Vote on your nominees for St. Louis-area person of the year
Just to be clear, this is an informal survey of the opinions of people who read the Talk of the Day blog. We aren’t really naming an official “person of the year.” We have no magazine to adorn with the person’s face, we have no valuable sculpture to award to the person at a $500-a-plate dinner.
We’re just talking about newsmakers here as we muse over the ending of the 2008 year.
So, as I mentioned in an earlier Talk of the Day item, one of you suggested that we talk about the St. Louis-area person of the year. I said we’d use the criteria that Time magazine uses for its annual end-of-year annointment: “The person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”
In the earlier TOTD item, you all nominated who you thought would be good choices. Today, we offer a poll for you to vote among those nominees. I listed the nominations in the order in which they appear in the last TOTD topic. I excluded people I thought were way too obscure to capture a general audience. I excluded people who, well, weren’t people (sorry, Uno). I excluded myself; I’m not sure my kids would even name me person of the year.
So, off you go. Time to vote.
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Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
In re: Ryan Hummert, go to the following website for more complete information:
http://www.honoringhummert.com/index.cfm?Section=1
One or two facts - he was killed while on his first fire call, not his first week. He had been working for the City of Maplewood FD as a paramedic in 2007.
Also, I appreciate the fact that Randy Grim in an earlier post, asked that he be removed from the list. Go back and read his reasons.
I voted for Kurt Warner because …. doesn’t he always come back and help our local charities with coats and blankets and stuff. He and his family must really like St Louis since they keep coming back and helping our local charities each year.
I always find it ironic when big, left-wing media organizations try to “serve” their local communities under the guise of “social media” and “neighborhood reporting.” As a Missouri School of Journalism alum, I was fed this leftist hogwash until I graduated, and then decided to flee the industry all together. Mr. Greenbaum gets paid to “connect” with the community and layer-in as much liberal bias as possible. As soon as you decided to edit the list of People of the Year, Mr. Greenbaum, you allowed your personal bias to affect the voting pool. As a resident of Kirkwood, I felt your decision to keep Cookie Thornton on the list was classic Post Dispatch/STLToday sensationalism and liberal influence. Yes, the man had an impact on the community, but including him on the list only sends a message that his actions were justified and/or remain worthy of public attention. Social engineers in this community who want to play up racial and economic divide thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. You’ve kept a tax evading, murdering thug in the limelight. When will you be writing about how the families of police, firefighters and other civil servants are coping with the holidays this year without their loved ones?
Fire fighters, Cops and Medics devote their lives to helping and saving perfect strangers. This young man died serving the public and it should be the least the public can do to show their support.
Ryan Hummert deserves your vote…He gave his life in the service to his fellow man. There is no higher calling than to serve knowing you could die performing your job. Most people won’t do that on a daily basis…Ken
Randy is an amazing person and is totally committed to th welfare of animals in this city as well as others. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this award.
FIREFIGHTER !!!
Oh god, Michael Griffin, give it a rest. How else would a journalist whittle down a list? Thank you for your sophomoric assessment of a journalist’s incapability as a human to stay completely objective. Takes me right back to Mass Communication 101. What would you suggest: a computer picking candidates at random?
With all due respect for the everyone on this list, not one person can said that they held a job that puts them in danger everyday or puts their life on the line for junk pay… Rayn Hummert did just that put hislife on the line for juck pay.., He paid with his life, the hell with animals and CEOs this man lost is life helping you guys.. No animal shealter can run without people and Rayn was the guy who protected these poeple…Give thanks to the guys and girls who protect us so that we all can on and save animals and ruin companys…..Rayn Hummert is the MAN OF THE YEAR and are the rest of the firefighters and police in St. Louis….
Why would person’s like Cookie Thornton even be on this list. His kind of domestic terrorism took lives, not the kind of person to even be mentioned in this context. If it has to be someone on this list it would be Randy Grimm, Mike Swoboda or Ryan Hummbert. But I would vote for Tom Ballman, one of the officers killed in the Kirkwood tragedy. He spent his free time helping kids and being a good role model for future generations. I watched him lead teens by a great example and help them learn leadership skills. Is this “list” a joke???