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Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock was the star of the evening at KMOX’s Champions Dinner Tuesday evening at the Missouri Athletic Club-East. While there was excitement outdoors during the Fat Tuesday Parade, there was revelry among those 100 guests, who paid $100 each to have dinner with “Hitch.”  Plucked in November to deliver direction and obedience to our hockey club, he arrived here with an enviable coaching record behind him.  So, what does the 61 year-old say about the team? “They’re hungry to beat Detroit, Vancouver, Chicago and San Jose and they’re still on the learning curve.”  On salaries, he pointed to the sacrifices they make at lower wages than players in other sports: “There’s no real money at stake – just to play for the Stanley Cup. That’s a sport! When you see what players look like at 45, it’s a helluva sacrifice – they can hardly walk.”  Of the team’s future, Blues Enterprises’ vice-chairman/CEO Mike McCarthy: “We’re looking at the promised land!”  Married in 2002 to professional golfer Corina Kelepouris, Hitch has settled down in the Mansions on the Plaza on Delmar Boulevard in University City of which he enthused, “There are baseball players, ex-Cardinal players and coaches living there and there’s a synagogue on almost every block.”  Turning to this baseball town, he laughed and offered, “There’s a clerk at the Schnucks market where I shop and she can predict in advance at least 10 who will pitch.”  Ubiquitous Tom Ackerman, KMOX’s star sports broadcaster, who emceed the program, beamed about his wife, Angie, and their daughters Audrey, 1, and Erika, 5, A different KMOX employee was asked why KMOX bossman John Sheehan was a no-show: “He’s at a networking event with PNC Banks,” A stop in the MAC’s Jack Buck Grill yielded a chat with longtime pals, John Cochran and Greg Hantak, whose JS Delivery Service once served the columnist while an ink-stainer. The two have since parlayed the small company into the mega JS Logisitics.

Michigan-based Run Local Locksmith has gotten thumbs-down by the Better Business Bureau, which suggests caution when dealing with the company due to 150 complaints nationwide. Some of the complaints have been lodged by consumers in Chesterfield, Florissant and Ballwin. The “F” grade by the BBB is the result of pricing. The company’s Internet site or call center quotes a $15 service charge, when their charges are typically $100, $200 or more. A woman from Ballwin said she was quoted a price of $25 and the locksmith handed her a bill for $235 for having locked herself out of her house. Bait-and-switch?

About the Dow Jones’ – only a few bucks shy of 13,000 on Tuesday, Smith, Moore & Co. financial analyst Juli Niemann:“Psychologically it is important. People have been waiting for years for recovery. The high for the Dow was Oct. 9, 2007 when it hit 14,100.  On April 25, 2007 it broke 13,000.  A better measure of the market is the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (all of the index funds are benchmarked to that because it represents the actual stock market better than the skimpy Dow). The S&P Index was1500 on March 22, 2000.  Today it is 1300.  We are not even back to 2000! That is the definition of dead money. . .12 years of going nowhere!”

Catholics are being warned about a suspended Fargo Diocese Catholic priest who has “been active in Cape Girardeau and the St. Louis area” and “may seek to raise funds, contrary to his Bishop’s instruction, in connection with certain questionable groups. So says an internal Catholic church memo this month about Fr. Augustine Alilonu. The organizations include “The Life of Jesus Organization,” “Guardians Assisted Living,” “Quality Life In-Home Care,” “Life of Jesus Medical Center,” “Prayer Group of the Holy Spirit” and the “Holy Family of Jesus Organization.” The memo explains that these groups “have no recognized standing as official Catholic entities” and that Alilonu was ousted “after failing to return to the Diocese, as directed, to account for his activities and whereabouts.”

Early Tuesday, on a Southwest flight from our town to K.C., David Clohessy of SNAP bumped into Sen. Claire McCaskill and expressed his gratitude to her.  Twenty years ago, when she was a prosecutor, McCaskill gave Clohessy advice about and helped spread the word about SNAP’s brand new support group in K.C. . . .Ex-Pulaski Bank CEO Bill Donius will trumpet his new book, “Thought Revolution: How to Unlock Your Genius,” at a reception and signing for the St. Louis Public Library Friends  on March 21 at the Schlafly branch in the CWE.  Donius  offers his method “for finding one’s own creativity by tapping into the right brain in order to make better personal and professional creativity.”  (Is that why he’s no longer with the bank?). .  .That was Lindbergh High soph Madeline Giunta of Crestwood on the CW TV “Remodeled” reality program last week along with other aspiring talent with the St. Louis modeling agency, Centro.  Giunta was reportedly discovered at age 13 while riding a New York subway with her mom and aunt. . .Our town’s Laura Barrett, national policy director of Gamaliel and the Transportation Equity Network will be recognized next month in D.C. by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials for her work on behalf of public transit and minority involvement in federally-funded construction projects. . .You don’t see many New York Times op eds with the dateline Tarkio, MO.” But former hog farmer Blake Hurst writes in the Grey Lady6 about a Chipotle ad, which aired during the Grammy Awards and featured the Willie Nelson  song that touts meat from the company’s allegedly “happier pigs” used in burritos.  Hurst, now prez of the Missouri Farm Bureau and who grows corn and soybeans, is a tad skeptical of the claims. . .

The Bergermeister’s predictions for shoo-ins at Sunday night’s 84th Academy Awards:

Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"

> Best Picture – the first silent movie in 83 years, “The Artist”
> Best Actor - Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
> Best Actress - Viola Davis in “The Help”
> Best Original Screenplay – “Midnight in Paris”
> Best Adapted Screenplay – “The Descendants”
> Best Original Score – “The Artist”

The show begins at 6 p.m. on FOX2

Viola Davis in “The Help”

Spending was up 8.5 percent over 2011 – the highest in 10-year history – and the average consumer spent about $126 from buying jewelry and fine dinners. Total amount spent this year – $17 billion – according to a survey by the National Retail Association. Top sellers: candy, flowers and an evening out. Kathy Grannis of the association, stated, “It could be that people are just looking to find a way to spoil their loved ones this year because they haven’t been able to in recent years.”