Missouri Press Association Members

Published by Clark Kant, Contributing Writer and Investigative Blogger

Date:  12/5/2010
Post:  1,237

In Gasconade County there are only three news publications which are members of the prestigious Missouri Press Association.  Others who masquerade as journalists and publishers and claim to represent reputable "news" publications are merely self-promoting, delusional imposters.

Publication ..................... Circulation ...... City ............ Website

Bland Courier ..........................   768 .......... Belle ........... N/A

Hermann Advertiser-Courier ... 3762 ...... Hermann .... hermannadvertisercourier.com 

Gasconade County Republican . 3508 ... .Owensville .. gasconadecountyrepublican.com 

Reciprocal Links:  http://www.DSchaefer.Vemma.com (Nutrition For A Lifetime), http://www.Heart2HeartLyrics.blogspot.com (Song Lyrics Seeking Singer-Songwriters), http://www.HermannMoNews.blogspot.com (The 'Drudge Report' of Hermann), http://www.RivertownRecipes.blogspot.com (Great Local Recipes), http://www.WatkinsOnline.com/richardhschaefer (Watkins Natural Products)

Other Recommended Links:  http://www.HermannAdvertiserCourier.com (Gasconade County's Newspaper of Record), http://www.Time4Pie.com (Great Pie, Coffee & Conversation)

Example of Emails Sent Out By County Official From County Computer During Regular Office Hours

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, NDRIRSRWRAFTC & Editor

This is the third report in what will be a long series of reports regarding the improper use of a county asset (a computer) for inappropriate personal purposes by an elected county official during regular office hours.  You may access our first two reports on this important subject by clicking on the following links:

• May 24 -http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/2010/05/investigative-report-follow-up-improper.html
• April 29 - http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/2010/04/investigative-report-improper-use-of.html

So that our readers may gain a better appreciation for the type of inappropriate personal and political emails being sent out by the elected county official at the center of our investigative reports, we are copying and pasting the contents of the most recent such email sent out by the county official.  And here it is:

Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 08:18:57 (Subject: Fw: Very, Very, Serious Warning)

WHO THE HELL IS HE ???

Strange, wouldn't you say?

I am not sure who did this research but it is very interesting

Read this....

Why was his law license inactivated in 2002?

Why was Michelle’s law license INACTIVATED by court order?

There is only one Barack Hussein Obama according to the U. S. Census and he has 27 Social Security numbers and over 80 aliases.

The one he uses now originated in Connecticut where he is not ever reported to have lived. No wonder ALL of his 'records' are sealed!!!

It just gets worst….!!!

At least we only have 3 years of this mystery man left before we can replace him.

Was He There?

Who IS He?

I have always wondered why NO ONE ever came forward from Obama's past saying they knew him, attended school with him, was his friend, etc.

NO ONE, not one person has ever come forward from his past.

VERY, VERY STRANGE.

This should really be a cause for great concern.

To those who voted for him, YOU HAVE ELECTED THE BIGGEST UNQUALIFIED FRAUD that America has ever known!

This is very interesting stuff. Sort of adds credence to the idea of The Manchurian Candidate thing having happened here!

Stephanopoulos of ABC news said the same thing during the 08' campaign. He too was a classmate of BO's at Columbia class of 1984. He said he never had ONE class with him.

Was he there?

While he is such a great orator, why doesn't ANYONE in Obama's college class remember him?

Maybe he never attended class!

Maybe he never attended Columbia ?

He won't allow Columbia to release his records either.

Suspicious isn't it???

NOBODY REMEMBERS OBAMA AT COLUMBIA !!!!!!!

Looking for evidence of Obama's past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia University students from the period when Obama claims to have been there, but none remembered him.

Wayne Allyn Root was, like Obama, a political science major at Columbia who also graduated in 1983.
In 2008, Root says of Obama, "I don't know a SINGLE PERSON at Columbia that knew him, and they all know me.

I don't have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia . EVER! Nobody recalls him.
I'm not exaggerating, I'm not kidding.

"Root adds that he was also, like Obama, "Class of '83 political science, pre-law" and says, "You don't get more exact or closer than that."

Never met him in my life, don't know anyone who ever met him.

At the class reunion, our 20th reunion five years ago, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me. No one ever heard of Barack!

And five years ago, nobody even knew who he was. The guy who writes the class notes, who's kind of the, as we say in New York, the macha who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him.

