Why would it have been so difficult for a city official (or comittee) to oversee the hiring of local contractors for the debris clean up? Would it really have been that difficult? Exactly how would this differ from any other large scale project, it simply needs managed. Or, they could have hired a local project manager and gotten this done for a whole lot less money, there are several locals who do this kind of thing for a living! Once again the city manager and other official have shown their incompetence and lack of leadership ability when it comes to handling projects.

Rax...Did you happen to see the equipment they used for cleanup, it was specialized just for this task. The local contractors are not in this business.

I am appalled that the News Press saw fit NOT to have anything in the paper regarding The Rev. Jeremiah Wright who has been Obamma's minister for 20 yrs. and says he knows nothing of the Anti American hate speeches etc.
It has been a big story but the far left sees fit not to let the people read or see it for themselves.

I suggest anyone that thinks this isn't important look up Jeremiah Wright on Google and see what this man is and why we should find out the facts behind him and Obamma before it's to late.

What a scary man this is and to think he is a preacher, God help us.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright does the same as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and other such ilk. They all preach about how bad the white man is and how they can "make things better" so they will seem needed, therefore people will donate money to their cause. How many other "ministers" do you know besides Jesse Jackson that are multi millionaires?
Can you say "rabble-rouser"?

dalearch--How many other "ministers" do you know besides Jesse Jackson that are multi millionaires?

Try Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Bob Jones ... need I go on? And if you haven't noticed, all of these "ministers" are white and have said things just as stupid/offensive as Jeremiah Wright.

And just for good measure don't forget McCain supporters John Hagee (with his anti-Catholic statements and who looks forward to a nuclear attack on Israel because it would fulfill the Bible's armageddon prophesy) and Rod Parsley (who has attacked the constitution's separation of Church and State and believes, among other things that Columbus' mission in 1492 was to defeat Islam). McCain has called Parsley a "spiritual guide".

Rax, did you not finish reading the story. The paper says the city says that no local contractors bid on the job. Now tell me how they should have hired local when no one local wanted it.

Rockchalk: The reason I put the word “ministers” in quotation marks is because although he may have been an active minister years ago, he hasn’t really been active in the ministry for quite some time. Oral Roberts and the others you mention have been.
My main contention about Jackson is that he uses race to extort money from large corporations such as Toyota, Burger King, Coca Cola etc. He does this by threatening them with a nationwide black boycott by claiming the corporation is racist. He forces them to “donate” millions of dollars to his Rainbow Push Coalition. This is all spelled out in the book “Shakedown” by Jeffery Timmerman.

Secondly, trying to compare what Hagee and Parsley may have said with the rantings of Wright is ludicrous at best.

New School Location in Northeast St. Joseph. Free or inexpensive land is nice; but at what cost. To travel to the proposed location one will need to go on narrow country roads with hills and make turns. To widen the road will require movement of utility lines. A more logical location for the school is on Gene Field between Bishop and Riverside Road. While the cost of the land may be more expensive at the moment, over the next seventy-five years the cost to the citizens of the city will be substantially lower. Gene Field is already a designated snow route. It will be a traveler's night mare to go to the site the school board is currently thinking about.

Twenty percent of the population of St. Joseph lists "German" as national origin. What celebration do the German people have to celebrate their ethnic diversity. St. Patrick's Day. Martin Luther King Day, Cinco de Mayo Day. Christopher Columbus Day. No celebration for German people. Maybe the Germans do not have celebrations because they were working so hard to build America and to blend into the English cultural foundation of the country.

Germando, I'm of German decent, but still enjoy the various holidays that other ethnicity have. I say if you want a holiday to celebrate German heritage then you should come up with one and start marketing it. Who knows, if might catch on in a couple hundred years.

If you want to celebrate Germany, go there. If you want to celebrate US, stay here. I am American. My father is American. His mother is American. Her parents are Swedish.
His father is American. His parents are Native American and French. My mother is American. Her mother is American. Her mother and father are American. Is anyone catching on yet? We're so busy trying to point out and celebrate differences that we are not coming together as a country, as a people. We've got ethnic lines, religious lines, political lines and our country is going right down the toliet.

Way to go Faerie! Perfect!!! Thank You

I agree with the its your call caller who warns about tax hikes being spent on better facilities for administrators in Columbia's schools.
I have lived across from a school in St.Joseph for many years.It used to be quiet on weekends and holidays,but,nowadays the vice-principal and his chums pull up in thier fancy cars,wearing thier gym clothes. They are there a few hours most weekends using the place for thier personal health club.I'm paying for the lights,heat,and whatever else they are using.
Do the parents and kids really need brand new buildings or do administrators want new gyms and weight rooms for thier personal use?
I'm voting NO on more tax hikes for schools as long as overpaid pricipals are taking advantage of the facilities. Let them buy a membership at the YMCA like everybody else.