Let me say this—I have been into cable TV since its inception. In 1981 when my new bride was househunting for us in Kansas City while I worked the midnight shift as a police officer, my only instructions to her were this: the house had to get cable TV so I could watch baseball games with announcers Harry Carey (Cubs) and Skip Carey (Braves.)  So I like cable TV. And while I have written about my trials and tribulations in the last year with Charter Cable, I wasn’t so unhappy—until now.   On Saturday, April 21, Charter is changing the channel lineup. In doing so, a very few select channels …

Missouri's laundry business I was gone from St. Louis for 26 years. When I returned in 2006 I found the State of Missouri provided workman comp casualty insurance for smaller businesses. Apparently, in 1993 the state legislature created the Missouri Employer’s Mutual Insurance Company, to help small businesses pay lower rates than being charged by insurance companies—state government competing against private business! The governor appoints the board of directors. That would make it a public agency…right? Wrong… according to Missouri Employer’s Mutual when reporters tried to look at finance …

Apparently Cardinals management has a short memory. Having a potential bomb ready to go off and hurt people is not a good thing. It appears Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin will be getting his old job back. Without going into all the gory details, McLaughlin was caught driving drunk in 2010 and again in 2011, 10 months after he received a “No-Points” and “No Record” probation by Judge Rick Brunk—the Chesterfield municipal judge who has shown little interest in protecting the residents of West County. In both cases, McLaughlin was falling down drunk and each time he violated the Missouri …

The end of the line has come for a St. Louis condemnation case involving a woman named Opel Henderson, her 50-year-old downtown junkyard business and a handful of West County businessmen. Now it appears someone is on the hook to pay Henderson a $1 million judgment, plus interest. Henderson and her husband operated a salvage yard along South Broadway near downtown since 1947. After her husband died, her sons began working at the yard. Henderson paid property and business taxes plus she and her sons paid city earnings taxes. As one might expect over the years while operating a salvage yard, …

Along Highway 141, the Chesterfield city limits stop at Conway Road where it meets Town and Country city limits. Much of the new section of Highway 141 from Ladue Road north for three-quarters of mile is in Town and Country. That means half of the ramps to get on and off Highway 141 would be in Chesterfield and the other half in Town and Country. So Chesterfield wants to change that and swap property with cities, and lose 44 acres in the process. City officials said the idea has been floated for some 20 years, and was contingent on building the new Highway 141. On Highway 141, if the city …

On Nov. 9, 2010, former Cardinals’ broadcaster and Town and Country resident, Dan McLaughlin, pleaded guilty to DWI in Chesterfield Municipal Court. He was given a “no-record” suspended imposition of sentence probation term of two years. The court did not assign community service, require him to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, or order him to attend driving school.  The companion charge of improper lane usage was reduced to illegal parking and McLaughlin paid a $350 fine. He left court without additional points on his driving record. The arrest and aftermath McLaughlin was arrested in …

Back in 1973 and 1974, I was a police dispatcher in Creve Coeur, where we dispatched officers with Town and Country, Frontenac and Creve Coeur police departments. Forty years ago, many police dispatchers were like me—young men waiting to be sent to the police academy and hired as police officers. That has all changed. Now police communication officers are professionals, hired with the hope they'll stick around on the job for decades. Often, after an eight-hour shift, I would be exhausted. An officer may respond to one stressful call, but dispatchers who work the radio, phone and the desk …

Every day I ask myself questions. Sometimes they are rhetorical, and sometimes I would love to have an answer. Here are a few of them. Why do some people buy extremely expensive cars and then refuse to attach the front license plate? It is not like the Missouri law that requires a front and rear license plate has an asterisk and in fine print states, “unless the vehicle is a BMW, Lexus or Mercedes Benz and the owner lives in an area with a zip code of 63124, 63131, 63141, 63017 or 63005.”  The clerks at the Missouri Department of Revenue fee offices still give you two license plates, one for …

The Manchester Board of Aldermen is the group that keeps giving, at least to members of the local media who cover city government and politics. I have written three columns recently just on the show that is provided free of charge at the meetings. I write a similar column in the Chesterfield Patch. Sometimes I wonder where the next column is coming from. Chesterfield meetings are over in 20 minutes. Sometimes the city council meetings are canceled because there is nothing on the agenda. I have never heard a raised voice at a Chesterfield meeting. I'd even call them dull. I recently wrote a …

Plowing a Park's Walking Path: The St. Louis County Parks Department does something I wish the City of Town and Country would consider, if not for my sake, at least for other people who like to go for a walk. Each time there is a snowfall, the county parks department plows a section of the wide sidewalks at Queeny Park so residents can safely go for a walk or give their dogs some exercise. I have asked Town and Country City attorney Steve Garrett why the city can’t plow the sidewalk at Longview Farm Park, the stretch along the front of the pasture on Clayton Road that goes around the barn to …