Is that not strange? It's VERY strange. "Obama's photograph does NOT appear in the school's 'yearbook' and Obama consistently declines requests to talk about his years at Columbia, provide school records, or provide the name of any former classmates or friends while at Columbia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Allyn_Root#column-one%C2%A0;

NOTE: Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School , then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as Barack Hussein Obama WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN IN).

Can it be that BHO is a complete fraud?

More intrigue concerning "The Man who WASN'T there."

I’m sure the truth will be found out, but too bad not soon enough!

Please do not give up on ousting the people at the top.

We must go on, and continue sending these out to everyone.

Pass this on to everyone on your e-list…pass it across America !

And so, Hermann Hearsay readers, let me ask you a few simple questions:

1. Did you elect your county officials to do the business of the county or did you elect them so they could go to work in their county offices and use county computers to send out personal emails and political emails?
2. Whether you are a supporter of President Barack Obama or not, do you feel it is appropriate for a Gasconade County elected official (in this case, a Republican) to spend her time reading emails such as this and then forwarding on to her personal distribution list instead of doing the work that the People of Gasconade County elected her to do?
3. If this elected county official is spending time reading and forwarding personal emails while being paid by the taxpayers to perform the duties of her office, do you suppose she might be short-changing the taxpayers in other ways?
4. What do you think the Gasconade County Democrats think about a Republican office holder using their office, county assets and county time to disseminate political propaganda?

We will be publishing the contents of more of the personal and political emails sent out by this particular elected county official in future reports.  We are not yet ready to disclose the name, political affiliation and elective office of this county official.  That will be done at a time and place of our choosing.

Performance Metrics:

Total # FREE Subscribers: 000323

Total # Premium Subscribers: 000010

Subscribers Currently Online: 000100

New Visitors Currently Online: 000081

Alexa U.S. Traffic Ranking: 340,458

Total # Subscriber Telethons & Bake Sales: 0

Reciprocal Websites:

http://www.bergerbaloneywithmayo.blogspot.com/ (Berger News)

http://www.dschaefer.vemma.com/ (Premium Nutritional Drinks)

http://www.heart2heartlyrics.blogspot.com/ (Song Lyrics)

http://www.hermannhookups.blogspot.com/ (Social Networking)

http://www.mid-mo-mule-rides.blogspot.com/ (Family Fun)

http://www.ngnn.com/ (Hermann NEWS & New Haven NEWS ONLINE)

http://www.rivertownrecipes.blogspot.com/ (Food & Drink Recipes)

http://www.vemmadrinker.blogspot.com/ (Premium Nutritional Drinks)

http://www.watkinsonline.com/richardhschaefer (Watkins Products)

Non-Reciprocal Websites:

http://www.dorasspinningwheel.com/ (Embroidered Caps, Shirts, Etc.)

http://www.hermannadvertisercourier.com/ (The Hermann A-C)

http://www.hermannchamberofcommerce.com/ (Hermann C of C)

http://www.timeforpie.com/ (Pie, Rolls, Scones, Coffee, Lattes & More)

Investigative Report Follow-up - Improper Use of County Owned Computers Alleged By Local Man

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, NDRIRSRWRAFTC & Editor

On April 29, Hermann Hearsay ran a report on the improper use of Gasconade County assets.  In that article, we specifically focused on the improper use of county-owned computers to conduct personal business and send out political emails.

For easy reference, you may click on the following link to read what we reported at that time:

http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/2010/04/investigative-report-improper-use-of.html

At that time, we reported that six (6) personal emails originated by an elected county official and sent from her county-owned computer during regular office hours had been referred to us by an irate citizen and loyal HH subscriber who just happened to receive them when they were forwarded on to him by one of the original recipients of the emails.  Since our first report, an additional email has surfaced and it has been forwarded on to us.  We are now in receipt of a total of seven (7) such personal emails which were sent by the same public official from her county-owned computer during regular office hours.  There could very well be more of these kind of emails, and we are searching to find them.

The list of emails which have come to our attention thus far is reproduced hereinbelow:

1. Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:29:59 (Subject: Republican Pachyderm Club, Lincoln Day Flier)
2. Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:56:41 (Subject: Article "Organizing Kids for Barack Obama")
3. Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:44:18 (Subject: Article "After America , There is No Place to Go")
4. Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:44:32 (Subject: Article "Barack Obama Has Awakened a Sleeping Nation")
5. Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:25:21 (Subject: Food Nutrition Chart)
6. Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:18:11 (Subject: Article "British Press Report on Obama's G-20 Summit Meeting Trip")
7. Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 08:18:57 (Subject: Fw: Very, Very, Serious Warning)

All of these emails are personal emails (most of a political nature) as opposed to county business emails.  All of these emails were sent during normal office hours at the County Courthouse and were therefore presumably sent from a county-owned computer or computers.  Hermann Hearsay has in our possession copies of the emails and has confirmed that the subject matter of the emails is of a personal and political nature and not of a county business nature  We have confirmed that the email address of the originator is that of a certain elected county official.  We are withholding the name of the county official at this time pending further investigation.
 
