Missouri Lawyers Media
Small practices in the pandemic:
Borrow to survive
By: Allen Fennewald April 1, 2020
URL: https://molawyersmedia.com/2020/04/01/small-practices-in-the-pandemic-borrow-to-survive/
Many of Missouri’s small law firms are spending this week helping businesses apply for a share of the new federal stimulus funding while trying to take advantage of the same programs for their own needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Solo and small firms make up roughly two-thirds of all law practices in Missouri, according to The Missouri Bar. For those firms, the best programs to consider in the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed last month by Congress are the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans, said Blake Markus, a partner at Carson & Coil in Jefferson City.
Blake Markus
Interest is so high in the payroll program, Markus said, that if businesses have not already submitted an application to their bank before the program opens on Friday, April 3, it may be too late for them to get a portion of the $349 billion allocated for the program.
“Banks I’ve spoken with are pre-entering all the information to be submitted at midnight, so the queue with your bank starts now,” Markus said this week.
State Rep. Wes Rogers, who is of-counsel at BG Law in Kansas City, said payroll program recipients will be decided on a first-come, first-serve basis. A fourth round of stimulus will likely be necessary as demand outweighs available funding, he added.
Payroll is the biggest expenditure for many firms. The Paycheck Protection Program allows employers with fewer than 500 employees and up to $10 million in revenue to defer up to eight weeks of payroll costs and other expenses such as rent, utilities and taxes. It is retroactively available so employers can rehire employees laid off since Feb. 15.
“If you spend all that money for what it’s earmarked for, it ends up being a forgivable loan, basically a grant from the government,” Rogers said.
State Rep. Wes Rogers, D-Kansas City and an attorney, works in his office April 2, 2020. Rogers has been poring over the fine print of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Photo by Scott Lauck
Loan forgiveness requires employers to rehire or otherwise maintain the workforce, with new employees earning at least 75 percent of the person they replaced. If the workforce is reduced by 20 percent, only 80 percent can be forgiven. Funds that aren’t forgiven initially were set to be repaid over 10 years at 4 percent, but that schedule has changed to two years at 0.5 percent, Markus said.
“It’s a mess, and subject to change at a moment’s notice,” he said. “With the last-minute changes, rush for cash, and vagueness of the bill, we can almost guarantee that there will be problems for uninformed business owners who take funds and do not understand what they can be used for or what must be repaid.”
Loan amounts are determined by the total average monthly payroll from March 2019 to February, multiplied by 2.5, or the maximum amount of $10 million. The program does not include annual compensation over $100,000 for individual employees. The average payroll for months of 2020 will be referenced for businesses that have opened since last year.
But questions remain unanswered about the program, such as payment due dates and interest accrual amounts during referral periods, Markus said.
“The general idea is that you have to keep all of your employees or rehire them, but we still haven’t seen the exact language for what it means to rehire or keep all of your employees,” he said. “What happens if an employee quit two weeks before the bill was passed, or you’ve got one more employee in the previous year than you had this year?”
Small law firms also may be interested in seeking fixed, low-rate Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the Small Business Administration. They offer up to $2 million, with as much as $200,000 available without a personal guarantee or collateral, and they no longer require borrowers to show they can’t get credit elsewhere.
Repayment terms will be determined by the borrower’s individual abilities. While those loans offer more money for a longer period of time, they aren’t as sought-after as the payroll protection because they aren’t forgivable, Markus said.
“If you’re a small firm trying to get by in the short term, I think those disaster loans are going to be pretty appealing,” Rogers said.
Firms can apply for both loan programs, but they must use the funds for different purposes and keep them in separate accounts, he said.
“As soon as you comingle those monies, they become one, and you’ve got to pay a portion of it back,” he said.
Rogers said he views the stimulus package as one of the fairest plans to come out of Congress in a long time, noting that it offers opportunities to regular people rather than just big business.
“I rarely say this, but I’ve got to say to the people in D.C. that most of that was a job pretty well done,” Rogers said. “No matter what situation is, you’re probably going to find something that will help your business or law firm.”
Markus, however, said the payroll program may need to provide for more than eight weeks of protection to be effective.
“If this goes on to four to six months, I think you’ll see a significant number of businesses closing, those funds never being returned to the federal government, and you’ll just have a bunch of written-off loans and employees that got a couple extra paychecks out of it before they got laid off and put on unemployment,” he said.
Neighborhood Vacancy Initiative marks successes, mulls expansion
By: Allen Fennewald April 13, 2020
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s Neighborhood Vacancy Initiative this month marks two years of renovating or demolishing vacant properties in St. Louis communities, increasing a sense of local pride while improving the safety and viability of the neighborhoods.
Local residents work with the Neighborhood Vacancy Initiative to fill the holes in their communities. The initiative helps to track down and litigate against absentee property owners, facilitate property sales and transfers, organize community associations, find funding for repair projects and assist low-income homeowners in estate planning, among other services.
