toWord cav-ers,” said Ray Shaw, board member and frequent caver for SEMO Grotto. “As if we were the ones that brought this down on people. I feel that’s untrue.”

In fact, cavers were not the ones to discover, or be the first to research, the cave-dwelling fish — a local col-lege student stumbled upon the grotto sculpin in 1991 and wrote a thesis on it, attracting the attention of agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

At the Oct. 30 public meeting held by the service, Missouri Caves and Karst Conservancy President Jim Sher-rell said a concerned landowner ap-proached him afterWord.

“I had one landowner come up to me and told me, ‘I know you won’t be get-ting on my land,’” Sherrell said.

Recently, a Perry County landowner denied caving groups access to a cave on his property — one the groups have

explored for decades.“I’m sure this person is being pres-

sured,” Sherrell said. “They asked us, while all of this is going on, not to re-turn. I think the landowner is worried, pressured and concerned. Prior to all of this, we were able to access that cave for 30 years.”

However, on the flip side, Sherrell said he’s received the opposite response as well. “I’ve also had other landowners contact me and members of [the con-servancy] and ask us to please come out and check their sinkholes, and evaluate their properties.”

Regardless, cavers are still looking to save face, and explain to the commu-nity, and all other involved parties, that their involvement could, and should, be used as a benefit.

Both Shaw and Sherrell couldn’t

WantMore?Missouri’s federal politicians also against fish being listed as endangered.

Page 5

See FISH/Page 5

OBITUARIESThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Tuesday, December 4, 2012 • Page 5

Deaths

KenserPerryville

Betty J. Kenser of Perryville died Thurs-day, Nov. 29, 2012 at Independence Care Center of Perry County. She was 69.

She was born Oct. 30, 1943 in Perry County, the daughter of William L. and Rita O. (Cottner) Boxdorfer. Mother survives in Perryville.

Other survivors include a son, Travis (An-nette) Kenser of Lee’s Summit; three sisters and two brothers, Mae Schumer, Kenny (Linda) Boxdorfer, Mike (Polly) Boxdorfer, and Cindy (Leroy) Ponder, all of Perryville; Shirley Ann (Mike) Christ of Knightdale, NC; two grandchildren, Ava G. and Braylon W. Kenser.

Betty had been employed by Gilster Mary-Lee. She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church.

She was preceded in death by her father.Memorials are preferred to Immanuel Lutheran Church

or Alzheimer’s Association.The funeral service was held Saturday, Dec. 1 at Im-

manuel Lutheran Church with Rev. Thomas Handrick of-ficiating. Burial was at the church cemetery.


BettyKenser

HugheyChaffee

Hallie Hughey of Chaffee died Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 at Chaffee Nursing Center in Chaffee. She was 92.

The funeral service was held Monday, Dec. 3 at Young & Sons Funeral Home with Rev. Dennis Cebulak officiat-ing. Burial was at the Home Cemetery.


brash new folks. They were not sufficiently con-servative for Webster nor did they display sufficient respect for the Senate.

Despite enrapturing or-atory, you could not quite trust everything Webster said. He loved to tell tall tales, but he would, to put it mildly, sometimes exaggerate.

It struck me that it was for no better reason than to make his story more entertaining. He was not really deceptive about it. To some, he’d acknowl-edge that he sometimes would make things up. He actually advised me that I should not trust every-thing he said.

I remember one night he was talking about his own history and he pointed to the biography he had written about himself in the state’s official manual.

“He operated the first landing barge ashore in the

invasion of the islands of Lubang and Masbate,” his biography noted in 1969. It was true, Webster said.

But, then with a chuckle in his voice, he went on to acknowledge that the “invasions” of the Pacific islands occurred after Japan’s emperor had surrendered. So what he saw when he landed were Japanese soldiers lined up in formation politely bowing.

It was a great story, but it wasn’t true!

In checking the spell-ing of the islands for this column, I learned that the invasion of those two islands actually had oc-curred well before Japan’s surrender. There had been real fighting.

It would seem that decades after his death I’m still learning the lesson Webster tried to teach me — to not believe everything he or any other politician says.

