GASCONADE COUNTY

Republicanwww.GasconadeCountyRepublican.com In This Issue

Baehr repeats as All-StaterSPORTS Page 19-21

Voters approve city 1-cent sales tax hikeGERALD Page 13-14

County residents receive Century Farm recognitionFRONT PAGE TWO Page 11

ON THE INSIDETimely News ...........................3Family Living ..........................8Weekly Record .......................9Front Page Two .................... 11News to Use .........................12Gerald ..............................13-14Seniors .................................15Sports ..............................19-21Youth Page ...........................22Rural Living..................... .....23Classifieds .......................25-27

OWENSVILLE, MO. 65066 ■ WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7, 2012 ■ VOLUME 110, NUMBER 12 ■ 44 PAGES ■ PRICE 75¢

Songs from the seaLauren Becker (left) performs in a duet Friday night as part of the Owensville High School Troubadours’ dinner. Becker joined with fellow students (from left) Bobbi Sue Aytes, Hailey Eckelkamp, Matt Toole, Devon Dowler, Allyn Chaney, Dalton Hempelmann, Landon McKinney, Terrick Ellis, Trevor Nicks, Claire Smith, Matt Jones, and Courtney Hendrix for tropical number from their show “Beyond the Sea.” The event was held as a fund-raiser for the musical group. Owensville High School is observing National Fines Arts Month throughout November. Mayor Dixon Somerville signed a proclamation for the school on Oct. 30. See page 18 for a list of upcoming activities at OHS to observe National Fine Arts Month.

See City on Page 3

BY DAVE MARNERManaging Editor

Additional smoke testing is expected to be conducted this month as the city continues its efforts to reduce storm water infiltration and inflow (I&I) into city sewer lines which eventually reaches the new waste water treatment plant.

A round of smoke testing this fall re-vealed at least two locations where storm water is infiltrating sewer mains. Sewer main leaks were discovered at a site along North Oak near where the county stores rock. Another section of sewer main, at the east end of Peters Street on Olive Street, is believed to have been damaged over many years by concrete being poured into a ditch to control an erosion issue.

Tracy said both sites are being scheduled for engineering and repairs.

In addition to these sites, Tracy said downspouts on up to 200 residences in the city may be improperly hooked into the city’s sewer line. Smoke testing also reveals numerous instances where storm sewer clean-out caps were off or missing entirely.

Residents with these conditions will be notified by certified mail and given 90 days to make the necessary repairs or corrections. “This may involved getting into some houses,” said Tracy.

If repairs are not made, Tracy said repairs will be made by the city and costs will be assessed to the homeowner.

Survey were also sent out to 41 city water and sewer customers identified as commercial, industrial or restaurant users. Tracy said 14 had been returned by the end of last week. The survey noted it was being conducted in an effort “to comply with state and federal wastewater discharge requirements.” Termination of service, or other penalties, could result for failure to accurately complete the survey.

Tracy said the surveys will help the city determine volumes and define types of discharge made into the sewer system.

C.M. Archer, the city’s contracted en-gineering firm, is scheduled to present a report by the end of the month on findings from smoke testing done this fall.

Flow monitoring is also scheduled at the waste water treatment plant to “quickly identify when we’re getting more infiltra-tion,” said Tracy. The months of January and April to June have already been identified as prime periods for infiltration episodes.

The city has spend about $700,000 in sewer line and manhole repairs but additional testing indicates additional improvements are needed. “It’s time to get a handle on this,” said Tracy.

Aldermen held a special closed meet-ing Oct. 30 to discuss potential litigation issues regarding the waste water treatment facility.

Invited to the session were representa-tives from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Jeff Meadows with C.M. Archer, the city’s contracted engineering firm.

Tracy said the city’s invited DNR rep-resentatives “to try and resolve some of these issues.”

The city’s treatment plant has been plagued by periodic and reported inci-dents of excess discharge from the upper

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Sewer repairs, additional smoke testing planned

BY DAVE MARNERManaging Editor

Republicans Tom Hurst of Meta and Dave Schatz of Sullivan won easily in their General Election races for House of Representatives seats in the 62nd and 61st districts respectively.

Both Hurst and Schatz won Gasconade County voter approval by large margins. Hurst collected 2,701 votes in the county to Democratic challenger Greg Stratman’s 1,732. Hurst won Osage County 2,753 to 1,327 over Stratman. Hurst’s numbers in Phelps County over Stratman were 1,205 to 849 and prompted Stratman to concede the election shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Miller County voters also chose Hurst by a 703 to 212 margin.

Schatz won the county with 2,067 votes to 939 for Sage, a Democrat from Bay (see page 13 for Franklin County results from this race).

In Osage County, Michael Dixon easily won the race for sheriff. Dixon, a Republi-can polled 3,151 votes to win the race over Democratic challenger Shannon Linhardt who received 1,886 votes. Gary Storey, a write-in candidate, received 1,558 votes.

“Mom, this one’s for you”U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill won re-

election in her race over U.S. Congressman Todd Akin in a race conceded by 10 p.m.

“Guess what mom, you finally won rural Missouri,” said McCaskill said during her victory party. McCaskill’s mother, Betty, died during the final week of the campaign.

Gasconade County voters, however, favored Akin 3,603 (51.2 percent) to 2,927 over McCaskill (41.6 percent). Libertarian Jonathan Dine received 493 votes in the county (7 percent). Betty McCaskill and former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan visited The Republican’s office during the 2008 presidential campaign — both were strong supporters of Democratic candidates.

