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Sunshine law proposal turns into forum on purchase of new plane by Highway Patrol

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Debate in the House over legislation to extend exemptions to the state’s open records law on Tuesday turned into a discussion of the recent purchase of a new plane by the Highway Patrol, and the use of the patrol’s air fleet.

Representative Caleb Jones sponsored the original proposal, to extend certain exemptions to the state Sunshine Law.

Representative Caleb Jones sponsored the original proposal, to extend certain exemptions to the state Sunshine Law.  (Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communciations)

The proposal, HBs 256, 33 and 305 would extend exemptions to what is commonly called the “Sunshine Law” for plans and policies for response to terror incidents or other emergencies by law enforcement, public safety officials, first responders and public health officials.

That includes school evacuation plans, which the sponsor, Representative Caleb Jones (R-California) was particularly concerned about.

“There have been seven requests for evacuation plans in schools here in Missouri. I think that should concern everybody in here, that people are trying to find the evacuation plans in schools here in Missouri potentially to do harm to them.”

An amendment offered by Representative Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg) was adopted that would make flights and requests for flights on state Highway Patrol planes public record. That amendment was changed to make that information available only after flights have occurred. It passed with 16 Democrat “yes” votes.

Representative Jeff Roorda (D-Barnhart) objected to the change.

He asked Jones, “Does it concern you at all that we’re taking the opportunity for a bipartisan piece of legislation that extends a very important sunset on school security and security in other public buildings and we’re turning it into a ‘pull the governor’s pants down’ bill?”

See our earlier story on the House Budget Committee discussion of the plane purchase.

Representative Mark Parkinson (R-St. Charles) offered an amendment that would have allowed use of highway patrol aircraft only by the Department of Public Safety. Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) said that would have interfered with the work of several state agencies who use patrol planes.

“Look, I understand wanting to harass the governor about the plane. The governor abuses the plane, every governor in my 7 or 8 governors abuses the plane … every governor in the future will abuse the plane, but why screw up the entire government?”

Representative Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) didn’t want to take away the power of the governor to use a state plane.

“The only time that a governor, any governor, whether it was Bond, Ashcroft, Blunt, Carnahan that comes to Farmington, they use the airport there because they fly in with the state patrol rather than take the drive in … I would prefer to have the governor in town every once in a while.”

Parkinson withdrew the amendment, saying there wasn’t support for his proposal in the chamber.

“A lot of members in this body don’t have the stomach … to hold the executive on the second floor in this building accountable for his abuse of the budget process.”

Other amendments to the bill were to make public any footage from cameras outside the governor’s office in the capitol building and to exempt records that identify security systems or their access codes.

The legislation needs another favorable vote to advance to the Senate.

Winter storm closes I-29 and causes other traffic hazards

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The Missouri Department of Transportation says I-29 in northwest Missouri will remain closed through this afternoon.

Click on the link to go to MODOT’s traveler information map.

The interstate is closed from St. Joseph north to the Iowa border. Transportation Department Maintenance Engineer Tim Chojnacki says the conditions forced plow drivers to stop operations during the overnight.

“Snow has moved out. We’re still seeing some blowing of snow, but we are treating (the highway) now. I don’t have an exact time but I would think sometime this afternoon we could get that reopen.”

On I-29 and in other locations, highways have been closed this morning due to traffic accidents. Chojnacki says once a scene is cleared it can take a while for plows to get the road opened again.

Highway Patrol Captain Tim Hull says those accidents were likely related to the weather.

“They may not have started off weather-related … might have just been a vehicle sliding off the roadway or getting stuck on the roadway and then a crash happening behind them … but a lot of that’s due to being weather-related. There’s a lot of areas where tractor-trailer trucks have become stuck and therefore the roadway is blocked and that was the reason that they closed I-29 down earlier this morning.”

Some motorists became stranded along I-29 by the storm and Hull says troopers are out looking for them and offering assistance. The American Red Cross has also opened some warming centers for stranded motorists and those who have lost power.

