I was proud to be invited to the grand re-opening of Volunteers in Medicine, located at 1039 South Duchesne Road on Saturday, Oct. 27, and would like to share with you thoughts about this complimentary health care clinic. Prior to the relocation, Volunteers in Medicine operated its clinic in the basement of the Salvation Army building at 2140 N. Fourth Street in St.Charles. The mission of Volunteers in Medicine is to serve the health care needs of St. Charles and Lincoln County adult residents who are not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private health insurance and, whose household income …

People often ask me, “How do you keep getting things done in St. Peters?” We get things done for our residents because we work with other people and organizations, we look for the best solutions, and we believe real compromise is a good thing that helps make our city a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.   We don’t always agree on everything, but we’ve learned you can get a lot more done by focusing on the things that you can agree on, working together to achieve big goals. In the last four years, we’ve all faced economic challenges. Yet, St. Peters has completed crucial …

I keep asking the residents and business to help out with the “Pennies for Patriots” Drive.   We need as many aluminum cans as we can get in the next month, and all the money raised will go to our service guys and gals coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan and leaving for Ft. Leonard Wood for training and flying to all parts of the world. The USO is the closest thing to being home as we can make it. It’s a time for them to relax or get a little sleep or get in a nice meal before they start their journey to wherever. We make them feel like they are one of our kids. So if you see any aluminum cans…

The city of St. Peters was proud to be involved recently in a program sponsored by The World Affairs Council of St. Louis. Rudo Gray works with The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). It is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. The IVLP is a program that seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through carefully designed short-term visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders.  These visits reflect the International Visitor’s professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the United …

We were recently in the St. Peters area, in fact we were returning to Des Moines, Iowa, from a family reunion in Florida when we took our 3 grandsons—ages 4, 8 and 9—plus their mother, our oldest daughter, so that the boys could have some summer fun. We did the beach in the Daytona area, then to Anna Marie Island beach, then onto Legoland because the boys love Legos. We stopped at O'Charley's restaurant off of Interstate 70 on Veterans Memorial to eat around 5:30 p.m. Our vehicle was broken into. It was locked up, as we had purchased several items for the grandsons. The thieves took …

The members of the Plumbers’ and Pipefitters’ Local Union No. 562 invited me to share in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Local Training Center on Friday, June 8, 2012, and I must say I was quite impressed. The new $12 million training complex to be built by Plumbers and Pipefitters 562 will consist of three buildings that will provide state-of-the-art training for apprentices and continuing upgrade training for journeymen.  The new complex will be built at Local 562’s current complex in North County on Larimore Road, and is scheduled to open in August of 2013.  Something I was not aware …

To The Residents of Central County Fire & Rescue: The Fourth of July is meant to be a time of celebration for all of our residents. As the firefighters who are here to help keep you safe we hope to help you keep it that way. Fireworks are the main culprits in making July 4 the highest day for reported fires in the United States. With this year’s extreme temperatures and dry weather conditions these fireworks are more dangerous than ever before; one firecracker has the ability to set an entire lawn, or worse, ablaze this year. Fireworks can also instantly cause serious, life-long injury and …

On behalf of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital and Progress West HealthCare Center, I sincerely thank the Emergency Medical Service teams of St. Charles County during National EMS Week. The service provided for the residents of this area continues to be outstanding and superior to any expectation. With the St. Charles County Ambulance District recently receiving the Industry Leadership Award from the EMS Survey Team, it is clear our district consistently has those they serve in mind. The District ranked second among all of the large volume providers in the country with a composite score of 92…

On May 11, 2012, I had the opportunity to attend the St. Charles County Parks Department’s dedication ceremony for Towne Park, located on Highway 61, several miles north of Interstate 70. The theme of the park is History … Nature … Education. I was quite impressed.  The land was originally owned by the Boyd family in the 1830’s. Ruth Boyd and her 11 children farmed the land and had the plantation homestead built in 1828. This 109-acre site—formerly known as the “Pink Plantation”—has a rich history in St. Charles County.  The house and land was donated by the late Mrs. Betty Towne. Following a…

I want to express my reasons to support Terri Violet for Alderman, Ward 3, and the city of St. Peters. I met Terri violet about a year ago while shopping locally. After speaking with her briefly, I wanted to better know why she was running for local office. So, I wanted to give her a chance and hear her story. What I learned is that Terri Violet is a hard charging citizen, dedicated to serving her community in many ways—not just her local community, but she reaches out with her dedication with the American Red Cross Chapter. When the tornadoes struck the residents of Bridgeton in 2011, she …

Dear St. Charles County Council Members: Councilman Cronin announced on Veterans Day that he will propose that a smoking ban including bars and VFW halls be placed on the ballot. County Councilmen, St. Charles County bar owners and veterans groups have the right to allow the use of a legal product by adults on their private property if common sense ventilation and exhaust systems are in place. St. Charles County business owners are depending on you to protect their property rights by considering all the evidence and deciding under what conditions these business owners can continue to allow …

Dear Editor,  The cold winter weather and turning on the furnace can be an especially rough time for our friends and neighbors who are elderly, living with disabilities or facing the challenges of the tough economy. They face high energy bills during the winter. They may not be able to maintain their heating systems or may have other heating system problems. That’s why I’m a proud supporter of the Project “Heat’s On” program. This is the 25th anniversary of this important partnership between the Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri, Inc. and Plumbers’ and Pipefitters’ Local …

Editor's Note: Letters to the Editor are welcomed by Patch. The opinions expressed in letters are only that of the letter writer and do not represent Patch. The letters solely represent the views of the author and have not been edited other than to check for spelling errors. It is promising that five of seven St. Charles County council members and County  Executive (Steve) Ehlmann want public places in our county to be smoke-free. Unfortunately, for now, a consensus cannot be reached regarding the bill's  exemptions.  Mr. Ehlmann's veto message was incomplete in that it listed only 3 of the 7…

This holiday season, the sound of people helping people could be heard across the entire St. Louis region from Southwestern Illinois to Wentzville, and beyond to Kansas City, across the entire St. Louis region. That sound was the ringing of bells for the annual Tree of Lights campaign. Thousands of our friends and neighbors, hard working union members, took a special challenge to help the Salvation Army help people in our communities.  In many cases, those labor union member bell-ringers were themselves unemployed, but they stepped up to the plate to give their time to help others in need. I’…

We're launching a new feature called "Letters to the Editor." We want to hear what you have to say about your community. What's going well, and what could use some attention? Our goal is to encourage dialogue on issues that matter to you. So, what's important to you? Mabe you'd like to talk about the the latest news from a Board of Aldermen meeting. Or you might be interested in talking about issues related to kids. No matter the topic, please share your letter. Please limit your letters to 300 words or less, and include your full name, age, residence and telephone number (for verification …