The local TV stations replayed the 5 p.m. news, running the Moark animal abuse charges at the top of the hour.
KOAM, using documents provided by the Newton County prosecuting attorney's office, showed that Prosecuting Attorney Scott Watson has a signed affidavit from a former Moark worker indicating the cruelty caught on videotape by Rick Bussey was not an isolated incident. Jennifer Denman reported the story for KOAM. KOAM made the same error made by KODE, saying that no hearing has been scheduled in the case. The arraignment date, which was posted about three hours ago on case.net and more than two hours ago on The Turner Report, is 8:30 a.m. Aug. 22, in Newton County Circuit Court.
I enjoyed the quotes given by Moark Regional Manager Dan Hudgens, Joplin, one of the defendants to KODE and KSNF. He pretty much said it wasn't a Moark crew, I wasn't there, and mistakes can be made."
Didn't anyone learn from the way Watergate was handled by President Nixon. Admit it, take responsibility, and do something about it.
The attention being paid to a misdemeanor charge, as I pointed out in an earlier post, is unusual, but it is warranted. The TV stations, the Globe, Neosho Daily, Neosho Forums, and the Joplin Independent have done a great job of keeping attention focused on Moark.
Now what I would like to see done by one or more of these media outlets is an explanation of how Moark can justify its proposed expansion at a time when egg prices are depressed and the company lost its parent, Land O'Lakes, millions of dollars. You can find out more about that in a Turner Report article from Wednesday at:
http://rturner229.blogspot.com/2005/07/moark-suffers-heavy-losses.html
Moark can continue to expand thanks to the Missouri Development Finance Board (www.mdfb.org) and it's secretary Larry Neff, for approving last month, $3 million in tax-exempt industrial development bonds. No citizen input or review was required for this board to do this. This MDFB is under the auspices of the MO Dept. of Economic Development. Moark in past board presentation transcripts had indicated they would be back for another $7million in taxable bonds as well. It also helps to have the Missouri Dept.of Ag. giving a grant through the Missouri Corn Growers Association in conjunction with the Moark construction as well. This was revealed in an overview of MDFB minutes as well. Got more questions try calling Larry Neff in Neosho.
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