“For instance in St. Joseph the Ramada in there at I-29, the First Christian Church in Mound City is the whole county one and the United Methodist Church in Atchison County there in Rockport is the shelter for those people who are stranded and need some place temporary to go to until the highway gets cleared off.”

Chojnacki says most of the roads in north Missouri are covered by some combination of snow, slush and perhaps ice, and the wind is exacerbating that.

“Once the precipitation stops you may still see covered roads for a while until the winds die down and we can be comfortable that those roads will stay mostly clear.”

Both the Transportation Department and the Patrol are urging motorists in northwest Missouri not to get out unless absolutely necessary.

Chojnacki says, “The travel is extremely dangerous. Not just the snow but the blowing wind is creating visibility problems and making it very hazardous to drive. If you do not have to go anywhere, stay home, let us get the roads opened up and things will be better this evening and tomorrow morning.

The Transportation Department is updating its traveler information map with closings and other information, and the Patrol offers its emergency phone numbers for people needing assistance, at (800) 525-5555 or *55 from a cellular phone.

Highway safety group sets new goal for reducing Missouri fatalities

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The Coalition for Roadway Safety has a new four-year plan and a new goal for reducing highway fatalities in the state.

Click the link to view the updated Blueprint to Save More Lives (pdf).

The Coalition has set two goals in the past and both of those have been reached, most recently seeing the number of traffic fatalities annually in Missouri drop below 850 in 2010, two years earlier than the Coalition’s target. The new mark is to be at 700 or fewer, by 2016.

Department of Transportation Highway Safety Director Leanna Depue explains how the Coalition arrived at that figure.

“We look at our progress through the various years. We look at strategies that we think have opportunity to save more lives, we do some estimating about how many lives the various strategies would result in (saving), and then we identify a goal which we think would be challenging for us and yet we know that as a state if we’re able to implement our strategic highway safety plan, we should be able to reach.”

The plan includes the “Necessary Nine;” nine steps the Coalition recommends toward meeting that goal.

They include increasing use of seatbelts and the passage of a primary seat belt law, which would allow law enforcement to pull over drivers for not wearing a seat belt. Currently, law enforcement can ticket drivers who aren’t wearing seat belts, but can not pull them over for it.

A new goal is to change traffic safety culture. “We’re really wanting people to make good decisions because it’s just part of their every day operation,” Depue explains, “Not being motivated by a law enforcement officer or some other outside stimulus. We want them to just internally want to be safe.”

The other steps are: expand the installation of rumble strips, increase efforts to reduce the number of substance-impared vehicle drivers and motorcycle operators, improve intersection safety, improve curve safety, improve roadway shoulders, increase enforcement efforts and expand and improve roadway visibility.

The Highway Patrol thinks getting to fewer than 700 highway fatalities in four years is attainable. Spokesman, Lieutenant John Hotz says, “While 700 sounds like a pretty high number, we’re working towards the overall goal of zero deaths. We know that last year was the first time since 1949 that we had actually seen fewer than 800 traffic fatalities on Missouri roadways, so we’re going to continue to do everything we can to work with MODOT and the other partners with the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety.”

Fatalities for the year in Missouri are up about 6 percent over last year, 684 by Tuesday compared to 641 by the same date in 2011. Hotz says after being dramatically higher earlier in the year, the increase has leveled off.

“We did have a mild winter and there were certainly more traffic deaths in the early part of the year … we’ve seen those numbers go down. They were as high as the 30 percent range in the spring.”

Between January and March, 59 more people died on Missouri highways than during the same period in 2011.

Missouri leading nation in meth production busts

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As of the latest information Missouri is leading the nation in methamphetamine related incidents this year.

This graphic show the state-by-state breakdown of meth incidents between January 1 and July 21, 2012. (Courtesy, Missouri Highway Patrol.)

From January 1 through July 31, law enforcement in the state had reported 1,250 such incidents to the federal government out of over 7,200 in the nation, or just over 17 percent. That includes meth labs, the seizure of chemicals, equipment or glassware used for production, or sites where chemicals or equipment have been dumped.

