4TH WARD NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS: Speak against Ward reapportionment plan

Three Old Southwest neighborhood associations join rising chorus opposing so-called "gerrymander plans"  

 

COLUMBIA, 7/31/11  (Beat Byte) --  Three 4th Ward neighborhood associations have spoken out against a city Ward reapportionment plan that would place much of Columbia's Old Southwest -- as well as the Benton-Stephens neighborhood -- into the First Ward.  

 

The Quarry Heights Home Owners Association, the Westmount Neighborhood Association, and the Historic Old Southwest Neighborhood Association all oppose Plan D, which would take the Old Southwest Neighborhood out of the Fourth Ward AND the Benton-Stephens Neighborhood out of the Third Ward and put them BOTH into the First Ward.  

 

"Members of the Westmount Neighborhood Association (WNA) want to go on record that we oppose Plan D,"  WNA chairperson Catherine Doyle wrote Ward Reapportionment Committee (WRC) and Columbia City Council members in a July 26 letter. 

FAN GETS BUM RAP: From CoMo Rap Fest promoter

Campus Musick founder Chase Lauer

COLUMBIA, 7/30/11  (Beat Byte) --  An unusual customer service response from Missouri Muzic Fest promoter Chase Sullivan Lauer (left) to an inquiring fan almost has a hip-hop rhythm.

"Can't wait to see your hater ass begging for a ticket outside the gates."

 

Questions and concerns about rapper Nicki Minaj's advertised appearance at the Labor Day MoMusic Rap/Hip Hop Festival earned fan Arthur Nunn the harsh retort on a Facebook page.

"Will Nicki be at this event?" Nunn asked Missouri Muzic Fest, a Facebook alias used by Lauer.  "Is the use of her name and photo just for publicity?  Seems like there could be some legal issues here." 

 

Prompting Nunn's questions were "misleading promotions" that sounded "fishy," he told the Heart Beat.  Recent newspaper stories have also raised concerns about which acts were firmly booked for the Boone County Fairgrounds show.   Pre-concert ticket sales are largely based on the promised acts. 

 

"Can't wait to see your hater ass begging for a ticket outside the gates."

-- concert promoter Chase Lauer to fan

 

"There are a lot of offers out and a lot of contract negotiations going on that I wouldn't expect you to understand," Lauer told Nunn.  "This is the way the industry works, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that, Arthur." 

 

Missouri Muzic Fest is an offshoot of Campus Musick, which Lauer -- a 2005 Mizzou Journalism School graduate who concentrated on advertising and public relations -- says he started "as a way for independent and local artists to have a voice and an outlet for their music, focusing primarily on the college demographic." 

MIZZOU STUDY IDENTIFIES: Key early skills for later math learning

Understanding numbers and the quantities they represent

COLUMBIA, 7/29/11  (Beat Byte) --  First-graders who understand numbers and quantities will have better success learning mathematics later on, say psychologists at the University of Missouri.

 

"We wanted to identify the beginning of school knowledge needed to learn math over the next five years," says David Geary, Curator’s Professor of Psychological Sciences.  "We found that understanding numbers and quantity is a necessary foundation for success as the student progresses to more complex math topics." 

 

Geary and his research team monitored 177 elementary students from 12 different elementary schools since kindergarten, with the intention of following them through their first algebra class in the 10th grade.  They found that first-graders who understood the number line; how to place numbers on the line; and knew some basic arithmetic showed faster growth in math skills than their counterparts during the next five years. 

BADGE, UNIFORM, LOGO REDESIGN? Columbia police answer questions

CPD Old Logo

CPD New Logo

We received the following letter about decal, badge, uniform, and logo redesign at the Columbia Police Department (CPD). 

 

Have you heard anything about the police chief re-designing Columbia's police badges and decals?  I have heard the chief [Ken Burton] wants to do away with the current design for CPD badges and decals and replace them with his design.  I am concerned because of the expense it would incur.  All the badges, decals on cars, buildings and uniform patches would need to be replaced with the new design. 

 

 How much would this cost? Will this occur again with a new chief? Does the city have extra funds for this kind of superficial expense ?  If so, why not put more cops on the street instead?   Just saying.   Jim P., Columbia, Missouri

 

Sergeant Jill Wieneke, Public Relations Unit, Columbia Police Department answers: 

 

"Yes, the department is changing its 'logo.'  It is actually being integrated into the switching over of our vehicles to Chevy Tahoe SUVs and our uniforms (we are switching vendors).  I don't have exact numbers (thankfully I am not the budget lady), but every uniform and marked car gets a patch/decal anyway.  The badges are not being changed. 

WARD GERRYMANDER? Reapportionment committee member disputes former Blunt chief plan

Popular former school board president worries Rob Monsees' Plan D could inhibit voting rights

 

COLUMBIA, 7/26/11  (Beat Byte) --  A city of Columbia Ward reapportionment plan crafted by former Matt Blunt deputy chief of staff Rob Monsees -- a Columbia resident and Ward Reapportionment Committee member -- may violate the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, said fellow committee member Michelle Gadbois (left), who rose to local prominence as a thoughtfully outspoken member and later president of the Columbia School Board. 

 

Plan D -- which is basically Plan A plus Columbia's Old Southwest neighborhood -- would combine the city's most liberal constituencies into a single Ward for City Council representation, and could dilute Black voting power in the First Ward.  At a July 14 public hearing, dozens of people protested Plan A for its similar effects. 

 

Explaining that she was "quite vocal against Monsees' plan" at a recent committee meeting, Gadbois told the Columbia Heart Beat that "by incorporating a large and active White voting block into a neighboring Ward where African Americans dominate in population," Monsees' plan -- otherwise known as "Plan D" -- could violate the famous civil rights-era law.  In raising her objections, Gadbois said she wanted to point to "something legal" that would dissuade other committee members from supporting the plan.   

iPAD USERS UNUSUALLY SATISFIED: Mizzou journalism professor discovers

COLUMBIA, 7/25/11  (Beat Byte) --  In little more than a year, Apple’s iPad tablet computer has become a tech darling, attracting scores of new fans -- and knock-offs that will have a tough time competing if a new Mizzou-Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) survey is any guide.

iPad owners report "exceptionally high levels of satisfaction, which appears to be increasing the longer they use the device," said Roger Fidler, RJI program director for digital publishing and e-reader expert who released the latest results of his Spring 2011 iPad user survey. 

