(Missourinet) – The Missouri Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman says the 2017 State Fair is one of the best he’s seen in more than 40 years of traveling to Sedalia.
State Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, is finishing his 15th year in the Missouri Legislature.
“You know every year we try to add something to the Fair,” Munzlinger says. “I really know we have to upgrade the campground facilities, but we’re doing a lot of work on a lot of buildings.”
Munzlinger is a member of the State Fair Foundation, which is focused on cultivating agriculture’s future through preservation and improvements.
Munzlinger says a representative of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources attended the 2017 State Fair in Sedalia.
“And he’d (the Massachusetts representative) never been to an agricultural state fair,” says Munzlinger. “And he was amazed how we’re still tied into agriculture here at this fair. And that’s what this is all about.”
Lieutenant Governor Mike Parson (R) says there was record attendance at this year’s fair, noting there were record crowds everyday.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) is still calculating the attendance numbers.
Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, says the State Fair in Sedalia is a great opportunity to showcase agriculture, the state’s largest industry.
Pro Tem Richard notes a bonding bill sponsored by former State Senator and current Lieutenant Governor Parson contained funding for Fairground improvements.
“Tourism says that we have 5 or 600,000 people go to this thing (State Fair) and they’re wanting to push it up to a million. And when you do that, you’ve got to have facilities to take care of it,” Richard says.
MDA says agriculture is an $88 billion industry in Missouri, employing nearly 400,000 people statewide.
(Missourinet) – The Missouri Department of Transportation is making efforts to promote safe driving, even as state laws lag behind.
There are no statewide statutes requiring the use of seat-belts or restricting cell phones, and currently drivers 22 and older are allowed to text behind the wheel.
In contrast, MoDOT currently has 14 ongoing campaigns to encourage road safety. The agency’s Kelly Jackson says the activity is necessary, given the lack of action by lawmakers.
“Without stricter laws, there’s not a whole lot we can do on that end, so we’re doing all that we can to educate people on what they need to do” said Jackson.
Among the safety efforts MoDOT has employed in the last few months is the “Buckle up-Phone down” campaign to promote seat belts and discourage cell phone use while driving.
A email blast advertising the campaign urged readers to join the movement. It also included numerous captions bearing statistics, such as “Only eight states rank lower in seat belt use than Missouri” and “Texting increases the risk of a car crash by 50%.”
Another campaign modeled after a national effort, “Click It Or Ticket,” would seem to have less teeth in Missouri.
Currently, wearing a seat belt is only a secondary law in the state, meaning it’s not enforceable unless a driver is pulled over for breaking a primary law. Jackson contends the policy is flawed and unsafe.
“In a roll-over crash on the interstate, it’s a primary law to have your license plate lit, but it’s not a primary law to wear your safety belt. In that rollover crash, would you rather have your license plate lit, or would you rather have your safety belt on. It’s really something to think about.”
There’s been little movement in the legislature to stiffen the state’s seat belt law in recent years. Missouri is one of 15 states which still don’t enforce usage as a primary law. Not wearing one currently carries a $10 fine when the law’s secondary status is enforced.
Currently, 54 municipalities and counties, encompassing roughly 24 percent of the state’s population, have passed their own primary ordinances. According to MoDOT, St. Louis was the first to do so in 2007. New York was the first state to require seat belt usage in 1968.
MoDOT is also a strong proponent of stiffer texting laws. Missouri is one of only four states which allow the practice behind the wheel.
Jackson said texting is likely a major contributor to distracted driving accidents, which totaled 17,000 last year in Missouri.
“The Highway Patrol does tell us that texting and driving crashes are under-reported because not everybody’s going to admit to that when they have a crash” said Jackson. “They do feel that it’s very under-reported and it will be lopped into that distracted driving category.”
A bill to prohibit texting behind the wheel unless hands-free technology is used has failed to advance in the Missouri House this year.