(Phill Brooks has been a Missouri statehouse reporter since 1970.)

from Page 4

Brooks

On the other hand, President Richard Nixon’s administration had be-come a widespread crimi-nal conspiracy, involving burglaries, illegal wire-tapping and blackmail, anything to crush political opponents.

“It was strategic on Nixon’s part,” said Bob Woodward in a June 17 CBS interview. He joined with Carl Bernstein to lead the Washington Post’s Watergate investi-gation. “Anyone who was an opponent, anyone who was a perceived enemy, anyone who was on the other side, he would go after them.”

The Watergate story began on July 17, 1972, when five men were ar-rested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Water-gate office complex. Two days later the Washington Post printed a story that a Republican aide was among the burglars.

By Aug. 8, 1974, after hundreds of more Watergate stories and the resignation or conviction of many White House staff members, President Nixon himself resigned, the only U.S. president to do so.

“Illegal plans, illegal burglaries,” said Bern-stein in that same CBS report. “Really, the White House became a kind of criminal enterprise by the end of his presidency to

a remarkable extent, that I think we didn’t under-stand at the time.”

One comment concern-ing Watergate can help us judge all presidents. “Best thing I’ve ever heard was from Richard Nixon’s attorney general,” said Bernstein in the CBS report. “(He) later went to jail (in) Watergate, and he said, ‘Watch what we do and not what we say.’ That pretty much tells us what we need to do. It’s not that complicated.”

Clearly, what the Obama administration said about Benghazi at-tack wasn’t what really happened. Is this one inci-dent, or is a trend? That’s the only way this incident could turn into another Watergate.

“I think there’s an increasing concentration of power in the presi-dency, so it needs to be watched really carefully,” Woodward said. “That is the ultimate lesson: watch concentrations of power. How are we doing in the media? Okay, but prob-ably not good enough.”

Wise words from Woodward. The biggest lesson learned from Wa-tergate is that people with immense power cannot be trusted, not Obama, not any president. They might eventually earn our trust, but it will with what they do, not what they say.

(Tay Smith is the edi-tor and publisher of the Republic-Monitor. Email him at [email protected].)

from Page 4

Smith

was not so lucky, After being in a comatose state for more than two weeks, Connie passed away during the early hours of Nov. 20.

Her funeral was held at Concordia Lutheran Church that was near capacity with friends and family who gathered to say goodbye to the woman from Cotton Plant, Ark., who found her way into their hearts more than a decade ago.

“God works in mysteri-ous ways,” Ward said. “She held on until Thanksgiv-ing break at school. I don’t know what they would have done about her funeral while school was in session. She touched so many lives. There isn’t a person who would not have wanted to be there to pay their respects.”

It was on a visit to Froh-na more than a decade ago, where Connie met life-long resident Brent, a self em-ployed carpenter and farmer. The couple would have cel-ebrated their 11th wedding anniversary this month.

“She didn’t have to be from here to be part of our family,” Ward said.

“Connie was the first in line to volunteer on any committee. She was always helping out at the church and school. I got to know her through Clover Kids. She also helped with Sun-day school.”

As the community qui-

etly grieves the loss of a be-loved friend and neighbor, they have wasted no time in coming to Brent’s aid.

“As soon as this hap-pened, immediately, it was ‘what can we do to help,’” Engert said.

The help has been pour-ing from everywhere.

On Saturday, volunteers from Frohna, Altenburg and other surrounding areas hosted the first of many fun-draising activities for the family, with a benefit break-fast at United in Christ Lu-theran School’s gymnasium to raise money for the Roths expenses.

In eight hours, more than 700 people came through the buffet line. The event also included a silent auc-tion and bake sale, with all the proceeds going to a family so quiet and reserved they would never ask for a donation from anyone. Word and Engert both said the Roths are private people, and that everyone wishes to give Brent and the children the space they need to grieve.

“This is about fellow-ship,” Word said. “We just want to make sure Brent and the children are going to be taken care of. People

have called to offer to pay tuition for the children. Ev-eryone cares so much about the family.”

In addition to the break-fast, another benefit will be held at the East Perry Pub on Saturday, Dec. 8.

“There will be a fish fry and a silent auction,” Word said. “It starts at 2 p.m., and for information on donat-ing, people can contact Tim at (573) 824-9998.”

