You came, you saw, you voted … and here are your picks for Inside Columbia’s 2010 Best of Columbia awards.

These selections are the result of nearly three months of reader nominations and voting. The process began last November with our call for nominations. We received thousands of nominations across the 56 categories. The people, places and things that received the most nominations moved on to the final ballot. During a six-week period from Dec. 7 until Jan. 15, readers flocked to our online ballot to cast their votes. In the end, we received ballots from nearly 5,200 readers and the vote total across all categories topped 177,000.

The results were sometimes expected, sometimes surprising, but always — and only — a reflection of reader opinion. Although the staff of this magazine would love to take the credit and sometimes gets the blame, these choices are all yours, Columbia. And as always, when we ask for your input, you gave us your very best.

Best TV Newscaster

Evening after evening, Columbians know they can turn to KOMU-TV news anchor Sarah Hill for a reliable dose of 5 p.m. news coverage. Hill, who is also a University of Missouri adjunct faculty member, has received many accolades for her excellent reporting, including eight Emmy awards, a National Edward R. Murrow Award and seven regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. In addition to delivering up-to-the-minute news updates, Hill writes and delivers the storytelling segment “Sarah’s Stories” each week and is the co-founder of the Central Missouri Honor Flight charity.
Silver: Michelle Linn (KMIZ-TV ABC 17)
Bronze: Jim Riek (KOMU-TV8)
Best TV Weathercaster

His soft-spoken demeanor and his accurate weather predictions have earned KOMU-TV’s weathercaster Dave Schmidt Columbians’ trust as a friendly face on our television screens in the evening. His wealth of experience is evident on the air when he calmly and confidently delivers pleasant and unpleasant forecasts alike — even the Missouri Broadcasters Association has taken note, honoring Schmidt with an award for the best weathercast in January 2008.
Silver: Eric Aldrich (KOMU-TV8)
Bronze: Sharon Ray (KMIZ-TV ABC 17)
Best TV Sportscaster

Whether die-hard Mizzou football fans or Hickman High School baseball buffs, Columbians tune in to KOMU-TV sportscaster Chris Gervino on Sunday nights for the latest stats and game highlights. Gervino first fell in love with Missouri sports as a college student at the University of Missouri, and luckily for us, it’s been one of his passions ever since. No matter how many games, meets and tournaments he’s covered, Gervino still brings a fresh perspective on Columbia’s athletics.
Silver: Eric Blumberg (KOMU-TV8)
Bronze: Rod Smith (KRCG-TV13)
Best Radio Personality/Team

It may be tough to get out of bed and get ready for work on some mornings, but KTXY-FM Y107’s Cosmo & JC are doing their part to make those first few hours brighter, more upbeat and a whole lot funnier. The pair livens up our morning commute with entertainment news bytes, fun contests, the scoop on upcoming events and, of course, some good laughs.
Silver: Simon Rose (KFRU-AM/KBXR-FM)
Bronze: Scotty & Carissa (Clear 99 KCLR-FM)

Best Newspaper Reporter

If it relates to Tiger football, Dave Matter’s got Columbia covered. The Columbia Daily Tribune’s MU football reporter digs up all the juiciest news even during the off-season, reporting on recruiting, training and other goings-on and delivering a much-needed football fix for Columbians suffering from tailgating withdrawal.
Silver: T.J. Greaney, Columbia Daily Tribune
Bronze: Caroline Dohack, Columbia Daily Tribune

Best Local Columnist

On Thursday afternoons, Columbians everywhere can be heard chuckling at the Columbia Daily Tribune’s “Smile Awhile” column written by the witty Irene Haskins. For 33 years and counting, Haskins has given us giggles over topics such as her wish list for Santa, her hatred of fruitcake, her ineptitude for dealing with this generation’s newfangled technology and the struggles of friendship with always-prepared perfectionists, all while demonstrating the universality of our insecurities, joys and fears.
Silver: Doug Pugh, Columbia Daily Tribune
Bronze: Bill Clark, Columbia Daily Tribune
Best Elected Official/Public Servant

As a sweet token of farewell, Columbians voted Mayor Darwin Hindman the city’s best elected official just one month before his fifth term expires in April, marking the end of 15 years spent serving Columbia’s residents. During that time, this U. S. Air Force veteran has been best known for advocating changes that promote healthier lifestyles such as opening new parks, preserving trails and making Columbia more bicycle-friendly. His absence in office will be felt by the city’s residents, but not to worry — we’ll surely see him tooling around on his bicycle about town for years to come.
Silver: State Rep. Mary Still
Bronze: Boone County Commissioner Skip Elkin

Best Local Entertainer

Tom Andes’ music is so inspiring that the Missouri Contemporary Ballet has decided to choreograph its upcoming April performances to his compositions with plans to dance to live accompaniment provided by the Tom Andes Trio. Andes’ artistic mark can certainly be seen around the city — the vocalist/pianist performs at Murry’s three nights a week, often plays at University of Missouri functions, teaches music classes at Stephens College and even directs musicals there. Andes counts jazz, Latin jazz and blues as some of his musical influences.
Silver: Clay Cumbie, www.myspace.com/claycumbie
Bronze: Noah Earle, www.noahearle.com

Best Local Band

These guys are so stellar, they opened for Chuck Berry’s Columbia show last summer. Local six-man ensemble Chump Change Band came together in 1985 and has been jammin’ together ever since, appearing throughout the years with a dizzying number of blues gods, including Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. The band’s brand of blues and R&B with a touch of jazz will carry you out of your seat on a wonderful musical journey. Chumpchangebluesband.com
Silver: Norm Ruebling Band, normrueblingband.com
Bronze: Man in the Ring, www.reverbnation.com/maninthering

Best Local Athlete

At the age of 14, we weren’t even allowed to drive our mothers’ cars down the street for ice cream from the convenience store. When native Columbian and NASCAR driver Carl Edwards was 14 years old, he was already winning dirt track car races in both Missouri and Illinois. Now Edwards is all grown up and a national star, competing in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the NASCAR Nationwide Series for the sixth year in a row. He’s often spotted doing a backflip off his racecar after a victory or, in his down time, riding his bicycle on Columbia’s trails.
Silver: Sean Weatherspoon, Mizzou football
Bronze: Danario Alexander, Mizzou football

Best Bartender

Katie Mericle of Tropical Liqueurs is the best darn pourer of those frozen Long Island Teas, Cherry Bombs and Rum Runners that this city has ever seen. She’ll check your ID, fill your cup with slushy goodness and have it back to you before you can say “Raspberry Lemonade.” Tropical Liqueurs: 515 E. Broadway, 573-442-8098; 3805 S. Providence Road, 573-256-7141
Silver: Matt Turner, Shakespeare’s, 227 S. Ninth St., 573-499-2454; 3304 W. Broadway Business Park Court, 573-447-1202
Bronze: Kenny Townsend, McNally’s, 7 N. Sixth St., 573-441-1284

Best Chef

When it comes to pleasing people’s taste buds, Scott Cleeton has a trick or two up those chef’s coat sleeves. Cleeton is the owner and chef of CC’s City Broiler, the upscale eatery known for its sumptuous steaks, delicious seafood and tasty salads, plus fine wines to pair with it all. His vision and culinary skills turned what was once just a dream into a reality: an appealing, softly lit restaurant worthy of even the fanciest date. 1401 Forum Blvd., 573-445-7772
Silver: Mike Odette at Sycamore, 800 E. Broadway, 573-874-8090
Bronze: Ben Clay at Les Bourgeois Bistro, 12847 W. Highway BB, Rocheport, 573-698-2300

Best Barber

Brad Holt’s customers leave with smiles on their faces and great haircuts crowning their heads. Holt, a barber at Tiger Barber Shop, regularly performs transformational acts of magic with his trusty set of tools: scissors, clippers and trimmers. Young or old, crew cut or faux-hawked, Columbians appreciate the quality of Holt’s service. 118 S. Ninth St.; 573-449-5951
Silver: Tom Lammers at Forum Barber Shop, 1400 Forum Blvd. Suite 8; 573-446-4844
Bronze: Darryl Isgriggs at Studio E, 10 W. Nifong Blvd., Suite D3; 573-442-0556

Favorite Hair Stylist

If you arrived at The Marc looking like a client of Edward Scissorhands and left looking like a model, we can bet Tia Brown has performed her scissor-snipping magic on your locks. As a hair stylist for 10 years, Brown knows how to change an unhappy client into a satisfied customer. From modern men’s haircuts to professional color, Brown’s ability to perform each trick of the trade at the highest level leaves her station with never an empty chair. 32 N. Eighth St., 573-449-7900
Silver: Amy Hemeyer at Studio E Salon, 10 W. Nifong Blvd., Suite D3, 573-442-0556
Bronze: Sam Brown at Sam Brown’s Barbering & Institute of Cosmetology, 1729 W. Broadway, Suite 5, 573-445-7311

Columbia’s Most Valuable Citizen

More than 10 years after his retirement from coaching the University of Missouri men’s basketball team, Norm Stewart still has a special place in Columbians’ hearts. The MU alumnus was named head coach in 1967 and continued leading the Tigers to victory until 1999, despite a bout with cancer during his career. His overall coaching record while at Mizzou was an impressive 634-333, and he has received many distinctions for his coaching including his induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Silver: Cindy Mustard, Executive Director, Voluntary Action Center
Bronze: Mayor Darwin Hindman

Best Of Columbia General Excellence Award

This restaurant has won a slew of categories this year, so it’s not surprising that Columbians have awarded Flat Branch Pub & Brewing for just being all-around generally excellent. It’s known for its in-house brewery, but the menu is just as worthy of praise. Try the freshly baked beer bread, a delicious combination of what Flat Branch does best — food and beer. 115 S. Fifth St., 573-499-0400
Silver: Murry’s, 3107 Green Meadows Way, 573-442-4969
Bronze: CC’s City Broiler, 1401 Forum Blvd., 573-445-7772

Best Place For Al Fresco Dining

On a warm night, there’s nothing better than sitting around outside with close friends sipping on a cold beer. Columbians agree, voting the outdoor beer garden at Flat Branch Pub & Brewing as their favorite place for dining al fresco. The large tables allow for easy conversation with a large group, and the overhead white lights give a more intimate feeling. Get out of the confines of a stuffy booth and pick the fresh open air of a beer garden at night. 115 S. Fifth St., 573-499-0400
Silver: Sophia’s, 3915 S. Providence Road, 573-874-8009
Bronze: Les Bourgeois Bistro, 12847 W. Highway BB, Rocheport, 573-698-2300

Best Barbecue Restaurant

It may not operate out of a palace, but Buckingham Smokehouse BBQ is the restaurant of choice when it comes to savory, mouth-watering barbecue. In the mood for ribs? Buckingham offers racks that will put any other rib joint’s baby-backs to shame. How about some pulled pork? Buckingham’s slow-cooked, flavor-filled option will have you clamoring for another round. With an outside eating area and drive-through lane, Buckingham also offers the perfect atmosphere to enjoy the food you love. 3804 Buttonwood Drive, 573-499-1490
Silver: Smokin’ Chick’s BBQ, 4603 John Garry Drive, 573-256-6450
Bronze: Bandana’s BBQ, 1705 N. Providence Road, 573-256-2229

Best Place For Breakfast

Don’t let the long lines outside Ernie’s Café and Steakhouse on weekend mornings deter you. The wait is never long — and even if it were, it’d be worth it. The staff at Ernie’s is quick on its feet. They refill coffee before it has time to get cold, juggle plates on both arms, take orders, and still hold a full conversation with every customer. There aren’t many seats, but sitting shoulder to shoulder and bonding with strangers is part of the charm. What makes it the best place for breakfast? The answer is simple: a full plate of delicious eggs, bacon, and hash browns doesn’t empty your wallet. 1005 E. Walnut, 573-874-7804
Silver: Lucy’s Corner Café, 522 E. Broadway, 573-875-1700
Bronze: Café Berlin, 220 N. Tenth St., 573-441-0400

Best Place For Burgers

Beef lovers beware: You may not be able to control your taste buds after a single bite of one of Booche’s famous burgers. Named one of the top 25 dishes in USA Today’s “Down Home Dining” project in 2005, Booche’s hamburger brings a nationwide notoriety to the heart of Ninth Street. With billiards, beer and competition-killing burgers to keep us entertained, what more could Columbians ask for? 110 S. Ninth St., 573-874-9519
Silver: Flat Branch Pub & Brewing, 115 S. Fifth St., 573-499-0400
Bronze: Billiards on Broadway, 514 E. Broadway, 573-449-0116

Best Place For A Business Lunch

The long workday is a little easier to get through when you’ve had one of Addison’s Super Deluxe Happy Fun Time Burgers. Addison’s offers a diverse menu that would please anybody at the office, and everything there is seriously delicious. The atmosphere is casual and inviting, so you can talk about portfolios and resumes with your boss or skip the office politics and dive into art history, discussing the paintings that line Addison’s walls. 709 Cherry St., 573-256-1995
Silver: Flat Branch Pub & Brewing, 115 S. Fifth St., 573-499-0400
Bronze: Murry’s, 3107 Green Meadows Way, 573-442-4969

Best Coffeehouse

From open until close, Kaldi’s Coffee House is a revolving door of students and locals alike looking to get their caffeine fix. Some people come for a quick espresso on the run while others settle in for hours studying for finals or gossiping with friends. Order a turtle latte and a homemade gooey butter bar, bring a good book and get comfortable — once you’re here, you won’t want to leave. 29 S. Ninth St., 573-874-2566

Silver: Lakota Coffee Co., 24 S. Ninth St., 573-874-2852
Bronze: Starbucks Coffee Co., 304 S. Ninth St., 573-442-5802; 3100 W. Broadway (Hy-Vee), 573-447-0133; 2901 W. Broadway, 573-445-0367; 2500 Broadway Bluffs Drive, 573-442-4951; N121 Memorial Union, 573-882-6603

Best Ice Cream

Trying to decide between Sparky’s innovative ice cream flavors is always a challenge. Luckily, free samples are here to help you decide. Don’t get too attached to your pineapple upside down cake ice cream, though, because Sparky’s changes up the menu often. Pick something with a local influence or order a white Russian milkshake (if you’re 21 or older). No matter the flavor you choose for your waffle cone, Sparky’s isn’t your average ice cream store. 21 S. Ninth St., 573-443-7400
Silver: Cold Stone Creamery, 904 Elm St., Suite 100, 573-443-5522
Bronze: Andy’s Frozen Custard, 610 Cooper Drive N., 573-442-8866

Best Asian Restaurant

Bangkok Gardens gives Columbia a taste of the exotic, from the art-adorned walls of the open mezzanine to the last bite of any number of delectable Thai dishes. The restaurant is home to local favorite Phat Thai, a meal comprised of rice noodles, egg, cabbage, bean sprouts and peanuts in a homemade sweet-and-sour sauce, and the No. 11 Coconut Curry, a creamy curry dish made up of bamboo shoots, chicken, sweet peas and other veggies. Mmm … 811 Cherry St.; 573-874-3284
Silver: HuHot Mongolian Grill, 3802 Buttonwood Drive; 573-874-2000
Bronze: Osaka Japanese Restaurant, 120-A E. Nifong Blvd.; 573-875-8588

Best Italian Restaurant

Casual enough to make you feel at home yet sophisticated enough to make dining out special, Sophia’s offers Columbians a chance to experience southern European cuisine in the heart of the Midwest. The menu features a variety of dishes ranging from traditional pastas and pizzas to an assortment of seafood options to satisfy your Italian food craving. While you may not travel outside the lines of Boone County, Sophia’s provides a taste of Italy that will take you to another hemisphere. 3915 S. Providence Road, 573-874-8009
Silver: Bambino’s Italian Café, 203 Hitt St., 573-443-4473
Bronze: The Pasta Factory, 1020 E. Broadway, 573-449-3948

Best Mexican Restaurant

Sizzling chicken and beef fajitas? Check. Free chips and salsa? Check. Scrumptious white cheese nacho dip? Super-cheap margaritas? Saucy enchiladas served with rice and beans? Yep, got those, too. It’s little wonder Columbians love El Maguey so much — the food is hot and satisfying and a meal there won’t break the bank, especially during the afternoon when a long list of lunch specials is available. 901 E. Nifong Blvd., 573-874-3812; 21 Conley Road, 573-443-7977; 504 Business Loop 70 W., 573-449-6558; 3101 W. Broadway, 573-214-2066
Silver: Taqueria El Rodeo, 805 E. Nifong Blvd., 573-875-8048
Bronze: Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, 3306 W. Broadway Business Park Court, 573-445-2946

Best Place For Live Music & Dining

For a dining experience that will entertain as well as sate your appetite, visit Murry’s, where customers get the best of both worlds. For 25 years, Murry’s has been the place Columbians turn to for a reasonably priced, great-tasting meal in the midst of live jazz performances that keep us coming back for more. As a host of the “We Always Swing” Jazz Series’ “Sundays at Murry’s” concerts, owners Bill Sheals and Gary Moore open the typically closed-on-Sunday restaurant for performances that reiterate the theme of their motto “Good food, good jazz.” Murry’s delivers every time. 3107 Green Meadows Way, 573-442-4969
Silver: Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, 1605 Chapel Hill Road, Suites B & C, 573-443-5299
Bronze: D. Rowe’s, 1005 Club Village Drive, 573-443-8004

Best Pizza

Shakespeare’s is the darling of the Columbia pizza world. It’s the go-to destination for locals, students and visitors alike looking for a tasty slice. Order the white crust or whole wheat, pick cheese or pile on the toppings — no matter what you choose, it’s good. You don’t even have to get out of your Snuggie to enjoy Shakespeare’s — you can stock up on their frozen pizzas and feast from the comfort of your own home. 227 S. Ninth St., 573-499-2454; 3304 W. Broadway Business Park Court, 573-447-1202
Silver: G&D Pizzaria, 2101 W. Broadway, 573-445-8336
Bronze: Arris’ Pizza, 1020 E. Green Meadows Road, Suite 102, 573-441-1199

Best New Restaurant Opened In 2009

Fresh from the farm: Broadway Brewery is the new spot in town for refreshing meals made from seasonal produce gathered from its three proprietary farms. Broadway Brewery prides itself on providing homegrown fruits and vegetables, and the beer menu offers diners a wide variety of specialty ale brewed by the brewery’s very own brewmaster, Paul Dickerson. For a taste of something new and a produce selection that won’t let you down, make your way down to Broadway Brewery. 816 E. Broadway, 573-443-5054
Silver: Kobe Japanese Steakhouse, 2531 Broadway Bluff Drive, 573-441-2341
Bronze: Ingredient, 304 S. Ninth St., Suite 101, 573-442-1502

Best Place For Sandwiches

If you’re in the mood for a sandwich, don’t settle for a few slices of bread and the same grocery store lunchmeat; treat yourself to the best in the business at Pickleman’s Gourmet Café. Not only do the sandwich masters prepare each sandwich fresh as you order it, but they also slice their meats, cheeses and produce daily to guarantee you get the quality of sandwich you deserve. From the “Hodge Podge” to “The Pizza Guy” to a twist on the classic grilled cheese, Pickleman’s offers menu items that will appeal to any customer looking for a quality sandwich. 1106 E. Broadway, 573-875-2400; 2513 Old 63 S., 573-886-2300
Silver: Sub Shop, 209 S. Eighth St., 573-449-1919
Bronze: Jimmy John’s, 1019 E. Broadway, 573-815-0043; 4008 W. Broadway, 573-256-1661; 212 Corporate Lake Drive, 573-499-4442; 912 Rain Forest Parkway, 573-256-7600

Best Place For Seafood

Like a little piece of New Orleans right here in Columbia, Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen has it all: kickin’ live music, a merry French Quarter atmosphere, appealing Cajun fare and Columbia’s favorite lineup of seafood. If you haven’t already, try the blackened tilapia with shrimp czarina in a cayenne lime cream sauce that’s at once spicy and creamy — it’s a dish Jazz customers order again and again. 1605 Chapel Hill Road, Suites B & C, 573-443-5299
Silver: CC’s City Broiler, 1401 Forum Blvd., 573-445-7772
Bronze: Chris McD’s Restaurant & Wine Bar, 1400 Forum Blvd., Suite 38, 573-446-6237

Best Place For Steaks

Ladies and gentlemen, they’ve done it again. For the fourth year and counting, CC’s City Broiler has taken the prize for Columbians’ favorite place to order steaks. Juicy and satisfying, the generous steaks at CC’s City Broiler will kick your hunger to the curb and delight your palate in one fell swoop (or perhaps a few trips of the fork). 1401 Forum Blvd., 573-445-7772
Silver: Murry’s, 3107 Green Meadows Way, 573-442-4969
Bronze: LongHorn Steakhouse, 31 Conley Road, 573-874-3000
Best Place For Sushi

