Out to lunch - Senate staffer barbecues on Capitol ledge

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The smell of cooked meat still hung heavy in the Capitol hours after a freshman senator let a staffer barbecue on a narrow ledge outside an office window.

Martin "Bubs" Hohulin, a former state representative and now an aide to state Sen. Carl Vogel, sent smoke wafting into the hallways Wednesday as he cooked meat and potatoes for Senate staff on a small charcoal grill.

The three-legged grill, along with a bag of charcoal and lighter fluid, sat on a ledge outside Vogel's office window as Hohulin leaned out to prepare the meal. Temperatures in Jefferson City hovered in the lower 20s.

"We were very cautious and we failed to check that apparently some air intakes were in the proximity of where we were grilling, and then the wind shifted on us," said Vogel, R-Jefferson City.

"It was an attempt to feed some staff folks who come in very early and stay very late and make us look good," he said.

Smoked statehouse

Vogel said that fire alarms in the Capitol had been turned off Wednesday for maintenance. His second-floor office is located above a pathway at the base of the Capitol and faces the Missouri River.

"We may not have used good judgment and we will not do it again," Vogel said. "We still have to serve more staff people and we'll probably barbecue in a more appropriate place.

Hohulin, of rural Lamar, said he cooked 23 pieces of meat and 25 potatoes.

"We were pretty sure nothing was going to burn because it was completely surrounded by marble," Hohulin said. "Had the wind not shifted and blown in here, we probably wouldn't have attracted as much attention."

Officials from the Office of Administration, which oversees the Capitol, were not immediately available for comment.

But state fire marshal Bill Farr, who was in the Capitol on Wednesday, said he smelled the burning meat. While Farr does not have jurisdiction over the Capitol, he expressed concern about the barbecue.

"There is a concern that carbon monoxide from the charcoal could have gotten into the building," Farr said. "I don't think it was a good idea. It could have spilled over and fallen on somebody."

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said he became aware of the barbecue after seeing a photograph of Hohulin cooking on the ledge.

"Perhaps we need to check on the wisdom of that," Kinder said with a grin.