People from far and wide will flock to the east Perry County tomorrow for the kick-off of the “greatest little fair in the land.”
The East Perry Community Fair begins on Friday with the annual pa-rade beginning at 1:30 p.m. Parade goers should remember to arrive early to avoid the expected congestion on Highway A prior to the parade line-up, and expect travel delays as thou-sands move into Altenburg.
“Be patient,” Perry County Sher-
iff’s Deputy and Frohna resident Jason Klaus said. “The last three years, fair traffic has been re-routed to bet-ter move traffic in and out of the fair grounds, and it is taking time to ad-just.”
According to Klaus, the Sheriff’s Department will not be directing traf-fic this year, due to the fact that the fair board elected to hire a private compa-ny to deal with traffic.
”This will allow the sheriff’s de-partment to have more of a presence on the fair grounds and in the parking lots,” Klaus said.
According to fair committee mem-ber Fred Eggers, the fairgrounds un-derwent some major overhauls in the off-season.
“The biggest change is the con-
struction of a 40-foot-by-100-foot show arena and three 28-foot-by-120-foot barns for the beef cattle depart-ment to replace the tents that were rented in past years,” Eggers said. “Another change for the beef cattle show, which is annually one of the largest in the state with over 200 head, is that the cattle will be on display on Friday evening.”
Eggers said that fair goers might notice improvements to the main arena.
“Another improvement is the ex-pansion of the arena that hosts the antique tractor pull, the 4-H and open saddle horse shows, the draft horse and mule show, the mule jump com-
Photo by AmAndA LAyton
Perry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Klaus purchases a famous East Perry Community Fair pork burger during last year’s event. He reminds fair goers this year to be patient with traffic over the weekend, as the tiny com-munity will fill up with thousands of fair goers, starting with Friday’s parade at 1:30 p.m.
Thousands of people expected to converge on Altenburg for East Perry Community Fair.
See FAIR/PAge 5A
Square gettingfaceliftThree remodeling projects in Perryville’s new TIF district are underway.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a series of three ar-ticles regarding the recent pur-chase of three historic buildings in downtown Perryville, and what the new owners plan to do with them.)
Three historic buildings on the square have been purchased under the newly implemented downtown TIF district, and one, the old Mercier Theater, will have a whole new look.
The building, erected in 1936, was once a prestigious movie theater that closed its doors in the late 1980s (“Top Gun” was one of the last movies shown), and has since housed anything from a church to a gym. Currently, the new owners of the building, Pam and Allen Muench, are trans-forming it into a gaming center at the benefit of Pam’s son.
Her son, Brian Cooper, cur-rently owns The Gaming Center, a business located in Perry Plaza, but is quickly running out of space as it becomes more popu-lar. The Muenches, who make it their life’s work to restore and maintain old homes and build-ings within Perry County, decid-ed to do the same with Mercier, but with Brian in mind.
“We purchased Mercier with the idea of moving the Gaming Center here,” Pam said. “Our son was originally worried about parking out front, but when the TIF started, they implied that they’d fix up the square, and hopefully improve parking.”
And a perk to moving into the Mercier building involves the kids who frequent the current
Photo by AmAndA Keefe
Pictured is the outside of the old Mercier Theater, of which Pam and Allen Muench recently purchased to transform it into the new location for The Gaming Center, which is currently located in Perry Plaza. Work is currently being done on the theater’s façade to improve the rust damage.
gaming center.“[Mercier] is closer to schools, and
though parking isn’t great, kids can bike here and walk here,” Pam said.
The move from the location at Perry Plaza to the vast old theater adds about 1,500 square feet for Brian’s business.
Recently under the TIF, the city dis-tributed façade grants to the three new owners of historic downtown buildings, and the Muenches received a $1,000
grant to improve the front of Mercier Theater. Though they plan to drastically change the inside of the building, they will restore its original façade.
The inside, however, can only be de-scribed as a burst of color, as each wall of the old theater will be painted a different shade to adhere to a game-room feel.
“We’re sticking to a theme of seven
See TIF/PAge 5A
Southeast, MAC form agreementPartnership four-year degree now offered in Perryville.
In a landmark three-year agreement, Southeast Missouri State University and Mineral Area College (MAC) Monday morning signed a deal that will allow cur-rent and future Southeast students to trans-fer their credits to, and earn an Associate of Arts degree from, MAC.
In addition, Southeast is investing $200,000 for a new computer lab and stu-dent lounge on the satellite campus in Per-ryville.
The signing between the institutions oc-curred Monday afternoon at a conference held on the upper floor of the Perryville Higher Education Center, in a ceremony that included Dr. Ken Dobbins, president of Southeast, and Dr. Steven Kurtz, president of Mineral Area College.