Lieutenant John Hotz with the Highway Patrol says that is down from 1,280 for the same period last year. He says the data show Missouri is doing a better job than other states of fighting production.

“We definitely never want to be number one but that does show you that our efforts in working with local cities, counties, as well as federal agencies, as well as all the drug task forces around the state … we are being successful in finding these labs and shutting them down, and then of course subsequently getting them cleaned up so not only do we not have the effects from the meth lab itself but we don’t have the effects of the dangerous chemicals afterwards.”

This graphic shows the county-by-county breakdown of meth-related incidents in the state between 01-01 and 07-31-2012. (Courtesy, Missouri Highway Patrol)

Some local governments have passed laws requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine products, a key methamphetamine ingredient. Hotz says the numbers seem to show the number of incidents in those areas starting to decline. Other law enforcement officers and agencies have pushed state lawmakers to enact such a requirement statewide.

Hotz says these numbers don’t mean that Missouri is leading the nation in methamphetamine production. “You don’t really see the huge labs making huge quantities of meth here. You see the much smaller labs. The one pot, or shake-and-bake method which is basically producing a much smaller amount of meth.”

Hotz encourages Missourians to report any suspected meth production operations using the Patrol’s toll-free hotline, (888) 823-6384. “Let us check it out. We don’t recommend that people try to go into the area themselves because of the danger of the volatile chemicals that might be in there.”

Emergency text warnings available for State Fair goers

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A severe storm last year blew down tents and other temporary structures at the Missouri State Fair, but no one was injured. That was only days after a storm at the Indiana State Fair blew down a concert stage, killing seven people and injuring 43.

Smartphone users can sign up for text warnings during the State Fair by scanning this QR code. The passcode is MOFAIR12.

With those events fresh in memory, Missouri State Fair organizers are offering a text message-based warning system to guests at this year’s Fair. Director Mark Wolfe says last year’s storm in Sedalia exposed an issue.

“One of the things that we noticed during that storm last year was it was very difficult to get a hold of not only just people on the grounds but those people maybe that evening that had already left … vendors and things … as we moved into the evening hours.”

The service, called Nixle, is being offered in conjunction with the Highway Patrol.

“When you come through the gate there will be signs right there at the gates that shows you with your phone how you can sign up for this Nixle system. What will happen is any time any kind of alert goes out it is monitored from right there on the fairgrounds from the Highway Patrol office. We can send out any kind of weather alert and it’s one send. You hit it one time and everybody that’s signed up gets it immediately in the form of a text message.”

To sign up, send a text to 888777 with the message MOFAIR12

Highway Patrol Lieutenant John Hotz says Fair goers can sign up based on their involvement at the Fair. “People, for example, who are in the campgrounds will sign up for one type of message, people who maybe are showing livestock will sign up in a different group and vendors would sign up in even another group. Basically what we want to try to do is send the information to the people that need it.”

Hotz says some messages will go to more than one group, as an emergency might warrant. It will tell recipients when an emergency arises, and more. “They’re also going to get instructions on if they do need to evacuate and what building they need to go to on the Fairgrounds.”

Hotz says the sign up information collected won’t be used for anything except to send alerts regarding emergencies at the State Fair.

The Fair begins Thursday in Sedalia.

Snow plows are doing their work, interstates open, still the State Highway Patrol cautions against travel (AUDIO)

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Trucks roll westbound past a jackknifed tractor trailer on I-70 in Foristell. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Interstates might be open. The snowplows might have cleared roads. Still, the State Highway Patrol cautions motorists to be careful out there.

The blizzard has passed, leaving behind several inches of snow over nearly all of Missouri. Road crews have been working to get things back to normal. State Highway Patrol Captain Tim Hull reminds us they aren’t back to normal yet.

