Text of Nodler/Icet Career Ladder letter provided

Following is the text of the letter sent by Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, and Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, chairmen of the Senate and House Budget Committees, to Dr. Bert Schulte, commissioner of the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education:

Commissioner Schulte:

This letter is to inform you of the intent of the 95th General Assembly, First Regular Session with regard to the operating appropriation for the Career Ladder Program.

It is the intent of the General Assembly that the FY 2010 appropriation for Career Ladder will be the last appropriation made in arrears for this program. The General Assembly cannot assure that participants in the Career Ladder Program for the 2009-210 school year and beyond will be supported by state appropriation, and these potential participants should be notified of these changes.

The General Assembly reserves the right to appropriate money for the Career Ladder program for future years in advance of the school year rather than in arrears, if state revenues allow.

Please feel free to contact the staffs of the House Budget Committee or Senate Appropriations Committee for additional assistance.

The letter is signed by Nodler and Icet and dated June 15.

Tomorrow is the first day of August. Six weeks have passed since this letter was sent out, and we are just now learning about this?

Nodler: Career ladder money for teachers on chopping block

It appears our General Assembly, which rails each year about the quality of education in Missouri, is about to try something drastic to improve the situation...cutting the amount of money teachers are paid.

The Columbia Missourian reports our own Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, a candidate for U. S Congress, and Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, a candidate for state auditor, wrote a letter to the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, saying that money for the Career Ladder program may be cut. Nodler and Icet are the chairmen, respectively, of the Senate and House budget committees:

Nodler, R-Joplin, said Friday there is no opposition to the program. It's just a matter of being able to pay back the district since state revenue is down.

“If you are going to do this, do this in a way that you won't make promises to teachers that you can't keep,” said Nodler, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Career Ladder funding is used to pay for teachers for after hour tutoring programs, homework centers, educational extracurricular activity sponsorship, and attendance at seminars and workshops that are not covered under the teachers' regular contracts, in other words, exactly the kind of things that are necessary to keep children in school and improve the quality of education. Teachers become eligible for Career Ladder after they have taught five years in Missouri. It was set up as a means of improving the pay level of veteran teachers, who are often the ones who receive short shrift as schools continue to improve the pay level for beginning teachers.

Admittedly, I am prejudiced on this subject. I receive $3,000 each year from Career Ladder, which I earn through a number of activities including sponsoring the school academic team, sponsoring a journalism club, serving as chairman of the school's Writing Improvement Committee, and serving on the Discipline Committee, as well as attending numerous after-school meetings.

Lineup announced for Joplin's third conservative talk radio station

The following lineup has been announced for 1230 AM, "The Talker," when it makes it debut Monday, Aug. 3.

-Rick and Bubba, 5 to 8 a.m.
-Laura Ingraham, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
-Dr. Laura Schlesinger, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
-Dave Ramsey, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
-Dennis Miller, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
-John Gibson, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
-Dave Ramsey rerun, 9 p.m. to 12 midnight

For those who find John Gibson as insufferable as I do, the good news appears to be that "The Talker" will continue airing St. Louis Cardinals, Joplin High School, Missouri Southern State University and MU sports, which means Gibson will be preempted often.

Other than the sports, it does not appear "The Talker" will include any local talk programming.

Campaign kickoff event set for Billy Long

The kickoff event for Billy Long's campaign for the GOP nomination for Seventh District Congress is set for 3:30 p.m. Sunday a Diamond Ridge Market in PFI Town, 2816 S. Ingram Mill Road, Springfield.

The event is open to the public.

Aug. 28 preliminary hearing set for accused killers of Carthage couple

Preliminary hearings for the two men accused of murdering Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop of Carthage on Oct. 11, have been scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 28 in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, are charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and a single count of burglary.

Missouri Housing Development Commission okays ethics reform

The following news release was issued this morning by Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel's office:

The Missouri Housing Development Commission unanimously passed comprehensive ethics reform today that will bring increased transparency, accountability and enforcement to the housing agency.

"By implementing significant professional and accountable reforms that increase transparency and create enforceable rules, MHDC is now a state leader on ethics reform," said Treasurer Zweifel, who oversaw his first meeting as chair of the organization. "The reforms address removing personal conflicts of interest among commissioners and require applicants coming before the commission to fully disclose ownership interests. For the first time, enforceable penalties are provided for violations."

The reformed Standards of Conduct specifically address the following:

· Commissioners and staff shall identify personal financial conflicts of interest, disclose them publicly and then recuse from making recommendations, discussing and voting on related matters.

· Commissioners and employees shall not have business relationships with applicants coming before the commission for its resources. A violation will result in a two-year ban on the applicant coming before the commission for MHDC benefits.

· Ensures MHDC is following state law on waiting periods for former employees and commissioners leaving the commission to work for applicants. Additionally, applicants may not establish employment with a current commissioner or director. Doing so will result in a two-year ban on the applicant coming before the commission for MHDC benefits.

· Applicants for MHDC resources must disclose the principal owners, along with consultants, attorneys, accountants and others to tell the story of who is coming before the commission. A violation will result in a two-year ban on the applicant coming before the commission for MHDC benefits.

"Including this reform, the agency has had great successes recently, including being the first to allow first-time homebuyers to claim the federal first-time homebuyer tax credit upfront to help with home purchase and continuing to invest in affordable housing throughout Missouri," Treasurer Zweifel said. "Now we can turn our attention to leveraging taxpayer resources and situating MHDC to have an increased role in economic development."

Treasurer Zweifel said he looked forward to his next meeting as chair of MHDC.

"I want to thank my fellow commissioners, especially those serving on the Standards of Conduct Committee, for their efforts on this initiative," Treasurer Zweifel said. "I look forward to working with them to advance the mission of MHDC."

The next regular meeting of MHDC is scheduled for August 28.

John Hacker named Carthage Press managing editor

Sources tell me that today's Carthage Press will include an announcement that John Hacker is the new managing editor.

Hacker, from my understanding, will have something of the same arrangement I had when I held that position. He will be a reporting editor, making the decisions and directing news coverage, but leaving most of the page pushing to other staff members.

Hacker is in his third stint with The Press. He worked for me in 1995 while he was attending Missouri Southern State College, and then returned to the newspaper from August 1998 to May 1999, and again after GateHouse Media shut down the Joplin Daily two years ago.

In between, Hacker's journalism experiences have included a job with a Baxter Springs newspaper, two turns with the Joplin Globe, and news director at 1310 KBTN when it was attempting to be an all-news station.

The promotion of Hacker should come as welcome news to Press readers who have been waiting since the firing of Ron Graber for a sign that GateHouse takes the news management of The Carthage Press seriously.

Schweich, Icet speak to Newton County Republicans

Former Ambassador Tom Schweich told a Newton County crowd Tuesday night that if he is elected state auditor in 2010 he will take care of the corruption, cronyism, abuse, fraud, and waste" connected with federal stimulus money. Schweich and his opponent, Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, spoke at a Republican watermelon feed in Big Spring Park.

Icet launched a verbal attack on State Auditor Susan Montee. "She likes the idea of bigger government, higher taxes, and less freedom."

The accompanying videos, just as the ones I posted of former Senator John Danforth Tuesday night, is wobbly. I will try to do better next time:

McClatchy investigation gives lowdown on birthers

A McClatchy Newspapers investigation on the birther movement includes a brief passage about Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, who attended a birther meeting in Missouri.

The people who are behind the movement are profiled and almost every one of them is someone who has peddled ludicrious conspiracy theories before:

Marked by accusations and backstabbing, it's the story of how a small but intense movement called "birthers" rose from a handful of people prone to seeing conspiracies, aided by the Internet, magnified without evidence by eager radio and cable TV hosts, and eventually ratified by a small group of Republican politicians working to keep the story alive on the floors of Congress and the campaign trails of the Midwest.

It's a powerful story about what experts call political paranoia over a new face in a time of anxiety and rapid change — the sort of viral message that can take hold among a sliver of the populace that's ready to believe that the new president is a fraud, and just as ready to angrily dismiss anyone who disagrees as part of the conspiracy.

Rise in newspaper stocks not necessarily a sign things are better

Profits and stock prices are up at newspaper companies such as Gannett, owner of the Springfield News-Leader, and McClatchy, owner of the Kansas City Star, but that does not necessarily mean prosperity is right around the corner.

Alan D. Mutter, formerly an editor with the San Francisco Chronicle and Chicago Sun-Times, notes on his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog, that much of the profits posted by the newspaper companies come from one-time efforts such as firings, eliminating days of the week of publication, and debt restructuring:

As much as these measures helped bolster profits, they are one-time expediencies that cannot be repeated if sales continue to fall in the future at anything like the rate they have been dropping in recent years.

It is impossible to fire an employee who already has been fired, to eliminate a weekend supplement that already has been discontinued or to idle a press line that already has been scrapped. That’s not to mention such unrepeatable maneuvers as eliminating print production on certain days of the week, migrating to web-only publication or shutting a paper altogether.

Cynthia Davis: I love guns

No, the picture that accompanies this post does not show a new method being employed by Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, to end hunger among Missouri schoolchildren. In her latest capital report, Mrs. Davis assures us she was scared of one guns at one time, but now she loves them. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The National Rifle Association gave me an “A” rating, but it was not for my marksmanship. It was for my laser beam accuracy in my voting record. Even though I don’t hunt or shoot guns at target ranges, I have a very strong commitment to preserving our freedom to own guns.

Guns used to scare me. I don’t enjoy watching movies like westerns or thrillers because of the gun violence. I don’t even like most X-box games for the same reason. However, last week I took a class on concealed weapons and the world is now a safer place! Before taking this class, I was scared of guns. Stop and think for a moment, those that wish harm on others are even more afraid of encountering someone who is capable of protecting themselves.

As much as I don’t like violence, I can’t deny its existence. Having a concealed weapon is parallel to having a fire extinguisher in your home. Having one does not guarantee a fire-proof home, but you’re much safer if you have one! Statistics show a community with armed citizens is safer than a community of disarmed citizens.

For me, it is part of taking personal responsibility for our own safety. Certainly if I were walking down a dark alley at night, I would rather be with a trained friend with a gun than next to a nice guy with a great personality.

History is riddled with stories of corrupt groups and governments beginning their horrors by disarming the people. My grandfather told us stories of the Turks disarming the Armenians shortly before they started the genocide that destroyed his brothers, sisters and father. Hitler did the same in Germany. Our founding fathers put the second amendment into the constitution so that we would have some way to protect ourselves against evildoers and lawlessness if all else fails. While it seems like a paradox, it is philosophically pro-life. We respect life enough that we are willing to defend it if threatened by an evil perpetrator!

The charming City of Hallsville played host to our class for the day. I had the best hamburger in years at the Route B Diner. The instructor, Tim Oliver, showed extreme patience with me at the Green Valley Rifle and Pistol Club shooting range. The only harm done was that my arms got sunburned from standing in the full sun at the range. If you want to learn more about this you can go to: www.learntocarry.com

While I never thought I wanted to carry a gun, I have to acknowledge that gun ownership is a very important part of our heritage and preserving our freedom.

Video: Nixon answers questions about e. coli report

In a video that can be found at this link, Gov. Jay NIxon answers questions from reporters about the e. coli report.

Blunt trying to have it both ways with birther issue

In response to Rich Chrismer's claim that comments his boss, U. S. Senate candidate Roy Blunt, saying he did not see why President Barack Obama could not provide a birth certificate, were taken out of context, the blogger who posted the original comments, has posted his entire conversations. Judging from the videos, which are included in this post, Blunt was playing politics. It is obvious Blunt knows the birther conspiracy theories are ridiculous, but he also does not want to lose the votes of anyone who might support him.

Crowell offers thoughts on state bonding

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, offers the following op-ed piece on whether the state of Missouri should becoming involved in state bonding:

I am neither blindly opposed nor blindly supportive of state bonding; I do have questions I raise for meaningful discussion and analysis in the spirit of due diligence to ensure fiscal accountability and oversight. These include: What is the real net interest rate comparison between the Build America Bonds (BABs) program and Missouri’s Tax Exempt Bonds (TEBs)? Can we afford bonding? And, what are the projects to be bonded?

According to Senate Appropriations, as the bond market stands today, Missouri could issue TEBs, by a vote of the people, at an interest rate of 4%. Through the Federal Government we would be able to issue BAB taxable bonds at an interest rate of 5.6%, but the Federal Government will pay 35% of the total interest on the BAB bonds. In terms of real dollars being spent, if we were to issue $100 million in TEBs over 25 years we will have to pay approximately $60 million in interest. Taxpayers would pay approximately $83 million in interest on the BAB, but since the Federal Government will pay 35%, or $29 million, of the interest there would be a net interest cost of approximately $54 million. So using today’s interest rates we would save around $6 million over a 25-year period, which is $240,000 per year, going with BABs. But it is important to note that whether TEBs or BABs are utilized, taxpayers on the State and/or Federal level are the ones responsible for paying the interest. The money comes from taxpayers.

Additionally, BABs have a deadline of January 1, 2011, by which Missouri must have completed the issuance of the total amount intended to borrow. Recent talk of a bonding proposal to complete all the state’s capital improvement needs has been conservatively approximated at around $800 million and I have heard estimates that are upward of $1 billion. Once either of the bonds are issued, we must immediately start making payments towards the principle and of course the interest. (TEBs have no deadline, but interest rates change according to the economic climate). This means that instead of borrowing the entire amount in a single lump sum as with BABs, we could issue out TEBs for specific projects, as necessary, realizing "cash flow" savings.

Another issue surrounding a bonding proposal is whether we can afford to incur more debt. It is my understanding that in December 2007, the general assembly initially estimated a 3.4% growth of general revenue (GR) for FY09. This was revised in December 2008 to a decline of 4.0%. As of today, GR has declined to 6.7% and could fall even lower. In dollar terms, the difference between 3.4% growth and a 7.0% decline is approximately $785 million. The FY09 budget was crafted with a growth assumption of 3.4%, but we left $390 million unspent. The combination of this unspent balance, the governor’s withholdings/vetoes, and the governor transferring $250 million from the enhanced Medicaid payments to GR is how the FY09 budget was balanced. The FY10 budget is based on an initial consensus estimate of 1.0% growth, but this was based on FY09 revenues that only declined 4.0%, not 7.0%. Even if we hit the 1.0% growth rate in FY10, the governor would still need to withhold funds to balance the budget, which he has done.

We have spent approximately $711 million of Federal Stabilization funds on on-going programs in the FY10 budget. This left us $966 million in Federal Stabilization funds to be used in the FY11 budget, but after the FY10 budget was Truly Agreed and Finally Passed, Governor Nixon used a "wildcard transfer" to move $250 million into FY09 GR. This leaves us enough to replace what we spent in FY10, but nothing to help our anticipated GR deficit in future state fiscal years. The Governor would need to withhold even more items than he already has, an additional $250 million, to get us back up to the Federal funds level of $966 million for FY11’s budget. The severe economic downturn has left real problems in Missouri’s fiscal situation, maybe not to the extent of other states like California or Illinois, but this fiscal crisis exists even without incurring more debt from a capital improvement bonding proposal. With this in mind, a careful cost benefit analysis of any bonding is necessary. We must not issue debt we can not afford to pay off and we should not issue bonds just for the sake of issuing bonds.

An issue being discussed in favor of bonding is that the debt service on the Third State Building Fund will expire in two years. Proponents state that the same revenue stream will pay for most of this new "Fifth State Building fund" with only minor additional strain on the budget. However, according to Senate Appropriations, the payments on the Third State bonds go from $33 million in FY11 to $5 million in FY12 & FY13 and $0 in FY14 and beyond. This is a savings of $28 million in FY12 & FY13, but our overall debt service on general obligation bonds only drops $14 million in FY12 and $23 million in FY13 because the payments on some of our other general obligation bonds increases. The amount of funds freed up to pay off any new bonds is not as much as it would appear to be by just looking at what happens with the Third State bonds. In addition, it appears that Missouri will still be in a difficult financial position in FY12 & FY13, so any freed up GR could be used to help reduce the amount of core cuts to state programs in those years.

Finally, I have yet to come across a list of all the "needed" buildings or what the bond proceeds will be used for. I also haven’t seen any projections as to how many jobs might be created or how much the economy will benefit from this investment. I do know however, that the Joint Committee on Capital Improvements and Leases Oversight pursuant to the charge of Speaker Richard and President Pro-Tem Shields has been meeting and will continue to meet regarding this issue. In my opinion, a comprehensive list should be developed before any bonding is approved by the General Assembly and thus sent to the people of Missouri for their approval at the next general election.

Again, I reiterate that I am neither blindly supportive nor blindly opposed to bonding. I seek only thoughtful discussion on the issues I raise herein. I stand willing to continue examining bonding with an open mind and I ask for your thoughts on this important matter.

Prominent Republicans repudiate birthers; no mention of Blunt, however

Prominent Republicans and conservatives are getting as far away as they can from the fringe birthers, an article in Talking Points Memo notes. Listed as repudiating the people who keep insisting that Barack Obama is an illegitimate president are such names as Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele as prominent conservative leaders who are not giving any credence to the birthers.

As far as I can tell Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt has not distanced himself from the birthers following his statement that he did not know why Obama could not produce a birth certificate. As noted in an earlier post today, Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer said the video in which Blunt clearly makes the statement was edited (Chrismer did not tell us what Blunt said that would make the quote sound any different) and that Blunt, unlike Democratic opponent Robin Carnahan, is willing to speak on the issues.

Apparently, Blunt is also willing to speak on the non-issues.

City of Joplin to vigorously defend against Burcham lawsuit

The following news release was issued this afternoon by the city of Joplin regarding the lawsuit filed by former Rep. Tom Burcham, R-Farmington:

In recent weeks there has been much discussion regarding a potential lawsuit against the City of Joplin by Tom Burcham, a southeastern Missouri lawyer and former state legislator from Farmington, for what Burcham calls “tax stacking” – having more than one sales tax. The City was recently notified that the petition was filed in the Circuit Court of Jasper County late last week. The lawsuit relates to the City’s Public Safety Tax approved by voters in November 2006, which is a ½- cent tax that received voter support by a margin of 53% to 47%.

The lawsuit claims that Missouri cities are allowed only one general sales tax. The City of Joplin currently has a one-cent sales tax, passed in December 9, 1969, and with the passage of the ½-cent public safety tax in 2006, the City has two general sales taxes.

The Missouri Municipal League reports that more than 60-80 cities have multiple sales taxes as do numerous counties, and the authority to do so has long ago been acknowledged by the Department of Revenue as well as separate judicial authority as far back as 1991.

“It is a shame that the City will be forced to expend taxpayer money to defend this lawsuit,” said City Attorney Brian Head. “This tax originated from a citizen committee, was promoted by a grass-roots effort of the people, and was ratified by the voters. We believe that this lawsuit defies the will of the voters of Joplin, and the City will defend their intention vigorously.”
The lawsuit is one of many Burcham has filed across the state based on collection of pennies in sales taxes but seeking his personal attorney’s fees in each and every case.

Voters approved the ½-cent public safety sales tax in November 2006 and collections of the tax began in April 2007. Since then, approximately $12.4 million has been collected. Nearly $5 million has been used for stated purposes of the public safety tax including the hiring of 24 additional police officers, five detectives, and six firefighters. In addition, $398,000 has been utilized to provide wireless access capabilities and mobile data computers for public safety employees to make their work in the field more efficient and response-oriented. Some $20,000 has gone to the City’s streetlight program to brighten neighborhood and dark roadways.

Wells says so long to Joplin TriState Business; Chris Roberts is new editor

Jeff Wells, who has been editor of Joplin Tri-State Business since its first issue, penned a farewell column in the most recent issue.

His successor will be former Carthage Press reporter Chris Roberts, who has been a reporter for Tri-State Business.

1230 AM will convert to conservative talk Monday

I am sure this is by popular demand but 1230 AM, The Sports Fan, will become 1230 AM The Talker Monday, giving Joplin three conservative talk show stations.

KZRG's latest newsletter, issued today, notes that four KZRG shows, John Gibson, Dennis Miller, Laura Ingraham, and Dr. Laura Schlesinger, will move to the Talker, while KZRG will debut Mark Levin, who modestly refers to himself as "The Great One" from 5 to 8 p.m. and Jason Lewis from 8 to 11 p.m.

Reportedly Sean Hannity's program will move from KQYX, the third conservative talk station (the one not owned by Zimmer Group) early in 2010.

Reportedly, St. Louis Cardinals, Joplin High School, and Missouri Southern State University sports programming will remain on 1230 AM.