“The reverse transfer agreement will provide an easy process for Southeast Mis-
Perry County Reverend Anna Marie Zahner died in a car accident in Montana at 8:25 a.m., Tuesday, while driving with her uncle, Louis J. Thomure, according to
Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. James Moody.
Zahner, 70, and Thomure, 93, were heading to Missouri from Washing-ton, where Thomure lived. Zahner was driving a 1991 Chevrolet pickup, traveling east on Interstate 90 in Still Water County near Reed Point, Mont., when she fell
asleep and drifted into the median, said Moody.
The vehicle traveled down the median for approximately 100 yards, vaulted over,
OBITUARIES, FROM PAGE 1AThe Republic-Monitor • www.perryvillenews.com Thursday, September 20, 2012 • Page 5A
Deaths
OberndorferSt. LouiS
Marvin Theodore Oberndorfer of St. Louis died Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012 at Christian Care Home in St.
Louis. He was 89.He was born on May 17, 1923 in Frohna,
the son of William and Elsie (Grebing) Ober-ndorfer. He was married on Oct. 24, 1948 to Dorothy Dambach, who preceded him in death on May 8, 2011.
Survivors include four sons, Roy (Diane) Oberndorfer, Roger Oberndorfer, and Terry Oberndorfer, all of St. Louis; and David (Gloria) Oberndorfer of St. Peters; a brother, Harry (Ann) Oberndorfer of Frohna; five grandchildren, Roy (Kayleigh) Oberndorfer Jr., Jared Oberndorfer, Bran-don Oberndorfer, Tyler Sills, and Lauren Sills; a great-grandson, Christien Alan Oberndorfer; cousins; nieces; nephews; brother-in-law; and friends.
Mr. Oberndorfer had been a truck driver and a member of the Teamsters Local 600. He was an Army veteran of World War II.
He was preceded in death by his parents; wife; two sis-ters, Peggy Fiedhler and Emma White; and two brothers, Harold and Edwin Oberndorfer.
Memorials are preferred to Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna or Heartland Hospice.
The funeral service was held Wednesday, Sept. 19 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna at 11 a.m. with Rev. Rod Benkendorf officiating. Burial was at the church cem-etery with military graveside provided by American Legion Post 133 and Delta Team.
Young & Sons Funeral Home, Inc. in Perryville provid-ed the arrangements.
MarvinOberndorfer
StortzPerryviLLe
Marie I. Stortz of Perryville died Tues-day, Sept. 18, 2012 at Barnes-Jewish Hospi-tal. She was 90.
She was born July 22, 1922 in Perry Coun-ty, the daughter of Joseph and Grace (Jannin) Stortz.
Survivors include three Sisters, Zita (Har-old) Marshall and Aileen Weinkein, both of Perryville and Lorine Moran of Manchester, Ill.; one brother, Francis (Wilma) Stortz of Ballwin; several nieces and nephews as well as great and great-great-nieces and nephews.
Marie was an executive secretary at Equitable Life In-surance Company before retiring. She was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Perryville and was a member of St. Vincent High School Alumni Association.
She was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Mary Ann Coleman.
Memorials are preferred to Masses or charity of choice.Visitation will be at Miller Family Funeral Home in Per-
ryville from 10 a.m. to time of service on Saturday, Sept 22, 2012. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. at the Miller Chapel with Rev. Milton Ryan, C.M. officiating. Burial will be at Mount Hope Cemetery.
Miller Family Funeral Home provided arrangements.
MarieStortz
time it was all over. I was the Bun Girl, and
for three straight hours I did nothing but rip eight packs of buns from their plastic wrapping, lining them up on a tray before they were crowned with a piping-hot pork patty before being shoved down the line to the Wrapper Man, who hastily folded each sandwich in wax paper before handing it out the window to the hungry masses gathered in anticipation around the pork burger trailer. Did I mention air conditioning wasn’t available?
Over the two-day course of the annual EPF, volunteer help from the Pork Producers and local 4-H and FFA youth serve roughly 8,000 sandwiches. To break it down, the booth is open approximately 32 hours
all told over the fair weekend. This figures out to be 250 sandwiches an hour (if it happened that 250 sandwiches were sold at 8 a.m., when the booth first opened, which isn’t the case). The hungry fair people descend in droves around dinner time Friday and Saturday forcing pork burger chefs to bring their A game in that tiny trailer kitchen, making any other busy kitchen experience a person has had in their life seem like a nursing home cake walk.
So remember when you’re waiting in line for EPF burger, or a bag of kettle corn, that there are plenty of people behind the counter who deserve to be treated with cour-tesy and appreciation for keeping us all fed.
Funnel cake anyone?(Amanda Layton is
a staff writer for the Republic-Monitor. Email her at [email protected].)
