ANNUAL
JOHN C. RYAN PICNIC
The Pettis County
Republican Party will sponsor the 65th Annual John C.
Ryan Picnic on Thursday, August 3, 2006, at 6:00
p.m., featuring Senator Delbert Scott as the keynote speaker. This year's celebration will be held at Shelter House
No. 3 in Liberty Park, Sedalia, Missouri. This summer picnic traces its origin to a picnic held in 1942 hosted
by the late Missouri
State Senator John C. Ryan. The Ryan Picnic has become an
annual summer celebration of Republicans in our community. Meat and drink will
be provided. All participants are asked to bring their own table service and
covered dishes. Many candidates, including state-wide and local, who are
running for election in the August primary election will attend. This event is
free and is open to the public. For more information, contact Carla Young.
PRIMARY
ELECTION
Republican
Primary voters will decide the Republican Candidate for State
Auditor, U.S. Congress, State Representatives for the 116th, 117th, 118th and 120th
District, and numerous Pettis County positions. Contested races include:
State Auditor - Jack Jackson, Mark Wright, Al Hanson,
Sandra Thomas, and John C. Loudon.
U.S. Representative 4th
District - Lloyd D. Sanders, Alan Connor, Jeff Parnell and James Noland are candidates.
State Representative of
the 118th District - Incumbent Todd Smith,
2405 Woodland Dr, Sedalia, MO 65301, is facing Philip J. Sherman, 719 E 15th,
Sedalia, http://www.philipjsherman.org/.
Clerk of the Circuit
Court - Kevin Tylar, 501 South Ada St, Green Ridge, MO 65332, , kttylar@earthlink.net; Frank Higgins, PO Box
297, LaMonte, MO 65337, , http://circuitclerksite.com/.
and
Susan Sadler, 1755 Cypress Lane, Sedalia, MO 65301,http://www.susansadler.org/.
are the candidates.
County Auditor -
Incumbant Connie Purchase, 3250 Sandstone, Sedalia, MO, , pettisauditor@hotmail.com; is facing Kathleen Boswell,
312 South Sneed, Sedalia, MO, boswell@iland.net.
Collector of Revenue - Ron Yates, 303
East 2nd St, Sedalia, MO, , ronyates9@hotmail.com;
and Richard DeFord, PO Box 2186, Sedalia, MO, , Richard
DeFord, PO Box 2186, Sedalia, MO, , http://www.deford4collector.com/.
Candidates who have no
opposition include Prosecuting Attorney Jeff
Mittelhauser, Circuit Judge Robert
Koffman and Associate Circuit Judge Division Six Robert M. Liston.
Candidates with no
primary opposition include Associate Circuit Judge Division Five R. Paul Beard, 316 South Ohio, Suite B, Sedalia, MO, http://www.judgepaulbeard.org/.
Presiding Commissioner Rusty Kahrs,
28576 Blue Bird Hollow Rd, Hughesville, MO
65334, http://www.rustykahrs.org/.
; Assessor Dean Dohrman, PO Box 234, LaMonte, MO, http://www.deandohrman.org/.and County
Clerk candidate Vincent Phang, 1508 S Moniteau, Sedalia, MO, cphang@charter.net. Links to these and other Republican
candidates can be found at www.pettisGOP.org.
Please be sure to take
the REPUBLICAN BALLOT on Tuesday,
August 8, 2006.
Organizational
Meeting
of the Republican
Central
Committee
The
bi-annual organizational meeting of the Pettis County Republican Central Committee will be held on Tuesday,
August 15, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. at the Pettis County Courthouse, Sedalia, Missouri. It is important that all committeemen and committeewomen elected in
the primary election and other interested individuals be present to organize
the Republican Party for the next two years. The agenda will include the
election of officers and making plans for the November election. All candidates
for election in November will be recognized. The Committee may fill any
vacancies in a township or precinct. The positions to be filled include
Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. Carla Young, Pettis County
Chairman, recently announced her intention to seek re-election to this
important position as Pettis County Chairman. For more information, please contact Carla Young, Pettis County Republican Chairman.
MISSOURI
STATE FAIR
The Missouri State Fair is expected to be an exciting
event for local Republicans. Chairman Carla Young is encouraging all local
Republican candidates and officials to participate in the Missouri State Fair
Parade on August 10,
2004. Participants should line up at 4:30
p.m. The Parade will begin at 6:00
p.m. Additionally, Stanley Cox, Vice-Chair, has asked for
volunteers to work at the Missouri State Fair Republican Tent on the
fairgrounds on “Pettis County Day” which is Sunday, August 20, 2004. If you are willing to
volunteer, this is a great opportunity to meet Republicans from across the
state. Please contact Stanley Cox.
Guest
Commentary
by
F. Douglas Kneibert
How should Republicans vote next November on an
expected constitutional amendment that would give legal protection to embryonic
stem cell research in Missouri?
People with a lot of money to spend
are urging you to vote yes. They are promising "life-saving cures,"
economic progress in Missouri and high-paying jobs.
All you have to do is agree that it's OK to create human life in the lab and
then destroy it so its stem cells can be harvested.
Yes, it's cloned life (despite what
the amendment's backers tell you), but human life nevertheless.
We've been told before that it's OK
to destroy developing human beings. The U.S. Supreme Court approved
abortion on demand in 1973, and more than 45 million unborn babies have paid
the price of that tragic decision with their lives.
Democrats quickly jumped aboard the
abortion bandwagon, and have fought tooth and nail to see that this
"woman's right" is not abridged in any form. But Republicans have
been different. They historically have opposed legalized abortion on moral
grounds. President Ronald Reagan brought millions of disaffected Democrats into
the Republican Party by standing firm on the sanctity of life issue.
In Missouri this year we are seeing
a serious erosion of the Republican Party's pro-life ethic. Many of our
political leaders have endorsed this proposed amendment, and are working for
its passage. Some leading Republicans we have looked to in the past for support
in the right-to-life arena are now indistinguishable from Democrats on this
issue.
But the Republican Party is more
than just its elected leaders. It's composed of millions of people who, day in
and day out, support and work for the party in different ways. It is their
party, and many of them don't like what they're seeing.
It's time for rank-and-file
Republicans to reclaim their party's pro-life heritage, and refuse to amend
their Constitution — which is supposed to protect human rights, not
abridge them — to please the "clone and kill" lobby.
There are several reasons to oppose
this amendment: It is misleading and deceptive in its wording; it promises
cures that are wildly unrealistic; it will lead to the exploitation of women to
obtain their eggs; Missouri taxpayers could well end up footing the bill for
embryonic stem cell research. And that's just a sampling of reasons.
In the final analysis, however,
Republicans should work to defeat this measure because it is fundamentally
wrong. It is not right to destroy a developing human being for our supposed benefit. Our party's leaders have occupied the moral high
ground in the past: Abraham Lincoln in his opposition to slavery, Dwight
Eisenhower in refusing to condone Southern segregation, and Ronald Reagan's
leadership in the fight against abortion.
Missouri
has a hard-won and well-deserved reputation as one of the most pro-life states
in the nation, and Republicans deserve most of the credit for that. A strong
"no" vote Nov. 7 on this proposed amendment would send a resounding message
that Missouri is not about to change.
F.
Douglas Kneibert is vice chairman of the board of directors of the Vitae Caring
Foundation,
which
places pro-life messages on television and radio. He is a past- president of
the Pettis County Pachyderm Club.