Blunt spokesman: Birther video was edited

U. S. Senate candidate Roy Blunt must be getting negative feedback from the release of a video showing him asking why President Obama cannot show a birth certificate.

Dave Catanese at KY3 Political Notebook tracked down Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer, who said, of all things, that the video was edited.

Of course, the video was edited. That is obvious from anyone watching it, especially since it goes back and forth between the rather obnoxious interviewer and various members of Congress. But at the same time, what Blunt said is clear.

In a statement to The Notebook, Blunt campaign spokesman Rich Chrismer said, "We encourage this blog to release the video of the entire interview instead of only the edited version which take his comments completely out of context."

"This is what happens when you talk to reporters and have press conferences. Things can be taken out of context when you open yourself up to media on a daily basis. We are not going to take the Robin Carnahan approach of dodging questions and hiding from the media," Chrismer said.

Chrismer is right on the money. Robin Carnahan must be dodging the issues. As far as I can recall, Blunt is the only one running for U. S. Senate from Missouri who has questioned why Obama can't provide a birth certificate.

Roy Blunt will discover that only the far fringe of his Republican base buys into this birther conspiracy theory. He needs to distance himself from it as quickly as possible.

Winans tabbed as the one who stabbed Carthage couple

Matt Laurins, 19, Springfield, one of two men charged with the Oct. 11 murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage, has fingered the other defendant, Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, as the man who stabbed the couple.

The grisly details of the crime, taken from the probable cause statement, are included in Jeff Lehr's article in today's Joplin Globe:

The affidavit filed to obtain an initial search warrant for the home states that deputies were called to the residence late on the morning of Oct. 12 after the couple’s son Danny Sheldon discovered their bodies.

Deputies found Ellen Sheldon lying on her back on the floor just inside a hallway door at the west entrance of the house. She had a stab wound to her chest, the affidavit states. Robert Sheldon was found seated in a chair in the living room. He had multiple stab wounds, the affidavit states.

Deputies noted a blood trail leading to the couple’s dog, which also had been stabbed to death. The document designates the location of the dog’s body in a small room between outer and inner west-entry doors.

Nixon says his office did not withold e. coli information

At a couple of stops Wednesday, Gov. Jay Nixon said his staff did not withhold information about e. coli contamination at Lake of the Ozarks:

Nixon said as soon as his chief of staff, John Watson, learned of the May 26 test results on June 23, Watson ordered DNR Director Mark Templeton to release the report, which he did on June 26.

"I would be pretty confident that whatever level of my senior staff was talking to whatever department out there, that we would be telling them to move information out as soon as they were aware of it," Nixon told reporters in Lee's Summit. "The record reflects, pretty clearly, that.

In his article, Springfield News-Leader report Chad Livengood notes that Nixon has not explained why e-mails the newspaper obtained through a freedom of information request indicate Department of Natural Resource Deputy Director Joe Bindbeutel requested the report weeks earlier for a visit to the governor's office.

DNR officials have admitted withholding information about the contamination to avoid hurting tourism.

Blunt discusses health care on CSPAN

GOP seems to be forgetting something about Nixon, e.coli controversy

It did not take long for the Missouri Republican Party to jump on Springfield News-Leader reporter Chad Livengood's revelation that DNR e-mails indicate a top official was planning to tell Gov. Jay Nixon about e. coli contamination in the Lake of the Ozarks. The GOP news release is printed below, but it fails to mention one thing- Chad Livengood picked up the information from his story from e-mails obtained via a freedom of information request.

That same request would not have been likely to get results during Gov. Matt Blunt's administration and would definitely have not been fulfilled that quickly:

A review of e-mails and meeting minutes suggests that Governor Jay Nixon was involved in a decision to purposely withhold information from the public about E. coli in the Lake of the Ozarks, according to today’s Springfield News-Leader.

The article reports that Joe Bindbeutel, then-Deputy DNR Director and longtime Nixon confidante, requested the secret E coli data for a meeting in the governor’s office. The minutes of a later meeting between DNR employees and the Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance declare that the tests have “drawn the attention of the Director of DNR as well as Governor Nixon.”

“The evidence continues to mount that Jay Nixon and his top officials knew about dangerous levels of E. coli in the Lake of the Ozarks and deliberately withheld the information from Missourians,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “This was a grave breach of the public trust—yet Jay Nixon has not taken responsibility. We hope that the investigations being conducted by the State Senate and the Attorney General reveal the truth about what Nixon knew and when he knew it.”

From the News-Leader:

Nixon's office says Bindbeutel visited their Capitol office on June 4 for a meeting about energy policy with an industry lobbyist and deputy legislative director Kristy Manning -- not water quality or E. coli… But that doesn't explain why, according to two e-mails, Bindbeutel told a deputy director of DNR's division of environmental quality that he needed the E. coli report for a meeting in the governor's office… The e-mail that ties Bindbeutel to a meeting in the governor's office was sent by a veteran bureaucrat. "Joe said he needed it for the meeting in the Gov. Office tomorrow," Pabst wrote in a June 3 e-mail to Templeton's secretary.”
“Included in the News-Leader's request for documents were notes from a June 12 meeting between Bindbeutel, Pabst and other DNR employees and members of the Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance , who volunteer to collect water samples for DNR as part of a five-year study of the lake's health funded by AmerenUE. The minutes offer a hint that the governor's office may have been made aware of the high levels of E. coli earlier than Nixon or his staff have publicly acknowledged… Bindbeutel is paraphrased as saying, ‘the recent water testing has drawn the attention of the Director of DNR as well as Governor Nixon,’ according to the minutes, which were taken by a LOWA volunteer.”

Wallace: Merit pay for teachers will expand throughout the state

I am not one of those teachers who marches in lockstep with those who think merit pay for teachers is one of the seven deadly sins.

In fact, I would favor merit pay as long as there was a reasonable way to determine who would receive it.

The door to merit pay in Missouri schools was opened earlier this month when Gov. Jay Nixon signed a bill which allows merit pay in the St. Louis school district...as long as the teachers give up their tenure rights, something which seems to be the main target of the bill.

The bill's sponsor, Maynard Wallace, R-Thornfield, in a recent interview, said he thinks the current limited use of merit pay will expand. "Maybe we can encourage better teachers to come here if they make $10,000 more. Perhaps we can encourage them to stay. Will it expand throughout the state? I think if it's successful, it will."

Contrary to what some politicians would lead you to believe, tenure is not damaging education. Tenure is not what keeps bad teachers in the classroom. If those teachers were bad at the end of five years and were hired for the next year, they were obviously lacking in the first, second, third, and fourth years, as well, and something should have been done much earlier. Tenure does not prevent a bad teacher from being fired, it offers the teacher due process. And we all know of cases where a teacher has done an excellent job and ran afoul of a school board member or a particular administrator.

Returning to merit pay, if student test scores are the sole determining factor, then forget it. You have no way of determining whether a teacher deserves a pay raise based on one year of test scores. In the first place, the way Missouri's MAP program operates, you are not comparing students to what they have accomplished in the past. You are comparing them to what a totally different group of students accomplished. That would be like having Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright leave the Cardinals as free agents and then expect Tony LaRussa to win more games with lesser players. Sometimes, a teacher will end up with a better group and test scores will go up. Sometimes, it works the other way.

How the students did the previous year needs to be taken into consideration, along with administrative evaluations, and even peer observations. Tests have to be a part of merit pay, but they cannot be the entire program.

Certainly, good teachers do not like it when they know they make less money than inferior teachers just because those teachers have taken extra classes or have been in the classrom a few more years. The system is undeniably flawed, but the cure for the problems appears likely to make them even worse.

Blunt: I don't know why Obama can't show a birth certificate

In this video, Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt, a candidate for U. S. Senate, appeared to be appealing to his conservative followers, check that, his far to the right of conservative followers. In this video, Blunt, one of several Republicans interviewed, says he can't understand why Obama can't produce a birth certificate.

Stick to health care, Congressman. This birther nonsense reminds me of the preparedness expos of the late '90s, including the American Heritage Festival in Carthage in 1998 where conspiracy theorists suggested the U. S, created the AIDS and Ebola viruses, was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, started the crack cocaine epidemic in Watts, and that Richard Nixon was behind the Kennedy assassination:

Carnahan received at least $86,200 from stem cell research supporters

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, accused in a civil action filed Monday in Cole County Circuit Court of using her position to derail pro-life legislation, has accepted at least $86,200 in campaign contributions from stem cell supporters.

Missouri Ethics Commission documents show Mrs. Carnahan, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U. S. Senate seat currently held by Kit Bond, received $30,000 from Supporters of Health Research and Treatments on Oct. 8, 2008, and $5,000 from the Life Science Fund of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce the following day.

On June 13, 2007, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce contributed $25,000 to the secretary of state. She received a like amount from Supporters of Health Research and Treatments on May 24, 2007, and $1,200 from the group on April 13, 2006, according to the Ethics Commission documents.

Missouri Roundtable for Life brought legal action against Mrs. Carnahan and State Auditor Susan Montee Monday in a petition, which was reported first in The Turner Report:

The petition, filed by Missouri Roundtable for Life, a group that is strongly opposed to the use of embryonic stem cells in scientific research, claims Ms. Carnahan completely changed the proposed ballot language to mislead voters and that Ms. Montee went out of her way to find people who would say the amendment would have a negative fiscal impact on the state.

The proposed ballot language read, "In any fiscal year, the first $200 million disbursed from the Life Sciences Research Trust Fund (LSRTF) be spent on primary healthcare for low-income Missourians, provided, however, that no such funds shall be expended on abortion services, human cloning, or prohibited human research."

By the time, Ms. Carnahan and her staff were finished with the ballot language, it was hard to recognize, the petition indicates. The finished version, which was submitted to Attorney General Chris Koster, eliminated any reference to abortion or human cloning, terms that would make the proposal attractive to a large number of Missourians. The new ballot language read, "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to reduce the amount of money available by $200 million to improve the quality of life science research in Missouri and redirect this money solely to pay for certain primary health care for low-income Missourians?"

The petition alleges Ms. Montee provided a misleading fiscal impact statement claiming severe damage could be done to the state, when, in fact, the proposed amendment does not mandate that any money be spent.

The initiative petition is being "manipulated,' the petition says, "so as to mislead and confuse Missouri voters and to create prejudice against a proposed constitutional amendment."

Missouri law requires that ballot language not be worded in such a way that it appears to be for or against a proposed amendment.

Former state rep files lawsuit challenging Joplin sales tax

The lawsuit that the most powerful man in Missouri, Rep. Ron Richard, was unable to prevent, was filed today in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Former Rep. Tom Burcham, R-Farmington, claims Joplin's law enforcement sales tax is illegal. Burcham has had success in similar lawsuits, including one at Purdy and is also challenging Granby's sales tax.

As Columbia Daily Tribune reporter Terry Ganey recently noted, a law backed by Richard would have prevented this type of lawsuit, was stopped dead in its tracks by House Majority Leader (and Ethics Committee chairman) Steve Tilley, who has accepted $110,000 this year from a committee led by Burcham.

Plea hearing set in Guest House fraud case

A 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, plea hearing has been scheduled in federal court in Springfield for Kelly Wheeler, stepdaughter of Anderson Guest House owner Robert Dupont.

Ms. Wheeler, her mother, Laverne Dupont, Dupont, and Joplin River of Life Ministries are charged with numerous felony counts centering around their operation of numerous Guest House residential care centers in southwest Missouri.

A pretrial hearing for all defendants is set for 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, in Springfield.

Ms. Wheeler is charged with conspiracy to defraud United States and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Dupont is accused of hiding his control of the Anderson Guest House and defrauding the government. Dupont was the owner of the Anderson facility in November 2006 when it burned to the ground, killing 11.
An affidavit signed by Special Agent Peter H. Blackburn of the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health of Human Services said Dupont was executive director of Guest House facilities from 1993 through 2006, including the time following his 2002 conviction for Medicaid and Medicare fraud.
Facilities owned by Dupont, according to the affidavit, included the Anderson Guest House, Carl Junction Guest House, Carthage Guest House, Guest House I in Joplin, Guest House 2 in Joplin, Guest House 3 in Joplin, Lamar Guest House, and St. Louis Guest House. Apparently, the government missed the Springfield Guest House.

According to the affidavit, "Robert J. Dupont was owner and president of Guest Houses of Missouri. Inc., a for-profit corporation Dupont created in January 2000" that operated the Guest Houses in Anderson, Joplin, Carl Junction, and Carthage.

"On June 15, 2000, Dupont was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States relating to billings he caused to be submitted on behalf of Butler Guest House, Lamar Guest House, and St. Louis Guest House. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States on Feb. 13, 2002, and was sentenced on Feb. 21, 2003, t0 21 months federal imprisonment. The offense to which Dupont pleaded guilty involved his conspiracy with others to conceal his ownership and control of a company that submitted billings to Medicare and Medicaid." Because of this, the affidavit said, Dupont was excluded from participation in any federal health program, including Missouri Medicaid.

"During March 2002, shortly after Dupont's guilty plea but prior to his sentencing, Dupont formed a new corporation, Joplin River of Life Ministries that began assuming operational control over the residential care facilities," the affidavit said. "On April 10, 2002, Guest Houses of Missouri, Inc. notified the Division of Medical Services, the agency which administers Missouri's Medicaid program that as of May 1, 2002, Joplin River of Life Ministries was taking over the operation of the residential care facilities formerly operated by Guest Houses of Missouri, Inc."

The affidavit continues, "On or about April 15, 2002, JROL submitted applications to the Department of Health and Senior Services for licenses to operate long-term care facilities specifically Anderson Guest House, Carl Junction Guest House, Guest House 2, and Guest House 3." Robert Dupont and his wife Laverne were listed as owners and landlords and Robert Dupont was listed on the Joplin River of Life Ministries board.

On July 31, 2002, the company applied to participate as a Missouri Medicaid personal care provider and was approved.

"On March 19, 2003, prior to Dupont's surrender on March 21, 2003, to begin serving his federal sentence, Dupont convened and oversaw a Joplin River of Life Ministries board meeting in which he announced the employment of Laverne Dupont, his wife, as the incoming executive director of JROL and corporate documents after that date list her as executive director," according to the affidavit.

Dupont was released to a halfway house in August 2004 and completed his sentence the following month. "In contravention of state and federal law, Dupont resumed the operation and control of JROL upon his release from prison," the affidavit said. "In day to day operation of the facilities, Dupont makes unilateral hiring decisions, terminates employees, directs staffing levels, and unilaterally decides whether to accept potential residents referred to local hospitals. Dupont has prohibited facility managers from seeking decision making authority from Laverne Dupont, his wife and the individual listed as executive director of JROL, and threatened to terminate employees who fail to seek his authorization for decisions."

The affidavit concludes, "During an interview conducted on Nov. 28, 2006 (following the Anderson Guest House fire) Dupont denied any control over Joplin River of Life Ministries and asserted that he was an uncompensated employee. However, W-2, wage and tax statements filed by JROL indicate that Dupont received a salary in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005."

Sept. 28 sentencing set for Lamar Catholic Church arsonist

A 1 p.m. Sept. 28 sentencing is scheduled for John Franklin Manco, 19, Lamar, who pleaded guilty Monday in Barton County Circuit Court for crimes committed in connection with the Feb. 6 fire that destroyed St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lamar.

Court records indicate Manco was charged with arson, tampering with a motor vehicle, and two counts of burglary.

The story in today's Lamar Democrat indicates Manco pleaded guilty to arson and an unrelated drug charge.

New attorney for accused killer of Carthage couple

Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, one of two men charged with murdering Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage on Oct. 11, 2009, has a new attorney, according to online Jasper County Circuit Court records.

Public defender Joe Zuzul made an entry of appearance in the case Tuesday.

The next hearing for Winans and co-defendant Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, is set for 9:05 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, before Judge Richard Copeland.

Some thoughts about Rowan Ford murder and capital punishment

(The following is my column for this week's Newton County News.)

The jockeying has begun.

Eight months remain before David Wesley Spears and Chris Collings go to trial for the brutal rape and murder of nine-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella, and public defenders are doing anything they can to keep their clients from being put to death.

Since both men have confessed to the crime, according to media reports, whether they live or die seems to be the only thing left to decide, though nothing is ever certain when it comes to the law.

The next hearing for Spears, Rowan Ford’s stepfather, is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, in Pulaski County, where the trial is scheduled to be held on a change of venue from Barry County, where Rowan Ford’s body was discovered Nov. 2, 2007.
Online court records indicate Spears’ attorney has filed a motion asking that the aggravators, the reasons for seeking the death penalty, be tossed out.

In documents filed shortly after the arrest of Spears and Collings, Barry County Prosecuting Attorney Johnnie Cox listed three aggravating circumstances that led him to seek the death penalty:

-- "The murder in the first degree was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, or depravity of mind;"
--"The murder in the first degree was committed while the defendant was engaged in the perpetration or was aiding or encouraging another person to perpetrate or attempt to perpetrate a felony of any degree of rape . . . "
-- "The murdered individual was a witness or potential witness in any past or pending investigation or past or pending prosecution, and was killed as a result of his status as a witness or potential witness."

A hearing in Collings’ case was scheduled for last week, but was postponed until Feb. 23, 2010, according to court records. Collings’ trial will be held in Phelps County.

Collings, a friend of Spears, you may recall, was the one with the MySpace site, which was filled with graphic, violent pictures of demons and included the note that his mood was “horny.” The date of his last sign-in, when that mood was recorded, was the day Rowan Ford, a fourth grader at Triway Elementary School, was murdered. The company took down the MySpace site following action by Gov. Jay Nixon, who at that time was the state’s attorney general. Nixon requested the removal after reading about the page on The Turner Report blog.

During the next few months, state public defenders are likely to try to make a deal in which their clients’ lives are spared in exchange for guilty pleas and life in prison without possibility of parole.

Odds are it is going to be a tough sell. Even opponents of the death penalty have to admit that if any crime calls for the ultimate punishment, it is this one.

As I wrote in my May 8, 2008 column:
Anyone who doubted the concept of evil had ample evidence to cause them to change their minds when the horrifying details of the death of Rowan Ford were revealed to the public late last year.

How could anyone do such barbaric things to an innocent nine-year-old child? And how can anyone argue that the world would be a better place by allowing these two (both of whom have given statements to authorities saying they were involved in the murder) to continue living?
After taking all of this into consideration, I am still not sure I can agree with capital punishment as public policy, but if you have to execute someone, I can’t think of two people who deserve it more.

***

(Previous posts about Rowan Ford can be found at this link.)

News-Leader: E-mails indicate governor's office may have known earlier about high e. coli levels

E-mails obtained by Springfield News-Leader reporter Chad Livengood through a freedom of information request indicate Gov. Jay Nixon and his staff may have known about high e. coli levels in the Lake of the Ozarks much earlier than what they have been saying. Department of Natural Resources officials have already acknowledged they knew earlier and kept the information secret to keep from damaging tourism.

Livengood's account also indicates that he is getting the runaround from state officials, usually an indication that a reporter is onto something.

Danforth: We have a mission

Sen. John Danforth told Newton County Republicans tonight that the party has work to do.

"I think that we have a mission. I think that we have a message and it is very important to our country at this point in history that we deliver this message to the people of America."

Danforth criticized President Obama for being elected on a platform of change. "But he never really defined what change was. Now that he has been in office six months we know what he was talking about." The change, Danforth said, "is the most dramatic change in government we have ever had. Big government to the extreme."

(I left my tripod at home and that was a mistake. The wind was whipping up pretty good and you might want to close your eyes and pretend these videos are podcasts).

I was wrong about Kinsley Joplin Globe blog

I need to keep better track of the Joplin Globe community bloggers. The Globe discontinued Mark Kinsley's blog because of his impending candidacy for the 129th District State Representative seat.

I had a reader who e-mailed me segments of a blog entry he made today, and I had not noticed that his blog was no longer being carried by the Globe.

My apologies for the error.

Court claim: Carnahan, Montee, played hanky panky with proposed constitutional amendment

A petition filed Monday in Cole County Circuit Court charges Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and State Auditor Susan Montee with playing politics in an effort to damage the chances of a proposed constitutional amendment.

The petition, filed by Missouri Roundtable for Life, a group that is strongly opposed to the use of human stem cells in scientific research, claims Ms. Carnahan completely changed the proposed ballot language to mislead voters and that Ms. Montee went out of her way to find people who would say the amendment would have a negative fiscal impact on the state.