Since its inception in April 2018, the initiative has opened more than 150 cases on behalf of local groups, about 50 of which deal with vacant and dilapidated properties. Almost two dozen cases resulted in affirmative litigation against absentee property owners living as far away as Israel.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s office estimated in 2018 that the city contained about 25,000 vacant properties, many of which cause safety and fire hazards, lower surrounding property values and diminish residents’ sense of wellbeing.
“[The problem is] not just that there’s a lot of vacant buildings, but it’s the impact that has on quality of life, public health and mental health. It affects not only folks who live near vacancy but also the community as a whole and our entire region,” said Tara Aubuchon, vacancy coordinator with STL Vacancy Collaborative, a coalition that works with the initiative to address vacancy and promote community engagement.
“Legal Services has been a key partner . . . participating in our working groups and providing their legal expertise about everything from code enforcement to anti-displacement and vacancy prevention,” she said.
LSEM Executive Director Dan Glazier said the initiative aligns with the agency’s mission to help low-income people access legal representation and aid programs.
“To get in there and try to bring these neighborhoods back, house by house, building by building, that is key, and it connects to much of what else we do,” he said.
The initiative expanded to five staff members in October after receiving a two-year grant of $316,000 from Legal Services Corporation, the national nonprofit organization that provides funding to legal aid organizations around the country. The grant will benefit the West End, Hyde Park, Academy and Old North St. Louis neighborhoods, where the initiative’s work will be supported by volunteer attorneys from Stinson, Husch Blackwell, Thompson Coburn and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.
Attorney Peter Hoffman participated in a similar project in Kansas City before returning to St. Louis, his hometown, as the initiative’s founder. He’s worked with more than a dozen community organizations to form associations, draft development plans and interact with absentee property owners.
Scattered debris remains in a basement room in a vacant house on Blair Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of St. Louis. Photo by Chuck Ramsay for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri
Hoffman said vacant housing is a common problem in post-industrial cities, but St. Louis has exacerbating issues such as its relatively cheap real estate market.
“A lot of times, I’ll file suit and hear from an out-of-state owner who purchased a large portfolio of properties. They, quote unquote, ‘flipped’ one or two, made their money back and the rest of [the properties] don’t have any value so they kind of let them go,” Hoffman said. “Because they are out of state, it’s really hard for municipal code enforcement or local prosecutors to hold those absentee property owners accountable.”
Tonnie Smith, a West End advocate, worked with the initiative to address a property frequently broken into on Clemens Avenue. She was apprehensive for her teenage daughter to pass the house on her way to walk the dog or babysit for neighbors.
“There are certain houses where we say, ‘Don’t walk by there,’ because we know [there are] people who are on drugs in those houses illegally,” she said.
Smith decided to take action after a woman allegedly was raped inside the house. A gun was found in the backyard, where neighbors often saw used needles, she said.
Community residents sent a letter to the property owner without response. It took contacting the city’s nuisance officer to reach the property owner, who finally called Smith.
“I said, ‘You can sell this property, and Peter Hoffman can help you with it to get this under control,’” Smith said. “[The owner] was an older gentleman, and there was a titling issue. Peter worked it all out with him. If it were not for [Hoffman], the property wouldn’t have been sold, and now it’s currently under renovation.”
The initiative helped to organize the West End South Community Improvement District, which is raising money to establish a sculpture park in two vacant lots to promote the Central West End Historic District. It also helps low-income homeowners maintain their residences through estate planning and home improvement projects. Helping elderly people legally leave a residence to their progeny after their death allows families to remain in longstanding homes.
“[Beneficiary deeds] don’t take very long to do, and it’s also a very good project for private attorneys to work with us on a pro bono basis,” Glazier said.
Litigation filed against property owners has garnered more attention, but some of the initiative’s most important work is in estate planning due to the high volume of need for the service.
“We are proud of everything we do, but I think the fact that we’ve been able to help neighborhoods to become more stable by allowing that clean transfer of title or allowing people to stay in their communities is something we’re really proud of, too,” Hoffman said.
The initiative still has a long way to go to meet needs in the city and eventually expand into the county. It will require additional partnerships and even more pro bono work, which already has added up to 4,200 hours in less than two years.
“We’d be really interested in trying to work with community groups who are struggling with vacancy in St. Louis County,” Hoffman said. “We think there’s more opportunities for pro bono involvement outside of the four firms who have partnered with four neighborhoods under this grant. . . . We’re working on increasing our own capacity to be able to get more attorneys involved and working on these cases.”
Jefferson City News Tribune
Iberia residents struggle over proposal to arm teachers
In a rural Mid-Missouri community, residents are torn over how to locally address an issue of national importance: how to best protect students against an active shooter.
More than 75 people attended a public meeting hosted by the Iberia R-5 School District on Tuesday evening in the high school gymnasium to discuss a consideration to allow teachers to arm themselves against dangers such as active school shooters. If Iberia Grounds Security Policy ECA-1 is revised, district personnel could apply for training and approval to carry concealed weapons such as mace or firearms on campus in an attempt to protect students and staff members from attack.