 

Such high satisfaction levels are "unusual for new technology devices," Fidler said. “In most cases, satisfaction tends to drop off significantly after about 13 weeks. That clearly is not the trend with the iPad." 

 

Last Fall, Fidler found that 94 percent of 1,600 survey respondents were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their iPad.  This Spring, nearly 70 percent of 561 survey respondents said they were even more satisfied than they were last fall. 

HIGH COURT SIDES: With Boone County Internet detective

Appeals court vindicates detective's work in scuffle over computers, hard drives, nude man, and webcams

 

COLUMBIA, 7/24/11  (Beat Byte) -- A Missouri appellate court has sided with Boone County Sheriff's Department (BCSD) detective and Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force (MMICTF, now the BCSD Cyber Crimes Task Force) coordinator Andy Anderson in a 2008 child sexual misconduct case. 

 

After a Boone County judge and jury found him guilty and sentenced him to four years, Daniel Mauchenheimer appealed, partly basing his argument on the idea that Anderson might have tampered with Mauchenheimer's computer hard drive, used to prove his involvement on a Yahoo chat board during a MMICTF sting operation, the appellate brief detailed.

 

On October 8, 2008, Anderson was in the Yahoo chat room posing as a fourteen-year-old Columbia girl with the screen name "sadmogirl"  when he received a private message from Mauchenheimer using the screen name "abcglen" and a profile as a thirty-eight-year-old male in St. Louis.

 

Mauchenheimer described himself sitting naked at the computer, asked if "sadmogirl" wanted to see him naked, and later, exposed himself on the webcam both naked -- and masturbating.  "I would want to have sex with you.  If I was your age," Mauchenheimer told Anderson's underaged alter-ego.  

COLUMBIA BEST FOR BIZ: New Forbes rating ranks city #8 on 2011 biz-friendly list

COLUMBIA, 7/24/11  (Beat Byte) --  Columbia, Missouri is the number eight Best Small City for Business, says Forbes Magazine in a new ranking of the top 25 most business-friendly large and small cities -- metropolitan areas with less than 250,000 people -- released this month. 

With 14 midwestern cities and several college towns on the small cities list, Manhattan, Kansas (home of K-State) was tops; Lafayette, Indiana, home of Purdue University, was No. 11; Iowa City, Iowa (University of Iowa) ranked 13th.

 

For the rankings, Forbes considered past and projected job growth; cost of doing business; the cost of living; income growth; educational attainment; projected growth; quality of life; crime rate; cultural and recreational opportunities; net migration patterns; and highly-ranked colleges.

 

On Forbes' big-cities list, Raleigh, N.C., came in first, followed by Des Moines, Iowa.  St. Louis ranked 23rd. 

GOOGLE+ BOOTS KOMU AND WILLIAM SHATNER: Anchor Sarah Hill posts "obituary" for new social media site

COLUMBIA, 7/23/11  (Beat Byte) --  Columbia's KOMU television and Star Trek star William Shatner now have something in common beyond television.  Google + -- the Internet search giant's answer to Facebook -- unceremoniously eighty-sixed Shatner on Monday and KOMU Tuesday, prompting KOMU anchor and Sarah Stories host Sarah Hill to post a tongue-in-cheek "obituary" for the social media site.

 

"+KOMU News, 3 weeks old, of Columbia, MO passed away Tuesday, in its sleep," Hill wrote on her Google+ profile page.  "Memorials can be sent to the 'Tablet app for Hangout Fund.'  Burial will be at 3:00 pm tomorrow in a G+ Hangout.  Graveside service to follow on my profile."

 

The move came as no surprise.  Still partly in a Beta testing mode, Google+ -- which features social "Hangouts" -- has limited most new accounts to individuals, closing the doors on businesses.   The Columbia NBC affiliate joined Shatner, booted from Google+ for his "celebrity business" status. 

 

"Actually we knew the KOMU news account’s days were limited as it’s a business and G+ is limiting those kinds of accounts right now," Hill wrote.  "KOMU will come back when organizations are allowed back in," she wrote. "It’s not goodbye, just see ya later." 

SKALA VINDICATED! Controversial request to shuffle city manager becomes official

Derided by establishment critics, former Councilman wins his case in the end

 

COLUMBIA, 7/22/11  (Beat Byte) --  "An unneeded distraction."  "A silly proposition."  "A tempest in a teapot."

 

That's how Columbia Daily Tribune publisher Hank Waters described former Third Ward Columbia City Councilman Karl Skala's request that the Columbia city manager move from his long-occupied center seat at the Council table and join other staff members at the side.   

 

But with new Columbia city manager Mike Matthes sitting to the side at the Council meeting table, Mayor Bob McDavid, M.D. in the center seat, and other Council members seated according to seniority, Skala (left) has been vindicated over the controversial suggestion, which partly cost him the 2010 election because opponents painted it as an inappropriate power grab.   

TRAIL BULLIES? Could eminent domain threat wreck Audubon trail compromise? Part 1

Charges of "settlement under duress" cloud trail/nature sanctuary deal

 

COLUMBIA, 7/22/11  (Beat Byte) -- Amidst some of the more impassioned Columbia City Council presentations this writer has heard in years, charges that City Hall was prepared to use eminent domain to get a bike and walking trail through land owned by the Columbia Audubon Society raised serious questions about a "compromise agreement" Council members approved Monday night.

 

Settlements made under coercion or duress represent a legal, moral, and ethical gray area.  Some organizations even specify that agreements not be reached under duress.   The U.S. Department of Labor follows such a guideline with workers compensation claims.   A 2010 Alabama appellate case also addressed duress, this time in a divorce.  In many states, divorce settlements can be set aside if "duress or coercion" is proven.

