BOND SUPPORTERS REBUT STATEMENTS OF ROTHMAN-SEROT

Local supporters of Sen. Christopher Bond held an impromptu news conference Friday to answer statements that were made by Bond's opponent, Geri Rothman-Serot, at the Southeast Missouri District Fair.

Rothman-Serot's visit at the Democratic tent at the fair was her first appearance in this area.

Presiding Cape Girardeau County Commission Gene Huckstep explained the news conference was called, "to respond to Geri Rothman-Serot's appearance at the fair, and to the statements she made during a radio interview at the fair, which I listened to before calling this press conference.

"When someone comes in here...the first time that anyone has ever seen her, even her own party has not had any contact with her, and starts telling us she knows all the answers, this just flies in the face of any common sense," Huckstep said. "Number one, she's long on talk and short on production. That's her track record, and I think we needed to respond to those things.

"If she comes into this area making statements that Kit Bond hasn't represented this state, she'll get an answer. Rest assured, she'll get an answer."

Responding to Rothman-Serot's charge that Bond has done nothing for the state's highway problems, Huckstep said, "Look at the facts. He sponsored highway legislation to get the federal highway trust fund money back into the state. Her good friend, Sen. (Patrick) Monynihan tried to pilfer $1.2 billion of that trust fund money, in particular, $18 million of our (Missouri) money, for the Brooklyn Courthouse."

Huckstep said it was Bond's effort that saved the Missouri Department of Conservation Nature Center at Cape Girardeau, and helped spearhead the effort to build a veteran's home here.

"I could go on and on," Huckstep continued. "Her position on gun control - I wish she would take it down to our brothers and sisters in the south in Carter, Wayne and Reynolds counties and give a eulogy on gun control to those folks. Her positions on law and enforcement just flies in the face of common sense."

Julia Kridelbaugh of Cape Girardeau, questioned Rothman-Serot's commitment to law enforcement, crime and drug abuse in the state. She said Rothman-Serot has made massive cuts in the St. Louis police force. "Is that the kind of fighting we're going to do against crime and drugs in Southeast Missouri," said Kridelbaugh. "I'm concerned for my children if she should become senator."

Kridelbaugh charged Rothman-Serot "has her own hidden agenda, and it's not for the future generations of Southeast Missouri. We're all concerned about drugs and crime encroaching into even the smaller communities in this area," she added.

Kridelbaugh said Bond was responsible for bringing an office of the U.S. Attorney General to the Federal Building in Cape Girardeau. "He has also stayed in personal contact with law enforcement officers to help them in their fight against crime in Southeast Missouri. I am proud to have him as a Missouri senator."

Also speaking at the news conference was retired Brig. Gen. Charles Blattner of Cape Girardeau, former commander of the 1140th Combat Engineer Battalion and 135th Engineer Group, Missouri Army National Guard.

Blattner recalled Bond's strong support for the National Guard when engineer units in the state, including the 1140th at Cape Girardeau, were scheduled for elimination as part of a defense cutback.

He noted southern Missouri's proximity to the New Madrid Seismic Zone, adding, "If we lose the combat engineer units in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, we have absolutely no other engineer units on the east side of the state to respond when an earthquake occurs."

Blattner also recalled the guard's active role in Missouri during the 1973 flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and the rescue mission of the guard following the 1979 blizzard that buried Cape Girardeau County and parts of several other nearby counties under 24-inches of snow.

Mike Kasten, a Cape Girardeau County beef producer, said Rothman-Serot, "has aligned herself with organizations, in particular, the Sierra Club, that want to take privately-owned farmland and turn it back into wetlands, without compensation to the landowner.

"I think she is totally out of touch. She's very proud of being endorsed by the Sierra Club, which is certainly a backer of wetlands regulations that would reflood a lot of Southeast Missouri, and the Endangered Species Act, which confiscates land without compensation."

Kasten said Rothman-Serot also opposes the use of ethanol as an alternate fuel. "I know Sen. Bond has worked very hard to get ethanol approved by the EPA, which would be very beneficial to farmers and corn producers in Missouri."

Gayle Green, who operates a small farm with her husband near Sikeston, said Rothman-Serot failed to support a narrowed definition of the wetlands bill. "We have literally been victimized by the absurdity of the current wetlands legislation," said Green. "We have had productive farmland that has been mandated by the government to be taken out of production because it fell under the broad definition of wetland."