You may need to be screened more often if you are high risk for cervical cancer-related deaths. Recent studies show that screening pre-vents colorectal cancers. It also cuts deaths from disease. Still, only six in 10 adults 50 and older get screened.
New guidelines from the American College of Physicians (ACP) now focus on each person’s individual risk.
For people of average risk, screening should start at age 50. This includes stool sample tests or insertion of a nar-row tube with a camera into the rectum (optical colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy).
People of high risk (with inflammatory bowel disease or a personal or family history of colorec-tal cancer) should start screening at age 40 or earlier.
People at high risk should have optical colo-noscopy. This is the most sensitive test.
People who are over 75, or have a life ex-pectancy of less than 10 years, do not need screen-ing.
Want to learn more about these or other types of cancer? Or, need to understand an upcoming test or procedure? Go to www.healthmart.com where you’ll find a wealth of information on these and many other topics.
(Barry Naeger is a pharmacist in Perryville.)
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Layton
Naeger
petition, and the 4X4 truck pull,” he said. “The arena has received additional lighting and it been length-ened by almost 100 feet and widened by 25 feet at the north end to provide addi-tional space for the equine events and to provide for a safer and more efficient operation of the pulling events.”
Entertainment for the two-day affair includes music on the grand stage by classic rock group
“Pearl River Band” on Fri-day evening at 6:30 p.m., the “Whitewater Bluegrass Band” on Saturday after-noon, and the “Jackson Municipal Band” at 6 p.m., Saturday. Other entertain-ment includes a pedal trac-tor pull at 3 p.m., Friday, an antique tractor pull at 5 p.m., Friday, a saddle horse show at 11 a.m., Saturday, the “world famous” jump-ing mule competition at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, and the 4X4 truck pull at 8 p.m., Saturday.
Although the fair doesn’t officially open until Friday, preparations have been un-
derway all week, particu-larly with the 4-H youth that present their multiple projects.
“4-H members from Perry County and surround-ing areas will be bringing their projects down to the East Perry Fair fairgrounds between 6 and 9 p.m. on Thursday or Friday morn-ing between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.,” said Dianna Koenig, Perry 4-H youth develop-ment program assistant. “All projects have to be signed in and in place by 10 a.m.”
Food vendors have also been preparing to serve
up some famous fair cui-sine. Frohna resident Bleau Deckerd and his family have the “Grill on the Hill” stand, where they serve up boneless wings and grilled pizzas.
“This is our second year,” Deckard said. “We started our planning to get ready for the fair back in July, having four or five meetings to get ready. We took the stand up last Sun-day, and have spent the week getting it stocked and ready to serve the public.
“We are expecting a good crowd on Saturday; should be a huge.”
souri State University stu-dents to qualify and receive an associate of arts degree,” Kurtz said. “We appreci-ate the quick response of Southeast Missouri State University for this agree-ment to come to reality. This agreement is very im-portant, as reverse transfer was a component identified in HB 1042 that was signed into law this year.”
Dobbins said the con-tinuing great partnership between MAC and South-east is one of the greatest assets in this region.
“Mineral Area College, the community of Per-ryville, and Southeast Mis-souri State University have all worked together to bring educational opportunities to the people of this area,” Dobbins said. “I can say, without reservation, that our partnership with MAC is one of the most success-ful university-community college partnerships in the state.”
Under the reverse trans-fer agreement, students cur-rently or previously enrolled in Southeast classes may seek admission to and trans-fer up to 52 credit hours to MAC towards completion of an Associate of Arts de-gree. Students must com-plete at least 12 MAC credit hours at any MAC location
or online; the hours do not have to be the last 12 credit hours of the degree pro-gram. The 12 credit hours, however, must meet the re-quirements of the Associate of Arts degree as outlined in the MAC catalog. The curriculum will use courses from both institutions, and the degree will be granted by MAC. Students must meet MAC requirements for the degree as specified in MAC’s catalog.
Southeast officials says students seeking the MAC Associate of Arts degree must take Southeast cours-es that articulate with the MAC 42-credit hour gen-eral education program, two credit hours of physical education activity courses and 18-20 credit hours of electives selected with the help of a Southeast or MAC advisor.
According to the agree-ment, for financial aid, Southeast and MAC will use existing individual consortium agreements as needed when students are taking courses at both insti-tutions. In addition, MAC will share class schedules with Southeast advisors to assist students in selecting classes.
The three-year agree-ment begins this fall and ends in summer 2015. It will be reviewed at the end of each spring semes-ter by the chief academic officers at Southeast and MAC to determine the pro-gram’s effectiveness. If the
agreement is discontinued, Southeast and MAC have agreed to provide all cur-rently enrolled students at least three years to com-plete their Associate of Arts degree.
