School bond question passes; Witthaus, Pratte keep seats on board

Published by Clark Kant, Editor In Chief

I didn't send Jimmy Oldsun, our crackerjack investigative reporter, up to the county courthouse last night to cover the results of yesterday's local elections.  I knew it would be crowded in the hallway outside the county clerk's office with all of the "live broadcasts" going on.  I also knew that Don Kruse and his staff at The Hermann Advertiser-Courier would do their usual very thorough job on the election coverage so that our coverage would really not be necessary.  Besides, I didn't think our readers would need an election report until this morning anyway.  I figured that a lot of you would be watching 'American Idol' on TV last night or doing things with your families.

Here's the election coverage as reported by The Hermann Advertiser-Courier:

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School bond question passes; Witthaus, Pratte keep seats on board

By staff writer

Voters overwhelmingly approved the no-tax increase bond issue in the Gasconade County R-1 School District in Tuesday's election, and Todd Witthaus and Mike Pratte will keep their seats on the school board.

With Gasconade, Montgomery and Franklin county votes in, the bond issue received 866 yes votes to 329 no. Only Warren County votes were not reported, and the small Case-Gore precinct is not yet counted.

Todd Witthaus garnered the most votes (747) and Pratte, the current school board president, had the next most votes (638). Sherry Englert (561) and Curtis Thomas (259) were running for the first time. The Case-Gore precinct in Warren County was not reported in these totals.

In the Hermann municipal election, all incumbents were unopposed. Mayor Larry Miskel received 324 votes in Ward 1 and 2, and there were 12 votes for write-in candidates. Long-time city collector Marilyn Fricke received the most votes (369) in the two Hermann wards.

In Ward 2, Dan Wilson received 187 votes, and in Ward 1 Ron VanBooven received 154.

The R-1 district presented a $5 million bond proposal to the voters that is designed to meet most of the immediate facilities needs and long-term maintenance. All three campuses in the district will be addressed, and that will include the elementary school, middle school and high school. The district also intends to build, for the first time, an administration building that will free-up the space it now occupies in the middle school.

The facilities that house special needs students will be improved to meet their needs, and ADA issues will also be improved.

The district expects to save thousands of dollars with low interest from Stimulus funds.

In the race for school board, Witthaus and Pratte received most of their votes in the two Hermann wards and the large ward (Little Berger) that makes up rural Hermann. Witthaus received 154 votes in the Little Berger precinct and Pratte received 152. Sherry Englert, a former Hermann Middle School teacher, received 75 votes in that precinct, and Curtis Thomas had 44.

All total, here's how the Gasconade County vote went for the school board candidates: Witthaus 543, Pratte 452, Englert 368 and Thomas 183.

In Montgomery County, Pratte received the most votes (135) while Witthaus had 133. Englert received 127 and Thomas 49. The Montgomery County portion of the Gasconade R-1 school district comes from Rhineland, McKittrick, Big Spring, New Florence and Mineola.

In the race for mayor of Berger, Mayor Terry Black was re-elected with 48. Former Mayor Harold Englert received 33. Ward 1 alderman Milferd Elfine kept his seat, getting 31 votes to just 8 for Barbara Flint, who has run for office in Berger several times before. Ward 2 alderman Bryan Dirks was unopposed and received 27 votes.

In the city Bland, a new mayor will take office. Trish O'Dell received 103 votes and unseated Mayor Bruce Sassmann, who had 70.

In the city of Gasconade, Collector Marjorie Kuhn had opposition but was re-elected. She had 34 votes while Jean Sailors had 5.

In the city of Morrison, Mayor Sam Birk, City Collector Stephanie Birk all were re-elected and ran unopposed.

Owensville elected a new mayor Tuesday as challenger Dixon Somerville unseated Jesse Loeb, 262-200. Robert Rickerd was re-elected city marshal of Owensville in a close race with Joseph Weirich. Rickerd received 240 votes to 216 for Weirich.

Tuesday's election brought out 1,679 voters in Gasconade County. There were 7,681 registered voters for the April 6 election, and Tuesday's turnout was 21.86 percent.

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Great reporting by The A-C!  Just the facts.  No bells and whistles.  No opinion, embellishment or commentary.  If you don't already have a subscription to The A-C, you should consider getting one.  The A-C is the Gold Standard of election news coverage in the local area!

Clark Kant
Editor In Chief
www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com

A Cheap Substitute For Fair, Balanced And Honest Journalism

An editorial comment straight from the horse's mouth .....
Published by Clark Kant, Editor In Chief

yellow journalism
n.  Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.

The "smear campaign" against Sharon Meyer, Democratic challenger for the office of Gasconade County Clerk, has begun.  Amazingly, it took only two days from her filing on Tuesday of this past week!  The "smear campaign" against her began during the weekly county commission meeting on Thursday, 4/1.  Am I surprised?  No, not at all!  I have seen this before.