 

The Audubon/trail agreement was designed to settle an unusual dispute between Audubon Society members, who support a pristine nature sanctuary, and pedestrian/bicycle enthusiasts who want a $980,000 trail through the 22 acre property in West Columbia.  Donated by local attorney Garland Russell, Jr. and detailed on page 31 of this presentation, the nature sanctuary abuts a larger 90-acre parcel Russell's father, Garland Sr., donated in 1999. 

 

For years, the two parcels have appeared as complimentary parts in a coherent whole.  The 90-acre Bonnie View parcel is nature with walking, bicycling, and ADA accessibility.  The smaller Audubon Society parcel is pure nature. 

 

The dispute has changed all that, pitting conservationists against trail advocates in an almost Civil War-like "brother against brother" fashion. 

POPULAR WEATHERMAN HUFFMAN: Leaves Columbia for Florida

Dozens of friends say goodbye to a calm voice during the storms

COLUMBIA, 7/21/11  (Beat Byte) --  Like fellow meteorologist Randy Wright and Columbia tourism chief Lorah Steiner before him, Florida has called away a Columbia favorite -- ABC-17 Stormtrack weather journalist Jeff Huffman.

At a July 15 Heidelberg Restaurant party attended by dozens of friends, fans, and well-wishers, Huffman -- whose red hair, good nature, and calm smile became a Columbia news fixture over the past 8 years -- announced that he had accepted a position as Chief Meteorologist for the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications in Gainesville.   

 

The move, Huffman said, represents a "unique opportunity I just couldn’t resist" with several new responsibilities, including "overseeing the creation of a weather department" that will service all of the University's multimedia properties.

 

Huffman's lighthearted sense of humor was often on display in Columbia, from reporting on mid-Missouri's wild weather to teaming with a four part harmony group to bring "Bieber Fever" -- as in teen idol Justin -- to a local charity event raising money for the Lyceum Theatre. 

 

A native of Dexter, Missouri in the southeastern bootheel, Huffman's move to "Gator Country" was recently featured in his hometown newspaper. 

 

"Missouri has been 'home' for most of Jeff Huffman's life -- his roots and allegiances are in the ShowMe State," the story explained.  A University of Missouri graduate, "I was able to find everything I was looking for in a city and career in Columbia," Huffman said. 

 

"I have lived in Columbia for nearly 14 years and this will be a difficult transition for me," he told friends on his Facebook page.  "You will ALL be dearly missed." 

CAT FIGHT: Leaders in stray cat debate dispute how new law was designed

COLUMBIA, 7/20/11  (Beat Byte) -- Earlier this month, Mayor Bob McDavid told KRCG News he expected Columbia City Council members to kill the city's new feral cat bill.  "I have to say that 100% of the correspondence I’ve received has been against this ordinance, feeling that it is over-regulation, and that these people are just feeding animals out of sympathy," McDavid said. 

 

"A reasonable ordinance disintegrated into its current disastrous form," Spay, Neuter, and Protect (SNAP) board member Christina McCullen told the Columbia Heart Beat. 

 

And in a letter to city leaders, Central Missouri Humane Society executive director Dr. Alan Allert, D.V.M. "said the proposed animal ordinance has too many financial burdens on the caretakers of feral cats," KRCG reported. 

 

With the exception of Health Board members, every person who then testified before McDavid and fellow Council members panned the new ordinance. 

 

Calling the testing and micro-chipping mandates "impossible" to manage with his limited financial resources, Atish Sen, who actively spays, neuters, and vaccinates feral cats, told Council members that with the new law, "essentially you have lost not only me, but a fair number of people who would have otherwise helped with the control and management of feral cats in this community." 

 

Yet Columbia-Boone County Board of Health (BOH) members Harry Feirman and Nathan Voris, DVM, MBA insist that in designing the feral cat ordinance from May 2009 onward, Board members worked closely with the community, including opponents such as McCullen and fellow SNAP representative Anita McIntyre. 

TSA...SAVES THE DAY?! At Columbia airport, notorious agency saves family vacation

In an airport security agent's common-sense kindness, a little Potter-like wizardry   

COLUMBIA, 7/19/11  (Beat Byte) -- Summer travel advisory:  CAUTION -- airport rules can vary without notice, leaving you stranded if caught unaware.  

That's what happened to my family and I a few weeks ago, as we prepared to depart for Florida's beaches and theme parks, a kid-driven family fest long-postponed as we spent the last 18 months pushing back on breast cancer with everything prayer and medical science could muster.   

Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation -- family vacation.  Sounded like a plan, except for one hitch:  We arrived at the Columbia Regional Airport well within the timeline our online tickets required, but shy of current airport regulations.   The check-in counter was closed, leaving only Transportation Security agents on the floor to deal with customers. 

TSA customer service.   Isn't that some kind of oxymoron?  

At first -- as visions of adult diaper searches, full body scans, and lurid pat downs danced in my mind -- it sure seemed like it.  The agents were mulling about, grumping and scowling, reciting this and that regulation and strictly prohibiting mom, dad, and three kids (my daughter brought a friend) from boarding that all-important flight (which was still in process, moving slowly toward the tarmac).

I didn't say much, instead thinking about driving to Florida; my wife was shaking, nearly in tears.  No one could check our bags, the agents explained.  No adequate security could possibly be brought to bare on our little group -- there simply wasn't enough time.  And look -- there was no one from the airline at the boarding counter.  "We don't work for the airline," one of the agents explained.  "There's nothing we can do." 

We were doomed.  It was hopeless.  Where at first we planned to fly with Harry Potter on his new ride at Universal Studios, now we were nothing but muggles, no magic brooms, no Dumbledorian wisdom, no Hagrid to come to our rescue. 

