Neosho mold spores say Jan Blase makes them sick, too

Neosho City Manager Jan Blase's assertion that mold spores were responsible for poor decisions he made concerning city finances has not gone over well in the Neosho community...especially on the spore side of town.

The Joplin Globe quoted from Blase's comments in a city document in a story published Monday:

“I believe that excessive mold spore levels at City Hall severely affected the health of the finance director and the city manager, and that the exposure to high levels of mold spores affected overall performance. The vents in the city manager office were not hooked to distribution system and that forced all air in the attic directly unto the city manager every time any unit turned on at the request of a thermostat.”

And Blase told the Globe's Derek Spellman, “everybody (at City Hall) was sick” because of the mold, that he himself suffered from allergies, that he was “ill” for “many” months, and that he suffered from a “compromised” immune system.

Neosho's mold spores have been up in arms ever since the quotes were released.

"Jan Blase makes us sick, too," one mold spore told The Turner Report on condition of anonymity. "First, he blames us for misusing grant funds and now he wants to raise our property taxes." The spore was referring to Blase's use of state funds specifically earmarked for airport purposes to cover city budget shortfalls.

Reportedly, a group of leading spores is considering a defamation lawsuit against Blase."We probably won't do it," the anonymous spore said. "Even if we won, who knows what fund our money would come from."