The proposed ballot language read, "In any fiscal year, the first $200 million disbursed from the Life Sciences Research Trust Fund (LSRTF) be spent on primary healthcare for low-income Missourians, provided, however, that no such funds shall be expended on abortion services, human cloning, or prohibited human research."

By the time, Ms. Carnahan and her staff were finished with the ballot language, it was hard to recognize, the petition indicates. The finished version, which was submitted to Attorney General Chris Koster, eliminated any reference to abortion or human cloning, terms that would make the proposal attractive to a large number of Missourians. The new ballot language read, "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to reduce the amount of money available by $200 million to improve the quality of life science research in Missouri and redirect this money solely to pay for certain primary health care for low-income Missourians?"

The petition alleges Ms. Montee provided a misleading fiscal impact statement claiming severe damage could be done to the state, when, in fact, the proposed amendment does not mandate that any money be spent.

The initiative petition is being "manipulated,' the petition says, "so as to mislead and confuse Missouri voters and to create prejudice against a proposed constitutional amendment."

Missouri law requires that ballot language not be worded in such a way that it appears to be for or against a proposed amendment.

KZRG publicizes Kinsley candidacy

Mark Kinsley, who announced his candidacy for 129th District state representative this morning, has name recognition in the district through his years as host of KZRG's Morning News Watch and Afternoon News Watch.

That is an asset for Kinsley, who is a bright, personable, and sincere young man, who has been kind enough to have me on his shows numerous times.

That being said, his candidacy does present a problem for himself and for KZRG.

That problem has been presented in the way the station covered the announcement of Kinsley's candidacy.

I received the following breaking news e-mail from KZRG:

1310 KZRG's Mark Kinsley announces his candidacy for Missouri House seat for District 129. Mark is hoping to replace Speaker of the House Ron Richard who term limits out next year. Mark is challenged by Joplin attorney Shelley Dreyer who announced her candidacy for the seat. Listen to NewsTalk 1310 KZRG for continuing coverage of Education 2010.

Kinsley's candidacy was also promoted by the following tweet from KZRG:

Newstalk 1310's KZRG's Mark Kinsley throws his hat into the ring for Mo State Rep..disrict 129

Will Shelley Dreyer's official announcement Aug. 4 also be considered breaking news? She registered her campaign committee with the Missouri Ethics Commission weeks ago.

Should the news announcements be referring to the candidate as "KZRG's Mark Kinsley?" Obviously, his association with the station needs to be mentioned since that is his job, but it needs to be phrased differently.

When Kinsley offers his opinion on various issues as he often does on his program (and there is nothing wrong with that), is he simply doing his job or is he receiving an in-kind contribution from KZRG, something which would have to be reported in his filings with the Ethics Commission?

If a Democrat decides to run for the position, how will that candidacy be treated?

I expect Kinsley has already considered these questions and has a plan in place, but the treatment the station has given his announcement is troubling.

The 129th District is not the only one in KZRG's listening area, the station has now set the precedent that any candidate who announces should have that announcement treated as "breaking news" and promoted by the station. I am sure that is exactly what will happen.

Cold blooded liquor store killer's place is behind bars

They just don't make cold-blooded killers like they used to.

After 21 years of acknowledging his role in the 1974 murder of Carthage Airport Liquor Store owner James Stemmons, John Steven Martin, in an obvious ploy to gain his freedom invented a new version of the truth during an Aug. 19, 1998, parole board hearing in Potosi.

At that time, Martin insisted he was performing a mercy killing when he shot Stemmons three times in the back of the head. It was Martin's partner in crime, Leslie Sanders, who shot Stemmons initially, Martin said. Then according to Martin's recreation of reality, Stemmons, with his dying breath, begged Martin to put him out of his misery.

Martin, the killer with a heart, could not say no.

"He changed his story, Mr. Stemmons' daughter-in-law, Donna Stemmons, told me shortly after the hearing. She and nine members of the Stemmons family who attended that hearing were stunned by the turnabout by Martin, who had never made any such claims, though he had gone through numerous parole hearings.

"It sounded like it was all rehearsed," Mrs. Stemmons said. Martin's presentation included the traditional litany that his evil acts were caused by "peer pressure" and his fondness for drugs and alcohol.

Since that story did not work, it remains to be seen what approach John Steven Martin will take during his next attempt to gain his freedom, a hearing set for Aug. 19.

I know the arguments for releasing people like Martin. Our prisons are overcrowded, and yes, some people do deserve a second chance.

Martin is not one of those people.

Because of his actions, at least two people died. Another was wounded and the families of the victims are suffering to this day, a suffering that will never end, but which will be increased if Martin once again sees sunlight.

James Stemmons was not the first man to die at John Steven Martin's hands. In October 1974, while knocking over a Rolla gas station, Martin shot a man to death and wounded another man. During his 1998 parole hearing, he did not mention that murder. Did that man also beg to be put out of his misery?

Less than two months after the murder in Rolla, Martin brought his brand of carnage to Carthage. He, Sanders, and David Pugh decided to get some beer, and opted against going to Gale's Liquor Store because Martin, 19 at the time, had been carded there.

They opted to go to the Airport Liquor Store. "They had me drop them off beside the building," Pugh later testified, "and they walked around it and went in the front door and I left and went down and sat parked at the car wash out east of there."

Martin and Sanders returned to Stemmons' pickup. They had Stemmons with them. Pugh said he followed them to a field southwest of Carthage along the banks of Jones Creek.

"I was stopped out on the road and sat there for a little bit and heard gunshots and then they came over and got in the car and we left. John was carrying a shotgun and a pistol and Leslie was carrying two bottles of some kind of whiskey," Pugh said. "John said they shot him and I couldn't believe it. I said, 'Man, how come you shot so many times?' "

James Stemmons' body was found near his pickup eight hours after a customer found the liquor store deserted. He had been shot in the head three times and struck in the back with a shotgun blast.

As the three men left the body behind, they divvied up the loot.

The life of a man with everything to live for, a family that loved him, people who cared about him, countless friends, was ended for the grand sum of $115.

Sanders was found guilty of first degree murder, but that verdict was thrown out because of a faulty instruction to the jury. He later pleaded guilty to second degree murder.

A Dade County jury found Pugh guilty of robbery and kidnapping. He was found not guilty on the murder charges. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 1977. Sanders and Pugh have been released from prison.

John Steven Martin was sentenced to life in prison in 1975 for murdering James Stemmons and life in prison for the murder of the Rolla man.

During his trial, Sanders said Martin threatened Sanders' wife and child if he did not go along with the robbery.

When Martin entered uis guilty plea in 1975, his story corresponded with what Sanders said. He told the judge he forced Sanders to take part in the robbery and murder. He said Pugh had nothing to do with either the robbery or the murder.

Now Martin has come up with a story designed to make him seem more sympathetic to the parole board. For the past decade, the play has not worked, but each new hearing is an opportunity for the killer to change his luck. Let's pray the parole panel does not buy the snake oil this killer is selling.

John Steven Martin does not deserve any more of a second chance than the one he gave James Stemmons.

(Note: Most of this post comes from an opinion column I wrote in August 1998.)

Poplstein signs on as Nodler campaign manager

Dave Catanese at KY3 Political Notebook reports that veteran political operative Chuck Poplstein has signed on to manage the Congressional campaign of Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin.

The last three campaigns Poplstein has worked on have been McCain-Palin, Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign, and Jim Talent's U. S. Senate re-election campaign.

Apparently, Poplstein is latching onto a surefire candidate like Nodler to break that losing streak.

Some memories of afternoon newspapers

The long tradition of afternoon newspapers in the United States continues to fade, as the Jefferson City News-Tribune announced Sunday it would switch from afternoons to mornings on Monday, Oct. 5.

Having spent 10 years of my life working for afternoon newspapers, nine at The Carthage Press and one at the Lamar Democrat when it was a daily, I hate to see the afternoon newspapers continuing to bite the dust.

Growing up in Newtonia, I can still recall the fellowship of young and old alike as we waited every afternoon for the Neosho Daily News to arrive at Gum Mercantile. For a while, when I was in high school, I also bought the afternoon Joplin News-Herald from Alan Oxendine every day.

Not only did I get the local news, but I loved the syndicated columnists, especially Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, any information about the St. Louis Cardinals (sometimes even the Kansas City Royals after that franchise began in 1969) and the rest of the news that was going on in the world.

When the weather was nice, we would head to Gum's store after school and sit on the sidewalk outside and talk to the older men who would gather there each day to wait for the Daily.

If it was cold, we would go inside and sit around the wood stove in the back of the store, sometimes watching the television back there I can vividly recall watching Bob Gibson strike out 17 Detroit Tigers in game one of the 1968 World Series (games back then were held in the afternoon).

Afternoon newspapers have long since ceased being the method of bringing a community together that they once were, but it is still a shame to see them rapidly disappearing from our landscape.

Message to Sarah Palin: Don't blame the media, your problems were self-inflicted

Anyone expecting Alaska Gov. (now former governor) Sarah Palin to deliver a well polished farewell speech was sorely disappointed Sunday. Mrs. Palin, quitting halfway through her first term, left with her usual rambling, including a series of self-serving attacks on the media.

This video, shot by an obvious Palin fanatic (his commentary is interspersed throughout), includes Mrs. Palin's blatant attempt to make it appear that she is the best friend our soldiers have, and that when anything negative has been writen about her, it is anti-American and an insult to our soldiers who are fighting for our First Amendment freedoms.

"How about in honor of the American soldier, ya quit makin' things up?" she asked.

What a cheap way for a politician to use our American soldiers.

Undoubtedly, there were excesses in the coverage of Sarah Palin, But it was not those excesses that led to her problems. The media did some of the damage when it told the truth about Mrs. Palin. The rest of the damage was self-inflicted.

Hulshof committee shuts down

Former Congressman Kenny Hulshof, who lost to Jay Nixon in the governor's race last November, officially shut down his campaign committee July 16, according to documents filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

The final $24,213.79 in the campaign account was sent to the Missouri Republican Party "for refund of contributions," according to the filing.

Kinsley announcement set for Tuesday

KZRG Morning News Watch host Mark Kinsley will make the leap into political candidacy 10 a.m. Tuesday, announcing his run for the 129th District House seat during an event at Cycle Connection Harley Davidson, 5014 Hearnes Blvd, Joplin.

State Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, is scheduled to be a special guest at the announcement.

Kinsley is the second candidate for the GOP nomination, joining Joplin attorney Shelly Dreyer. No candidate has emerged on the Democratic side.

The incumbent is Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin, who is barred by term limits from running again.

Hermosillo leaving KSNF

KSN reporter Iris Hermosillo, who has made quite a mark at the station since she arrived in June 2007, will leavw after next weekend. Miss Hermosillo has been hired as weekend morning meteorologist at KCTV5 in Kansas City. One of KCTV's weekend anchors is former KODE anchor Amy Anderson.

Miss Hermosillo has done weekend weather and has been a general assignment reporter during the week. This was her first broadcasting job after graduating from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University.

Danforth, Kinder to be in Neosho Tuesday

A couple of Republican heavy-hitters will be in Neosho Tuesday night. The following news release was issued last week:

Former U.S. Senator and Ambassador John Danforth will deliver a special message at a local Southwest Missouri Republican event; Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder will also be speaking. The Annual Free Watermelon Feed, hosted by the Republican Women of Newton County and Newton County Republican Central Committee, will be held Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 6:30P.M. This event will be at Big Spring Park, 308 West Spring St, Neosho, MO 64850. Special guests also include two candidates for State Auditor.

“The Free Watermelon Feed is an informal occasion that allows you to connect with friends, neighbors and prominent Republicans from Missouri like Sen. Danforth and Lt. Gov. Kinder,” said Missouri Speaker of the House Ron Richard who represents Jasper and Newton counties. “This is an entertaining, all-ages political event the whole family can attend.”

The Free Watermelon Feed is open for everyone from surrounding counties to attend. Watermelon and bottled water will be provided—free of charge. Bringing your lawn chairs and appetite is recommended.

John Danforth is a fifth generation Missourian and served Missouri as State Attorney General and as a three term U.S. Senator from 1976 to 1994. Sen. Danforth also served as U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan and as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush.

Peter Kinder is a native of Cape Girardeau, MO and served 12 years as the State Senator for the 27th District. In 2001 Peter Kinder was elected President Pro Tem when the Republicans gained a majority in the Missouri Senate for the first time in 53 years. Elected Lt. Gov. in 2004, Peter Kinder was reelected to his second term in 2008

Republican candidates for State Auditor, State Representative Allen Icet and Ambassador Tom Schweich, will each have three minutes to address the Free Watermelon Feed attendees.

A straw poll will be available to those in attendance. The ballots will serve as entries into a 12 gauge and .22 ammunition raffle drawing to take place at the conclusion of the Free Watermelon Feed.

In case of rain, the Free Watermelon Feed will be moved to the Neosho Recreation Center at 418 Fairground Rd, Neosho, MO 64850.

Kraske: Purgason's a joke; Roy's the boy

Roy Blunt does not have to campaign against newly announced GOP opponent Chuck Purgason as long as he has Steve Kraske to do it for him.

In his latest Kansas City Star column, Kraske tells his readers Purgason is out of the mainstream, is a joke, and doesn't have the slightest chance of winning:

He’s as conservative as Ron Paul. He wears bolo ties. His wife and kids serve as his campaign staff. He can spin a quote.

All of that is a problem for heavy GOP favorite Roy Blunt. The media’s going to love Purgason.

He won’t win. But he’s going to have Blunt chewing Excedrin like some folks down yonder chew tobacco.

Apparently, Kraske thought that last line was pretty clever. Perhaps if he had done a little digging, he could have given us some information on Purgason's stances on issues and how they differ from Roy Blunt's.

Purgason's candidacy may easily turn out to be Quixotic effort and he could turn out to be a joke as a candidate, but I would rather have reporters who examine the record and then offer analysis based on that than reporters who want to marginalize candidates before the campaign even begins.

The portion of Kraske's column that is devoted to the Purgason candidacy almost seems to have been spoonfed to him by the Blunt campaign. Of course, only a cynic would believe anything like that.

Missouri GOP rips awarding of St. Joseph fee office to Montee

It did not take long for the Missouri Republican Party to rip into Gov. Jay Nixon for the Departmtnt of Revenue's decision to award the St. Joseph fee office to attorney James Montee, ex-husband of State Auditor Susan Montee. The following news release was issued today:

Amid an ongoing controversy over the process he uses to award fee offices, Gov. Jay Nixon brazenly awarded another fee office to Democrat power-player James Montee, ex-husband of State Auditor Susan Montee. Montee’s selection also comes less than two months after he was rewarded with the lucrative Lee’s Summit license office, drawing criticism from at least one prominent newspaper editorial board.

“Jay Nixon is absolutely shameless. Each time Nixon taps another prominent Democrat to run a fee office, his claim to have reformed the system grows weaker,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “It is hard to make the case that the new process has had the outcome that the General Assembly intended. Just as before, the most lucrative fee offices in the state continue to be awarded to Nixon donors and influential Democrats. Missourians want results, but as the saying goes, Jay Nixon is all hat and no cattle.”

After Montee defeated three other bidders, including a non-profit that serves battered women and children, for the Lee’s Summit fee office, the St. Joseph News-Press printed an editorial blasting Nixon for failing to avoid the appearance of impropriety: “Ending political patronage in awarding contracts for driver’s license fee offices needs to account for both reality and perceptions… But efficiency in running the office, plans for extended hours and generous sharing of the revenues with the state take no account of whether selecting one applicant over another might look like favoritism. And to say that appearances do not count in this process is to miss much of the point about patronage. Detractors — virtually all of them Republicans — have ample ammunition in criticizing the selection of St. Joseph attorney James Montee to run the Lee’s Summit office with a partner.”

Over the past four years, Montee and his law firm have donated nearly $100,000 to the Democratic Party and its candidates, including Claire McCaskill, Robin Carnahan, Barack Obama, and the Missouri Democratic Party. He was also liable for a $500,000 to his then-wife’s campaign for Auditor. The 27th District Legislative Committee, which is based in one of Montee’s law offices, donated $13,475 to Nixon in 2008.

In addition to his profligate political contributions, James Montee has a history of activism on behalf of the Democratic Party. He was a delegate to the 2004 and 2008 Democrat National Conventions, a former member of the Democratic State Committee, and his law offices have housed various Democratic headquarters, among others.

Even Democrats have cried foul. The selection of another donor to run a separate Kansas City-area fee office prompted a Democratic state representative to reveal Nixon’s true motives: “It’s all politics. Don’t let anyone fool you.”

Laclede County officials give in to Phelps, Westboro Church of God

Members of the extreme Westboro Church of God can protest at military funerals in Laclede County, Missouri, to their hearts' content.

Notice of a consent judgment between Shirley Phelps-Roper, the church member who was suing county officials was filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The notice, filed by ACLU lawyer Anthony E. Rothert, who represented Ms. Phelps-Roper and the church, says the judgment "permanently enjoins defendants Wright and Wrinkle in their official capacities and Laclede County, Missouri. their employees, representatives, agents, servants, assigns, and successors from enforcing or attempting to enforce" the Missouri state statute barring the protests at soldiers' funerals.

Among the defendants remaining in the case are Gov. Jay Nixon, Attorney General Chris Koster, Missouri Highway Patrol Superintendent James Keathley, and Lebanon Police Chief Raymond Blackburn.

The history of the case was outlined in a motion filed Sept. 2, 2008, in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri:

"Phelps-Roper alleges that her religious beliefs dictate that 'homosexuality is the worst of all sins and indicative of the final reprobation of an individual.' "

“Because of this belief, the motion said, "Phelps-Roper and the WBC believe that "God is punishing American for the sin of homosexuality by killing Americans, including soldiers." WBC members regularly picket outside of public buildings, churches, parks, and funerals, including the funerals of individuals who have died while serving the United States in Iraq.

“On Jan. 26, 2007, the court ruled against Ms. Phelps-Roper, but she filed an appeal and the stay was issued in February 2007 and has been in place since that time.

“The Eighth District Court of Appeals overruled the district court Dec. 19, 2007, saying the case should be reopened since there was a chance that Ms. Phelps-Roper could prevail, though the decision was careful to say it was not commenting on the Missouri law's constitutionality.”

The constitutionality of Missouri's law is not yet been decided by the court, but an appellate court decision late last year allowed the protests to continue until a ruling is made. The text of that court ruling can be found in the Oct. 31, 2008, Turner Report.

Lawyer for Rowan Ford's stepfather files motion to have death penalty taken off the table

A pre-trial conference for Chris Collings, Wheaton, who is charged with the murder and rape of nine-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella, originally scheduled for today in Phelps County Circuit Court, has been postponed until Feb. 23, 2010, according to court records. Collings' trial, being held in Phelps County on a change of venue from Barry County, is scheduled for March 2010. The state is seeking the death penalty.

Collings, you may remember, is or was a friend of Rowan Ford's stepfather, David Wesley Spears, Stella, the other man accused of her rape and murder. Collings was the one with the MySpace site that proclaimed his mood as "horny" on Nov. 2, 2007, the day that Rowan Ford was murdered.

Spears' case has been moved to Pulaski County. A 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, hearing is set for a motion to remove the death penalty from the table.

Collings and Spears are being represented by public defenders who are experienced in dealing with capital murder cases.

Previous Turner Report posts on the Rowan Ford murder can be found at this link.

Hearing for accused killers of Carthage couple moved up

The next hearing for Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, which was postponed Wednesday until Aug. 5, has been moved up a week.

The two men, who sre charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and a single count of burglary in connection with the Oct. 11, 2008, murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage, will be in Jasper County Circuit Court before Judge Richard Copeland 9:05 a.m. Wednesday, July 29.

Schoeller, supporters engage in metaphorical pork cutting

I enjoyed this news release from Rep. Shane Schoeller, R-Springfield, who is taking a shot at the speaker pro tem position:

In a record turnout, more than 500 dinner guests joined Rep. Shane Schoeller Thursday, July 23, in cutting the pork in Missouri. While the pork they cut at the BBQ hosted by Rep. Schoeller was the pork on their plates, the event called attention to the continued need in cutting wasteful spending in Missouri’s budget.

“We had a huge turnout for this BBQ and I am overwhelmed to have the support of so many hardworking Missourians who want their government to live within its means,” said Rep. Shane Schoeller. “The pork on our plates was the perfect way to bring attention to the importance of spending citizens' tax dollars wisely.”