Engert said the staff at UCLS has been selling bracelets that say “Faith Strong,” which feature the Bible verse Lamentations 3:22-24, which says, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, be-cause his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faith-fulness. The Lord is my por-tion, saith my soul; there-fore will I hope in him.”

“We purchased 500, and we have less than 100 left,” Engert said. “If we have to order more we will do so.”

In addition to the bene-fits, every day since the day of the accident, the women of the east end have been busy making dinners and breakfasts for the Roths.

“We are using a website — www.takethemameal.com,” Engert said, “That’s how it stays organized and we don’t duplicate meals two days in a row. We are booked up through the mid-dle of December right now. We keep them in the fel-lowship room at the church, and Brent can pick them up

after he gets the kids from school.”

For information on giv-ing meals contact Sarah Benkendorf at (573) 824-1137.

Additional donations can be made to the family through the River Valley Chapter of Thrivent, noting that the donation is for the Roth family.

Engert and Word both said as much as Connie’s death is a story about loss, it is a story about love and faith.

“We have lost people before,” Engert said. “But this is really the first time a young mother has been taken from her children so suddenly. It has brought us all so much closer together. You can see what is really important in life, and how much we will all have to lean on one another to get through it.”

Word just wanted to let everyone know what a beautiful person her friend was inside and out.

“We want to make sure we keep her memory alive for her children,” she said. “So they will always know what a wonderful woman she was, and how much ev-eryone thought of her. She wasn’t with them for very long, but she taught them so many things. They are such good kids.”

To help, contact Carol Word, Engert or call the church office at Concordia Lutheran in Frohna at (573) 824-5435.

from Page 1

Roth

stress enough how willing both of their cave groups were in aiding residents through this uncertain time.

“We’re willing to help with the research,” Sherrell said, as he cited there was quite a lack of it. “We can go into the environment, and we can assist with mon-itoring the species. We’re also willing to help clean up any sinkholes with contam-ination, and are willing to assist any landowners with caves, sinkholes or springs and help them come up with a management plan for their properties.”

Shaw, whose group SEMO Grotto works a bit differently than the con-servancy, said they too are willing to help, but their ex-pertise lies in mapping cave systems for those landown-ers who live atop one.

“We provide a service for the landowners and give them copies of what we’ve mapped out,” he said. “But at this point, SEMO Grotto wants to put it out there that if there’s anything we can do, we’d love to help.”

Shaw explained that the relationship caving groups and area landowners have had for the last 50 years has always been strong, and to lose that would be terribly unfortunate.

“My biggest concern is that we’re going to lose our relationships [with land-owners], and that we’re not going to have access,” he said. “Traditionally, we’ve all worked together. The last thing we want is to upset our landowners.”

And, in regard to both Shaw and Sherrell’s opinion on whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a rush decision to consider listing the specie as endan-gered, they’re both on the

same page.“They’re jumping the

gun,” Sherrell said. “They have not determined that it is, indeed, a distinct spe-cies. I don’t feel they’ve done enough studies to know if the specie is in de-cline, and they need a lot more research on this.”

Shaw agrees.“It’s the most ridiculous

thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” he said. “Yes, the water is polluted. It’s a fact. There’s no question. How-ever, there’s grotto sculpin everywhere. There’s been pollution, run-off, dump-ing in sinkholes — yet that sculpin is still here.”

He continued, saying he’s seen healthy sculpin in a cave that was terribly pol-luted just 20 years before, but has since been cleaned.

“[The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s] decision is obviously premature,” he said. “There’s nowhere near enough data to support it.”

Regardless of their senti-ments toward the agency’s decision, both cavers com-mend the community’s past and future efforts to keep the environment sustain-able.

“Landowners and com-munity members alike are doing a fantastic job,” Shaw said.

“I think by Fish and Wildlife making every-one aware of the issue, it’s going to give Perry County government and citizens a chance to show what can be done, and be confident that it will be addressed locally,” said Sherrell.