Even those who are a little bit afraid of sushi will be pleasantly surprised by the rolls at Osaka Japanese Restaurant. For the timid, the California rolls and vegetable rolls are excellent choices: both are filled with rice and tasty veggies, and the California rolls contain tender, cooked crabmeat. More daring types can choose from a plethora of colorful offerings, including raw squid, sea urchin or yellow tail sushi. 120-A Nifong Blvd., 573-875-8588
Silver: Sake Japanese Bistro & Lounge, 16 S. Tenth St., 573-256-7252
Bronze: Jina Yoo’s Asian Bistro, 2200 Forum Blvd., 573-446-5462
Best Place For Vegetarian/Vegan Dining

Main Squeeze Natural Foods Café makes every effort to lessen its carbon footprint by recycling, composting and promoting environmental activism in our city. But you don’t have to know any of that to know that Main Squeeze serves superior food that also happens to be vegetarian and, oftentimes, vegan. Try the famed Buddha Bowl, a hot dish piled high with brown rice, tofu, scallions and other veggies in a sesame ginger sauce; then cool your mouth with the Strawberry Manilow smoothie. Delish! 28 S. Ninth St., 573-817-5616
Silver: Bangkok Gardens, 811 Cherry St., 573-874-3284
Bronze: Café Berlin, 220 N. Tenth St., 573-441-0400

Best Wine List

Complete with sparkling selections, dessert wines, “interesting whites,” “interesting reds” and bottles from faraway places, Hemingway’s Wine & Bistro has a wine list that positively dazzles. Parties of up to 16 can even enjoy superb food in the impressive Chef’s Cellar, an intimate room lined with a diverse range of wines and part of an artfully designed restaurant that is beautiful to behold. 3910 Peachtree Drive, Suite H, 573-443-2726
Silver: The Wine Cellar & Bistro, 505 Cherry St., 573-442-7281
Bronze: Bleu Restaurant & Wine Bar, 29 S. Eighth St., 573-442-8220

Best Beer Menu

The handcrafted beers at Flat Branch Pub & Brewing are original and diverse, offering unique flavors for all palates. CoMo faves include the popular Honey Wheat, the amber-colored Katy Trail Pale Ale and the dark, roasty Oil Change Stout. Can’t pick just one? Get a sampler and taste them all. 115 S. Fifth St., 573-499-0400
Silver: Tin Can Tavern & Grill, 220 S. Eighth St., 573-777-8788
Bronze: Broadway Brewery, 816 E. Broadway, 573-443-5054

Best Happy Hour

It may be 5 o’clock somewhere, but when the clock strikes 4, Houlihan’s is where you need to be. With a happy hour lasting from 4 to 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. to closing every day, you can find your dose of “happyness” in half-priced pitchers of Long Island iced teas, well drinks and domestic beers. Appetizers priced at just $6 during happy hour will keep your appetite in check while you put your worries to rest and affordably indulge in a night of carefree, casual dining. 2541 Broadway Bluff Drive, 573-815-7210
Silver: Addison’s, 709 Cherry St., 573-256-1995
Bronze: Tropical Liqueurs, 515 E. Broadway, 573-442-8098; 3805 S. Providence Road, 573-256-7141

Best Place For Girls’ Night Out

Let your hair down, kick off your high heels and let loose, ladies, because The Penguin Dueling Piano Bar has something special in store for you. With nightly piano players on duty to tap the keys to your every request, you can sing along to everything from the old classics of Journey to the current hits of Lady GaGa or Taylor Swift. You name it, they’ll play it with the fervor to get you and your friends in the singing spirit. 1025 E. Broadway, 573-449-8005
Silver: Room 38 Restaurant & Lounge, 38 N. Eighth St., 573-449-3838
Bronze: Tropical Liqueurs, 515 E. Broadway, 573-442-8098; 3805 S. Providence Road, 573-256-7141

Best Place To Buy Flowers

Magic awaits in My Secret Garden. Step inside this local shop to find flowers from around the globe, including roses from Colombia, orchids from Thailand and daisies from Israel. The selection always includes between 60 and 80 varieties of flowers, and all arrangements are custom made with input from the person ordering. No evil spell of silent treatment can withstand the power of flowers from this charming place. 16 N. Ninth St., 573-443-1546
Silver award: Hy-Vee, 3100 W. Broadway, 573-447-0133; 405 E. Nifong Blvd., 573-442-8595
Bronze: Kent’s Floral Gallery & Gifts, 919 E. Broadway, 573-443-0232

Best Place To Buy Gifts

It’s always a thrill for gift recipients to see a Poppy box appear. The signature, handmade flower on the box lets guests know a beautiful, handcrafted gift awaits inside. Will it be a piece of distinctive, artisan jewelry? Will it be a fun work of metallic art? Will it be a quirky stuffed animal for a child to love? The possibilities are delightful. 920 E. Broadway, 573-442-3223
Silver: Bluestem, 13 S. Ninth St., 573-445-2000
Bronze: The Butterfly Tattoo, 36 N. Ninth St., 573-443-6688

Best Place To Buy Hardware/Home-Improvement Items

Do-it-yourself home-improvement projects are intimidating enough. Who needs to search through aisle after endless aisle to find just the right bolt? Not customers at Westlake Ace Hardware! The store is small enough to get in and get out without getting lost, and there’s no bouncing between the staff of different departments. Whether customers need something from lawn and garden, general hardware, plumbing, electric, tools or housewares, the nearest employee can help them find it and get back to work. 1910 W. Worley St., 573-445-4012; 1900 Business Loop 70 E., 573-449-7277
Silver: Lowe’s, 201 Conley Road N., 573-499-6767
Bronze: Menards, 3340 Vandiver Drive, 573-474-1502

Best Place To Buy Home Furnishings/Accessories

The fantastic thing about Pier 1 is that it has everything for dressing up a home: furniture, dinnerware, accent pieces, wall décor, floral arrangements, rugs, window treatments — even home fragrance to make the home smell as nice as it looks. Shoppers seeking feedback and advice find a sales staff eager to help them put it all together inside the store. This is one of those stores that make spending — either on one’s own home or on gifts for others — fabulous fun.
1901 Bernadette Drive, 573- (573) 446-5075446-5075
Silver: Lifestyles Furniture, 63 E. Broadway, 573-874-1550
Bronze: Ashley Furniture, 5710 Bull Run Road, 573-777-1234

Best Place To Buy Wine And Spirits

By tapping Hy-Vee as the best place to buy wine and spirits, Columbians show an appreciation for options when it comes to alcohol. Hy-Vee offers more than 1,300 varieties of wine, 1,100 choices of liquor and 600 different beers. The selection might be overwhelming, if it weren’t for the knowledgeable Hy-Vee employees. They take classes so they can advise customers on the perfect bottle for their plans. 3100 W. Broadway, 573-447-0133; 405 E. Nifong Blvd., 573-442-8595
Silver: Top Ten Wines, 111 S. Ninth St., Suite 160, 573-442-2207
Bronze: Joe’s Wine & Spirits, 2001 Corona Road, Suite 201, 573-447-5637

Best Dry-Cleaning Service

Tiger Cleaners has earned its stripes removing spots. At any of the six locations in Columbia, customers get a competitive price, convenient service and a cleaning job that saves the clothes of even the clumsiest clients. 126 S. Eighth St., 573-442-6107; 3302 Broadway Business Park Court, 573-445-5657; 1608 Chapel Hill Road, 573-234-2528; 3905 Peachtree Drive, 573-442-6613; 3100 W. Broadway, 573-447-0133 (Hy-Vee drop-off); 405 E. Nifong Blvd., 573-442-8595 (Hy-Vee drop-off)
Silver: Robinson’s Cleaners, 1204 Business Loop 70 E., 573-875-2568; 21 Conley Road, Suite O, 573-442-8621; 3601 S. Buttonwood Drive, 573-442-8526; 2901 W. Broadway, 573-445-6712
Bronze: Concord Custom Cleaners, 2101 W. Broadway, Suite U, 573-445-1487; 204 E. Nifong Blvd., 573-442-3138; 2716 Paris Road, 573-474-8633

Best Place To Work Out

Wilson’s Fitness is strong in choices, offering strength and cardio training, soccer, indoor and outdoor swimming, and more than 300 group fitness classes, from body combat to yoga. Over the last few years, Wilson’s has spent about $3 million on state-of-the-art equipment, including cardio machines with their own iPod docking stations and TVs, and just last December, Wilson’s opened its sixth Columbia location in The District. That’s showing some muscle power! 2902 Forum Blvd., 573-446-3232; 111 Orr St., 573-777-6700; 203 E. Leslie Lane, 573-443-4242; 2900 Forum Blvd., 573-449-2606 (Females in Training & Missouri Athletic Center); 4600 Forum Blvd., 573-499-1488 (Beach Club)
Silver: MU Student Rec Complex, MizzouRec Services & Facilities, University of Missouri campus, 573-882-0369
Bronze: The ARC, 1701 W. Ash St., 573-874-7700
Building With The Best Architecture/Design

Who could imagine the skyline of Columbia without the dome of Jesse Hall? Photographers and other artists have captured this 1893 University of Missouri landmark in just about every conceivable circumstance: There are images of Jesse at night, Jesse in all four seasons, Jesse with clouds, Jesse in the sunshine, Jesse and The Columns, even Jesse in the snow behind a real Bengal tiger — and the mediums Jesse’s form has graced are just as endless, ranging from molded chocolate to ties. To Columbians, Jesse Hall is always beautiful because it looks like home.
Silver: Memorial Union, University of Missouri campus
Bronze: Columbia Public Library, 100 W. Broadway, 573-443-3161

Best Family-Friendly Attraction

When it comes to the best setting for family fun, nothing can compete with the great outdoors. At Stephens Lake Park, families can walk, bike, swim, fish, splash in a sprayground, sled, ice skate, swing, slide, have a picnic — or just play in the sun. There’s fun for every season, and spring is calling now! 2001 E. Broadway
Silver: University of Missouri sporting events
Bronze: Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, 5901 S. Highway 163, 573-449-7402
Best Golf Course

Columbians say, “A challenge? Bring it on!” with their choice of Eagle Knoll Golf Club as the best local golf course. This is a course known for humbling golfers who have begun to think of themselves as masters, but the test of skill the course provides attracts those who are not faint of heart. It also makes Eagle Knoll a great course for tournaments. Add to the challenge an isolated, scenic setting that creates a feeling of getting away from it all, and it’s no wonder Eagle Knoll soars to top honors. 5757 E. Eagle Knoll Drive, Hartsburg, 573-761-4653 or 800-909-0564

Silver: The Club at Old Hawthorne, 6221 E. Broadway, 573-442-5280
Bronze: Columbia Country Club, 2210 N. Country Club Drive, 573-449-4115

Best Live Music Venue

Here in Columbia, music matters, so it’s a real matter of pride for The Blue Note to be voted the best place in town for live music … again. For 30 years, The Blue Note has attracted music lovers with acts that are consistently some of the best on the road. Recent improvements to the building are appreciated, but it’s the music that has Columbians singing this venue’s praises. 17 N. Ninth St., 573-874-1944

Silver: Jesse Auditorium, 409 Jesse Hall, 573-882-3781
Bronze: Mojo’s, 1013 Park Ave., 573-875-0588
Best Local Festival

Since the Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival started three years ago, it has consistently been Columbians’ top choice for best local festival, and new admission charges did not dampen its appeal. Such acts as Booker T. and the John Cowan Band, mouthwatering barbecue fare and a joyful ambience come together to create an atmosphere that celebrates diversity with togetherness, and that’s something Columbians love to root on.
Silver: True/False Film Festival
Bronze: Art in the Park

Best Place To Take A Tourist

With Missouri wines, Missouri beef and Missouri produce on the menu — and the Missouri River in view for diners — Les Bourgeois Vineyards offers out-of-towners a truly unique and local experience. That experience can include sipping wine in an A-frame overlooking the Missouri River, enjoying local cuisine in a family-oriented restaurant, tasting wines and browsing in an attractive gift shop, and taking in a variety of special events and festivals. 12847 W. Highway BB, Rocheport, 573-698-2133
Silver: The District, downtown Columbia
Bronze: The University of Missouri campus
Best Public Artwork

A horse is a horse unless, of course, it’s grazing outside Landmark Bank on Stadium Boulevard. Then it’s a beloved piece of artistic inspiration. The herd of eight horses standing in the expanse of green space adjacent to the bank is the creation of artist Doug Owen, who fashioned the horses out of found objects. Columbians have fallen in love with the sculptures and made them their own metallic pets. 202 N. Stadium Blvd. 573-499-7338
Silver: Sculptural mosaic benches, Broadway in The District
Bronze: Painted utility boxes, The District.

Best Auto Mechanic

It’s clear that Columbians appreciate great customer service. This year’s voters were so grateful for the top-notch service dispensed from Todd Lewis of Joe Machens Toyota-Scion, they named Lewis their favorite auto mechanic — despite the fact that Lewis is actually a service adviser, not a technician! Lewis’ kindness and professionalism while listening to customers’ car concerns, making recommendations and returning their vehicles is so noteworthy, voters eschewed the rulebook a little in favor of giving him the recognition he deserves. Joe Machens Toyota-Scion, 900 Bernadette Drive, 573-445-4450
Silver: Aaron Franklin, Joe Machens Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, 1911 W. Worley St., 573-445-4411
Bronze: Ross Mutrux, Mutrux Automotive, 2100 W. Rollins Road, 573-445-1070

Best Sports Bar

With more than 40 televisions, six of which are big screens, it’s nearly impossible to miss even a second of the big game at Trumans Bar & Grill. Combine this TV wonderland with generous portions and affordable food and drink prices, and it’s easy to see why Trumans takes the cake when it comes to choosing a sports bar. Half-price happy hours daily from 4 to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight don’t exactly hurt, either. 3304 Broadway Business Park Court, 573-445-1669
Silver: D. Rowe’s, 1005 Club Village Drive, 573-443-8004
Bronze: Shiloh Bar & Grill, 402 E. Broadway, 573-875-1800

Best Place For Guys’ Night Out

When it comes to guys’ night out, Trumans Bar & Grill is a comfortable, wallet-friendly place where the boys can hang out and just be themselves. The multitude of televisions lining the walls mean there’s never too much pressure to keep up a steady flow of conversation, and the half-price happy hours from 4 to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight daily makes any night a great guys’ night. 3304 Broadway Business Park Court, 573-445-1669
Silver: Quinton’s Deli & Bar, 124 S. Ninth St., 573-815-1047
Bronze: Club Vogue, 912 Business Loop 70 E., 573-442-7491

By Anita Neal Harrison
Photos Courtesy of Addison Teague

If Columbians embarking on the “Avatar” adventure find Pandora a strangely familiar world, there’s good reason. Some of the sounds used to bring the planet to life were recorded right here in Columbia.

“There’s a lot of Columbia woven in there,” says the film’s supervising sound editor Addison Teague. “You take familiar sounds, like the cicadas of Columbia, and combine those with more tonal sounds to get a world that’s familiar but different.”

Teague grew up in Columbia and recorded the sounds on visits back to his hometown. This successful Hollywood sound editor recalls his early years in CoMo and describes the path that took him to a career he loves, the perks of movie work and the challenges of life in Los Angeles.

What is your connection to Columbia? Do you ever make it back?

I come back to Columbia at least once a year. My parents, grandmother and some of my closest friends live in Columbia. Shakespeare’s Pizza is in Columbia, too!

My parents and older brother moved from Atlanta to Columbia before I was born, when my father took a job at Stephens College. I spent my entire childhood in Columbia, attending Shepard Boulevard, Jeff Junior and Hickman High School.

My parents always stressed the importance of finding something I love to do and going after it. I feel like I won the lottery being born in 1972, because I got to grow up with “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jaws,” and “Poltergeist,” just to name a few. My dad took me to see just about every movie that came out. When I was 10, he took me to see “E.T.” at the Campus Twin two-plex, which used to be downtown. That movie connected with my emotions in a way I’d never experienced. I couldn’t shake the power of that film and soon realized there was nothing I wanted more than to work on movies.

After graduating from Hickman in 1990, I moved away to attend college at the University of South Carolina. Each year away at school, I’d write a script and then spend the following summer back in Columbia making it into a movie. My best friends to date are the guys who were there making those projects with me. The movies were never good, but we had a blast making them. We did things you wouldn’t see happening now, like staging a holdup at a local liquor store during business hours without telling people the guns were props. We were granted access to the roof of Ellis Library to film a fight scene. A classmate’s dad even loaned us his DeLorean for a “Back to the Future” spoof. Those labor-of-love projects were some of the best summers of my life.

In 1994, after graduating college, I returned to Columbia for eight months. During this time, I filmed one last Columbia project, a documentary following the Hickman High School marching band. In January 1995, I left Columbia for the last time, moving to Los Angeles, where I began my graduate studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
What was your first introduction to sound work? What made you want to pursue it for a career?

I arrived at film school with the same goal as everyone else: to become a director. The USC faculty works hard to urge students to open their minds to other areas of filmmaking. With access to pretty much everything you need to make a movie; this was the perfect place to explore.

Many successful alumni come back to USC to speak and share their experiences. My first semester, sound designer Gary Rydstrom came down from Skywalker Sound. His presentation absolutely blew me away. It was one of those life-changing moments, and I knew that night I had seen a glimpse into something that really spoke to me.

Gary showed us how he created the sound effects for such movies as “Jurassic Park” and “Terminator 2.” His stories of collaborating with all these amazing filmmakers were fascinating to me. When he began to show clips of his work, I realized his behind-the-scenes contribution was actually a huge component of what made these movie moments work. Try watching the D-Day sequence from “Saving Private Ryan” with the sound muted, then turn on Gary’s sound and you are instantly on that beach.

There is a misconception, even within the industry, that sound people are all technicians. What Gary’s lecture taught me was how incorrect that stereotype is and how powerful creative sound choices in movies can be. One example he showed was a shot from “T2,” where the liquid metal terminator morphs through jail cell bars. It was a million-dollar visual-effects shot, and Gary came up with the perfect sound by inverting a can of dog food and recording the sucking sound as the goop slid out. Getting the appropriate sound had nothing to do with fancy equipment or computing power; it was just a clever human solution that cost almost nothing. That is movie magic to me.

Over a couple years, I completed every sound class the school offered. By the final class, we were observing on mixing stages at working studios, and I couldn’t get enough.

I spent the last year and a half at USC doing the sound work for many students’ films. Just like my work now, I found it exciting to move from genre to genre, each film having new challenges. By this time, I was a teaching assistant. After hours, TAs had access to the entire [sound] department for as long as we chose to stay. On weekends I would stay locked in all night. I had access to a Foley stage, editing rooms, recording equipment, sound effects libraries, an ADR stage and mixing rooms. Spending hundreds of hours locked away, I became obsessed and soon my interest in sound overtook any desire to do anything else [including direct].
I imagine you had some important breaks or key decisions that led to your current success.

Right out of school I worked at a sound company in LA called Creative Café. I was an intern and got my taste of paying dues. I wasn’t making enough money to live on, but I was being exposed to a great sound crew, many of whom welcomed me and taught me a lot. Finally, using more USC connections, the door cracked open at Skywalker Sound for me to take a job as an assistant editor. I moved to Marin County (just outside San Francisco) and began working at Skywalker Ranch.

My first job at Skywalker was as first assistant for Tim Holland, a long-established supervising sound editor. Tim took me under his wing and began to teach me the process of the craft, while I helped him with some of the new digital technology that was changing his tools. Tim gave me lots of first experiences, letting me record and cut sound effects on all the films we did together.

One of the last films we did was called “The Ring.” Some scenes I cut made an impression on picture editor Craig Wood and director Gore Verbinski. While we were completing “The Ring,” Gore was in preproduction for the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film. Craig seemed to take to my enthusiasm and had the idea that I should come back to LA and cut sound effects in the “Pirates” picture editing department. I did it and had the time of my life. Rolling Stone predicted the theme-park-based movie was the sure bomb of summer ’03, but I was coming to work and seeing Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character come to life before anyone else. That was great fun for me.