The conference was at-tended by Perryville Higher Education Center advisory board members Dennis Bo-henrt and Scott Sattler. Also in attendance were multiple Perryville Higher Educa-tion Center faculty mem-bers, including Director Mary Bauwens.
“We are excited,” Bau-wens said. “The Perryville campus provides students an opportunity to earn a degree while still staying close to home, and those degrees help people go so much further in life.”
Also attending the con-ference was former Mis-souri House speaker Steven Tilley who was credited by both university representa-tives with pushing hard for education during his tenure in Jefferson City. Fund-ing for the proposed new computer lab for the PHEC comes from an increase in the state budget approved by the Missouri Legislature in May to address a dis-parity in per student state funding among the state’s universities. The funding increase was based on ap-propriations per student and included $885,969 for Southeast. Tilley proposed the increase before his time at the capitol ended.
“I think this is a great
corroboration between the schools,” Tilley said. “All over the state it shows the cooperation between two-year community colleges and four-year universities. The Perryville Higher Edu-cation Center is working to educate so many non-tradi-tional and traditional stu-dents alike that any way we can improve that quality of education is an asset to the community as a whole.”
According to Dobbins the new 20-station com-puter lab will meet the in-creasing use of technology in instruction and learning and enhance the environ-ment for Perryville stu-dents. It will be both open for student to use between classes and for instructional purposes. The lab will have an array of online resources and applications.
The lab will be located in the lower level of the Per-ryville Higher Education Center, and will be adjacent to a new student lounge area that will feature tables and chairs, sofas and lounge chairs.
This will be the Per-ryville campus’ third com-puter lab. An open/instruc-tional lab with 24 stations is currently located in Room 101 on the main floor. A second open/instructional lab with 14 stations is locat-ed on the second floor in the center of the building. The new lab will be designed and completed this academ-ic year.
colors,” Pam said. “And the tile floors will have those colors as well.”
Their color palette? Purple, red, orange, yellow, “Mario” blue (of the Mario Brothers video game), green and bright blue.
Though Kiefer Plaster-ing is working on Mercier’s façade, the Muenches, with the help of a few regulars who frequent the current Gaming Center, are tack-ling the inside construction themselves.
“We’re remodeling the whole inside, tearing down the old ceiling and putting in a new one, installing new floors and of course, paint-ing the walls,” Pam said.
Just as the Gaming Cen-ter in Perry Plaza offers now, the new location will offer a whole wall of televi-
sions hooked up with game consoles of all types. There will also be card games, board games and tourna-ments held at the Gaming Center (as there are cur-rently), and the opportunity to buy or sell used video games. Various gaming memorabilia and vintage game consoles will line the walls as well.
Unfortunately, the only day the Muenches can get work done on Mercier’s interior are Mondays, but they’re confident that a ten-tative date to open the new and improved Gaming Cen-ter could be next May.
“We’re excited about ex-panding,” Pam said. “We’ll have more room to do more things. [Brian] is lit-erally running out of room at this point [at his current location]. But, it’s so nice that all the kids can come together and have a great place here.”
then went between two exit bridges, and vaulted over the roadway below, accord-ing to Moody, who added that the vehicle collided head-on with the embank-ment on the east side of the interchange.
Thomure, the passenger, was ejected from the car
and Zahner was partially ejected and later had to be extricated.
Both occupants died on-scene, and according to Still Water County Coro-ner Terry Nystul, they were killed on impact.
“[Anna Marie] seems to have died due to massive trauma,” Nystul said.
Neither occupant was wearing a seatbelt, and the vehicle was not equipped
with airbags. Speed and al-cohol were not factors in the crash, according to Moody.
Zahner was a Perry County-area reverend, and was founder of Healing Out-reach Ministries, a non-prof-it in-home blessing organi-zation that primarily dealt with seniors and couples. She was also a member of the Perry County Ministerial Alliance for a time.
Zahner also wrote occa-
sional columns for the Re-public-Monitor’s Faith page.
“Anna Marie experi-enced many things in her life, but she was a woman of faith,” said Assembly of God Pastor John Chamness. “She did her best to help people.”
Zahner’s funeral will be held at Young and Sons Funeral Home. As of press time Wednesday, a time had not yet been set.
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Zahner
Fair
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Colleges
Photo by AmAndA KeeFe
Pam and Allen Muench, new owners of the old Mercier Theater, stand amidst a sea of old theater chairs that still remain in the building. They’re planning on trans-forming the building into the Gaming Center which is currently located at Perry Plaza.
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GOOD EATIN’ AT THE EAST PERRY COMMUNITY FAIR
Photo by AmAndA Keefe
Kolby Cunningham, 4, dives into a batch of ribbon fries covered in ketchup — just like his chin.
‘Greatest little fair’ draws an estimated 30,000 peopleBy Amanda [email protected]
Under picture-perfect skies Friday and Saturday, thousands flocked to the tiny town of Altenburg for the annual East Perry Community Fair.
