Are You Undecided?

If you are undecided about which presidential candidate to vote for in November, we want to talk to you!  Missourian reporters would like to conduct in-depth interviews with individuals or families about their decision-making process.  If you are interested in being interviewed, please email Scott Swafford at SwaffordS@Missouri.edu or Elizabeth Lucas at tawanduh@yahoo.com.  Or simply post a comment.

Eco Schoolhouse Exemplifies Vision

The “eco schoolhouse” that this fall will replace the trailer classroom that burned at Grant Elementary School embraces and exemplifies many of the goals and aspirations for sustainable development, green building and community collaboration outlined in the Imagine Columbia’s Future report. Learn a little about the project by clicking on the image below, or click vision-ecoschoolhousefacts for the full fact sheet.

Charting Columbia’s Vision

The folks at The Communications Center have scrutinized the Imagine Columbia’s Future report and produced some color-coded documents to organize our thoughts. We’ve attached them here. One groups the goals according to the citizen topic groups that created them; the other groups them by the entities that would be charged with helping to implement them. Give them a read, then offer some feedback.

Also, remember that the city is looking for your ideas about the committee that will be appointed to oversee implementation of the vision. To make yourself heard, click here and fill out a survey.

To read more posts on The Watchword about visioning, type “vision” into the search field to the upper right, or click on “Visioning” in the Categories list, also to the right.

Blood drive today at MU’s Memorial Union

Together with the American Red Cross, State Rep. Judy Baker will hold a blood drive from 3 to 7 p.m. today at MU’s Memorial Union.

After campaigning in Macon, Baker, D-Columbia, learned blood is in short supply this summer because of the flooding earlier in the season. In June, the Red Cross’s blood supply in flooded areas of the country was off 10 to 20 percent, according to a news release from the organization.

Columbia Car Classics restraining order extended

The fate of Columbia Car Classics, which faces two lawsuits this month and a number of consumer complaints through the Attorney General’s office, has been put off for another 11 days. Click here to read the background.

During a preliminary injunction hearing Monday morning for Aaron Payne, owner of Columbia Car Classics, Boone County Circuit Judge Jodie Asel granted a 10-day extension of a temporary restraining order on the used car dealer.

Manheim Auto Financial Services and Manheim KC are suing Payne for defaulting on a loan. The restraining order, granted July 31, prohibits Columbia Car Classics from selling any of its inventory so that the plaintiffs have a chance to collect their collateral, which Payne has not been able to present. The missing vehicles also do not have documentation for their sales, at least none has been presented to Manheim. Manheim has a court order requiring Payne to turn over all business records from June 30 to now.

It’s been in question who would represent Payne and Columbia Car Classics.

Court documents filed July 31 name James Daniels, a Kansas City lawyer, as Payne’s attorney. However, when Daniels was asked, he said he turned down representing Payne because he needed more time then his law firm could provide.

In an interview Thursday, Payne said James O’Conner, another Kansas City Attorney, was representing him. O’Conner could not be reached, but on Friday, his assistant implied that he had not made a decision about representing Payne.

Monday morning, Skip Walther told the judge he had only heard about the case 30 minutes earlier, and had not even read the restraining order. But he said his client was in a position to provide all of the sale documents to Manheim by Wednesday evening. Payne was not in attendance.

Columbia Car Classics- What’s your experience?

Columbia Car Classics, a used car dealer with lots previously around I-70 and Business Loop 70-West, had been facing legal troubles this week. See the Missourian’s first article on its troubles here. More articles will be written in the next few days about Columbia Car Classics, so keep an eye out for those as well.

We want to hear about your customer experiences, good and bad, or your interactions with other used car dealers in Columbia. Please feel free to leave your comments here, or e-mail news@columbiamissourian.com

Excerpts from Nixon’s victory speech

Jay Nixon won the Democratic nomination for Missouri Governor last night. He defeated Daniel Carroll by receiving 84.9% of the votes. Here are are some excerpts from Nixon’s victory remarks at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City last night. The excerpts are from a press release sent out late last night after his victory was announced.

“Tonight, we celebrate. Not because our victory was unexpected. But because tonight, we turn a page. Tonight, Missouri families are one step closer to getting the change they need. The change they deserve. Tonight, we stand for change.

Onder concedes to Luetkemeyer, Baker makes victory speech

It seems that former Missouri tourism director Blaine Luetkemeyer of St. Elizabeth will face against State Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia in the general election for the 9th District Race.

Right now, Luetkemeyer is at 39.7 percent, about 10 points ahead of State Rep. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis. Baker is at 44.1 percent to former state representative Steve Gaw’s 31.1 percent.

Both campaigns faced harsh criticism from their opponents. Baker weathered a storm of criticism from both Gaw and former state Sen. Ken Jacob, specifically about her veteran’s health care plan. Onder said Luetkemeyer supported amnesty for illegal immigration, which he contrasted against his newly-signed immigration bill.

Both candidates said they tried to stay out of the battle and called the criticisms “negative advertising.”

For more on all the elections, see the Missourian Web site.

Republican candidates for governor winning their hometown areas

With about 50% of precincts reporters so far, it seems both major Republican candidates are winning their home territory.

Kenny Hulshof leads Sarah Steelman in his hometown of Columbia as well as the area surrounding his southeastern Missouri farm. He also leads in much of the rest of the central and northern part of the state. The trend is consistent when looking at what parts of the state Steelman leads, since she stays ahead in her hometown Rolla. She also keeps control of eastern and south-central Missouri.

If you want to keep track of the race yourself:

Click here to keep track of the status of each precinct’s status in regards to how many votes have been counted.

To look at the Republican map, go here.

The Democratic results can be followed here.

Libertarian candidate progress is here.

You can also follow the tabular results

Update: 30 minutes after polls close

Twenty of 3515 statewide precincts are reporting, but not enough to make any definitive conclusions. Check out the Missourian Web site for more info as the night goes on, as well as checking the blog out for more info about (hopeful) victory parties. For the Boone county results, see the Boone County Clerk’s Web site.

The Public Life team is going to be going out to various election parties around Columbia, including Blaine Luetkemeyer, Judy Baker, Ken Jacob, Kenny Hulshof, Jeff Harris, Sid Sullivan, Cathy Richards, Sean Spence, Mary Still, Bob Pundt, Cande Iveson and Stephen Webber. We’ll also be catching up with some candidates who are party-hopping and others who are out of town.