County voters miss on GovernorGasconade County voters favored

Republican challenger Dave Spence over

TESTING THE

METALHow to conduct a test drive

OUT WITH THE OLD

Trade-ins versus private sales

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Nov. 7, 2012 • Page 1B-16B

BY DAVE MARNERManaging Editor

Six Democratic Central Committee members meet in private Thursday and selected Sharon Meyer, of Stony Hill, as their party’s nominee to replace the late Ron Jost on the Gasconade County Commission.

Susan Cole, co-chair of the committee, said a three-way tie was resolved by ranking the four applicants seeking a gubernatorial appointment to fill Jost’s unexpired term.

“It was tough for us because we had a 3-way tie,” said Cole of their closed session which went from 6:43 p.m. to nearly 8 o’clock. Nov. 1.

In order they are Meyer, Nick Baxter, Mark Schaeperkoetter and Jerry Spurgeon. Schaeperkoetter’s name was not originally listed when Cole was interviewed for

a story last week about candidates seeking the appointment from Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. Jost was a Republican and had two years remaining on his third 4-year term when he died in October. Nixon said he would make his choice before the end of 2012.

Meyer, Baxter and Spurgeon were scheduled to attend the meeting and had been invited to address committee members — which they did during the portion which was open to the public. Each was given up to three minutes to state their case why they would make the best candidate.

Schaeperkoetter did not speak in public but made the motion to close the meeting. His motion was seconded by Sandra Lackman, Meyer’s sister. Voting by roll call to close the meeting were Schaeperkoetter, Lackman, Cole, Michael and Jeanette Sage, and Sandra Nolan.

As Meyer, Baxter and Spurgeon prepared to leave the meeting, Cole announced the committee would not be announcing its decision until after the governor was notified. That notification was made Friday, said Cole.

Cole said she checked with officials in the governor’s office and was told a family

member of a potential appointee could participate in the closed meeting as long as they were a member of the Central Committee.

“Sandra Lackman is a Central Committee member,” said Cole. “As long as they are members they can vote. Every time I had a question I went to the governor’s office. I didn’t go to the (Democratic) party.”

Republican Central Committee members met Oct. 29 in Swiss and selected Gerald Ebker, of Drake, as their nominee for appointment.

PHOTO BY DAVE MARNER

SHARON MEYER addresses Democratic Central Committee members Thursday as Jeanette Sage and Susan Cole look on in the meeting room at Legend’s Bank.

Meyer is Democrats’ choice for commissioner appointment

TRISTYN WEIRICH (left) and Rylee Schuchardt wait patiently as their baby-sitter, Jennifer Gillespie, Owensville, casts her General Election ballot Tuesday at the Rural Canaan precinct at Owensville High School. Voter turnout was steady there all day.

PHOTO BY DAVE MARNER

Hurst wins House 62nd District; McCaskill victorious over AkinSchatz wins easily over Sage in 61st race; Dixon claims Osage Sheriff’s office

incumbent Gov. Jay Nixon 3,775 to 3,182. Spence conceded the election at 10:30 p.m. while trailing 51.4 percent to 45.4 percent with 69 percent of the state’s vote counted.

Nixon won 54.7 to 42.6 percent across the state. “It has been an exciting day. To the people of Missouri, thank you for supporting me as your governor,” Nixon told his supporters in St. Louis.

County voters favored incumbent Re-publican Peter Kinder for another term as Lt. Governor, 4,546 over Democratic challenger and former State Auditor Susan Montee who received 2,119 votes. Kinder won by a 49.4-percent margin over Mon-tee’s 45.6 percent tally.

Shane Schoeller, the Republican can-didate for Secretary of State who visited Gasconade County in September, won the county by a 61.5 to 35.4 -percent margin over Democrat Jason Kander (4,249 to 2,445). Kander won the statewide race, however, by a slim 48.8 to 47.5 percent margin.

Schoeller held a 51.2 to 45-percent mar-gin across the state at 11 p.m. but Kander was clinging to a slim 48.2 to 48.1-percent lead at midnight with 91 percent of the statewide total counted.

In another interesting state race, in-cumbent Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat, lost in the county to Republican challenger Ed Martin by 490 votes (3,615 to 3,125). Koster, however, won the state-wide vote by a 55.8 to 40.7-percent margin in final but unofficial results.

Clint Zweifel, incumbent state trea-surer, lost the county to Democrat Cole McNary (3,933 to 2,715) but won across Missouri by a 50.3 percent to 45.5-percent margin.

Obama re-elected as PresidentPresident Barack Obama won re-

election but lost heavily in the county. Republican Mitt Romney received 4,895 votes (69.36 percent) to Obama’s 2,099 (29.31 percent). Romney won the state-wide vote 53.9 to 44.3 percent.

Ward 1 scanner malfunctionLocally, 90 ballots cast before a re-

placement optical scanner machine was delivered early Tuesday were secured in a locked container on the machine.

“There’s a secrecy bin,” said Lietzow. “They all get dropped in. Judges from each party will feed them through and it will be done. Like everything else they do there, it will be a two-party job.”

The malfunction did not interrupt voting in Ward 1, said election workers at the fire station on Springfield Road.

“We’ve had that problem before at another election,” said Lietzow. “It’s not so unusual. It worked fine in Springfield where it is cleaned and stored. It worked fine when we tested it here in Hermann and when we turned it on it doesn’t. We

See Vote on Page 10