Superintendent Lyndel Whittle said the meeting went very well, and the board would have to further ponder the issue before making a decision. The BOE does not have a set time limit in which to make a decision.
Iberia R-5 is a rural school district located east of Lake of the Ozarks in Miller County with approximately 725 students and 110 employees. Many residents voiced support on the revision in order to better protect students in a rural district with lengthy officer response times. None of the eight people who offered an official comment were against the revision. About 340 residents responded to an online survey before the meeting in which Whittle said the revision received strong support.
However, almost everyone who spoke also voiced concern about potential problems.
A few attendants questioned whether it would be better for the district to hire a second school security officer or improve other security systems instead of arming teachers. Multiple attendants said students would likely deduce which teachers are secretly armed.
Casey Stack, a former Marine and parent of Iberia students, said he supported the revision, given that the teachers are properly trained and work with area police departments so everyone has the same protocol in an active shooter situation. He thought that would be especially important if the district received training through a private security company rather than law enforcement officials.
Librarian Carolyn Beal said it would be difficult for teachers to work together in the case of a school shooting if they do not know which teachers are armed and expected to confront the shooter. Whittle said the district would have to develop protocol to address that issue.
“I don’t frankly know how this could be kept a secret, because the teacher who is armed needs to have the support of those around her to be able to take care of her students,” Beal said.
Board member Kyle Nichols said if the revision were approved, a sister program should also be approved to address the emotional wellbeing of the students. “The district needs more mental and emotional wellness programs that answers to the board,” he said.
Miller County Sheriff Louie Gregoire echoed Nichols’ point, saying preventing the creation of a school shooter should be as much of a focus as responding to one. “I think instead of talking about the reaction of it, we should be talking about prevention,” Gregoire said.
The schools’ only currently armed resource officer, Andy Long, said he supports the revision because he can’t be everywhere in the school at once.
The BOE wanted to hear community members’ opinions on the possibility of arming select staff members before making a decision.
“The majority of the board members have not indicated a strong leaning either way, as they want to continue to learn more and consider how they wish to proceed,” Whittle said before the meeting. “This is not a decision to be rushed. We are being very deliberative and thoughtful in making any decisions about this. How our community feels is important to us.”
Whittle previously said most of the district’s teachers surveyed did not feel they would be good at serving in the role of armed campus protector, but a few staff members indicated they would be interested in completing training.
The Board of Education met with representatives from the Law Enforcement Training Institute (LETI) and Shield Solutions LLC at the regular board meeting Feb. 27. Whittle said both agencies gave informative presentations and answered questions from the board and community members about the training, screening and selection process the agencies use before approving a teacher to carry a concealed weapon on campus.
LETI generally trains police officers, but it also offers a School Protection Officer Training program through the Department of Public Safety. SPO applicants would be screened to determine if they are mentally and emotionally capable of serving in the role of protecting students with a concealed firearm. John Warner, emergency planning coordinator of the Missouri School Boards’ Association, said Iberia would be the first school district in the state to implement an SPO through DPS, which would track and monitor SPOs throughout the state.
Shield Solutions is a private security company stationed in West Plains that offers a training and insurance program to school staff members. Several schools throughout Missouri are already arming their teachers through its Critical Incident Response course and School Employee Firearms Training program. After 40 hours of training and a mental evaluation — plus annual eight-hour follow-up courses — approved teachers become Shield Solutions employees, simultaneously serving as armed security guards and teachers under the company’s liability insurance.
Climax Springs R-4 staff members began working with Shield Solutions in spring 2014 after administrators grew concerned with how long it would take for law enforcement officials to respond to an active school shooter in the building housing pre-kindergarten to high school students, which is located more than 20 miles of winding roads away from the nearest police station in Camdenton.
Superintendent Nathan Barb said the program has been successful in the district so far.
“It’s worked out very well,” he said. “We are four years into it, and it’s quiet. After the initial year, a lot of our community and teachers all know about it. But it’s not something that they worry about on a daily basis, and it’s not a big deal. Heaven forbid (an active shooter) does ever happen — that’s not what any individual wants to hope for — but hopefully we will be prepared in that case the best we can.”
The Ellsworth American
Boaters swim to shore after engine fire
First place winner of the 2016 New England Better Newspaper Competition spot news story category (circulation 6,000+)
ELLSWORTH — A family of four jumped into Union River and swam ashore with flotation devices when the motor of their boat caught fire early on Fourth of July afternoon.
Matt and Kate Rechner of Los Angeles, Calif., along with children Sophia, 7, and Matthew, 4, were unharmed.
At one point, the boat stalled and its motor started flaming. That’s when Matt Rechner began to worry about a possible explosion. Kate Rechner said the fire extinguisher jammed when her husband attempted to operate it.
“Matt says to me ‘Oh no! Okay, everybody into the water!’” She and Sophie jumped in and caught Matthew, before Matt Rechner jumped.
