William C, Haas
(Photo courtesy of William C, Haas for President)

St. Louis activist, husband-wife on presidential ballot

Longtime political activist and St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education member William C. Haas will be among 22 candidates on Missouri’s Democratic Presidential Primary Ballot on  March 10.

A Harvard-trained attorney with 20 years’ experience as a corporate attorney, Haas has for decades been a critic of St. Louis area government. He has previously run for mayor of St. Louis and U.S. Congress.

A proponent of “common sense” restrictions on firearms purchases and a Medicare buy-in option for that age 55 and over, Haas favors investment in Northern Mexico as a means of easing immigration issues, and severance for workers displaced by outsourcing or automation.

Also on the Missouri Democratic presidential primary ballot will be Leonard J. Steinman II — a retired South St. Louis truck driver who has previously run for governor and Congress — and his wife Velma, who is also a past candidate for Congress.

Remaining Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Michael R. Bloomberg, will be joined on the Missouri Democratic primary ballot by Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker, Andrew Yang, John K. Delaney, Julian Castro, Deval Patrick, Marianne Williamson, and Michael Bennet. All but Gabbard in that final group have formally or informally suspended their campaigns.

Also on the Missouri Democratic ballot is New York real estate developer Henry F. Hewes, a past candidate for Mayor of New York City and for the U.S. senate, as well as a campaign member for President George H.W. Bush and other past president candidates.

Eighty-three-year-old upstate New York farmer, environmentalist, and rodeo veteran Steve “Stoney” Burke, and former collegiate football coach Robby Wells, an educator and ambassador for The International Human Rights Peace Commission, will also be on the Missouri ballot.

Challenging President Trump on the Missouri Republican primary ballot will be:

• Former Chicago investment banker Bob Ely, the co-publisher of the Canton, Missouri Press-News Journal,
• Past Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld
• Radio talk show host and former Illinois Eight District congressman Joe Walsh, and
• Los Angeles lawyer and philanthropist Matthew John Matern.

All appear in the GOP ballots in several state primaries around the nation, although Weld has now suspended his campaign.

Marches call for bistate effort against violence

Several hundred members and affiliates of the new St. Louis Peace Be Still Coalition took part in simultaneous Community March for Peace demonstrations in St. Louis and East St. Louis, Feb. 24.

The dual demonstrations, along Martin Luther King Boulevard in both cities, kicked off a Peace Be Still Week observance (Feb. 24-29), organized by the coalition to help curb violent crime.

East St. Louis has the highest murder rate in the nation, according to the latest FBI statistics. St. Louis has the second highest, and the highest of any major city in the U.S.

There were 194 killings in St. Louis during 2019, according to city’s police department.

Peace Be Still march co-organizer James Clark
(Photo courtesy of Better Family Life)

St. Louis saw at least 11 children killed by gunshot last year, according to police.

Last week’s two evening Peace Be Still demonstrations came a day after St. Louis recorded its 14th shooting death of a juvenile this year.

In both cities. About 90 percent of victims were African American, according to the coalition.

“We’ve got to start working across the bridge” to curb violence, said James Clark, vice president of the St. Louis nonprofit, Better Family Life, a co-organizer of the marches.

Working with Clark on the antiviolence project is St. Louis activist and actress Marty K. Casey, owner of the inner city Show Me Arts Academy.

Also formally involved in the effort Feed the Families Inc., iHeartRadio, the City of St. Louis, CrimeStoppers, the Spirit of St. Louis professional basketball team, and churches in both St. Louis and East St. Louis

Martin Luther King Boulevard was chosen for the marches, because it bears the name of the famed civil rights leader who was an outspoken champion of nonviolence, according to Clark

However, it was also chosen because the major thoroughfare has become the site numerous shootings and associated problems such as drug trafficking, he adds.

St. Louis this month launches its new Cure Violence program in selected neighborhoods, based on a project that reportedly was successful in reducing the murder rate in Chicago.