In living memory, the fair has been an event marked on cal-endars as a day off school, so area stu-dents are able to enjoy and participate in the two-day festivities. And enjoy it they did, as thousands of young-sters lined the streets
with their parents on Friday to watch the annual parade, as the procession made its way from Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg to the fair grounds.
According to fair organizers, an esti-mated 30,000 people descended on Al-tenburg (which has a normal population
of just under 400) over the two-day affair to partake in the many activities, includ-ing the world-famous mule jump, where equine high-jump over a bar to a crowd of adoring fans.
In addition to the mule jump, the sta-dium stands stay full for the horse show, antique tractor pull and the ever-popular
Photo by AmAndA LAyton
Toddler Gavin Ruehling gives his sheep Tom a good scrubbing before the animal was carefully inspected by the watchful eyes of judges on Saturday morning at the East Perry Community Fair held Friday and Saturday in Altenburg.
Little Town of Altenburg puts on quite a show — food, events, fun.
Twin Halls reworked
Boy Scouts to add garden
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a series of three articles regarding the recent purchase of three historic buildings in downtown Perryville, and what the new owners plan to do with them.)
The Twin Halls building located just north of the Perryville square may not look like much from the outside, but by the time new owner Jesse Ochs is done with it, he’d like it to turn heads.
Ochs, a Perryville native and owner of Ochs Construction, purchased the historic building prior to the implementation of the downtown TIF with the intention of rehab-bing it, then selling it. Though he and his crew have been working for months, there is still much to be done.
The brick, two-floor building was origi-nally built in the early 1900s and was con-siderably smaller than it is today. In the late 1940s, an addition was built to expand it, giving the building its name, Twin Halls. Both connected rooms include beautiful, original hardwood floors, high ceilings and large bay windows.
The Association of the Miraculous Medal first utilized the building as office space from the early 1930s to 1971, and were there during the addition of the new hall, added in 1949. Twin Halls was later used as a dance and reception hall.
Before Ochs purchased the building ear-
WantMore?Fair results and dozens of photos can be found on Pages 6A-8A.
Last Thursday’s Perryville city coun-cil meeting welcomed a roomful of Eagle Scouts from Troop 250 who were present on behalf of one particular scout, Colt Wahl, who wished to address council regarding his Eagle Scout project to ultimately get their approval on it.
Wahl and his dad, Troop Leader Danny Wahl, took the podium to discuss erecting a rock garden across the street from the cur-rent Girl Scout garden, located at the inter-section of Edgemont Boulevard and High-way 51.
“The Girl Scout garden is there to show that there’s opportunity for girls in the area to be apart of Girl Scouts,” Colt said to council. “I want to put a garden on the op-posite side to let boys know there are Boy Scout opportunities too.”
Colt explained the importance of Boy/Eagle Scouts, and how being apart of some-thing other than just “kicking a ball around” is valuable.
“You can learn life skills like I used three years ago to save my dad’s life,” he said, motioning to his father. “We’re much more than just wearing these uniforms.”
The rock garden would have various trees and shrubs, and according to Colt, wouldn’t take much maintenance. The only thing they’re currently trying to figure out is how to keep weeds from growing through the rock bed. Danny Wahl said they con-sulted Rob Roy, of Rob Roy Nursery and Landscape, to find out the best possible method, and the Wahls are still considering their options.
One option is to lay down a rubber liner
Scouts receive approval to build rock garden near Girl Scouts’ garden.
The administration, faculty and students of Perryville andSt. Vincent High Schools extend a heartfelt thanks to
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Kaylie HadlerParents: Randy & Tina Hadler
Nominated By: Perryville High School Social Studies Department
Comments: “Kaylie is a positive student. She is always smiling and she treats everyone with respect. She makes sure to have her work complete and turned in on time. She is always willing to answer questions in class and she always gives everything her strongest effort. Kaylie is also a member of the Per-ryville High School Varsity Volleyball Team.”
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lier this year, the previous owner, the Warranty Alli-ance Group, turned the up-stairs floor into their central office. The group left a little more than two years ago after an inland hurricane tore much of the roof off the building, allowing for rain-water to fall through. Mold overtook most of the top floor, and the ceiling and roof were damaged exten-sively. Though Ochs and his crew have already repaired the roof, it’s the mold-ridden walls, ceiling and old insu-lation that need the most at-tention.
“I fixed the roof before I did anything else,” Ochs said. “The roof was halfway off after the inland hurri-cane. Right now we’re re-moving mold. We’ve been at it for at least three or four weeks already, and we’ve still got a couple more weeks to go.”
Ochs and his crew will also remove the drop ceil-ing that was built in the first floor to expose its original ceiling, and is considering removing the drywall on the divider wall (that falls be-tween both halls on the first floor) to expose the original brick.
