Start a Produce Co-op For Your Subdivision.

Welcome to Community Helpings! We are excited to be able to offer the St. Louis area and surrounding communities the opportunity to participate in a produce co-op. We hope you and your family enjoy eating healthier at a great price! Drive prices down through group purchase.

Community Helpings Produce Co-op is growing throughout the St. Louis area. We are happy to be able to help others to provide healthier choices for their families. We truly hope you enjoy your produce baskets!

Contact Tracy and Jill at: communityhelpings@yahoo.com
and visit their website for more info at: http://www.communityhelpingscoop.com/index.html

Recycle bins set up in historic downtown St. Charles

Historic St. Charles was a downtown district without any public recycle containers - until Wednesday, when 37 bins were placed on Main Street and in Frenchtown.

The bins were purchased with grant money from the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District. The city received the $15,000 grant from the district in 2008. Funds for the grant program come from a surcharge on waste disposed of in sanitary and demolition landfills.

County Says Dumped Recycle Bins Were Damaged

We admit it: we recycle!

In fact, the Saint Louis County Solid Waste Management Program recycles as much of its waste as possible … just like we recommend everyone else should do. The recycling carts pictured in the article above are carts that were damaged beyond repair. They are all covered under the warranty we have with the manufacturer and, therefore, will be replaced – at no additional cost to the county or its taxpayers.

In 2008, the Saint Louis County Department of Health distributed over 104,000 black recycling carts to residents of unincorporated Saint Louis County. Of those, 45 were so badly damaged that they could not be used. The manufacturer didn’t want them back, so we decided to recycle them (they are made from #2 plastic and contain 50% recycled content to boot). We removed any usable parts and transported the rest to QRS.

Also seen in the picture are some compost bins that were also damaged beyond repair. We decided to recycle these as well (they are also made from #2 plastic and contain up to 50% recycled content). Earlier this year, our program held three free compost bin giveaway events. What can be seen in the picture are those compost bins too damaged to be given away or used.

As a result of our decision to recycle these otherwise unusable items, there will be less waste in our local landfills. We not only admit to making this decision – we are proud of it because recycling is the right thing to do.

Since the start of the new recycling program in Saint Louis County, recycling is up dramatically. So thank you Saint Louis County residents for choosing to recycle!

Yours for a better environment,

John W. Haasis, Manager, Solid Waste Management Program
Saint Louis County Department of Health

St. L County Issuing Summons to Prosecute Residents under Trash Collection Program

Residents say they should not be required to pay a third party for services they did not order

John Doe is a life-long resident of St. Louis County. He hasn’t paid a trash bill or had trash services at his residence for the past 15 years. (Click on photo to enlarge)

Mary Smith is also a life-long resident of St. Louis County. She also hasn’t paid a trash bill or had trash services for the past 15 years. Mary was served with a summons on June 26, 2009 to appear in Municipal Court of St. Louis County for failure to have waste collection and is being faced with a fine, filing of a lien on her property or possibly a jail sentence.

Now both of these people obviously have trash. What’s the difference? Why is one being prosecuted while the other is not? Something is wrong with the system.

John Doe lives in a subdivision that chose to opt out of the county’s trash program. John can do whatever he wants regarding his trash. John chose to take his trash to his place of business to dispose of it in the company dumpster.

Mary Smith does not live in a subdivision and was not allowed to opt out of the trash program. She has a business next door and places her trash in the company’s dumpster. Mary is being faced with prosecution.

Currently more than 320 subdivisions in St. Louis County can do exactly what John Doe is doing. They can pick and choose as they like.

Allan Fexer, a Lemay resident at 606 Bayless Ave., has the same problem as Mary Smith. On June 26, Mr. Fexer was served with a 5-page summons to appear in Municipal Court of St. Louis County. He is charged with non-compliance of the waste management program. His court date is Tuesday, July 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the County South Division office in Keller Plaza at 4544 Lemay Ferry Rd. (63129). The summons indicates a fine amount of $100 for the first violation. Mr. Fexer says he has no intention to pay a third party for services not requested, and many county residents support him.

These scenarios are real. Mr. Fexer is not alone as other county residents received their summons this past week. If you’d like to see St. Louis County in action, you’re invited to sit in on the hearing on Tuesday, July 28. No reservations are required.

There are currently two lawsuits pending questioning the legality of the waste management program. The first suit is “haulers” Vs St. Louis County in which some of the trash haulers filed suit. The other is Citizens Right to Vote Vs St. Louis County were some county residents filed suit. This suit allows citizens to vote on the regulation.

What happens if Mr. Exer and other residents are found guilty of violation and then the court throws out the waste management program as being illegal. They would have been found guilty of violating an illegal law.

St. Louis County needs to put the brakes on to stop “harassing “ citizens until all decisions are made in the courts. Let’s stop wasting tax money making questionable decisions. If something is wrong with the system, let's correct it.

Florissant Recycling Center to Stay Open . . . For Now.

Florissant officials say an upsurge in curbside recycling may force the city to close their recycling center at St. Ferdinand Park. For the time being, the center will remain open.

St. Louis County's solid waste management code now mandates that trash haulers offer single-stream recycling in their basic trash service, although the code is being challenged in court.

Meridian Waste Services became Florissant's lone waste hauler and began offering single-stream recycling, the amount of recyclable waste at the center has dropped.

"It's down at least 50 percent," said Louis Jearls, public works director for Florissant. Jearls said the city received a grant from St. Louis County to maintain the center, which is open to city and county residents, for the next year.

Meanwhile, Charles Barcom, co-owner of Meridian, said the amount of recyclable material his company has collected rose from 82 tons in April to 105 tons in May. He thinks it will be 120 tons in July.

Barcom said tonnage most likely will increase when more residents receive their bins. The city obtained several grants that will pay for about 12,000 bins needed. About 6,000 bins have been distributed, and the city recently opened bids for another 5,000 or more bins, funded by another grant.

While Florissant is purchasing bins, St. Louis County is throwing them away. This doesn't make sense.

See other articles posted at this site.

Empty Homes Equal Headaches for Communities & Trustees

Sun glaring overhead, Sheri Verstraete wiped the trickling sweat from her forehead and stepped into a jungle of grass and weeds that came to her waist. The house, a small one-level at 1221 Portland Ave. in Collinsville, needed some major clean up.

"I'm giving them 10 days," Verstraete said.

For Collinsville community service officers like Verstraete, keeping tabs on unkept yards in a city of around 25,000 people has always been a time-consuming job. But the housing market took a hit last year, and Verstraete noticed more and more empty homes with foreclosure notices. And more often than not, she could anticipate being back in a few weeks to cite them for high grass.

For more on this arvicle, visit Suburban Journals: http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2009/06/21/madison/special_feature/0621cvj-foreclosures.txt
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Homeowner Finds Unique Way to Keep Birds Off Pool

Have you been fighting birds flying over or landing on your pool rim to drop their crap into the pool?

