Some Missouri voters share their thoughts about the people and issues on Tuesday's ballot.
“Anything for education is good. I don’t have kids, but that’s one of the things that I like about Columbia — it’s education-oriented.”
— Denise Balazic, 52, manager trainer for the Missouri Department of Corrections
“For our community to continue to be a top-notch community, we need to continue to support education.”
— Julie Nichols, 44, manager of instructional technology for Columbia Public Schools
“I voted for Mees because I think it’s important to have a teacher on the board.”
— Coleman Burton, 69, retired
“I have four children in school, so the school bond and the school board are important to me.”
— Tim Brothers, claim team manager
“I’m against the library tax. The library will be in Ashland, and they have made it clear they want no part in Columbia.”
“I already pay a lot in property tax.”
“I support education because I had a debilitating stroke at 30, and I’m learning to do everything again. Kids need to learn how to do things.”
— Mike Richardson, 41, no occupation
“I didn’t vote for Hindman because I think it’s time for a change.”
— Marla Grothoff, 48, attorney
Voted for Jerry Wade because he wanted “Somebody who is more concerned about the quality of the city, rather than the rampant development we have been seeing recently. I think the candidate I voted for supports this.”
— Bob Kremer, 56, research scientist with USDA-ARS
“Government is important. Since I always vote, there couldn’t be just one issue that drove me out here today.”
— Jere Giles, 60, professor of rural sociology
“The biggest issue (on this ballot) is the school bond issue — it will have more impact on the future than any two-year candidate will.”
— Bill Williams, 53, chemist
“I’m a teacher, and I also have children who will be going to the public schools, so this was important to me.”
In a school board candidate, he was looking for: “People that were really educated in the field of education. Knowing what they think about education is important.”
— Ryan Link, 28, teacher
“I wanted to vote for Darwin Hindman. He is reliable.”
— Richard Hansen, 45, salesman for Culligan Water
”I think that we need a new high school in Columbia. I think having grades 9 through 12 together is a better situation; having 10 through 12 together is just stupid.”
— Luke Neal, 25, Young Life area director
“We came to vote on the (school) bond issue — we’re for it.”
— Mindy Fuller, 36, physical therapist
“I came to vote on the library tax. It’s an excessive amount of money.”
— Wayland French, 64, retired
“I came out to support the school bond issue since my wife is a teacher.”
— Bill Miller, 60, MU professor
“I think Darwin is a great man, and I think he will be handily re-elected for his service to the community.”
— Jeff Harris, 42, minority leader in the Missouri House of Representatives
“Well there wasn’t much on my ballot, but I voted in favor of the school bond issue. Go Darwin.”
— Kathy Walter, 53, banker
“I’m in favor of the school bond issue. This school is where my son goes and if this passes they will have benefits like air conditioning. I think school in trailers is a bad thing. I also voted for Jerry Wade and definitely for Darwin Hindman.”
— Kim Williams, 35, nurse
“I voted for Jerry Wade. ... I don’t know much about it, but there was some negativity coming from Holden in the past couple of days, and I didn’t like that.”
— Sarah Maguffee, 41, attorney
“For the city council, I think people could have been a lot more specific when they were talking about the issues in debates. It was so vague.”
— Laura King, MU psychology professor
“Quit talking about the math and focus on more important things like the trailers and the size of our schools.”
— Clay Anderson, physician
“I think we definitely have a need for physical planned improvement in the schools, especially since we don’t really have to pay anything, it was kind of a no-brainer to me.”
— Greg Croll, physician
“The mayor’s doing a great job, and I think when your kids are in trailers, you need better schools.”
— Carolyn Sullivan, works for National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws
“I’m a smart-growth sort of person, I think we’re expanding kind of willy-nilly now and I’d like to control it.”
— Douglas Hunt, MU english professor
“I’m proud of our school system. We had four daughters that benefited from it, and I think they’ve laid out a fine long-term plan as long as they don’t have any additional taxes.”
“I’m enthused about Jerry Wade’s leadership and planning and Darwin Hindman’s consideration for the community.”
— Roger Mitchell, retired from MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
“I thought the library bill was important, because the library is always important.”
— Joe Clark, 57, warehouseman for phone company
“I voted for Clark because I just don’t like Hindman. Honestly, I don’t like either one of them.”
— Bill White, 45, director of information services for Salton Co.
Darwin Hindman has “lost touch with reality. He no longer thinks of Columbia as a rural community but as a utopian green land where everything is perfect.”
— Kenneth Polly, 63, retired
“I want to see wise development, to see our environment protected and to see how our tax monies are spent.”
— Libby Gill, 78, retired
“We need more schools and need to provide air conditioning for schools that don’t have it. It makes it very difficult for kids to learn when they are so hot they can’t get comfortable.”
— Kris Dadant, 55, classroom aide
“Columbia is growing and needs to improve (its) infrastructure, and it’s going to take this bond issue to do it,” Schoelz said.
— Jim Schoelz, 48, professor
“Our future is in our children, and we need to be able to support growth and teacher salaries,” he said.
— Mike Mayer, psychologist
“Just because (Hindman’s) been there a long time doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be there. Also I felt that John Clark always seems to be negative. He doesn’t seem to be optimistic. I don’t want somebody running my city who isn’t optimistic. He needs to be more careful about how he is quoted if he wants to win a mayoral election in the future.”
— Anna D’Agostino, 25 courtesy driver for Legend Automotive
“I think its important to support the school district and its expanding population.”
— Robert Harris, 72, pediatrician and school board member 1980-89
“We need more schools. Even though I don’t have any kids in school right now, the schools were crowded when my kids where in school and that was about 15 years ago.”
— Jane Woodard, 64, retired
“Our mayor has done a good job, so naturally I voted for him.”
— Jenny Johnson, 68, retired nurse
“I was partially swayed because our ward had a lot of people endorsing Jerry Wade. People came door to door and set up signs.”
— Phillip Mueller, 70, retired