As he’s done often in the past, Ochs plans to com-pletely “flip” the building — purchase it, fix it up and sell it off. Currently, he has two interested buyers.
“One gentleman would very much like [the first floor] for retail,” Ochs said. “Another couple is interest-ed in purchasing the whole building.”
Ochs says he enjoys flip-ping older homes or build-ings and making them look as they once did, if not bet-ter. He chose the Twin Halls building for several reasons.
“The size of it, the loca-tion and the idea of recoup-ing an old structure like this,” he said. “I’ve always liked to redo old things and make them better.”
The city awarded Ochs a $10,000 façade grant to improve the exterior of Twin Halls, and he plans to tuckpoint the outside brick
(using two contrasting col-ors in brickwork to give the impression that fine joints have been made), as well as dryviting the exterior (which provides exterior walls with an insulated fin-ished surface).
Despite the subtle changes, Ochs would like the building to maintain its original look.
“I plan to keep the old feel, unless the potential buyer wants something dif-ferent,” he said.
He says he tries not to be-come attached to buildings that he rehabs, but he’s find-ing himself getting slowly at-tached to Twin Halls.
“This one has a lot of character,” he said. “But as long as I find another proj-ect [after I sell this one], I can part with it.”
He’s not entirely sure when the construction will be completed, but if one of the two potential buyers, or perhaps another party, becomes serious about pur-chasing Twin Halls, he’ll expedite the process.
“If I had someone very interested in it, I’d get it completed in about three months,” he said. “But, so far, everything’s going smoothly.”
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like the kind placed in goldfish ponds. Another is to lay thee to four inches of rock down. City Ad-ministrator Brent Buerck suggested they go with the inches of rock.
“We ourselves would take care of it,” Danny Wahl said. The boys even offered to fix up the Girl Scouts’ rock garden, as it’s starting to lose its luster.
The board approved the rock garden.
“Congra tu l a t ions !” Mayor Debbie Gahan said. “We look forward to seeing your project.”
Also discussed Thurs-day were poles for the Soccer Complex, donated by Citizens Electric Cor-poration. The poles will be placed behind the soc-cer goals along Star Street. Netting will be stretched between the poles in effort to prevent balls from going in the street.
“The poles won’t be metal like the ones that stand now,” Buerck said. “They’ll be wood.”
Alderman Randy Leible said, “Wood poles will probably be more durable.”
Erecting more poles at the Soccer Complex was approved.
In other action Thurs-day, a date was finally set for the annual city auction — Oct. 27. The auction also happens to fall on the same day as the Chamber of Commerce Chili Cook-Off, which pleased council, as this will help bring more foot traffic into the city. Mike Hotop will be the auctioneer.
The project to beau-tify the two roundabouts in the city was also dis-cussed Thursday, but with an unfortunate tone.
“It turns out the roundabouts would re-quire about 75 tons of
rock, and it would be about $200-300 [per ton] to do this,” Buerck said.
“With permission of the board, I’d like to take a mulligan and put this on next year’s budget. I missed the mark on bud-geting for this.”
The board OK’d hold-ing off on the project until next year’s budget.
The following “con-sent agenda” items were approved unanimously through a single vote. They include:
n Final Invoice to JCS Wireless, relative to the Perryville Police Depart-ment secondary base radio station project, in the amount of $1,099.32.
n Bids received for the WWTP thickened sludge pump replacement proj-ect and awarded to Raider Mechanical per the recom-mendation of City Engi-neer Tim Baer. The bids received came in about 20 percent lower than original estimates.
n Request from James J. Christisen for Double Barrels BBQ for a “5 per-cent Beer by Drink-Wine” liquor license at 1324 W. St. Joseph St.
n Recommendations from Police Chief Keith Tarrillion, relative to “No Parking” signs on portions of N. West Street.
n The confirmation of City Administrator Brent Buerck’s approval of a re-quest from the Perryville Fire Department to hold an MDA Boot Drive on Sept. 14-15.
n Request from the
Perry County Sheriff’s De-partment to hold a Christ-mas Stocking Fundraiser on behalf of “Shop with a Cop” on Nov. 3. The fund-raiser would be held at the intersections of Perryville Boulevard and St. Joseph Street, as well as Highway 51 and 61.
n Confirmation of the city administrator’s ap-proval of a request from the Perryville High School athletic director to sell con-cessions at a softball tour-nament in the City Park on the weekend of Sept. 15-16.
n Confirm city adminis-trator’s approval to proceed with emergency repairs to the Trickling Filter Tower No. 1’s Distribution As-sembly. According to the agenda, the tower is worn to the point where it needs to be machined and rebuilt. The city estimates that 20 to 25 percent of the water is completely bypassing the system and new seals will not be set. The work will cost $10,661.
