Hunter returns files...at least the paper ones

In a story just filed, Joplin Globe reporter Derek Spellman writes that earlier today former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter returned 30 boxes worth of files that she had removed. It should be interesting to see if the files are complete and intact:

Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said he and Presiding County Commissioner John Bartosh were present about 6 p.m. when Hunter delivered about 30 boxes of files to the county courthouse in Carthage.

Asked why he did not press Hunter for an explanation as to why she took the files, Dankelson said: “To me it’s not relevant why she took them. To me it’s relevant they were brought back.”

But Dankelson then said: “This case is just started. It did not end tonight.”

Hopefully not. Even if the files are intact, the fact that Mrs. Hunter or someone connected to her administration of her office, erased all computer files indicates some things were not on the up and up.

County officials need to act immediately on new Public Administrator Angie Casavecchia Ashens' request for an outside audit. And again, it is time to seriously considering bringing in the attorney general, the Missouri Highway Patrol, or a grand jury (led by the attorney general's office and not the Jasper County prosecuting attorney's office) to examine just what has been going on these past four years.