Kate Rechner’s parents Alan and Beth Ann Lieberman remained aboard the 17-foot Bowrider, which was moored at the mouth of the river. Alan Lieberman doused the flames after unscrewing the lid of the fire extinguisher while his wife called the Ellsworth harbormaster for help on her cell phone.
Kate Rechner yelled for her parents to get in the water, but said it seemed as if they were prepared to go down with the boat until the flames were out.
“I think they kind of just figured, look if this is it, we’re together. It was pretty scary,” she said.
Sophie and Matthew seemed to be in good spirits after the ordeal, but their parents were still pumping with adrenaline on the beach.
“I thought that was the end,” Kate Rechner said.
Joshua and Jennifer Torrance arrived to help in their boat as Alan Lieberman was able to put out the flames.
The boat drifted toward the eastern shore. Residents Edward and Linda MacLeod smelled smoke before getting in their boat to help while the family neared shore.
Beth Ann Lieberman also called Melody Reed. She and Linda Greenlaw helped coordinate a rescue effort before realizing the danger had subsided.
MacLeod offered to drive the family to the Ellsworth marina, where the Ellsworth Fire Department (EPD) towed the boat and the Liebermans on its rescue Zodiac.
“Everybody is fine. Nobody was injured and it turned out as best it could have,” said EPD Lieutenant Daryl Clark. EPD responded by rescue boat and fire truck, but the fire was out by the time the department arrived. Marine Patrol also responded to the scene.
The family had recently purchased a new marine-grade Walmart battery for the boat and think it may have short circuited and caused the fire.
“Just a few minutes prior we were admiring the bald eagles flying overhead,” Matt Rechner said as the kids went into the MacLeod house to get dry.
Jefferson City News Tribune
California’s volunteer brotherhood
CALIFORNIA, Mo. — Members of the California City Fire Department and California Rural Fire Protection District are still mentally and emotionally recovering after a fire that caused the death of a 4-year-old boy Oct. 2 in the unincorporated McGirk community.
The tragedy was made even more acute because the fire occurred next door to the McGirk rural fire station.
Although the city and rural fire protection districts were already working with dispatch to coordinate response efforts, the incident highlighted the importance of establishing and improving the system.
Moniteau County sheriff’s deputies were the first to respond to the residential fire within six minutes of the original dispatch in the late morning of Oct. 2 at 55172 State St. in McGirk. An adult on scene said one child was unaccounted for and could still be inside the burning home. Deputies attempted to go in through the front door and were met by flames. A deputy managed to enter through a window but was overcome by smoke inhalation and had to be pulled out by emergency responders.
Rural Fire Chief Shawn Merrill said rural fire district volunteers arrived at the station within eight minutes of receiving the call. According to the Missouri Division of Fire Safety incident report, the first rural firefighter to arrive was not immediately aware a child was inside. Merrill said rural firefighters did not have time to don their protective gear and quickly retrieved the fire engine from the station, spraying the structure with water within about three minutes of arriving.
Merrill said it sometimes can take only two minutes for house fires to reach the flashover point in which all combustible material in the structure will ignite.
City firefighters arrived shortly after the rural crew, already wearing protective gear. They entered the structure to retrieve the child, confronted by intense heat, and found him in the back bedroom. The 4-year-old was rushed to the hospital but did not survive due to severe smoke inhalation.
“They don’t know for sure (how long the fire was burning), but with the fire marshal’s investigation, they said that there was no way by the time we got there that (the boy) would survive,” Merrill said. “It looks bad because it’s right next to a station, and a lot of people have a misconception that if there is a fire house there there’s (on-duty firefighters) in it, but that’s not the case usually in rural areas. You don’t have the tax base to support that.”
Merrill said the event was hard on everyone, but his firefighters were holding up pretty well.
“We had a meeting afterward with everybody that responded — not just our department, but the deputies and the ambulance people and the city department,” he said. “Everybody was invited, and we had one of the pastors here in town come out and talk to us, and just kind of get together and talk it over and kind of vent. I wanted to make sure that nobody was having problems that we could help with, and if they were, we could get them the help they need.”
Although the volunteers realize they did everything they could, Merrill said some of the younger firefighters still carry the weight of the tragedy. “Some of the younger ones, I’m sure they’ve never seen that before, and it’s still in the back of their mind that this could happen. We try everything we can to not let it happen, but the reality is there’s going to be things that we cannot stop. It’s a possibility on every fire, but you can’t let that stop you from going.”
Year in review
The rural district, comprised of about 32 male and female volunteers, responded to almost 300 calls with an average response time of six to seven minutes to the farthest reaches of the district, said Merrill, who also is a full-time firefighter at Lake Ozark.
California’s city fire chief, Allen Smith — the only full-time paid employee of either district — said 2017 was a typical year for the department, which consists of 22 male volunteers. It responded to 493 calls with an average response time of eight minutes from receiving the call to arriving on scene. About 80 percent of the calls were medical-related incidents firefighters were dispatched to as first responders.