Joey Williams of Springfield who attended the BBQ said, “This was the perfect way to show my frustration with all the wasteful spending going on in government. Shane has always fought pork barrel spending and I’m thankful to have someone like him watching how my tax dollars are spent in Jefferson City.”

Along with calling attention to wasteful spending, the event offered folks a chance to contribute to Rep. Schoeller campaign to become the next Speaker Pro-Tem, which is the number two position in the Missouri House. His supporters donated more than $8,000 to his efforts, which will help him not only win re-election but will also help him become the next Speaker Pro-Tem.

As Vice-Chairman of both the Appropriations and Ways and Means committees in the Missouri House, Rep. Schoeller is in a strong position to identify and cut wasteful spending. Because of his leadership in the budget process, over $200 million was set aside for emergency times, helping Missouri to endure its current revenue shortfalls without raising taxes.

“Being Vice-Chairman of two important committees has allowed me to take part in cutting wasteful spending and balance our state’s budget. As Speaker Pro-Tem, I will continue to shrink the size and cost of state government so that we can allow citizens to keep more of their own hard earned dollars,” Rep. Schoeller added. “With the current economic downturn and how they are handling it in Washington, what we do with tax payer dollars here in Missouri over the next two years is more important than ever!”

Judge allows failed McDonald County sheriff's candidate's lawsuit to continue

Federal Judge Richard Dorr rejected an attempt by Robert W. Evenson, the father of McDonald County's sheriff to dismiss a lawsuit against him by the man his son beat last November.

In his ruling, the judge said the lawsuit was not far enough along to determine if the case has any merit.


Jeff Sutherland and his wife, Tammy, filed a lawsuit in December in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri charging the County's 911 Board, and its attorney, Evenson, of violation of their "right to equal protection," "Invasion of privacy,' and of violating Missouri state law in connection with the release of a July 13, 2007, 911 tape of a call made by Mrs. Sutherland to media outlets and to Neosho Forums, where it was posted on Aug. 3.


At the same time, an advertisement was published in the Big Nickel, indicating the call concerned an earlier incident in which the ad referred to Sutherland as being intoxicated and firing his weapon. Other allegations were also made in the ad against both Sutherland and Republican sheriff's candidate Gregg Sweeten.

Listed as defendants in the lawsuit, in addition to Evenson, Lisa McCool, the 911 Board's executive director; and Brian Massa, an employee, as well as board members. The 911 Board as an entity was dismissed as a defendant.

The suit alleges the release of the tape and an examination of Tammy Sutherland's driving records by Massa were a conspiracy to violate the couple's rights. The Sutherlands are asking for damages, attorneys' fees, and costs.

Rove, Romney, McConnell among Republican bigwigs who contributed to Blunt

It's not just the Missouri GOP that is lining up behind Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt as he works to sew up the Republican nomination for U. S. Senate.

Blunt's quarterly report, filed earlier this month with the Federal Election Commission, makes it clear that Blunt is receiving considerable support from national GOP figures, as well.

Karl Rove, Fox News commentator and former strategist for President George W. Bush, contributed $1,000, while Fred Fielding, who served as counsel to the president under President Bush and President Nixon (and at one time was considered to be a top suspect to be Deep Throat, Bob Woodward's Watergate informant) also gave $1,000.

Janet Ashcroft, wife of former Attorney General John Ashcroft, contributed $4,800, while KITPAC, the leadership committee established by the man Blunt wants to replace, Kit Bond, gave the maximum $10,000, $5,000 each for the primary and general election campaigns.

Blunt also received sizable contributions from the leadership PACs of some of the best known Republicans in the country, including:

-$5,000 from Sen. Mitch McConnell's Bluegrass PAC
-$4,672.52 from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Free Strong America PAC
-$5,000 from former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert's Keep Our Mission (formerly Keep Our Majority) PAC
-$1,000 from Sen. Lindsey Graham's Fund for America's Future PAC

Blunt's PAC total also includes thouaands from his House colleagues.

Lobbyists pour close to $75,000 into Blunt campaign

GOP Senate candidate Roy Blunt received at least $72,300 from lobbyists during the last quarter and that does not include the money they brought in from clients, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Blunt, who was known for his efforts in making K Street lobbying firms an integral part of the Republican establishment, may well have more contributors who are lobbyists, but only a handful are actually described as such. Others are referred to as partners in their lobbying firms, (none of which, for obvious reasons, have the word lobby in their names), many are consultants, or governmental affairs, or a combination of the two, and one had the words "information requested" in the occupation area of the form, but news articles refer to her as a lobbyist.

The Blunt campaign also had dozens of other out-of-state contributors with no occupation listed, simply "information requested."

The lobbyists represent many interests whose officials also came through with sizable donations, including American Airlines, Walt Disney, and numerous insurance, medical, and pharmaceutical companies, who would benefit from the health care proposal being pushed by the Seventh District Congressman in the video that accompanies this post.

This is not the first time Blunt has relied heavily on the kindness of lobbyists. As I noted in numerous previous Turner Report posts, Blunt's Rely on Your Beliefs PAC has relied on the beliefs and contributions of lobbyists and the special interests they represent.

Montee company tabbed to run St. Joseph fee office

A firm connected to St. Joseph lawyer James Montee has been tabbed to run the lucrative St. Joseph license fee office.

A news release issued earlier this afternoon by the Missouri Department of Revenue said St. Joseph License LLC had been selected to run the St. Joseph office following a competitive bid process.

The five offices awarded today are the latest to have their management chosen using a comprehensive bidding process that was implemented when Gov. Nixon took office on Jan. 12. The process calls for people or groups to submit detailed bids to obtain the management contracts to operate the offices. The Cassville and Chillicothe license offices both received one bid, Grandview received two bids, and Joplin and St. Joseph both received four bids.

Corporation records filed with the Missouri Secretary of State's office indicate the registered agent for Saint Joseph License LLC (you have to spell out Saint or you will not find it) is Montee, ex-husband of State Auditor Susan Montee, Saint Joseph LLC was formed Feb. 23, 2009, with the purpose of "licensing and all other legal acts permitted limited," according to the incorporation document.

Saint Joseph License LLC was formed the same day as Lee's Summit License LLC, the firm which received the contract to operate the Lee's Summit license fee office on June 2.

Montee was also involved in a successful bid earlier this month to run the Liberty fee office.

The bids have been heavily criticized by the Missouri GOP, which notes Montee has bee a big-time contributor to the Democratic party, though he did not make any cnntributions to Gov. Jay Nixon.

Rita Hunter to Globe: I've got nothing to hide

Former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter's response to the news that she is being investigated by the feds- She has "nothing to hide."

If the feds are involved, there may not be anything left to hide.

Springfield firm to run Joplin license office

Alternative Opportunities, Inc. of Springfield has been named as the new agent for the Joplin License Office, according to a news release from Gov. Jay Nixon.

The office will remain at 1110 E. Seventh St., Suite 6.

Jefferson City newspaper owner considering buying Austin American-Statesman

An article posted today on the Arkansas Business website says Wehco, owner of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Jefferson City News Tribune, is thinking about buying the Austin American-Statesman in Texas:

Hussman did not comment for the article, but the Statesman reports he and two other interested parties visited the paper and met with the newspaper's top executives. Hussman owns Wehco Media of Little Rock, which owns daily and weekly newspapers and cable companies.

The paper has been on the market for one year, according to the article. Austin investor Brian Ferguson and Weco, Texas, businessman Clifton Robinson also visited the paper, according to the report.

Feds investigating Rita Hunter

The Joplin Globe reports federal authorities have taken over the investigation of former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter.

Previous Turner Report posts on Mrs. Hunter can be found at this link.

KOAM looking for new anchor

It looks as if Dowe Quick is going to be breaking in a new partner soon.

Quick, who has provided stability and assurnce to KOAM viewers for nearly three decades, has gone through many a co-anchor, and the latest, Erica Edwards, will reportedly leave soon.

In the advertisement placed on TV Jobs:

Main Anchor position. The markets dominant #1 News Leader has an opening for evening anchor. Candidates should have great writing skills, experience producing and 2 years reporting or anchoring experience in a competitive news environment. The ability to be a newsroom leader and effective communicator is a must. A college degree is required. Send tape to Kristi Spencer, News Director, KOAM-TV. Applicants should be received by August 7th, 2009. E-mail resumes are not accepted.

Chamber president rips Employee Free Choice Act

In these videos, Missouri Chamber of Commerce President Dan Mehan reiterates the organization's opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. Since the compromise takes the secret ballot issue off the table, obviously that was never the reason big business opposed the act in the first place:

Hearing for accused killers of Carthage couple postponed

No official confirmation has been placed on case.net, but KZRG's Mark Kinsley tweeted a few moments ago that the scheduled hearing for Darren Winans, 21, Jasper; and Matt Laurin, 19, Springfield, has been postponed.

The two men are charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and a single count of burglary in connection with the Oct. 11, 2008, murder of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage.

Rumor: Vote was only 4-3 to extend MSSU president's contract

The word on the street is that the Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors are not all in lockstep with the regime that produced Dr. Bruce Speck as university president.

Reportedly, when the board extended Speck's contract recently, the vote was far from unanimous. The story making the rounds is that three voted to give Speck the boot.

The votes and who voted which way are public record. The Board of Governors, like other boards in the state of Missouri are may discuss hiring, firing, promotion, or discipline in closed session, but any vote has to take place in open session.

Of course, in this day and age, when reporters automatically leave meetings when boards go into closed session, there usually is no one around when open sessions resume.

Of course, I could be wrong, perhaps a reporter did check to see if the vote was unanimous, found out it was, and that was all there was to it.

On the other hand, it is awful easy just to run the press release.

(Full disclosure: I ran the news release, too, though I received it from another source and not from the university. Of course, I am not being paid to do this either.)

Downtown Joplin business files for bankruptcy

Evergreen & Amber, one of the businesses heralded as part of the revival of downtown Joplin filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy today, following a liquidation sale that concluded Monday.

The business, located at 424 S. Main, specialized in home furnishings, gifts, and floral arrangements. Its co-partners were Diane Pine, who signed the bankruptcy documents, and Linda Newton.

Court documents indicate the company reported $45,011 in assets and $168,244.20 in liabilities.

Wednesday hearing set for accused killers of Carthage couple

The next hearing for the two men accused of murdering Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage Oct 11, 2008, is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin.

Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, are charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and a single count of burglary.

Brian Williams: Cronkite was the best there ever was

On his Daily Nightly blog, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who got his start at KOAM, offers some observations about the late Walter Cronkite:

I have said for years, and to all who will listen: He's the guy I grew up wanting to be. Of course, there's only one Walter. All I can do now is hope that his example continues to guide me, and others, in work and in life. While in retirement and in his old age, he long ago left the public spotlight, now he's truly gone. As long as he was with us, there was always "Cronkite" to point to, to hold up as a living example. Now it is Walter's memory that lives with us all.

Finalists named for newly created MSSU post

he three finalists for the newly created vice president for university development and executive director of the University Foundation have been announced in a release issued by University President Bruce Speck.

This position, if you recall, is supposed to bring the university a fundraising wizard, a quality we were told Speck had in abundance when he was hired. Since Speck's hiring, the university has suddenly found a need for two more fundraising experts, one to fill this position and the recently hired athletic director.

The release is printed below:

Three candidates for the position of Vice President for University Development and Executive Director of the University Foundation will visit the campus of Missouri Southern State University July 27, 30 and Aug. 5, it was announced today by President Bruce W. Speck.

The itinerary for the three will include meetings with campus faculty and staff and members of the Board of Governors, Missouri Southern Foundation Board and the Alumni Association Board. Each candidate will meet with the University Vice Presidents and those who would be his direct reports. In addition, an open meeting with the campus community will take place from 1:15 - 1:45 p.m. in the main lobby of Spiva Library on each of the scheduled days.

The schedule for the three finalists is listed below as well as the itinerary for their visits.

Monday, July 27:

Andrew Grabau, Director of Development, University of Missouri Graduate School and the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, Columbia. Grabau holds a Master of Science with Distinction in Public Services from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He also attended the UM-Columbia School of Law.

Thursday, July 30:

Ron Huiatt, Chief Development Officer, Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia, Charleston, WV. Huiatt holds a Master of Arts in Experimental Psychology from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with honors from the University of Missouri – Columbia.

Wednesday, August 5:

Mark Parsons, Associate Vice President and Director of Gift Planning, University of Minnesota Medical Foundation, Minneapolis, MN. Parsons holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota, a J.D. (magna cum laude) from William Mitchell College of Law, a Master of Divinity from United Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Arts in American History from the University of Minnesota.

Members of the Search Committee included MSSU President Dr. Bruce Speck, who served as Chair; Mrs. Carolyn Phelps, chairwoman of the Missouri Southern Foundation of Board of Directors; Mrs. Rayma Bekebrock Davis, Vice President of the Missouri Southern Foundation of Board of Directors; and Foundation Board members Mr. Bill Gipson, President and CEO of Empire District Electric Co., and Mr. Don Swanson, AAMS Financial Advisor for Edward Jones. Also serving on the Search Committee are current MSSU Board of Governors members Mrs. Nancy Perry and Mr. Richard Walter.

Itinerary

Day 1

Arrival in Joplin

Dinner with the Search Committee at President’s home

Day 2

7:00 - 8:00 a.m. Breakfast meeting with Dr. Terri Agee, Senior Vice President, and Dr. Brad Kleindl, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration

8:15 - 9:00 a.m. Meeting with Lee Elliff Pound, Director of Missouri Southern Alumni Association; Rod Surber, Director of University Relations & Marketing; Sandra Lovett, Grants Writer; and Sharon Fraser, Missouri Southern Foundation Secretary.

9:15 - 10:00 a.m. Meeting with Curt Betebenner, Director of the Missouri Southern Foundation; and Dr. John Tiede, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving

10:15 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting with Jared Bruggeman, MSSU Athletics Director

11:15 - 1:00 p.m. Lunch meeting with MSSU Board of Governors, Missouri Southern Foundation Board, and Alumni Association Board

1:15 - 1:45 p.m. Open meeting for campus community, Main Lobby, Spiva Library

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Meeting with Debbie Dutch Kelley, Director of Human Resources

2:30 - 3:00 p.m. Meeting with MSSU President Dr. Bruce Speck

Insurance interests deliver big for Speaker Richard

June 2 was a big day for Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin.

On that day, insurance interests delivered $13,150 in contributions to the most powerful man in Missouri's campaign committee. Richard's quarterly report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission shows he received the following contributions:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield $2,500
Liberty Mutual $2,500
Missouri Insurance Coalition $2,500
FEAPAC of Missouri $3,000
Missouri State Farm PAC $650
American Insurance Association $500
Shelter Insurance $500
General Anerican Associates $500
National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies $500

Since the amount is far more than what the insurance companies have put into his account earlier this year or in 2008, it appears they are gearing up for a big year in 2010.

Another case of a judge returning driver's license following DWI stop

In a ruling handed down July 10, the Missouri Southern Disrict Court of Appeals reversed Dent County Judge J. Max Price's decision to restore driving privileges to a man arrested for drunk driving. Price said the Highway Patrol trooper who stopped Mark Bradford Jones did not have "reasonble suspicion" to make the initial stop.

Add Judge Price to the list of judges who want to play Russian roulette with our lives by allowing these drivers to return to the streets on the flimsiest of reasons.

To show why Judge Price's decision was overruled, consider this passage from the appellate court's opinion:

Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Robert Creasey ("Trooper Creasey") was the
only witness called by the Director. Trooper Creasey testified that he was traveling
southbound on Highway 72 around 11 p.m. on a Friday night when he observed a red Dodge
pick-up truck directly in front of him. He stated the truck was traveling between sixty-five and seventy miles per hour in a sixty miles per hour speed zone, that it was weaving within its own lane of traffic, and that "it crossed over the . . . right side of the road on one occasion. . . onto the white line onto the rumble strips.[2]" Trooper Creasey could not recall how many times the truck weaved within its lane.

After making these observations, Trooper Creasey initiated a traffic stop and asked
Jones for his driver's license and proof of insurance. Jones had to be asked twice for proof of insurance, but he did produce it. Trooper Creasey told Jones the reason he had stopped him was because he had driven onto the rumble strip. Trooper Creasey did not provide Jones with any other reason for the stop. Trooper Creasey observed that Jones's eyes were "bloodshot and glassy", that an odor of intoxicants was coming from inside his vehicle, and that when Jones spoke, "he just kind of stared." Because of these observations, Trooper Creasey asked Jones to exit his truck and sit in the passenger seat of Trooper Creasey's patrol car.

From his patrol car, Trooper Creasey radioed for a computer check of Jones's driving
status. While waiting for a response to that inquiry, Jones stated: "I've had a couple of drinks but I'm okay." In response, Trooper Creasey asked Jones how many drinks he had consumed and Jones replied "four or five." Trooper Creasey then had Jones exit the patrol car and perform a series of field sobriety tests consisting of the horizontal gaze nystagmus,the one-leg stand, and the walk-and-turn. Jones failed all three. Trooper Creasey also asked Jones to recite the alphabet. Jones recited it correctly up to the letter L, but Trooper Creasey could not "understand the rest of the letters until he got to X, Y and Z." Trooper Creasey then had Jones blow into a portable breath tester ("PBT"). The PBT detected the presence of alcohol in Jones's breath.

From all of this, Trooper Creasey concluded Jones was intoxicated and placed him
under arrest. He handcuffed Jones and transported him to the sheriff's department. En route to the sheriff's department, Jones stated: "I knew when you turned the lights on I wasn't going to pass." At the sheriff's department, Trooper Creasey informed Jones of the implied consent law and asked him to consent to a chemical test of his breath. Jones refused to take the test. Trooper Creasey then continued to ask Jones standard questions from the alcohol influence report. When Creasey asked Jones what day of the week it was, Jones responded:

"I might be drunker than I think."

And Judge Price restored driving privileges to this guy?

Richard appoints interim committee on autism spectrum disorders

From Missouri House Communications:

Speaker Appoints Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders
Jefferson City – Missouri House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, announced the creation of an Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders. This committee is charged with the responsibility of reviewing and making recommendations on issues pertaining to the regulation of insurance and other matters impacting the lives of those diagnosed with Autism.

“We have spent months gathering facts and researching what answers are most effective in aiding Missourians with Autism,” said Speaker Richard. “I am tasking the members of the Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders with finding a responsible, effective solution that all sides can agree on,” he finished.

Richard named Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst, R-St. Louis, to chair the committee. As Chairman, Scharnhorst is given the responsibility of directing committee meetings and ensuring that all members work together to find a meaningful legislative solution to the growing Autism epidemic.

“Representative Scharnhorst has been an advocate for Autism in the past and I am confident that he will continue to be a strong leader on the issue moving forward,” said Speaker Richard.

“I thank Speaker Richard for his dedication to this matter and for asking me to chair the Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Our members will work together to review the facts and produce progressive measures that will improve the lives of Missouri families who deal with Autism. I am confident that through this interim committee, we will be able to move closer to a definitive solution.” said Representative Scharnhorst.

The interim committee will hold hearings in the coming weeks.

In addition to Rep. Scharnhorst, the committee is made up of the following members:

Representative Wayne Cooper, Vice Chairman
Representative Sue Allen
Representative Ron Casey
Representative Mike Colona
Representative Sally Faith
Representative Jeff Grisamore
Representative Denny Hoskins
Representative Tishaura Jones
Representatve Shelley Keeney
Representative Michele Kratky
Representative Chris Molendorp
Representative Gina Walsh
Representative Terry Witte

Brian Williams: Our industry lost its living giant

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams issued a statement describing the impact the late Walter Cronkite had on his life:

On a personal note, Walter Cronkite was the man I grew up wanting to be. Our household, like many, came to a halt when his broadcast came on the air each night, and dinner was served only after he said good night. Knowing Walter was among the great blessings of my life."

Neil Armstrong: Cronkite had a passion for space exploration

The first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong, issued the following statement concerning the death of Walter Cronkite:

"For a news analyst and reporter of the happenings of the day to be successful, he or she needs three things: accuracy, timeliness, and the trust of the audience. Many are fortunate to have the first two.

The trust of the audience must be earned.

"Walter Cronkite seemed to enjoy the highest of ratings. He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed.

CBS fails to salute Walter Cronkite

If you want to hear Don Hewitt, Mike Wallace, and other CBS icons discuss the career and lasting impact of Walter Cronkite, who died today at age 92, you are going to have go turn to CNN or some cable news outlet.