There is a lot more to be investigated and checked out with regard to this important story.  A number of questions remain.  For example:

1. Are there anymore personal emails like this which were originated by this particular county official during regular office hours?  What is the nature of these personal emails?
2. What other personal business has been conducted over the internet or otherwise during regular office hours by this particular county official?
3. Are there other county officials who are using county assets (such as telephones, vehicles, etc.) to conduct personal business during regular work hours?   Are county assets being "loaned out" to county officials or employees for their personal use on weekends or at other times?  If so, who is involved?
4. Do written policies which govern proper and ethical business conduct by our county officials and employees even exist?  If such policies exist either by Missouri state statute or by county policy, are our county officials and employees aware of them?
5. What does the Missouri Ethics Commission have to say about such personal and political use of public assets by public officials during regular office hours when they should be doing the People's business rather than their own personal business?
6. If a county official has the time to spend on personal matters and political matters during his/her normal office hours, does this indicate that his/her office may be over-staffed?  Or does it indicate that the county official is negligent or at least inattentive in his/her official duties?

Whereas there are still many open questions to be investigated, and whereas Hermann Hearsay has very limited staff resources and whereas this is a very important story of great public import, we decided to share the information we have thus far gathered with certain friends in the local media.  It is vitally important to get this story right and to report it to the citizens of Gasconade County.  By working together and sharing information among ourselves, we reasoned that we could pursue leads and find the answers to remaining open questions much quicker than we might by working alone.  Unfortunately our offer to share the information we have gathered has been turned down.

Therefore, we will pursue this story independently without collaboration with other crack investigative reporters and at our own slow-as-molasses methodical pace.

Performance Metrics:

Total # FREE Subscribers: 000322

Total # Premium Subscribers: 000010

Subscribers Currently Online: 000101

New Visitors Currently Online: 000101

Alexa U.S. Traffic Ranking: 340,458 

Total # Subscriber Telethons & Bake Sales: 0

Reciprocal Websites:

http://www.bergerbaloneywithmayo.blogspot.com/ (Berger News)

http://www.dschaefer.vemma.com/ (Premium Nutritional Drinks)

http://www.heart2heartlyrics.blogspot.com/ (Song Lyrics)

http://www.hermannhookups.blogspot.com/ (Social Networking)

http://www.mid-mo-mule-rides.blogspot.com/ (Family Fun)

http://www.ngnn.com/ (Hermann NEWS & New Haven NEWS ONLINE)

http://www.rivertownrecipes.blogspot.com/ (Food & Drink Recipes)

http://www.vemmadrinker.blogspot.com/ (Premium Nutritional Drinks)

http://www.watkinsonline.com/richardhschaefer (Watkins Products)

Non-Reciprocal Websites:

http://www.dorasspinningwheel.com/ (Embroidered Caps, Shirts, Etc.)

http://www.hermannadvertisercourier.com/ (The Hermann A-C)

http://www.hermannchamberofcommerce.com/ (Hermann C of C)

http://www.timeforpie.com/ (Pie, Rolls, Scones, Coffee, Lattes & More)

The Streets And Sidewalks Of Hermann - A Five Day Engineering Survey

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, NDRIRSRWRAFTC & Editor

I walk a lot.  I walk anywhere from three (3) to eight (8) miles every day of the week.  I walk for physical exercise.  I also walk to reflect and think about things.  And I do most of my walking in the City of Hermann.

When I'm walking, I make a lot of observations about my physical surroundings.  One of the things I can't help but observe is the woeful condition of Hermann's city streets and sidewalks.  The thing about it is I almost failed to observe how bad they are.  I've been walking for a long time, and all of this just dawned upon me very recently.  You see, I grew up in this small town before I went away to school at Mizzou.  The streets were in bad condition back then.  And the sidewalks were in bad condition back then.  That's why I almost didn't observe how bad they still are during my daily walks.  I guess we kind of get used to our surroundings and just stop observing things about them.

