A PILOT WALKS INTO A BAR!!!

Why would anyone write a news article about one pilot moving From St. Clair to Sullivan?    It’s not news. What is news is the controversy that it produces.  Ron Blum’s plan to run off all of the pilots in order to make it easier to close the airport is slowing down.  It actually kind of hit a derailment with Airevac.  Ron Blum was trying to get rid of the pilots, and instead got rid of the one of thing that St. Clarions were proud of.   Airevac left St. Clair after about 8 years, a now the city has no way to recover the cost of the improvements made to the airport to get Airevac to stay in the first place.   So, there is an article in the local news media about one guy moving his airplane to Sullivan.  BIG DEAL.  But the article also goes on to spout about the airport losing money every single year.   The article makes it clear, AUDITED CITY RECORDS; this comment by the city is delusional.  Why doesn't the city just explain the records?   Instead, the city has taken a course to show that the people making these allegations are misguided.  After all these records have been audited, how could this be true?  They have been audited and therefore they must be accurate.  Repeat this over and over again, but in regards to the facts, well just sidestep, brush off, change the subject, divert attention, bellow out irrelevant crap, do whatever it takes to divert attention to the truth.

The following is an example, and not the only one, of what the city started to do to the airport.

 Did the Auditor find in the airport records where the city charged the airport for 10 taillight bulbs on 4/12/07?  For what purpose does the airport need ten 1157 tail light bulbs?  

To catch this, one would have to know what 1157's are.  

The tenants did not have to look very hard to find this, once we got the information.  Getting the information was hard.  I required repeated request for records according to FAA regulations, intervention by the Missouri House of representatives, and the Missouri State Attorney General Office to get the airport records that are supposed to be made available to the public, in a manor prescribed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.  It took over two years to get this detailed information.  

No wonder MoDOT told the city that the airport could be self sustaining if it would just follow the rules.   Federal Law also requires a compliance audit to confirm that an airport sponsor is following the rules, when they receive a Federal Grant.   The Specifications for a compliance audit a very clear and detailed.  The audit states, that it did not identify any deficiencies in internal control over compliance…   It does not state how hard they looked. 

The continued reporting that the airport operates in the red according to audited, un-audited, or whatever kind of records you want to look at does not matter, a close look at the records will show other items charged to the airport, charges made to the operations of the airport, and not to capital improvements, charges to operations that were spent for Airevac, and being paid for by fixed wing tenants.  The airport records are in bad shape already, but when someone is intentionally trying to make them worse, does not show very well for the city.   

The point here is:  if the city cannot or does not wish to defend its record keeping, the next best thing is to attack the opposition.   This has been the SOP since 06, make it look like the airport tenants are bad people, and the airport is the down fall of the city financially.   Make it big, keep it simple, and tell it over and over and soon everyone will eventually believe it.  AH.