As part of its focus on road safety, MoDOT disallows its employees to uses cell phones in any capacity while on the job and encourages other agencies to establish the same policy.
The lineup of bands taking the stage for the eighth annual Bluegrass Battles Hunger concert to support the Second Harvest Community Food Bank have been announced.
The two-day event will be held on Friday, September 22nd, and Saturday, September 23rd, at Coleman Hawkins Park, located at 7th Felix St., in downtown St. Joseph, Mo.
The event is free and open to the public. Patrons are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items or cash donations for Second Harvest Community Food Bank, which supports hunger relief efforts in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas. The food bank is a member of Feeding America, and is the area’s link between an abundant food supply and people in need.
Donations from last year’s event totaled 653 pounds of food, and $3,000, all of which were donated to Second Harvest.
This year’s headliner is The Creek Rocks. The Creek Rocks are a bluegrass inspired duo from Springfield, Missouri, with a classic, down-home sound, and a fun musical sense of humor. “Wolf Hunter” is the debut CD by The Creek Rocks from Springfield, Missouri. The title is an amalgam of the names of the two folklorists whose collections provided the raw materials for the songs on the album — John Quincy Wolf of Batesville, Arkansas and Max Hunter of Springfield, Missouri. Cindy Woolf was raised in Batesville, along the southern foothills of the Ozarks Mountain region, and Mark Bilyeu hails from Springfield, located atop the Ozarks Plateau.
They began their musical collaboration in 2003 with Mark at the helm for Woolf’s debut CD “Simple and Few.” They married each other in 2013, shortly after the release of Cindy’s third solo CD, “May.” Joining them on Wolf Hunter are bassist Jason Chapman, also known from The Chapmans, the award-winning family bluegrass band; and percussionist Jay Williamson, who is a sixteen-year veteran of another family band, Big Smith, of which Mark was a founding member as well. Big Smith released seven CDs during their tenure, and Mark has a solo album to his credit, 2005’s “First One Free.”
Food and concessions will be available for purchase throughout the two-day event. More information can be found at Bluegrass Battles Hunger’s website, www.bluegrassbattleshunger.com.
(Missourinet) – A panel created by the Missouri Legislature this year held a three hour hearing on the road in Springfield this week.
During the first part of the 21st Century Transportation Task Force meeting, there was much interest in a presentation by a representative from the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. Gary Salamido explained how the legislature in his state passed bills that allowed for $2.6 billion to be raised for transportation needs over two years.
Missouri lawmakers won’t be able to accomplish the same feat on their own. The Hancock Amendment requires voter approval before taxes or fees can be increased more than a certain annual limit, which now exceeds $84 million.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has calculated that an additional $825 million is needed every year to adequately fund the state’s roads.
The meeting finished with a parade of local officials and business interests expressing their thoughts on transportation issues.
And if the rest of the state is anything like southwest Missouri, there’s no interest in transferring lettered roadways to local control. The move is often brought up on the state level as a way to downsize what amounts to the seventh largest road system in the country.
In 1952, the legislature passed a one cent fuel tax increase from 2 to 3 cents, and agreed to take over maintenance of many county roads, which today are signed with letters. At 19,042 miles, lettered roads make up well over half of the 34,000 miles maintained by the state.
Springfield Mayor Ken McClure was first up to argue against localizing maintenance of lettered roads. He said it negatively impact cities and counties. “That merely passes the financial burden of the decaying roads onto local governments, and they are already hindered by unfunded needs,” said McClure.
Greene County Presiding Commissioner Bob Cirtin weighed in next on the issue. He said shifting upkeep of lettered roads to counties would endanger the jurisdictions. “This could bankrupt some of the counties, just this one thing. Please, please do not let that happen.” Cirtin pegged the cost of maintaining lettered roads in Greene County at $4 million.
Sara Fields, Executive Director of the metropolitan planning group Ozarks Transportation Organization, was cool to the idea. “WE do not support the state absolving itself of responsibility for road to the counties and cities” said Fields. “We believe that MoDOT has the track record of delivering great projects and the capability of maintaining the roads with some needed revenue increase.”