Those who voted to ap-prove the “consent agen-da” items included Alder-men Larry Riney, Tom Guth, Curt Buerck, Randy Leible, Gary Schumer and Prince Hudson. They mayor did not vote.
The first reading or final passage of the follow-ing bills were approved Thursday:
n Final reading of ap-proving the final plat of Mr. and Mrs. Statler’s minor subdivision.
n Final passage of amending the code of or-
dinances relative to refer-ence policy. The city does not currently have a policy regarding how reference checks are handled. The policy would put best prac-tices into place by limit-ing who is authorized to respond professionally to employment reference checks.
n Final passage of amending the code of ordi-nances relative to the pro-hibited parking schedule.
n Final passage of va-cating an alley between South Kingshighway and Delaney Street.
n First reading of amending the code of or-dinances relative to the airport advisory board. The city has received resumes from several individuals with diverse backgrounds.
n First reading of enter-ing into an agreement with Raider Mechanical, rela-tive to the WWTP thicken-ing sludge pump replace-ment project.
n First reading of ac-cepting an easement deed from William and Stella Prevallet, relative to storm water utilities and Dry Run Branch. The city contin-ues to work on acquiring easements in the Dry Run Branch area. The goal of this is to have better access for maintenance.
From Page 1a
Scouts
Photo by AmAndA KeeFe
Jesse Ochs, latest owner of the Twin Halls building just north of the Perryville square, has currently been re-habbing the old building with hope of selling it to one of a few potential buyers. The building was once office space for the Association of the Miraculous Medal, a dance hall and later, the upstairs was used as an office for the Warranty Alliance Group.
The Perry County School District 32 School Board met in special session Wednes-day evening to discuss hir-ing procedures to replace District 32 Superintendent Kevin Dunn, who plans to retire June 30, 2013.
D u n n announced he would be retiring at the Sept. 12 meet-ing. He has been work for the district for 11 years, six as superinten-dent. Board president Tina Littge led the meeting. All other board members were in attendance, including vice president Kevin Bach-mann, and members Scott Hotop, Scott Cooper, Jeff Weibrecht, Nancy Voelker and Mark Gremaud. Board secretary Barb Hagan also attended.
District 32 Marketing Director Kate Martin was asked to develop sample pamphlets that listed District 32’s appealing attributes and accreditations, in addition to listing the work history and educational requirements the board is looking for in an ideal candidate.
“These pamphlets will be sent to employment agencies throughout the re-gion, and will also be sent to those whose names have been kept on file for previ-ously inquiring about the opening,” Martin said.
Between the two pam-phlet designs Martin sub-mitted, the board chose a more modern, progressive layout.
The board decided that applications for the super-intendent position would be accepted both online and by mail. The group debated what qualifications they would require in an appli-cant, noting that an ideal candidate would not be re-quired to have a doctorate, but that it would be pre-ferred, and a minimum of two to three years of admin-istration. Littge said there was a specific timeline to the hiring process.
“We will accept applica-tions until Nov. 1, and ex-pect to review and screen applicants for the entire month of November,” she said. “We anticipate hiring an applicant in mid-Decem-ber, and that person’s offi-cial start date would be set for July 1, 2013.”
For registered Missouri voters who are unable to make it to the polls for the November election, they can begin voting via an absentee ballot six weeks prior to an election, which was Tuesday for the Nov. 6 election.
Perry County voters can request absentee ballots from Perry County Clerk Randy Taylor at the Perry County Administration of-fice located at 321 N. Main St., Perryville.
Reason’s for voting ab-sentee may include:n Absence on Election
Day from the jurisdiction of the election authority in which said voter is regis-tered to vote.n Incapacity or confine-
ment due to illness or physi-cal disability, including a person who is primarily responsible for the physical care of a person who is in-capacitated or confined due to illness or disability.n Religious belief or
practice.n Employment as an
School board starts the process to replace Kevin Dunn.
Registered voters could start voting absentee Tuesday of this week.
TinaLittge
Photo by AmAndA Keefe
Pit bull owner Lara Manche says her 2-year-old dog Madison couldn’t be sweeter, and was appalled when she heard of the “Kill a Pit Bull Day” text that has gone viral.
Target: Pit BullsSheriff says anonymous viral text to kill pit bulls is just ‘idiotic swaddle’ Amanda [email protected]
An anonymous text sent out earlier this month went viral quickly after it encouraged violence to-ward pit bulls on Halloween. No one is sure where the text originated, but many find its message rather disturbing.
It promotes “National Kill a Pit Bull Day” to occur on Oct. 31, Halloween.