One county resident did some research on the Internet and found a suggestion from a person in Hawaii (where they have lots of birds). He placed computer disks on their above ground pool that act as mirrors to spook the birds and fly away.

He has also placed some disks in their garden to spook the squirrels and rabbits to keep away. So far it's been working great. He said, "The real test will be next spring. Our pool cover gets loaded with crap. Right after we opened the pool, I had 18 droppings in the pool in one day."
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A DISCOURAGED RECYCLER

It's very discouraging when you take the time to recycle at home, you even pick up recycling off the street, and then you go to a restaurant or a school and they recycle nothing and you can see it all be thrown in the trash. It just doesn't make sense.

I've also heard that residents of apartments are not required to recycle. If this is true, this also doesn't make sense.

Anonymous

QRS Officials Say St. L County Sent Bins for Recycling

Officials from QRS Recycling say St. Louis County sent the recycling bins to them which were purchased last year to be "recycled." They could not provide a count on the number of bins delivered.

While the trash services provided under the county's program initiated last year are working satisfactorily, there are more than 300 subdivisions who opted out of the program mainly due to the politics involved. The result has been at least two lawsuits - still in the courts - with threat of more to come.

When major changes are initiated, there's a certain element of people who just accept the change. But there are others who say they just "smell a rat." That seems to be the case with the County's trash program. Some things just don't seem to mesh.

One concern is that no local trash companies were selected to provide services to county residents. Is this a big problem today? Could it be a big problem tomorrow? Many say yes and voted to keep their business with the local providers.

It's been estimated St. Louis County has spent into the millions of dollars in manpower, supplies, travel, printing, postage and more in getting the program off the ground . . . and it's not there yet.

Is There a Credit Union in Your Neighborhood?

Even though the credit union industry hasn't emerged unscathed from this recession, it has fared better than their bank and thrift competitors – look no further than the industry's most recent growth numbers.

The enormous amount of negative national publicity the banking industry has received is leading consumers to explore other options.

First quarter data indicates that more of them are turning to credit unions. As of March 31, 2009, the number of total credit union members swelled to over 90.5 million, growing 1.84 percent since March 2008.

Customer dissatisfaction with banks is prompting consumers to actively look for other options.
Financial services have perhaps been affected more than any other industry by the current economic crisis.

The banking industry in particular has been slammed with extremely negative headlines, heated criticism, and even potential insolvency for some of its largest institutions. Bank and thrift customers were, and are, being directly impacted, as banks have significantly tightened lending standards and reduced the availability of credit, cut back on services, or experienced hastily-arranged and well-publicized mergers.

Credit union member growth is most likely coming from people who are either fed up with their current institution or those that find their way to a credit union seeking to obtain a loan in a marketplace where credit availability is scarce.

Doing Business With a Financial Institution You Own

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

Click here to go to American Eagle Credit Union web site.

What is a Credit Union? It's a financial institution owned by all who have money on deposit there. They offer the same range of financial services provided by the big banks - only you own the business. Why not do business with a place you own?

So You Dropped Your Cell Phone in the Toilet

Your cell phone, pager or iPod has fallen into the toilet bowl, swimming pool or kitchen sink full of water. You fish it out. After you've washed your hands -- depending on the circumstance -- what can you do?

Here's five techniques for restoring the gadget to life. Here's a short description (don't try this without reading his entire post):

1. Remove the battery -- immediately. Then take off the battery cover and other compartments, he says.

2. Submerge the device in a container filled with the alcohol for five minutes.

3. Let the device dry for an hour or so. "The alcohol will evaporate very quickly but be sure it's really dry," "FiscalGeek" says.

4. If that doesn't work after several tries, move on to the other options:

5. Store the phone overnight in a sealed bag of dry rice. The rice acts as a desiccant. (We'll save you the trouble of looking that up. It means "a drying agent.")

Use a Dri-Z-Air dehumidifier.

Finally, maybe a hair blower will work.

It's worth a try to salvage the phone or other gadget. Otherwise, you're left with his final suggestion:

Smash it with a hammer and buy a new device. This one works every time.Related reading:

St. Louis County files lawsuit against former council member

By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/24/2009

St. Louis County officials filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge to block a production company and former county councilman, John Campisi, from tampering with its biggest firework's display this Independence Day holiday.

County officials said a website maintained by Twilight Fire and Illusions states the the fireworks at the Jefferson Barracks Park is canceled this year, according to the suit.

Yet the county's Department of Parks and Recreation has spent months planning its annual celebration and expects thousands of spectators July 3 in south St. Louis County.The suit accuses Campisi, who was defeated for re-election last fall, of tampering with the website, www.jbblast.com.

More at: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/263C33C6196965D7862575DF006AD5FF?OpenDocument

St. Louis County Recycle Containers Being Recycled; County Residents Paying the Bill

Recycling containers distributed by St. Louis County in early 2008 are showing up in recycling dumps in the area. At a cost of around $40 each, the dollars add up fast. Neither St. Louis County or local trash companies admit sending the recycle bins to recycling centers, the bottom line is they are being “trashed.”

Those black bundles in the middle of these photos are the recycle bins stuffed inside each other waiting to enter the recycling process.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

St. Louis County delivered more than 100,000 recycle containers early last year in spite of the protest of many citizens who did not want them. The county said they took back more than 10,000 from residents to be put in storage for future use. Evidently, the future use was to have them recycled.

It’s been over two years now and the Country trash program is still under attack. Two lawsuits are pending in the courts questioning its legality. Rumors have it more suits may be forthcoming.

From one county resident, “What a waste of our tax money. What is County management thinking? This trash program has been a money pit from the start. County council members are just as guilty. Something needs to be done.”

Another said, “Our subdivision opted out of the trash program and we can do today what we have done before, select our own hauler, negotiate our own price and change whenever we want. We want nothing to do with county government.”

Other comments:

“While Dooley sinks, county government stinks. This is just another example of government waste.”

“What could the county have done with the millions poured into this project. Mass transit? Higher police salaries? Better building maintenance?”

“This is embarrassing.”

Judge Kendrick Is A No-Show in His Own Court

Circuit Judge Kendrick Unable to Make Decision On Trash Suit (April 9 article)

Further delays produce more questions and problems.

A case-management conference set for April 9 in St. Louis County Circuit Court on a lawsuit alleging trash districts were improperly established resulted in a 45 day delay on a decision. The follow-up conference was set for this past Friday, June 19, but Judge Kendrick decided not to show up. The word is he will get to it one of these days.

(See our article dated April 9, 2009. You may select "Judge Kendrick" from the list of keywords in the right hand column.)

In the meantime, St. Louis County continues to issue citations. The suit alleges that the county "has directly violated the command of its own governing charter by imposing upon its citizens in unincorporated areas a mandatory trash-district program and service charge without an authorizing vote by the citizens in each district, as required by the charter.

"The circuit judge is Larry Kendrick who was appointed as a judge in 1991. What kind of a judge is Larry Kendrick? What logic does he use in making decisions . . . when he makes them? Missing a court date unannounced shows distinct irresponsibility.