And Christian County Commission Ray Weter struck a skeptical tone when he inquired about the expense of managing the roadways. “The state, MoDOT…are they going to transfer equipment to the county? Are they going to transfer personnel to the county?”
At least one bill in the legislature this year, from Republican Senator Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, called for lettered roads to be transferred from state to county control. The measure included language to send funding to cover the accompanying costs.
During the hearing, Transportation Task Force Chairman Kevin Corlew (R-Kansas City), noted the Hancock Amendment prevents the legislature from sending an unfunded mandate back to the local counties.
A comparison to all surrounding states shows that Missouri is impacted by its maintenance of lettered roads. Even Illinois, which has more than twice as many residents, manages less than half the miles of roadway.
Forrest Copeland, fisheries technician, holds a 20-pound silver carp caught in the Black River below the Clearwater Lake dam. (Photo courtesy MDC)
WAYNE COUNTY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announces a new regulation for anglers collecting bait from the Black and St. Francis rivers. This proactive measure is to prevent accidental bait bucket introduction of Asian carp into Clearwater and Wappapello lakes. Asian carp is a commonly used term for both bighead and silver carp, two invasive carp species that are wreaking havoc in waterways across the U.S.
By following the new regulation, anglers will help everyone who recreates at the lake by preventing the opportunity for these invasive fish to establish. Asian carp can weigh over 60 pounds and commonly jump out of the water up to six feet. This can be extremely dangerous to boaters, skiers, tubers, or anyone traveling across the water.
The new regulation goes into effect Wednesday, Aug. 30, and it states: Bait may only be collected using pole and line on the Black River in Wayne County from Clearwater Dam downstream to the Highway 34 bridge and on the St. Francis River in Wayne County downstream from the Lake Wappapello Dam to the County Road 517 bridge.
This regulation change will eliminate the use of cast nets, seines, dip nets, or minnow traps below both dams.
“It’s already illegal to use Asian carp as live bait, and we don’t think anyone is doing that purposely,” said Dave Knuth, MDC fisheries management biologist. “However, juvenile Asian carp can easily be confused with gizzard shad, which is a commonly used bait fish.”
Asian carp are documented to be present in both rivers below the dams, so the only way they would get upstream of the dam is by human introduction. This regulation will reduce the chances of accidental introduction of Asian carp into either lake.
“Anglers can still use cast nets or seines or other methods to collect bait in both lakes, just not in the restricted areas below the dams,” Knuth said.
This regulation change is the best way to prevent the spread of Asian carp. If the invasive fish would become established in these lakes, the impacts would affect all forms of recreation in the lakes and be detrimental to the native fish populations, Knuth said.
Asian carp are filter feeders and directly compete with gizzard shad and larval fishes for food. They completely disrupt the natural food chain in waterways they inhabit and they reproduce rapidly, growing to a size where they cannot be consumed by most native fish species.
“Asian carp can easily reach 12 inches in their first year of life,” Knuth said.
Also, an adult female Asian carp can produce between 600,000 to 1.6 million eggs per year and start spawning during their second year of life.
“We’re being proactive with this regulation change to avoid the simple mistake of accidentally introducing this invasive species,” Knuth said. “Elimination isn’t possible once established, but prevention is very possible.”
Donald Trump (photo courtesy Gage Skidmore/Missourinet)
(Missourinet) – For the first time in more than a decade, a sitting president will visit Springfield. President Donald Trump, R, will be in the Queen City on Wednesday to launch a campaign to overhaul the nation’s tax policy. The time and location of his speech has not been disclosed.
In a state that he carried by 19 points in November’s general election, this will be Trump’s first presidential visit to Missouri. The president is making a stop in the region represented by southwest Republican Congressman Billy Long, who is a devoted Trump supporter. Trump will be making several other appearances throughout the country in the coming week to rally support for changes to America’s tax structure.