Cronkite put CBS on the map, but the network of Katie Couric, does not have the decency to put on a special on Cronkite's life (which would nearly all be taken from its video vault). Instead, the tarnished Tiffany network is showing a rerun of "Numbers," which followed reruns of "Flashpoint," and "Ghost Whisperer."

The snub is a final insult to Cronkite, who provided far more to CBS than it ever did to him. To refresh the memory, Cronkite was at the height of his skills in 1981 when CBS officials decided it was time to push him aside to keep Dan Rather from jumping to ABC. It was a hasty move that also pushed CBS stalwart Roger Mudd, who had long been considered to be Cronkite's heir apparent, to NBC.

To get Cronkite to step aside, something he never wanted to do, CBS offered him all kinds of promises, including regular specials and being included every four years in the network's coverage of the national political conventions.

Nearly every promise was broken. Cronkite was rarely used by the network, except on occasional retrospectives, and numerous books covering the inner workings of CBS detail how Rather did not want Cronkite anywhere near the CBS Evening News or convention coverage.

So it comes as no surprise that on the day of Cronkite's death, there is no special on his life.

CBS just aired a commercial saying that it will have a special for Cronkite Sunday at 6 p.m., a time already held by the CBS News program 60 Minutes. The network was willing to throw out all scheduled programming for Michael Jackson, devote an hour to Farrah Fawcett on the night she died, but Walter Cronkite's passing can wait.

After all, what did he ever do for CBS?

Blunt discusses health care on CNN

Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt was interviewed by CNN about health care today:

Kinder issues statement on Cronkite's passing

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder issued the following statement concerning the death of Walter Cronkite:

"This evening, America has lost a trusted voice and lifelong friend in Walter Cronkite.

"As a native son of Missouri, Mr. Cronkite brought our nation the days events with eloquence and poise across multiple generations.

"Tonight, I think back on memories of some of America's most historic events. Those events found life through the words of Walter Cronkite.

"On behalf of all Missourians, I send my deepest sympathies to the Cronkite family."

Kansas City star remembers Cronkite's days at newspaper

Kansas City Star television reporter Aaron Barnhart has posted an article remembering the late Walter Cronkite's beginnings at the Star:

While on vacation, he stopped in Kansas City, picked up a copy of the Star and read of an opening at KCMO Radio. He was hired in 1936 as the station’s entire news and sports department.

He began visiting 12th Street, where the wild night scene “helped me grow up in a hurry.” On Election Day, two policemen working for Tom Pendergast escorted Cronkite to a polling station and instructed him to vote — twice.

He met Betsy Maxwell, who had just been hired from the University of Missouri’s journalism school to write advertising copy for the station. She and Walter met on her third day of work and began a lengthy courtship.

“Betsy and I went from the studio to lunch and from lunch to dinner. And from KCMO through life together,” Cronkite wrote. The couple married in 1940 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Betsy Cronkite died in 2005, two weeks before the couple’s 65th anniversary.

Some thoughts about Walter Cronkite

In the classes I have taught at South Middle School and Diamond Middle School, there are only a handful of students who know who Charles Gibson, Katie Couric, or Brian Williams are.

From 1962 to 1981, everyone knew the anchors who brought us the evening news, and the one who stood far above the rest was Walter Cronkite, who died today at age 92.

When he ended his broadcasts with "That's the way it is," you had confidence that it was just that. I was in second grade when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, so I did not see his announcement of the death, but it was Cronkite's coverage that I followed through the next several days.

I can vividly remember Cronkite's coverage 40 years ago of the moon landing and his excitement as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the lunar surface. I was watching as a 12-year-old when he made sense of the riots, both from protesters and from police, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

And it wasn't just his calm, authoritative reading of the news that made Walter Cronkite one of journalism's heroes. He also was an astute observer who recognized important news long before most of his colleagues did.

It was his report on Watergate that took up more than half of the CBS Evening News that finally turned it into a national news story and not just a crime story being told by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

It was also Cronkite who laid it on the line with Americans and told them the reality in Vietnam was not what was being told to Americans by our leaders.

Cronkite received much of his training as a wire service reporter, and that print background was something he never forgot. He was always a reporter first.

The rumor that Cronkite was near death first surfaced a few weeks ago. Sadly, if he had passed away at that time, it would have been lost in the media overkill over Michael Jackson.

Hopefully, Walter Cronkite's death will receive the coverage it deserves.

Probation violation filed against accused killer of Carthage couple

Two capital murder charges are apparently considered a probation violation in the state of Missouri.

Barton County Circuit Court online documents indicate a violation report against Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, who is charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of burglary in connection with the Oct. 11, 2008, murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, Carthage, was filed July 8.

Winans was placed on probation for five years by Barton County Circuit Court Judge Charles Curless after pleading guilty to stealing a car. As I have noted in earlier posts, Winans has violated the terms of his probation time after time and except for a four-month stay in prison last year (after Jasper County Judge Richard Copeland agreed to a plea arrangement that allowed a felony drug count against Winans to be changed to a misdemeanor, gave him a suspended sentence, and placed him on unsupervised probation for one year) Winans has never had to suffer any consequences for the violations.

From the July 15 Turner Report:

When Winans has his preliminary hearing later this month it will before Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Richard Copeland, the same man who let him walk on a probation violation in May 2008.

Court records indicate that on March 13, 2008, Copeland approved a plea bargain with Winans that reduced a felony drug crime, committed while Winans was on probation, to a misdemeanor charge of use of drug paraphernalia, and allowed him to have unsupervised probation. The arrest in the case was made by the Jasper Police Department.

The unsupervised probation was “unsuccessfully completed,” according to court records.

After the slap on the hand from Judge Copeland, Barton County Judge Charles Curless revoked Winans’ probation and sentenced him to five years in prison, subject to 120-day callback on March 21, 2008.

After the four months in prison, Judge Curless ordered Winans released. Less than three months later, Robert and Ellen Sheldon were dead.

Even after the murders, Winans provided ample reason for a judge to revoke his probation.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department finally arrested Winans July 1 on the theft charge that eventually broke the murder case open, but Winans could have been nailed for another probation violation in May, according to court records.
On May 27, another Jasper County judge, Stephen Carlton, issued a protection order against Winans under the Child Protection Act. While that does not necessarily mean Winans committed a crime, the fact that he was on probation for a felony would indicate it was well worth looking into.

Nexstar Broadcasting stock drops 10 cents

Nexstar Broadcasting stock dropped 10 cents Thursday, closing at 67 cents per share.

Nexstar owns KSNF in Joplin and KSFX in Springfield and is de facto owner of KODE in Joplin and KOLR in Springfield.

Cillizza: Blunt receives an A for fundraising

Washington Post Fix blogger Chris Cillizza put Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt at the top of his list for second quarter fundraising success:

Blunt's $1.44 million haul over the last three months represents, as we wrote, the most clear turnaround in a Senate candidacy in recent memory. Blunt now leads Secretary of State Robin Carnahan in cash on hand and is back in the game to keep the Show Me State in the Republican column in 2010.

Cynthia Davis ready to help federal government solve economic crisis

In her latest capital report, Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, in the news lately for her thoughts about hunger being a motivator for children, offers her service in helping the federal government handle the economic crisis.

In one part of her column, Mrs. Davis writes,"If I were giving advice to the President, I would tell him the best way to stimulate the economy is to have an income tax holiday. Can you imagine what would happen to our economy if even for one week people could receive the full reward of their earned wages? Some people may even want to work overtime! Imagine what they could do with their extra wages. Some could give more to their churches, help their struggling neighbors, eat out more often, pay down their mortgages or pay off credit cards; they might even boost tourism by going on a vacation. All of the above would benefit the overall business economy and therefore support and strengthen the national economic health."

The full text of Mrs. Davis' column is printed below:

Our district was recently honored by a visit from the governor’s office. Margaret Donnelly, head of the Health and Senior Services Department, came to announce the additional government spending authorized for the Senior Jobs Program. This funding is made available through the federal stimulus package. Officials with the Senior Jobs Program and participants who have acquired jobs through the program were in attendance for the announcement.

Missouri will receive $2.2 million in new federal money that will go directly to contractors who help place seniors in jobs. Another $586,706 in federal funds will go to the state, which will pass the money along to agencies that operate the program. The program is formally known as the Senior Community Service Employment Program. It could be more appropriately called the “Senior Community Service Entitlement Program.” The program pays participants’ federal-minimum-wage salaries while they are gaining work experience and on-the-job training. The average recipient spends 27 months in the program before moving into unsubsidized employment.

I am an economic-stimulus-fund skeptic. The studies show all this “extra money” is not accomplishing much in the way of creating new jobs. With the unemployment rate increasing, trying to teach people over the age of 55 new skills will add to the supply of workers, but not the demand for workers. This could create more unintended consequences because the taxpayers are paying these wages, not the businesses. This government program is another way to redistribute the wealth. While all of this seems “nice”, we could have accomplished even more for our senior citizens if it were not for federal government interference with our free markets.

The information from the governor’s office estimates this will create about 300 new jobs for people over 55 years old. However, since the government is paying their salaries, it is hard to imagine this being on par with a new private sector job. When the stimulus money goes away, it is likely the jobs will also go away. If there were true demand for them, they would have appeared spontaneously without governmental intervention.

It seems like the policies coming from our national government are devoid of an elementary understanding of economics and are designed to tear apart our country rather than make us strong. The last time we had a recession, we had a much different philosophy in place. Frank Donatelli advisor to former President Regan said the plan in the 1980’s was to “cut taxes for everyone to give them the incentive to work harder, invest and make better lives for their families. In turn, Americans launched the longest peacetime economic expansion to that point in our nation's history; we led the world out of a global economic recession; we created more than 18.5 million new jobs; we doubled the amount of products we exported overseas; we saw a one-third increase in our GDP, we dramatically reduced inflation; all the while, low and middle income Americans saw the most economic gains of all.”

If I were giving advice to the President, I would tell him the best way to stimulate the economy is to have an income tax holiday. Can you imagine what would happen to our economy if even for one week people could receive the full reward of their earned wages? Some people may even want to work overtime! Imagine what they could do with their extra wages. Some could give more to their churches, help their struggling neighbors, eat out more often, pay down their mortgages or pay off credit cards; they might even boost tourism by going on a vacation. All of the above would benefit the overall business economy and therefore support and strengthen the national economic health.

I don’t expect anyone from Washington D.C. to call me asking for advice, but isn’t it sad that most of the common sense people, (for example, those cutting hair and driving trucks) seem to know how their money should be spent better than congress? Deep down inside, most of us know it is wrong for us to be spending so much money. I remain hopeful that the pendulum will swing back the other way. If anyone from Washington D.C. should ask for help from “An O’Fallon Economist”, I am ready to do my part.

Gannett stocks up $1.01

With the news that Gannett performed better than anticipated during the second quarter, the company's stock price improved $1.01 per share to $4.50.

Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns/operates KODE and KSNF in Joplin and KOLR and KSFX in Springfield, was up eight cents Wednesday to 77 cents per share, and Saga Communications, which owns KOAM and KJFX in the Joplin market, was up six cents to $5.51 per share.

Texas case brought widespread attention to prisoners' cell phone use

The New York Times has an article about efforts to jam signals from cell phones that have been smuggled into prisons.

National attention was brought to this problem after a situation involving death row inmate Richard Lee Tabler, who along with East Newton High School graduate Timothy Payne, was responsible for the murders of four people connected to a Killeen, Texas, strip club. Payne was sentenced to life in prison:

In 2008, Richard Tabler, a death row inmate in Texas, called State Senator John Whitmire directly on his cellphone. Mr. Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, is chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee.

“He wanted to talk about conditions on death row,” Mr. Whitmire said. “In my mind, I thought I was talking to a concerned guard. I said, ‘Where are you?’ And he said: ‘I’m on death row. I’m an inmate. I’m on a cellphone I bought for $2,100.’ ”

After several more calls from the inmate, Mr. Whitmire told law enforcement officials about the contraband phone, which they confiscated. They found that it had been used by nine other death row inmates for a total of 2,800 minutes. Officials locked down the entire state system, conducted a search for other cellphones and found about 400, Mr. Whitmire said.

Blunt holds lead in Senate fundraising

Associated Press reports Seventh District Cnngressman Roy Blunt is leading the top Democratic candidate, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, in the fundraising race:

Financial summaries released Wednesday show Blunt raised more than $1.4 million from April through June as he consolidated support within an initially factional Republican Party.

Carnahan, the only Democrat in the race, reported receiving about $1 million during the second quarter of 2009, roughly matching her receipts from the first quarter.

Goodman leads 7th District fundraising

Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, raised more money during the past quarter than any other candidate in the Seventh District Congressional race. From Chad Livengood's Springfield News-Leader report:

Sen. Jack Goodman eked out a victory over his two closest rivals in the second quarter fundraising race for the 2010 race to succeed U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt in Congress.

Goodman added $108,264 to his campaign war chest for the August 2010 7th District Republican primary.

He was closely trailed by Springfield auctioneer Billy Long, who reported raising $101,700, and state Sen. Gary Nodler, who raked in $101,545 in a month's time.

Wilson has $12,303.76 in account

Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, listed on his campaign committee documents as a candidate for an unspecified statewide office, has $12,303.76 in his account, according to his quarterly disclosure report.

Wilson had $1,000 in contributions, none of which were more than $100 or came from a political action committee. He spent only $140 during the past three months, according to the report.

Accused killer of Carthage couple to be allowed to wear street clothes during hearing

When Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, appears in Jasper County Circuit Court for a hearing a week from today, he will not be wearing Jasper County Jail orange.

Online court records indicate Judge Richard Copeland, who will preside over the hearing for Laurin and his alleged accomplice, Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, made the ruling Tuesday.

Laurin and Winans are charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of burglary in connection with the Oct. 11, 2008 murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage.

Did Cynthia Davis get her money's worth

Campaign documents filed today show that Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, termed "Worst Person in the World" twice recently by MSNBC's Keith Olberman for her statement that hunger was a great motivator for children, paid $484.78 for public relations.

Do you think she should ask for her money back?

Delay in documents from state fire marshal postpones hearing for accused Lamar Catholic Church arsonist

A hearing for accused St. Mary's Catholic Church of Lamar arsonist John Franklin Manco, originally scheduled for Monday, has been rescheduled for July 27 due to problems receiving materials from the state fire marshal's office.

Online Barton County Circuit Court records say, "State Fire Marshall's office has not provided (prosecuting attorney) with any documentation for required discovery, nor even a phone call to explain delay or give expected time to respond."

Manco is charged with arson, tampering with a motor vehicle, and two counts of burglary in connection with the February fire which destroyed the historic church.

Blunt still has $400,000 + in campaign account

Though it is highly unlikely that former governor Matt Blunt will run for statewide office in 2012 as his campaign committee says he will, he still has $410,674.77 in his account, according to his disclosure statement filed this morning with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Blunt received only one contribution, $1,000 from Storm Chasers, Monticello, Ind. on June 24.

He spent $2,372.13, making one contribution, $500 to the Missouri Federated Republican Women. Blunt's biggest expenditures were $768 to the Missouri Deparatment of Revenue and $624.81 to reimburse himself for travel costs.

House Speaker Richard has $118,000+ in account

The most powerful man in the state of Missouri, Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin, had $118,873.12 in his campaign announce at the end of the last reporting period, according to documents filed moments ago with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Richard received $83,178 in contributions and spent $13,477.43, according to the documents.

Top contributors to Richard included:

Centene Management Company, St. Louis, $1,000
Glen and Randy Brown, Diamond, $1,100
Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Kansas City, $2,500
Liberty Mutual, Dover, N. H. $2,500
Missouri Insurance Coalition PAC, $3,000
FEAPAC of Missouri, Overland Park, Kan. $2,000
Penn National Gaming, Wyoming, PA $1,500
Karl Glassman, Carthage, Leggett & Platt, $1,000
Rudy Farber, Neosho, $1,000
David Humphreys, Joplin, $5,000
Anheuser-Busch, $2,000
Bobby Thompson, Tampa, Fla. $2,000
Eli Lilly Corporate Center, Indianaplis, Ind. $1,000
Burns & McDonnell, Kansas City, $1,000
Realtors PAC of Missouri, Columbia, $2,000
MGE Employees PAC, Kansas City, $1,000
Paric Corporation, O'Fallon, $1,000
MeEagle Pool Account, Boardwalk Springs, Fla. $1,000
Missouri Council of School Administrators, Jefferson City, $1,000
Leggett & Platt, Carthage, $5,000
American Family Insurance PAC, St. Joseph, $1,000
Missouri Bankers Association, $2,600 ($325 apiece from eight regional PACS
Crossland Construction Company, Columbus, Kan. $1,000
Missouri Independent Bankers, Liberty, $2,000
Right Choice Managed Care, Cincinnati, $5,000
Jerry Wells, Joplin, $1,000
Roper Pontiac, Joplin, $2,000
Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, $1,000
Long Term Care Leadership, Jefferson City, $1,000
Gary and Suzanne Duncan, Joplin, $1,500
***

One fun item from Richard's expenditures. On April 2, he paid John Hancock & Associates $1,000 for speech writing.

Blunt campaign raises $1.44 million during quarter

Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt issued the following tweet about the financial condition of his U. S. Senate campaign moments ago:

Our campaign far exceeded our $1 million goal and with the help of many of you we raised $1.44 million between April and June.

Flaws in system may have led to Carthage murders

(The following is my column for this week's Newton County News.)

A jury will decide whether Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, is guilty of first degree murder in connection with the stabbing deaths of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of The Old Cabin Shop of Carthage last October.

Those who watched local news programming or read the Joplin Globe last week know about the arrests of Winans and Matthew Laurin, 19, of Springfield by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department.

What no one has been talking about is the series of events that enabled Winans, a convicted felon who has repeatedly violated the requirements of his probation, to remain free, a series of decisions by judges that appears to have cost the Sheldons their lives.

When Winans has his preliminary hearing later this month it will before Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Richard Copeland, the same man who let him walk on a probation violation in May 2008.

Court records indicate that on March 13, 2008, Copeland approved a plea bargain with Winans that reduced a felony drug crime, committed while Winans was on probation, to a misdemeanor charge of use of drug paraphernalia, and allowed him to have unsupervised probation. The arrest in the case was made by the Jasper Police Department.

The unsupervised probation was “unsuccessfully completed,” according to court records.

After the slap on the hand from Judge Copeland, Barton County Judge Charles Curless revoked Winans’ probation and sentenced him to five years in prison, subject to 120-day callback on March 21, 2008.

After the four months in prison, Judge Curless ordered Winans released. Less than three months later, Robert and Ellen Sheldon were dead.

Even after the murders, Winans provided ample reason for a judge to revoke his probation.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department finally arrested Winans July 1 on the theft charge that eventually broke the murder case open, but Winans could have been nailed for another probation violation in May, according to court records.
On May 27, another Jasper County judge, Stephen Carlton, issued a protection order against Winans under the Child Protection Act. While that does not necessarily mean Winans committed a crime, the fact that he was on probation for a felony would indicate it was well worth looking into.
So far, the fact that the brutal murder of Robert and Ellen Sheldon may have been committed by a man who should have been behind bars long ago seems to be being swept under the rug, both by Jasper County authorities and by the media.
Is Darren Winans an exception to a smoothly run judicial system or is this just business as usual?

More casino money for Charlie Shields

Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, continued to pick up casino money during the last quarter, according to his disclosure report, filed Tuesday with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Out of Shields' $10,155 in contributions during hte last three months, $3,650, his two largest contributiosn came from casinos. The Ethics Commission documents showed Shields received $2,150 from Ameristar Casinos, Kansas City; and $1,500 from Penn National Gaming.

Previous Turner Report posts on Charlie Shields can be found at this link.

Kinder raises $86,794 during quarter

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, expected to run for governor in 2012, raised $86,794 during the last quarter, according to documents filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Kinder reported spending $56,505, and has $30,288.21 left in his account.