“We basically respond to any emergency in the city, so we are set up here with medical first responders. Some of my guys in my department are employees of Mid Mo Ambulance,” Smith said.
Merrill said the rural response times have improved quite a bit over the year.
“We’ve been getting a few more volunteers, especially in areas where we didn’t have any. We were having to respond from (California) to Clarksburg because we didn’t have anybody in the Clarksburg area. Now we have three or four (volunteer firefighters) out there, and they’ve been cutting the response times down tremendously.”
Although things are improving, Merrill said the rural district still needs more volunteers but is already running on a tight budget. The rural district will need to replace its firefighters’ gear — totaling about $3,500 per firefighter — in the near future. The only budget item Merrill can pull money from is for training, putting volunteer firefighters in a difficult position.
The rural district is comprised of one main station on the east side of California and four smaller stations in Clarksburg, McGirk, Kliever, and at the intersection of Route T and MO-87. Merrill said all of the outlying stations are equipped with a fire engine and a brush truck, and the station at Kliever also houses a tanker truck. He said the placement of the stations allows firefighters to be within 5 miles of most of the rural district’s reach.
The district began 2017 with $20,532.65 and received $102,036 in tax revenues, according to the California Rural Fire Protection District 2017 estimated budget report. After the year’s $122,506 in expenditures such as utilities, gas, equipment and training, only $62.65 remained.
In comparison, the city’s California Fire Department has $137,509 in its 2018 budget to fund a single large fire station. The rural fire district’s 2018 budget had yet to be completed.
The rural district’s 2017 budget report shows after $26,000 was budgeted for insurance and workman’s compensation, $26,000 for new equipment, $17,806 for a new auxiliary fire station, $16,500 toward a truck purchase and many other expenditures, only $2,000 remained for training costs.
Merrill said as new equipment needs arise, the modest training budget is the only place from which funds can be pulled. “With five stations and 16 trucks to maintain, that don’t leave a whole lot for training and stuff like that,” he said. “(Training) is the last thing that you want to pull (funds) from, but that’s the thing you have to pull from. As a volunteer department, we have to try and be professional, but (the volunteers) have to be very dedicated because we still have to have the same amount of training as what the professionals do.”
Merrill said first responders are required to take a 40-hour class, with 30 hours of continuing education every three years. All volunteers are required to take 40 hours of firefighter training. The rural first responders also train for three hours at every monthly meeting, and firefighters train three hours during their meetings twice a month.
While properly funding this training is important, the district soon has to replace its air packs to keep firefighters safe on the job. Merrill estimated the 20 air packs need to be replaced by the end of 2018 and will cost $20,000, and another 20 air packs are due for replacement at the end of 2019. He said almost all of the rural district’s hoses are past their recommended replacement dates, though they have passed their quality tests. He estimated the hoses will cost another $125,000.
Merrill said his applications for state and federal emergency management grants to fund new equipment were denied.
The rural volunteers have elected in the past few years to give up their gas reimbursements, helping pay for new equipment, but Merrill said private donations would be appreciated to help purchase equipment and fund training exercises between the city and rural departments.
Mutual aid
The California city and rural fire districts are working on a cooperative project to train their volunteer firefighters together, build teamwork and more effectively fight structure fires by mutually responding to incidents in the California area.
“The fire service really does depend big time on brotherhood,” Smith said. “You have to depend on these guys, and it can be a really difficult task at times.”
The California Fire Department responds to incidents within city limits, and the California Rural Fire Protection District responds outside of the city within 250 square miles — almost 60 percent of Moniteau County. The departments already automatically mutually respond to motor-vehicle accidents and are working on a system to automatically dispatch firefighters from both departments to other emergencies like structure fires.
With this system, members of both departments would be contacted by dispatch to respond to structure fires in their area. For example, if a fire happens at night, the firefighters who live closest the fire can get the call and respond to the emergency. A chain of command would be established based on where the fire occurred after the first responders have worked together to address the emergency.
“We’ve been having fire chiefs’ meetings here in Moniteau County, and everybody is kind of facing the same difficulties with manpower and the availability of people at different times,” Smith said. “We are actually working on a plan to do some more automatic aid to structure fires, working with 911 to streamline some of the dispatching. It is in the planning phase right now.”
Merrill said working together will help ease the burden of having a small amount of volunteer firefighters, widely dispersed in the city, rural areas and distant communities.
“I think (cooperation) is extremely important for all of us,” Merrill said. “It’s getting harder and harder to find volunteers anyway, so if we can get it to where we can work together, it’s going to ease some of that.”
Opposition to Rock Island Trail
‘up against Goliath’
December 24th, 2017 Bin Local News Read Time: 7 mins.
Overwhelming public support for the proposed Rock Island Trail has left opposing landowners feeling like little David facing the giants of government, big business, nonprofit proponents and national opinion.