For as long as I can remember, the streets and sidewalks in Hermann have been poorly maintained, if they have been maintained at all.  When I think about it now, I can still remember my father complaining about the poorly maintained streets and sidewalks of Hermann.  Back then, of course, he owned and operated the local sand and gravel dredging business.  Maybe he just had a vested financial interest in the condition of the streets and sidewalks, because he wanted to sell the City of Hermann more sand for concrete and asphalt?

But I digress.  The point of this posting is to announce to you that I am beginning a 5-day survey of the Hermann streets and sidewalks today.  In the next five (5) days, I plan to walk somewhere between twenty (20) and thirty (30) miles of Hermann's city streets and sidewalks.  I will document the current condition of the streets and sidewalks, and I will objectively and without bias report my findings to you and anyone on the Hermann Board of Aldermen who might be interested.

On my first day of walking (Monday, 5/10), I found the following conditions:

1. 16th Street heading east from Jefferson Street to Hwy. 100 - No sidewalks.  Asphaltic street surface in good condition.  Street surface well sealed.
2. 16th Street heading east from Hwy. 100 to Washington Street - No sidewalks.  Concrete paved street with concrete curbs and gutter.  Good condition.  Fine cracks at street surface due to uneven settling of concrete slabs.
3. Washington Street heading north from 16th Street to 15th Street - No sidewalks.  Street surface fair.  Some patching.  Some "alligatoring" (fine cracks in a pattern of alligator scales).
4. Washington Street heading north from 15th Street to Hwy. 100/14th Street - No sidewalks.  Street surface poor.  Alligatoring, patches and uneven surface in spots. Water washing under Washington St. at city utilities easement.  Parking restricted.  Street surface caving in.  Reported by resident last December.
5. Washington Street heading north from Hwy. 100 to Goethe Street - No sidewalks.  Street surface fair, even and sealed pretty well.
6. Washington Street heading north from  Goethe St. to 12th Street - No sidewalks.  Street surface fair, even and sealed pretty well.
7. Washington Street heading north from 12th Street to Stark Blvd. - Sidewalk on west side of street.  Sidewalk condition fair.  Street surface uneven and patches numerous.  Surface sealed fairly well.
8. Washington Street heading north from Stark Blvd. to 10th Street - Sidewalk on west side of street.  Sidewalk condition fair (but broken up in spots).  Street surface fair and sealed pretty well.
9. Washington Street heading north from 10th Street to 9th Street - Sidewalk on west side of street.  Sidewalk condition fair although broken up in spots.  Street surface fair and sealed pretty well.
10. Washington Street heading north from 9th Street to 8th Street - Sidewalk on west side of street.  Sidewalk condition good.  Street surface fair and sealed pretty well. 
11. Washington Street heading north from 8th Street to 7th Street - Sidewalk on west side of street.  Sidewalk condition poor and path offset.  Street surface fair and sealed pretty well.
12. Washington Street heading north from7th Street to 6th Street - Sidewalk on west side of street.  Sidwalk condition very poor and irregular.  Street surface fair and sealed pretty well.
13. 6th Street heading east from Washington Street to Mozart Street - Sidewalks on both north and south sides of street.  Sidewalk condition on north side is good.  Sidewalk condition on south side is fair.  Street surface is fair to good, and the surface is sealed pretty well.
14. 6th Street heading east from Mozart Street to Market Street - Sidewalks on both north and south sides of street. Sidewalk condition is fair for the most part.  Rock from Peoples Savings Bank has washed onto sidewalk.  Street surface is fair to good, and the surface is sealed pretty well.
15. Market Street heading north from 6th Street to 5th Street - Sidewalks on both east and west sides of street.  Sidewalk condition is good in front of the Bay-Hermann-Berger Bank, but only fair on the west side between the corner and the alley just south of the BP Convenienc Store.  Market Street is in good conditon with a smooth, sealed surface.
16. Market Street heading north from 5th Street to 4th Street - Sidewalks on both east and west sides of street.  Sidewalk condition generall fair to good on both sides of the street.  Market Street is in good conditon with a smooth, sealed surface.

More on this subject tomorrow.

