Sneak peek, Sept. 13

Dreydon Chavez, 6, Pevely, qualified Saturday for the first round in the Twin City Days Hot Wheels competition at the Twin City Toyota dealership. Rain caused lots of problems for the annual festival, but indoor events did fine.

■ Kirk Mooney, one of the Twin City Days organizers, spoke cheerfully a week or so before this year’s festival about how well he expected it to go. “I think this is going to be a memorable year,” he said. And the 24th annual Twin City Days celebration, held Sept. 6-8, certainly was, but not for the reasons organizers expected. The remnants of Hurricane Gordon blasted into the area, bringing copious rain and wind, and forcing everyone involved to scramble for Plan B. “About half the events had to be canceled, relocated or postponed,” Mooney said. See Laura Marlow’s story.

■ While admitting no wrongdoing, the city of Pevely agreed to pay $300,000 to Robert Golden Jr. to settle a lawsuit he filed against the city alleging that three police officers beat him, leaving him bruised and swollen. The alleged beating occurred in November 2016, and Golden and his parents filed the lawsuit against the three police officers and the city in January 2017, in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Missouri in St. Louis. Golden signed off on the settlement agreement on July 26, and it was finalized Sept. 6, when Magistrate Judge David D. Noce signed the last of two dismissals in the case, according to court records. See Kevin Carbery’s Page 1 story.

■ St. Paul, author of about half of the Bible’s New Testament, liked to describe the Christian life as a race of faith. David Pitts of Imperial knows all about that – more than most other believers can appreciate. Pitts, 55, is lead pastor of ROC Ministries, a Southern Baptist church in south St. Louis County. He’s also a national champion in track, after winning the 400-meter run in the men’s 55-59 age group at the national Masters track and field championships on July 27 in Spokane, Wash. Pitts not only won the race, but his 54.58 clocking ranks as the fastest in the world this year in his age group. See Gordon Bess’ Page 1 feature story.

■ Five JeffersonCounty agencies that provide health-related services want to get an earful from you about the challenges you face meeting your health needs. Pssst … You’ll get a little reward for speaking up. The Jefferson County Health Department, Mercy, Comtrea, the Jefferson County Community Partnership and the Jefferson Franklin Community Action Corporation are holding focus groups at sites around the county to collect personal stories about getting access to health care. Each focus group lasts an hour and a half, and organizers ideally would like to have 10 to 12 residents attend each one. The reward? Participants each receive a $10 gift card, to Walmart or Panera. See Peggy Bess’ story.

■  Pevely officials have begun the search for a new city administrator following the announcement that Todd Melkus is leaving to take a job as De Soto city manager. The Pevely Board of Aldermen on Sept. 6 directed city clerk Amber Adams to begin advertising for a new city administrator. Melkus, 35, begins the job in De Soto on Oct. 1. He has been the Pevely city administrator since May 2017 and gave Pevely officials notice on Aug. 29. See Kevin Carbery’s story.

■ Peggy Bess writes about the A word and the N word in her Sept. 13 Editorial section column. Also, more letters than usual are published this week.

■ Sports editor Russell Korando writes in his column about the challenges of cross country competition in a rainy fall. Catch up on football, softball and other fall competition in the Sept. 13 Sports section.

*** It’s time for the Arnold Days festival, Sept. 13-16. A gorgeous weekend is predicted. Be there or be square, starting with Leader-sponsored trivia at the Arnold Recreation Center, 7 p.m. Thursday night.

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