Anyone want to guess how this decision will go if Judge Kendrick makes it?

Free Curbside Recycling Coming To Kirkwood Residents

Kirkwood is making plans to provide citywide single-stream curbside recycling in fall 2010, thanks in part to a mandate by St. Louis County. The service would be offered at no additional charge to residents.

Under the plan, the city, through its sanitation department, would offer once a week curbside recycling. To do that, one of the changes Kirkwood will make is going from twice a week curbside household waste pickup to once a week household waste pickup.

While many details remain to be worked out, the service is expected to include some or all of the following:

> The city will establish five sanitation districts. Recyclables will be picked up once per week on the same day as regular household waste.

>> Roll-out containers will be provided without charge to each single-family home. The city will apply for grant money from the St. Louis County Health Department and the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District to fund the containers.

>> Regular household waste will continue to be picked up in plastic bags. One roll of 50 bags will continue to be provided and delivered at no charge each year by the city, with additional bags available for purchase at Kirkwood City Hall.

>> There will be no change in the requirement that residents place yard waste in paper bags purchased from the city or in tied bundles.

>> Bulky pick-up will be provided on the day of household waste pick-up on a fee-for-service basis.

>> Businesses in the city will be able and encouraged to recycle.

>> Apartment complexes will continue to use dumpsters and will be encouraged to add a second dumpster for recyclables.

>> The process of converting to curbside recycling could take one year or longer and will include modification of some existing trucks as well as purchase of new ones.

Under St. Louis County ordinance, a municipality that has a sanitation department must show that 40 percent of its household waste is being recycled. If that diversion rate drops below 40 percent, cities must go to curbside recycling.

"More importantly, its (curbside recycling) time has come," Brown said. "Kirkwood sees itself as an environmentally-conscious community and we've been in the background in curbside recycling."

The city plans to host a couple of open forums over the next six months to give residents a chance to offer input.

http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Articles-i-2009-06-19-165601.113118_Curbside_Recycling_Coming_To_Kirkwood.html#print

5 Ways To Be a Good Neighbor

Peering through the blinds, I watched as my neighbor let his dog traipse through another neighbor's yard, dig in the flower beds and relieve himself near the sidewalk. Of course, the dog's owner didn't pick up his pet's poop. He was too busy enjoying a cigarette and flicking the still-burning butt into our street.

I really didn't think it was that hard to be a good neighbor. But for those folks who obviously need a primer, here are 5 ways to avoid being the most hated house on the block.

1. Keep your property neat. Mow the grass. Pick up your trash and remove the kids toys strewn across your lawn. Don't decrease everyone else's property values with your laziness.

2. Control your pets. Keep dogs on a leash. Pick up their poo. And by all means don't let them incessantly bark.

3. Be quiet. Listening to Def Leppard on your surround sound doesn't make you cool. Nor does revving a leaf blower at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning.

4. Keep your drama inside. If I wanted to watch someone yelling and screaming in their driveway surrounded by 42 cop cars, I'd turn on "COPS".

5. Slow down. I'm glad your Porche can go 0-60 in 2.5 seconds...but is that really going to matter when you plow down someone's kid?

Right House, Wrong Location

As a curator of exhibitions for the New-York Historical Society, Kathleen Hulser is passionate about the past. She craved an antique home, but with her salary, she knew she would have to compromise.

That compromise is a freight train that blasts by just a few feet from her four-bedroom 1839 summer house on the Housatonic River in Cornwall Bridge, Conn. It appears at 7:30 a.m. almost every day. “The house shakes,” Ms. Hulser said. “It rattles the pots and pans.” She bought the house last August for $255,000, reduced from $375,000, said her broker, Priscilla Miller of Bain Real Estate, after it had been on the market for 10 months. “Without the train next door,” Ms. Miller said, the house would have cost double. “It made it much more affordable by putting up with that,” she said.

To make the outlay even smaller, Ms. Hulser shared the cost with her brother, Michael. The train wasn’t the only factor depressing the price of the house. Next door is a former Superfund site where an old factory dumped chemicals. Ms. Hulser does not mind the toxic past because the site has been cleaned and certified by the government as fully decontaminated.

To read about more houses at a wrong location, check out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/garden/18houses.html?no_interstitial

County Offices Closed Down by Lightning Strike; Improper Maintenance May be Cause

St. Louis County officials said Thursday that damage from a lightning strike Monday was more extensive than expected, but officials still hope to reopen three buildings Monday.

The lightning strike Monday morning created an electrical surge and fire that destroyed a switch, two electrical panels and wiring, officials said. The administration building, courthouse and annex building — which houses the police headquarters — have been closed since Monday.

The county has maintained most county services — the main exception being court trials.

The fire damaged a critical part of the government complex's electrical system — a switch between two large electrical panels in the boiler room under the administration building, said Garry Earls, the county's chief operating officer. The surge and the fire, which lasted about 45 minutes, also destroyed the electrical panels and adjacent wiring.

Officials at first did think the wiring damage was as pervasive as it proved to be, Earls said.

In addition, a company in Houston shipped a wrong style of temporary replacement panel that required additional wiring work.

Rumors are surfacing that County officials failed to properly maintain the complex's electrical system in an effort to cut expenses for the county. One resident commented, "While you can't stop a lightning stike, you can stop the effects of it."

Real Estate Needs - Select Ann

Federal Court Looking at St. L County Trash Fiasco

Three waste haulers suing St. Louis County say they had a constitutional right to receive a state-mandated two years' notice that the county was planning to establish trash districts — a claim that turns what was a state case into a federal affair.

In response to the haulers' first amended petition, which was filed on April 27 and approved on May 21 by St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Scott Bernstein, the county on May 27 filed a notice of removal to take the case out of Circuit Court and have it reviewed at the federal level, County Counselor Patricia Redington said.

The case would proceed at the U.S. District Court in St. Louis unless the plaintiffs raised any ob-jections, Redington said. The suit seeks $25,000 in damages. At press time, no hearings on the case were scheduled.

American Eagle Waste Industries, Meridian Waste Services and Waste Management of Missouri filed suit against the county in May 2008. They allege it violated a state statute by failing to give two years' notice to waste haulers before it established trash districts.

To view the entire article at the Call Newspapers, click on:
http://www.callnewspapers.com/Articles-i-2009-06-03-235163.112112_Trash_haulers_suit_against_St_Louis_County_now_a_federal_case.html

Contact Vicki Gallant for Insurance & Financial Services

Why Vicki? Why George? For the personal service and attention given to your every need. Customer service is the name of the game today. Do you have an insurance need or question? Just give Vicki or George a call.

Manchester Subdivision Residents at Odds Over Trustees: Who's on first?

After years of a subdivision civil war, this is what it had come to at Countrylane Woods II in Manchester: one group backing the trustees, complete with yard signs.

Another group, though, claimed to be the real leaders — though they don't have keys to the clubhouse, or the checkbook. They filed a lawsuit and enlisted the help of a public relations firm. And they called their opponents "rogue trustees."

