Back to animal adoption: click below to see that other communities have cut their budget, why not us ?

Well as we agonize over where to get the next few Penny's for our NEEDED (and not duplicated) services the AD HOC committee still has no real recommendations on animal adoption. You can parade wittinesses till the cow,s come home, but the end result is we can (and will) get along just fine without animal adoption!

My Lord I know I am beating a dead horse here, but I see no reason to allow this to die, and thus spend monies that can far better be used elsewhere !

What say you "committee," have you any report in our future, or do you plan to run the rope out on this needless waste until "His Honor" get's the 700 votes he needs from this group to be re-elected ?

I for one am disgusted by the lack of leadership on this simple matter, and come TAX INCREASE TIME I will not forget it (and neither will many others, remember the last 72% loss ?)

Tom Ford

NO. 731

Economic development commission meeting (audio part two>)

Is it me or do you get the feeling that PGAV is running this City and not us ? As I listened to part two I got the distinct impression that the PGAV Representative was telling us WHAT TO DO! (remember they get paid whether it works or not.)

I know that these guy's have been on board for some time now, but are they really on our side ? I am beginning to wonder! Some of the ideas (Emanate domain, TIF) are not going to do us one iota of good, so who do they rally represent, and why ?

Tom Ford

NO. 730

I regret to inform you of the passing of Chief Paillou's Mother.

Chief Paillou’s mother, Mary Louise Miller, passed away Sunday, February 21, 2010 after an extended nursing home stay.

The funeral arrangements are as follows:

Wednesday, February 24th
Visitation from 4-9p.m.
Kutis Funeral Home
10151 Gravois Road
Affton, MO 63123
314-842-4458


Thursday, February 25th
Funeral Service begins at 10:00 a.m. at Kutis

Burial to follow at:
Park Lawn Cemetery
1800 Lemay Ferry Road
St. Louis, MO 63125
314-544-2002


Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.


Connie L. Reuter
Executive Secretary
Crestwood Police Department
#1 Detjen Drive
Crestwood, MO 63126
314-729-4842
314-729-4841 (Fax)


Won't you all join me in condolences for the family, and Pray that she will be with he Lord as we speak.

Mike I am truly sorry for your loss, but may you take solace in the certain knowledge that you will meet again.

Tom Ford

NO. 729

The meeting of the "Economic Development Commission last night! (audio / video is up, click here!)

Well for one and one half hours the E.D.C. met, discussed, listened, and came up with nothing as usual! This was a very important meeting for Crestwood as they haven't met since August, 2009! Back then we heard from Alderman Foote that we were very fortunate to have Mr. Forrest Miller as the Chairman of the committee due to his vast experience in business, remember?

Well here we are some six months later and Chairman Miller is absent from his own meeting? Wow, I feel very fortunate, how about you? There were a couple of things of interest though, that being a presentation to the committee on the need to move forward with Crestwood Court's. When it was pointed out that we don't own that center, a gentleman stated that we must resort to "emanate domain" if needed! Gee whiz, are we to believe that seizing the property is a good idea? I doubt that very seriously!

Interestingly enough six out of the eight Alderman were in attendance to listen to the report's. I am told that three of them were together, and that doesn't surprise me as the three (Pickel, Foote, and Beasley, "The axis of taxes" have voted with "His Honor" since their election.)

So what did we get for our heat, lights, and time ? Well nothing as three of the basic Tennant's of a good meeting were violated (action plan, date for the next meeting, and goals expected.) Other than that , it was a wonderful excursion into "total mediocrity!"

PS: Hey, Mr. Miller, when do you all start "developing the economics ?"


Tom Ford

NO. 728

Is it time to renovate and re-develop Crestwood Courts? This Lady thinks so (please click here.)

Ms. Meg Sprung has put into words what many of us have felt for some time now, and I thank her for sharing it with us! Ladies and Gentlemen, the real fact is that we have no control what so ever over what happens to that privately owned center.

