Gasconade County Republican

State Rep. Shane Schoeller, R-Willard, conclude the first day of a two-day agriculture tour of mid-Missouri on Monday with a dinner stop at Ron and Krista Hardecke’s rural Owensville home. Schoeller, speaker Pro Tem of the Missouri House of Representatives, is running as the Republican candidate for Secretary of State in the Nov. 6 General Election.

He spoke to a dinner crowd of nearly 100 people and renewed his goal to require voter identification for all Missourians. He also stressed he would address and fix a problem he’s seen with poorly worded and misleading ballot language on state-wide propositions. He told guest of the Hardecke family that he would work with the Division of Administrative Rule Making to eliminate problems with ballot issues which go “beyond the scope of legislative intent.” He concluded by saluting veterans in attendance for defending the citizens’ rights to vote. Schoeller visited with the Cartwright brothers (from left) Colby, 9, Cooper, 8, and Chance, 6, as they ate. Hardecke (below, middle) greets Tom Hurst, Republican candidate for the 62nd House District (left) and Dave Schatz, incumbent Republican candidate for the 61st District. Schoeller and Schatz view some of Hardecke’s  “better” stands of corn during a wagon tour of his 575-acre row crop and hog operation. Schoeller met with Missouri Soybean Association officials earlier in the day in Jefferson City and made stops in Mexico (Mid-America Biofuels), Laddonia (POET Biorefining), Montgomery City MFA, and H&H Guns in Warrenton as part of his “Farm Values Tour” across Missouri.