“Pirates” was also my first time working with Chris Boyes, another acclaimed Skywalker sound designer. Chris and I hit it off, “Pirates” was a success, and this is where everything began to snowball in a positive way for me. Months after completing “Pirates,” I was being flown to New Zealand to cut on “Lord of the Rings.” Over the next four years I found myself working on films from Steven Spielberg (“War of the Worlds,” “Munich”), David Fincher (“Zodiac”), Chris Columbus (“Rent”) and more Gore Verbinski movies (“The Weatherman” & “Pirates” 2 and 3).

In summer 2006, while we were finishing up “Pirates 2,” my supervisor Chris Boyes (who had won his first Oscar for “Titanic”) received a call that Jim Cameron was finally making another movie, and he wanted a sound editor to work with him in Malibu for the duration of the shoot. Chris, who was to head up the sound crew, put me forward for the Malibu job with Jim. My wife (whom I’d met at USC and had moved to San Francisco when we got married) loved the idea of returning to LA where many of our friends still live.

There was no shortage of war stories about how demanding and tough Jim can be. This made me a bit nervous, but I was ready for a new challenge, so we moved back to L.A. in March 2007 for me to begin work on “Avatar.”
How did the work on “Avatar” compare/contrast with your work on other films?

A long job for a sound editor is about four months. I was on “Avatar” for two years and eight months! It was a dream project for me. We usually have to edit as quickly as possible because the mix deadline is looming, so to start a job the same week they were beginning official filming was liberating. I felt like I was back in that USC sound department some days, experimenting and playing with ideas with a sense of freedom because our release date was so far away!

As one of the supervising sound editors on “Avatar,” my role was much more complex [than on previous films]. Jim shot and edited the movie in a parallel process, so the shoot and edit both went on for years. The first phase of the job was spent providing sounds for Jim for everything in the movie, so he could place the sounds himself as he cut the scenes for the first time. Some sounds never changed, while others we never got right until the final days of the mix in November 2009. As sound editors, we prepare 10 times more sound than will ever be heard in the final track. You never know what direction the director might want to take a scene sonically, so during the editing phase, we cover every possible sound. The last phase is called the final mix. This is where music, dialog and sound effects are merged, placed and balanced to create the finished sound you hear in theaters. We might edit the same 10 minutes of film for a month, then mix the same footage for the better part of a week, and then suddenly time runs out and you are done. That’s it; that is how it will sound forever because tomorrow labs are striking 10,000 prints! The time leading up to that deadline can become quite intense.
And you have a family. How many members are in your family?

My wife, Amy, and I have two children, Oliver and Mila. Amy was pregnant with our son when we moved back to LA to begin work on “Avatar.” We successfully timed our daughter to be born just after “Avatar” was released because I knew I would be taking time off. So we’re adjusting to having two right now. It is easier to make a movie!
How do you balance family life and work?

Amy is so supportive. Now that we have children, it is going to become much harder and it is something I worry about. The final mix of “Avatar” — well, I might as well have been in another country. We worked seven days a week for 3½ months to make the release date, and I was gone at least 15 hours a day. I only saw my son asleep, and he never saw me. The only silver lining to those intense work periods is you usually get enough money in the bank to take some time away from work and enjoy life for some time.
What do you most like about your work?

If you think about it, of the hundreds of names you see in the end credit crawl of a movie, only a handful of them can watch the movie and see or hear a creative choice they made. I love that I get to be one of those people.
“Avatar,” with an estimated budget of $280 million, is one of the most expensive movies ever made.

By Jonathan W. Crowell
Photos Courtesy of Howard Meehan

Before construction began in May 2008 on Columbia’s new city hall, the Standing Committee on Public Art — part of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs Commission — voted unanimously in favor of nationally renowned public artist Howard Meehan’s Keys to the City concept for the main artwork in front of the new building. The 19-foot steel-framed keyhole/portal sculpture will stand in the middle of the pedestrian plaza at the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway and will feature a wide range of truly Columbian elements, including old maps and photos, embedded in laminated glass panels and lighted from the interior. It’s all meant to reflect the history of the community.

The city’s Percent for Art program funded Meehan’s commission for the project, and the artist spent time researching and getting input from local historians, city leaders and community members to best capture an iconic concept that could truly become a city landmark. Completion of the sculpture is slated for late March, strategically timed to coincide with completion of the main construction on the building. The unveiling of the artwork is an event that both the community and the artist are eagerly anticipating.

Communicating The Character
Meehan’s career as a public artist grew out of his work as an industrial and corporate designer. Originally from New York, he attended Hofstra University. After a stint in the military, he received his degree with honors in industrial design from the Arts Center College of Design in California, and from there, Meehan traveled the country and around the globe working for three Fortune 500 companies as a designer. Two decades ago, he switched to public art design. His industrial design background has resulted in design work in the Smithsonian National Design Museum’s permanent collection, as well as seven design and engineering patents. He has completed more than 25 mixed-media public art works nationally.
“At one point I became interested in creating art from recyclable materials,” says Meehan from his home in Cochiti Lake, N.M., a small Keresan Pueblo reservation that is home to his Firefly Studio. “I realized that artwork has a longer ‘shelf life’ than the consumer and industrial work I’ve done in the past. Working in public art gives me a sense of doing something more meaningful and giving something back to the world.”
Meehan started small by sandblasting images into the glass of used cathode ray tubes and he began selling them in art galleries. As the demand for his artwork grew, he began further study of glass artwork, including study at the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, Wash. Soon, he was sandblasting images into larger glass panels, and then expanded his range of materials and began submitting his work for public art commissions. He currently creates two to three public art works per year around the country.
“I like to incorporate the feel of a specific place into the work that I currently create,” Meehan says. “Public art can be competitive, and it really takes not only talent but also perseverance and patience; it teaches you to have a thick skin.”
Meehan was one of 139 original applicants for the Columbia city hall’s main art feature; that number was culled to three before he was finally selected after interviewing with the committee. The Keys to the City concept is the second proposal Meehan created for the project.
“It’s been a long but enjoyable process, and I’m excited to see the final product completed,” he says. “I’ve enjoyed becoming acquainted with the city and its history, and discovering what the community is really about. I feel that my sculpture will really be pronounced and able to capture the essence of Columbia and give its citizens a sense of ownership. I want the public to feel ownership, and that this place belongs to them.”

Columbia’s Percent for Art
Established in 1997, the Percent for Art program allots about 1 percent of the cost of certain city construction and renovation projects for public art. To be considered, the project must cost more than $1 million and must be an above-ground, capital improvement for the city. The Columbia City Council has the final vote on whether or not a construction project will have a percentage set aside for artwork. Past Percent for Art projects include the Eighth and Cherry Parking Garage, the Oakland Family Aquatic Center and Fire Station No. 8.
According to Marie Nau Hunter, manager of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art is more than just an art program. It is also about the public good, public pride and the quality of life in Columbia, as well as its economic development.
“Once an artist is under contract, the design and approval process begins,” Hunter says. “We seek as much public input as we can find.”
Hunter describes Meehan as established, experienced and very personable, willing to work with the committee to fine-tune the sculpture’s final design.
“Howard really knows and understands the field of public art, and that it should be tied to the specific improvement project, but more importantly, to the community, and that it should become part of it,” she says. “Public domain art is different than artwork for the private domain or even for an exhibit; not any artist can create for the public.”
Hunter says the culmination of Meehan’s work for Columbia is highly anticipated. “I feel Howard will really appreciate knowing that his work will become a long-lasting part of our community.”
Visit Howard Meehan’s Firefly Studio online and view more of his art at www.hmeehan.com.

By Kathy Casteel
Photos By L.G. Patterson

Columbia hasn’t seen a campaign season like this for 15 years. The April 6 municipal ballot will be missing a familiar name on the list of mayoral candidates. Longtime Mayor Darwin Hindman announced last summer he would not seek a sixth term this year and six candidates eagerly tossed their hats in the ring to replace him.

This new generation of mayor wannabes faces a different set of challenges than Hindman did when he first ran in 1995. As Columbia moves into the second decade of the 21st century, worrisome issues are on voters’ minds: the uncertain effects of a growing population, fiscal pains in a changing economic base and new fears for personal safety.

The six men vying for your vote to lead this city come from varying backgrounds and offer diverse perspectives on the needs of the community. Each has a unique approach to the same issues that are important to Columbians.

But don’t take our word for it. We’ll just let them speak for themselves.

Paul Love
Web site: love4mayor.org
Facebook and Twitter: Love4Mayor
love4mayor@gmail.com
573-443-6093

Paul Love, 39, lives in Columbia’s Second Ward. A University of Missouri graduate, he works as a Carfax network administrator. He moved to Columbia 22 years ago from Paris, Mo.

Love spent 10 years in the National Guard, including a domestic flood deployment in 1993. He is a Columbia Jaycee and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He served as chairman of the Downtown Holiday Parade in 2008.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities as mayor of Columbia?

1. Crime reduction and community safety

2. Fiscal responsibility — both ours and with money we receive from other sources

3. Bring new high-tech industries to Columbia
Columbia’s population recently reached a milestone. What new challenges does the city face as a community of 100,000-plus residents?

As a community of more than 100,000, we have begun to outgrow our former economic drivers and face economic stagnation. How long can we keep selling each other sneakers and sandwiches?

As the city grows, Columbia faces increased crime not only as a linear progression of size and population, but as a sustained lifestyle. It’s not a single instance of some guys short on money who hold up a convenience store: It’s a series of home break-ins over the summer months; it’s the systemized break-in of more than 50 homes during the holiday season.
Columbians have become increasingly concerned with the incidence of crime in the city. What areas would you focus on to enable the police department to provide greater safety for all Columbians?

Up front is crime prevention. The city needs to fund the police department to bring it up to the mandated strength. We are currently 10 to 15 officers down at any given time. We must provide funding to move four or five detectives back to major crimes/narcotics and Internet crime investigation. Chief Ken Burton’s current geographical policing model is a good one, allowing officers to become familiar with areas, but we need to intensify the contact between the officers on the beat and the neighborhood watches. We should form neighborhood watches in areas where they don’t currently exist and expand participation in areas that already have a watch.

Once we have taken care of the immediate issue, we need to work on the root causes of the problem through youth outreach programs, providing activities and training for at-risk youth to instill in them a sense of pride and responsibility to the community. Long term, young people have to see more benefit to being part of society than to preying on it.
The City Council is often taken to task for what is perceived as an unfriendly business climate in Columbia. Does the schism between development interests and those who favor more controls on the city’s growth concern you? How would you balance the needs of economic development with environmental and quality-of-life concerns?

Columbia has been, for many years, a college town. Much like many such towns all across the country, it enjoyed a good lifestyle as the general education and wealth of the average individual citizen was high compared to local and national averages. Columbia has grown past the small college town and we need more industries to sustain our standard of living.

We have a chance to select the types of industries we want to attract to our town, industries that provide a good fit for our values and population. Technology jobs would provide the high pay/low impact that would be acceptable to the community in industries like software and Web development, data centers, e-commerce, Internet art sales … the sort of jobs that fit the generally higher base education level of our population. We need to make these choices and move decisively to secure business opportunities for Columbia.
There is a movement at the state level to replace Missouri’s current tax system with a single sales tax on all goods and services — the so-called Fair Tax. Do you see such a change as beneficial or detrimental for the city treasury?

I see this as primarily beneficial, depending, of course, on the exact final implementation. Currently, Columbia is a shopping center for the region and our primary revenue is sales tax driven. However, it is apparent — especially in areas covered by Tax Increment Financing and Transportation Development Districts — that we have a significantly higher tax rate than many of the smaller surrounding communities. If the sales tax structure were raised across the board, the difference in costs in those special districts would be proportionally less in comparison to the overall tax rate.
In the current economic climate, how do you balance funding priorities for basic city services against quality-of-life amenities?

You don’t. You can’t balance basic city services against quality of life simply because they are as described: basic services. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the art is — if the lights are off you won’t be able to see it. When a culture has reached the point where it chooses to neglect basic services, it is in decline. It is my intent that Columbia, as a growing, vibrant community, will not find itself in this situation.
Should the mayor and City Council members be paid positions? If yes, how much is a fair amount?

If they are to be paid, I defer to the desires of the voters. As a candidate, I was expecting to receive no pay and as a matter of impartiality, I feel it would be unfair of me to answer.

However, I offer the following thoughts: If the council and mayor are paid, they should be paid enough for it to be a working salary rather than a stipend. The purpose behind offering a salary would be to broaden the range of individuals who could serve in that capacity. Switching to a salary for the council and mayor probably should include a revision of duties to provide increased responsibility and thus would necessitate a change in the current charter.
What leadership qualities do you bring to the office of mayor? What can you offer the city?

I bring courage, candor, competence and commitment to the office of mayor. I won’t promise what I can’t deliver. I’ll work hard to spend your dollars as if they were my own, for the city’s monies are just that — a collective pooling of resources to make all of our lives better.

Everyone seems to agree that Columbia needs to attract high-tech industries. There is exactly one mayoral candidate working in the high-tech industry and he has more than 20 years experience working with technology. He has experience locally, nationally and internationally working in that industry. I am that candidate.

If elected I would work to leverage those years of experience to make Columbia attractive to those industries and to promote Columbia as a place to both start and relocate those industries.

Bob McDavid
Web site: mcdavidformayor.com
bob.mcdavid@gmail.com
573-474-4416

Retired physician Bob McDavid, 62, has lived in Columbia for 43 years. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, he practiced obstetrics and gynecology here for 27 years and is a consultant to the Missouri Board of Healing Arts.

He has served on the Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees for 12 years, and has been chairman for the past two years.

McDavid and his wife, Suzanne, live in the Third Ward. They have two grown children, Kim and Scott, and three grandchildren.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities as mayor of Columbia?

1. Columbians don’t feel safe. High-profile violent crime, especially random crime, affects us all. We must reverse the alarming increase in Columbia’s violent crime, documented by FBI crime statistics.

2. We all know that Columbia is a wonderful place to live. We’ve got to preserve Columbia’s culture, identity, and character. This starts with recognizing the sanctity of our neighborhoods. We must protect our neighborhoods at all cost from unwise development.

3. City revenues are declining. Unchecked, this decline will result in fewer city services. We can reverse this decline by encouraging knowledge-based economic activity. Columbia’s mayor must lead our development agencies and aggressively partner with the University of Missouri. We have talent and ideas in this town. Let’s leverage them into increased economic activity. Then we’ll have the city revenues to enhance our city’s rich services. Columbia’s mayor must be an energetic and convincing salesman for clean economic development.
Columbia’s population recently reached a milestone. What new challenges does the city face as a community of 100,000-plus residents?

The 100,000 population mark is a milestone without great significance. Columbia is growing because it’s a wonderful city. Austin, Texas, is an example of good growth. Austin has more than 800,000 citizens now and is adding more than 19,000 people per year.

Our mayor and the City Council will make those policies that enhance Columbia’s reputation as one of America’s “most livable cities.” Columbia is a great place to live, people will want to live here, and Columbia will grow.
Columbians have become increasingly concerned with the incidence of crime in the city. What areas would you focus on to enable the police department to provide greater safety for all Columbians?

Violent crime is an urgent problem in Columbia. The FBI Uniform Crime Report shows a 38 percent increase in violent crime in Columbia between 2008 and 2009 while violent crime in the United States declined by 5 percent. How will these crime numbers affect the biotech entrepreneur looking for a place to locate his family? How will these numbers affect parents throughout the state looking for a safe place for their children to attend college?

I have great faith in our new police chief, Ken Burton. He has reallocated police officers, changed work patterns and placed more officers on the street. He’s a tough cop by reputation. I predict this alarming increase in violent crime will quickly reverse.
The City Council is often taken to task for what is perceived as an unfriendly business climate in Columbia. Does the schism between development interests and those who favor more controls on the city’s growth concern you? How would you balance the needs of economic development with environmental and quality-of-life concerns?

Every community has “slash and burn” developers and every community has “no development of any kind” constituents. We must thread the needle between these two extremes.

Our Community Visioning initiative describes good development as an “open, inclusive, transparent, predictable and accountable planning process.” Our city’s experience with the Crosscreek Center development fails those criteria. Adjacent neighbors were angry; developers were unhappy. Columbia is left with an incomplete project that is an eyesore.
There is a movement at the state level to replace Missouri’s current tax system with a single sales tax on all goods and services — the so-called Fair Tax. Do you see such a change as beneficial or detrimental for the city treasury?

The Fair Tax debate is a neutral for Columbia, since we are in the middle of the state. In St. Louis and Kansas City, it can be argued that increased sales taxes will drive sales across state borders.

Will a single state sales tax cause efficient tax collection and stable state tax revenues? Given that the University of Missouri relies on state subsidies, stable state tax revenues would be a plus to the university. Columbia has no income tax, and will be otherwise unaffected by changes in state tax collection strategies.
In the current economic climate, how do you balance funding priorities for basic city services against quality-of-life amenities?

We all agree that public safety and basic infrastructure are core city services. How efficiently we manage the $375 million that passes through our city government will determine how much revenue we have to expand social services and grow Columbia’s amenities.
Should the mayor and City Council members be paid positions? If yes, how much is a fair amount?

The argument goes both ways. Paying council members may open up government to those who otherwise cannot afford the substantial time commitment.

On the other hand, it makes no sense to pay council members and then lay off police officers and firemen. Many citizens do not want professional politicians whose primary efforts focus on re-election and maintaining power.

Currently Columbia has a highly engaged and hard-working City Council. Committed citizens continue to seek local public office.
What leadership qualities do you bring to the office of mayor? What can you offer the city?

I offer a broader work experience than many other council members. Columbia’s health care industry represents 20 percent of Columbia’s economy and has not been represented at the City Council level in the recent past. I want to bring my health care background to the City Council.

My experience as chair of Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees dovetails with the leadership needs at the City Council. Boone Hospital employs more employees and has a larger budget than city government, if you exclude the electric utility purchases.

I am on the board of directors of BJC Healthcare, a position mandated by the hospital’s lease arrangement. I want to bring the efficiencies and discipline from these two superb organizations to Columbia city government.

Sal Nuccio
Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Sal-Nuccio/1625469553

Eastside Tavern owner Sal Nuccio has lived in Columbia for more than 13 years. The First Ward resident says he has a “doctorate in life” and has spent a dozen years in public service to the community, if “babysitting the kids of MU” counts.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities as mayor of Columbia?

1. Intelligent growth and the economy

2. Public safety

3. Pay attention to the city budget and reduce unnecessary spending on things seen as wasteful or unneeded
Columbia’s population recently reached a milestone. What new challenges does the city face as a community of 100,000-plus residents?

Now that the city has reached 100,000-plus population, it would be wise to anticipate a population snowball effect, meaning that within the next 10 years the population will grow even more and even faster. In light of this foreseeable situation, the city should take steps now to prepare itself by improving and expanding water treatment and supply, improving and expanding sewer treatment and disposal, improving and expanding the sanitation department, improving and expanding utilities and supply, and building or expanding public schools.
Columbians have become increasingly concerned with the incidence of crime in the city. What areas would you focus on to enable the police department to provide greater safety for all Columbians?

As mayor, I would work closely with the Police Department to explore all options for better policing, using old school and more modern tactics. I understand that law enforcement is constantly evolving because the tools and methods of criminals are forever evolving and changing — so must law enforcement methods evolve and change. However, there are some tried-and-true old-school techniques that have proven the test of time in bigger cities and I will push to have them applied here in Columbia. Those simple but effective tactics are beat cops in high-crime neighborhoods and stationary police in business district hot spots well known for violence, vandalism and just plain unruliness.
The City Council is often taken to task for what is perceived as an unfriendly business climate in Columbia. Does the schism between development interests and those who favor more controls on the city’s growth concern you? How would you balance the needs of economic development with environmental and quality-of-life concerns?

I’m pro-development, especially when it comes to building up the infrastructure, and I believe a lot of the concerns about the impact on the environment are not as bad as some would make them out to be because anti-development types aren’t looking at the situation logically and scientifically. Building up is more environmentally sound than expanding city limits even more, which requires the destruction of thousands of more acres of forest and the wildlife that inhabits them. Building up creates thousands of jobs in the professional tradesmen communities, and those tradesmen put a lot of that money back into Columbia, which fuels the economy even more.
There is a movement at the state level to replace Missouri’s current tax system with a single sales tax on all goods and services — the so-called Fair Tax. Do you see such a change as beneficial or detrimental for the city treasury?

Yes.
In the current economic climate, how do you balance funding priorities for basic city services against quality-of-life amenities?

I believe it’s fair to say one would have to see the numbers before they can say how they would balance that.
Should the mayor and City Council members be paid positions? If yes, how much is a fair amount?