"His Honor' would have us believe that he is in constant contact with the manager, and owners of the center, however the truth is they will do as they see fit, minus his input (if any.) The economic development commission is slated to meet this week (maybe, they canceled the last few meetings) and they will (if they meet) huff and Puff, but once again nothing will happen.

The economy is tight, banks are not lending unless it's a sure thing with heavy interest, thus NO GROWTH in the foreseeable future. Now as to shopping in Sunset Hills, I wish ALL of us would please support our merchants first! We try to buy as much in Crestwood as we can, and will continue to do so in the future. WE MUST STICK TOGETHER as we cannot afford to prop up Sunset Hills (or anywhere else) at our expense.

When will all this end, no one knows, but what we do know is that we MUST stop the wasteful spending on duplicate services, as well as items we can hold off on for now, and BUY CRESTWOOD FIRST! I can hardly wait for the transcript of the E.D.C. so we will have a plan to do this (Ya right!)

Tom Ford

NO. 727

Dog catcher panel told "feral cat" population could rise (click her for the story!)

In today's addition of the Call (see above) the panel studying the need for the animal adoption officer was told by Ms' Sutton and a local Veterinarian that with out Ms. Sutton's "constant surveillance" the Feral cat population could rise, as well as illness in Crestwood, Really?

The Veterinarian who came to testify for Ms. Sutton works for the Yorkshire Animal Clinic (AND WHAT'S THAT GOT TO DO WITH IT?) Well, I have the Vet bills from 2009, and guess what? we paid the same Yorkshire Animal Clinic $2,182.00 for their services in 2009!

I can see a reason for coming before the committee to testify, and I wonder if the committee was told that the wittiness's firm are the Veterinarian's for Ms. Sutton's group?

I also read that Ms. Sutton sees animals on the loose when she returns home in Kirkwood as well. This is interesting as while not a "trained animal observer," I never see animals running loose in Kirkwood, and I am over there quite often for business.

Ms. Sutton testified that "City police provide animal-control services after-hours and on the weekends. Sutton, however, said she remains on-call for emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week." Interesting as the Police officers I have talked to all told me that after 4:30 PM, animal control is nowhere to be found, and on weekends it is "non existent" and County is called (Ask your Police officers.)

Folks, the bottom line is the service while nice is an amenity that we cannot afford at this time. There will come a time in the future when things are back on track that we can revisit this service, but for now we must cut where we can (and this is one area we can.)

Every year the Board and the Mayor come at us with another tax increase proposal, but they never cut anything to show us fiscal responsibility! This is one area where they can show us they are serious, and I urge them to do it!

Tom Ford

NO. 726

Very good news reference Mr. Jim Eckrich!

Jim came back to work today, and the Doctor's have completed their removal of the medical malady,signed him off,and he is good to go!

Welcome back Jim, and we are all glad that it worked out OK for you!

Tom Ford

NO. 725

10 New things to bat around for a change! How do you all feel about these items as it relates to Crestwood?

"The animal control issue is a hot topic. A relatively constructive debate overall until it gets preachy. How about if we also entertain this kind of intense debate over other issues which affect new residents and those who have lived here 45 years. Possibly we could ferret out enough funds to solidify the bottom line and then go on to resolve priorities. Since so many facts and figures have been posted,how about going a step further.
1. Salaries
2. Personnel
3. Perks
4. Autos and insurance and mileage
5. Cost to pay Afton Fire District for the annexed section of the city, in other words 2 fire departments
6. Invoices from city attorney
7. Sappington House Cottage
8. Private Pool using our city parking lot
9. Lateral Sewer fees/usage???
10. Purchasing

If someone with the idea to shutter Whitecliff, or say combine our fire, police, public works, animal control etc. with another city, or un-annex part of the city or CUT SALARIES and consolidate jobs ..... the uprising would no doubt be just as emotional as this animal control issue. Intensifying just one issue in a time of city need and pounding it to death only satisfies some. Then there are the rest of us who want all options on the table.

So,how 'bout we go the extra mile and delve into answers to the above top 10 while we are at it.
There is more to running a city than inventing new ordinances.
P.S. How about a review of our court cost vs revenues???"

