David Skaer says he and his family do not produce even one scrap of trash, and therefore should be exempt from St. Louis County's trash pickup program.

A Missouri appeals court agrees with him, and so far Skaer is the only person to prevail in fighting a ticket for violating the county's trash ordinance.

Skaer, of South County, acting as his own attorney, presented his case to the appeals court in June. Later that month, the court ruled in his favor.

But St. Louis County counselor Patricia Redington has problems with the way the three-judge appellate panel conducted the hearing. Last month, she requested a rehearing before the full appellate court. That was rejected Friday; she is now considering an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.

In her petition, Redington cited a general mocking tone by the judges, and in particular a comment made by Judge Kenneth Romines.

The judge, during a presentation by assistant county counselor Vic Melenbrink, asked him if the trash plan was not simply intended to reward a political contributor to County Executive Charlie Dooley.

Romines said: "You can't compel this man (Skaer) to enter into an agreement with somebody who's one of the county supervisor's contributors. Isn't that what this is about?"

Melenbrink, in an audiotaped account of the hearing, sounded surprised at Romines' comment.

Redington, in her request for a rehearing, said: "Bias and bias alone" explains Romines' remark.

She called his comment a gratuitous insult and declared: Romines "had no basis for the inflammatory and wrong comment" about waste contracts.

Veolia ES is the hauler in Skaer's trash district. The company has not donated money to Dooley in the current election cycle, which began in January 2009.

Romines declined to comment.

Dooley is a Democrat. Romines was appointed in 1987 to the county circuit bench by Gov. John Ashcroft, a Republican, and to the appellate bench in 2005 by Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican.

'NO WASTE IS GENErated'

Skaer is an area resource soil scientist for the National Resource Conservation Service. Based in Jefferson County, he serves 27 counties in eastern and southeastern Missouri.

At the court hearing, he argued that "no waste is generated at my residence," that he does not need a hauler, and that he should not have to pay the county's $12.83 monthly trash fee. (It rises to $13.28 on Oct. 1.)

Skaer, 59, lives with his wife and their 15-year-old son.

In an interview, Skaer said that he avoids generating trash by being a conscientious conservationist.

He says he is careful about the packaging of the items he buys and uses the Internet to find places that will recycle materials, traveling as far as St. Charles County to get them to recycling centers and composting materials unused in cooking.

"If you go on the Internet, you find that anything can be recycled," he said.

He added: "I've been recycling since the 1970s."

Of his decision to act as his own attorney, Skaer said: "I've taught people in all walks of life," noting that the experience gives him confidence to represent himself.

After hearing Skaer's presentation in June, Romines described people convicted in county trash cases as "waste criminals."

Judge Roy Richter added, in apparent jest, "They're going to have to register."

Romines responded: "That's the next thing. Then the Legislature will say waste criminals ... have to register and can't live within a thousand feet of a school yard."

Richter said, "no, of a dump."

Redington, in her request for a rehearing, called Romines' statement mocking and said it would be difficult to say the judges' behavior complied with court rules that they "be dignified and courteous to litigants."