samarra estates articles from the leader

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Insidetoday’sLeader

Business..................... 4-5Editorial .................. 10-11Church ..........................11

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636-931-75603, No. 13 Thursday, August 20, 2015 www.myleaderpaper.com

SPORTS Large-school football preview 21REAT EATS Chicken of the woods 18

‘Once a week but never weakly’

West Side

New faces, new spacesPayton Price hugs Little Bear. Kindergarten students at High Ridge Elementarybrought their favorite stuffed animal to “show and tell” on their rst day of schoolin the new kindergarten wing. Read more on Page 2.

Tracey Bruce photo

eve Taylor e Leader

Residents who live along or nearwy. 141 in the Fenton area of northson County are invited to attendlic meeting concerning proposed

cations to an intersection.The meeting, which will address ao improve safety along Old Hwy.ear the Samarra Estates subdivisionouth of the St. Louis County line,e held at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Aug.t the Saline Valley Fire Protectionct rehouse, 1771 Springdale Blvd.

At the meeting, Jefferson Countycilwoman Renee Reuter (Districtperial) and Public Works DirectorJonas will speak about the county’so address concerns at the front ofbdivision and hear from residents.The opinions of residents who driventersection daily is of utmost im-nce,” Reuter said. “I hope everyonested can attend the meeting, hearoposal and provide their thoughts.”onas said the seeds for the meetingplanted months ago, when he eldedlaints from residents of the area

eeting tonightout improvingety on Old 141

By Tracey BruceFor the Leader

Neighbors in Byrnesville will opentheir homes to the public on Sunday,Aug. 30, to benet a fellow resident’sgranddaughter, who is fighting sicklecell anemia.

The tour, from 1-5 p.m., includes fourhistoric Byrnesville homes in the HouseSprings area:

Neighbor to neighborByrnesville historic house tour

to benet neighbor’s granddaughter

Tracey Bruce photoLamprecht, owner of the former general store, organized the house tour.

■ The Lalumondiere Mill and Riv-ergardens, 4993 Old Byrnesville Road.■ The former general store at 4979

Old Byrnesville Road.■ The former tavern at 8201 Upper

Byrnesville Road.■ A large Victorian home at 8211

Upper Byrnesville Road.The tour of the four homes will cost

See HOUSE TOUR, 2

See MEETING, Page 6

By Peggy ScottFor the Leader

The 10-year anniversary of AmandaJones’ disappearance passed last weekwithout press conferences, candlelightvigils or balloon releases. Investigatorsand family members of the missing Fes-tus woman say the decade-long searchcontinues, and they hope every day for a

break in the case.Bertha Propst, Amanda Jones’ moth-

er, said the family decided to mark thisyear’s anniversary privately and quietly.

“It’s just too hard,” she said. “We re-member in our own hearts. We rememberevery day.”

Jones is the daughter of Hugh and

‘Worsethan death’Jones’ family stillwaits for answers,a decade after her

disappearance

See AMANDA JONES, Page 8



Thursday, Aug. 20, 20West Side Leader6

about unsafe driving conditions.“We started hearing about this earlier

in the year, and we sent a trafc safetyengineer out there to look at that. Then,when there was a fatal accident in the area inMarch, we took a longer look at it,” he said.

A 63-year-old St. Louis woman,Suhra Suljic, was killed on March 25when she was attempting to turn left fromSamarra Estates Drive onto Old Hwy. 141and was struck by a northbound vehicle.

“The sight distance in that area isdenitely substandard,” Jonas said.

He said the original two-lane road waswidened in 2001 and a center turn laneadded. “That caused the sight distances for16 entrances in the Old Hwy. 141 corridorto become compromised,” Jonas said.

He said the project design of thewidening called for a maximum speedlimit of 35 mph.

“I have no idea why it was posted

Meeting: Set for 6:30 p.m. tonight (Aug. 20) at Saline Valley rehouseContinued from Page 1

Gordon Bess photoMotorists on Samarra Estates Drive and Old Hwy. 141.for 40 mph through there. We’re neversupposed to post higher than the recom-mended speed limit.

“And we’ve done a traffic studythere, and found that the average speedlimit there is 45 mph to 47 mph, whichis very high.”

Jonas said dropping the speed limit

from 40 mph to 30 mph from SpringdaleBoulevard to the St. Louis County linewould address most of the problems. Henoted that the speed limit on Old Hwy.141 drops to 30 mph in St. Louis County.