I just read the report on the 4/1 commission meeting written by Alex Luft, "reporter" for CountyNewsLIVE.com, and I cannot help but observe how Mr. Luft along with the political enemies of Mrs. Meyer have begun the "smear campaign" against her.  In his report, Mr. Luft repeats allocations made against Mrs. Meyer by longtime "crank and bully", Kyle Lairmore, son of Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore.  Mr. Luft does not go on to tell the reader about the basis for Mrs. Meyer's complaints regarding the Missouri sunshine laws to which Kyle Lairmore refers.  Mr. Luft made no effort to contact Mrs. Meyer so that he might get her version of Kyle Lairmore's "story".  A good journalist would have done this in order to file a more fair and balanced report.  Kyle Lairmore's appearance at the 4/1 county commission was planned and pre-arranged as they have been in the past, most likely orchestrated by his daddy.

Mr. Luft should know better than to file such one-sided, biased reports.  As a graduate of Missouri's prestigious School of Journalism, Luft has been taught better!  I can only conclude that Mr. Luft, a young journalist with great promise, is apparently being influenced by his employer to intentionally shade the truth and file reports with unanswered malicious accusations by individuals who have political axes to grind.  After working in our community for a year now, Mr. Luft should be well-aware who and what Kyle Lairmore is.  Mr. Luft should know that Kyle Lairmore is a frequent visitor at county commission meetings and that, by his bizarre statements and actions, he has long ago destroyed his own personal credibility.  That being the case, why did Luft report on Lairmore's comments at the county commission meeting but then fail to obtain and also report Sharon Meyer's response to Lairmore's comments?  Mr. Luft, you are no Jim Lehrer (one of the best journalists ever produced by the School of Journalism at Mizzou).  And you will never become a professional journalist like Mr. Lehrer if you hang around at CNL.  I advise you to move on and find a REAL job in journalism!

And just for the record, Hank Vonk, who offered a comment in response to Mr. Luft's report, is no independent and objective reader of CNL.  Hank Vonk is a long-time shill for Jeff Noedel and CountyNewsLIVE.com.  He was a shill for Noedel when Noedel ran HermannMuenster.com and nothing has changed in that regard since Noedel started up CNL.  Mr. Vonk frequently "collaborates" with Mr. Noedel and his reporters.  Mr. Vonk drove all the way from Owensville to work with Noedel and Luft as recently as Friday night, 4/2, when the three men co-hosted an amateurish live "internet radio broadcast" about upcoming local and county elections.  Readers must understand that Hank Vonk has had and continues to have a very close relationhsip with Mr. Noedel and CountyNewsLIVE.  WARNING:  He is NO VOICE of INDEPENDENT REASON.  Hank Vonk has had an obvious axe to grind against Sharon Meyer, Sandra Lackman and Northern District Associate Commissioner Matt Penning for a very long time!

Now, here for your convenient reference, is the CNL article to which I refer:

http://countynewslive.com/content/2010/apr/01/roundup-county-commission-meets-first-time-after-filing-offices-closes

This type of unfair, unbalanced, dishonest, yellow journalism is sure to continue throughout the current
political campaign.  Mr. Noedel and his "reporters" have a track record of giving favorable press coverage to those who reciprocate by giving them access.  They give unfavorable press coverage to those who refuse to give them access.  This has gone on since the days of Hermann Muenster when Noedel took sides in the commissioner salary overpayment lawsuit and other disputes at the county courthouse.  Noedel and his staff "play ball" with politicians and non-politicians alike who help them out by giving them a story.  Without access to stories, Noedel and his reporters have nothing but an empty inconsequential blog.  Noedel and his staff obviously know this, so they willingly play into the hands of those who would use the press for their own selfish public relations purposes. 

Furthermore, let it be known that Mr. Noedel bears grudges against those who disagree with his "journalistic" techniques and practices, and he becomes quite angry and condescending when
someone criticizes them.  I know this to be the case on a first-hand basis for I have disagreed with him when he ran HermannMuenster.com, and I know how I and other dissenters were poorly treated because we dared to disagree with his one-sided coverage of some stories.  And he really bears grudges against those who deny him access for interviews.  Because Sharon Meyer's political enemies have given Noedel and his reporters unrestricted access for news stories, Noedel and his reporters take their sides rather than look critically at both sides. 

Professional journalists should never take one side over another when reporting on a story.  But that is exactly what went on at HermannMuenster.com and that is what is currently going on at CountyNewsLIVE.com.  People in the Hermann area see and understand what I am saying, and that is why CountyNewsLIVE.com is struggling to stay afloat.

Mark my words and mark them well!  Jeff Noedel and his "reporters" at CountyNewsLIVE.com will conspire together with Sharon Meyer's political enemies to smear and discredit her in every conceivable way they can between now and the election in November.  They think they can succeed in this, because they have deluded themselves into thinking they have a lot of readers and that these readers will swallow their reporting "hook, line and sinker".

Mr. Noedel, you are free to respond to me here on Hermann Hearsay.  I know that you are reading my articles closely.  We do not censor our visiting commenters as you once censored me on Hermann Muenster.  Hence, I will publish anything you want to submit. But beware, I will have my say as well. This is my website, and you can't censor my words here!  Messrs. Luft, Lairmore and Vonk, you too may respond if you wish to do so.

Oh, and one more thing.  I have assigned Jimmy Oldsun to read your reports.  If we detect any further incidents of "yellow journalism", we will report them to our readers as well as to the individuals you are slamming.  Be journalists over there at CNL.  Be honest, fair and balanced in your reporting!

Clark Kant
Editor In Chief
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/