The trustees and their backers say a small number of dissidents have hijacked the 497-home community. And no legal authority has ordered them to relinquish power, they note.

To help sort things out, a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge ordered that the subdivision take a vote on two sets of bylaws, the ones currently in place and another set the group opposed to the trustees crafted.

One side won that vote, though the battle is probably not over. It's a complicated story that has pitted neighbor against neighbor. But these types of clashes are not uncommon.

The state law on subdivision governing pacts, called indentures, is incredibly vague, said Jerry Wamser, a lawyer whose firm represents roughly 60 homeowners associations. The result is that developers draft the rules by which a community lives. Conflict often ensues.

"It's the Wild West in Missouri," Wamser said. "Many of these indentures tend to be constructed like Frankenstein's monster."

Still, the battle in Countrylane Woods seems to have gone beyond the typical subdivision clash. And it has even divided households.

Read a lot more at: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/0E26AFDFFFC6CBCC862575D0007AA743?OpenDocument

Butt Heads: Want to know where your elected officials stand?

Want to know where your elected officials stand on smoke-free?

The RiverFrontTimes has thoughtfully compiled a concise guide to knowing your leaders’ positions, aptly titled “Butt Heads.” They polled about 291 elected officials and here’s what they came up with:

“Of those who spoke up, 54 percent are in favor of some form of smoking ban. Coming out against any sort of ban are 30 percent, while 16 percent say they are undecided or decline to reveal their stance.

A statewide ban would appear to have overwhelming backing from the local legislative delegation: 60 percent of the House members and 83 percent of the senators who responded to RFT profess support for a ban. (That the area delegation failed to carry the day in Jefferson City might coincide with a stark geographical component of statewide bans across the nation: Of the seventeen states that have not curtailed smoking, the vast majority are clustered south of the Mason-Dixon Line.)

St. Louis city officials, meanwhile, seem divided on the issue: 52 percent would say yes to a ban, 15 percent are against it and 33 percent are undecided or unwilling to comment.”

The Days of Privacy are Long Gone

If your data is online, it is not private. Oh, maybe it seems private. Certainly, only you have access to your e-mail. Well, you and your ISP. And the sender's ISP. And any backbone provider who happens to route that mail from the sender to you. And, if you read your personal mail from work, your company. And, if they have taps at the correct points, the NSA and any other sufficiently well-funded government intelligence organization -- domestic and international.

You could encrypt your mail, of course, but few of us do that. Most of us now use webmail. The general problem is that, for the most part, your online data is not under your control. Cloud computing and software as a service exacerbate this problem even more.

Your webmail is less under your control than it would be if you downloaded your mail to your computer. If you use Salesforce.com, you're relying on that company to keep your data private. If you use Google Docs, you're relying on Google. This is why the Electronic Privacy Information Center recently filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission: many of us are relying on Google's security, but we don't know what it is.

This is new. Twenty years ago, if someone wanted to look through your correspondence, he had to break into your house. Now, he can just break into your ISP. Ten years ago, your voicemail was on an answering machine in your office; now it's on a computer owned by a telephone company. Your financial accounts are on remote websites protected only by passwords; your credit history is collected, stored, and sold by companies you don't even know exist.

And more data is being generated. Lists of books you buy, as well as the books you look at, are stored in the computers of online booksellers. Your affinity card tells your supermarket what foods you like. What were cash transactions are now credit card transactions. What used to be an anonymous coin tossed into a toll booth is now an EZ Pass record of which highway you were on, and when. What used to be a face-to-face chat is now an e-mail, IM, or SMS conversation -- or maybe a conversation inside Facebook.

Remember when Facebook recently changed its terms of service to take further control over your data? They can do that whenever they want, you know.

We have no choice but to trust these companies with our security and privacy, even though they have little incentive to protect them. Neither ChoicePoint, Lexis Nexis, Bank of America, nor T-Mobile bears the costs of privacy violations or any resultant identity theft.

This loss of control over our data has other effects, too. Our protections against police abuse have been severely watered down. The courts have ruled that the police can search your data without a warrant, as long as others hold that data. If the police want to read the e-mail on your computer, they need a warrant; but they don't need one to read it from the backup tapes at your ISP.

This isn't a technological problem; it's a legal problem. The courts need to recognize that in the information age, virtual privacy and physical privacy don't have the same boundaries. We should be able to control our own data, regardless of where it is stored. We should be able to make decisions about the security and privacy of that data, and have legal recourse should companies fail to honor those decisions. And just as the Supreme Court eventually ruled that tapping a telephone was a Fourth Amendment search, requiring a warrant -- even though it occurred at the phone company switching office and not in the target's home or office -- the Supreme Court must recognize that reading personal e-mail at an ISP is no different.

This essay was originally published on the SearchSecurity.com website, as the second half of a point/counterpoint with Marcus Ranum.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/magazinePrintFriendly/0,296905,sid14_gci1354832,00.html or http://tinyurl.com/pnv8vq

County Says "No" to Advertising Trash & Recycling Programs

BURKE WASSON, Staff Reporter at the Call Newspapers reports . . .
http://www.callnewspapers.com/

While the fate of trash districts in unincorporated St. Louis County remains to be decided in court, the County Council last week rejected a proposal to further educate residents on recycling and "waste-management issues.

"The council voted 4-3 to shoot down a bill that would have allocated an additional $100,000 to the Hughes Group Inc. "for design of a recycling public education program and public-awareness campaigns on waste-management issues."

Sixth District Councilman Steve Stenger, D-south county, voted against the legislation along with 3rd District Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger, R-Town and Country; 5th District Council Vice Chair Barbara Fraser, D-University City; and 7th District Council-man Greg Quinn, R-Ballwin.In the minority were 1st District Chair Hazel Erby, D-University City; 2nd District Councilwoman Kathleen Burkett, D-Overland; and 4th District Councilman Mike O'Mara, D-north county.

With millions of dollars already spent on the county's trash program, Stenger said allocating an additional $100,000 on a program already well known is unnecessary. "Basically, the $100,000 was for education relating to recycling," Stenger said. "And that goes right to the trash issue that we already have spent millions of dollars on. And I think that my thinking was that we've already spent millions of dollars on this issue. People have already been educated on recycling. I think we all know now what the black (recycling) can is for from the county. And I think that we don't need to be told about it further.

"Stenger also was opposed to county officials recommending the Indiana-based Hughes Group for the contract instead of a local firm and believes officials could find more cost effective ways to inform residents about recycling and waste management.

"They wanted to hire out and outsource to some company out of the county $100,000 worth of essentially educational materials for recycling," he said. "What I would suggest is — once again — it's the same theme. Let's tighten the belt. Let's not expand the belt, right? I think that we could print up some nice things through the Health Department and probably print them up on a copy machine. You could print thousands of copies for a lot cheaper than $100,000. And if they want to distribute them, you could still mail them out within the budget that we have already. I don't think we need to appropriate $100,000 to further educate people on recycling when we've already been educated about recycling."