Congress is expected to consider next month Trump’s tax plan which includes a tax cut for business owners.
The timing of news about Trump’s visit comes as an editorial runs in today’s Washington Post by former U.S. Senator Jack Danforth, R-Missouri, that criticizes the president.
“We are the party of the Union, and he is the most divisive president in our history. There hasn’t been a more divisive person in national politics since George Wallace,” writes Danforth.
Wallace was an Alabama governor in the 1960s who supported segregation.
(News release)—Human rights advocate and community activist Martin Luther King III will be the featured speaker at the 24th annual R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues at Missouri Western State University this fall. The Convocation begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12 in the M.O. Looney Complex arena and is free and open to the public. King’s topic is “Embracing the Ideals of Freedom, Justice and Equality.”
“Mr. King has a very important message for our students, employees and community members,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “It is hard to believe that in 2018, his father will have been gone for 50 years, yet his message is still as relevant today as it was then.”
As the oldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III has seized the torch lit by his parents and is continuing their quest for equality and justice for all people. He has been sharing this message with audiences around the world for nearly 20 years.
A human rights advocate, community activist and a political leader, King also has been actively involved in significant policy initiatives to maintain the fair and equitable treatment of all citizens, at home and abroad.
A graduate of his father’s alma mater, Morehouse College, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, King was elected to political office in 1986 as an at-large representative of Fulton County, Georgia. As a member of the Board of Commissioners, he was instrumental in securing strong ethics legislation, purification of the county’s natural water resources and legislation regulating minority business participation in public contracting.
He initiated the King Summer Intern Program to provide employment opportunities for high school students; Hoops for Health, a charity basketball game intended to increase public awareness of newborn babies who suffer the effects of substance abuse; and A Call to Manhood, an annual event designed to unite young African-American males with positive adult role models.
From 1997 to 2004, King served as the fourth president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization that his father co-founded in 1957. A long-standing member of the Board of Directors, King has devoted much of his adulthood to the continuance of his father’s mission of nonviolent conflict resolution.
(News release) —The Board of Governors at Missouri Western State University has approved construction of a pavilion on the west end of Craig Field at Spratt Memorial Stadium. The pavilion will be built and donated by Steve Craig, the benefactor for whom Craig Field and the Craig School of Business are named.
“The pavilion will provide the finishing piece to the recent improvements to Spratt Stadium, adding to the aesthetics of the stadium, providing symmetry to create a bowl effect and, for some fans, providing a unique game-day experience,” Craig said.
The pavilion will be built into the hillside that housed the original Spratt Stadium scoreboard before the new 2,500 square-foot video scoreboard was installed on the east end of the field last year, which was made possible by Craig. Among other features, the pavilion will include an 80-foot tall flagpole, a barbecue area, two covered pavilions, and a large gathering area for groups and organizations.
Craig will lease the construction site from Missouri Western for up to one year. He will hire a contractor and pay all of the costs of construction. When construction is finished, Craig will donate all of the improvements back to the university through the Missouri Western State University Foundation. The contractor hired by Craig will be required to pay prevailing wage and be properly bonded and insured.
“Once again, we have an opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Steve Craig for his continued support of Missouri Western,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “Thanks to his generosity and that of some other private donors, Spratt Stadium will offer a phenomenal game-day experience. The proposed project will greatly enhance our great atmosphere.”
The lease also gives Craig the right to name the pavilion for the person of his choice, subject to approval by the Board of Governors. It is Craig’s intention to identify a past or present resident of St. Joseph to honor with the pavilion’s name.
“The university has raised the bar, realized significant accomplishments, and truly transformed itself over the past decade,” Craig said. “It’s been an honor and a rewarding time for me to have been involved with those efforts through my volunteer activities with the University’s administration. I predict that when people reflect ten years from now on the progress of the University, the past decade will come to be known as the University’s renaissance period.”