Then, some wizarding happened, but of the decidedly human kind.  My wife, who never once raised her voice nor acted angry, told one of the TSA agents about the importance of this vacation.  She could see people standing around, waiting to board in the other room, and thought there just must be some way, some manager or higher power that could see us onto the plane.  

She said maybe a dozen words about how this was going to be such a welcome relief from the past 18 months, and a return to life without cancer.

What happened next was so sudden I thought I was caught amidst a rousing Quidditch game!  The TSA agent rallied her troops, who suddenly started inspecting our bags.  Hands flew into the air, tears of joy fell, children jumped -- and I quickly unloaded a large bag the agents said we couldn't bring (it wouldn't fit through their scanner). 

Take that, Lord Voldemort!   We're going to see Harry and Hermione after all!   I was never so eager in my life to remove my shoes, empty my pockets, slide off my belt and wristwatch, and walk through that scanner, remembering shoe bombers and underwear explosives and all the other crazy things about life in the friendly skies these days, arms in the air, security wand (no wizardry here) at my sides. 

Jostling tourists, scorching sun, outrageous prices -- and TSA agents -- here we come!  It was good to be back among the living, especially with those little moments of kindness that make living feel alive. 

"You're my family," said the boarding agent smiling, as we started toward the small jet.  Yes ma'am -- we certainly are. 

TALE OF TWO STAFFERS: The city planner and city veteran behind the big blowup

Despite a long, loud clash over Great Hangups rezoning, City Hall veteran and new(er) city planner share love of public service

COLUMBIA, 7/18/11  (Beat Byte) --  When Columbia College was still Christian College in 1970, then-professor Sue Gerard -- the Columbia Tribune's longtime Granny's Notes columnist who passed away at age 96 one year ago tomorrow -- suggested that a young student she'd mentored take up "counseling through activity." 

 

Janice "Cookie" Hagan took the advice to heart.  "She spent that summer riding around town on a bike loaded with balls, bats, first aid and who knows what - to playgrounds at various schools," Gerard wrote about Hagan.

 

The Historic Sunset Lane Neighborhood Association president whose clash at a public meeting with city development services manager Patrick Zenner is one for the record books, Hagan retired after nearly three decades at what the Tribune called a "vibrant career with Columbia Parks and Recreation."

ANGRY WORDS: City planner "lectures" retired city employee, neighborhood association

Confrontation becomes "rambling sermon " at Great Hangups meeting

 

COLUMBIA, 7/18/11  (Beat Byte) --  Silent for most of a 75-minute public meeting about the Great Hangups rezoning, City of Columbia development services manager Pat Zenner spoke up, taking issue with questions to city planner Steve MacIntyre.  Zenner then took the floor for nearly three minutes, scolding opponents and explaining city policy.   During what neighborhood residents and association members have called a "rambling sermon," Zenner is visibly upset, his voice shaking and almost breaking several times.  

 

PATRICK ZENNER:   "The elected officials took action on their own accord to waive fees, which they, as the elected officials of the city, have the right to do.  We are not in a position to waive requirements of our zoning ordinances.  

 

"Mr. MacIntyre will look into whether or not your protest petition is still valid.  If it is not, your recourses are either to get the protest petition filled out again, as un-convenient (sic) as that is for you.  That is one option.  The other is, you can contact Council -- all of them -- and find out if you can do a work around. 

"We are not here to take your action against Council on our shoulders.  We are the staff providing you with technical information associated with this case.  We do not make policy decisions.  We make recommendations for those who have to make policy decisions.  We follow the rules that have been handed down to us to follow. 

 

"Sarcasm in the meeting is not necessary.  Ask a question and move on.  Mr. MacIntyre said he would follow up with Miss [city clerk Sheela] Amin to find out what the rules are.  He suggested to you to do that. 

 

"It is not our responsibility to make your job any easier if you want to protest something.   We will work to try to make sure that your concerns are expressed, but we are not here to either self serve the applicant or the neighborhood.   We are here to answer your questions and prepare a report. 

 

"Now, if you want to keep on task so we can finish the meeting, ask your questions without the ad lib in it.   Then we move on and let you all go home and be able to discuss this in your neighborhood association meeting.  

 

"If you want to come protest the request, you're more than welcome to, but protest the requirements of what our ordinances say.  If Council wants to waive them, that's their prerogative -- it's not up to us.  Your behavior and your resentment of the process should not be directed at us."

 

COOKIE HAGAN:   "Sir, I don't believe I'm showing my anger to you at all.  I was talking to Steve MacIntyre, and Steve, if I in any way offended you I want to apologize.   But we do have concerns with regard to the way the applicant was treated and the way we're being treated and we brought that to Steve's attention.   I didn't see Steve being nearly upset as you, sir.  You are very upset and I apologize for your anger, but these meetings are for the public to address concerns on how our neighborhood is being treated."

 

ZENNER:   "State your concerns Ms. Hagan and move on and we will finish the meeting.  I am Steve's boss.   Therefore, I have the right to defend my staff if they're not going to for themself.   State your issue and let's move on to the next issue, please."

BIZARRE CONFRONTATION: Erupts between city planner, neighborhood association

Tensions overheat nearly an hour into contentious rezoning meet

 

COLUMBIA, 7/18/11  (Beat Byte) -- An unusually-long and heated confrontation between a senior Columbia city planner, a retired Columbia city employee, and neighborhood association members virtually shut down a late May public meeting about a plan to rezone the corner of West Blvd. and West Broadway that houses the Great Hangups frame shop. 

 

Columbia City Council members will take up the request for a second time in nine months Monday night.

 

"This is a public information meeting.  Our staff is not here to have you blast us for issues regarding elected officials," city planning development liaison Patrick Zenner told Janice "Cookie" Hagan, after Sunset Lane neighbors raised cries of "unfair, discriminatory, not right" regarding Columbia City Council moves that waived fees and other requirements for the rezoning applicants, while insisting that residents opposing the request follow the law to the letter.