“We’re still urging motorists and citizens to limit travel if you get out at all,” Hull says. “Again, because the roads are still mostly covered. It’s still treacherous out there, even though they are passable.” [Read more…]

I-70 closed across Missouri (AUDIO)

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Interstate 70, the main roadway across the state of Missouri, has been closed by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

MoDOT had closed I-70 in mid-Missouri earlier in the day and even pulled its snowplows off the interstate due to whiteout conditions. The closing only affected I-70 in Cooper, Boone and Callaway until later in the afternoon when the decision was made to close the entire interstate from St. Louis to Kansas City. MoDOT says the blizzard has made I-70 impassable. MoDOT states in a news release that the action will keep motorists from becoming stranded on the interstate. MoDOT says it will continue to plow statewide as conditions allow. [Read more…]

Heavy snow, blowing winds slam into Missouri (AUDIO)

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Bob Jackson works on his windshield as a steady sleet falls in St. Louis. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Heavy snow has hit Missouri, with strong winds creating blizzard conditions through a swath from southwest Missouri, through the central part of the state, heading to northeast Missouri.

The state is getting blanketed by snow, but some areas are getting hit hard. Snow is falling so heavily and the wind is blowing so hard in central Missouri that the Missouri Department of Transportation has closed I-70 in Boone, Cooper and Callaway Counties. MoDOT says it is unknown how long the middle section of the interstate will be closed. MoDOT spokesman Sally Oxenhandler says the volume of snow and whiteout conditions on I-70 forced the decision to remove snowplow crews from the interstate for a short time. Crews went back to work in the area at mid-afternoon but the interstate remained closed in those three counties. [Read more…]

Gov. Nixon issues executive orders in anticipation of severe winter storm (AUDIO)

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SHP Supt. Ron Replogle addresses a news conference as Adjutant General Steve Danner and Gov. Nixon look on

Governor Nixon has activated state resources to respond to a rarity in Missouri: a blizzard.

Nixon has issued two executive orders. One activates the Missouri State Emergency Operations Plan, which allows state agencies to assist cities and counties in preparing and responding to this winter storm. The other activates the National Guard.

“Temperatures across the state will be very cold, in the single digits or lower for a number of days in a row here,” Nixon stated during a news conference held Monday afternoon in his Capitol office. “This is a very serious storm.”

Nixon was joined by Adjutant General Steve Danner and State Highway Patrol Superintendent Colonel Ron Replogle.

Replogle says Missouri motorists need to take this one seriously.

“I don’t think Missouri drivers have seen a storm system quite like this one unless you’ve lived in the northern plains of the United States,” Replogle stated. “Rarely do we have a blizzard warning ever issued in the state of Missouri.”

Replogle encouraged anyone who doesn’t have to travel to stay put.

Adjutant General Steve Danner says the Missouri National Guard is prepared to help in any way it can.

“Whether it might be a rescue of individuals who are stranded at a farm home, whether it might be taking elderly patients to or from a hospital or a nursing home,” said Danner.

More than 600 guardsmen have been activated. Almost all the nearly 800 State Highway Patrol troopers, plus Water Patrol will be on hand to respond as the storm.

Nixon encouraged Missourians to take steps to protect themselves and their families such as listening to the radio or NOAA Weather Radio for updates or watching local television for weather reports. Also, the state Web site – mo.gov – will have emergency information. Anyone considering driving should check the latest road conditions from the Missouri Department of Transportation Web site. The State Highway Patrol can be reached by cell phone at *55. Missourians in need of disaster information, shelter information and referrals can call 2-1-1. The 211 service is now available in most of Missouri. An alternate number to call is 1-800-427-4626.

AUDIO: Brent Martin reports [:60 MP3]

AUDIO: Gov. Nixon news conference with General Danner and Supt. Replogle [21 min MP3]

Four die in southwest Missouri boating accident

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Four southwest Missouri residents died in a boating accident on the Niangua River in the Lead Mine Conservation area.

The State Highway Patrol reports a Dallas County Conservation agent responded to cries for help up river and found 68-year-old David L. Dixon of Fair Grove clinging to a capsized john boat. Though flown to a Springfield hospital by helicopter, Dixon died later. Investigators found, 43-year-old Hubert “Eugene” Highfill and his 11-year-old son, Jesse, dead at the scene. 62-year-old Doyle “Pete” Cowin apparently died responding to the accident. Investigators found Cowin’s boots on the riverbank. [Read more…]