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It wasn’t so many years ago that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources was dismissive of the threat of E. coli. Not only did it not take the problem seriously, but the agency even treated as lepers some of those water quality volunteers who warned that Missouri rivers and streams overflowed with fecal bacteria.
A local stream team, unable to interest DNR in the problem, finally took to holding its own public meetings to get the word out to residents that swimming in the water was unhealthy.
Then the agency stepped in it — it failed to tell the public that it knew some public swimming areas at Lake of the Ozarks were unsafe. It became clear that DNR officials were confused about their responsibility, and thought their primary task was protecting Missouri’s dollar-driven tourist industry, not the environment on which much of that tourism is based — and definitely not the public that is spending that money.
Now, it’s a few more years later, and what’s happening?
Little.
By our count, the DNR has 50 state parks, and this summer it had to close swim beaches at a dozen of them, or about 25 percent. At one point this summer, the state closed swim beaches at six different state parks because E. coli levels exceeded state standards.
Many state parks, because they do not have public swim beaches, are not tested for E. coli, but we suspect that if the DNR tested the rivers and streams in them, such as at Big Sugar Creek State Park in McDonald County, they might find problems there, too.
E. coli is doing very real damage to Missouri. The irony of this environmental disaster isn’t lost on the state’s residents, who note that the same agency responsible for water quality fouled its own parks as a result of lax enforcement and outright indifference.
Opinion
In our view: DNR fouls own nest
- Opinion
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Our View: Victims should come first
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Beth Meeker, guest columnist: Same-sex marriage battle a quest for equal rights
I would like to take a moment to reply to guest columnist Anson Burlingame’s, “The Marriage Debate” (Globe, May 13).
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Sunday Forum: 2012 graduation speakers key on tornado, mall school and president’s visit
Editor’s note: In addition to speeches by President Barack Obama and Gov. Jay Nixon, Joplin High School’s top students addressed graduates, faculty, parents and other guests packed into the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on the Missouri Southern State University campus. Following are the text of those speeches.
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Geoff Caldwell, guest columnist: Pack mentality takes truth as a casualty
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Your View: ‘Study’ can mean anything
A few evenings ago, I watched a television program on the science of marriage.
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Our View: Support for museum
How can you tell the story of Joplin without the accounts of its mining history?
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Our View: Finding middle ground
The G-8 summit held last week in Camp David ended as expected.
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Anson Burlingame, guest columnist: Class of 2012 upholds character, hope
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Scott Charton, guest columnist: 'Deadline in Disaster' film a story about storytellers
Local newspapers are at their best when they help their communities confront, understand, endure and overcome shared challenges.
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Our View: Make voting easiser
This year’s ballot will not include a proposed constitutional amendment that photo identification be required at the polls in Missouri. Good.
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