This morning, citizens were faced with many deadlines. By the end of breakfast, anyone wishing to run for state office must have filed their petition. Furthermore, breakfast this morning marked the first day that court dockets must be filed; yes, if you break a law at MBS, you go to trial just like the real world.

Citizens spent the remainder of the morning at their state party caucuses. This was where they met all of their parties candidates for state office and heard their thoughts and ideas on what they will do if elected. They also worked together to take all the platforms they wrote as individual counties and united them into one, state-wide platform.

Nixon returns as governor
BY MICHAEL GARCIA III
BOYS STATE CITIZEN
BLAIR CITY

While citizens ponder which candidates they want to vote for, those same candidates search for inspiration. That inspiration arrived in the form of Missouri’s 55th governor, Jay Nixon.
“The prize to governing is the opportunity to make a difference,” said Nixon.
In his fifteenth appearance at Missouri Boys State, Governor Nixon talked about the importance of governing and legislation passed last year. Some accomplishments in legislation were the offering of more degrees to college students and the capping of tuition for those same college students in Missouri.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon addresses the 2009 session of Missouri Boys State

918 more degrees will be offered as a result next year. As stated by Nixon, target areas of employment essential to the growth of Missouri are the advancement of the energy field and the identification and evaluation of special-needs kids.
“We passed a bill this year that says an incentive for power companies will be awarded for conserving energy,” Nixon said.
Stating while on the cusp of a new world in energy, Governor Nixon talked about future legislation he hoped to pass which included tax deductions for students of families on an average income and education plans for special-needs kids.
His words to the citizens were somewhat developed in the question and answer portion of the assembly. While his answers were short, the meaning was greater than any speech he could have prepared ahead of time.

Craig Ritchie (second from right) was honored for his service to Missouri Boys State

Ritchie honored for service to Boys State
Durning the general assembly on Tuesday evening, Craig Ritche was honored for his service to Missouri Boys State as the Director for the past five years.

From left to right: Current Director, Mike Plunkett; Former Director, Mike Stewart; Former Director, Craig Ritchie; Chairman of the MBS Memorial Trust and former Dean of Counselors, Jim Whitfield

Webber delivers message of compasion and service

Missouri State Representative Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) returned to MBS to address this year's citizens. Webber has served as an MBS counselor and attended as a citizen in 2000. Webber was attending his sophmore year of college when the country went to war in Iraq. Even though he was personally opposed to war of any kind, he decided it was his duty to serve his country, so he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves. Then, in his junior year of college, his Marine unit was called up to deploy to Iraq, where he served in the Sunni Triangle for 8 months.

When he returned home, he completed his college degree. Again, Webber's sense of duty returned and he volunteered for a second deployment with his unit to Iraq, where he served as a Corporal and squad leader of twelve other Marine Infantrymen that faced the violence of urban combat on a daily basis. After returning from his second deployment, Webber continued to pursue public service and was eventually elected as one of the youngest state representatives in Missouri history.

During Webber's remarks to the Boys State session, he shared an emotional story of his time in Iraq to encourage citizens to see the need for service at all levels of our communities, state, nation and world.

Boys State hosts Missouri Appellate Court Judges

Judges from the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District moved their courtroom to Boys State and held oral argument for a case currently pending before it on appeal. This gave MBS Citizens a chance to witness actual court proceedings and ask questions of the judges.

From left to right: Judges James Welsh, Joseph Ellis, and Missouri Supreme Court Judge Zel Fischer