Those contributing at least $1,000 to Kinder were:

Timbercreek, LLC, Springfield, $5,000
Hugh Zimmer, Kansas City, $1,000
Iron Mountain Trap Rock Co., Maryland Heights, $1,250
Patricia Steinbach, Chesterfield, $1,000
Blattner Steel, Cape Girardeau, $1,000
Michael Staenberg, St. Louis, $2,500
AGC of St. Louis, $1,000
Smurfit-Stone, St. Louis, $1,000
Lloyd Smith, Siketon, $1,000
Annie Purcell, Purcell Consulting, Easton, $1,000
Fredrick Palmer, Peabody Energy, St. Louis, $5,000
The Bank of Missouri, Cape Girardeau, $1,000
Michael Neidorff, Centene Corporation, St. Louis, $5,000
Kenneth Meyer, Meyer Communications, St. Louis, $5,000
Merck & Co, West Point, PA $2,000
John Mahaffey, Mahaffey Enterprises, Springfield, $1,000
Grace Landes, St. Joseph, $1,000
Kenneth Kranzberg, Kranson Industries, St. Louis, $2,500
William Kapp, Cape Girardeau, $1,000
Southwest Missouri Investments, Inc., Springfield, $2,500
William Herzog, Herzog Construction, St. Louis, $2,500
Charles Heizer, Heizer Aerospace, $1,500
James Hebenstret, Bartlett & Co. Prairie Village, Kan. $2,500
Pyramid Home Health Services, Cape Girardeau, $1,000
David Glass, Bentonville, Ark. $1,000
N. B. Harty General Contractor, Sikeston, $2,500
Fred Weber, Maryland Heights, $1,250
Sam Fox, Harbour Group Ltd, St. Louis, $1,000
William Darr, American Dehydrated Foods, Springfield, $1,250
William Danforth, St. Louis, $1,000
Quality Building PAC, Jefferson City, $1,000
David Bradley, News Gazette & Co. St. Joseph, $1,000
Central Bancompany PAC, Jefferson City, $5,000
John Bardgett & Associates, Chesterfield, $1,000
Janet Ashcroft, Arlington, VA $1,000
Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, $1,000
News-Press & Gazette Co, St. Joseph, $1,000

Comments flowing in about Globe, local TV

Sometimes Turner Report readers don't see some comments that have been made on earlier posts, so I thought I would reprint a few of those, as well as comments I have received via e-mail:

On the subject of the new energy at KODE-TV:

Tom and I have always been faithful viewers of 16 News when they were not on tv anymore we started watching channel 12 news. I read your article about Dustin Lattemer who we have grown to really enjoy and I agree with you he is very talented, I noticed to your comment about the added energy they have had. I really feel like that energy comes from Brian Dorman.. We met Brian at Seneca Idol a couple of weeks ago and he was such a nice young man. He took pictures with my daughters and even signed their programs. I really feel like Dustin deserved recognition for what he has been doing but feel Brian really should be commended for his professionalism on tv and in person. We are just so happy to have met him and watch every night to see him. You're more than welcome to use my comments if you create a post.

About the Joplin Globe:

I keep hoping they will release a pinup calendar when they get a dozen hot chicks on staff. Only 12 more to go!

My criticism of the Globe for being a little slow to get the news out about the arrests of two men in connection with the murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage drew the following comments:

Ang said...

Every time I read an "editorial" or blog post written by Carol Stark, I think about how much I miss Edgar Simpson. I'm sure he had faults and that there are valid criticisms of him, but at least he knew how to stir stuff up, keep elected officials and local law enforcement on their toes, dig deep for details, ask tough questions and ensure that he actually got the truth. She only writes fluff about fluff. The overall quality of most reporting has gone steadily and quickly downhill in recent years, too, and I realize that some of that is probably coming from the corporate office and policies of not pissing off advertisers. Still, when I read what passes for news articles in the Globe, it is often apparent that the reporter didn't even ask any follow-up questions or do any real investigating.

Stark's article today was about the Sheldon case--but it wasn't; actually, it was about how devastated the surviving family was in the wake of the tragedy. I don't mean to minimize their pain--I can only imagine how horrible it must be--but OF COURSE they're devastated! OF COURSE they're going to be devastated for quite some time! How is this news? The news in this case was the arrest of the suspects, but that was barely mentioned in her column today. In fact, almost everything Stark published in today's paper could have been written anytime after the murders happened.

Between worthless columns like this, slow breaking news (and few updates on breaking stories during the day), ridiculous blogs (half written by amateur writers, and that's being polite), and the letters to the editor that Stark decides to publish (despite the prevalence of racist, sexist, homophobic hate speech that can and does incite violence), the Globe isn't even good enough for lining my cat's litterbox. Given that the Globe's coverage area is so large and that the Joplin metro area includes something like 250,000, Stark is missing opportunities and failing to fill the role that a good, solid local newspaper ought to fill in our lives--and that's a shame.

And this one from Globe blogger Anson Burlingame:

Mr. Turner, This is my first time reading your blog. I will now have to check back more often. I strongly disagree both in specifics and on broader terms with what your and your commenters have written.

First, which is more important a 1 minute sound bite or several articles and one column thus far on the Sheldon case? The Globe has addressed much greater substance and depth in the Sheldon case than any TV newscast could possibly do. And more is yet to come I can assure you.

Second, Carol's leadership at the Globe is remarkable in my view. Name one issue (other than abortion) of local, national or international importance that has not been addressed in both news articles and in many cases editorials. There is not an issue of significance that the Globe has not met head on. You may not agree with the positions taken editorially but taken they have been for sure.

Carol usually stays above the fray in print and lets editorials, guest columns and letters provide the opinions. That does not mean that she does not have strong opinions that are far from "fluff". She simply allows a wide variety of people to write them.

Ed Simpson was THE Globe for sure. Carol on the other hand provided the freedom for the Globe to reflect a much wider depth and breadth of opinion that it used to provide. The community is much better for it as a result.

And this one:

Who has started to dig into the alleged killers' backgrounds to see what makes them tick?

Answer: Nobody, to my knowledge.

Archie Dunn now says the killings just something that happened when the two were surprised. But how are you surprised out in the middle of the sticks late at night when two people drive up in a car?

(Of course, that doesn't mean the two are innocent.)

That story bears no similarity to Dunn's earlier statements that the murder was horrific because, in all probability, there was a personal animosity component to the crime.

Why do two kids steal a a gun and sell it and kill two old people with a knife? There are scores of interesting angles to this case that can be explored before the trial.

Where's Max McCoy when you need him?

And one who thought I was too kind to local TV:

Good Night and Good Grief! said...

I'll agree that the Globe grows worse at a logarithmic pace, but you cannot actually defend the collection of half-baked witticisms, idiotic rhetorical questions, and faux-buddy arm chucks - interspersed with an occasional incoherent factoid, that passes for local TV news?

News-Leader Publisher still has not set record straight

Five days have passed since Springfield News-Leader Publisher Tom Bookstaver, giving his best impression of a medicine show snake oil salesman, told his readers that no one in the newsroom lost his job.

As noted in The Turner Report and elsewhere, one of the people who was given his walking papars was videographer Chris Brewer, who clearly was a contributing member of the News-Leader's newsroom.

Either Bookstaver lied or made a mistake, but he owes it to the readers and to Brewer to acknowledge the mistake.

Don't hold your breath waiting to see that happen.

Billy Long raises more money than Nodler in second quarter

Gary Nodler and Jack Goodman are supposed to be the big names in the race to replace Roy Blunt as Seventh District Congressman but auctioneer Billy Long has proven to be a money magnet, according to the latest disclosure reports.

KY3 Political Notebook reports Long raised more money than Nodler, albeit by a slight margin, during the second quarter. Goodman's report has not yet been filed.

Long raised $101,700 during the period, $55 more than Nodler's $101,645.

Long has more than three times as much cash on hand than Nodler.

The KY3 post noted the major contributors for both men:

Notable Nodler contributors include: Stephen Plaster, Attorney/Developer Mark Gardner, GOP National Committeeman Lance Beshore & The Empire District Electric Company.

Notable Long contributors include: Investment advisor Nadia Cavner, John Gentry of Positronic Industries, Sam Hamra, auto dealer Ed Pinegar and attorney Dee Wampler.

Dixon says he racked up big bucks this quarter

Rep. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, a candidate for State Senate, tweets that he will be releasing a "hefty MEC finance report today." Today is the deadline for campaign committees to file their quarterly reports.

Veteran banker named Nexstar Broadcasting CFO

Thomas E. Carther, who has been with Bank of America for the past quarter of a century, has been named CFO at Nexstar Broadcasting:

Chairman,President & CEO Perry Sook said Carter knows the company well. "As our lead banker for the past thirteen years, Tom has an incomparable understanding of our successful operating and revenue diversification strategies as well as our capital structure," he said. "We look forward to the benefit of his contributions as we actively manage our growing station portfolio while pursuing our ongoing priorities to further de-leverage and strengthen our balance sheet, evaluate strategic acquisitions and pursue new, opportunistic revenue channels."

Nexstar Broadcasting owns and/or operates KODE and KSNF in Joplin and KOLR and KSVX in Springfield.

Obama throws out first pitch at All-Star Game

Hershewe firm plants seed money for House campaign

Shelley Dreyer, a candidate for the GOP nomination for the 129th District seat currently held by Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin, received all of her contributions, monetary and in-kind from her employer, the Hershewe Law Firm, according to a disclosure statement filed today with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

The law firm contributed $6,038.10 total, with $5,000 in cash and $1,038.10 in-kind.

The biggest expenditure Ms. Dreyer was $2,175 to the Rocket Group, Jefferson City, to create a website.

Ruestman has $87,330.77 in campaign account

Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, considering a statewide office campaign, had a slow quarter, pulling in $293.90, all of it coming from her own accounts, according to her disclosure report, filed today with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

She received a $121.50 contribution from Ruestman Investments, and $172.40 from Business Investments, LLC, both of which share the same Joplin address.

Mrs. Ruestman spent $978.77 and still has $87,330.77 in the bank.

Emery receives $100 in last quarter

Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, received $100 in contributions, that coming from Burns & O'Donnell, Osage Beach, according to the quarterly report filed today with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Emery reported spending $1,827.58, and has $1,107.28 in his campaign account.

Cardinal Hall-pf-Famers introduced

Isn't it wonderful that Stan Musial is still around to enjoy this. He is being driven on a victory lap around the field and the players are treating him with the reverence he so richly deserves.

Some of the great memories of my early youth center around the last two years of Stan Musial's career. I still remember how disappointed I was when the streaking Cardinals fell one game short of getting him into the World Series during his final year, 1963.

Barack Obama has just thrown the first pitch to Albert Pujols and is now shaking hands with the Cardinals' other living Hall of Famers (in addition to Musial) Bob Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, and Bruce Sutter.

Early thoughts about the All-Star Game

-Hopefully Stan "The Man" Musial, who is about to be introduced, will be treated with the same reverence by the all-stars that Ted Williams was 10 years ago.

-Sheryl Crow sang the National Anthem the way it should be sung- no frills, just right to the point.

-It was a great idea to recognize all-stars from everyday life, and having all of the living presidents salute those everyday all-stars.

-Great ovations for Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Ryan Franklin, and Ryan Howard.

-Warm welcome for Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay. Think Cardinal fans were sending a message they want to see him pitching for the Cardinals in a few days.

Albert Pujols shown reaching semifinals in Home Run Derby

A fan captured this headache-inducing video of Albert Pujols hitting the home run that enabled him to reach the semi-finals of the Home Run Derby Monday night. Though the camerawork is extremely shaky, the video does give a good feel of what it sounds like in the crowd during an event like this:

Dustin Hoffman arrested on Jasper County burglary charge

Dustin Hoffman is being held on $3,500 bond in the Jasper County Jail after being arrested for burglary Sunday, according to Circuit Court records.

Hoffman, 22, is from Muldrow, Okla. and is not the Academy Award-winning star (pictured with Robert Redford) of such films as Kramer vs. Kramer, The Graduate, Tootsie, and All the President's Men.

Joplin Globe community bloggers do little blogging about community

Check them out for yourselves, but it appears the Joplin Globe's community bloggers do very little blogging about the community.

So naturally, the newest addition to the Globe's stable will blog about life in the Big Apple.

More of the kind of thinking that makes the Globe the number one source for news of the Joplin area.

Sean Hannity moving to KZRG

The move to emasculate 1450 AM continues.

KZRG, which has made a cottage industry out of grabbing the most popular talk shows from its lowly competitor, has snagged Sean Hannity's show beginning in February 2010, a reader tells The Turner Report.

As noted in earlier posts, the Zimmer Group, which runs KZRG, will have two conservative talk stations in Joplin beginning Au. 3 when 1230 AM, currently a sports talk station, converts. Some programs currently on KZRG, including Dennis Miller, Lara Ingraham, and John Gibson, will move to 1230 at that time, while the Mark Levin and Jason Lewis programs will debut on KZRG.

While sports talk programming from ESPN will vanish from 1230, sports won't. As noted earlier in The Turner Report, St. Louis Cardinals broadcasts will continue, as will sports programming from Missouri Southern State University and Joplin High School.
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Get this collection agency off my back!

At first, I was only getting the calls every once in a while. Lately they have been coming every day.

I hate to admit it, but I have been harassed by a collection agency for the past few months and lately it has been getting worse. The calls always come at night (with the most recent one coming about a half hour ago), and I have received them as late as 10:30 p.m.

Of course, the gutless cowards don't actually make the calls themselves. The messages are totally automated, and it is obvious from the message that I am not the only one who is getting them.

After the first few words of the message are spoken, there is a pause and then a different voice names the person who is supposed to be getting the phone call. "If you are not (insert name), please hang up. After that, I am told that Financial Federal is contacting me about the money I owe and I am given a phone number to call them and correct the matter.

I am a stubborn person. I have not called them and I have not made any attempt to correct the matter. It is unlikely Financial Federal is going to leave me alone. I did some quick internet research and apparently this company is well known for its merciless approach and constant skirting of the Fair Credit Act.

A few moments ago, I filled out a form with the Better Business Bureau to report this company's pattern of harassment. This is not an effort to get out of paying my bills. In fact, I have an excellent credit record. You will understand what my problem is with Financial Federal when you read the text of my letter to the Better Business Bureau:

For the past several months, I have been harassed by Financial Federal. The calls began a few months ago. At first, they came on a weekly basis. Lately, I have been receiving them on a nightly basis, including Saturday and Sunday and as late as 10:30 p.m. Each time, it is a recorded message telling me they are calling about my debts.

The calls are apparently are being received by many people since a different voice inserts the name. The harassment would be bad enough, but these calls are being left for someone named Chris Scarletta. I don't know a Chris Scarletta, I can't find any record of there being a Chris Scarletta in Joplin, and I have had this phone number for almost five years, and as far as I have been able to determine, no one named Chris Scarletta had it in at least two or three years before the number was assigned to me. The company has apparently not even made an honest effort to reach the actual Chris Scarletta.

I wonder how many other people are suffering because of this company's unethical tactics.

Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

Randy Turner

At first, I thought there has to be a place in hell reserved for people like the ones at Financial Federal, but the more I thought about it, the realization occurred to me- hell is too good for them.

Franken makes U. S. Senate debut

Today marked the real debut of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. as far as doing any of the heavy lifting in the U. S. Senate is concerned:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Text for Sonia Sotomayor opening statement provided

The text of U. S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's speech moments ago before the Senate Judiciary Committee is provided below:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also want to thank Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for that kind introduction.

In recent weeks, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting eighty-nine gracious Senators, including all the members of this Committee. I thank you for the time you have spent with me. Our meetings have given me an illuminating tour of the fifty states and invaluable insights into the American people.

There are countless family members, friends, mentors, colleagues, and clerks who have done so much over the years to make this day possible. I am deeply appreciative for their love and support. I want to make one special note of thanks to my mom. I am here today because of her aspirations and sacrifices for both my brother Juan and me. Mom, I love that we are sharing this together. I am very grateful to the President and humbled to be here today as a nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

The progression of my life has been uniquely American. My parents left Puerto Rico during World War II. I grew up in modest circumstances in a Bronx housing project. My father, a factory worker with a third grade education, passed away when I was nine years old.

On her own, my mother raised my brother and me. She taught us that the key to success in America is a good education. And she set the example, studying alongside my brother and me at our kitchen table so that she could become a registered nurse. We worked hard. I poured myself into my studies at Cardinal Spellman High School, earning scholarships to Princeton University and then Yale Law School, while my brother went to medical school. Our achievements are due to the values that we learned as children, and they have continued to guide my life’s endeavors. I try to pass on this legacy by serving as a mentor and friend to my many godchildren and students of all backgrounds.

Over the past three decades, I have seen our judicial system from a number of different perspectives – as a big-city prosecutor, a corporate litigator, a trial judge and an appellate judge. My first job after law school was as an assistant District Attorney in New York. There, I saw children exploited and abused. I felt the suffering of victims’ families torn apart by a loved one’s needless death. And I learned the tough job law enforcement has protecting the public safety. In my next legal job, I focused on commercial, instead of criminal, matters. I litigated issues on behalf of national and international businesses and advised them on matters ranging from contracts to trademarks.

My career as an advocate ended—and my career as a judge began—when I was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. As a trial judge, I decided over four hundred and fifty cases, and presided over dozens of trials, with perhaps my best known case involving the Major League Baseball strike in 1995.

After six extraordinary years on the district court, I was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On that Court, I have enjoyed the benefit of sharing ideas and perspectives with wonderful colleagues as we have worked together to resolve the issues before us. I have now served as an appellate judge for over a decade, deciding a wide range of Constitutional, statutory, and other legal questions.

Throughout my seventeen years on the bench, I have witnessed the human consequences of my decisions. Those decisions have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice.

In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law – it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress’s intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand.

The process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged. That is why I generally structure my opinions by setting out what the law requires and then by explaining why a contrary position, sympathetic or not, is accepted or rejected. That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our justice system. My personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case.

Since President Obama announced my nomination in May, I have received letters from people all over this country. Many tell a unique story of hope in spite of struggles. Each letter has deeply touched me. Each reflects a belief in the dream that led my parents to come to New York all those years ago. It is our Constitution that makes that Dream possible, and I now seek the honor of upholding the Constitution as a Justice on the Supreme Court.

I look forward in the next few days to answering your questions, to having the American people learn more about me, and to being part of a process that reflects the greatness of our Constitution and of our nation. Thank you.

Former McClatchy executive receives $690,000 in severance pay

Downsizing at major newspaper companies doesn't just affect the reporters, advertising salespeople, designers, and the others who are on the front line everyday. Sometimes, company executives are downsized, too.

The difference is a simple one. When the lower level employees are fired, often after many years of loyal service, they have to wonder where their next paycheck is going to come from.

Not so for fired executives.

Case in point, Lynn Dickerson, who until this week was one of three McClatchy newspaper officials to hold the title, vice president, operations. McClatchy Newspapers is the parent company of the Kansas City Star. The news releases issued by McClatchy praised Ms. Dickerson and noted:

“We continue to restructure and transition to a new business model – one that requires us to be smaller and more efficient in every area of the organization. This includes our senior management and corporate offices,” said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s president and chief executive officer. “Lynn is a talented, dedicated and engaging executive. Not only was she an outstanding publisher, but she has proven herself to be an important contributor to the corporate team, building excellent relationships with the papers she oversees and working hard to help us navigate through the recent economic downturn. We thank Lynn for all that she has done at McClatchy. She’ll be missed by all of us who have worked so closely with her.”

“I leave McClatchy with a heart full of gratitude for the many opportunities afforded to me and my family over the last nine years,” Dickerson said. “I have been a newspaperwoman for almost 30 years and I’ve worked for a variety of newspaper companies. I can say without hesitation that McClatchy is the finest of them all. In spite of the difficulties of the last few years, I feel blessed to have spent my career doing meaningful work in an important industry and for such a good company. I wish my many friends at McClatchy all the best.”

One reason Ms. Dickerson might be saying such wonderful things about McClatchy is the lucrative severance package she received. McClatchy filed the severance agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

She will receive a lump sum $690,000 severance payment and will have her health insurance paid for one year.

It appears that executives, even the ones who get fired, fare far better than the workers in today's economic climate.

Globe editor: We were late because we wanted to get it right

Either Joplin Globe Editor Carol Stark reads The Turner Report (and surely that couldn't be the case) or other people were commenting on how the newspaper lagged behind KOAM Wednesday in releasing information about the arrest of two suspects in the murder of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage.

In her latest blog post, Mrs. Stark insists that the Globe was slower because it was important to make sure the reporter got accurate information. She then whined about how easy the television people have it.

Still, newspapers have the advantage in knowing how to take the court documents, the press releases and the interviews and then providing a story that that’s not spoon-fed at a press conference.

Now that is the height of arrogance. It appears to be a blanket indictment of television people as airheads who don't know their way around a courthouse. Only newspaper people, or perhaps only Joplin Globe reporters, to Mrs. Stark's way of thinking, have any knowledge of the secrets contained in those musty old folders at the county courthouse.