"I think recycling is great. Don't get me wrong. I just don't see spending $100,000 additional on recycling. And that's why I voted 'no' on it. And I think that was the thinking of everyone else who voted 'no' as well,'' he added.

As for trash districts, a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge could decide this summer whether county officials legally established them without a vote of the people. American Eagle, along with south county resident Brett Buchanan and north county resident, Greg Porter, filed suit last August against the county alleging trash districts were improperly established because they were not approved by voters in each district.

American Eagle is not one of the three haulers awarded bids by the County Coun-cil to exclusively serve trash districts. The plaintiffs contend Section 2.180.24 of the County Charter requires voters to approve the establishment of such districts.

County Implements Trash Program for Health Reasons, But Supports Smoking for Financial Reasons

St. Louis County ignores the health of county residents by opposing a smoking ban, but says their trash program is to protect the health of its citizens. (Does trash cause cancer?)

Backers of the plan are discouraged, after St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley came out against the ban this week. Dooley says the proposed city-county ban would hurt the economy."I'm not going to do anything I think would impede St. Louis County as we move forward," Dooley said, "I think a smoking ban really needs to be done statewide."

When asked about the moral issue of second-hand smoke, Dooley said he didn't want to address that issue, because he's "not a scientist." Few people are scientists so that’s why we rely on the scientific community to do their work. Scientists tell us smoking doesn't just cut a few months off the end of your life. It reduces the life of the average smoker by 12 years. Hello.

(Source: excerpt from Smoking It's Never Too Late to Stop - Age Page - Health Information: NIA)

If you fall, how will you get back up?

We all fall at some point in our lives. A new business or product that we thought would be the next winner, turns out to be a disaster. Failure happens.

If we don't fail, we're probably not trying hard enough.

But what separates the great business leaders from the "also-rans" is how they respond to the times when they fall flat on their face.

Nick Vujicic is someone who constantly falls. And it should be impossible for him to get back up. But he does. It's an incredible story that you've got to see for yourself, especially in this tough economy. You'll be glad you did.

An incredible story.
http://www.yourbusinessgps.com/main.asp?column=1115&page=1342

Mayor Slay Calls for Local Police Control, City Rejoining County

The following is from Urban Review-STL by Steve Patterson dated April 22nd, 2009. You can review his entire article at: http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=5824. Believe me, there is a lot more.

Mayor Slay's comments are printed in black, while Steve Patterson's remarks are in red.

================

That is a lot to take in. Let’s go in order looking at selected text: (Note: Slay's remarks are in black)

We can no longer afford to compete against each other. We must combine our resources and talents to figure out solutions to regional issues as complex as race relations, poverty, transportation, and creating jobs in new industries – and to regional tasks as simple as writing smoke-free laws, sharing public services, and building bike paths.

> True, we can’t continue competing with each other. Moving employers around the region doesn’t help the region. I like that he specifically mentions smoke-free laws.

Many of our government institutions and practices were put in place in a very different age, long before anyone considered Mexico and India as threats to our jobs. We will have to become more effective and efficient—and government must be collaborative. The City must reform its charter. The City, the inner suburbs, and outer suburbs must combine services. And, I strongly believe, that we must begin to lay the groundwork for the City of St. Louis to enter St. Louis County.

> Collaborative government? Yes. Reform the city charter? Yes. Combine services? Yes. Reverse the 1876 split from the county? Not until the 90+ municipalities in St. Louis County get consolidated by at least half. Both charter reform & rejoining the county would involve eliminating a number of elected offices. If they remained they’d no longer be elected positions. Sheriff, Recorder of Deeds, Circuit Clerk, Circuit Attorney, Collector of Revenue, License Collector, Treasurer, Public Administrator and Comptroller are either duplicates of existing offices in St. Louis County or are offices which could be appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen.

My poll last week was on this very topic. Only 30% of you took the term “merge” the city & county meant just rejoining the county. Sixty percent took it to mean a consolidated government form. Mayor Slay, however, said “rejoin” not “merge.”

There are several representatives here today from Governor Jay Nixon’s office and several members of the Missouri General Assembly. Ladies and gentlemen from Jefferson City, it is time to let go of the past. The Civil War ended 144 years ago. In the age of YouTube, I-phones, and Twitter, it is time that St. Louis joined every other city in America and got its own police department. Governor Nixon, I promise we will not use it against the Confederate Army.

You’ve got to watch those confederates. We can always tow their cars and sell their event tickets. Seriously, we should have control of our own police force — for better or worse.

Community meetings will take place in neighborhood list serves and web sites. Community meetings will be on-line forums, as well as in person meetings. Every part of municipal life — signing up for summer recreation, Operation Brightside blitzs, street closings/repairs, paying a tax bill, dealing with a bad neighbor, recycling, getting involved in a mentoring program, finding job counseling – must be available on-line. There is no reason why getting a building permit should require a trip to City Hall – or be much more difficult than buying a book on Amazon.

Obviously I’m a huge fan of the digital lifestyle but I don’t ever see the internet displacing the value of face-to-face meetings. I do see huge value in having every single municipal form online as an editable PDF document. We are such a long way from that now. Most forms are not even in a non-editable PDF format. I got one form recently as a Word document. Our city website is stuck in the 1990s so I agree we need a digital overhaul. Of course with so many elected officials the Mayor doesn’t have oversight in many aspects of city government.

Can Slay make these changes? It is a tall order. But we must dig in. I say a first step is to eliminate partisan elections for city offices — that would simplify elections every two years. I talked with one Alderman today about reducing the total number. This Alderman was complaining about the lack of support staff to succeed. Well, eliminate 14 Aldermen and suddenly you’ve got nearly half a million dollars a year available for better aldermanic pay and/or increased support staff.

Read more at: http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=5824

Dooley's Campaign Plans for 2010

From the St. Louis Beacon
http://www.stlbeacon.org/beacon_backroom/dooley_nixon_got_dough_montee_kinder_koster_got_debt
Among the regional officeholders, the man with the money (outside of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, who just won re-election) may well be St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley. Dooley's full report wasn't available Wednesday night on the Missouri Ethics Commission's Web site, so his totals aren't yet known.

But the site did show that Dooley has collected 18 donations of $5,000 or more -- totalling $130,000 -- so far this year.

That flurry of activity may put to rest questions about Dooley's campaign plans for 2010. His generous benefactors include a number of unions, the St. Louis Rams, Express Scripts (biggest donor with $15,000) and several corporations and executives.

..

Poll, What Does”Merge the City & County” Mean to You?

Steve Patterson April 12th, 2009
Interesting reading at: http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=5294
Urban Accessories + Materials

The City of St. Louis was located in St. Louis County until 1876. St. Louis, not Clayton, was the county seat. That year the city became its own City-County, or “independent city.”