Jimmy Oldsun
NDRIRSRWRAFTC & Editor
www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com

Total # FREE Subscribers: 000307

Total # Premium Subscribers: 000005

Subscribers Currently Online: 000117

New Visitors Currently Online: 000103
Alexa U.S. Traffic Ranking: 268,734
Total # Subscriber Telethons & Bake Sales: 0

Reciprocal Websites:

http://www.bergerbaloneywithmayo.blogspot.com/ (Berger News)
http://www.dschaefer.vemma.com/ (Premium Nutritional Drinks)
http://www.heart2heartlyrics.blogspot.com/ (Song Lyrics)

http://www.hermannhookups.blogspot.com/ (Social Networking)

http://www.mid-mo-mule-rides.blogspot.com/ (Family Fun)

http://www.ngnn.com/ (Hermann NEWS & New Haven NEWS ONLINE)

http://www.rivertownrecipes.blogspot.com/ (Food & Drink Recipes)

http://www.vemmadrinker.blogspot.com/ (Premium Nutritional Drinks)

http://www.watkinsonline.com/richardhschaefer (Watkins Products)

Non-Reciprocal Websites:
http://www.dorasspinningwheel.com/ (Embroidered Caps, Shirts, Etc.)
http://www.hermannadvertisercourier.com/ (The Hermann A-C)
http://www.hermannchamberofcommerce.com/ (Hermann C of C)
http://www.timeforpie.com/ (Pie, Rolls, Scones, Coffee, Lattes & More)

Personal Use Of County Assets By Elected County Officials And County Employees

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Investigative Reporter

County-owned telephones, computers, vehicles, and other assets ..... Do you think elected county officials and employees should be able to use these things for their own personal purposes?  Do you think elected county officials should be attending to their own personal business during normal office hours when they are being paid to do the work of the county?

You say no they shouldn't!  I happen to agree with you completely!  And I think most of the hard-working citizens of Gasconade County agree as well.

During the past several months I've been investigating the extent of this problem here in Gasconade County.  My confidential sources have pointed to a few incidents where county vehicles have been used for the personal purposes of a county employee.  I currently have in my possession several emails of a political nature which have absolutely nothing to do with county business and which were date and time stamped during the normal office hours of one of our prominent elected officials.  I presume these emails were sent out from a county-owned computer.  These emails were not sent directly to me, but were forwarded on to me by one of the original recipients.  Were I to publish these emails, the elected county official who originated them would be very embarrassed.  For now, I have chosen not to identify this official.  However, if I continue to receive more personal emails from this official which are date and time stamped during her normal office work hours, I will change my mind and blow the whistle!

The information I have has been turned over to my elected representative on the County Commission.  I have asked him to disuss these issues with the state auditors who are currently in town.  It is my position that these issues need to be further investigated.  Official audits of telephone and computer records need to be conducted.  Elected county officials who have access to county vehicles and who have employees under their charge should be interviewed about the policies regarding personal use of county assets within their departments.

Do you have any information regarding the personal use of county-owned assets here in Gasconade Reports?  If you do, I urge you to contact the state auditors who are currently working four days per week at the County Courthouse.

Jimmy Oldsun
Investigative Reporter
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/

No Further Cat Burglaries Reported By County Collector

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Investigative Reporter

Matt Penning's volunteer work crew last worked at the Gasconade County Courthouse ove the 2009 Labor Day weekend.  The following week a break-in was reported to courthouse employees by County Collector, Shawn Schlottach, according to a confidential source within the courthouse.  The implication or inference was that Commissioner Penning and/or one or more of his volunteers had entered Collector Schlottach's office without proper authorization.  Although Collector Schlottach made the "cat burglary" claim, no solid evidence was ever produced at that time.  Schlottach was subsequently confronted regarding her wild accusations by Commissioner Penning as well as one or more of his volunteers, but she denied that she had ever made such accusations against them.  At the time, her adamant denial seemed quite peculiar because our confidential source within the courthouse is usually very reliable.

Now, over six months later, we have checked with our confidential source in the courthouse, and we have been told that no subsequent "cat burglaries" have been reported by Collector Schlottach.  This is quite interesting!  One reported "cat burglary" at the courthouse immediately following the weekend during which Matt Penning's volunteer group worked and then no subsequent reported "cat burglary" since that time!

Our questions are these:

1. Did the reported "cat burglary" over the 2009 Labor Day weekend actually occur?
2. Who might have had the motive to break in to Collector Schlottach's office?  At that time, Schlottach appeared to point the finger of blame at Matt Penning and his volunteer workers.  But what would any of them possibly want in Schlottach's office?
3. Why was no evidence produced at that time which could lead to a successful prosecution and conviction of the alleged break-in?
4. Why didn't Collector Schlottach report the incident to the proper legal authorities instead of making her wild accusations and inferences in the presence of other courthouse employees?
5. Why have there been no further break-ins at the courthouse since last year's Labor Day weekend?  Is it because the "cat burglar" got what he/she wanted during the first break-in?  Or is it because the Penning volunteers have never again had weekend access to the courthouse since the 2009 Labor Day weekend?  Or is it because the first so-called "cat burglary" never actually occurred?