No one is going to argue the wisdom of getting your facts straight, but in this day and age, if you are going to be the number one news source in your market, you have an obligation to get the story on line quickly and accurately. When breaking news is occurring, readers are naturally going to go online and try to find out what is happening. If they go to the Joplin Globe too many times and see nothing has been reported, it makes more sense to find someone who is providing updates and stick with that website.

The Globe had an opportunity to provide a few facts quickly and then do the painstaking research noted in Mrs. Stark's post. It chose not to do so and was beaten to the punch by KOAM. It probably would have taken only a couple of minutes, if that, to update. Instead, we now have the same kind of thinking that is pushing newspapers closer and closer to their own destruction- the we know how to do it right. Everyone else is inferior line.

Jeff Lehr and Derek Spellman, as always, did a solid job of reporting on this case and continue to do so. It is a shame that their rabbit-eared editor couldn't have just praised their work and left it at that.

Mrs. Stark finished her post with this killer line:

Solid news reporting is not a race, but rather it’s the finish that we think matters the most.

Mrs. Stark, it's not an either-or situation. There is no reason why a newspaper cannot do both. If newspaper editors continue to deny the changes that have occurred on the media landscape, there will come a day when the only place you will find the Joplin Globe is in plastic bags in flea markets.

Gannett Blog shuts down

The Gannett Blog, an independent news source which provided inside information about the newspaper company which owns the Springfield News-Leader shut down Friday:

"It has to end sometime," Hopkins said as he continued to update the latest layoff figures from a laptop. "I will leave the site up, but there will be no more new posts on it."

As for Gannett's future, Hopkins does not see it being successful: "The company has too much debt, it can't service the debt and even all of this cost-cutting will not be enough."

Forecaster: More problems in store for Gannett

The Springfield News-Leader's parent company, Gannett, is in for more financial problems the remainder of the year, according to one prominent forecaster:

JP Morgan is forecasting that severe declines will continue at newspaper publisher Gannett in the second quarter.

Ad revenue will fall 32% in Q2, JP Morgan analysts have predicted, with consolidated EBITDA declining to a margin of 17%, compared to a margin of 25% in the second quarter of 2008, writes Editor & Publisher. Ad revenue fell 34% in the first quarter of the year.

Two more weeks of furloughs for Joplin Globe?

Joplin Globe employees have been required to take unpaid furloughs this summer, as have employees at all Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., newspapers. People who work at the Joplin Globe know that, of course. So do readers of The Turner Report. The only people who have not been told about a policy that affects the newspaper and its readership, have been the readers.

Judging by a column in the Niagara Falls Reporter, the Globe may be facing more such decisions in the next two quarters:

If you notice a dour look in the eye of your favorite Niagara Gazette reporter, ad sales representative or publisher, don't take it personally. Chalk it up to poor decision-making and godawful planning on the part of those who manage Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., the Alabama-based chain that bought the local daily a dozen years ago.

For the second time this year, the company is requiring all staffers to take an unpaid five-day furlough. If CNHI continues to teeter on the brink of insolvency, two more weeks of what company executives like to call "black time" will be imposed by the end of the year, making a job at the Gazette essentially a part-time position.

CNHI fails to publicize furloughs

The hypocrisy of CNHI newspapers, including the Joplin Globe, which report thoroughly on the troubles facing other businesses, but to stay mum on their own, is the subject of commentary in the Niagara Falls Reporter:

The Gazette, of course, failed to report on the unpaid furloughs, though it is a certainty they would have reported on them had they taken place at some other Niagara County business.

The policy of not reporting on itself is nothing new at the Gazette, which also kept quiet when it let the state spend $35,000 on a river stone and wrought iron decorative wall to spruce up its shabby property at the corner of Third and Niagara streets three years ago.

In that case, the benighted daily acted as a cheerleader for the state's Third Street construction program, which it claimed would lead to a flourishing entertainment district along the strip from Niagara to Main.

Instead, the state's plan was a dismal failure that eliminated most on-street parking, which resulted in more nightclubs and restaurants going out of business than have opened.

It is uncertain whether Gazette employees are entitled to collect unemployment during the furloughs, but the paper's management has a long and disgraceful tradition of fighting unemployment claims filed by many of its cashiered former workers.

Stevenson reports no contributions during last quarter

Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City, received no contributions during the past quarter, according to his disclosure statement, filed Friday with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Stevenson spent $1,535.28, almost entirely on supplies.

Stevenson's campaign committee has listed a run for statewide office in 2012.

Nodler Committee dissolved after 11 days

The new Nodler Committee, a continuing committee formed after Sen. Gary Nodler, R=Joplin, dissolved his state campaign committee, bit the dust after exiting only 11 days.

Termination documents were filed Friday with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The committee gave $76,509.46 to the Southwest Missouri Leadership Committee, which at one time was the Nodler Leadership Committee, $500 to the Jason Brown for Senate Committee, Platte City; $500 to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder's committee, and a $203 donation to the Polk County Livestock Auction.

The only contributions the committee received were the initial $75,968.95 from the Elect Nodler Committee, $300 from Community Support Services, Joplin, and $1,500 from Comcast Cable, Philadelphia, Pa.

Springfield News-Leader publisher lies to readers about firings

Maybe it is because it is hard for him to see his workers from the ivory tower in which he spends his days, but Springfield News-Leader Publisher Tom Bookstaver cannot seem to keep track of how many people he has fired.

In a column in today's News-Leader, Bookstaver explained the cuts being made at the News-Leader and throughout Gannett. He wrote about how little the firings would affect the newsroom:

"We did not reduce our reporting staff and will remain Springfield's No. 1 source for news and information."

That statement came as a surprise to Chris Brewer, who found himself unemployed Thursday. Brewer is a videographer, who often wrote stories to accompany the videos.

In a post written Thursday for his blog, The World According to Chris Brewer, the former News-Leader employee told a different story:

At 5:30 today, I walked out the doors of the Springfield News-Leader as a reporter for the final time.

Only three hours prior, I had been notified by Executive Editor Don Wyatt that my position as Multimedia Reporter had been eliminated by corporate. I proceeded to spend the next three hours wiping my work laptop’s hard drive, packing my important items and making the rounds to tell everyone goodbye.

The layoffs that the Gannett Corporation have imposed are a source of major confusion to many, including myself. Why, if the corporate folks at McLean say their future is digital content including live video, would they lay off a videographer?

That's a good question. Probably one for which Tom Bookstaver does not have an answer since he either never knew you existed, or for him, the truth is just a distant memory.

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Recent posts on Gannett and the Springfied News-Leader can be found at this link.



Recent posts

Cameras to be allowed in courtroom for Winans, Laurin hearing

Television and still cameras will be allowed in the courtroom when the next hearing for accused killers Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, is held 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 22, in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Winans and Laurin face two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of burglary in connection with the October 2008 stabbing deaths of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage.

Conflicts of interest noted in state audit of Sugar Creek

Conflicts of interest involving a commissioner from the Sugar Creek Special Road District in Barry County are spelled out in a state audit issued today. The cover letter for the report is printed below:

The Sugar Creek Special Road District made some disbursements that may have been a conflict of interest. The district purchased an 8,000 gallon steel tank from a commissioner in February 2003 for $1,000 and did not obtain bid documentation. The district has never taken possession of this tank nor does it have the capability to move the tank to district property. The district made four payments totaling $609 to a local repair shop during the year ended December 31, 2007, without soliciting bids. Commissioner Lloyd indicated the repair shop was owned by his son and the vendor invoices were prepared by Commissioner Lloyd. The checks issued by the district were also signed, endorsed, and subsequently cashed by the Commissioner. In addition, adequate supporting documentation was not available for reimbursements of $245 made to Commissioner Lloyd.

The district does not have formal bidding policies, and bids were not solicited for various purchases. Additional controls and procedures over district disbursements need improvement.

Flooding caused significant damage to district roads in 2008, and as a result, the district was awarded $35,795 in Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA) grants to repair and rebuild its roads. The district did not solicit bids for excavation and backhoe work performed to remove debris and reconstruct the roadway costing $7,165 and did not enter into a written agreement with the vendor. The district has not established a separate record keeping system to track disbursements related to each FEMA project as required. As a result, we were unable to determine all costs incurred related to each FEMA project.

The district exchanged services for work performed by the Secretary/Treasurer and does not have plans to include the value of the exchange on the Secretary/Treasurer's W-2 Form. In addition, documentation of time spent was not tracked to support the value of the work performed by the Secretary/Treasurer. Personnel files and employee withholding forms (W-4s) are not maintained for all district employees. The district does not withhold Missouri income tax from employee paychecks. The district Secretary/Treasurer is paid $175 a month; however, the district does not require her to prepare a timesheet, and timesheets of other employees are not signed by the employees. In July 2008, the board hired a temporary employee; however, instead of following the district’s normal payroll procedures, this employee was paid $319 cash by another employee and the district reimbursed the employee for his expense; therefore, payroll taxes were not withheld or reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Accounting duties are not adequately segregated, and receipt slips are not issued for monies received. Also, the Secretary/Treasurer does not prepare and document bank reconciliations for district bank accounts.

The district's 2008 and 2007 budgets were not accurate and complete, and actual disbursements of the road district exceeded budgeted amounts. The road district does not furnish disbursement information to Barry County for publication of the road district's financial statement. The district has accumulated a significant cash balance without any specific documented plans for its use in an annual maintenance plan. In addition, it is unclear why the district obtained a $47,606 loan for equipment when it had approximately $200,000 in available funds.

Meeting minutes did not always include sufficient detail of matters discussed. District business appears to be frequently conducted outside of regular open meetings. District officials indicated notices of meetings did not include tentative meeting agendas, and the district did not retain copies of some meeting notices. The district does not have a formal policy regarding public access to district records.

The district does not have formal written policies regarding the sale and installation of culverts and does not charge district residents for the cost of installation. Records are not maintained to document culverts sold to ensure all amounts are billed to applicable residents. The district does not collect retail sales tax on culverts sold to individuals and businesses. Inventory records are not maintained to account for supplies and materials purchased or stored for the daily operations of the district.

The district does not maintain complete and current records for its capital assets including land, buildings, equipment, and other property. The district has not obtained property insurance coverage to safeguard the building and land the district owns

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News-Leader addresses condoms, lost jobs

Occasionally, I get the opportunity to set the record straight and refute rumors that are running rampant in southwest Missouri. This is one of those occasions.

First, let me note the things that Springfield News-Leader Publisher Tom Bookstaver did not say:

-When told about the story of the murder of five people,he did NOT say, "That's negative thinking.. We need to concentrate on all the millions of people who weren't murdered today."

-After reading an article that said newspapers will soon be a thing of the past, Bookstaver did NOT say, "This is good news for our readers. It will strengthen our digital product."

-Bookstaver never said, "You can have your Shakespeare, I'll take my SpongeBob Square Pants."

Bookstaver has earned a reputation recently for trying to twist negative stories into tales of triumph. In a column in today's edition, the News-Leader's Dr. Pangloss explained how the loss of 16 jobs at the newspaper is a good thing:

In Springfield, the News-Leader cut 12 jobs. An additional four vacant positions will remain open.

"We did not reduce our reporting staff and will remain Springfield's No. 1 source for news and information," said News-Leader Publisher Thomas Bookstaver.

"The positions eliminated were primarily in production, accounting and advertising, where the slowdown in advertising has reduced the work, or we are using technology to improve productivity," he said.

Who knew the loss of advertising was a positive for a newspaper?

Another story in today's edition, though it lacked Bookstaver's byline, appeared to have his light touch. Turner Report readers will remember our posts concerning the controversy that occurred when Student Welcome Packs were sent to prospective colllege students in the Springfield area containing condoms and an adverisement for erotica. The News-Leader wrote an article on the Welcome Packs without mentioning the condoms or the advertisement, and without mentioning the newspaper's connection to Student Welcome Pack, Inc.

In fact, the News-Leader included Student Welcome Pack in an advertisement for a "niche audience sales manager."

Missouri State University officials were unhappy that the Student Welcome Packs gave the appearance that they were approved by the university. Today, after MSU threatened a lawsuit, the News-Leader ran an article noting that Student Welcome Pack, Inc., had apologized...with only a single mention of the newspaper's connection to the company, and still making it sound as if it was a shock that university officials were offended.

This has not been a banner day for the Springfield News-Leader. And with the current management at Gannett, I don't see many banner days in the newspaper's future.

Remembering Jack Luce

No one would ever compare Jack Luce to Babe Ruth (though I am about to), but that was who was he resembled when he joined the Lamar Blue Jays men's baseball team for its doubleheader with my team, the Aroma Express, at the Granby ballpark that summer Sunday in June 1983.

Jack was a big man, and his ball shirt couldn't decide whether it wanted to be tucked in or remain outside.

Having dealt with Jack during my coverage of the Lamar High School girls basketball team he coached, I struck up a conversation with him as both teams warmed up before the game.

Warming up was not really necessary, since the temperature that day was in the low 90s and sweat was already dripping down Jack's face. "I didn't know you played for this team" I said.

"I don't normally. They were a couple of guys short and asked me if I wanted to play. They talked me into it. I thought it might be fun." Jack wiped off the sweat with his sleeve. "I haven't played in years," he said. "I used to love to play the game."

Somewhere in the boxes and baskets and drawers full of old news clippings, photos, scorebooks, etc., I have in my apartment is the scorecard from that day.

Jack only played the first game of the doubleheader. He batted three times, and if memory serves correctly, he only swung the bat three times. Each time, the ball soared out of our bandbox ballpark. Admittedly, the dimensions of the ballpark were closer to Little League than Busch Stadium, but no one else hit one out that day.

Since I was the Aroma Express' designated hitter in that second game, I took advantage of the opportunity to talk to Jack while my team was out on the field.

"Man, I'm tired," he said. "It's been a long time since I did this."

"You must have been a heck of a player," I said.

"Naw," he said with a hint of modesty. "I wonder what I could do if I could get back into shape." I looked at him to see if he was kidding, but his face was stone cold serious. Then a trace of a smile emerged and within seconds, he was laughing out loud.

I don't remember Jack playing for the Lamar baseball team the rest of the year, though he may have.I prefer to think he left the game with three swings and three home runs.

Jack Luce died Wednesday at age 61.

Gannett execs who received bonuses, approved condoms for kids still employed

Forget about anything you have read about the Internet being the cause of slumping newspaper profits. If you get the news for free, the journalistic refrain goes, who is going to pay for it?

The problem is not that news is available for free over the Internet, the problem is executivss who don't value the news at all, people whose idea of attracting readers it to increase local news coverage by firing reporters and adding unpaid bloggers who may be local but usually write about non-local topics.

Gannett, the biggest newspaper company in the United States, has been axing people right and left today, including 15 at the Springfield News-Leader, where news is no longer the operative word- now everything is multi-media.

This is about the third round of layoffs Gannett has had, if memory serves correctly, and that is in addition to two weeks of unpaid furlough that Gannett executives required all employees to take.

Happily, even though we watch another pink slip parade taking place, it is comforting to know that some people will hang onto their jobs.

It is highly doubtful that the Gannett officials responsible for sending condoms and advertisements for erotica to potential college students in the Springfield area will ever have to worry about where their next paycheck will come from. If you remember the News-Leader actually wrote a story promoting the Student Welcome Pack without telling readers that it was a Gannett marketing scheme and the Welcome Packs gave the false impression that they were approved by Missouri State University.

No one will lose their jobs for that, after all, cross-marketing is the big thing with newspaper companies, excuse me, media companies, these days.

And who can forget the prudent decision Gannett officials made to award themselves millions of dollars in bonuses while their employees wondered if they would have jobs the next day. Obviously, employees need to get their priorities straight. McDonald's will have jobs available for them, but if the executives don't get their bonuses they might have to let the household help go or put off much-needed yacht maintenance.

As I wrote in the March 17 Turner Report:

The Tucson Citizen will print its last edition soon, and all Gannett employees are being forced to take a one-week unpaid furlough sometime during this quarter, but that is not preventing the company from awarding its five top executives, including CEO Craig Dubow, nearly $2 million in bonuses.

The company spent several paragraphs in a proxy statement filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission explaining why the officials should receive the bonuses, and why Dubow should receive a $1 million annual salary.

Some of the excuses offered included:

Mr. Dubow’s minimum annual base salary under his employment contract is $1.2 million. The Committee honored Mr. Dubow’s request to voluntarily reduce his annual base salary to $1 million beginning November 1, 2008 and continuing through 2009. Mr. Dubow has not received a salary increase since January 2006. Ms. Martore’s salary is the minimum amount payable under her employment contract and she has not received a salary increase since April 2006. The Committee also accepted Mr. Dubow’s proposal that Company and divisional officers, including all NEOs, would not receive base salary increases in 2009. The Committee agreed with management that these salary actions were appropriate in light of the challenges facing the Company’s businesses, including recessions in the U.S. and the U.K. and their impact on advertising demand, the decline generally in equity values and specifically the Company’s stock price.

And that was just the start of the excuses offered in that proxy statement for executives' decisions that lined their pockets at the expense of their employees, their profits, and their readers.

So the next time you hear one of those jobless Gannett wretches complaining about the company, just remember, Craig Dubow was willing to take a pay cut for his company. It's not easy for a CEO to make it on a million dollars a year.

This kind of thinking is what has devalued newspapers. The Internet hasn't killed newspapers, newspaper executivss can see the real killers every time they look in the mirror.

Judge Copeland has record of leniency in drunk driving cases

Long-time readers of The Turner Report know that my posts Wednesday on Judge Richard Copeland's decision to place Darren Winans, jasper, on one year of unsupervised probation a few months before Winans allegedly murdered Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage, are not the first ones I have written about the judge.

I have written numerous times about Copeland's propensity for restoring the driving privileges of those charged with driving while intoxicated. This is what I wrote in the April 1, 2006, Turner Report:

There he goes again.

Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Richard Copeland's decision to restore the driving privileges of a man who refused to take a breathalyzer test after being stopped by a policeman was reversed by the Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals Thursday.

This is not a first for Copeland, who has been reversed on this type of decision numerous times during his years on the bench.
This time, the court backed the Director of Revenue, who had made an administrative decision to strip John F. Burdynski of his driver's license.

The details of the Burdynski stop were given in the court opinion. On Dec. 18, 2004, Burdynski was driving a truck in the county, which was moving erratically, so he was stopped by an officer. "The officer noticed a moderate odor of alcohol about (Burdynski) and that his eyes were bloodshot and his speech slurred. After he failed field sobriety tests, he was taken to the Carthage Police Department, according to the opinion.

Officers attempted to get him to take a breathalyzer test. Initially, he said he wanted to see a lawyer, then he called his wife at their Houston, Texas, home. Twenty minutes later, officers again tried to get him to take the test. Burdynski said he would not do it until he could "talk to a judge." He was marked down for refusing to take the test.

Copeland ruled that Burdysnki had not been allowed "the statutory time to consult an attorney," according to the opinion, and ordered Burdysnki's driving privileges restored. The appellate panel said Burdynski had been given the required 20 minutes to consult with an attorney so Copeland's ruling was overturned.

This is not the first time I have written about Judge Copeland's penchant for using technicalities to put drivers back on the streets. I wrote about the judge during a drunk driving series the Carthage Press did in December 1998 and things have not changed much since that time.

In September 2004, The Turner Report featured numerous items about how often the higher courts have had to reverse Copeland's decisions.

The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Southern District in September 2004 ordered the revocation of a Jasper County woman's driving privileges reversing a Copeland decision that gave the woman back her license on a technicality after she refused to take a blood alcohol test.

The 2004 case revolved around an incident which occurred May 2, 2003, in Carterville, according to court records. Carterville police officer Ronnie Houdyshell was called to the corner of Main and Hatcher, where residents had said they had seen "an intoxicated person pull up in a vehicle and then slump over."

According to court records, Houdyshell found Ms. Spry sitting on the passenger side of the car, apparently asleep. After another officer arrived, Houdyshell woke the woman up, though it took a while. When Ms. Spry opened the passenger-side of the car, Houdyshell "observed a half-empty bottle of vodka and a beer bottle. Spry appeared to be extremely intoxicated," according to the court decision. Houdyshell had not seen her driving and couldn't tell if the engine was warm, but he saw nothing suggesting there had been another person driving. He asked Ms. Spry how she had gotten there. "She simply replied, 'Me.' "She was taken to the Carterville Police Department for sobriety tests. According to the court records, she said she had been drinking earlier in the evening, but she did not say how much she had to drink. After the field tests, Houdyshell determined she was drunk and asked her to take a breath test. She was told that refusal to take the test could mean revocation of her license for one year.According to the court record, she started to take the test, but did not give enough of a sample. She tried again, but she "just quit blowing." Houdyshell explained once more what refusal to take the test could mean. "She just quit," Houdyshell said.Houdyshell told Judge Copeland the same information at the revocation hearing, according to the court opinion. Ms. Spry's attorney called no witnesses, but asked Judge Copeland for a directed verdict in Ms. Spry's favor. That's exactly what happened. In his ruling, Judge Copeland said there was "no probable cause to believe Defendant was driving while intoxicated."