 

President of the Historic Sunset Lane Neighborhood Association (HSLNA), Hagan retired in 2003 after 29 years with Columbia's Parks and Recreation Department, during which time she was lauded for her work with under-served and disadvantaged populations.  

 

The veteran city staffer had been questioning city planner Steve MacIntyre about a new wrinkle that caught neighbors by surprise:  dozens of petition signatures and letters opposing the project that took many months and many dollars to collect would be invalidated.  New petitions and opposition statements would have to be re-submitted for Council consideration at Monday night's July 18 vote to approve or deny the rezoning request, earlier denied last October. 

 

In a tone Zenner found offensive, Hagan asked whether Council members could "make us a new law," and "give us a little edge, too," given the waivers granted rezoning applicants Mark Nichols and Patra Mierzwa. 

 

"Ms. Hagan -- the sarcasm is not necessary please," Zenner replied, kicking off a confrontation that would go on for over three minutes (see related story below). 

 

"Sir -- I believe that you, sir, were very sarcastic to me in many ways at our last P&Z (Planning and Zoning Commission) meeting," Hagan retorted.  "You were very sarcastic to me." 

 

"If you'd like to quote me on that ma'am, go right ahead," Zenner fired back.  

 

"Yes sir, I will," Hagan replied. 

DEMOCRACY DENIED? City attorney bypasses Council in rezoning case ruling

In Great Hangups dispute, one non-elected staffer trumps seven elected Council members

 

COLUMBIA, 7/17/11  (Beat Byte) -- Columbia city attorney Fred Boeckmann (left) may have single-handedly short circuited democracy during debate about the Great Hangups rezoning request at a May City Council meeting. 

Mandated by city ordinance to remain on hold for one year after Council members disapproved it in October 2010, the request to rezone four lots at the corner of West Broadway and West Blvd. from commercial to residential reappeared five months early.   Fourth Ward Councilman Daryl Dudley, whose Ward includes the Hang Ups corner, "made a motion to waive the one year waiting period to reintroduce the Great Hangups rezoning request," minutes from the City Council's May 2 meeting explain. 

 

Section 29-34.(a)(1)a of the Columbia City Code permits Council members to restart stalled zoning requests earlier than the mandated waiting period.   Under standard procedure, a motion to do so would be seconded by a fellow Council person, then put to a vote by the entire elected body. 

 

Instead, something unexpected happened.  "I'd like to raise a point of order," Mayor Bob McDavid suddenly interrupted.  "Is the motion necessary?" 

 

Boeckmann immediately replied, "I don't think it is because I think the application is substantially different" from the version denied in October.    

 

The motion was promptly dropped, leaving the city attorney -- a non-elected city official -- the issue's sole arbiter, while flummoxing neighbors who had expected a formal vote on Dudley's motion, which had been in the works for months.  

 

In a January 24, 2011 email to Columbia Planning and Zoning Commissioner David Brodsky and Columbia planning department staff person Patrick Zenner, planning director Tim Teddy explained, "Fred Boeckmann has advised...that a new, identical, city initiated [rezoning request] can be considered if Council approves a motion to do so." 

 

Brodsky forwarded the information to other P&Z members the following day.  "It appears the city council is going to pursue...a city initiated rezoning petition," he wrote January 25.   The planned motion then made its way around the Sunset Lane neighborhood. 

 

At the May meeting, neighbors who have opposed the rezoning request and wanted the extra time to prepare for the next vote in October 2011, "were completely caught off guard by the Mayor's question, and the motion's sudden dismissal," Hagan told the Heart Beat.  "We have no idea why they took it off the table." 

 

Though McDavid did not explain why he questioned the motion at the time, he later said "the issue for me was whether or not the rezoning request was the same as the previous request, which was defeated by Council."

 

A "substantially different" rezoning request that changes key features of the initial petition could restart the process before the year long waiting period expired.   Regardless, McDavid said he never saw the new request, deferring to Boeckmann's judgment. 

 

"Having not seen this new rezoning request, I was not in a position to judge," McDavid told the Heart Beat.  "It seemed that the one-year wait should be honored if the new rezoning request was not substantially different.  If, however, the new rezoning request was substantially different, then Council motion should not be needed to initiate the rezoning request.  That distinction was the basis for my 'point of order.'"

 

McDavid said he will review the new rezoning request, staff reports, public input, and planning analysis for the July 18 meeting, deciding then if the request is "substantially different." 

"I'm sure that is true of the other members of Council," he added.  "This is a complex rezoning request because the long-standing commercial use of the property has not been in compliance with existing zoning." 

ANGRY ONLINE COMMENTS: Can derail organizations, Mizzou researcher finds

COLUMBIA, 7/15/11  (Beat Byte) -- Local government agencies pitching tax increases should listen up:  Public expressions of anger displayed on Internet sites can perpetuate negative perceptions of an organization, claims Bo Kyung Kim, a doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism who has scientifically confirmed what most people have long suspected.

 

Kim urges organizations to take online comments as "critical information that has a direct impact on the public in general."  The vast majority of online commenters have greeted recent local proposals for tax and fee increases with outright hostility. 

 

"In any fashion, organizations need to monitor their online presence closely to prevent the negative perceptions from spiraling out of control," Kim says she learned from a study that measured perceptions of four automobile corporations. 

 

Participants first read a news story about a crisis at each automobile corporation.  Secondly, Kim asked about their perceptions of each corporation.  Thirdly, participants were shown negative online comments from Facebook, Twitter, and other online message boards in response to each crisis.  Finally, participants were asked to respond the same questions about their perceptions of each corporation.

 

Negative online comments affected participants’ perceptions negatively, Kim confirmed. 

 

The study was co-authored by Hyunmin Lee, an assistant professor at St. Louis University and former doctoral candidate at MU.

CITY SHOCKER: Assistant city manager says Dinner Train a "mistake"; protest planned

COLUMBIA, 7/15/11  (Beat Byte) --  Disability advocates planning to protest a city-subsidized "dinner train" this Friday now have a potent mea culpa in their arguments against the train's non-compliance with ADA requirements. 

