The first reading of a bill inspired by the death of a Neosho man and his granddaughter was held during the opening session of the 2005 Missouri State Senate Wednesday.
State Senator Gary Nodler, R-Joplin's bill would increase the penalty for involuntary manslaughter if a person has a blood alcohol level that is one and half times the legal limit or if a fatality occurs when the person's vehicle leaves a public thoroughfare. That's what prosecutors alleged happened on July 31 when a car driven by Edward Meerwald, 50, Noel, left Highway 86 and struck James Dodson, 71, Neosho, and his seven-year-old granddaughter, Jessica Mann, killing them.
Meerwald faces involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the deaths. He is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 23, in Jasper County Circuit Court, where the case was sent on a change of venue. Motions are scheduled to be heard Feb. 1. Court officials are expecting a three-day trial.
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Sen. Nodler will be at the center of the biggest issue facing Missouri legislators this year...the restructuring of the Foundation formula, through which Missouri public schools are funded. Nodler will serve as Chairman of the Senate's Education Committee.
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A U. S. District Judge has given lawyers for former Webb City High School student Brad Mathewson 12 days to show why his civil rights lawsuit against the school district and High School Principal Steven Gollhofer shouldn't be dismissed.
According to the show cause order, which was filed in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri today, Judge Ortrie D. Smith said the time has already expired for Mathewson or his attorneys to file a response to the school district's Dec. 22 motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
"Plaintiff is directed to show cause on or before Jan. 19, 2005, why his claims and motion for preliminary injunction are not moot." The school district claimed that Mathewson no longer has any standing to sue since he dropped out of school in early December.
In the school district's motion, first published on The Turner Report, school officials claimed Mathewson, who sued the school after he was not allowed to wear gay pride t-shirts, had created numerous disruptions on school property.
In their complaint, district officials said another Webb City High School student filed a report with the Webb City Police after Mathewson "grabbed his groin area while researching in the library and frequently 'hit on' or 'flirted' with him."That wasn't the only reason district officials say Mathewson's behavior, as well as his selection of clothing, was creating a disruption at the school.The filing included a signed affidavit from Gollhofer saying that Mathewson had been flaunting his sexual preference in other ways. "Specifically, students complained that (Mathewson) was showing, and forcing in some instances, inappropriate photographs to students which depicted (Mathewson) and another male lying on top of one another, and the other male kissing (Mathewson's) neck." Mathewson has disputed these contentions in an interview with The Joplin Globe.
Mathewson's claims that his t-shirts had not caused a disruption at the school were also disputed in the motion. "Students also complained about (his) t-shirts, and informed the administration that the t-shirts were inappropriate, as well as distracting."The motion also says that district officials had genuine fears for Mathewson's safety.
"The district had already handled and addressed threats of violence against (Mathewson)." Webb City High School's educational environment was "permeated with tension," the motion said.
American Civil Liberties Union officials have acknowledged in media interviews that it will be difficult to pursue the case since Mathewson dropped out of school. Their hope seems to lie with a group of students who wore t-shirts to support Mathewson the week after he filed his lawsuit. Reportedly, 11 students wore such shirts. Four followed administrators' requests to change the shirts. Seven others were sent home after refusing to do so. ACLU officials indicated they would try to get one of those students to continue the case.
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One week has passed since Nexstar Broadcasting pulled KSNF and KODE off Cable One and neither side has shown any signs of backing down. On the contrary, Nexstar has broadened its battle against cable and has given a Jan. 31 deadline for Cox Communications, Inc., to begin paying for the two Joplin stations or have to remove them from their cable systems in Carthage and Lamar.
The company is also planning to pull its station in KTAL, Texarkana, Texas, from several Cox systems in the Texarkana-Shreveport, La., area. It has already pulled KTAL from Cable One in Texarkana.
Cox officials told Multichannel News that they are considering going to the Federal Communications Commission for help in resolving the dispute.
Nexstar is gambling that one of the cable companies will give in and that will create a domino effect and bring in millions of dollars in extra revenue. So far in the Joplin area the bet has not paid off. Reportedly, Cable One has only lost about 80 customers, a figure not much different from what it would lose at this time of the year anyway, while Cable One customers who have not bothered to mess with cumbersome antennas have been sampling KOAM's local news and its network programming and are liking what they see.
The Joplin stations are also running into problems with their main source of revenue, advertising, since local advertisers have been asking for discounts since KODE and KSNF are now reaching considerably fewer viewers. Some of those advertisers have also been making their way to KOAM.
Nexstar has been willing to take this chance with the stations in Joplin and Texarkana because these are stations in their smallest markets and they believe a short-term loss is merely an investment if they can rake in millions from the cable companies. It remains to be seen whether the gamble will pay off.
Even if Nexstar wins, it has caused damage to its Joplin stations' credibility and reputation that will take a long time to repair.