Yes, they should get paid for all the hard work and time they put into the position and all the responsibilities they take on. I believe $15,000 a year would be fair compensation, paid monthly.
What leadership qualities do you bring to the office of mayor? What can you offer the city?

Well, I’m still young enough to relate to the youth of Columbia and that is important to the 35-and-under population who’d rather see an open-minded, youthful person as mayor, but I’m also old enough to relate to the more established, older citizens and their concerns, too. This middle ground — where I’m not an old man but I’m not just some dumb kid, either — puts me in a good position to be the leading man, or the face of Columbia.

My experience with running a business in Columbia shows management and social skills that go beyond some generic degree. My completion of a five-year apprenticeship with the industrial pipefitters union in northern New Jersey, which required 200 school hours a year and on-site training outside on the coldest or hottest of days, shows an understanding of hard work and a commitment to whatever I take on.

Sean O’Day
Facebook: Sean O’Day for Mayor of Columbia, MO
odayformayor@gmail.com

Sean O’Day is a 23-year-old student at Moberly Area Community College, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in physics. He works at Patricia’s Foods as a point-of-sale manager.

O’Day has lived in central Missouri for 18 years; he moved to Columbia from Hallsville six years ago. He is a resident of the Sixth Ward.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities as mayor of Columbia?

1. As Columbia continues to grow, it will be very important we strive to keep it an environmentally and fiscally conservative city.

2. The protection of civil liberties is always crucial. With an ever-expanding population, it is crucial to strike a balance between safety and freedom.

3. It is important to have transparency within government. I would like to see the City Council members better able to represent the citizens that elect them into office.
Columbia’s population recently reached a milestone. What new challenges does the city face as a community of 100,000-plus residents?

As the population continues to expand, growth must be accomplished wisely. Infrastructure is crucial for sustainable growth. Basic infrastructure — such as the sewer system — must be maintained regularly, even at considerable cost. We also must encourage increased use of public transportation. As energy becomes scarcer, we will have to establish viable alternatives to burning this vast store of carbon fuels we have inherited.

Infrastructure is not a new challenge, but a solid infrastructure is the backbone of smart growth.
Columbians have become increasingly concerned with the incidence of crime in the city. What areas would you focus on to enable the police department to provide greater safety for all Columbians?

I support Police Chief Ken Burton’s strategy for preserving the safe community we enjoy in this city. There is a difference between increased concern with the incidence of crime and increased incidence of crime. Statistics have repeatedly shown Columbia to have significantly lower crime rates than similarly sized cities in mid-Missouri, with half the crimes per capita of the similarly sized cities of Independence and Springfield, according the Missouri Highway Patrol’s Uniform Crime Report.

That said, we need to continue to focus enforcement efforts on prevention in high-crime areas by utilizing beat officers rather than focusing our resources on emergency responders or digital surveillance.
The City Council is often taken to task for what is perceived as an unfriendly business climate in Columbia. Does the schism between development interests and those who favor more controls on the city’s growth concern you? How would you balance the needs of economic development with environmental and quality-of-life concerns?

In fact, Columbia receives praise for being the top city in Missouri to start a business, fifth among cities of less than 250,000 and 14th overall in the nation, according to The District’s official Web site. Our city has gained this prosperous ranking while keeping growth under control. We ought to remain vigilant in developing our city in a way that will be fiscally and environmentally responsible.
There is a movement at the state level to replace Missouri’s current tax system with a single sales tax on all goods and services — the so-called Fair Tax. Do you see such a change as beneficial or detrimental for the city treasury?

A large percentage of our city’s revenue comes from sales tax, so the Fair Tax could be detrimental to the city treasury. Furthermore, Fair Tax may actually put a heavier burden upon those with little income, who spend a large amount of their money on goods and services.
In the current economic climate, how do you balance funding priorities for basic city services against quality-of-life amenities?

Quality-of-life amenities are part of what places Columbia on lists of the top 100 places to live by magazines like Forbes, Money, and Outside year after year. I think we would do best to look at quality-of-life amenities as basic city services.
Should the mayor and City Council members be paid positions? If yes, how much is a fair amount?

We elect officials so that they will pay attention to things that are important to us without us having to know every detail about them. To ensure elected officials are able to devote their time to such diverse topics as transportation, electricity, parks and business development, they should be provided with at least a small stipend.
What leadership qualities do you bring to the office of mayor? What can you offer the city?

A top-down, world-round view of the city

Sid Sullivan
Web site: www.SidSullivan.com
sullivanformayor@gmail.com

Sid Sullivan, 66, is a retired sales and marketing manager for Roche Diagnostics Corp., a division of Hoffmann-LaRoche. He has spent the past nine years in Columbia, and has served as vice president of the Downtown Optimists, chairman of the Boone Electric Community Trust and president of the Maple Bluff Homeowners Association.

Other civic experiences include a stint as an aide to Sen. Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.) and leadership roles in the American Probation and Parole Association, American Correctional Association and the Illinois Academy of Criminology. He is the former editor of Perspectives: The Journal of the American Probation and Parole Association.

Sullivan holds a master’s degree in sociology and an MBA in finance; he also has done graduate-level studies of the European Union economy at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.

He and his wife, Joan, live in the Fifth Ward. They have two adult children.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities as mayor of Columbia?

1. Properly representing all the citizens of Columbia

2. Targeted economic development with a strategic marketing plan that fits Columbia

3. Governance that restores the proper, charter-defined roles of city manager and council
Columbia’s population recently reached a milestone. What new challenges does the city face as a community of 100,000-plus residents?

Providing adequate city services, including fire, police and road maintenance to the entire city on diminishing revenues is the current challenge. Preparing for how and where future residents will live, work and recreate is the new challenge. A modest city growth rate of 2 percent increases our population by 40,000 over the next 20 years.
Columbians have become increasingly concerned with the incidence of crime in the city. What areas would you focus on to enable the police department to provide greater safety for all Columbians?

The new police chief has done an excellent job of decreasing incidents of crime in our central commercial district by using crime data to redeploy our police force. However, his data now show at least 85 percent of crime in our neighborhoods. Council needs to have the policy discussion on how we will address and pay for neighborhood crime prevention.
The City Council is often taken to task for what is perceived as an unfriendly business climate in Columbia. Does the schism between development interests and those who favor more controls on the city’s growth concern you? How would you balance the needs of economic development with environmental and quality-of-life concerns?

Every city engages in mercantilism; we market ourselves to attract more jobs and money away from other cities and into our own community. It is the council’s responsibility, with the help of the community, to identify those industries that best fit our community, to develop with the aid of staff the strategies to entice, retain or increase industry, and to create the policy guidance for the city manager and the business community to follow.
There is a movement at the state level to replace Missouri’s current tax system with a single sales tax on all goods and services — the so-called Fair Tax. Do you see such a change as beneficial or detrimental for the city treasury?

This question is too hypothetical to answer. Our local legislator tells me the key to the “Fair Tax” is there be no exemptions. My experience with the state Legislature is that the bill will be decorated with so many amendments it will look like a Christmas tree when it is sent to the governor.
In the current economic climate, how do you balance funding priorities for basic city services against quality-of-life amenities?

The revenue streams for parks, schools and bike paths are earmarked. They can’t be transferred. The investments in conferences, festivals and special events attract outside monies and are part of our economic development. The state-driven stormwater ordinance protects our streams, stream banks, water treatment and basements. The whole community benefits from our contribution to youth programs, the arts and the handicapped.

Rather than pitting basic services against quality of life, we should be promoting our quality of life as a way to attract people and jobs with higher incomes.
Should the mayor and City Council members be paid positions? If yes, how much is a fair amount?

Of, course. Our local constitution, the city charter, tasks the City Council with policy development. This is different from an advisory board to the city manager. If the council accepts this responsibility, we should offer a salary. We are the only city our size in Missouri that does not pay council members. The average salary of a mayor in a city of our size in the United States is $42,000.
What leadership qualities do you bring to the office of mayor? What can you offer the city?

I am retired from 14 years in sales and marketing from a Fortune 100 equivalent company, Hoffmann-LaRoche, and worked 15 years in the administration of a criminal justice agency in the Circuit Court of Cook County. I share an interest with urban planning members of my family for urban growth and development. I have the knowledge and leadership skills in business, government and development to facilitate and guide Columba through a difficult, near-term future.

Jerry Wade
Web site: jerrywade.org
wadeformayor@mchsi.com

Jerry Wade, 69, is a native Iowan who moved to Columbia in 1963. With the exception of seven years on the faculty of the University of Illinois-Springfield in the 1970s, he has spent nearly all of his professional life in Columbia. He holds two degrees from the University of Missouri — a master’s degree in community development and a Ph.D. in rural sociology — and is a retired community and economic development specialist with University of Missouri Extension.

Wade has represented the Fourth Ward on the Columbia City Council since 2007. He served on the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission from 1995 to 2007 and was chairman from 2001 to 2007.

He and his wife, Edge, live in the Fourth Ward. Their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren also live in Columbia.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities as mayor of Columbia?

1. Jobs: We must bring highly skilled jobs to our city –– technical, service, and professional –– while providing training and re-training for those currently without solid career opportunities.

2. Public Safety: We must involve families, schools, churches, neighborhoods and other community groups, in addition to our police force, in improving public safety.

3. Development Policy: We must create balanced planning and development policies to upgrade the city’s infrastructure while managing its growth.
Columbia’s population recently reached a milestone. What new challenges does the city face as a community of 100,000-plus residents?

Passing 100,000 puts Columbia on the radar screen for national businesses seeking new markets. We certainly want new investment in our community, but we also need to preserve the character of our community that makes it a special place in which to live. We must at all times balance the need for growth with preserving the essence of our city — our quality of life, our love of the outdoors and our caring for each other.
Columbians have become increasingly concerned with the incidence of crime in the city. What areas would you focus on to enable the police department to provide greater safety for all Columbians?

Public safety is too often considered the sole responsibility of the police force. Our families, neighborhoods, institutions and organizations must share the responsibility to build character, to provide the role models, and to develop the behavioral expectations and alternative opportunities for our youth.
The City Council is often taken to task for what is perceived as an unfriendly business climate in Columbia. Does the schism between development interests and those who favor more controls on the city’s growth concern you? How would you balance the needs of economic development with environmental and quality-of-life concerns?

As mayor, I would focus on bridging the factions that divide us. The divisiveness within our community is counterproductive to making Columbia the kind of place we all want to call home. We must work cooperatively to craft policies that guide our decision-making and reach decisions that result from the fair application of those policies.

Partnership opportunities with our universities and other governmental entities are key — for example, with the University of Missouri in the Enterprise Investment Program, with the city of Ashland in the expansion of business opportunities at the airport, and with Boone County in encouraging high-tech industry. At the same time, we must continue to enhance our community’s quality of life and attractiveness to all.
There is a movement at the state level to replace Missouri’s current tax system with a single sales tax on all goods and services — the so-called Fair Tax. Do you see such a change as beneficial or detrimental for the city treasury?

I fear that replacing the income tax with a sales tax would drive too many purchases from our stores to the Internet. While Columbia would not face the out-of-state purchasing pressures of St. Louis and Kansas City, it would suffer if total state revenue declined as a result of cross-border purchases. We need much more study of this tax scheme, its details and its implications before giving it serious consideration.
In the current economic climate, how do you balance funding priorities for basic city services against quality-of-life amenities?

Viewing quality of life and funding of city services in opposition to each other is wrong. We want to live in a community that is attractive both to those of us who reside here and to those who want to bring new opportunities to Columbia. In a difficult economic climate, we must carefully balance and justify what we undertake on all fronts.
Should the mayor and City Council members be paid positions? If yes, how much is a fair amount?

I favor a modest stipend for council members and the mayor. These positions are at least half-time jobs. Some modest compensation might enlarge the pool of those willing and able to serve.
What leadership qualities do you bring to the office of mayor? What can you offer the city?

I have been “in training” for the role of mayor for my entire professional life, helping citizens organize and take action so that their communities could survive and thrive. Having retired from working with other communities, and having served Columbia both on the Planning and Zoning Commission and now as a council member, the training is over. As mayor, I believe I could help build understanding and consensus as Columbia faces the challenges of a new decade.

By Jonathan W. Crowell

“Over the past few years, True/False has come to occupy an unshakable place in the hearts of many of us who make documentaries. Few festivals are guided by truer motives and none are organized by a team of people more deeply committed to documentaries.” — Eugene Jarecki, director of “Why We Fight”

Six years ago, Columbia was introduced to what would become a yearly film tradition and for the growing legion of fans of the True/False Film Festival, the annual documentary blitz is a habit they never want to break.

Festival co-founders and organizers David Wilson and Paul Sturtz (who also helped found downtown’s Ragtag Cinema) originally created True/False out of their own personal interests in nonfiction films, and the film showcase has been growing exponentially ever since. The festival itself has come to be known as a venue for lively documentary films that break tradition with their creative and intellectual storytelling, attracting film contributors and directors from around the world.

True/False’s growth and quality helped this year’s festival, Feb. 25–28, earn a $20,000 grant from the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Conservative projected attendance is up by 2,000 from last year’s, which topped 23,000 (compared to the first year’s attendance of 4,200).

Virtually all the features and favorite events that have made the festival so popular to begin with will be back again, along with some new surprises. All this combined with the community’s enthusiastic and undying support should make True/False 2010 arguably the best film festival yet. It’s all very fitting for an unpretentious Midwestern city that has earned recognition as Missouri’s most “creative community” by the Missouri Arts Council.

Wait For It …

Busy with festival preparations, co-founder Wilson exudes enthusiasm for the upcoming event.

“We’re very excited for this year’s festival,” Wilson says. “There’s always a momentum created through the creation process and production of each year’s festival that carries us through. It’s always heartening to see our attendance and support grow from year to year.

As in the past, this year’s T/F will feature films out of Sundance, Cannes, Toronto and other film festivals, as well as films submitted by local filmmakers. Most contributors are expected to attend and will answer questions, talk about their work and interact with the audiences. Some True/False 2010 submissions will appear here in Columbia before their official premieres elsewhere.

Things are always on the march in terms of accessibility and tradition Wilson says, and this year’s T/F is no exception.

“We are working to make this year’s festival more personalized and interactive,” he says, referring to the associated events and contributor involvement.

More international film submissions can be expected this year compared with past True/False Film Festivals, and audiences can expect to return to familiar venues, along with the addition of Firestone Baars Chapel at Stephens College as a screening venue.

“The festival has always come together because of the great support of our community, and it’s always been a positive reflection of what we like to call ‘the heart of Columbia,‘ ” Wilson says.

Festival co-founder Sturtz shares a similar exuberance for this year’s event.

“It gets smoother and smoother each year,” Sturtz says. “We’ve already started selling passes. We expect to sell out this year, and we’re very excited about the festival’s return.”

Despite expectations, Sturtz wants to be clear that those who want to attend will still be able to.

“Tickets and opportunities to attend screenings will still be accessible to the public through the main box office,” he says.

The Festival Is In The Details

Festival Production Manager Justin Arft is working on his own to-do list, with everything from equipment implementation to venue design. One new feature of this year’s festival is high-definition projection for all screenings, a common feature in most other major film festivals, and one that this year’s True/False directors are particularly pleased to offer.

“Things are at a fever pitch, preparationwise, but things appear as normal as always this close to the festival,” Arft says. “We’re bringing back most of the same events and venues as we’ve had in the past, but with new parameters.”

Conceptualization and other preparation work for the each year’s festival typically begins early the previous autumn; efforts shift into high gear after the first of the year, Arft says.

“We always run into new challenges every time around, but it’s a good learning curve for us,” Arft says. “We’ve formed great relationships with various community members along the way who always have an interest in what we’re doing and are eager to offer whatever they can to make it all happen. We’ve found great matches with people in this community.”

And certainly none of it would happen without that community support.

“People involved with the festival really ‘get it,‘ and that’s what’s contributed to our success in the past,” Arft says. “From festival volunteers to those who buy passes to others with venues like Stephens College and Café Berlin this year who are more than willing to work with us, we’ve always been fortunate to have Columbia backing us up.”

The effort that goes into each year’s preparations never goes unnoticed by directors and other festival attendees each year, either.

“Directors who come from other festivals are always blown away by the level of community support that goes into True/False each year,” Arft says. “They often come to Columbia thinking ‘What have I gotten myself into?‘ and end up leaving extremely impressed. I think that says quite a bit about our community — it’s great to get to harness and work with Columbia’s energy each year.”

Listen to the Music

No film would be complete without its own soundtrack and the T/F Film Festival follows suit by featuring live music at each screening, as well as nightly music showcases throughout the course of the weekend. Performing musicians come from around the United States and also from other countries.

According to True/False Music Director Kim Sherman, a five-year veteran of the T/F music show, the organization of live performances this year has been easier than ever.

“It’s been really great this year, and it gets easier each time around,” Sherman says. “We always look for a high caliber of musicians, and it’s become a truly established music program. True/False is not really a music festival, but it’s come to feel like one.” 


While performances are still being finalized, watch for Chicago-based act Spires That In The Sunset Rise (experimental), and the Portland, Maine-based trio The Toughcats (bluegrass/rock), a group that has become a festival favorite, Sherman says.


“Usually the music we feature has more of a folk/Americana flavor, but we’ve expanded the horizons a bit this year,” Sherman says. “There’s going to be a little bit of everything.”

Film Fest Faves

Some festival highlights to watch for …

SWAMI Program: SWAMI launched in 2007 to help new nonfiction filmmakers navigate the unpredictable terrain of the documentary film world. Through meetings with seasoned and knowledgeable industry pros, first-time filmmakers get unvarnished advice on everything that happens after they finish their final cut.

Gimme Truth! Fact or fiction? It will be up to the Gimme Truth! audiences to decide whether Missouri filmmakers have created a profile of a Missourian that is 100 percent true or 100 percent false.

True Life Fund: The True Life Fund, started in 2007, offers tangible assistance to the real-life subjects of a featured film. The fund is an acknowledgment that documentary filmmakers and festivals thrive because of the stories given to us by people who are often of little means.

The True/False Film Festival True Vision Award: Only one award goes annually to the filmmaker or filmmakers whose work shows a dedication to the creative advancement of the art of nonfiction filmmaking. Each winner receives an original bronze sculpture, created by nationally known Columbia artist Larry Young.

Breakfast Screening (new this year!): Special breakfast screening at the Odd Fellows Temple, Ninth and Walnut streets. It’s an opportunity for Columbians to hang out in a building they’ve probably never been in.

Walking Tour (new this year!): Downtown walking tour with actor, speaker and tour guide Timothy “Speed” Levitch

Soundtracks

All screenings will feature coordinated live music, according to festival organizers. Don’t miss these specific festival-related music events. Set-up and take-down needs to be quick for the prescreening live performances, but these showcases allow a bit more time and care, and performers can play complete sets, says festival Music Director Kim Sherman.

Performances and artists are still in the scheduling process, but the festival’s Web site contains up-to-date information.

Thursday evening, Feb. 25

Café Berlin

220 N. 10th St.

A music showcase for many of the acts that will be performing live music before festival film screenings


Eastside Tavern

1016 E. Broadway

A music showcase featuring experimental/multimedia acts

Friday evening, Feb. 26


Café Berlin

220 N. 10th St.

More performances by festival pre-screening bands

“Action”

(location TBA)

A private party for festival pass holders, featuring a group of DJs from Washington, D.C., known as Hot Commodities

Saturday evening, Feb. 27

Mojo’s

1013 Park Ave.

Music showcase — Columbia favorite Mahjong is confirmed for a performance with its unique blend of house/electronica (full list of acts is still being finalized)

Sunday evening, Feb. 28

Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts
203 S. Ninth St.

After the festival’s final film screening, musicians performing throughout the weekend will perform live in the lobby of the Missouri Theatre.

Sneak Peeks

A couple of films to watch for this year:

“The Oath”

(Director/Producer Laura Poitras)

Premiering first at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “The Oath” is the second installment in an ongoing trilogy that includes U.S. director Poitras’ previous film, “My Country, My Country” (2006), which was nominated for an Academy Award, Independent Spirit Award and Emmy Award. The film deals with the story of two brothers-in-law, Abu Jandal and Salim Hamdan, whose associations with al-Qaida in the 1990s sent them on different courses. Jandal and Hamdan came to serve as Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver, respectively. Hamdan’s trial was the first of the Guantanamo Bay prison cases to be tried, and the film gives perspective on modern global politics from the two non-Westerners’ points of view.

