(Wentzville Patch received the following letter to the editor after last week's Lake Saint Louis Board of Aldermen meeting. -TD) This evening at the Special Board of Alderman Meeting, Mayor Ralph Sidebottom selected the appointment of Gary Torlina to fill the Ward One vacancy.    The Board of Alderman objected to Mayor Ralph Sidebottom's appointment of Gary Torlina  as Ward One Alderman.  The Board tabled (postponed) the appointment.  Alderman Tony Zito and Rick Morris voted against tabling (postponing) the appointment.   As a resident of Ward One, I want full representation of Ward One on …

Lakeview Storm Water Proj.: This project will cost about $0.5M and deals with storm water from O'Fallon Hills (St. Charles County) to Newport Terrace, to Blue Cove, across LSL Blvd., down Lakeview, and into the lake. It involves re-routing some utility lines. In the past the utility company paid for any re-routing of lines on city right-of-way. A recent ruling of the Missouri Supreme Court says cities should pay. Cities all over Missouri are unhappy about this ruling. We will have to increase the budget for this project to conform to this ruling. This will require further work and agreements …

Dear St. Charles County Council Members: Councilman Cronin announced on Veterans Day that he will propose that a smoking ban including bars and VFW halls be placed on the ballot. County Councilmen, St. Charles County bar owners and veterans groups have the right to allow the use of a legal product by adults on their private property if common sense ventilation and exhaust systems are in place. St. Charles County business owners are depending on you to protect their property rights by considering all the evidence and deciding under what conditions these business owners can continue to allow …

Editor's Note: Letters to the Editor are welcomed by Patch. The opinions expressed in letters are only that of the letter writer and do not represent Patch. The letters solely represent the views of the author and have not been edited other than to check for spelling errors. It is promising that five of seven St. Charles County council members and County  Executive (Steve) Ehlmann want public places in our county to be smoke-free. Unfortunately, for now, a consensus cannot be reached regarding the bill's  exemptions. Mr. Ehlmann's veto message was incomplete in that it listed only 3 of the 7 …

Dear County Executive Ehlmann, The St. Charles County Council has asked St. Charles County voters to exempt a single business, Ameristar Casino, from a proposed health code without any rational basis. Every justification for exempting Ameristar Casino also exists for St. Charles County bars which have tocompete not only with the casino, but also bars in 5 adjoining counties which can still allow smoking. Giving an unfounded competitive advantage to a single business in a public health code this way pretty clearly violates the Special Laws Clause of the Missouri Constitution. St. Charles …

Editor's Note: Letters to the Editor are welcomed by Patch. The opinions expressed in letters are only that of the letter writer and do not represent Patch. The letters solely represent the views of the author and have not been edited other than to check for spelling errors. Dear President Reed, Councilman Stenger and Councilman Brazil,Before you meet concerning a more consistent approach to public smoking, I ask that you all pledge not to consider further restrictions on small bars unless those same restrictions apply to the casino gaming floor as well. Casinos compete against small bars for…

Editor's Note: Letters to the Editor are welcomed by Patch. The opinions expressed in letters are only that of the letter writer and do not represent Patch. The letters solely represent the views of the author and have not been edited other than to check for spelling errors. Dear St Charles County Council Members,      I would like to officially make my objection to the recently introduced ordinance known to all of the council members. I object to this legislation for a variety of reasons. First, I object on the basis of government interference with private enterprise. If I build a building, …

Editor's Note: Letters to the Editor are welcomed by Patch. The opinions expressed in letters are only that of the letter writer and do not represent Patch. The letters solely represent the views of the author and have not been edited other than to check for spelling errors. Dear County Executive Ehlmann,I read online that Councilmen Cronin and Hollander are proposing a smoking ban with an exemption for a single named business, Ameristar Casino. Is such an exemption of a single named business from a public health law legal? A similar exemption was granted to Churchill Downs by the Louisville …