 

The Columbia Star Dinner Train's inaccessibility to people with disabilities is a "mistake" that should never happen again, Assistant Columbia City Manager Tony St. Romaine said at a meeting last Thursday between city leaders and critics of some $65,000 in public subsidies the Columbia City Council earlier provided.   KOMU News reported St. Romaine's near apology. 

 

As a restored antique, the train is exempt from the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  But disability advocates have consistently maintained that regardless, it should never have received subsidies from taxes everyone must pay.  On the train's opening day, July 15, they plan to protest.  

 

"I think it’s important that if the city is going to spend thousands and thousands of dollar supporting a business to come to town, that it be useable for all of our citizens," said Mid-Missouri Advocacy Coalition Troy Balthazor. 

 

"We are not discriminating against anyone," said train manager Greg Weber.  "Frankly, these issues aren’t brought up very often because of the way the cars were built in the '30's and '40's.  They are limited on access and we don’t have any choice on that."

 

Despite his "mistake" comments, St. Romaine defended the subsidy, speaking like the dinner train's banker.  In so doing, he may have unwittingly opened yet another proverbial can of worms:  City Hall attempting to pick winners and losers in the high-risk restaurant business, using taxpayer money that other restaurant owners also pay. 

 

"We know how new businesses come and go, especially restaurants," St. Romaine said.  "So you know they would obviously like to see how they do for the first year or so before they invest major funding into aquiring a car and making it truly accessible for everybody."

Is former Matt Blunt chief removing progressive votes from Columbia Wards?

Monsees

Rob Monsees -- former Governor Blunt's man on MOHELA -- champions Ward reapportionment Plan D 

COLUMBIA, 7/14/11  (Beat Byte) -- Imagine taking Columbia's most progressively-voting neighborhoods and stuffing them into a single Ward.  Now imagine that single Ward -- the First Ward -- has long been the city's most under-represented, largely due to poor voter turnout, a high rental population, and a long history of racial marginalization.   

Now imagine that a former deputy chief of staff to much-maligned Republican Governor Matt Blunt is pushing the most aggressive of these Ward reapportionment plans, which critics say would steal progressive votes from two other Wards -- the 3rd and 4th.  If you are a progressive -- i.e. Democrat or liberal --  in either of those Wards, are you ready to reduce your representation at City Hall from three Council members to one? 

That's what some residents of Columbia's ultra-progressive Benton-Stephens and Old Southwest neighborhoods are asking now that former Blunt deputy chief of staff Rob Monsees (above) has introduced Plan D, a City of Columbia Ward reapportionment design that would push Benton-Stephens voters from the 3rd Ward and Old Southwest voters from the 4th Ward into the First Ward. 

Progressive stuffing? 

"This looks all of an attempt to stuff into the First Ward progressive 4th Ward voters who -- had they united behind a single candidate rather than two -- could have cost Chamber of Commerce candidate Daryl Dudley his City Council seat in 2010," said an Old Southwest voter who wishes to remain anonymous during the proceedings.   "Add the people from Benton-Stephens -- remember the Skala-Kespohl battles -- and you have the very real potential of a permanent two thirds reduction in the representation we now have on the Columbia City Council -- or is that the Columbia Chamber Council?"

An earlier reapportionment plan consolidates just the Benton-Stephens neighborhood into the First Ward -- so-called Plan A.  That plan brought jeers from Benton-Stephens residents, who feared progressive gerrymandering and a vast reduction in representation on issues such as poor infrastructure.   

But critics worry Monsees and company felt Plan A didn't go far enough in removing progressive votes from two other Wards.  Plan D was born, since Plans B and C don't relocate enough progressive voters, they say. 

Fourth Ward Councilman and Chamber endorsee Dudley appointed Monsees -- skewered for what left-leaning Fired Up Missouri considered his hair-brained right-wing ideas -- to the Columbia Ward Reapportionment Committee.  The committee will send a new Columbia Ward map that reflects population shifts over the last decade to the Columbia City Council by Sept. 15.  

A public hearing on Monsees' plan is set for tomorrow (Thursday), 7 p.m., Columbia City Council Chambers at City Hall. 

Monsees' Millions 

Monsees' Millions: Matt Blunt's $15 Million MOHELA Slush Fund Fired Up Missouri screamed in 2007.   "With carte blanche to use millions of dollars on projects to 'commercialize research' at state schools, the potential is manifest for Monsees or Blunt to engage in inappropriate self-dealing or kickback schemes with moneyed business interests who seek to profit from the projects." 

"Not a day passes that Matty B doesn't look back with disgust on the moment in 2005 when one of his supposed 'aides' walked into his office, smiled, and plunked down on his desk a memorandum titled 'Proposal to Sell Assets of MOHELA.' That aide: Rob Monsees," Fired Up wrote the same year.  "What Matty thought would be a gift from the gods --hundreds of millions in new cash to give out to universities so they could name new buildings after refinery owners, with the only cost being reduced access to college for poor kids-- quickly turned into a constant debacle."

On Columbia's Ward Reapportionment Committee, Monsees told the Columbia Tribune his intentions are sound.   Old Southwest should move into the First Ward "because of shared concerns about the central city’s crumbling infrastructure," Monsees said.   Both Old Southwest and Benton Stephens voters -- well-known for their voter engagement -- would lift low voter turnout in the First Ward, Monsees added.

Nonsense, said former City Councilwoman Colleen Coble, the First Ward appointee to the Ward Reapportionment committee.  Ward lines on a map are unlikely to change voter behavior, Coble said, adding the annexations Monsees proposes "could change the dynamics of future campaigns." 

That's exactly what critics fear.   "Why is a man with such an aggressively-partisan background -- a Matt Blunt Chief of Staff! -- leading the charge on what should be an entirely non-partisan activity?" the 4th Ward voter wondered.  "The fact that his plan could put the screws to Columbia progressives only makes matters worse."  