Prior to 1877, St. Louis County encompassed the City of St. Louis plus all other areas within the county boundaries including such towns as Kirkwood and Florissant. During that time, the county seat was the City of St. Louis. Often called the “Great Divorce,” the split occurred after the citizens of St. Louis County (that included both city and county) voted on the question of whether the City of St. Louis should separate from the county and become an independent city.

The vote took place 22 Aug 1876, and the initial count indicated that the separation question had failed by just over 100 votes. Supporters of separation then brought charges, including fraud, and a recount was ordered. The recount took four months so it was late 1876 before it was determined that the vote for separation had passed. (Source)

There have been numerous attempts since 1876 to reverse this vote. All have failed. This “independent city” arrangement is part of the Missouri constitution so any change becomes a statewide issue.

There have been numerous attempts since 1876 to reverse this vote. All have failed. This “independent city” arrangement is part of the Missouri constitution so any change becomes a statewide issue.

Today you will still hear people say we need to “merge” the city & county. OK, what does that mean?

The landscape is very different today than it was in the late 19th Century. Does merge mean expand the county boundaries to include the city — making the City of St. Louis a city among the 90+ other municipalities in St. Louis County? Would Clayton remain the county seat? That is more rejoin than merge in my view.

More at: http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=5294

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Poll, What Does”Merge the City & County” Mean to Y...": My comments would be: Leave the City of St. Louis alone, at least for now.But, in St. Louis County, we need to consolidate all of the county into about 20 super municipalities of about 50 to 60 thousand homes each. This would consolidate services, like fire, police, public works, tax base, etc. More effeciency, less tax dollars. Currently, St. Louis County has 93 municipalities inside the County, and the county has about 100,000 residents in unincorporated. County is competing against municipalites, municipalities are competing against each other and the county.The cost of this ineffcient government is staggering.During economic times like this, non of the governments fair well, and unable to help each other, much less themselves.Just too much government in St. Louis County.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Poll, What Does”Merge the City & County” Mean to Y...": Too Much Government in St. Louis County is correct.Anyone who has tried to permit anything in St. Louis county recongnizes the problem. Best examples are, St. Louis Airport, Hiway 40 remake, Metro Link expansion. All of these type of projects take more than twice as long as necessary to review and permit. Too many layers of politics to contend with. Too many speed traps, poor muni service from small cities, understaffed police departments, bad road system that is getting worse, and the list goes on and on.

Just too much government. Less would certainly be better, and more effecient, and improved services, and quicker responses.

It is time for a Blue Ribbon panel to be formed, or maybe even the Boundry Commission could take this effort up. But something needs to be done, if St. Louis and the region ever expect to improve and move forward.

County Trash Dispute Far From Over; Check Fox 2 for Report

There is some major trash talk happening in St. Louis County. The controversy surrounding the county's trash districting program is far from over. Attorneys and residents in St. Louis County say the County Charter says they have the right to put the trash program to a public vote.

A circuit court judge delayed a decision on Thursday (4/9/09) for at least another 45 days.

The Hasslers of Oakville say they're tired of being hassled by their trash hauler. They are only one of thousands across St. Louis County.

Click here for Fox 2 video.

http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-trash-contraversy-stlouis-county-040909,0,6158390.story

According to St. Louis County's new trash program, the Hasslers have to pay their designated hauler even if they don't use it's services."

They wouldn't like it if I sent out bills to people that I didn't do the work," said Jess Hassler.

Attorney Lester Stuckmeyer Jr. said, "The county closed the loophole. That forces everyone to go to the county hauler and the hauler is obligated to report those people saying they are not having their trash picked up." Stuckmeyer is fighting for residents rights. He's trying to get the trash program put to a public vote."

The charter says that if the county makes a trash district and charges for it then they are required to get a vote and the county didn't do that so we are asking that the court declare this program void," said Stuckmeyer.

Residents like the Hasslers are now seeing citations."This says we have 10 days to pay $100," said Madonna Hassler.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "County Trash Dispute Far From Over; Check Fox 2 fo...":

The residents and voters in St. Louis County have no representation. I would encourage all residents and voters to seek annexation by a neighboring community, or form your own. St.Louis County is not longer needed, because municipal government is more effecient and closer to the people.Eleminate St. Louis County.

Questions to Ponder for Charlie Dooley

If you are feeling especially feisty, go ahead and ask Charlie Dooley why, if he supports public transit as he repeatedly claims to, the county can find $50 million to redo one single intersection, but not to fund public transit?
http://stlurbanworkshop.blogspot.com/2009/04/mass-transit-for-all-v-one-new.html

St. Louis County has decided to install a "Michigan Left" intersection at Manchester and Hanley Roads. The price tag? $50M.

What else could we do with $50M?

** Free mass transit for 2,800,000 people for one year
** Fully restore mass transit in St. Louis for 2+ years
** Restore minimum service to entire system for 5 years

Circuit Judge Kendrick Unable to Make Decision On Trash Suit

Further delays produce more questions and problems.

A case-management conference on April 9 in St. Louis County Circuit Court on a lawsuit alleging trash districts were improperly established resulted in a 45 day delay on a decision. In the meantime, St. Louis County continues to issue citations.

The suit alleges that the county "has directly violated the command of its own governing charter by imposing upon its citizens in unincorporated areas a mandatory trash-district program and service charge without an authorizing vote by the citizens in each district, as required by the charter."

The circuit judge is Larry Kendrick who was appointed as a judge in 1991. What kind of a judge is Larry Kendrick? What logic did he use in making decisions? Take a look at the following?

“In Missouri, there are no mandatory minimum prison sentences for many sex crimes against children. So stuff like the following happens: 19-year-old Darrell Jackson pleaded guilty to repeatedly sexually abusinga little girl over a four-year period, beginning when the girl was eight years old.

Think about the horror that child lived with during that time. It is simply incomprehensible. When Jackson came up for sentencing, Judge Larry Kendrick gave him four months in prison and five years probation.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163906,00.html

What logic will he use in making a decision that affects all citizens of St. Louis County? Call, fax or write your thoughts to Judge Kendrick.

Honorable Larry L. Kendrick
Circuit Judge
Courts Building, 4th Floor
7900 Carondelet
Clayton, MO 63105

Telephone Number: 314-615-1517
Fax Telephone Number: 314-615-7658

>> Comments:

Anonymous said...
What? 4 months in jail for 4 years of sexual abuse. No way. This judge doesn't appear to know right from wrong.

Anonymous said...
Ok, now if we ever get garbage sorting laws like San Francisco, does that mean we have to sort reps and dems before we throw them out?http://www.infowars.com/garbage-cops-come-to-america/

Anonymous said...
Look, St. Louis County had a tough time making any good decissions on this matter. Why would anyone think, that a Judge from St. Louis county would be any different.They all come from the same back ground.

Mike Roberts said...
Let's see. We have a St. Louis County Judge assigned to make a ruling on an issue that may cost the county millions of dollars. Isn't this a conflict of interest? Anyone want to bet which way this Judge may rule?