“We aren’t being heard,” Osage County farmer Rodney Luebbering said. “We are kind of up against Goliath. The government is against us; the law is against us. You are basically (forced) to take what they give you. We are in the minority, and our voice isn’t getting out because we really don’t have a way to connect.”
The proposed Rock Island Trail would add more than 144 miles of Ameren’s dismantled Rock Island Line railway onto the existing 47.5-mile Rock Island Spur nature trail, under the authority of the Missouri State Parks department. Rock Island Trail proponents intend to link the new trail with the existing 237-mile Katy Trail to create a more than 450-mile-long statewide loop, which would be one of the longest biking and hiking recreation corridors in the world, according to Ameren.
Ameren owns and expects to finish dismantling the decades-dormant railroad this summer. The utility company has offered to donate its 100-foot-wide right-of-way corridor to the State Parks department in accordance with the rails-to-trails conservancy program, intended to preserve railways by converting them into nature trails that could be quickly reverted to railroads if necessary. According to Surface Transportation Board records, the route includes 39 bridges, three tunnels and about 458 culverts, many of which are in need of repair. Ameren could receive a tax benefit in exchange for the donation, if accepted.
Background
Warren Wood, vice president of external affairs and communications for Ameren Missouri, said Ameren originally purchased the Missouri Central Railroad (the former Rock Island) in the late 1990s as a “hedge” for lower coal transportation costs for customers.
“With changes in the shipping markets over the last decade, we no longer need this as part of Ameren’s coal transportation strategy,” he said. “That said, the federal government, through the federal trails act, seeks to protect our nation’s existing railroad infrastructure and retain this line intact. Ameren Missouri supports the creation of this trail as an enormous outdoor recreation and economic development opportunity for the communities along the corridor.”
The Parks department has until Feb. 21 to accept Ameren’s offer before the right-of-way corridor reverts back to the landowners along its path, but the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has submitted a request to the Surface Transportation Board to extend the deadline to Feb. 21, 2019.
The Surface Transportation Board is an economic-regulatory agency Congress has assigned to resolve railroad rate and service disputes and review proposed railroad mergers on a regional and national level. The board approved an application to abandon the line in 2014. According to its records, the vast majority of extension requests that meet the proper requirements were granted, which DNR’s request does as well.
Landowners’ disputes
Some landowners are skeptical the trail’s economic benefits will be as apparent as proponents predict and believe the Parks department’s money would be better spent on maintaining established state parks. Rural residents have said they value their privacy, isolation and open hunting grounds. Having a public nature trail so near their homes would negate those positive aspects of living in sparsely populated areas.
But, not all of the nearby farmers oppose the trail. Charles and Charlotte Skornia went so far to support the trail that they offered to donate part of their land to install an Owensville Rock Island Trailhead.
“We support the development of the Rock Island Trail,” the Skornias said in a letter to Gov. Eric Greitens, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Missouri State Parks. “The trail will not affect our farming operations. It is our belief that the Rock Island Trail will provide economic development in the Owensville area. We think that it is very important to maintain this valuable transportation infrastructure corridor for future use.”
Area landowners who oppose the trail have complicated outlooks on how it would impact their lives.
Many farmers and other business operators are afraid the trail will negatively impact property values as well as the safety and productivity of their operations. These rural residents say they are being unfairly asked to face these struggles for the benefit of townspeople and tourists.
Nonprofit organization Missouri Rock Island Trail Inc. has been organized to support the trail, leaving the unorganized landowners in opposition to the trail feeling outmatched in the public debate. Missouri State Parks completed a public survey in August, in which trail supporters far outnumbered the opposition. While the results led trail proponents to call the trail proposal a “no-brainer,” opposing landowners said many people from outside the state drowned out local opposition.
Environmental, business and safety concerns
Osage County farmer and former DNR Disaster Coordinator Alan Reinkemeyer fears the trail will interfere with endangered Indiana gray bat populations that slumber in the railway’s tunnels and nearby caves.
Producers Exchange #84 elevator owner Dean Shear worries he will have to spend thousands of dollars to move his grain equipment and anhydrous tanks farther from the nearby corridor in Lincoln to prevent trespassers from easily accessing and potentially stealing his property and using the trail as a getaway route. Anhydrous can be used in production of methamphetamine.
The Rock Island Line meets more than 1,000 agricultural operations, going through miles of row crop fields regularly sprayed with toxic pesticides. Farmers worry hikers or their pets could inadvertently come in contact with the toxins. Manure fertilizer is regularly added to many fields, and farmers are concerned potential hikers will complain of the off-putting smell.
Dairy and poultry farmer Mark Chamberlain, of Cole Camp, fears increased biosecurity threats if a public trail were to be installed on a right-of-way located within a few hundred feet of his dairy barns and hen houses. Calves meander through the property, and he fears otherwise well-intended people will want to play with his animals, leaving the trail and entering his restricted property, which would risk breaking biosecurity laws meant to protect against possible biological terror attacks, such as poisoning milk or egg supplies.