Spratt Memorial Stadium was built in 1979, and underwent extensive reconstruction in 2015-2016. The first football game was played on the field Sept. 8, 1979, a 44-0 victory over Dana College. Lights were added six years later, and the Griffons won the first night game over Missouri-Rolla 24-15 on Sept. 4, 1985. Griffon soccer played its first match at Spratt Stadium on Sept. 3, 2006, a 3-2 win over Concordia-St. Paul.
In addition to Griffon football and soccer, Spratt Stadium hosts the St. Joseph High School Football Jamboree and the Missouri Western Department of Music’s annual Tournament of Champions High School Marching Band Competition, and was previously home of the Missouri State High School Eight-Man Football Championship Game. It hosted Missouri Western’s Spring Commencement ceremonies from 1979 to 1981, a tradition that was revived in May 2014.
Missouri Transportation Task Force hearing at the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Photo courtesy Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – A 23-member panel held a third meeting in its quest to determine the financial future of roads and bridges in Missouri.
The 21st Century Transportation Task Force is charged with assessing the state road system and determining the funding source and level needed to sustain it.
Wednesday’s hearing in Springfield focused on the impact of transportation on business and economic development.
The roads are funded through user fees, the motor fuel tax, the sales tax on vehicle purchases and registration and driver’s license fees.
Missouri is faced with a unique challenge compared to most other states. Because it maintains all of the lettered roads that would otherwise be handled at the county level, it has the seventh largest system at over 33,000 miles.
But its funding level is 47th in the country. The low ranking has been attributed to a failure to adjust the user fees for inflation over time.
The motor fuel tax was last increased by six cents in 1996, as part of a bipartisan 1992 agreement by former Governor John Ashcroft (R) and a legislature controlled by Democrats.
Fees for vehicle registration and driver’s licenses have not increased since 1984, while some other fees haven’t increased since 1969. Under state law, known within the Missouri Constitution as the Hancock Amendment, voters would have to approve any user fee hike to fully fund roads.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has pegged the cost at an additional $825 million per year.
Dan Mehan of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce gave a presentation before the task force. He said he thinks the public must be convinced about the necessity for more money.
“A public awareness campaign of the safety issues involved, and the economic issues involved is absolutely essential,” said Mehan.
Gary Salamido of the North Carolina Chamber joined Mehan at the hearing. His organization spent $1 million on campaigns to determine the transportation needs of that state, and inform decision makers on what those needs were.
The fundamental issues proved to be safety, economics and congestion. The North Carolina Chamber created an attention grabbing TV ad showing a bridge collapsing with a school bus full of children on top of it.
Once stakeholders and lawmakers were made aware of the urgency of the issue, legislation was passed to raise money for roads. The result has been a $2.6 billion infusion to transportation funding since 2015, which Salamido says is dramatically improving highway infrastructure.
“It’s really working,” said Salamido. “We were noticing congested areas getting accelerated, that were going to be ten to fifteen years before that got done, they’re getting done in five.”
Missouri and North Carolina have similar transportation patterns because both states have a mix of urban and rural communities featuring farmlands and metro populations.
Representing the business community at the hearing in addition to the Chambers was Ray McCarty with Associated Industries of Missouri. He said he thinks it’s important to generate public support for road improvements before they deteriorate to the point they become dangerous.
“Unfortunately, we don’t want to wait until the roads get bad” said McCarty. “So it’s very much a chicken and egg thing. You don’t want to wait until the roads are bad and you have a disaster like Minnesota to start taking action and correcting it. We want to stop it before people die.”
The busy I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145.
Springfield resident Terry Donelson attended the task force hearing. He wasn’t confident lawmakers would find a funding solution for Missouri’s roads.
“The result is going to be the state needs more money,” Donelson said. “It’s up to elected leaders to figure out how to get it done. I don’t see that happening yet.”
(Missourinet) – The Missouri Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman says the 2017 State Fair is one of the best he’s seen in more than 40 years of traveling to Sedalia.