St. Louis County Issues Citations For Enforcement of Trash Regulation

St. Louis County has started issuing citations to county residents stating they are in violation of the St. Louis County Waste Management Code. The citation claims the resident has failed to have in effect an agreement for the collection of waste at their address. The stated fine is $100 which will be waived if they start trash services within 10 days of receipt of the citation.

Most citations issued have been to residents not living in a subdivision and who were unable to opt out of the County’s program. Unfortunately, these residents have been discriminated by the regulation with their pleas being completely ignored by County officials and the County Council. Observers say this is one of the major problems with the regulation. (Click on picture to enlarge)

Some residents dispose of their trash at their place of business. The regulation, as it stands, forces these residents to pay twice – once for their residence and once for their place of business, even though they may be the same place or close by within walking distance.

In some cases, residents combine their trash with another family member. In most cases, this is may be a single parent who has little trash. Right or wrong, the county demands that both parties must pay.

But some county residents can legally dump their trash at work . . . and it’s happening. Here’s how. A subdivision opts out of the county’s program, but does not designate a trash hauler for their subdivision. Residents can legally choose their own hauler . . . or not choose. Under this situation, a resident can take their trash to work or any other place they choose.

Unfortunately, this is only available to residents who live in a subdivision which has opted out of the county’s program and has not designated a hauler. With more than 300 subdivisions not participating in the county program, there are more than a few who have not designated a hauler.

The end result is the subdivision has the same trash program in place as they had three years ago – no change.

Are you being discriminated against? Any questions?

Readers have presented a number of questions and situations with new ones surfacing every few weeks. Here are a few.

1 - Can residents in a neighborhood organize themselves into a subdivision? What is the definition of a subdivision? A check of the dictionary says a subdivision is a term for an urban or suburban area. If that’s the case, a neighborhood may be able to organize themselves into a subdivision.

2 - Another question covers the building of new homes to form a subdivision. Let’s say a builder is building 50 homes and now has occupants in 10 of them. The question is who determines the trash hauler for these 10 - the builder, the 10 residents, or St. Louis County? Will these new homeowners have a chance to opt-out of the county program or are they “stuck?” When can they vote to opt out? When they move in or when all 50 homes are occupied?

3 - As of this writing, there are two lawsuits pending in the courts to throw out the program and require a two year notice to all haulers. The questions fall into two areas. What happens if the county looses these cases? What happens if they win?

If the county looses, will they refund penalties paid by residents on a regulation that has been determined to be illegal? Will the county be faced with lawsuits from trash haulers or residents? Who will pay for any legal actions? (Looks like county residents will pay)

If the county wins, the regulation goes into effect along with enforcement. The only way county citizens can then achieve their freedom of choice is at the polls.

>> Comments posted:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "St. Louis County Issues Citations For Enforcement ...": The County better hire more Garbage Cops, and build more detention camps. There are literally, 10's of thousands of residents that have now hit the delinquency list.

This program from beginning to hear, has Cost St. Louis county, Cost the County taxpayers, Cost the County residents, Cost the existing trash businesses, and others, Millions of Dollars.

And, if the County looses the law suit, it will cost millions more.Call your council person, call Charlie, Call Gary Earls, but, everyone should be very upset with this situation. Vote them all out of office, they deserve it.

Metro Solutions Suggested

Our “Metro” public transit system is out of money and cutting service. People can’t get to their jobs. Simultaneously, unemployed people might be willing to drive people to work for a small fee.

Bevis Schock has a solution: Deregulate the taxi business and let anybody drive anybody anywhere for whatever price the parties can agree on. Not a bad idea in desperate times.

A comment from the St. Louis Beacon, http://www.stlbeacon.org/about

Crime Statistics for St. Louis County Municipalities

One of the biggest challenges for people relocating to a new area is selecting a safe area to live. Since real estate agents are bound by fair housing laws and are taught to carefully protect themselves from lawsuits, they aretypically reluctant to offer recommendations of neighborhoods based on safety.

Instead, agents are encouraged to refer their clients to the local police department for answers about the safety of a community.

(Click picture to enlarge)

St. Louis Browns Attendance Up 50%; Major League Teams Taking Note

While many teams in the major leagues are finding reduced attendance, the St. Louis Browns are enjoying a resurgence in attendance. The Browns report the number attending their Spring Luncheon on April 28, 209 is projected to be up by 50%.

There were times in the Browns history they only filed 2% of Sportsman’s Park, the stadium they shared with the St. Louis Cardinals for more than 50 years. The Browns moved to Baltimore after the 1953 season and became the Orioles.

"Today, the Orioles are the bottom-feeding Birds, universally picked to finish last in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles have played sub-.500 baseball for 11 consecutive seasons, plummeting to the cellar last summer with a record of 68-93, a whopping 28 1/2 games out of first place."

There’s no need for Baltimore fans to suffer this on-going agony. The solution is simple. Move the team back to St. Louis and let the fans show their appreciation. Here it is, 56 years later, the Browns continue to draw crowds to their events. They will have a 25th fan club anniversary dinner this fall and are projecting a 100% increase in attendance over their last dinner.

What other teams are projecting 50% to 100% increases?

If you’re a REAL St. Louis baseball fan, you will not want to miss the Browns Fan Club luncheon on April 28 at the Missouri Athletic Club, 405 Washington Ave. in downtown St. Louis. Here’s some of the Browns player’s you will meet.

> A guy who played on the 1944 pennant winning team of the Browns who played against the Cardinals in our city’s only city-wide World Series. (Babe Martin)

> A 1940’s Browns player who is still active in baseball as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and often referred to as a “super scout.” (Al LaMacchia)

> A guy who drove in the last run for the St. Louis Browns in 1953 when they then moved to Baltimore and who later filled in for Stan Musial at first base when Stan was ill. (Ed Mickelson)

> A player who was voted Rookie of the Year in the American League in 1949 who was born and raised here in St. Louis. (Roy Seivers)

> A player born in the area in Alton, IL and played for the Browns. He would play in the American League for five seasons (1950-54) for the Browns (twice). He played with the Baltimore Orioles where he was a member of the first modern Baltimore MLB team in 1954. (Don Lenhardt)

> Meet a Sedalia, Missouri player who played for the Browns in the 1951 season. In14 career games, he had seven hits in 20 at-bats, with a Home Run and a .350 batting average. (Bud Thomas)

Make your reservation on-line at the Browns blog site at http://thestlbrowns.blogspot.com/ in the right hand column, or you can send a check payable to the St. Louis Browns Fan Club to Frank Kane, 443 Fieldcrest Dr., St. Louis, MO 63129.

Get up a group from your subdivision and attend the St. Louis Browns luncheon. We'll reserve a table for you.

Any questions? Contact Bill Rogers, Editor, St. Louis Browns Magazine, stlbrowns@swbell.net or call 314-892-8632.