Whether you’re a con-cerned landowner or a gov-ernment official, Missouri Caves and Karst Conser-vancy and SEMO Grotto ask that you contact them should questions, concerns or favors arise. Contact Ray Shaw at [email protected], or Jim Sherrell at [email protected].

from Page 1

Fish


In the wake of the grotto sculpin controversy that has fallen over Perry County, three state and federal offi-cials have taken a stance on the issue. And, regardless of political preference, all three sentiments seem fairly similar.

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Em-erson (R-Cape Girardeau), U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Rolla) and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Branson) have all written letters to Daniel Ashe, director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice, regarding the possi-bility of the cave-dwelling grotto sculpin being listed as endangered.

The first letter, written just two days after the Oct. 30 public meeting held in Perryville and coordinated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was signed by both Blunt and Emerson. The let-ter cited the designation of critical habitat (and listing the sculpin as endangered), as possibly having “signifi-cant negative effects on the quality of life for our con-stituents in Perry County.”

The letter was written mainly as a request to ex-tend the time in which local residents could comment on

the matter, as the commu-nity was given only 60 days by the service.

“Extending the comment period will give (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service more information and perspec-tives so a sound conclusion can be made on all facts be-fore moving forward,” the letter reads.

The comment period was never extended, and the cut-off for comments was Monday, Nov. 26. Though hand-written letters are still arriving on USFWS’s door-step, comments reached roughly 430 as of last week — much less than the 800 city and county officials had hoped for.

Two weeks after Blunt and Emerson sent their let-ter, McCaskill sent one to the federal agency as well.

“Many of my constitu-ents have contacted me ex-pressing significant concern regarding the implications of the proposed rule,” Mc-Caskill writes. “… I request

that you carefully consider the comments submitted by my constituents regarding the economic and other im-pacts of the proposed rule.

“As we work to achieve important conservation goals, we must also care-fully consider costs to land-owners and communities and work to minimize those costs wherever possible.”

Then, in late November, congresswoman Emerson released yet another, much lengthier letter to the ser-vice, urging it to seek other alternatives to recover the grotto sculpin species in-stead of listing it on the Endangered Species Act, or designating critical habitat. At the end of the letter, Em-erson listed four questions on the issue, directed to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice, requesting a response to each.

Though Blunt could not be reached for comment on his stance, McCaskill and Emerson shed some light on their feelings on the matter.

“U.S. Fish and Wildlife must ensure that their ac-tions are carried out in a re-sponsible way,” McCaskill said. “They must consider fully any impact its actions could have on Perry County residents.”

Emerson had no qualms

with getting “fired up” about the situation.

“Why should a little crit-ter be more important than people?” Emerson asked. “Fish and Wildlife took no real thought as to how this impacts the community.”

Emerson admitted that she’s not a huge fan of the federal agency. “My big-gest frustration is that they could care less about people and more about the critters,” she said. “It drives me nuts. I have very little trust for those folks.”

She continued, saying the reason she didn’t at-tend the Oct. 30 meeting stemmed from her passion on the matter.

“I personally didn’t go because I thought I’d cause more problems,” Emerson said. “I would’ve mouthed off. I let my passion get in the way.”

She also commended Perry County and Perryville for installing a community plan to correct the issue.

“It makes a big differ-ence when you’re proactive about it, and Perry County is,” she said. “I applaud the community for the plan that they’ve put in place to in-sure that not only the grotto sculpin, but that nothing else, gets put on the Endan-gered Species Act list.”

U.S. Rep. Emerson: ‘Why is little critter more important than people?’

Jo Ann Emerson

ClaireMcCaskill

“ God works in mysterious ways.”

— Carol Word, friend of Connie Roth


Though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tried to explain at the Oct. 30 meet-ing their motive behind pos-sibly listing the grotto scul-pin as endangered, a recent Republic-Monitor online poll showed that those in attendance left the meeting with more questions than answers.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of those questions, the two environmental agencies that sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward with the list-ing tried to shed some light.

Two representatives from the respective agencies — the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians — feel the grotto scuplin is, in fact, an endan-gered species, despite some community opinions.

“[The grotto sculpin] has been long known to be endangered and in need of protection,” said Noah Gre-enwald, Endangered Spe-cies Director at the center.