“Last Train Home”_

(Director Lixin Fan)

“Last Train Home” by Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan is also showing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It won the Best Feature award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, the Best Documentary award at the Whistler Film Festival, and the Best Canadian Film award at the Rencontres International de Documentaire. The film is about the trying journey undertaken each year by migrant Chinese workers returning to their family homes in remote and impoverished rural villages. It is a very personal portrait that draws viewers into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration.

For information on tickets, festival schedules, volunteering, events and updates, visit www.truefalse.org.

Elder Joseph Wilson remembers the telephone call as though it were yesterday.

Just as he’s done every Saturday morning for the past quarter of a century, Wilson was playing gospel music for listeners tuned in to his live show on 89.5 KOPN, “Serenade of Love.” Though he was accustomed to receiving phone calls from appreciative listeners during his 6 to 9 a.m. spot, this particular call was different.

“Hey, man, I’m calling from over here in Cambodia!” Wilson heard when he picked up the phone.

The radio announcer was stunned by his faraway caller. “Are you serious? You’re calling from Cambodia? What time is it there?”

It was nighttime. “Your music is good to go to bed to,” the caller said. He’d been streaming the show live over the Internet, and the sounds of American gospel music – the strong vocal melodies, the soothing rhythms, the soul-quenching lyrics – had pleased him so much that he was inspired to call.

Wilson’s reaction today is much like his reaction years ago: “Amazing,” he says, shaking his head. “It was exciting to know that the program I’ve done for all these years reached someone. That day, I was almost lost for words … live. I am so humbled by this, that people would take the time to listen at the end of their day.”

Wilson, otherwise known as the Digital Butler, doesn’t have an on-air partner with whom to banter. Though he makes a bit of small talk, his three-hour spot is not a talk show, and most of his time is spent choosing music for his listeners to enjoy. Yet Wilson’s show is very much a dialogue, one between him, the gospel artists he plays and anyone tuned in to “Serenade of Love.”

One of the announcer’s catchphrases is, “The message is in the music.” It’s true, he says. “Music is the universal language. It’s not only the tempo of the music, it’s the lyrics.” After listening to songs he’s played, “I’ve had people say to me, ‘I changed my mind about something.‘ You can’t buy that kind of stuff. That’s what I get out of it.”

The message people seem to need most? “A lot of people need to know that they can make it, because everybody’s going through stuff,” Wilson says. So the Saturday after New Year’s, Wilson told his listeners, “No matter what you’re going through, in 2010, you win. You’re a winner.” Then he played Calvin B. Rhone’s classic gospel song “I’m A Winner.”

Wilson’s love affair with gospel music began in Atlanta where he was born and raised in a churchgoing family of seven. As far back as Wilson can remember, his father sang in the church’s gospel choir.

During the summers, young Wilson would visit his grandparents in southern Georgia. Before the rest of the house awoke for church on Sunday mornings, his grandfather always switched on the radio to a gospel station.

“It would fill the house,” Wilson says. “That good music early in the morning on Sunday was powerful. As a young kid, you’re such a sponge. Just spending time with my granddad, those memories are cherished now. That’s where I started the love.”

That fondness only grew, staying with Wilson as an adult living in Columbia. Then 26 years ago, he met Dorothy Sims, his “Serenade of Love” predecessor, at church. He discovered her involvement with KOPN and had a revelation. “I’d like to do that,” he told her. And so he began reading basic announcements at the station, moving up until he inherited the show.

“I was a little nervous,” he says about his first time on the radio. “I was so excited about what I was about to do, seeing how it was all put together behind the scenes. It was a little overwhelming, but a challenge.” Because “Serenade of Love” is live, “If you sneeze, everybody can hear it. I think that’s part of the longevity of the show – that live component. That was probably what was so intriguing to me.”

Much has happened since Wilson’s first day as a volunteer at KOPN. He has developed into a savvy radio personality, garnering nominations for distinctions such as the Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the National Radio Angel contest. Merdean Gales of the Bobby Jones Gospel television and radio show dubbed him Columbia’s Platinum Announcer. And Wilson’s personal music collection has grown to a staggering library of more than 3,000 CDs including jazz, blues, pop, rock ‘n’ roll, classical and other genres.

“I have to listen to different music to see where the nation is going, musically,” he says. “But my mainstay in music is gospel.”

Much to Wilson’s delight, gospel is now being embraced on a larger scale, because many different genres, including hip-hop, are incorporating some aspects of gospel music and vice versa. He says the genre has transitioned from traditional gospel music to more contemporary throughout the year – “from a hymnal to a more modern feel.”

Yet, Wilson says, some of the values of traditional gospel music are coming full circle, gradually creeping back into the mainstream. These values are the kind that people learn from their parents. “I try to think that my show is getting people to come back and re-embrace their values,” he says. “They don’t shed it out, it just gets buried.”

In that, Wilson has experienced success. Pastors and community members sometimes call him during “Serenade of Love” to thank him for setting the tone for their weekend, or to tell him that he put on a great show that helped them personally. One kind woman from Alaska even remembered Wilson’s upcoming birthday and called to wish him well on his special day.

“I really, really, really appreciate having listeners from places we know not of,” Wilson says. They have given the radio announcer a sense that whether people are down the road from one another or living in far-flung places, they can still be connected in one moment.

This global connectedness brings a new meaning to the word “community” and Wilson knows this better than anyone: “The community is listening.”

After 25 years, Wilson still hasn’t grown tired of that feeling.

The Digital Butler’s Mix

Joseph Wilson shares some of his favorites.

Albums

Fred Hammond, “Somethin’ ‘Bout Love”

The Canton Spirituals, “Greatest Hits”

Calvin Bernard Rhone, “I’m A Winner”

Rance Allen, “Closest Friend”

Songs

Israel Houghton, “If Not For Your Grace” from the album “A Deeper Level”

Crissy Collins, “Hold On” from the album “Faith In Progress” Crystal Aikin, “Love Him” from the album “Crystal Aikin”
Clint Brown, “I’m Forgiven” from the album “Fall Like Rain”

Tune in to “Serenade of Love” from 6 to 9 a.m. every Saturday on 89.5 KOPN-FM.

Until last year, I had not spent much time in Paquin Tower, that federally subsidized, 15-story building downtown whose 195 apartments form an independent living community for the elderly and the disabled. But then I started my collection, a set of stories from residents, employees and neighbors, an assortment of tales that opened my eyes to this neighborhood of Columbians. Each story I heard opened my eyes wider to the complexity of the place.

Along the way, I learned that not every Paquin resident is the same. Yes, there are people living in this high-rise who have physical and mental disabilities, but there are also luminaries in Paquin: John Fry, an architect who studied under a Frank Lloyd Wright disciple; Dave Dollens, a University of Missouri janitor who used his paychecks to buy pizza for poor kids; and Max Lewis, a lawyer who does pro bono work. And everyone, it seems, has a story to tell.

As I became acquainted with the people of Paquin Tower, I recorded their stories. They spoke at length of their experiences and shared, in their own words, their views of the world. I transcribed the recordings of the interviews and edited them for length and clarity. To put their words in context, I added brief introductions.
This is Paquin’s story. I hope Columbians find these oral histories as insightful and interesting as I did.

Alex Carter and Ryan Green

Carter, 25, and Green, 26, were living in the walk-in basement of the house next door to Paquin Tower for three months when this interview occurred. They have since moved elsewhere. The two, both from the St. Louis area, realized the building was atypical when they noticed police cars, fire trucks and ambulances going there often.

Green: Did you tell the story about the woman crying out the window?

Carter: He and I, we just got some groceries. It was …

Green: Probably week two, or something, that we were here.

Carter: Yeah, I think at just the beginning of January, we’re getting the groceries out, putting them inside, and we hear this person sobbing. Uncontrollably. I think it may have been the same one that we waved hi to, like, up on the 10th floor or something.

Green: Yeah, up there on the right side from us.

Carter: It was really creepy. Really, really creepy.

Green: And both of us had, total, probably $350 worth of groceries in there, so we had to make like five trips to get it all, and, I was just like, “Should we call somebody?” I was trying not to look at the person, but I wanted to make sure – she was sort of almost out the window.

Carter: She was just kinda leaning out the window with both arms, sobbing. And I was worried, because I was afraid, you know, she might attempt to commit suicide or something like that.

Green: Yeah. We went out there every couple minutes to make sure everything was OK, and the person eventually went inside. But it’s just – we just moved here. I didn’t know when we moved here, what exactly the story was with that tower. And we figured out, at least, with the ambulances, that something was going on. We started hearing stories.

Carter: It almost seems like you’re committed to Paquin Tower, you know? Like you’ve got nowhere else to go, you’ve got Paquin Tower. This is the feeling I get. I don’t know very much about it. I don’t know who’s there or why. I just know it’s disabled people. That’s all. And it seems like – well, typically if disabled people have families that can take care of them, they usually will. At least in my experience. But I’m thinking that these people may not have that. Maybe their families are not well off enough to support them or keep them in their house, and therefore you gotta go to Paquin Tower. It almost seems like “the home,” you know, the proverbial “home.” I think Paquin Tower itself even, just the structure, is stigmatizing in a way.

Green: It’s sort of a scary-looking building.

Carter: The façade is just a mono, economy-looking building, and it looks like it would be a project if I didn’t know it was for disabled people. I think these are some of the ideas that push people into ostracizing the tenants in Paquin …They’re there because they’re poor, or they’re disabled, you know. And that further stigmatizes them. And I’m not gonna make a value judgment on that – it just is. It is what it is. Because that’s the thing that it gives off. And I think the structure itself, because nothing in Columbia really looks like it, seems to further that stigmatization and stereotype.

Green: I would agree with that. Also, they have cell-phone towers on top of it. So you always get good service here. I’ll say that.

Carter: Which is good.

Green: That is good.

John Fry

Born in Bedford, Indiana, Fry believes he is related to Presidents Andrew Jackson and George Washington. In school, he was not sufficiently intellectually stimulated. He worked as a landscape architect under a man who had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. A car accident and a production-line job gave him health problems, including carpal tunnel syndrome, which left his hands nearly useless. One night in 1995, when he was between homes in Columbia, he was beaten and ended up in jail on charges of which he would later be proven innocent. A friend bailed him out, and two weeks later, he moved into Paquin Tower. He is 62 now, and his paintings and other artwork can be found around the building. He keeps his art supplies in storage.

I don’t remember ever a time in my life when I wasn’t looking at the world and the people around me and wondering, like an anthologist: What are they doing? Why are they doing it? What could they possibly get out of this? Do they expect this to have a good outcome? (Laughs) Do they think this will work for them when it never does? So I grew up an outsider with this feeling that I’m just here observing. I don’t really see any part I can take in this.

I went to a school named Needmore, thinking: Well, they certainly have this named appropriately. And I got through it, and I survived it, and I spent my time in summers studying on my own. I didn’t have time during the Mickey Mouse in high school to do a whole lot of reading and thinking that was what I would call learning. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to do any of that. I didn’t have any energy for that. It was going through the motions of learning – jumping through hoops, you know, going through some kind of obstacle course. It was not learning. And it didn’t much change in college. I did not have time to read magazines and books that I needed.

During my young years, I read everything there was to read, because it came to our door. My oldest brother, Meredith – he was 23, 24 years older – he’d been out in the world, and he had been to war, and he had been to the South Pacific. He had all these experiences. He had gone in as a medic in the Navy, and realized that that was pretty much a death certificate. So he became a Marine. He never would discuss the war. The only thing he would say is it was horrible. Well, I would look at the stuff that was stashed away in his old room and I would see the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and I‘d want to talk to him about it. I wanted to have some bragging rights at school, you know. This he wouldn’t give.

It took me a long time to understand and respect that he did not want to talk about this, because then he would have insomnia, he would have flashbacks, he would have nightmares, he would have PTSD or whatever it is that they have to call it.

He wanted to contribute back, because he had help and support getting through college on GI and becoming an engineer. There were some major rewards for him, and so he would, for Christmas, as a gift to the whole family, subscribe to everything that there was. He checked off everything on the list that could be of any interest that we might read.

There was nutrition at the dinner table, at breakfast and at supper, and the snack that we could cook up after or before bedtime. There was nutrition in that. But there was also all these magazines that was nutrition as well. It fed the soul. It fed that starvation for truth and understanding. There was the Harper’s, The Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post, Look, Life, Esquire, the New Yorker. There was even the Prairie Farmer. We had all these magazines to read. And there was stuff in it. Plus there were the World War II annuals that I’d started pulling out of the shelves as a toddler and looking at pictures. ‘Cause I loved looking at pictures and books. I’d look at my older brothers’ and sisters’ textbooks. I just had this thirst for and this hunger for anything that I could learn in order to make sense of the world.

Sarah Bowman

Bowman, 28, began working as the recreation specialist for the adaptive-recreation programs at Paquin – a Columbia Parks & Recreation position – in 2005. The door to her office on the first floor is open every day. Residents chat with her and her colleagues in the office. She sells cookies and other concessions, the profits of which go toward the program, which has always existed at Paquin. Its operations were threatened for budgetary reasons in 2008, prompting residents to protest.

It was the most devastating three months of my life. I was on pins and needles every day. My biggest fear was for the people here in this building and who use the programs, because they don’t have anything, literally. I think that’s the thing that broke my heart the most. This is one of the things that they get to enjoy, and one of the things, they don’t have to constantly worry about, and then you’re gonna take it away from ‘em? I mean, what are they gonna have left? And that was my biggest fear throughout all of it, was they’re gonna cut this program and the residents here aren’t gonna have anything then. They’re just gonna have their rooms, and they’re gonna be depressed, and it’s just gonna continually get worse.

They just cut our budget from $88,000, basically, to $72,000, so I really just have to watch my spending. I can’t quite go out and buy all the supplies we need, just because we don’t have the money for it. So, yeah, we’re probably missing a lot of colors of glaze, but, you know, there’s how many other colors that you can use over there, is my theory, so when somebody says we don’t have a specific color, I try and point them into a direction of another color that’s similar. And office supplies may be dwindling a bit. No more colored paper for flyers. We’re down to white. So we’ll probably just stick with white for a little bit, and hopefully that way we don’t spend as much money.

It really brought everybody together as a community to go out and stand up for the right to accessible recreation. I mean, that was one thing I always learned in school at MU; recreation is available to everybody, no matter race, socioeconomic status, anything. Recreation is supposed to be available to everybody. And it really hit home when they decided to cut this program, because it’s one of the only adaptive-recreation programs other than Special Olympics, which a lot of these people are not involved in here. So where are they gonna get their recreation? They can’t afford the programs down at Stephens Lake Activity Center. They can’t afford to go down to the ARC. And so it really brought ‘em together to stand up as a community and prove that this needs to stay here, because we are entitled to it.

This program has been here since 1973, and it’s kind of formed this whole building. When people hear about Paquin, they just think, oh, that’s the old building where all the crippled people live. But the people who live here have become so used to Parks & Rec being here that I think they just feel like it should always be here. And that’s, I think, one of the things that they feel they have a right to.

POSTSCRIPT: Columbia Parks & Recreation has since received funding from a number of sources, which has allowed the department to use colored paper for flyers once again.

Lee Radtke

Radtke, 49, had just begun Ph.D. work in oral traditional literature at St. Louis University when she dropped out to take care of her daughter, Peri. She home-schooled Peri and a second child, Dylan. She worked as a freelance writer. The Columbia native moved to Moberly to teach adult education and literacy classes before returning to her hometown. She was Columbia Housing Authority’s Paquin Tower site manager from March 2007 to February 2009. This interview occurred weeks before she took a different CHA position as director of public housing operations. While at Paquin, Radtke enforced leases, oversaw move-ins and move-outs, supervised maintenance and occasionally found herself in the position of therapist.

Basically what I do is I go up to the 15th floor and I walk down the floors, and I’m looking at the lights, to make sure they’re burning, I’m looking at the exit lights, I’m looking to see if anybody’s poked a hole in the wall overnight. (Laughs) That tends to happen when you have people in mobility chairs. I’m looking at the paint job. So I’m checking all that out. As I walk down the stairwells I’m looking for signs [that someone who is] homeless spent the night in our stairwell. They do that occasionally. Not so much this year, which has been good. Sometimes, depending on what time of day it is, I’ll run into residents and chat with them briefly, see how they’re doing. I don’t generally find people smoking marijuana when I’m at work, because they know when I’m here, and they know when safety’s here, so that tends to take place when we’re not here.

We have cameras here. Channel 2 has the cameras that show the outside entrances of the building. Residents can get that on Channel 2 if they don’t have digital cable. They know when we’re here. (Laughs) They know when somebody’s come, when somebody’s gone, they watch each other like hawks – it’s really funny. Freaked me out the first six months I was here. If you went into somebody’s apartment for something, they’d have that on, or they’ll come down and tell me, I watch that all the time. And they’re all telling on each other, saying, you know, I saw that on the video monitor.

It’s funny if you get to the end of the day and you’re going, “Oh, man, I was, like, an hour and a half with one resident.” And this resident’s hearing voices coming out of the heating vents. Obviously, they’re not really there, but on the other hand, you get to know people, and it’s funny. You have to take it with a grain of a sense of humor, because it’s a very stressful job, but at the same time, you get to know people and then it’s not funny.

Chuck Dudley

Dudley, 45, has made himself known around Columbia by way of his sharply worded comments on newspaper articles online and letters to the editor. Web-savvy Columbians appear to be sick of him. The Tribune banned him from posting comments on articles on its Web site.

In person, he is loudmouthed and long-winded, but his two Papillons and his penchant for fixing residents’ computers and motorized chairs make him seem accessible. On Jan. 2, Dudley decided to stop helping residents, after receiving several threats and complaints.

In Angels Camp, Calif., he grew up with depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder, but he did not receive these diagnoses until he was in his 30s, during drug and alcohol rehab and after spending seven months in Pettis County Jail on a count of arson. He moved into Paquin Tower in 2004.

Earlier this week we had a resident who died. Albert. He lived in 209. Real nice guy. He didn’t come out much. He played guitar a lot. He had cancer. But one simple thing, though, that happened that day: when they took his body from the building, it upset the whole building and still does. Instead of using the elevator and going out the back loading dock downstairs, where they can back up the van in the garage itself to load the body up, like they normally do, they used the front door. That upset people. I heard a lot about it.

I went to Phil Steinhaus, CEO of the CHA, via e-mail, and said: “This is not cool. We can’t have this going on no more. This is not the way we’ve done it in the past.” He said, “Well, I’ll talk to Deputy Chief [Tom] Dresner about this, and I’ll talk to the funeral home.” He said, “You’re right.” So hopefully we get that fixed in the future.

It’s always been standard operating procedure when people died here to go down on the big freight elevator, ‘cause there are double doors, and they keep both doors sealed and then go take them on right to the garage. The public doesn’t have to see it. We know death is here. We know people here are dying. And some people do die, whether it’s through natural causes, through suicide, through old age. We know all these things. But we don’t have to look at it, you know? We don’t have to see it rolling out the door. That’s messed up. It does hell on your psyche. A lot of people were upset about that. That’s how easy this building can get upset.

They complain, fidget a lot, bounce around – a lot of, just, unsurety. A lot of anxiety issues. And depression issues get set off.

People here take death real personally. We’re a tight community. We know everybody here, practically. There are some people we don’t quite know, ‘cause they may have just moved in, but if you’ve lived here a year or more, people know you. You get to know everybody. You get to know what’s going on, their daily routine, when they’re going in and out the door, times they’re up, times they’re not, time to check their mail, you know – you have to know people. When a member of the family dies, it’s upsetting.

Myself in Columbia, I don’t know. A different view, maybe? The voice of a different view? Having grown up with pretty much no mother, no father, no family, growing up on my own, has given me a different view on life than, say, someone who grew up in a normal family – mom, dad, siblings, normal family life. My views are a little different: sometimes really radically left, sometimes really radically right, sometimes radically in the center, depending on the issue. I don’t care what people in Columbia think of me. What they think of themselves is a more important issue.

I have ideas. I would still like to see Parks & Rec here. I’d like to see more disabled people from Columbia using it and more disabled people from the county using it. Paquinwise, there’s a lot of things that need to go on here. I would love to see full-time volunteer med students, resident RNs, over here daily, doing an internship type of thing through the university. That would be cool.

We have more than 240 people here, with a wide range of mental and physical diagnoses. What better teaching environment to learn from! In all age groups! All backgrounds – all ethnic backgrounds, racial backgrounds, lifestyle backgrounds, upbringing backgrounds.

Before I moved in, a long time ago, we used to have a lunch program brought in here daily. There was a group that came in – they cooked hot meals for people. They fed ‘em downstairs daily. Money for that ran out. Something like that would be cool.