Ferguson Proposes Fees on Landlords; Vote on April 7

Just a little reminder for you to VOTE on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 . . . and all St. Louis County residents contact any one you know in the City of Ferguson. At a time when thousands are losing their jobs and homes, the City of Ferguson is trying to pass a proposition to increase the fees paid by rental unit holders (landlords) in the city to $50 dollars per unit.

Vote No on Proposition A this Tuesday. And if you are available, contact the St. Louis Board of Realtors (314-576-0033) to volunteer to talk to people at the polls the day of voting. Many time slots are available. Even if you can only give an hour, it would be well worth it. And appreciated!

And remember, if one municipality gets this to pass, the others will follow! We must stand up in force against this unfair fee!

Dining in a restaurant in

St. Louis County

May be Hazardous to

Your Health

(If smokers are present)

Creve Coeur anti-smoking plea reaches St. Louis County Council

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . . . .

Creve Coeur’s request that St. Louis County ban smoking in public places today officially reached the county council.

The resolution is on the agenda for council meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the County Administration Building in Clayton. The council today made public the session’s agenda and its supporting material. The Creve Coeur City Council adopted the anti-smoking resolution on March 23.

The resolution says smoking is a health hazard not only to smokers, but to people around them. It calls for a county ordinance that would ban smoking in public places including restaurants and bars. The measure should “guarantee the rights of patrons and employees to breathe in a smoke-free environment,” the resolution says.

The Creve Coeur council passed a similar resolution on Feb. 28, 2005.

Burlington Trash Haulers May See Price Increase

With less coming in, waste district proposes 25 percent fee increase

The cost of trash disposal is going up in Burlington, Iowa and possibly in St. Louis County, in large part because people are throwing away less.

Chittenden Solid Waste District is proposing a 25 percent increase in the fee haulers pay for each ton of trash headed for the landfill. The price would rise July 1, from $17.61 a ton to $22.06 a ton.

Each trash hauler will decide whether and how much of the increase to pass along to residential and commercial customers.CSWD’s decision won a quick protest from one hauler, Jeff Myers, president of Myers Containers.

The district estimates the average retail customer would pay $2.50 a year more for trash pickup, if haulers pass along the full increase. A typical business would pay about $33 a year more.

This is the first increase in the regional trash tax since 1993. “For the first time in 16 years, our tonnage has dropped so drastically, we’re going to have to raise the fee,” District General Manager Tom Moreau said.

And why is less trash headed for the landfill? “It’s the recession, there’s no doubt about it,” Moreau said. The district has had some success in recent years in reducing landfill-bound waste, by encouraging recycling. But the sudden drop in landfill tonnage in recent months isn’t the result of more recycling; it’s a byproduct of less business activity and belt-tightening in local households, he speculated.

Recycling returned big profits until last autumn because used paper, plastic and metal commanded high prices in the commodity markets. The recession dropped the bottom out of those markets, so instead of paying haulers to bring recyclables to the Williston sorting center, the district began charging trucks a drop-off fee. Higher charges for landfill-bound waste will lower those fees from $20 a ton to $10 a ton.

“Our intent is to pass that expense along to our customers — we don’t see any other option,” he said. “It is a cost that needs to be borne by the waste generator.”

Trash Consultant Says Pay as You Throw Plans Work

A consultant was asked to comment on her experience with illegal dumping associated with a Pay-As-You-Throw program. This is a program that should satisfy seniors and single persons who have very little trash; those who haul their trash to another location such as a family member or to work; the county and those who cannot opt out of the county's program since they do not live in a subdivision (discrimination in the first degree).

The experience in most fee-based or PAYT programs is that there is a significant decrease in the amount of solid waste tonnage and a somewhat smaller increase in the recycling tonnage.

The drop in tonnage when a community begins PAYT is attributable to many things in addition to recycling, reusing, donating and composting more. At first, people will stomp on bags to fit in as much as possible, a few will take trash to relatives in other towns, or to work, or put it in public barrels or dumpsters. These attempts to avoid a few dollars generally don't last long because they take time and effort, and over the long haul most people find it easier to recycle or pay the fee at home rather than go to the trouble to avoid it.

In addition, families with vacation homes elsewhere are more likely to leave weekend trash with their local dump or transfer station instead of bringing it home. One thing that does not seem to occur is dumping in roadsides, rivers, woods or parks.

There will likely be a small initial increase in illegal dumping in pubic barrels and dumpsters, but this ends if nipped in the bud quickly with fines for violators. Lots of people leave mail in their trash, so they can easily be tracked down. Most people realize how embarrassed they'd be if they got caught and the police returned their trash bags.

In my experience, instead of "bring your trash to work day," the opposite is true. When trash collection is free in a town, some business owners bring work-related trash home. A trash limit or fee will put an end to that, or at least the businesses will be paying their own way.

The City of Concord's program has been a success for many years and launched its recycling rate into the top rates in the state.

Ann Dorfman
Recycling & Resource Management Consulting
Newton, Mass.

Dooley Plays Politics Dumping Fox TV Interview on Earls; Earls Stutters His Way Through

For those who missed the “You Paid For It” segment of Tuesday evening’s Fox 2 News at 9:00, click on the link below to view the 3 minute video of Elliott Davis grilling St. Louis County Chief Operating Officer, Garry Earls, about the two pending lawsuits against the county. It’s apparent from the video that County Executive, Charlie Dooley, would not agree to be interviewed by Davis, so he dumped the task on Earls. That's called "playing politics" when the chief executive refuses to be interviewed, he can later plead ignorance.

As many residents are aware, there are two court cases pending against St. Louis County concerning its controversial trash districting program. The first case involves the trash haulers vs. St. Louis County. This case was rejected on appeal by St. Louis County to the Missouri Supreme Court and was sent back to the Circuit Court for trial. To date, no trial date has been set.

The second case involves the citizens (right to vote) vs. St. Louis County. This case is in the Circuit Court and is set to be heard at the second Case Management Conference, which is scheduled for April 9, 2009.

Earls was unable to answer direct questions from Elliott Davis of Channel 2 repeatedly saying the county will NOT loose the law suits. He would not provide any indication of a plan should the county not win. Davis appeared to know more about the trash situation with the County that what County officials did.

Should the County loose the pending law suits, trash haulers who were selected by the county could well loose business. Trash haulers not selected by the county have already lost business. Additional law suits to recover lost revenue are not out of the question and could well run into the millions of dollars.

Contact County Executive, Charlie Dooley or Chief Operating Officer, Garry Earls, to let them know what you think about the county’s trash program, the contact information is below their respective pictures. As Elliott Davis always says: “After all, YOU PAID FOR IT!”

Send an e-mail to St. Louis County Executive, Charlie Dooley, at cdooley@stlouisco.com or give him a call at 615-7016 and let him know what you think of the county’s trash program.

You can also send an e-mail to Chief Operating Officer, Garry Earls, at gearls@stlouisco.com or give him a call at 615-5000 and ask to be transferred to the office of the Chief Operating Officer to let him know what you think of the county’s trash program.

Click here for video -

You Paid For It: St. Louis County Trash Program Video