Ward Reapportionment Public Hearing
Thursday, July 14, 7 pm
Columbia City Council Chambers

RELATED:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jul/13/3-ward-maps-up-for-discussion-at-hearing/

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jul/09/neighbors-fret-over-proposed-ward-map/

http://www.firedupmissouri.com/node/5549

http://www.firedupmissouri.com/mohela_slush_fund

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-monsees/4/364/70b 


-- By Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat

http://www.columbiaheartbeat.com

NO CONFLICT! Health Board member disputes drug company connection

Pfizer-employed veterinarian requests apology for conflict of interest allegations

 

COLUMBIA, 7/12/11  (Beat Byte) -- Timeline issues and extreme absenteeism are among reasons Columbia-Boone County Board of Health (BOH) member Nathan Voris, DVM. MBA said he has no conflict of interest as a chief architect of Columbia's new feral cat ordinance and employee of Pfizer Animal Health, which supplies tests and vaccines mandated by the ordinance.

 

Voris contacted the Heart Beat after our July 9 story about the conflict of interest, noting that he had not received our attempts to contact him via email. 

 

"In the April 8, 2010 minutes you will find the memo 'Animal Control Ordinance Suggestions' approved by the BOH and forwarded to both the City Council and the Boone County Commission," Voris emailed.  "Since I was not yet employed by Pfizer, how could a conflict of interest have been present?  Since there was clearly no conflict of interest present, how could you question my ethics?   For this, I humbly ask for your apology and public correction of the record." 

 

Pharma animals

 

Voris took a position with Pfizer Animal Health on July 12, 2010, after 10 years at Equine Medical Services, a Columbia-based veterinary provider.   Pfizer -- and a subsidiary the firm acquired last December, Synbiotics -- makes feline leukemia tests, feline immunodeficiency tests, and rabies vaccines, all required under the new ordinance.  

 

The Board of Health's only veterinarian, Voris never publicly disclosed his employment with the pharmaceutical giant, although he said he discussed it privately with fellow board members "before the September 2010 meeting started."   

 

"As far as I know, no one at Spay, Neuter, and Protect (SNAP) had this information," SNAP board member Christina McCullen told the Heart Beat. 

 

SNAP opposed the ordinance, which regulates care of stray cats, joining a chorus of other opposing voices at last Tuesday's Columbia City Council meeting, during which Council members approved the law 4-2.    "Even the appearance of this conflict of interest dirties the waters," McCullen explained. 

 

Voris disputes that characterization.  "I have lived in Columbia for nearly 20 years and served on the Board of Health for the last six," he explained.  "I am very open about my employment, the organizations, committees, councils and commissions in which I participate."   

 

All veterinarians would have similar conflicts of interest, Voris also noted.   "How would any veterinarian be able to offer expert opinion or participate in animal control ordinance discussion or vote, without there being a conflict of interest as you define the term?"  Voris asked.  "Would a veterinarian that administers the rabies vaccine or spays and neuters cats be equally unqualified  for participation in these discussions as one who works for a company that produces supplies for such procedures?  I think not." 
 

Finally, Voris said he had few opportunities to influence debate over the ordinance regardless.  Even though he chaired the Board of Health during 2010, he was absent from most of the meetings. 

 

"I have not been a very reliable BOH meeting attendee since leaving practice, making only 2 of the 9 meetings...due to my work travel schedule," Voris told the Heart Beat.  "My last meeting as chair -- and the last meeting I attended -- was December 9, 2010.   During that meeting...no discussions nor actions arose concerning the feral cat provision." 

 

Cats and complications

 

Voris' relationship with the feral cat ordinance has been complicated.  He earlier opposed the ordinance on grounds that city government would be sanctioning an unhealthy situation:  care and feeding of feral cats that can spread rabies and other sicknesses.   His concerns were in line with a July 2008 Health Department legal review motivated by animal bites. 

 

In a page-long September 2009 letter to fellow BOH members, Voris explained why his was the only "no" vote on a preliminary version of the ordinance.  "I have repeatedly shared my concerns about free-roaming cats and their higher rate of rabies infection," Voris wrote, along with nearly a dozen points, statistics, and reports that supported his position.  "I feel it is my duty as a veterinarian to share the attached information in the form of a report rather than depending on meeting minutes...to piece together my objections to the city's sanctioning of feral cat management." 

 

After Boone County Circuit Judge Jodie Asel dismissed a 2009 case against a feral cat caretaker, Voris said he changed his mind.  The ruling showed "there were no provisions in the animal control ordinance governing how feral cats should be handled, as the growing public health issue they are becoming, other than Animal Control rounding them up, an option not currently feasible," Voris said. 

 

At last Tuesday's City Council meeting, Voris repeated many of his concerns, urging Council members to support better funding for animal control, a haphazardly-situated public function to which neither city nor county governments pay serious attention, instead relying on non-profit groups like SNAP and the Central Missouri Humane Society.

 

Admirable, but ineffective

 

On Tuesday, Voris returned to the debate, urging Council members to pass the feral cat ordinance.  He also never disclosed his employment with Pfizer.  

 

Instead, he explained to Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe the advantages of new feline leukemia and immunodeficiency tests that don't have false positive and false negative results -- tests Pfizer Animal Health sells in nearly a dozen varieties.   Voris also testified that Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR) -- an alternative feral cat care management method that doesn't involve the mandated tests -- "while admirable," doesn't work.  Finally, he gave extensive testimony to Councilwoman Helen Anthony emphasizing the dangers of feline leukemia.  

 

In an email with links and attachments, Voris said his positions are justified regardless of his employer. 

 

"A simple review of the public record would have illustrated there was never a conflict of interest behind my placing emphasis on what I considered very important facts concerning both animal welfare and public health," he told the Heart Beat.  "It is clear that my actions were based solely on science and facts, and not on any bogus conflict." 

FARMERS MARKET ON WHEELS: Kraft Foods announces Columbia initiative with odd press release

Is  "food desert " comment fair -- or insulting?   