It’d be nice to see the monthly dinner come back in here, whether it’s a charity group that comes and does it once a month, or a church group, MU students doing nutritional studies. Learning cooking and nutrition would be great.

I mean, we’re supposed to be a Christian community. What happened to the charity in our community? What happened to charity in this country? Everybody now seems to be me, me, me, me, want, want, want, me, me, me, and the hell with you. (Laughs) It does. And our country seems to be going downhill because of it, overall – the whole country.

Richard Craghead

On weekdays, Craghead walks to the University Bookstore to do its bank deposits for three hours. He can’t work longer than that, because his voice will go away. He had a liver transplant and got his ankle restructured. He is permanently disabled. A native of Fulton, Craghead is now 62 and president of the Paquin Tower Residents’ Association.

Usually we have an agenda where our board meets the first Tuesday of the month, and we set the agenda for the meeting, which is always on the fourth Monday of the month. When we set the agenda, we try to find out if we have any speakers or anything like that. And then we have the meeting. And we always leave the last part of the meeting open for just any comments, so that’s usually when a lot of the meeting takes place.

A lot of times there are more complaints about individuals, so we try to keep it away from that, but that’s just the way it migrates – to that. At the last meeting we had a lot of people ganging up on one of the residents here, ‘cause they think he’s a little bit too hardheaded, and, I mean, you just sort of have to let them vent, but it doesn’t really accomplish anything. But it makes them feel better, because they were able to get something off their chest.

For a long time, all we had were bedbug comments. That went on for months. But a lot of things are concerns that people who live here have, and sometimes, a lot of times, those are taken to management, and sometimes things are done. Sometimes things can’t be done.

About 30 people show up. I wish it was a lot more, but, you know, you just hope that more people will become interested. But there’s such a turnover in the building that usually it takes about six months after someone has moved in before they even come out of their room. A lot of times, they’re moving here from nothing, or they’re moving here from bad situations, so it takes them a while for them to come down and start socializing.

Nora Butler

Butler, 41, a native of Lowell, Mass., moved into Paquin six or seven years ago – she can’t remember exactly when it happened. She can remember the cause of her move and her first few weeks in the high-rise.

My kids moved out. I worked over here on Providence at Hardee’s, and at the time I moved in here, I was on crutches from a knee surgery and I’m not supposed to be on my feet more than four hours a day. They wanted to move me all the way up to Bear Creek because my apartment was too big for just me. I was in a three-bedroom apartment downtown.

And I went to my doctor and said, “You’ve got to find a way to keep me on this side of town, for my job.” And she said, “Well, there is a building called Paquin Tower.” I said, “OK, how am I supposed to get into Paquin Tower?” She said, “You need a note from me stating you’re disabled.” I said, “Well, do you think I am?” She said, “Yes, you are.” And I said, “OK, how am I disabled?” She said, “Let’s say you have limited mobility.” So she wrote a note to the housing authority stating that I have limited mobility and it would serve me well to live in Paquin Tower, where there’s an elevator, so I don’t have to use the stairs. So with that note I was able to transfer from downtown here to Paquin Tower. Then I found out my mental disorders were worse than what the doctors were thinking – schizoaffective disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression. And I found out about a year and a half ago that I’m diabetic.

The Lily League was a group of people involved with Parks & Rec, and we would get together and we would make baskets for little gift bags, and it would have things like a free ceramic day or a free monthly dinner and have a little newsletter in it introducing Parks & Rec to them, and introducing different activities and stuff throughout the building. And when someone new would move into the building, why, we’d give them a couple days, and then we’d go and we’d knock on the door and give them one of these little bags.

It was very interesting to receive one when I first moved into the building. With my coupon, I went down there to the art room and I got a horse and painted a horse. Then I went to my first monthly dinner. That was not too impressive, because I ended up sitting by myself – didn’t know anybody, nobody knew me, nobody talked to me. But I later was able to talk to – I guess you’d call her the director – and she told me she would make sure that didn’t happen again.

I’ve had more friends than I’ve ever had. I mean, I’m more socially inclined than I was before. I go out. And maybe it’s not leaving the building. It’s just going downstairs, but I go down there to talk to people. I haven’t been known to go to people’s apartments and stuff to talk to them before, but I go to Shari’s apartment now, and I go to Laura’s apartment, and we just sit and talk and watch TV and just have fun.

Shari Bauer

By the time Bauer, born in Washington, Mo., was 17 months old, she had polio. Doctors put braces on her legs. A skin disease further complicated her situation. She moved into Paquin in 1982. When she got married to Sam Bauer, who had an artificial leg, in the Paquin lobby in 1984, a minister living in the building officiated. In 1990, she and Sam moved out of the building and bought a double-wide trailer. Calcium deposits formed in her body, which hampered her ability to walk. They moved back to Paquin in 2002. Sam died in 2007. Now, at 58, she gets about in an electric scooter.

A lot of people, a lot of handicapped people in my condition, can’t walk, and they need help and stuff like that. You can’t be independent no more like you used to and all that. That gets frustrating and you kinda hate yourself. Makes you feel like you’re helpless, and makes you feel like you cannot do the things that you used to do. That’s why handicapped people are very emotional people. They get aggravated at themselves. That’s how Sam used to get all the time.

Like me now. Whenever you can walk and all that, you’re freer to do whatever you want to. But whenever you’re stuck in a wheelchair like this, or a scooter, you feel like you’re helpless or stuck.

A lot of times, this makes me feel like I’m helpless. I like to be independent and not to depend on people. But when people are in wheelchairs and stuff like that, they cannot do that like able-bodied people can.

I keep on wishing that I could drive like I used to. ‘Cause I don’t want to be stuck. I like to go and travel and all that. Now, since I can’t drive with Sam, I feel like I’m stuck and stranded, and it’s hard to find drivers for my van.

A lot of people think that I can’t drive no more because my right arm is pretty weak now. I’ve got most movement in the left arm, and handicapped people have to use the controls with the left arm and drive with the right arm, and that’s a little bit too much at one time. But now they said that they’ve got some electric controls that you could put on now, that all you have to do is push buttons, or something like that, and it controls the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Put the control right there, no problem. Then I can drive.

I might go down home to see my mom now. I’d probably do what I did, like going down to St. Louis and going to different places. I’d go to Wal-Mart and go to different places here and that. Right now, I miss a lot of stuff, and I don’t like that.

When we moved back in here, we had to give up a lot of room, because we had a three-bedroom trailer out there, double-wide. I kinda hated to give that up. We moved back in here, but it’s a lot better financialwise. And also what I was missing was all the activities. Going out, visiting people and all that. ‘Cause around here, whenever you get lonely about wanting to visit people, all you have to do is go to their apartment – really easy – or go down to the lobby and that, but out there in the trailer courts and stuff, I couldn’t do that, because it was hard for me to get into the trailers or houses. Especially with this scooter. And in here, it’s a lot easier to get in and go visit people.

Elsie “Peggy” Byland

Byland, a native of Monroe City, was 54 when she moved into Paquin with her mother, Ruby Jane Umstattd, in 1974, one year after it opened. She had schizophrenia. Her mother, a nurse, worked at the Veterans Administration hospital and died in 1977. A year later, Byland moved into an apartment she liked more – the one next door. Now 86, she is believed to have lived in the building longer than any other current resident.

When they were building this building, we did not see it being built. In fact, I did not know a big building was being built, because I was always scared of Paquin. There was something about Paquin I didn’t like. But Mother come in one day and signed up to get an apartment here. And we got an apartment.

Mother always loved people. She took care of people. She was a middle child, you know, growing up. Middle children always like to go out with other people.

Terrible things happen all the time here. People always call the ambulance. They get lonesome in these apartments. They call the ambulance and the police. (Laughs) But if you call the police, they won’t come into your room. They’ll just stand at your door. I’ve never really called the police. The ambulances are wonderful. They come and get you and take you to the hospital and stay there a couple of hours. That’s really great.

The little old ladies, most of ‘em passed away. They were all in arts and crafts classes – wonderful little crafters. They could quilt and sew and knit and everything like that. And they were lovely people. I never visited any of them, though.

Mother did not like Parks & Recreation. She never spent any time in Parks & Recreation. She was into the real stuff, you know, nothing decorative. Real stuff.

I probably wouldn’t be happy at all without Paquin Tower. Yeah. I get to do just about what I want to do. I have a good time.

Do I think I’ll move away? I don’t know. I just don’t know. Probably I don’t see any possibilities of me moving away from here. I don’t think I will.

I hate when somebody says, “Do you know you’ve been here the longest of anybody?” I don’t know what to say. (Laughs) I don’t really like them telling me that. It makes me feel sensitive. I just – it’s the truth. I guess the truth’s the truth. It’s OK, I guess.

It’s a wonderful place. You’re cared for, you know, and yet, if you want to be, you can be all alone. You can be a loner.

I think I’m a heroine in my own way. I mean, I do the best I can. I do good. I play it safe, you know. I don’t do anything that’s really dangerous like smoking or drinking or carousing. I don’t do that. Once you get older, you don’t do those things.

I’m glad and privileged to be alive. Glad I’m living. I mean, it’s probably not too good a living, but it’s the way I live.

Max Lewis

Lewis, 43, from Sedalia, is a man about town.

I had just finished up my first year at college at Truman State. Then it was Northeast Missouri State University. This was in May of 1986. I actually came here to Columbia and visited a friend for a couple of days, and then I went back to Sedalia. I got a job for the Pettis County highway department, and I was working for them. We were patching up a road on a hot summer day, and it was lunchtime, and I decided to take a swim in the creek and therefore I got on the bridge and I stripped down to my underwear and I was on the outside railing of this bridge, and I dove in, and it turned out to be an approximately 21-foot dive into 2 feet of water.

It broke the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth cervical vertebrae in my neck, at the top. They took me to Bothwell Hospital in Sedalia, and they couldn’t operate on me, so they flew me here and they did an emergency operation. They had to take some bone off my hip in order to supplant the bones that were broken up at my neck, and I had to be in the intensive care unit there, at the University of Missouri hospital, for a month and a half. Then, for another six and a half months, I was in the Rusk Rehabilitation ward.

After I got out, I was completely paralyzed, paralyzed from my chest down. I could barely move my arms but not much more than that, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t want to move back in with my family; I didn’t want my friends to be responsible for taking care of me. So my only options were to try to find a place where I could live on my own or go into a nursing home. And so I found out about Paquin Tower. I moved here February 3, 1987, and I’ve been living here ever since.

I knew when I moved in here I didn’t want my life to be over. I wanted to try to live a life as full and productive as I could, even though I had these limitations. So I went back to the University of Missouri. I decided not to go to Northeast – or Truman State, that is, now – because the school is not very accessible. University of Missouri is probably one of the most accessible universities in the nation. Plus, it’s warmer here than it is in Kirksville, and that was a big decision too, because I get so cold. If it’s under 70 degrees, I’m susceptible to being just cold. My neural regulation is messed up as far as the temperature goes or feels on me, so the warmer the climate, the more productive I am physically in the community.

I got my undergrad in health education. I think I graduated in 1992, and I turned around and got my master’s of education in health and wellness, and I finished that in 1994.

I had a notion of going into law school. I sort of blindly went into law. And I felt that I had the capability of practicing law, even though I didn’t know a great deal about it, but I was very, very curious about law school. So I went, and actually – I think it was 1999 – after I passed the LSAT, the very first day I went, I dropped out because I got so overwhelmed by thinking: Can I get all these books off the shelf, physically? Can I do all this paperwork? Can I handle all this work? I’m gonna have to pay back all this debt. Can I actually do this? And so I dropped out.

Then I came back a year later. I thought, I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try. I’ll always regret it; I’ll always look back and say I could have possibly been a lawyer. And so I went back. And in 2003, I graduated, and then I took the bar in 2004 and passed the bar, and now I practice mostly family law. I do it all pro bono. I’m really busy.

And I serve on five boards of directors. I serve on the boards of directors for Services for Independent Living, Boone County Group Homes, the Columbia Housing Authority, Mid-Missouri Legal Services and Mustard Seed. I also coach adapted gymnastics at MU.

There was an individual that got out of the hospital at the same time I did and he has the same disability. He’s a C5-C6 cervical spinal-cord injury. And he can’t move, like myself, from the chest down. And he’s as smart as I am, I know he is, and I know him really well, and he’s a good friend, but he just stays in his apartment all day long, and he doesn’t get out. And he’s the same age I am. While I went back to school and have done what I’ve done, he’s stayed really – he stays isolated in his apartment. And I feel bad for him in that aspect. He hasn’t got that many friends, even though he’s a heck of a guy. I think a lot of him. We all have our own choices, and we make our own choices, and he seems to be happy, and I hope he is. And I respect him very much and think no less of him because he didn’t do the things that I did. I think he’s just as much a capable individual as I am in doing whatever he wants to do. It’s all a choice in life, and you never know who you run into.

Dave Dollens

Dollens, a Navy man, construction worker, janitor, and subject of newspaper articles, is getting old. He’s 67. His health is going down. He no longer takes poor kids out for pizza or stages hunger strikes on City Hall steps to support the homeless. He walks to the local VA hospital for medical care. His income is low enough for him to live in Paquin, where he moved in 2002.

By the middle of January, I noticed a bite on my stomach. A couple of bites. And so I called up my sister, and I thought maybe I had the shingles. And she said, “No, sounds like you’ve been bit by fleas.” She said, “Don’t worry about it. It’ll go away.” So it itched for about a week or so, 10 days. I stood it. Didn’t put nothing on it. Probably a couple other weeks but went by, and I’m sitting in my big chair, and when I woke up I had a bite on my arm, a bite on my leg, a red spot. So I thought maybe I had fleas in here. And I look. No, I didn’t see no fleas, and I didn’t see any damned bugs. I knew I hadn’t had no pets in here, nobody. And so, next thing I know, at a residential meeting that come up in March, they say we got bedbugs in an apartment. He hadn’t been in my house or anything, but when I was gettin’ them bites, I knew I probably had the bedbugs. So I went over to the VA, and they said they were bedbug bites.

A couple of days later, I found one on the floor. Reno, the maintenance guy, came up and found one on the floor.

They came in, they were checkin’. They were finding them in different apartments, The spray people told me that they’d spray my apartment and take everything out and wash everything, take everything down. A couple days after they sprayed, I had to take my drapes down, get them dry-cleaned, and I had to take all my good clothes down and get them dry-cleaned and wash all the others. So total, that probably cost me – it’s $153 to get the stuff dry-cleaned every time. And I’ve done that dry-cleaning three different times.

Couple days after they sprayed, I got up in the morning and one was on my pillow. So I had to throw away a chair. I gave $600 for this recliner, just had it a couple years. Had to throw it away, and I had another $300 chair here, and they didn’t tell me to throw it away, but I threw it away. ‘Cause I didn’t want them, the bedbugs, in here, you know?

I figured out it cost me more than $2,000, them bedbugs.

I don’t like living here. I ain’t got nothing in common with nobody here. Seem like everybody in here wants something for nothin’. They’ve been disabled, most of them, all their lives, and that’s all they know: gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. I see a lot of abuse with the system in here. I think my personal belief in here, there’s a lot of people on disability who shouldn’t be on disability – a lot of them. I would say half of them. Because when I was growing up and stuff, they didn’t have disability like they got now. They didn’t have all that stuff. My family wasn’t retarded, but we had a cousin that was kinda mental, and they had to care of her, her mom and dad. They didn’t get no disability. And they took care of her. These people’s parents, they don’t have to do that. But a lot of them that are on disability, hell, I think they could work. You cannot believe the way you see the taxpayer money in this building. Maybe I’m being too judgmental, I don’t know.

Mike Bishop

When Bishop was 16, he got into a car wreck that left him with a head injury. He lost almost all memory of his past. He went through rehab programs for people with head injuries before moving into Paquin in 1990. Along the way, his ability to walk declined. Now 43, he gets around in an electric scooter.

I was going 110 down a gravel road. I had a 1982 T-top Camaro and I wanted to see how fast the car could get up to, so I looked down at the speedometer and it said 110. Looked back up, there’s a T road headed to the left or right. So I slammed on the brakes, tried to make a turn and the car flipped over and I flipped out the passenger window and the car rolled back on top of me and I died right there. I was dead. But my friend found me in the ditch, and he got the car off me somehow, gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, brought me back to life, called the ambulance, then he took me to the hospital, but it was a small town -Harrisonville – where I lived. They couldn’t do nothing to me, so they had to call a helicopter, but it couldn’t come and get me, because it was out on a thing already, and so they took me up to St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City, and that’s where I was for that time.

It’s fun here. (Laughs) As long as I stay in my room and don’t hear all that gossip going around. (Laughs) There’s people downstairs that talk about everything that’s not true. They want to make it true, so they have to talk, and everybody believes them.

I stayed up in my room for the longest time. I had this one guy, a friend, down there, and I thought he was a friend, and I used to talk to him all the time, just to keep him company. And then I stayed in my room all the time. I guess he got kind of mad or something. So he started a rumor saying that I was talking about someone having AIDS. And the manager called me in the office one day and said, “Can’t start those rumors or anything. It’s in your lease” – or something – “if you start rumors about people, you get kicked out of here.” And I said, “Whatever, go ahead, because I didn’t do nothing, so kick me out. I don’t care.” I guess she wanted to test me, to see if I would be scared about it. If I was scared about it, she’d know that I did it or something.

Starting rumors like that is kind of a bad deal on people. It hurts people. If they would just not talk about people – but people around here talk about people. So I just stay up in my room and stay away from those kind of people.

It’s changed, because there’s more people that talk, there’s more people that gripe at things, and no one can get along with anybody. It’s like it’s a war zone here. If everybody got along, it’d be a better place, I think.

I hope I’ll move out of here sometime, if I ever get married. But I hope not if I don’t. (Laughs) I wouldn’t want to live here if I have a wife. Because gossip – they talk about you all the time. You never have no secrets around here. You never have no privacy.

Ralph C.S. and Claudia G.C. Wade

They met while working at Goodwill Industries of Oregon in 1963, and married the next year. They followed their daughter, Heather Marie Young, from Illinois to Columbia and moved into Paquin in 2006, when Heather’s husband, Robert, took a job here. Claudia, 66, reportedly has paranoid schizophrenia; Ralph, 74, is partly illiterate and at one point was considered mentally retarded. The couple are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Claudia: Proverbs 13:20, according to the King James Version, says, “He that walks with wise men should be wise: but a companion of fools should be destroyed.” Now, the New World translation, which I prefer, says – same verse – “He that is walking with wise persons will become wise. But he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.”

So he’s living proof of that. Because, after we got married, Goodwill Industries told me that he was classified as mentally retarded, unteachable. And then, when we lost custody of our kids, in ‘74, he had to take a test, and they said that he was still mentally retarded, but in the borderline range. The state of Oregon, my home state, claimed that we were mentally incompetent parents. Because I was supposed to be paranoid schizophrenic and he was supposed to be mentally retarded but borderline range – in other words, mentally incapable to care for children. And so they ended our rights and eventually gave them to a Mormon family to adopt in ‘75. Then after we moved in Texas, in ‘89, Ralph took some more tests and found out he had passed over from being borderline mentally retarded into the normal range. So now, he’s considered to be normal. He reads some, but not much.

Ralph: I can spell my own name, tell you about that. But I can’t spell.

Claudia: He can copy. He can copy things. I’d read official documents to him. I would sign most of them, and then he would sign above me. And he could read enough to get by and drive a car. He knows how to read signs – forward, stop and like this. He knows enough to drive a car.

Ralph: Yield signs, stop signs, four-way stops.

Claudia: On the road, he can read the number section of it. I tell him what exit to take, and he takes that exit. So I’m sort of like a navigator.

We hope to move eventually to a two-bedroom. There are no two-bedrooms in this building. We’d have to move someplace else. If we can, we want to get a two-bedroom apartment in a high-rise. We wouldn’t mind that at all. Or a duplex. But it has to be at least two-bedroom. And I don’t want any carpeting on the floor. I’ve got allergies, and there’s too much upkeep on carpeting. And we want handicap-accessible. Because we want to be able to get in and out without climbing a flight of stairs, or because I imagine maybe one of us will be having to get a power chair, so we want to be able to get in and out of the building. And most of them around here that qualify for HUD don’t have that.

T.L. Pratt

Pratt moved into Paquin in December of 1998, after treatment of several injuries from a car wreck near his home in Quincy, Ill. He was married and divorced five times. He is legally blind. He was president of the Paquin Tower Residents’ Association from 1999 to 2001. He is 64 now.