In September 2004, the court rejected another of Judge Copeland's decisions. The Court of Appeals backed the Department of Revenue's appeal to Copeland's decision that put Sara Ruth back on the streets. Ms. Ruth's license was revoked for one year after she refused to take a breathalyzer test following a DWI arrest. Ms. Ruth had appealed the Department of Revenue's decision, and after a hearing, Copeland determined that she had been arrested for driving while intoxicated, but had not refused the breathalyzer test and ordered her driving privileges reinstated even though the record clearly contradicted his judgment.

The record said that on the evening of May 29, 2003, Captain Jason Wright and Officer Wanda Hembree were on patrol in Joplin. While they were stopped at a traffic light, they saw a Ford Ranger stopped in the right hand lane in front of them. The passenger door was open and someone was leaning out of the car. The officers pulled up behind the car. According to their report, the officers smelled alcohol. They asked the driver if anything was wrong. She said "her friend had too much to drink and was sick." Wright saw vomit inside the car.Wright asked Ms. Ruth if she had been drinking. She said she had been drinking a couple of hours earlier. Wright detected a smell of alcohol coming from Ms. Ruth and wrote that Ms. Ruth's eyes were "watery, bloodshot, and glassy; she was wobbling and staggering; and her speech was slurred." Ms. Ruth had no problem with an eyetracking test, but failed the walk-and-turn test, the report said.

A preliminary breath test indicated she was drunk, according to the report, so she was arrested for driving while intoxicated. When they arrived at the Joplin Police Station, Ms. Ruth was given her Miranda rights, answered some questions, then she said she did not want to answer any more."The records show she was asked to submit to a chemical test of her breath. Hembree determined (Ms. Ruth) refused to submit to the test and noted the refusal" on the report.At her trial, Ms. Ruth testified that since she had already been given the breathalyzer during the stop, she had asked if she could "have time to think about it" when the second request was made. She said she was never asked and that the officer simply said on the report that she had refused.Based on that testimony, Copeland restored Ms. Ruth's driving privileges.

In the appeal, the Department of Revenue said Copeland's decision was wrong because there were reasonable grounds for arresting Ms. Ruth for driving while intoxicated and the record showed she had refused the breathalyzer test."According to the appellate court ruling, "The evidence presented at trial unequivocally shows that (Ms. Ruth) initially refused to submit to the breath test."The appellate court ordered Copeland to reinstate the one-year revocation of Ms. Ruth's license.

On Aug. 29, 2000, Judge Copeland made a similar decision in the case of Paul Riggin, 48, Joplin. According to the court record, in the early morning hours of Dec. 13, 1998, outside a Joplin nightclub, an officer tried to approach Riggin as he got into his car. Riggin waved him off, got into the car, and drove off. When he was stopped, the court opinion said, Riggin "had a strong odor of alcohol," admitted to having had four or five drinks and he failed three field sobriety tests. He also tested positive on a breath test given at the scene. No witnesses were presented at the revocation hearing, only the officer's written report. Judge Copeland ruled that the Director of Revenue had failed to prove the case and restored Riggin's driving privileges.

On July 7, 2000, Judge Copeland restored the driving privileges of Paul Sutton, 59, Joplin. Sutton had been involved in an accident on Dec. 19, 1998, according to court records. Sutton "admitted to ingesting two beers just before the accident." He failed several field sobriety tests and a preliminary breath test indicated "a high level of alcohol was present in his blood." Riggin consented to another breath test at the station but "failed to give an adequate sample." Despite the officer's testimony, Judge Copeland ruled there was no evidence that Sutton had refused to take the test and put Sutton back on the streets.

The appellate court also overruled Judge Copeland in its Jan. 22, 1999, decision to revoke the driving privileges of Michael S. Delzell. According to court records. on April 6, 1997, a Joplin restaurant manager noticed "a man sitting in the driver's seat of a car in the restaurant parking lot with the engine running." The car had not been there a few minutes earlier, the manager said.It turned out the man had come to the restaurant to pick up his wife, who was a restaurant employee. The only trouble was she had left two hours earlier. The officer who investigated noticed that Delzell appeared to be intoxicated. Delzell failed field sobriety tests. He admitted he had been drinking and driving. When he was taken to the police station, he failed a breath test.But since neither the officer nor the restaurant manager had actually seen Delzell driving, Judge Copeland restored Delzell's driving privileges.

Lattimer report on Katie's Law tops 6 p.m. newscasts

All three local 6 p.m. newscasts today led, as expected, with the news that the two men charged with murdering Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage, had waived their arraignments and pleaded not guilty this morning.

The best of the rest was KODE reporter Dustin Lattimer's piece on Gov. Jay Nixon's visit to the area today to sign a number of crime bills into law. Lattimer concentrated on the signing of Katie's Law, which will require DNA samples to be taken from those who are arrested for certain felony offenses.

KODE's newscasts have had a certain increased amount of energy the past several weeks.

Those under 21 will no longer be able to drive while texting

With studies released recently showing that texting while driving is just as dangerous as drinking while driving, the Missouri legislature's just restricting those under 21 from texting seems to be just a baby step toward solving the problem. Jason Rosenbaum's Capitol Calling has the video of Gov. Jay Nixon signing the bill into law today:

Nixon signs Ruestman DNA bill into law

In this video from Jason Rosenbaum's Capitol Calling, Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, which will require DNA samples to be taken from those charged with felony offenses:

Fifteen lose jobs in Springfield News-Leader cuts

Fifteen positions have been cut, including five in the newsroom during rhe latest round of budget reductions at the Springfield News-Leader. And that may be just the beginning.

Reportedly, three of the news positions being eliminated are currently open. A features writer and a videographer lost their jobs.

The cuts were part of a Gannett companywide reduction which will cost approximately 1,400 their jobs.

Greene County issues arrest warrant for accused killer Winans

Greene County Circuit Court records indicate a warrant was issued Wednesday for the arrest of Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, after he failed to appear for a scheduled hearing on a driving while revoked charge.

Winans, who had blown off earlier court hearings in the case, finally had a legitimate excuse this time. He was being held in Jasper County on two charges of first degree murder, two charges of armed criminal action, and one count of burglary.

Missourians can check officials' retirement benefits

If you want to know how much state officials receive in retirement benefits, you can now do so. The following news release was issued this afternoon by State Treasurer Clint Zweifel.

Missourians will now be able to check the retirement benefits of their state elected officials and judges with the click of a mouse following today's approval of a motion previously introduced by State Treasurer Clint Zweifel.

The passage of the motion happened today in St. Charles at a meeting of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System. The action comes about three weeks after Treasurer Zweifel also proposed a motion that passed to make MOSERS' staff compensation available via the Internet. Previously, a Sunshine Law request was needed to obtain information on staff compensation. With today's approval, citizens will also be able to obtain online information about the retirement benefits of elected officials and judges.

"Elected officials and judges operate with the public trust and easy access to their benefits package makes sense," Treasurer Zweifel said. "Government works best when it is open and accountable and this vote furthers that principle. Today's motion means citizens will be able to know the full cost of the service of elected officials and judges so they can hold them accountable."

Also during today's meeting, MOSERS' staff indicated that Treasurer Zweifel's motion on staff compensation package disclosure, passed at the June 18 meeting, would be implemented with the information becoming available at www.mosers.org beginning August 11.

Treasurer Zweifel has already implemented open government policies in his office, including the continued development of his open government site at www.treasurer.mo.gov/OpenGovernment.asp.

Long has $326,000+ in campaign account

Seventh District Congressional candidate Billy Long claims he has the fundraising lead among some heavyhitting GOP competitors. His campaign issued the following release this afternoon:

The Billy Long for Congress campaign committee reported receiving $101,700 in contributions for the second quarter of 2009. This brings the committee’s cash on hand to an impressive $326,493.44, which is more than any candidate.
“I am humbled by the outpouring of support from my friends and supporters who are excited to be a part of our effort to "Send A Citizen To Washington" and rebuild the Republican Party with common sense leadership," stated businessman Billy Long.
“For too long we have allowed career politicians who jump from one office to the next to lead our country down the wrong path. In supporting Billy, we are choosing to reject conventional politics and to elect a conservative businessman with the conviction to do what is right.” Added supporter and local businessman Gordon Kinne.
Billy Long is a conservative candidate for the Republican nomination to Congress in the Seventh District of Missouri.

Long's opponents include Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, and Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon.

Accused killers of Carthage couple plead not guilty

The accused killers of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage, waived their arraignment and pleaded not guilty during an arraignment this morning before Judge Richard Copeland in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, appeared through a video hookup, according to court records. Both men were represented by public defenders.

The next hearing for the two is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 22.

Cynthia Davis offers reflections on Independence Day

In her latest capital report, Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, offers thoughts on Independence Day:

On Sunday morning my pastor began by saying, “I’d rather have a rainy Independence Day than no Independence Day at all.” What a great point. This was my 16th consecutive year to participate in the O’Fallon parade and this is the first time I had to carry an umbrella. I didn’t send any parade photos because it’s hard to get a good one when the representative is drenched! So instead I am sending this photo of Betsy from a card I passed out at the parade. (The report included an artist's conception of Betsy Ross sewing the American flag.)

The tone of this year’s parade was in many ways more meaningful. With a decrease in attendance, I was left with more time to think about the statement our actions are making. Before that parade was a third over, I could feel the water squishing between my toes in my boots. I had hemmed my Betsy Ross skirt to be the perfect length for a dry walk, not thinking that a soaked skirt would add about four inches to the length! I of course realized that my difficulties couldn’t begin to compare with those who endured hardship and death to secure our liberty. They left behind bloody footprints in the harsh winter snow. I -on the other hand- ruined just a pair of boots.

I am so very proud to be an American and count it a privilege to serve the great state of Missouri. That is why our float proudly displayed an 8 x 12 foot colonial flag. Our float was right behind the VFW float which was playing patriotic songs. Our faith in our Foundation and Sustainer is the common thread through most patriotic music. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who forged the path of freedom, yet we must remember that their commitment was based upon the belief that “all men are created equal and are endowed by THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights…” As I listened to their music I realized it is all about asking God to continue to bless America. No offense to any atheist readers, but all we hold dear in this country comes from our common belief in the Judeo-Christian ethic. It is our Christianity that teaches us tolerance and love for our neighbor. It is also our Christianity that teaches us why we have a rule of law. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our founding fathers for giving us a rich heritage.

GOP: Nixon awards another fee office to contributor

Another day, another press release from the Missouri GOP outlining a license fee office being awarded to a contributor to Gov. Jay Nixon. Here is the latest one:

Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party, issued the following statement regarding Gov. Nixon awarding
the Liberty license office to a campaign contributor:

“On Tuesday, Jay Nixon rewarded yet another of his campaign contributors with a lucrative fee office. This time, Nixon overlooked five other bidders including the Liberty School District Foundation, awarding the Liberty fee office instead to longtime donor James Ryan Williams. Williams also reportedly runs the Lee’s Summit office with Democrat power-player James Montee, ex-husband of Auditor Susan Montee. Combined, the Liberty and Lee’s Summit offices generate revenue in excess of $1 million each year.

“Williams is the latest in a growing list of Democratic insiders and Nixon contributors who have benefited from Jay’s broken promise to end pay-to-play. His action is especially brazen considering the recent bipartisan outrage over the politics that continue to control the fee office bidding process. As a member of Nixon’s own party pointed out: ‘It’s all politics. Don’t let anybody fool you.’”

Nexstar Broadcasting CEO to be honored

Nexstar Broadcasting CEO Perry Sook will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award from the National Association of Media Brokers Sept. 24 for his work in getting cable and satellite operations to pay retransmission fees to television stations.

Nexstar Broadcasting owns KSNF in Joplin and KSFX in Springfield and is de facto owner of KODE in Joplin and KOLR in Springfield.

Link provided to News-Leader coverage of arrests in Carthage murder case

You can find the Springfield News-Leader's coverage of yesterday's arrest of Darren Winans, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, Springfield, at this link.

Flanigan reports $4,305 in contributions

First-term Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, reported $4,305 in contributions and $777.62 in expenditures, leaving him with $5,746.48 in his account.

None of Flanigan's contributions was more than $325.

Accused killer to go before same judge who set him free after probation violation

Jasper County Circuit Court records indicate that when Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, has his first hearing on two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of burglary, it will be before the same judge who let him walk on a probation violation in May 2008.

Court records indicate Judge Richard Copeland approved a plea bargain a plea bargain with Winans that reduced a felony drug crime, committed while Winans was on probation, to a misdemeanor, and allowed him to have unsupervised probation. THe arrest in the case was made by the Jasper Police Department.

Copeland has been assigned to handle the initial hearings for Winans and his alleged partner in the brutal stabbing deaths of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage, Matthew Laurins, 19, Springfield.

As noted in a Turner Report post earlier today, Jasper County Circuit Court records indicate that on March 13, 2008, at a time when he was already serving five years probation for stealing a motor vehicle, Winans was arrested on a felony drug charge, which was later amended to a misdemeanor use of drug paraphernalia. between Judge Copeland sentenced Winans to one year in the county jail, then suspended the sentence, placing him on one year of unsupervised probation, though Winans was already on probation for the other crime. The court records say Winans' unsupervised probation was "unsuccessfully completed."

Winans had already had his probation revoked earlier during the five-year span, according to court records. He was sent to prison on March 21, 2006, for a probation violation, but was released 120 days later.

DNA swab ordered for accused killer of Nevada teens

Vernon County Circuit Court Judge Neal Quitno ordered a DNA swab taken of Garrett Mason, 19, the man accused of stabbing Annie Reed, 18, and Kylie Leyva, 14, to death May 25.

Mason's attorney offered no objections to the swab, according to court records. Mason is charged with two counts of first degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, in Vernon County Circuit Court.

Previous posts on the case can be found at this link.

Probable cause statement- Laurin admitted he and Winans killed Sheldons

Probable cause statements filed in Jasper County Circuit Court indicate Matthew Laurins, 19, Springfield, admitted that he and Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, murdered Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage in October 2008. An article written by Jeff Lehr and Derek Spellman and posted on the Joplin Globe website includes links to those probable cause statements:

Affidavits allege that Laurin has admitted his and Winans’ involvement in the slayings. There is no indication of any confession on the part of Winans.

The sheriff indicated that the murder weapon has yet to be recovered. He said it still might be located, but the length of time that has passed since the slayings may make that difficult. Dunn said there are detectives still working leads, particularly in the Springfield area. The sheriff declined to say if there was any DNA evidence in the case.

Forget school choice, columnist says, why not teacher choice?

This would be a nightmare for principals, but columnist Peter Tucci on the D.C. Writeup blog has a novel idea to improve education. Forget about school choice, but offers parents teacher choice:

Here’s how a system of teacher choice would work in practice. In primary schools that have more one teacher per grade level, parents would be asked to rank teachers in order of preference. School administrators would then try to assign students to teachers based on their parents’ choices. Of course, this would not always be possible, since parents would naturally gravitate towards the highest-quality teachers. School administrators would have to even out the number of students in each class, which means that some parents would have to settle for getting their second or third choice teachers.

Teacher choice boasts several advantages over both the status quo system of randomly matching students with teachers and the school choice system of matching students with schools.

Most obviously, the system will do a better job of matching students with teachers than the current system, for the simple reason that parents will be able to take into account their child’s individual needs, and then find the teacher whose strengths best complement those needs. It also gives parents an incentive to research teachers and get involved in their children’s education.

Second, teacher choice will help expose which teachers are more effective than others. Generally speaking, the good teachers will earn more votes than bad teachers. This will give school administrators a metric other than standardized testing by which to evaluate teacher performance. In the long run, this will allow schools to implement merit-based pay and identify which teachers they should retain or fire.

While it is easy to see some flaws in the system, but if merit pay is going to be introduced, this would be a far better way to do it than to rely on standardized test results.

Former editor rips media overkill on Jackson coverage

I am not the only former editor who is disgusted with the media overkill on the death on Michael Jackson. Alan Mutter in his blog, Reflections of a Newsosaur, addresses the topic in an aptly named post- "Jacko-Mania tarnished media credibility":

From a journalistic point of view, there is no conceivable argument that the massive coverage served the public interest.

Thus, Jacko-mania appears to have been a curiously ill-conceived effort among many media outlets to appeal to a public that mostly wasn’t interested.

You can’t build confidence in the press by providing breathless coverage of an overblown event that most people don’t care about.

Well said!

No updates since early afternoon on Carthage Press website

This should be a night when Carthage Press web traffic goes through the roof, courtesy of Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn's arrest of two suspects in the murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage.

The traffic is probably headed there, but not finding much when it arrives. The Press had two early updates on the subject, but has not posted a more complete story, allowing every one of its competitors to get a jump.

I would guess this can be blamed at the powers that be at GateHouse Media and not the Press staff.

Nixon may call special session for bonding plan

Gov. Jay Nixon said he may call a special session for his bonding proposal. Jason Rosenbaum of Capitol Calling shot this video:

Capitol Calling: Nixon discusses public defender bill

Gov. Jay Nixon is still undecided on whether to sign a bill which would beef up the state public defender system. Jason Rosenbaum of Capitol Calling shot this video:

Blunt addresses health care issue on House floor

Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt is shown addressing the healthcare issue this morning on the House floor:

KOAM: More suspects possible in Carthage murders

More suspects are possible in the murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage.

KOAM reported that Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn indicated there may be more people involved than the two who were arrested today, Darren Winans, 21, Jasper; and Matt Laurin, 19, Nixa.

All three local stations led their 6 p.m. newscasts with the story today, and each had an interview with the Sheldons' son Bob Sheldon Jr., but KOAM's package with reporters Lisa Olliges and Jordan Aubey appeared to be more complete, not only including quotes from Dunn and Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney Dean Dankelson, but also featuring footage from earlier reports on the murders.

KOAM also devoted more time to the story in both its 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. newscasts, as well as being the first to move the story today, beating the Joplin Globe by a half hour.

McDonald County white supremacist ordered held without bond

McDonald County white supremacist Robert Joos, 56, will not be leaving jail anytime soon.

U. S. District Court Judge James England ordered Joos to be held without bond following a hearing today in Springfield. Joos is being held on a charge of being a felon illegally possessing a firearm.

In his ruling, Judge England wrote, "While the defendant does have ties to the McDonald County area, he has, in the past, had a reputation for carrying concealed weapons and resisting arrest. The court finds there is clear and convincing evidence that there are no conditions that the Court can impose which would reasonably assure the defendant's appearance at all scheduled hearings and the safety of other persons or the community."

Joos was arrested in connection with a federal investigation of a racially-motivated 2004 bombing in Scottsdale, Ariz. National white supremacist leader Dennis Mahon and his brother Daniel were charged with that crime.

ATF agents executing a search warrant on Joos' property June 24 found bomb-making materials, according to documents filed in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The government posted the information in its effort to prevent Joos from being released on bond.

The search uncovered "more than a dozen miscellaneous firearms," as well as "materials for constructing improved explosive devices, including blasting caps, gunpowder, and fuses."

In addition, the documents indicate, Joos provided undercover ATF agents with information on how to build a bomb.

Accused killers being held without bond

Jasper County Circuit Court online records indicate Darren Winans, 21, Jasper, and Matthew Laurin, 19, Nixa, are being held without bond, charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and burglary, in connection with the Oct. 11, 2008, deaths of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage.

No hearings have been scheudled, according to court files.

KOAM posts information on theft of weapon that led to arrest in Carthage murders

KOAM continues to be on top of the breaking news about the arrest of two men in the murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage.

KOAM posted the news first that the arrests had been made beating the Joplin Globe by more than half an hour and The Carthage Press by an hour.

The Globe has already posted a bare bones story with little detail, but KOAM's account has plenty of information to digest, including this passage:

Sheriff Dunn says the murder weapon was a knife.

Authorities say in September 2008, Darren Winans and another man - Zachary Townsend - stole a gun from the Old Cabin Shop, owned by the Sheldons.

A report was filed and Townsend was arrested.

Then on July 1, Winans was also arrested and charged with stealing the gun.

Sheriff Dunn say