I wrote an earlier column about how attending board of aldermen meetings can be like attending theater, comedy one minute and drama another. I would hate to let it be known, but they can be fun to attend. Every few minutes there seems to be a different type of television show unfolding live in front of your eyes. Here are some more examples. “Is that thing working? Kick it will you,” joked Town and Country Mayor Jon Dalton referring to the three-minute countdown clock that faces speakers addressing the board of aldermen. The comment came after two speakers combined took 25 minutes to address …

For the second time in five years, there was a specially appointed committee in Town and Country to study fire and EMS service and make a recommendation about how fire and EMS services should be delivered to the citizens. I'm intrigued, however, by the mystery of how this committee doesn't ever seem to recommend anything. Town and Country does not have its own fire and ambulance service, it contracts out to the West County EMS and Fire Protection District. The last five-year contract between Town and Country and the West County EMS and Fire Protection District expired at midnight on New Year’…

Dr. Mike Orgel and James Crowley went head-to-head Monday at the Town and Country Board of Aldermen meeting. The issue is a tree house Orgel wants to build on the side yard of his house off Ridgemoor Lake Court in the Windmoor South subdivision. The Windmoor South subdivision is small by anyone's standards, with only 13 houses. One of them is vacant after the homeowner died. They only have two homeowners’ association trustees and Jim Crowley is one of the two. I know both Crowely and Orgel. Orgel, an internist, served with me on the Public Works Committee. I found him one of the better …

The recent shooting rampage in Tucson, AZ was over in less than two minutes, but according to news reports, it had been building for some time. Days before the Arizona shootings, the case of Trip Powers made the St. Louis area news after he was shot by a St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer after kicking in a locked glass door at the Denny’s on Hampton Avenue. Powers, 39, the son of a former Clayton police officer and a social worker, dealt with bipolar disorder while in Seattle. During this time, he was arrested several times as a result of his bipolar disorder, according to his mother's …

Town and Country police detectives have amazing crime solving rates and the department offers many special services. However, if you break down the traffic accident numbers against the number of citations issued, some days I have to wonder if Town and Country isn’t operating a speed trap on the interstates. In 2010, Town and Country police issued 9,138 traffic citations. Most were on the interstates. Frankly, I would like to see a few more citations on streets near my subdivision. The percentage of citations issued on divided highways, such as Interstate 270, Highway 40 and Route 141, versus …

The City of Town and Country’s website has an unusual proclamation that you don’t see on other affluent cities sites. It proclaims, “Town and Country is a prestigious suburban community…” January was a heck of an un-prestigious month. In fact, it could easily be described as a PR guy’s nightmare and things weren’t much better for Manchester. On Jan. 10, the Town and Country Board of Aldermen voted to censure former mayor and current alderman David Karney for allowing threatening e-mails to be sent from his computer to a fellow alderman using an alias e-mail address. A lengthy police …

When the new Walmart Supercenter opened in the Manchester Highlands I was amazed at the kind of money I was saving on groceries, drugs and other items. I am also a regular shopper at the PetsMart store for certain high-end dog food products. I recently bought a CD player and speakers at Best Buy. However, shortly after the Manchester Highlands opened I looked at a cash register receipt and couldn't believe the 9.175 percent sales taxes!  It's like being on vacation in England, paying VAT taxes. The standard sales tax in Manchester, 8.175 percent, got goosed another one percent at the …

One of the most debated topics at recent Town and Country Board of Aldermen meetings is the proposal to authorize a feasibility study on adding more parking spaces to the Longview Farm Park at a cost of $19,500. Currently, the park has 66 parking spots, but Anne Nixon, the director of parks and recreation said people are constantly parking illegally because there are not enough spots.However, residents have addressed the board in opposition of the increased parking because it would lead to more outsiders using the premises. The ground breaking for the glass addition to the Longview Farmhouse …

Monday, former Town and Country mayor and current alderman David Karney was censured by the Board of Aldermen. A police investigation showed an e-mail from an alias was sent from Karney’s computer. Karney admitted the e-mail sent to Alderman Fred Meyland-Smith suggesting aldermen like him "should be shot" came from his computer. However, Karney has repeatedly claimed that he did not actually send the e-mail. He claims a constituent upset with Meyland-Smith over the deer control program for 2010 wanted to send Meyland-Smtih an e-mail, but was afraid to use her own e-mail account. Karney told …

The overpopulation of deer in Town and Country over the years has caused a lot of people to speak out on the issue. Sometimes it has brought out the worst in people. I have heard people shout at others during meetings, boo someone else’s opinion and make juvenile threats. You might think the people who want deer shot would be the most vocal on this issue, but over the last three years, it has been the other side with the loudest speeches, often containing tacit or idle threats.   Immediately after the Kirkwood City Council shootings, a metal detector manned by two police officers was set up …