“It happens a lot that people will say, ‘Oh, but I’ve seen hundreds of these [fish] around’ — that’s great, but that’s not equiva-lent to a population census. It could very well be that they’re flourishing in some particular caves, but that doesn’t mean the species is doing well range-wide,” said Taylor Jones, endan-gered species advocate for WildEarth. “Studies are

indicating that the fish is probably endangered.”

While both Jones and Greenwald admit that there’s no direct population esti-mate, Jones said it’s more of a trend study.

“It’s hard to get an actual census,” she said. “It’s more of a trend study, and it’s also just looking at threats that the fish face, and projecting that forward.”

Greenwald cited that from 2005 to 2008, roughly 4,000 grotto sculpin were captured, or counted. In the last four years, no documented count-ing has occurred.

“Fish in caves are hard to count,” he said. “[Scientists at Fish and Wildlife] don’t really have an estimate.”

And, in regard to why they feel the grotto sculpin is endangered, both Jones and Greenwald had similar

answers.“Pollution is one of the

main reasons,” Greenwald said. “People dumping trash in sinkholes, contaminat-ing the ground water, pes-ticides. From an outsider’s perspective, that’s horrific. Plain and simply, fish can’t live in polluted water.”

Jones, too, cited these reasons.

“Pollution and lack of decent water quality,” she said. “In cases like this, a lot of people may think, it’s just a fish. Why should we care? I believe that we have a moral obligation to pre-vent extinction if it’s com-ing about because of human causes. It’s our responsibil-ity to make space for other animals on the planet that co-exist with us.

“Beyond that, the scul-pin is telling us something

a about the water; telling us something about the water table, contaminants, the quality of ground water,” she said. “This is important not just to the sculpin, but to everyone and everything that depends on water. This is more like a red flag — a warning sign.”

And, according to the Federal Registry listing rule (which expounds on Fish and Wildlife’s findings on the fish), “red flag” seems to be an understatement.

All recharge areas were found to be “highly vulner-able and contain hazards from historical sinkhole dumps, agricultural practic-es without universal appli-cation of best management practices, ineffective private septic systems and roads with contaminated runoff.”

Furthermore, the registry

cites that the water quality of sculpin habitats is nega-tively impacted by urban growth of Perryville.

According to the regis-try, a hazardous waste fa-cility exists in Perryville, as well as four hazardous waste generators and nine underground storage tanks that could leak petroleum products.

The registry also men-tions certain water samples taken from streams and springs in Perry County within the range of the grotto sculpin, citing “high fecal bacterial loads [being] found in groundwater of grotto sculpin habitats [that] can be a combination of both human and animal wastes.”

Traces of E. Coli were also found in the water samples, according to the registry.

“The grotto sculpin being endangered is reflec-tive of the overlay of pollu-tion,” said Greenwald. “If you lose the sculpin, it’s because you polluted the groundwater. It’ll be some-thing you’ll regret. To me, it’s sad to lose something that’s so unique.”

Both environmental-ists were asked what they would say to a Perry Coun-ty farmer or landowner on the matter.

“It’s a moral obligation to prevent a species ex-tinction,” Jones said. “It’s an important indicator of health, and if we don’t ad-dress it, [farmers] won’t be able to grow crops if the water table is polluted and if the aquifer is drained.

“Lastly, effects of a spe-

cies listing on private land-owners’ property are really played up by opponents of the act, but the impacts are generally minimal,” she said.

To expound on this, Jones cited a survey that was taken between 1979 and 1999, where the findings showed that less than one percent of federally funded or permit-ted projects were prevented from moving forward be-cause of the Endangered Species Act.

“That’s like, two projects out of 11,000,” she said. “Your chances of getting your project completely blocked by the Endangered Species Act are really small.

“That being said, you might have to jump through some more hoops in terms of getting permits, looking into alternatives that would impact the species less and taking more precautions,” she said.

Greenwald also said he doesn’t feel it will greatly impact landowners.

“I understand it’s kind of scary for people,” he said. “But it really won’t be as a big of a deal as people think it is.”

But both agency reps agreed on one thing — the possible depletion of the grotto sculpin is most cer-tainly an indicator of worse things to come.

“If we don’t heed these warning signs, we’ll regret it down the line,” Jones said. “The problem will only get worse if it’s not addressed.”