Ellen moved in here in January ‘99, about the middle of January, and I ran across her – it was late January, early February, I’m not sure which. And I’d seen Ellen a couple of times down there for lunch and that, and the particular day that I met her, I was waiting on Services for Independent Living to come get me and take me to the mall. She and I happened to agree that we both loved egg rolls, and I offered to bring her some egg rolls back, and that’s really what started the whole thing.

And then, seriously, for almost six months – from the time that I met her to Memorial Day weekend – really about all we did was we sat and talked and drank coffee and spent the early morning together, and then she would go and get ready for the day, and I would eventually wind up downstairs and save a place for not only Ellen but some other friends of mine. We all would congregate around the same table for the lunch program that used to be here. There was me and Ellen, Aaron Perkins, sometimes Grandma Liz would come and sit with us. Aaron has passed away now. Pat Jones, who’s passed away, she used to sit with us. Richard Craghead would come and sit at the same table with us sometimes. We had many laughs. We talked about different things and ate lunch together. And it was really slick, you know. To begin with, back when, I don’t think anybody knew that Ellen and I were even going together. We just kinda kept that to ourselves. We didn’t want a bunch of rumors flying around the building about us.

As a matter of fact, Ellen actually had a boyfriend. He was somewhere else. She called him up in front of me once upon a time, to wish him happy birthday, and he got sarcastic, and she told him to stuff it and hung up on him. (Laughs) And basically that was it. I mean, she just ended the relationship right there, and, you know, I was kind of amazed that she would speak up like she did.

So we went on, and a few weeks later, I spent the night with her, and she practically moved into my apartment with me. We were living in 605, and using her apartment up here for storage. Eventually we both had to go down to recertify, and the manager said, “Why don’t you two just go ahead and get in an apartment together and, you know, take up living together?” Well, we’d asked. We’d tried. And they turned us down. Because we didn’t have a record where we used to live together at any point or another, and I forget what else it was. So we were just, OK, we’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing, and paying rent on two places, and we’ll go on, do what we got to do. But eventually the manager talked CHA into letting us move in together.

As time went on, it got to be more and more common knowledge that Ellen and I were by that time living together, and it really didn’t come as a big shock to very many people. It just kinda got gradually around that we were living together and no big deal.

I was in 605 to begin with. That’s where I first saw Emeril. I would sit and watch Emeril, and if Ellen was there, she would watch television with me. So we’d watch Emeril and what he was cooking. And it just got to the point where I felt like some of that cooking was so simple that anybody could do it, even me, and she says, “Well, why don’t you give it as try?” And I said OK. So we started trying to duplicate some of the stuff that I saw on television.

Ellen and I, we just discovered a lot of wonderful things about each other. Like her sense of humor. She also likes baseball, believe it or not, just because I do. I watch Cardinal baseball, so Ellen started watching Cardinal baseball.

She was diagnosed with systemic lupus in ‘97. She must’ve gone into the nursing home in 2006. She came home in March of 2008 and was home ’til September, about six months, and that’s when we discovered that it was just physically impossible for me to take care of her, so that’s when she went back to the nursing home. We consider ourselves friends now.

I really enjoyed all the time that we were together. I never knew having a relationship could be like that, that close and all.

Janice Fielder

Fielder, 61, begged for money downtown before she moved into Paquin. She estimates that she smokes a pack and a half of Santa Fe cigarettes per day. She reports having polio, bulimia and paranoid schizophrenia. She limps when she walks.
Her parents graduated from the University of Missouri. She originally was a journalism major, she says, but she had to change to English because she had trouble typing and composing articles. Two years into her time at MU, she fell ill and transferred to the University of Houston, near her parents’ home at the time. She dropped out, got married and had three children. She divorced her husband and came back to Columbia to pursue a degree in nutrition at MU. She ended up enrolling in a psychiatric-rehabilitation program instead. She believes she moved into Paquin in 1990.

I had a certain amount of money on the street. I stayed at a Salvation Army, but then one of my ex-boyfriends told me to smoke a cigarette in a bathroom, so they kicked me out. Then someone came and took me into the halfway house, where I lived for a couple of years, I guess. Then I was able to get other housing and was accepted into Paquin with all the other handicapped people.

It’s the best I’ve ever had it, you know. I have no complaints, you know. But like I told you, I have friends and I have enemies, unfortunately.

My friends and I talk, we socialize, we drink coffee, we make jokes, we keep each other’s spirits up, we do laundry.

I have trouble relating with the handicapped due to the fact that I’m handicapped, you know. You can’t be codependent on a handicapped person.

All I know is, if I get put on the streets, I’ll be sunk. So my main goal is to keep myself from being homeless, you know.

I get threatened by my cousin with the hospital every day of my life, and I’m sick of it, and he knows it. So he’s trying to execute me. He says, “I want you to OD.” Because he’s the executor to my father’s estate, or something like this, and he doesn’t like the way I look, so he wants me to commit suicide. I will some day, but not right now. I want to be in control of my own death. It isn’t very cute, and it isn’t very funny, no matter how hard people laugh, is it? That’s why they’re giving me shots of antidepressant. The truth is so hard to believe and so heavy that nobody really wants to relate to it, not even me, you know.


By Whitney Spivey

Photos By L.G. Patterson

Volumes of marriage licenses fill a back room in the Boone County Government Center. Thousands of bound pages – faded, handwritten entries from the 1800s and crisp, typed records from recent years – document couple after couple who have tied the knot in mid-Missouri. What those pages don’t disclose, though, is which individuals are still alive, still married and still in love.

How do you record such an intense, variable emotion as love? The evidence may not exist in a dusty old archive, perhaps, but true love abounds in Columbia. Inside Columbia takes a look at three couples to uncover why the sparks are still flying after 50-plus years of marriage.


Bettie & Charlie Koelling 83, 82
Married Aug. 5, 1946 (63 years)

Charlie Koelling entered the Navy after high school, a commitment that took him around the country but never into combat. In 1946, he returned home to New Franklin, and found his former classmate Bettie Chester working as a telephone operator.

“She decided that as a concession to honor the military, she would have a date with me,” Charlie recalls with a grin. One visit to the skating rink and the rest is history – even after Bettie sat on a dead frog in the front seat of his ‘35 Ford after an evening of dancing at the Outside Inn in Columbia – a stranger’s practical joke.

Charlie’s mother had to sign the marriage license for him because he wasn’t 21. On the day of their wedding, Bettie was 19 years old and 98 pounds. She wore a blue dress and carried gardenias; 20-year-old Charlie wore a suit. Two friends served as witnesses. The newlyweds honeymooned at Cozy Cove Resort at Lake of the Ozarks; the retreat cost them nearly a quarter of their $100 savings.

That winter, Charlie worked intermittently as a railroad telegraph operator. He decided to take advantage of the GI Bill and earn his bachelor’s degree and a teaching certificate at the University of Kansas City. Betty transferred to the Kansas City Southwestern Bell office.

“It wasn’t really too difficult for us to live just on what money I made because we weren’t used to having anything anyway,” Bettie says. “Every time we’d think ‘we’re just not going to make it,’ he’d get a GI insurance dividend of $1.28, or some little something always came along. We were fortunate.”

Charlie later took a job in Kings City where he taught five subjects, coached junior high basketball, supervised two study halls and was the school principal. His $2,300 yearly salary was still less than that of the home economics teacher, so he left after a year.

By 1959, Charlie had earned his doctorate and began what would be a 30-year stint as a professor and associate dean in University of Missouri Extension. He retired in 1986, a year after Bettie stopped working as an assistant to the dean of MU’s journalism school.

“Everybody told me ‘you’re going to be so sorry when he retires because he’ll be underfoot’,” Bettie remembers. “That has never happened.”

“I expect maybe we’ve been closer since we retired than we were before because we spend an awful lot of time together,” Charlie says. “We don’t do very many things separately. We never have, really.”

Bettie describes their relationship as a team – a team that eats nearly every meal together, despite her self-proclaimed lousy cooking. “I don’t know if I hate to cook because I’m not a good cook, or if I’m not a good cook because I hate to cook,” she says.

But Charlie, ever the gracious husband, says his wife is “a pretty good cook” and cites her pot roast as one of his favorite meals. And for dessert? “Every decade or so she’ll make a pie,” he says.

The Bettie and Charlie team raised two children, Karen and Patrick. They also make Christmas fudge, travel the world and always kiss each other at least once before bed – and several times during the day. “We just really do love each other,” Bettie says.

Bettie and Charlie define love as mutual respect for one another. “If you don’t have that, you might as well wrap it up,” Bettie says. “If you have enough love and respect, you’ll be tolerant.”

Charlie adds responsibility to the list: “You can’t just do your own thing,” he says. “You’re obligated to support your spouse and to support your family. You can’t just go willy-nilly.”

Charlie demonstrated such responsibility nine years ago when Bettie developed shingles. She’s since lost vision in one eye and depends on Charlie to drive her around.

“He’s been an angel,” she says. “I don’t know what I would have done without him.”

Shingles has been the only major health problem to plague the Koellings. “I think that having a pleasant life certainly contributes to your longevity,” Bettie says of their relationship. “The one thing I hope never happens is for our children to have to take care of us or see that we’re taken care of. We’ve told them that we’re going to die together. We’ve already decided that. Neither one of us could leave the other one behind, so we’re going to die together.”

“We’re planning to jump out of an airplane together,” Charlie says. “Everything will be alright until we hit the ground.”

Bettie smiles. “We have lots of laughs; that’s Charlie. He has a play on words or something all the time. He’s a good boy, I trained him well.” She pauses. “For our age and state of senility, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Ben & Darlene Londeree 75, 72

Married April 13, 1957 (52 years)

When Ben Londeree met Darlene Karnes, he was as poor as a church mouse.

“I told her, ‘If we don’t do a lot of expensive things, I could see you every day,’ ” Ben says.

Darlene, who worked as a secretary at the school where Ben taught, agreed. They attended free movies and spent time at the root beer stand in the small Mennonite community of Archbold, Ohio. During the summer, Ben drove up to Cedar Point at Lake Erie, where Darlene was vacationing with some girlfriends.

“She was brown as a berry,” Ben remembers.

“He didn’t recognize me,” Darlene laughs.

But that didn’t stop Ben from proposing that evening – with a ring he hadn’t yet paid for. “I had bought a ring, and I was in hock for it,” he says. “I was so poor.”

The couple was on a tight budget in those early days. “When we got started, we really had to watch pennies,” Ben says. “We lived out of envelopes. Money was in an envelope, and when that money ran out, that was it.” Soup became an end-of-the-month staple, and Ben recalls budgeting for several months just to buy a book. The Londerees lived on a $3,700 annual salary in 1956-57 – barely enough to rent a two-bedroom house for $50 a month, especially when Darlene became pregnant in 1958 and stopped working.

“We both came from meager means, so we survived,” she says.

Ben agrees: “We were on the same page, so it worked. We both realized the situation we were in, and we made do.”

Ben worked his way up the career ladder and eventually took a job in the University of Missouri’s Department of Health and Exercise Science in 1971. The couple moved to Columbia from West Lafayette, Ind., and settled into a house west of town – “a wonderful place to raise a family,” Darlene says. The Londerees even joined the neighborhood pool. “This was the first thing I ever did to ‘keep up with the Joneses,’ ” Darlene says with a laugh. “It was a wonderful investment, but it was an extravagant thing for us to do.”

The Londerees have four children, including a mentally retarded son, Robert. Ben, a former competitive runner who worked with only the best athletes, admits that Robert’s condition was initially difficult to accept. “I’d teach him something, and I’d feel really good, and the next day he wouldn’t remember a thing,” he says. Even now at age 47, Robert “takes one step forward and two steps back,” Darlene says. But both parents agree that the upside of Robert’s condition is that his siblings are more understanding and tolerant of others.

Cancer has been another hurdle for the couple. Ben survived a bout with prostate cancer and Darlene has fully recovered from her battle with uterine cancer.

“Until 1994, I thought I was immortal,” says Ben, an active member of the Columbia Track Club. “Actually, I was a running fanatic.” He rarely took a day off, won the club race series multiple times and completed eight marathons. At age 50, Ben decided to back off. “I accepted the fact that I couldn’t do what I used to do,” he says. “In everybody’s life there are obstacles, hardships. How you deal with those is important. I think we’ve dealt with our problems reasonably well. We’ve survived, and it wasn’t the end of the world.”

“I think the big thing is love,” Darlene adds. “We still love each other. If that’s the case, then you’re willing to work through those problems.”

The couple agrees that love – a willingness to work, commit, respect and consider the other person – is the No. 1 ingredient for a long marriage. “I know Darlene thinks of me in most everything she does,” Ben says. “She’s a beautiful person, especially inside.”

Respect and consideration often involve avoiding the negative “buttons,” they say. “Everybody has their buttons,” Ben winks at Darlene. “If you’ve been around them for a while, you know what those buttons are. And if you push that button, you know what’s going to happen.”

One way the Londerees avoid such situations is by maintaining separate interests: Ben enjoys genealogy research, yard work and city-related activities. Darlene volunteers with the park patrol and in schools, and picks up trash on her walking routes, an activity she considers her “civic duty.”

But before they go about their activities, the Londerees always kiss each other goodbye, and they don’t leave the house without sharing where they’re going and when they’ll be back. They also eat together every night. “When we retired, she said ‘I married you for better and worse but not for lunch,’ ” Ben explains. “We each fix our own breakfast and lunch whenever we want to, but we almost always sit down together at the dinner table.”

And after dinner? Every evening ends with a goodnight kiss.

Roger & Peggy Moe 76, 72

Married Aug. 4, 1957 (52 years)

When the freshmen dormitories at Iowa State University arranged a blind-date mixer, Peggy Ensminger did not want to participate. But then she laid eyes on Roger Moe, a handsome 6-foot-tall redhead.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she recalls. “I always loved redheads.”

Roger was similarly surprised. “I thought she was gorgeous,” he says. “I lucked out all the way around.”

The duo attended a football game that weekend. “He helped me climb up a hill after the ball game, and he wouldn’t let go of my hand,” Peggy says with a smile. Roger didn’t let go of her heart either; he asked to kiss her on their third date, and she agreed.

“I thought it was wonderful,” she recalls.

Roger wrote a letter to Peggy’s parents asking for her hand in marriage. The response was slow in coming because two of Peggy’s younger siblings had the measles, but Mr. Ensminger eventually replied that he’d be happy to have a redheaded son-in-law so long as he could retire on Roger’s family farm in northern Iowa. Roger and Peggy spent the summer at that very farm.

“I gave his family a lot of humor,” Peggy laughs. She’d grown up near Washington, D.C., and lived abroad in India as a teenager; adjusting to rural life was a challenge. “I’d see a pheasant running across the road, and I’d say ‘There goes a peacock!’ ”

“She was working hard to catch me,” Roger says. “She helped milk, and she washed off the cows. After we were married, she never set foot in the barn again.”

Not long after they wed, Peggy became pregnant, and Roger developed tubercular pneumonia. He was isolated in the school sanatorium for nearly nine months, and doctors instructed he not be disturbed. Peggy didn’t tell him when she had labor pains three months early; instead, she contacted his brother, who posed as her husband because only fathers were allowed to visit the hospital. Roger’s father was also helpful; during a visit to her in-laws’ farm, Mr. Moe insisted pregnant Peggy get some exercise by walking to the barn twice a day. When Peggy refused, “he reached into the coat closest and pulled out the biggest bullwhip you’d ever seen in your whole life.” Peggy decided a walk to the barn sounded just great.

The couple had two boys and one more on the way by the time they finished college. “I promised my dad that if he let us get married, I would graduate,” Peggy says. “The Iowa State motto is ‘science with practice.’ I was majoring in child development, and I was practicing.”

Despite Roger’s work as an engineer, money was tight for the growing family. “I was scared to death I was going to blow it because of the way I was raised,” Peggy says of their different backgrounds. She had been spoiled with servants in India while Roger had grown up without electricity or a bathroom.

But they made do and eventually retired to Columbia – Peggy’s birthplace – in 1994. “I thought we were going to be practically bonded to each other and do everything together,” Peggy says of retirement. “But I realized pretty soon that we both need space.”

Fortunately, their church provided that space. In addition to Sunday services, the Moes are heavily involved with small groups. Peggy meets a gaggle of women every Thursday for coffee – no males allowed. “My theory is that men don’t have as many words a day as women do, so we need to talk a lot more,” she says. “We laugh so much; I really feel that laughter is very healing, really good for the soul.”

Strong faith also helped Peggy through post-polio syndrome – a condition developed from her bout with polio at age 5. “Roger wanted to pray out loud before I went to sleep,” Peggy says. “I’d never prayed out loud, so it was difficult for me. But we have done that every night. We hold hands and we pray together.” This faith – and 13 years of cortisone shots – helped Peggy fight her illness and later battle several mini-strokes, rotator-cuff surgery and epilepsy.

“God was there,” Peggy says. “I felt like I was wrapped in a cocoon of love.”

“You don’t look back, just look ahead,” Roger says. He does the best he can to care for his wife, whether it be driving her to church or to Upscale Resale, her favorite store. During the winter, he moved the deck swing inside near the fireplace and their big TV. “It’s wonderful,” Peggy smiles. “I’m spoiled rotten.”

Roger also spoiled Peggy with a diamond and pearl ring on their 50th wedding anniversary, as well as an Alaskan cruise. But perhaps the most memorable event was an early-morning visit to their church parking lot to remind them of the location where Roger proposed so many years ago. “It’s a different church in a different state, but it was romantic,” Peggy says. The couple took photographs and exchanged gifts.

Even now, 52 years later, Roger says, “When I look at her, I see her as a 19-year-old.”

Peggy has a good explanation: “When I look at him, he looks the same to me. It’s because our vision’s gone a little bit.”

What Is Love?

• “A compulsive attraction.” – Charlie & Bettie Koelling, married 63 years
• “When you care about someone so much, you don’t want to be with anyone else. You want to spend your life together; you make a commitment.” – Margaret & Lindy Tarwater, married 59 years
• “Just a wonderful word.” – Elba & William Womack, married 63 years
• “Listening to and respect for each other with appreciation and trust and desire to be together.” – Beuna and Ray Lansford, married 64 years
• “Mutual trust and sharing our feelings with each other.” – Bill & Maryanne Niedergerke, married 66 years
• “Caring. You look out for the needs of the other person. You’re willing to give your life. Total commitment.” – Roger & Peggy Moe, married 52 years
• “Respect, communication.” – Betty & Claude Baker, married 64 years

Advice For A Long And Happy Marriage:

• “Forgive easily, and never go to bed mad.” – Margaret & Lindy Tarwater, married 59 years
• “You just have to give and take a lot – and love your husband.” – Elba &William Womack, married 63 years
• “We don’t have a magic pill or the secret.” – Ben & Darlene Londeree, married 52 years
• “Sharing, caring and participating in all major activities.” – Beuna and Ray Lansford, married 64 years
• “We felt our marriage should be 50/50, and to maintain that feeling, we tell each other daily that we love each other.” – Bill & Maryanne Niedergerke, married 66 years
• “You are totally committed. You never, ever think of divorce. You’ll just get through it.” – Roger & Peggy Moe, married 52 years.
• “Commitment.” – Betty & Claude Baker, married 64 years.

Photos By L.G. Patterson

Seizing Power
A Transformed Michelle Ishmael Becomes A Transformer
By Anita Neal Harrison

Michelle Ishmael spent most of her life accepting limitations. Born with Marfan’s Syndrome, a hereditary connective tissue disorder, she grew up with heart and eye problems that prevented her from “running and playing like the other kids.” Doctors gave her a life expectancy of 30 years but in 2007, she turned 49. She was alive but not well; both her eyesight and her heart were failing.

“I was faced with an aortic root replacement, loss of vision and, as if that weren’t enough, my husband said, ‘Then she came down the menopause’ — and 30 extra pounds!” Ishmael says.

Used to feeling powerless in matters of health, Ishmael says her transformation began in her cardiologist’s office. She’d come through successful open-heart surgery and recovered her sight following two lens transplants, but she had not regained a sense of control or optimism.

“I said to [my cardiologist]: ‘I don’t know myself, don’t feel well. I’ve gained weight. My blood pressure is too high —’ and he interrupted and said, ‘If anyone can do something, you can. Do it. Lose weight!’ ”

The mild rebuke became a shot of encouragement. On that same day, April 1, 2008, Ishmael called Jenny Craig and visited the center.