We don't have the resources to conduct a full investigation of this nature and we have no one on our staff who has the proper private investigator's license, so we have contracted the job to Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, now retired from the French Police Force.  Inspector Clouseau will be arriving at Lambert International Airport this coming Wednesday.  He plans to spend a week on the case and report his findings to us before returning to Paris.

When we have more information to report, we will.

Jimmy Oldsun
Investigative Reporter
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/

Hermann Live Webcam Expose

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Investigative Reporter

Live webcams have been used by the big TV stations in the big cities for over ten years.  But now, live webcams have come to Hemann, MO ...... population 2,700.

CountyNewsLIVE.com currently has two webcams broadcasting dramatic and breathtaking live video images.  CountyNewsLIVE.com is on the leading edge of hi-tech news coverage in the Hermann area.  No one even comes close to them when it comes to webcam broadcasting!

One of their expensive, articulated live webcams is mounted on the front outside wall of Wings-A-Blazin' at 120 East Fourth Street here in Hermann.  Look up the next time you go to Wings-A-Blazin' for hot wings and beer.  The camera is housed in a cool-looking white metal housing with a tinted windshield. The cool thing about this particular webcam is that you can see who's coming and going at a number of locations on Fourth Street.  If your spouse has threatened to divorce you, you can monitor the entrances to the law offices of Donald Althauser, Dennis Barks and Michael Mundwiller, all located on Fourth Street, to see if he/she might be seeking legal representation from one of them.  If you're interested in seeing if your husband or boyfriend might be purchasing flowers for you from the new flower shop on the north side of Fourth Street, you can keep an eye on that webcam image all day long from the comfort of your home or your office.

The other webcam is located in Dundee, MO and broadcasts an image of the Missouri River looking east and down the river.  This view will be very helpful if we are ever attacked by a hostile armada sailing up the river from St. Louis and toward our fair town.  I don't know what we'll be able to see in the dark of night since there is no light on the river in that location, so we may need to post sentries along the river during the night.  If we outfit them with cell phones they can call ahead to the offices of CountyNewsLIVE.com and leave a message on their voice recorder.  Hopefully, the folks at CountyNewsLIVE.com will be checking their messages through the night and will alert us all if we are under attack.  Hopefully we are not attacked from the west, and hopefully we are not attacked by submarines.

There used to be a live webcam focused on the entrance to People's Savings Bank.  I always found that view interesting.  You could monitor the comings and goings of bank customers.  There are a few Hermannites who must really have a lot of money.  I used to watch them come and go frequently.  I don't how big their deposits were, but I do know they made frequent deposits.  That view is no longer availale from CountyNewsLIVE.com.  Maybe those frequent depositers complained to the bank about the unwanted intrusion into their privacy and maybe bank officials asked Mr. Noedel to take his live webcam elsewhere?  We don't really know.  Our calls have not been returned.

In discussing the proliferation of live webcams with people down at the coffee shop, I have heard a variety of opinions.  Some say that they think all of these live webcams represent an intrusion into their personal privacy.  Some say it ought to be against a city ordinance for private companies to install live webcams in Hermann for their own private commercial use.  Some say they don't care one hoot in hell if CountyNewsLIVE.com wants to waste their resources on this live webcam technology.  Some say they support it and want to see more webcams in Hermann.  Locations most often mentioned by those who wish to see more live webcams are:  Sharp's Corner Tavern, the Concert Hall and Barrel Bar, weekly County Commission Meetings, weekly City Council Meetings, a special night vision camera to monitor the feral cats, and the emergency entrance to Hermann Area District Hospital.  Some have said they would like to be able to control the field of view and focus on these webcams.  Some CountyNewsLIVE.com subscribers have said that they would pay more to be able to view the video images in 3D.

Truman T. Tiger, our owner and founder, has said that he will wait to see how this technology is accepted by Hermann residents and the Hermann City Council before he invests any of his money in webcams.  Besides, the technology is likely to improve and become much less expensive.  "Until that time", Mr. Tiger quipped, "Hermann Hearsay will report to its readers that traffic continues to flow east and west on Fourth Street and that the Missouri River continues to flow from west to east here in the Hermann area."

Tell us your opinion of the live webcams in Hermann.  Do you like them?  Should they be legal?  Do you want more of them?  Where?  Would you pay more for 3D?

Jimmy Oldsun
Investigative Reporter
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/