“There are our poultry houses, and there are the silos and the milk barn, not 300 feet away (from the railway),” Chamberlain said. “And here is my biggest concern: What if they walk up that road in the middle of the night and put something in that milk tank — and we don’t know it and we don’t know how to test for it?”
Chamberlain said most of his milk goes to Hiland Dairy in Springfield. A Hiland Dairy representative said every incoming truckload is tested before being added to a 50,000-gallon silo of raw milk. The company is confident microbial testing would identify hazardous milk, but that tainted milk would be dumped and the dairy operator who provided it would not be reimbursed for his or her losses.
Chamberlain is also concerned with possible bird flu outbreaks, in which poultry operations within the impacted area are quarantined for the surrounding 6.2 miles, far less than the distance between his hen house and the corridor.
“If bird flu breaks out, anybody could track (it) into this poultry. (Chickens) are very sensitive,” he said. “The bird flu is an airborne disease; it can blow. That’s the reason they quarantined 6.2 miles — because it is airborne.”
Chamberlain’s neighbor also has a turkey barn within a few yards of the corridor.
When asked for comment, Department of Natural Resources Communication Director Connie Patterson said: “Regarding biosecurity, Missouri State Parks takes seriously the concerns of adjacent landowners, especially with respect to the potential for intrusion onto private property. Missouri statutes provide protections to landowners adjacent to recreational trails.
“A good example is the Katy Trail. In addition to statutory protections, Missouri State Parks has worked cooperatively with landowners adjacent to Katy Trail State Park to help minimize the likelihood for trespass from the trail onto adjoining property. This was accomplished primarily by marking the boundaries of state park property with signs placed at regular intervals, which also warn trail users not to trespass. This message is also provided via signage and brochures at all trailhead information depots. If the Rock Island corridor is developed, Missouri State Parks will develop similar measures.”
Sarah Alsager, director of communications for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, said the department of agriculture could not speculate on biosecurity issues that may arise after the trail is installed, but the department recognizes the importance of property rights to farmers and ranchers. “If complaints were submitted to the department, the appropriate regulatory program would investigate to determine what occurred and would communicate with the Department of Natural Resources,” she said.
Luebbering said signs warning against trespassing over the deconstructed railway already have been knocked down and ignored on his property, where he has found ATV tracks leading down the corridor. But trespassers are only part of his concern.
Luebbering also doesn’t want to lose prized hunting ground, which he and his children enjoy. He said the hunting ground makes his property more valuable, so he would be more likely to support the proposal if the trail closed during hunting season.
He also would be more likely to support the proposal if it were known how much Ameren could receive in tax incentives. Whether the utility will be granted a tax benefit for donating the trail is still unknown, but Luebbering is confident it will be handsomely rewarded.
“I guarantee (Ameren) will get a tax credit,” Luebbering said. “That’s another hit to the taxpayer. Basically, it’s welfare for the utility company. The way it is now, the process (hurts) the landowner and makes the utility company a (lot) of money.”
When asked to comment on possible tax benefits and financial incentives through the donation, Ameren replied: “This donation to the DNR is about taking valuable land that no longer is part of our strategic plans and transferring it so it can be developed into an area that can be enjoyed by the community.
“We believe any subsequent salvage revenue or potential tax breaks that may be available upon completion will be minimal compared to the overall value of the property donated.”
A calming presence with hooves
Roger Crothers inched forward with his hands outstretched, the wild mustang before him backing toward the edge of the small corral as he approached.
“Good girl; it’s all right,” Crothers whispered as he reached out to pet the side of the mare’s bay neck. “I missed you.”
Crothers is the first participant of Healing Horses Therapeutic Riding Program’s new horse riding and mustang training services for veterans, known as Horses for Heroes.
Healing Horses is known for working with able-bodied and disabled children. The veterans’ services are a new endeavor for Executive Director Amy DeCramer. Funds have been collected through Veterans United and private donations for five veterans to participate in 16 weeks free of charge. So far, only Crothers has started.
“This is an ongoing process,” DeCramer said. “Crothers looks forward to it, and it’s something that brings him peace.”
The 69-year-old Jefferson City resident works with a middle-aged mustang, Navajo, to treat PTSD suffered for nearly 50 years. The former air traffic controlman third class has never worked with horses before, but after five weekly sessions, Crothers said Navajo is a kindred spirit.
“She’s a wild horse, and I used to be a pretty wild man,” Crothers said through a thick, white mustache. “It’s a great program, and (DeCramer) has a good heart, a real good heart. It’s helped me.”
Mustang therapy allows veterans to work through distrust, anger management and other issues alongside a wild animal with its own traumatic experiences. As mustangs are taught to trust human touch and direction, so too do the veterans, as they learn to more effectively manage the wild within and without.
Crothers has many complicated memories to wrangle. The former seaman served from 1966-70 and manned the catapults and arresting gear on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War.
