The Globe had the information, but for some reason chose never to share it with its readers.
During the entire time the Joplin Globe has been fighting a successful battle to force the city to release documents related to Osage Beach lawyer Tom Loraine's ethics investigation, the newspaper has been sitting on documents that could have shed light on the problems that have been facing the city the past several months.
The Turner Report has learned that Globe Editor Carol Stark has possession of documents that show that former City Manager Mark Rohr ran into City Council efforts to fire him at nearly every one of his previous stops, that he was consistently accused of bullying, and that when city council members stood in his way, he defended himself by claiming he was fighting the good fight against the "good old boy network."
Globe sources indicate that the problem has been that Carol Stark has a tendency to get too close to administrators who make a show of taking her into their confidence, referring specifically to Rohr and Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff. Information that could put any of her favorites into a bad light has a hard time finding its way into the newspaper and when it does, it is generally watered down.
The Globe had documents showing that Rohr almost immediately began having problems after he became city manager of Punta Gorda, Florida. Minutes of a Punta Gorda council meeting show City Councilman John Errett saying he "could not recall when he has been more convinced that a mistake was made in the selection of a city manager." Errett referred to Rohr as a "draconian, dogmatic dictator."
Errett and another councilman attempted to have him fired, but withdrew the motion after providing Rohr with some suggestions on ways to improve his personal relations with employees, including controlling his temper.
A second effort to fire Rohr in Punta Gorda also fell short.
In a newspaper interview that the Globe also had access to, former Punta Gorda City Councilman Bruce Thompson said, "I think he was one of the worst city managers we ever had. It goes to his style of operation. He doesn't want anyone to tell him what to do. He doesn't like anybody to challenge his authority. I worked in public life all my life. You don't treat employees as harshly and nastily as he did.
Rohr left Punta Gordon in 1998, telling a newspaper he had found "fraud" and "corruption" in the city. Efforts to get rid of him were "purely political," he said, "because I was taking on the good-old-boy network."
Newspaper reports from Rohr's time in Newton Falls, Ohio, show that he fought with the mayor and a former city councilman. Rohr charged them with corruption, the same charge he leveled at Joplin council members. Just like in Joplin, Rohr never came through with any evidence that any corruption was taking place. The Globe was aware of the Newton Falls, Ohio, information, information that could have shined a different light on the Mark Rohr controversy, but sat on the information.
The Newton Falls newspaper said the feud began when the former city councilman was looking into complaints from department heads that they were being mistreated by Rohr. The complaints were similar to ones that were heard in Joplin. The Globe had this information.
When Rohr left Newton Falls to take another job, he left a divided city, with petitions supporting him circulating around the city, just like in Joplin.
In the last job Rohr had before coming to Joplin, in Piqua, Ohio, Rohr's first years went smoothly, until people were elected to the City Council with the specific purpose of getting rid of Rohr, who was accused of overspending and mistreating employees.
The documents that were in the possession of the Joplin Globe and Editor Carol Stark have already been used by the Globe...in 2004 when Andy Ostmeyer, who still works for the newspaper, did a thorough and well-written investigation of the man who was about to become Joplin's city manager.
At that time, Mark Rohr's background was news.
That was before he became Carol Stark's friend.
14 comments:
Eventually this will all come out. Keep at it Randy. The truth will out.
Did the Globe purposely hold the information they possessed on purpose for unethical reasons, or did they hold in an attempt to gather more information and perhaps provide both sides of the story? Not defending them, just an honest question.
As far the history with Rohr, if people do not see a pattern and history of repeated issues, then the public is blind.
Abusive to employees and girlfriends/wives in more than one community. That guy has some emotional issues and is it a fair prediction that this behavior will continue in Texas. Any takers on a wager to see how long until an abuse claim is made by his wife and/or an employee?
Boycott the Globe until Stark is gone.
Randy,
Have you ever reached out to Carol Stark directly to try and corroborate your unproven claims? While I appreciate your passion, I fear that from time to time you get ahead of yourself and do not take due diligence to find out the whole story.
Stark's email address and phone number are public record. Perhaps next time, you might take a bit of your own advice and put your personal agenda aside and do a bit of old-fashioned journalism.
Best,
Concerned reader
I truly admire you, Mr. Turner. There are so many citizens in this town that support him. And you're right. If they knew the entire truth, which is every bit of what we should know, then a completely different light would shed upon Mark Rohr. You've opened my eyes. I will try to open others.
Concerned reader,
What do you mean unproven claims? At the end of the story, Mr. Turner makes it quite clear that all of the information appeared in the Joplin Globe 10 years ago. Mrs. Stark and the reporter who wrote it are still with the newspaper. They sat on this information while everything that happened in Joplin was clearly a repeat of what has happened to Mark Rohr in the past. If that is not proven, there is nothing that will satisfy you. Plain and simple- Carol Stark has skewed the Globe's coverage in favor of Mark Rohr and against what would be best for the city of Joplin.
If this was already printed in the Globe then how are they sitting on it?
11:30- It was printed in the Globe 10 years ago before Mark Rohr's first day on the job. Readers would not put those things together 10 years apart. I find it hard to believe that editors and reporters would forget those things. Plain and simple, the Globe sat on the information. Mr. Turner hit this one right on the nose.
it's still on the website....why not put a link to it for the 12 people who read this blog to see...
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x211977380/Draconian-dogmatic-dictatoror-simply-the-man-in-charge
I doubt that Turner acted any more ethically back when he was a lie-paper reporter, much less editard. Turner inevitably abuses his position of trust and is run off always. And then nobody wants to do that mess over again.
What does Carol Stark have that Randy Turner doesn't?
How about a job? Any job, much less one with the lies-media.
The media lies to the pub[l]ic by omission and commission. Turner has his own agenda and moderates / censors comments. So why to trust him even if the Glob[e] lies like a rug?
Read both for free and interpolate between each set of liars, be they Turner or the Glob. Otherwise you are nothing other than a tard with your own pet tard following that tard with a mutual agenda -- you hope.
hey randy why didn't you post photos of the article?
I hate to admit this, but I didn't think of it. I will put that up later tonight.
To 1130am: Did you remember the story from 2004?
The Globe was hoping nobody else would either.
Important thing to note: Carol Stark took over the Globe in 2007 according to what I found in Google and my memory, 3 years after this investigation was published. So there's no surprise there was no followup when things got really bad, remember how she directed a complete turnaround of the Globe's coverage of MSSU President Speck? We know this for a fact because of the emails she sent to him that were later revealed.
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