 

COLUMBIA, 7/12/11  (Beat Byte) --  Kraft Foods, which owns an Oscar Mayer meat plant in Columbia, has announced a novel initiative to get fresh produce and other food to the hungry and needy -- mobile farmers markets -- in ten American cities, including Columbia, but with an odd swipe at city participants. 

 

In a press release about the effort, the food manufacturing giant characterized Columbia as a "food desert -- an urban or rural area where residents have limited access to grocery stores and emergency food assistance." 

 

"Mobile pantries are critical to getting more fresh foods to people in low-income communities," said Vicki Escarra, President and CEO of Kraft pantry partner Feeding America.  "Many of our clients live in food deserts or neighborhoods where opportunities to purchase healthy, affordable groceries are scarce."  

EXPERTS DISCUSS: Boone-Columbia Health Board member's drug giant connection

Abstain, disclose, or step aside?  The answers can be as complicated as the ethical questions they address.

 

COLUMBIA, 7/11/11  (Beat Byte) -- The old practice of taking pens and coffee mugs from pharmaceutical sales representatives has disappeared from many clinics, as physicians worry about the appearance of impropriety -- taking gifts, no matter how simple, in exchange for prescribing certain medications.  Ethical concerns are driving a nationwide debate about the need for full disclosure anytime drug companies fund or otherwise support research in human medicine. 

 

Animal doctors are taking note.    

 

"Dr. George Glanzberg, like many veterinarians, reads human as well as veterinary medical literature," reported a January 2010 Veterinary Information News Service story, Scrutiny emerges concerning conflicts of interest in veterinary literature.  "Glanzberg, a small-animal practitioner in Vermont, surmises that if unreported conflicts are of concern in human medical literature, they're likely to be a problem in veterinary literature as well, even if the stakes are not as high." 

PHARMA FRIGHT: Health Board member behind feral cat tests/vaccines on vet med giant's payroll

Voris

Did veterinarian's employment with drug giant that supplies feline tests, vaccines influence new law?

COLUMBIA, 7/9/11  (Beat Byte) -- One of the chief architects of a controversial new Columbia ordinance that mandates yearly testing and vaccinations for stray cats is employed by a pharmaceutical giant that makes and sells the newly-required vaccines and tests, the Columbia Heart Beat has learned. 

Columbia-Boone County Board of Health member Nathan Voris, D.V.M., M.B.A. has been employed by Pfizer Animal Health since July, 2010.   

Dr. Voris was also the Pfizer Animal Health student representative in veterinary school.   He chaired the Board of Health until earlier this year.  

"I had no idea that Nathan Voris was an employee of Pfizer, and I am outraged to learn that he may have a financial conflict of interest in the contentious debate over including these tests and vaccinations in the ordinance," said Christina McCullen, a board member of local pet care assistance group Spay, Neuter, and Protect (SNAP), which opposed the new law.  "If he has a financial interest in selling these tests, Dr. Voris should have recused himself."   

Pfizer fix?  

Approved by a 4-2 vote of the Columbia City Council Tuesday night, the Health Board ordinance mandates that private citizens annually test feral and stray cats in their care for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency, and vaccinate the animals for rabies.   

Voris' employer is a leading maker of at least six feline leukemia tests, including one for "difficult-to-sample cats" called ASSURE FeLV;  four feline immunodeficiency tests;  and rabies tests and vaccines under the Pfizer and Synbiotics brand names.  

"If Dr. Voris and Pfizer are in a position to sell key ingredients for the feral cat program, then the appearance of a conflict of interest is of such magnitude that they should do all they can to negate that appearance," said veterinary cardiologist Paul Pion, D.V.M., who has spoken out on conflicts of interest in veterinary medicine and co-authored the book Cats for Dummies.   

Million dollar kitty 

Estimates peg Columbia's stray cat population at 33,000, so annual testing revenues could be significant for

suppliers of test kits and rabies vaccines.  At the March 2011 Board of Health meeting, Board member Michael Szewczyk, M.D. said he discovered that fees for testing range from $18 to $30 annually.  

If every stray cat were tested for leukemia and immunodeficiency virus, testing revenues from Boone County alone could range from $1.2 to $2 million per year. 

As a potential precedent-setter for other communities, Columbia's new feral cat ordinance could prove an even bigger cat-testing boon. 

The new law's focus on yearly tests -- rather than one-time vaccinations -- surprised McCullen.  "I am curious about why city attorney [Fred Boeckmann] removed the requirement for vaccinations against feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, but kept the provisions for testing for these diseases," she explained.  "Wide-spread testing is much more expensive.  Vaccinations would be less costly and more effective." 

Draconian doctoring

Voris not only designed much of the new ordinance, but he became a leading advocate for some of its more Draconian provisions, McCullen told the Heart Beat.  "His position on the feral cat ordinance was so extreme that other Board of Health members were commenting about it and attempting to be more moderate," she explained.  

Minutes from the March 2011 Board of Health meeting  -- which Voris did not attend -- partly bear out that claim.   

Board member Lynelle Phillips "pointed out that requiring the testing seems cost prohibitive."  

Board member Jean Sax "stated that vaccination and testing are not currently required by law."  Sally Beth Lyon, Ph.D. noted that "more communities are moving away from more regulations and being more supportive."

Ultimately, "the consensus was to take out the feline leukemia testing and vaccination requirements."  But those requirements appear in the final ordinance, at least partly on the advice of Health department director Stephanie Browning, after she investigated the issue further with veterinary consultants who are not identified in Board minutes. 

SNAP, meanwhile, wants City Council members to revisit the ordinance, with advice from veterinarians and feral cat experts who have no potential biases or financial conflicts.  "One of the leading national groups, Alley Cat Allies, has offered to have their animal experts and veterinarian connections add their voice to the conversation, and they should be given the opportunity to do so," McCullen explained. 

(Voris has not responded to questions and repeated requests for comment, but any information he provides will be included in a future issue). 

The Heart Beat will explore conflicting views on how the feral cat ordinance was designed in the next issue.