"Anonymous"

The above was suggested in an earlier post on this blog and I believe it has merit, and should be looked into, so here we go! Please comment on any or all of the 19 items brought up by the reader.

Tom Ford

NO. 724

From "letters to the editor, South County Times" newspaper today's edition.

“Important” To Keep Crestwood Animal Control

"A recent incident involving the family of a neighbor illustrates the importance of keeping our Crestwood Animal Control service rather than turning to St. Louis County Animal Services.

My neighbor's daughter, who lives in unincorporated St. Louis County, had two young boys who had a pit bull staying with her family. One day, that dog attacked her family's own two dogs. When her teenage daughters and the two boys tried to pull the pit bull away, they were injured. One girl, as well as the two boys, had to be taken to the emergency room by ambulance. The other girl was taken by her mother, who had also been bitten. Both of the family dogs had to have veterinary care, and one of them was seriously injured.

St. Louis County Animal Control did come to the house and removed the pit bull. Several days later, however, when my neighbor called St. Louis County to ask if the boys would be able to get the dog back, she was told that, if the father, who was the official owner of the dog paid the required fee, it would be returned to him. My neighbor then asked Crestwood Animal Control if that would be allowed in Crestwood and was told that it would not.

Incidents such as this demonstrate the problems which will occur if Crestwood turns over its animal concerns to St. Louis County. No one was killed in this case, but serious injuries did occur. Since the pit bull will presumably return to its owner, there is nothing to prevent its causing similar or worse incidents in the future. Keeping Crestwood Animal Control is an important safety issue for both animals and people!"

Elaine C. Moser
Crestwood
February 04, 2010

Now this is exactly the type of emotional rhetoric I have been talking about. I thank the Lady for pointing it out so beautifully for me.

Ms. Moser states that her neighbor's daughter in the County had a problem with a dog they took in (Read all about it above.) Se further states that St. Louis county came and removed the "vicious?" animal and took it to county (that's what they are supposed to do.)

Now here is where I get a bit lost as the system worked perfectly (Bringing in the dog was the flaw, not County!) Yet she states that "Incidents such as this demonstrate the problems which will occur if Crestwood turns over its animal concerns to St. Louis County" Incidents like what? Is Ms. Moser saying that had the family been in Crestwood this NEVER would have happened? Is she telling us that Ms. Sutton would have experienced a "harmonic convergence," and rushed to the scene before it happened?

As I have said before Ms. Sutton is afforded "cult status" by her followers (which is fine with me) but please don't attempt to tell us that "IF ONLY" things would have been different! I like many others are saddened to see any child injured but Ms. Sutton could not have prevented this any more than Ms. Moser did. This was a sad ending to a family who attempted to help two young children and a dog, nothing more, nothing less!

Ms. Moser, I regret to inform you that this will not be the norm in Crestwood if the BOA does the right thing and removes this duplicate position. As you told us the dog could be returned to it's owner, and it should be.

An animal will attempt to establish the ALPHA dog in the "pack mentality," and I believe this is exactly what happened here, the problem was two Lab's and one Pit Bull in the same space, not County animal control, and Ms. Sutton certainly can't change nature, or can she?

Now I suggest that you (and the dog's owner) thank goodness that the Neighbor's daughter didn't live in Webster Groves or Kirkwood as they would have shot the dog (according to Mayor Robinson!) Oh wait, he retracted that one didn't he, sorry!

By the way, stories like this usually make the News or the Post Dispatch right? How is it that no-one I have talked to today had ever heard of this happening? Just curious.

Tom Ford

NO. 723

A new site on the links pages in the right hand column (under links.)

Please visit the "Conservatives of America" site, review it, and join with me and several of your neighbors who have joined this new organization! This is a great clearing house for the "Tea Party" as well as other conservative meetings and programs on a local and National level, as well as a new voice for individual freedom in America today!

If you don't like what's going on at the National level, this is the place for you! I look forward to seeing you on the site soon!

Tom Ford

NO. 722