The text has reached Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. It reads (verbatim, including er-rors):
“I’m here by announcing October 31 National kill a pitbull day. After you take the kids trick or treat-ing keep your costume on round up some friends
and kill as many pitbulls as you can before midnight. Baseball bats, knives, bricks and poisons (a hotdog soaked in radiator fluid works well) are all suitable tools. Their owners like brag about there high thresh-old for pain. So don’t worry them suffering they can take it. So remember to spread the word! OCTOBER 31, 2012 NATIONAL KILL A PITBULL NIGHT.”
Though the text is dubbed a hoax by some news outlets, local law enforcement says it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the safety of your pit bull, or any pet, on Halloween.
“As with anything these days, you have to take every comment made seriously,” said Perryville Po-lice Chief Keith Tarrillion. “You never know what
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of a series of three articles regarding the recent purchases of three historic buildings in down-town Perryville, and what the new owners plan to do with them.)
The oldest building in Perryville, commonly known as the Hildebrand Jeweler building, will be open to the public as a re-tail consignment boutique, hopefully by the holidays.
Owners Katina and Jon Wahlers, of Perryville, bought the building — erected some time between 1828 and 1832 — last No-vember.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do with it initially,” Katina said. “But we bought the building on a split-second decision on the day they were auctioned off.”
The historic structure,
See TIF/PAge 8B
See THREAT/PAge 5A
See VOTE/PAge 5A
FROM PAGE 1A8B • Sept. 27, 2012 The Republic-Monitor
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located at 31 N. Main St., is actually comprised of two buildings, and the Wahlers purchased both. It also has an upstairs apartment, of which the Wahlers were given only a month to renovate after their purchase. Kevin Hil-debrand, former owner of the building, lived in the apart-ment with his wife.
Currently, a tenant re-sides in the apartment above what will soon become the consignment shop, which Katina plans to name “Tin & Cotton Trading Co.” The second building will act as Jon Wahler’s workshop for the time being, as he’s a contractor who also hap-pens to be doing the major-ity of the work to the build-ing. In conjunction with the shop, Jon will also run a handyman company, simply titled “A Handyman Co,” out of the building.
Katina is no stranger to retail shops, as she used to own a different one years back, and decided now was the time to start again.
“I wanted to get back into doing something cre-ative,” said Katina, who once owned Carriage Hill, LLC, a store that was lo-cated just behind the Hil-debrand building where Body Treats is today. “But I always look at the poten-tial of empty buildings and what they could be.”
“I’m a designer by trade,” she said. “My back-ground is interior design, but I love retail, because I love people. I’ve lived on a farm for five years now, and while I love it, I need people. I was contemplat-ing for the last two years to open another store [after we closed the old one]. We fi-nally decided to do it.”
The shop will offer clothing, home décor, local artisan work and a few new item lines, as well as up-
scale consignment.And, just as the other his-
toric building owners have said, the Wahlers plans to keep the building in its his-toric state cosmetically — with a few minor changes.
The exterior brick, which is currently painted with fading, flaky purple paint, is in for a major alteration.
“We’re going to try our best to bring the brick back to its original state,” she said. “We’re researching different methods of removing paint [from brick]. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just repaint.”
New windows will also be put in, and currently the Wahlers are in the process of laying pine wood floors on the inside.
The purple awning cur-rently attached to the front of the building will be re-placed with a metal one. The interior drywall was repaired and painted, and a drop ceiling once existed, but the Wahlers removed that as well.
“We took it back to its original height,” she said.
To tackle much of the fa-çade work, the city awarded the Wahlers a $10,000 grant.
Though the consignment shop is set to open by the end of the year, down the road, Katina would like to
move the shop to the second building (which will, for the time, act as her husband’s workshop), and use the first building as a coffee shop.
“Our vision is to reno-vate the façade of the second building, move the store over there, and the main build-ing would become a coffee shop,” she said. “But the sec-ond building is going to take a lot longer to renovate.”
And, as a Perryville na-tive, Katina felt a need for a shop like hers, and feels it will help rejuvenate the downtown square.
“I think Perryville has been needing more of a re-tail draw,” she said. “To me, for a downtown to thrive, there needs to be culture, art and things other than what professional offices can offer. I was feeling a need in the town. If it goes well, we’ll draw people from out of town. And I can’t wait to see my customers again.”
The building has an ex-tensive history, as it was once a general store, a five- and-dime store, a tavern (ac-tually more than one) and lastly, Hildebrand Jewelers. Two separate photography studios occupied the second floor of the building for a time, and it also housed ten-ants, as it does today.
From Page 1a
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Photo by AmAndA KeeFe
Katina Wahlers, co-owner of the old Hildebrand build-ing (of which she bought with her husband Jon, not pictured), stands with her two sons Jonah and Spencer outside the building, which will eventually become a consignment shop. The Wahlers plans to open for busi-ness by the holidays.