However, at least five outside law enforcement agencies, from the Missouri State Police to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms already have task forces operating in the city.

The Peace Be Still Coalition recommends a personal approach to violence reduction.

A statement asked people over the past week to open each day with prayer and meditation and adhere to suggested guidelines including “speaking to people you pass, helping those in need each day, and avoiding arguments and debates.”

The statement also suggests people “embrace heritage and accept current internal challenges.”

Peace Be Still refers to a Biblical verse (Mark 4:39) and hymn, recorded by the Rev. James Cleveland.

 Dupo man pleads to child porn charge 

A St. Clair County resident has pleaded guilty to two charges of receiving child pornography.

James Young, 66, of Dupo, was also charged with five counts of distributing child pornography, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to dismiss those charges at the sentencing hearing, scheduled for May 13 in East St. Louis.

Law enforcement agents discovered Young during an online, undercover investigation.

On May 3, 2018, a federal search warrant was executed at Young’s home. His desktop computer was seized and found to contain 2,441 images of child pornography. As part of his plea, Young admitted that he knowingly received child pornography on Nov. 7, 2017 and April 29, 2018.

The FBI investigated the case.

Charges were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For information about internet safety education, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”

Trailer parks pay $291,067 in delinquent sewer fees

Madison County Special Service Area #1 has received payment of $291,067.77 in past-due sewer service fees from three trailer parks, operated by Lakeshore Estates, LLC and Edwards Associates, according to Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons.

The Feb. 12 secured settlement, covering bills unpaid by the trailer parks as far back as 2015, is the latest delinquent fee recovery realized since the state’s attorney’ office took over collections for the special service district in 2017.

The unusual bill collection arrangements center around specialized attorneys in the state’s attorney’s office and has saved the special services district about 15 percent in collections costs each year, according to Gibbons.

Lakeshore Estates and Edwards Associates were the district’s two largest past-due accounts, he said.

Home sales largely flat, prices up in 2019

Home sales increased marginally in Madison and Jersey counties in 2019, but remained basically flat, year over year, across most of Metro East, according to data released last week by the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois.

Madison County home sales increased a little more than 2 percent in 2019 compared with the previous year. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of last year, 3,688 homes were sold in Metro East’s most populous county.  Three thousand, six hundred and five homes were sold in Madison County in 2018; with 3,551 sold in 2017.

Monroe County saw 439 homes sold in 2019, down from 459 in 2018 but more-or-less on tract with the 438 sold in 2017.

In St. Clair County, 3,286 homes were sold in 2019, up marginally from 3,281 in 2018 and 3,201 in 2017.

The trend held across the outer counties of Metro East.

In Clinton County, 264 homes changed hands last year, down from 270 in 2018 but up slightly from 262 in 2017. Macoupin

Jersey County saw home sales continue to increase with 232 residential units sold in 2019, up from 225 in 2018 and 218 in 2017.

In Macoupin County, homes sales likewise increased year over year to 289 in 2019 from 278 in 2018, but still down from 304 in 2017.

Homes sales were flat in Montgomery County, with 229 residences sold in both 2019 and 2018,  down from 240 in 2017.

In Randolph County, 136 homes were sold last year, down slightly from 139 in 2018 but up slightly from 134 in 2017.

Home prices were up 2.2 percent across Metro-East in December of 2019, compared with the same month a year earlier.

St. Clair County Home prices increased 15.7 percent, with an average price of $166,729.

Statewide, Illinois home prices were up 7.2 percent over the course of last year.

EWG tables airport study

A planned study on regional governance for St. Louis Lambert International Airport was tabled by the Board of Directors of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, Feb. 26, amid charges of early political meddling.

Board members voted 15-7 to hold off on the study, after St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson asked for greater assurance that the study would cover all St. Louis area airports, including MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah and Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, MO.

St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed told the EWG Board that former St. Louis Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. has already been maneuvering behind-the-scenes to influence the study.