“When you reduce the speed there,that would bring 15 of the 16 entrances

back into standard,” he said.

The 16th entrance, to Samartates, needs additional attention.

That intersection, he said, hataining wall on its south side, makturn from the subdivision onto Old 141 a dicey proposition.

Jonas said he proposes to elithe center turn lane and redirect the

bound lane 12 feet to the west. Thsign and stop line for drivers exitinmarra Estates Drive could then be brout 12 feet – well past the retaining

The removal of the center turn laredirection of the northbound lane only be in front of Samarra Estates, h

Jonas said about 9,000 cars ptravel that area.

He said he hopes that residenattend the meeting will endorse the ac

“We want to inform the residethe area what they’re going to sewhat it’s going to look like. I thinkwill be happy that we’re addressing

problems,” he said.

By Tracey BruceFor the Leader

State Sen. Paul Wieland of Imperialand his wife, Terri, can move forward,after all, with their lawsuit that seeks toopt their family out of the contraceptivecoverage mandated in the federal Afford-able Care Act.

The couple led the suit in August 2013against the U.S. Department of Health andHuman Services and two other federal agen-cies, but it was dismissed three months later.

The Wielands appealed the dismissaland on July 20, the U.S. Court of Ap-peals for the 8th District handed down aunanimous decision allowing the case toproceed.

Wieland was pleased to win the appeal,but he said he knows it will be a long timebefore the case is decided.

“My estimate is that unless there is achange in administration (with the countryno longer having a Democratic president),it will take years,” he said.

Wieland, a Republican, was electedto his 22nd District Senate seat in 2014,and represents the north half of Jeffer-son County. Before that, he served threeterms as a state representative, represent-

ing the Imperial area.Wieland said his three daughters are

the motivating force behind the couple’ssuit, which challenges the part of theAffordable Care Act that requires all in-surance plans to cover contraception, in-cluding FDA-approved abortion-inducingdrugs and sterilization.

“As Catholics, we don’t believe in us-ing contraception, and abortion-inducingdrugs are highly offensive to us,” Wielandsaid. “As parents we nd it objectionable to

provide this coverage for our daughters. It’sagainst everything we ever taught them.”

Wieland said the Affordable Care Actcovers drugs such as levonorgestrel (themorning after pill), ulipristal (a pill thatcan prevent pregnancy for up to ve daysafter sex) and an IUD that could cause anabortion.

Prior to the Affordable Care Act,which was approved in 2010 and phased-inover several years, the Wieland family hadinsurance coverage through the MissouriConsolidated Health Care Plan, a plan

available to state employees, and PaulWieland had been allowed to opt out ofcoverage for contraceptive methods thatconict with his religious beliefs. In 2013,under the rules of the Affordable Care Act,

the plan stopped offering that option.The Wielands decided to sue, and the

Thomas More Society, a not-for-profitnational public interest law rm, led alawsuit on their behalf and is representingthe couple free of charge.

The case will now move back to U.S.District Court, where it was dismissed in

November 2013.In dismissing the case, the court

found that the Affordable Care Act took precedence over the state law that allowed people to opt out of insurance coverage forcontraception. Also, the court ruled that theWielands lacked standing because the man-date directly affected the state’s insurance

policy, not them personally. To have stand-ing in a federal court, the people ling thesuit must prove to the court that the actionthey are challenging affects them directly.

Since the case was dismissed, how-ever, in 2014, the U.S. Supreme Courtdecided in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby thatclosely held companies or private com-

panies (those that are not publicly traded)

could be exempted from providing cover-age to their employees if doing so con-icted with the owners’ religious beliefs.

Wieland said a family should havemore rights than a company when it comes

to choosing insurance coverage, and aently the appeals court agreed.

“The relationship between parenchildren is closer than the relationshtween employer and employees,” he

Wieland acknowledged that Catholics share his opinion, but hhe and his wife are devout Catholic

both attended parochial school anthe tenets of their faith seriously, espewhere their daughters are concerned

“We took a vow to raise themCatholic church,” he said.

“Besides, we should have relliberty in this country. You wouldn’tJewish people to eat ham or other pto violate the tenets of their faitsomehow with Christians it’s OK,” h

Wieland said the latest decisioeach phase of the lawsuit, has beelowed by a urry of letters to his of

“People who agreed with us thit was great. Those who didn’t agrtacked,” he said.