Greenwald agrees. “Pro-tecting the sculpin means protecting everyone, ulti-mately.”

NEWSThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Thursday, December 13, 2012 • Page 11A

628 N. Old St. Mary’s Road in Perryville • 573-547-2517www.healthcarerxequip.com

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SVES actors prepare for weekend performance By Amanda [email protected]

Holiday inspiration abounds around town this weekend, as a variety of or-ganizations arrange parties and productions to remind residents to reflect on the reason for the season and spend quality time with friends and family.

The St. Vincent Elemen-tary school’s St. Joseph Street Players are providing a one-time performance of their Christmas production called “Christmas Hang Ups” on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m., at the Perry Park Center Theater.

The group will be col-lecting a free-will offering at the door.

“This is a neat little story,” volunteer and cos-tume coordinator Tina Mueller said.

“The kids have been working hard in rehearsals, and are ready to perform for their friends and family this weekend.”

The children’s musi-cal, created by Dennis and Nan Allen, is the story of

a hodgepodge collection of Christmas tree ornaments that are stirred from hiber-nation when their storage box is moved.

They soon meet an “un-Christmassy” ornament: A Hula-Girl, and the more tra-ditional ornaments are con-fused about what she has to do with Christmas.

“This show reminds the audience and the kids that the birth of Jesus is what we should really be celebrating this time of year,” Mueller said. “The songs are very catchy too.”

The cast includes rough-ly 30 students from grades third through eighth. Key players include Grace Brewer, Brittany Heath, Abbey Hotop, Autumn Schumer, Dane Wibben-meyer, Joseph Baer, Zoey Wibbenmeyer and Sophia Martin.

The play is under the direction of Jane Schnur-busch.

This is the first pro-duction of the year for the SVES group, and according to Mueller, they will put on another show in the spring.

Photo by AmAndA LAyton

Looking somber during a musical performance on Tuesday, members of the St. Joseph Street Players theater group at St. Vin-cent Elementary School run through one of their final rehearsals this week as they prepare for their show, “Christmas Hang Ups.” The group will perform on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Perry Park Center Theater. The group will be collecting a free-will offering at the door. The group is led by Jane Schnurbusch,

submitted Photo

Two environmental agencies that sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward with the listing tried to shed some light on the fate of the rare grotto sculpin.

Why sue for a fish? Agencies speak out


As discussed at the Oct. 30 meeting by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Shauna Mar-quardt, the federal agency was sued more than once to move for-ward in making a determination as to whether the grotto sculpin should be placed on the Endan-gered Species list.

The first agency to sue the ser-vice was the Center for Biological Diversity in 2006.

“Yes, we sued them,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species di-rector for the center.

“We did it for their failure to make expeditious progress in mak-ing a designation for a bunch of candidates on the candidate list,” she said.

The candidate list is comprised of several species that are, as the term suggests, potential candi-dates of either endangerment or extinction.

Two years prior to the lawsuit, in 2004, the center petitioned U.S.

Fish and Wildlife to move forward with making a final determination for species on the candidate list.

The service didn’t “move for-ward,” and the center went forth with the lawsuit mentioned above.

Fast forward four years later, in 2010, when the Center for Biolog-ical Diversity sued them a second time.

“They were sued for failure to respond to our original petition,” Greenwald said. “Fish and Wild-life recognized about 10 years ago that it was in need, but instead put

it on the candidate list and that’s where it stayed.”

Then, earlier this year, the second environmental agency to sue Fish and Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians, did so for virtually the same reason.

“Species on the candidate list were facing a sort of ‘limbo,’ if you will,” said WildEarth Guard-ians Endangered Species Advo-cate Taylor Jones.

“Of the 252 species we wanted them to consider listing, the grot-to sculpin was one of them. Fish

and Wildlife warranted [the fish] for endangered species listing 10 years ago, but no protection ever came of it.

“When that happens, the spe-cies could easily go extinct while it’s waiting for Fish and Wildlife to take action.”

In the settlement agreement that came between WildEarth Guardians and the service, the ser-vice has until September 2013 to make a determination on whether or not the grotto sculpin is, in fact, endangered.

Lawsuits filed by two organizations against U.S. Fish and Wildife

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