“I checked my pride at the door and entered,” she says. “That first day, I felt I had already succeeded. They made me feel like I had hope. That was something I had almost given up on.”

In the following seven months, Ishmael dropped seven sizes. Her blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels all entered a healthy range, and her thyroid was finally under control. She felt better — much better — full of energy and self-respect.

“I found myself again,” she says.

The change affected everything, including what she wanted to be when she grew up. A longtime business owner (Ishmael has owned Express Personnel Services for 21 years), she decided to add part-time consulting work for Jenny Craig. She began in October 2008 and later became a full-time consultant. This past June, she became assistant center director.

She loves it. Since junior high, she has taken as her motto one of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous lines: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

“I’ve never thought of myself as a leader, but I am someone who says: ‘C’mon! Let’s get ’er done!’ and having that attitude empowers others to come along with you,” she says.

Her joy shines through as she shares her clients’ transformation stories — such as the dad who lost 50 pounds and proudly walked his daughter down the aisle or the woman who lost 87 pounds and 85 inches and no longer has to take insulin.

“The daily testimonials are endless,” she says with pride. “I am completely fulfilled by our clients and their successes.”

Telling her story, Ishmael more than once uses the phrase, “Who would’ve thought?”

Indeed, she says, “Who would’ve thought that making a call to Jenny Craig would change my life? But it did.”

Ishmael is still amazed at how much her life has changed in the last two years, all because she realized she has the power to change her future.

“I wasn’t supposed to live past 30, but now I have a future, and it changes everything,” she says. “I better be the best I can be for that future; it’s up to me to take care of myself for that future.”

Remaking History
Karla Winchester Transforms Architectural Salvage Into Savvy Décor
By Sandy Selby

Karla Winchester insists she is not a dumpster diver. “I’m a dumpster diva,” she says with a laugh.

The interior decorator and owner of a new Rocheport shop — Grace: A Place Of Restoration — has built a following for her imaginative use of architectural salvage. The proof is all over her store: in the wooden umbrella frame hanging upside down from the ceiling, bedecked in lights and greenery; in a matching set of old black doors that become elegant parentheses for the artwork between them; and in a sturdy pair of staircase spindles recreated as candleholders.

Winchester admits she rarely sees things as what they are; she sees them as what they could be.

When this Mizzou alum left Columbia after graduation in the 1980s, she moved to St. Louis and launched a decorating business. She gave up her design work for a while when a divorce made it necessary for her to find a job with benefits, but as she traveled around the Midwest as a college recruiter, she’d stop in at antique shops along her route. The relationships she formed with those antique dealers were helpful when she decided to return to decorating work full time and to start her own store in Rocheport. Her plan is to rebuild her interior decorating business while also stocking her store with antique salvaged items she has transformed into “exceptional and unique treasures.”

Her attitude may seem unusual for someone who owns a retail business, but Winchester says it’s not all about sales. For her, it’s as important to build relationships with customers and teach others what she has learned about interior decorating.

“When I first started my design company, I had no money to advertise,” she says. “I became a guest speaker. That’s how I built my business.” She plans to employ that philosophy again by hosting design workshops at her store.

Winchester believes the time is right to introduce mid-Missouri to the pleasures of decorating with architectural salvage. “There’s a lot of beauty in it,” she says. “These are imperfect things but they are full of color and texture. More and more people are staying where they are and want to bring that warmth, texture and nostalgia to their home.”

She does offer a few caveats to amateur salvage-seekers, and first on her list is to beware of lead paint. “I don’t encourage people with small children to use these pieces. By stripping the objects, you can take care of that problem.”

And take care that you’re not getting more than an interesting object d’art when you bring salvaged wood into your home. “Make sure you don’t have active ants or termites,” she cautions.

Not every architectural salvage project is right for the inexperienced do-it-yourselfer, Winchester says. She recommends leaving the installation of antique windows and reclaimed wood floors to professional installers. There are still plenty of opportunities for the average weekend warrior to introduce the charm of yesteryear into modern spaces.

“You don’t have to have a lot of money,” she says. “These things are already around.”

What’s In Karla Winchester’s B.A.G.G.?

Karla Winchester says if you include these elements in a room, good interior design is in the B.A.G.G.

B = Black: Just a touch can create depth and drama.

A = Artwork and Accessories: These can add your personal stamp to a room.

G = Glass: It adds lightness to a room full of wood and deep colors.

G = Greenery: Plants add life to a room.

Dreaming Big
The Central Missouri Dream Factory Transforms Despair Into Hope
By Christina Ingoglia

Michelle Windmoeller isn’t a fairy godmother, but she spends her time granting wishes.

As area coordinator for The Dream Factory of Central Missouri, Windmoeller works with critically ill children and those with chronic ailments, making dreams come true.

“Most of our children are referred to us through social workers at the hospital or through the child’s physician,” she says.

The referrals come to a gaggle of volunteers eager to make a difference in a child’s life. Volunteer Anne Farrow is working on her first dream. “We’re a 100 percent volunteer organization,” Farrow says. “More than 92 percent of money that we raise goes directly to the children’s dreams. At the national level we only have three full-time employees, and there are 36 chapters around the country.”

The Dream Factory of Central Missouri has only 19 volunteers who work directly on dreams. “Hopefully our chapter is going to grant our 500th dream this upcoming year,” Farrow says. “It’s incredible because we are a small group of core volunteers, and so much has been done in 25 years.”

Rachel’s Dream

“More than half of the dreams are trips to Disney,” says Tim Bach, vice president of the central Missouri chapter. And so, two years ago, when he had a chance to work on a dream that was a little different, he got excited.

“When they first told me about [the dream] I didn’t know how long it was going to take to get better or if I was going to get better,” says Rachel Tanski, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 15. “I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be able to do something like that on my own. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get to be well enough to go to college and then get a job. At the time, it was a breath of fresh air. I wanted to be able to accomplish one of my dreams, no matter what.”

Tanski, now 18, says The Dream Factory volunteers kept in touch during her illness so they could make her dream happen as soon as she was ready. “From the beginning I knew I wanted to do something with magazines,” Tanski says.

In the summer of 2008, Tanski shadowed Glenda Bailey, editor of Harper’s Bazaar.

“I bought a Harper’s Bazaar magazine, opened it up and found out who the editor was,” Bach says. “Then I found an e-mail address and got through to her assistant. It was all just amazing. There were more than 100 e-mails back and forth. I enjoy the challenging dreams, researching them, writing e-mails, making calls.”

Bach admits it was a lot of work, “but then I got the letter from Glenda Bailey thanking us. Then they did an article in Harper’s Bazaar and wrote about Rachel’s experience.”

The experience has awed Tanski, who is in remission and currently a student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. “When you get really sick you have a lot of friends in high school,” she says, “people you hang out with at lunch, but there aren’t that many people who come to the hospital all the time. The fact that the Dream Factory people, who didn’t know me before or know my parents, and had no reason to come see me, the fact that they wanted to do this stuff for me and cared so much, is just amazing.”

Building A Family Of Dreamers

The Dream Factory may not be able to cure children’s’ illnesses, but Windmoeller says the group can give a child hope.

“One thing that the social workers and doctors tell us — when children come in for treatment after their dreams — is they’re smiling and happy,” she says. “We’ve had kids go down to central Florida and when they were there they eat and smile. This is a big deal for kids who are sick. A dream gives them hope.”

The chapter also holds “continuing contact” events. Andrew James, another volunteer and the self-anointed oddball of the group, coordinates volunteers and helps with event planning.

“The MU Nursing School sent a total of 30 volunteers between two different events and we just started two months ago,” he says. James, like all of the volunteers, is emotionally invested in the dreamers’ lives. “Why do I dedicate as much time? Well, we don’t cure cancer. A cure for cancer 20 years from now is not going to affect them in the slightest.”

For Windmoeller, it comes down to the rippling effect The Dream Factory has on each child.

“What’s satisfying for me are the events that we hold over the course of the year when the families come and we get to spend time with them,” she says. “At our holiday party the deejay was playing “The Electric Slide” and the moms and the dads and the kids — kids who are in wheelchairs or have difficulties moving — were out there dancing and smiling.”

Every year at the offices of Inside Columbia, we ring out the old year by making our list of the people we think will be our city’s most watched in the year to come. This time around, we came up with dozens of watch-worthy names and after a lot of debate (and a few minor tantrums), we culled the list to the 10 people and groups we think we’ll still be talking about as 2010 comes to a close.

Chris Belcher

Public sentiment is cautiously optimistic that the new Columbia Public Schools superintendent can regain the trust of the taxpayers and restore the prestige to our once-proud school district. Chris Belcher comes across as a straight shooter, and that’s an appealing quality, but the truth could get ugly with state budget cuts necessitating staff reductions and limiting teacher pay increases. And if that wasn’t enough to make a superintendent want to skip school, Jefferson City insiders say the budget cuts could continue for several years to come.

Yet even while his budget is getting the squeeze, Belcher is trying to convince a skeptical public that now is the perfect time for a bond issue to fund construction of a new high school. If Belcher gets the go-ahead from voters in April, that will only be a first step. Building the new school is one thing, but staffing it is another and will mean gaining enough public favor over the next few years to push through a tax increase.

The flameout of the 2008 tax levy ballot proposal shows that today’s Columbians aren’t willing to fork over extra tax dollars to their school system until they are confident it’s a worthwhile investment. It will be up to Belcher to persuade them that their money will be well spent.

The Columbia City Council

With contentious meetings that stretch into the wee hours of the morning, it’s a wonder that anyone ever runs for Columbia’s City Council. The all-volunteer group of seven (six ward representatives and the mayor) is charged with establishing the policies the rest of us must live with, and that’s no easy thing. It takes stamina and a thick skin to serve our city in that capacity, qualities that Mayor Darwin Hindman possesses in abundance. It turns out that five terms is enough, even for the energetic Hindman, who has decided not to run for a sixth term.

The mayoral front-runner appears to be Fourth Ward Representative Jerry Wade, whose fiery style may not sit well with those used to Hindman’s peacemaker approach. Some in the business community are publicly fretting that the council will tilt even further to the anti-growth left with Wade at the helm and a new member filling his current seat, but the grumblers have yet to produce a candidate from their ranks.

The council begins 2010 with a public relations problem after rejecting the use of downtown surveillance cameras, only to be overruled by a petition drive that puts the issue on the April ballot. Nearly 3,000 people signed the petition in support of the cameras, which means nearly 3,000 people think that, at least on this one issue, the City Council failed to do its job.

Karen and Adam Taylor

Is there any force of nature greater than an angry mom? Karen Taylor and her son Adam weren’t looking for the kind of local recognition that found them in 2009, but they took a bad situation and turned it into a rallying cry for a public that is fed up with crime in Columbia.

The movement was born out of a horrific event that happened in a downtown parking garage late at night on June 6, 2009. Adam was walking to his car when he was attacked and beaten by seven teenagers. The entire incident was caught on a video surveillance camera in the garage, which gave police everything they needed to track down the suspects. Just two months earlier the city council had rejected the use of city-owned mobile surveillance cameras downtown, but in light of this attack and the important role surveillance video played in the capture of the perpetrators, Karen and Adam were sure they could persuade the city council to reconsider. They went to the July 20 city council meeting to ask the council to hear public comment and reopen the discussion. In a 3 to 4 vote, the council said no.

Rather than give up, mother and son took their case to the public, forming the Keep Columbia Safe organization and launching a successful petition drive that puts the surveillance camera issue on the April 2010 ballot. We’ll find out in April whether the Taylors’ support for the cameras reflects the mood of the community, or if those who worry such surveillance treads on civil rights will make a better case with voters. We wouldn’t bet against the angry mom in any fight, but especially not this mom in this fight.

The Central Missouri Humane Society

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was 2009 at the Central Missouri Humane Society. The year started off like a nonprofit’s dream-come-true, with two teenage girls leading a campaign through ZooToo.com that would bring a cool million to Columbia’s financially strapped animal shelter. The campaign itself brought a bonanza of publicity to CMHS, and the eventual win had all of Columbia celebrating the end of the struggles for our animal shelter.

It was, as it turned out, just the beginning of a nightmare. Columbians quickly discovered that the $1 million gift came with more fundraising strings attached. CMHS and the city squabbled over municipal reluctance to shoulder a rent increase for shelter space to house Animal Control activities. Then came the unexplained and inexplicably public breakup between the two young ZooToo champions and the shelter they had worked so hard to support. The board of directors let its disagreements spill out in the press, ZooToo rejected the first proposal for the shelter makeover, the shelter’s strict adoption policies became “Trib Talk” fodder, and in November, executive director Patty Forister resigned.

The Central Missouri Humane Society hoped to be building a new shelter in 2010, but first it’s going to have to rebuild its relationship with a community in shock over the dramatic turn of events.

Dr. Robert Churchill

Welcome to your new job as dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Dr. Robert Churchill. Now that you’ve had a month or so to settle into the permanent gig, tell us how you’re going to shore up medical school funding in light of state cuts, produce enough internal medicine primary-care physicians to keep up with demand, and reform health care in America. OK, we’ll let you off the hook for that last thing; there are enough people with their fingers in that particular pie. But the other two … those are things you’re going to be dealing with for a while.

The University of Missouri educates the majority of our state’s future physicians. It’s an important job, but our medical school doesn’t get anywhere near the funding from the state that a certain rock-chalkin’ Kansas school gets. In fact, MU receives only $33,000 per student per year from the state, compared to $112,000 per student in Kansas. That means that Missouri students are saddled with more debt for their education and tend to migrate to more lucrative specialties. That may be good news for anyone needing an emergency appointment with a dermatologist, but not so great for a flu-ridden populace looking for a little primary care TLC.

Medical schools are under pressure to increase class sizes. If a health care reform plan funnels more patients into the system, that suggestion might just become a mandate. Without more state support, Churchill will need more than good medicine; he’ll need a miracle to pay for the new facilities and faculty it would take to pull that off at Mizzou.

Columbia’s Realtors

Real estate agents have a gift for finding the silver lining in every economic cloud. Perhaps you’ve heard them brag that even as local sales have slowed, property values have remained steady. That may come as interesting news to last year’s sellers who settled for the highest of the lowball offers they received, but maybe it’s time we all started believing again.

The federal government has extended and expanded its homebuyer incentives until April, which may get potential buyers to commit during the normally sluggish winter months rather than waiting for spring. These incentives come as the economy in Columbia shows signs of recovering more quickly than other parts of the nation.

Yes, things could get better and every other economic sector is hoping for real estate to rebound, but the real estate listings are still mighty sparse and only the strongest Realtors survived the rotten housing market of 2009 to sell another day. There are fewer new houses being built so there are fewer new houses to sell, and buyers are taking advantage of their power position by asking sellers to make big concessions on price, closing costs, updates and more.

We’re going to need local Realtors to inspire our confidence and spark a lucrative wave of optimism in 2010, but anyone who can sell a 1970s ranch with harvest gold appliances and shag carpeting can surely sell a growing town on the notion of optimism.

Gary Forsee

It’s a good thing University of Missouri President Gary Forsee has a head for business because it’s going to take all his brainpower to see the four-campus system through the next few years. At the beginning of 2010, the UM system ranks 33rd out of 34 colleges in the Association of American Colleges when it comes to faculty salaries. Only three states provide less funding for their universities than Missouri and that already minimal support was slashed by 5 percent last year. That’s actually the good news, because the governor threatened to cut more if the university system didn’t agree to freeze in-state tuition for the year.

But wait, there’s more! Forsee feared the federal government’s pending cap-and-trade legislation — a measure touted as a means to protect the planet from greenhouse gases — could cost the coal-powered Mizzou campus millions for the purchase of credits to use a polluting form of power. His letter to Missouri’s congressional delegation fired up critics who saw his objection to cap-and-trade as a flip-flop from his earlier sentiments about greening up the UM system.

The year ahead isn’t likely to bring a cash windfall from the state, so Forsee is going to have to look for other ways to boost funding. He’s floating the ideas of a no-frills, three-year degree and a sizeable boost in tuition for out-of-state students. The tasks ahead of Forsee are daunting and any solutions he proposes are sure to stir up controversy. Let’s hope he has the intestinal fortitude for the challenges that lie ahead.

Kurt Schaefer

State Sen. Kurt Schaefer is still relatively new to the job, but he’s already making a big impression in Jefferson City. Schaefer, who was elected in 2008, was recently appointed as vice chairman of the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee. This is the committee that holds the purse strings for state government and is responsible for the funding that is doled out to the University of Missouri. The appointment is being lauded on all the state-funded campuses because of Schaefer’s very vocal support for higher education.

What’s more, Schaefer, a Republican, has been caught cooperating with Democrats. This rare display of cordial bipartisanship should be good for Columbia, a city that depends heavily on its state-supported institutions. He’s already gone on record criticizing Gov. Jay Nixon for withholding available and approved funding for the construction of a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. As Schaefer continues to gain friends and influence Jefferson City, he may collect enough clout to nudge that important project out of its budget purgatory.

Bill Watkins

When Bill Watkins took over as Columbia’s city manager in 2006, replacing long-time manager Ray Beck, many predicted his tenure would be short. After all, it’s hard to win over the “we’ve always done it this way” crowd that is used to your predecessor’s style. So far, Watkins has managed the city’s projects efficiently, keeping things on time and on budget. Perhaps he’s not as affable or as popular as Beck, but he’s outlasted the forecasts that said he’d be gone in a year.

His biggest test may come in 2010. Although Kraig Kahler, Columbia’s former Water & Light director, resigned his city job before allegedly killing his wife and teenage daughters, Watkins made that hire and critics are calling into question his judgment on personnel matters. In a few more months, the honeymoon will be over for Columbia’s new police chief and if that hire disappoints, Watkins will bear the brunt of the blame. Personnel issues are also at the heart of his contentious relationship with members of the Columbia City Council.

Some very vocal city-watchers are starting to decry Watkins’ leadership. He’s proven he can get city-funded projects built, but the length of his stay in Columbia’s brand new city hall may depend on his ability to build bridges.

Downtown Retailers

All Columbia’s downtown retailers wanted for Christmas was for you to shop in their stores. No one has felt the squeeze of the recession more than specialty boutiques and fine dining establishments that lost a significant percentage of customers to big boxes and fast food. When the economy gets better, those lost customers will come back, but how many of the downtown stores and restaurants will still be there when they return?

Marketers want us to call downtown The District, a hip title for one of the hippest parts of town. There’s certainly a lot going for the area. The removal of the ugly but utilitarian concrete awnings revealed gorgeous historical architecture. The shops are interesting, the owners take a personal interest in their customers, and shoppers can find merchandise in downtown stores they simply can’t find anywhere else.

Parking, however, remains a challenge. Try as they might, the merchant leadership hasn’t been able to convince shoppers (and sometimes even their own employees) to use the parking garages. Parallel parking presents more of a challenge than some drivers are willing to accept and delivery trucks add to midday congestion by forgoing alleys for the convenience of unloading in the middle of the street. For some shoppers, those are all the reasons they need to take their business to the mall, shopping centers or the Internet.

Now there’s a growing perception that The District is not a safe place to be, especially after dark, an idea that can only hurt downtown bars and restaurants.

There will always be eager entrepreneurs who are sure they can make a splash in downtown Columbia. Some will even succeed. But a tough 2009 will have some downtown merchants packing up and moving their businesses elsewhere in 2010. Others will simply pack it in.

Who Else Will We Be Watching In 2010?

Dianne Lynch

Can the new president of Stephens College maintain the growth her predecessor started while infusing the institution with fresh ideas?

Cindy Stein

The women’s basketball program at Mizzou has been struggling in recent years and that was before two of its players made national sports headlines for smacking around a male cheerleader. Can the coach stay in the game?

Kattesh Katti and Raghuraman Kannan

These two University of Missouri researchers have successfully treated cancer in animals by injecting tumors with gold nanoparticles. Next comes human trials and after that … maybe the greatest advance in cancer treatment in a generation.

Roger Wilson

The former governor has been keeping the chair warm for Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance’s next CEO, but the buzz is that the job may be his to keep.

Darwin Hindman

How will Columbia’s longtime mayor fill his days after he bids adieu to elected office? Will he continue to exert his influence on city policy or will he ride his bike into the sunset and leave public life behind?

John Ott

The developer has bought up prominent chunks of downtown Columbia and will be TIFing the Tiger Hotel to a posh new life. Will the end result be worth the confusion, misinformation and grumbling over his Tax Increment Financing deal?

Larry Potterfield

The founder and CEO of MidwayUSA is evangelizing about corporate excellence and plans to start teaching others the strategies that just landed his company the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.