According to its website, the T

More Society litigates cases in suppreligious liberty, defending laws thatect human life “from conception to ndeath” and in support of “restoring refor traditional marriage.

Wieland wins appeal; contraceptive lawsuit back on track N EWS

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West Side Leaderrsday, Oct. 8, 2015

eve Taylor e Leader

County of cials have decided not tonate a center turn lane in front ofrra Estates subdivision in the Fentonf north Jefferson County, after soments in that area said they thought itbad idea.

t was a case of democracy in ac -aid County Councilwoman Reneer (District 2, Imperial).he called a town hall meeting on

20 seeking residents’ opinions aboutsed changes to Old Hwy. 141 toss speeding and other safety issueshe subdivision.

About 50 people attended the meet -the Saline Valley Fire Protection

ct house in Springdale, Reuter said,bout half from Samarra Estates andst from elsewhere in the neighbor -

The targeted area of Old Hwy. 141hes from the St. Louis County lineringdale Boulevard.I think we had a good showing fromighborhood, with a lot of concerns

n,” she said.But Reuter said at least one residentttended thought of cials would payention.(She) came up to me after the meet -

nd said, ‘I don’t know why you’reng this meeting anyway. You’re justto do what you want to do,” Reuter

“Well, I hope she knows that that’sy not what happened.”

At the meeting, Jefferson Countyc Works Director Jason Jonas

ned his ideas to address ongoingrns in that area, particularly at the

nce to Samarra Estates, which is justof the St. Louis County line.onas proposed lowering the speedalong that stretch of Old Hwy. 14140 mph to 30 mph, mirroring thed speed as the road goes into St.County.

He also proposed eliminating ther-turn lane in front of Samarras and restriping Old Hwy. 141 toSamarra Estates Drive, the entrancesubdivision, to be brought several

orward and past a retaining wall that

‘Hey, we heard you’euter: Old 141 improvements near Samarra Estates re ect residents’ feedback

inhibits the view of residents seeking toturn onto Old Hwy. 141.

The residents then were asked theirthoughts on the proposals.

“I think we had some good give-and-take,” Jonas said.

Based on feedback from residents,some of whom who spoke against theelimination of the center-turn lane, thecounty revised its plans and insteadshifted all three lanes to the west by 7feet, which Jonas said now has been done.

Jonas said 4 feet of the west shoulderof the road were used for the realignment,

and all three lanes were narrowed by 1foot, from 12 to 11 feet.“I think it is better,” Jonas said. “It

drives much smoother than if we hadeliminated the center lane.”

Moving the lanes to the west al -lowed the county to move the stop signat Samarra Estates Drive well past theretaining wall, with a bar painted on the

pavement to direct drivers where to stop.The speed limit drop must be ap -

proved by the County Council after three public hearings are held. The rst washeld Sept. 28, with the additional hear -ings scheduled for Oct. 13 and Oct. 26.The council could approve the speed limit

change at its Nov. 9 meeting.“If the speed limit change is ap -

proved, we’re also asking for the coun -cil to approve the purchase of signs thatwill have the new posted speed limitand will ash each vehicle’s speed,”Jonas said.

He said if the council agrees to buythem, four of those signs will be placedalong Old Hwy. 141 for about a year, thencan be used elsewhere. He said the countyis seeking bids for the signs, which costabout $4,000 each.

Residents brought up another issue

about the entrance to the subdivision.“The grade at the intersection causedsome vehicles to bottom out,” Jonas said.“This is obviously a problem, and someresidents said it caused their vehicles

problems stopping at the stop sign,especially when it’s rainy or icy. I cansee that happening, since the slope ofthe road is quite steep coming out of thesubdivision.”

County road crews solved the prob -lem by pouring some additional asphaltat the intersection.

“This was a situation that was caused by the county when (Old Hwy. 141) waswidened to three lanes in 2001,” Jonas

said. “It might not have been apparentthen, but it certainly is now.”

Jonas said work in the area, including new striping, new signs and theasphalt work, came to less than $2,000for materials.

“I’m so happy we were able to dosomething positive for people in thearea,” Reuter said. “Jason did a reallygood job working all this out.”

Gordon Bess photMoving a stop sign has allowed drivers leaving the Samarra Estates subdivision in the Fenton area a better chance to see oncomingtraf c on Old Hwy. 141. County crews also laid some asphalt to improve a dip at the intersection.

N EWS

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