Navajo, or Navi for short, also has had her share of hard times. The 12-year-old wild horse was taken while pregnant from her herd on the Navajo reservation when there were more horses than food sources. She was shipped off to be slaughtered and had badly injured her right rear foot before Healing Horses stepped in. Since April, she’s had plenty of food, caregivers and a healthy foal, Tehya.
Tehya — a Navajo word for “precious” — was born two weeks after Navi came to Healing Horses’ ranch outside Linn. DeCramer said Navi ran the trainers out of the stall after Tehya was born because of her protective instincts.
Navi has calmed down in just eight months and quickly warmed up to Crothers. DeCramer said it is amazing how quickly they built trust. The pair try to add a new exercise every session.
“I was a little anxious to begin with, but I’m much more relaxed now,” he said. “I just treat (Navi) gently, like she treats me.”
Longing
Mustang training begins with longing (pronounced “lunging”).
Crothers stood Thursday at the center of the circular corral and motioned Navi to move around the ring, holding a whip a few feet behind to guide her. DeCramer said it establishes the power dynamic, letting the horse know Crothers is in control.
People with PTSD often struggle with their sense of control and chaos. Crothers used to slip into fits of rage in times of confusion or conflict. His college-aged son, Zack, was the first to suggest the reason might be PTSD.
The Enterprise was part of the armada sent off the North Korean coast after the USS Pueblo was captured in 1968. Eighty-three American sailors were imprisoned as spies; 82 of the men were freed 11 months later.
“We were a bunch of kids, and those were our brothers,” Crothers said. “I didn’t care how big (the enemy was); I wanted to go get them. I got kind of disappointed with our government for leaving them there for (nearly) a year.”
Desensitizing
After longing, Crothers pets Navi and gently touches her with the whip, letting her know it’s there but won’t hurt her. DeCramer said the horse needs to think of the whip as a tool, not a weapon.
In war, many of the tools are weapons, especially on the flight deck, a place of controlled chaos. Sensitivity is certainly not an asset. Crothers said he volunteered for the service to fight and kill the enemy, but friends died even when the enemy was nowhere in sight.
The Enterprise had left North Korea to replace a ship off Vietnam. “It was about 2 o’clock in the morning, and an F-4 (jet) was launching,” Crothers said. “When the green takeoff signal went off, a young man stood up to try to stop the plane. A belly flap (had been) left open, but it was too late.”
Crothers said he watched as a steam-catapulted wing hit his friend’s head and sent him tumbling lifelessly across the deck. Crothers felt especially pained when the runway operation didn’t pause to collect scattered remains.
“There was nothing we could do,” he said. “Nothing slowed down, nothing stopped, and he was just one of the many who got killed.”
Yielding hindquarters
Trainers ask horses to yield hindquarters, or allow their back side to be nudged into rotating. This is a safety measure, training the horse against using its powerful back legs to back up or bolt and cause the trainer harm.
Navi rotated as Crothers nudged her hip with the handle of the whip, dancing in tight circles.
When safety measures go awry, things can go wrong quickly with horses or fighter jets. These dangers touched Crothers even after he left the Enterprise the prior fall. A Jan. 14, 1969, explosion killed 28 sailors and injured 314 after a bomb was set off accidentally by the exhaust of equipment used to start aircraft.
Crothers said he knew about half of the men killed.
“It was a disaster,” he said.
Flexing
Flexing helps the horse get used to being guided by reins.
Crothers softly pulled Navi’s head toward him, whispering words of comfort.
After the explosion, Crothers resented the government for failing military men as Vietnam veterans lucky enough to come home were received by a hostile public.
“I started wondering what our people were dying for,” he said.
However, he wouldn’t tell his wife or their children why he was always angry, so he resorted to an untethered lifestyle to drown out his memories. It wasn’t until almost 30 years later that he tried to settle down and became a born-again Christian. He later began therapy, was diagnosed with PTSD, and his family finally learned of his haunting experiences.
“He had been so angry, and it almost ruined our marriage five or six times. (But in therapy) the stuff started coming out,” his wife, Sharon Crothers, said. “I had no idea. They didn’t talk about it. You did your duty and you went home. Coming to (Healing Horses), he’s calm and exhilarated when he comes home.”
Crothers said veterans’ tendency to stay silent about their traumatic experiences is part of the reason they fail to seek help. It took him decades to realize there could be a way to alleviate his pain, if he would just ask for help. He hopes more veterans will join him at Healing Horses. Volunteer veterans with equestrian experience are ready to help men and women.
Another veteran has voiced interest in riding lessons with the large Belgium horse, Atlas, and Crothers has started riding a quarter horse, Kito, when he’s not working with Navi. DeCramer said they hope to ride the trails together someday.
Crothers will do his first yield forequarters exercise with Navi next session, but there is still plenty of feral instinct left in the mustang for new veterans. She might have warmed up to him, but wild spirits don’t settle down very easily — just ask Crothers.
Journo's Briefcase: Allen Fennewald's Portfolio 