A June 20, 2005, trial date has been set for a former Newton County Jail inmate's $2 million lawsuit against Sheriff Ron Doerge.
Though many lawsuits against Doerge based on conditions in the jail have been dismissed overe the yars, Donald Richard Allen's suit has been winding its way through the federal court system since June 2, 2000.
The trial, if it actually takes place, will be held in Springfield, in front of Judge Dean Whipple.
Allen's complaint stems from the way Doerge, head jailer Bob Sullivan and others responded to his erquest for medical treatment, according to the lawsuit. Allen's stay in the Newton County Jail began on Jan. 19, 2000. "I stated that I had emphysema and I need medication for this condition," he said. "I had my wife provide them with my medication and they refused to allow me access to it or refused to give it to me during med calls."
Allen said I was not given access to grievance forms to lodge his complaints.
He said he wants to see "a policy change within the Newton County Jail to insure no one else is treated in this manner." Allen is asking for $1 million in damages and an additional $1 million in punitive damages.
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Mark Mayo, or people close to the Diamond R-4 superintendent, have once again started launching a smear campaign against me. It's not enough that they fired me two times from the Diamond School District and have attemped to cause me to lose my present job, it appears they have taken a leaf from the presidential campaign notebook and are throwing everything at me hoping something sticks.
I would like to point out that everything I have written about Mark Mayo or the Diamond R-4 School District has been done on my own time. I do not use the Joplin R-8 School District's time or money for my non-school district websites. And everything I have written is grounded firmly in fact or is clearly opinion. The truth has always been important to me.
It appears, however, that Mayo may very well have continued his long-standing vendetta against me on the Diamond R-4 School District's time and on the taxpayers' dime, with little or no regard for the truth. And this includes the most recent efforts to damage my reputation, whether it be Mayo or some of his sycophants who are responsible for them.
I should note that I have never written anything to damage the reputations of Mark Mayo or any member of the Diamond R-4 Board of Education. I don't have to. They do enough damage on their own without my help.
To paraphrase Harry Truman when a supporter told him to "give 'em hell," the president replied, "I'll give them the truth and they'll think it's hell."