Thursday, December 29, 2016

FBI investigation of Northpark Mall owners, Tina Smith resignation among top May 2016 posts

To many readers of the Turner Report (and believe me, I have heard from them) while the names of David Wallace, Mark Rohr, Mike Woolston, C. J. Huff, and Angie Besendorfer bring an immediate feeling of contempt, there is still no one whose name angers them as much as former Joplin R-8 Chief Operating Officer and Human Resources Director Tina Smith.

I have never made it any secret that you can count me on that list. And those who have read this blog since April 2013 have no problem understanding why.

Her departure from the Joplin R-8 School District, years too late to help the hundreds of people who ran afoul of her during her tenure here, was one of the biggest stories of May 2016.

The top posts for the month included others that involved the R-8 Board of Education's ongoing effort to drain the swamp of the leftover problems of the C. J. Huff Administration.

The top post of the month had nothing to do with the school district, however. It involved an FBI/SEC investigation into CBL & Associates, owners of Northpark Mall in Joplin. The investigation involved investments by Sen. Bob Corker, who was originally considered by President-Elect Donald Trump as a vice presidential candidate and was later a finalist for secretary of state.

The investigation indicated Corker may have been receiving inside information from CBL officials and was making investments that were extremely well-timed and made him a lot of money.

Despite this story having national implications and involving Joplin, not a word of it was ever printed in the Joplin Globe. Nor did the Globe ever report on the departure of Smith, or some of the other posts that made the list.

That is a pattern that has been obvious in the posts from the first five months of 2016 and which I am sure will continue as we review the rest of the year.

While it is uncomfortable for me to continue pointing this out, it is also important- a small group of people have been footing the bill so everyone is able to continue receiving the information provided in the Turner Report, Inside Joplin, and Inside Joplin Obituaries. A phrase that quickly becomes tiresome, but is true, is that if each reader would contribute even $5- well, considering that the Turner Report receives an average of about 5,000 readers per day increasing to 15,000 depending on what is in the news, Inside Joplin receives 5,000 to 6,000 a day and Inside Joplin Obituaries between 3,500 and 5,000, well, you get the picture.

So once again, PayPal buttons are included for those of you who believe the Turner Report/Inside Joplin blogs benefits you and the community. Those who prefer not to use PayPal or a credit card, can send contributions to Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Apt. G.  Joplin, MO 64801.

The Top 10 posts for May 2016, a couple of extras, and the links for the January, February, March, and April 2016 lists can be found below the buttons. Thanks for reading!

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1. Report: FBI, SEC, investigating Northpark Mall owners

2. JHS senior Kagan Hoffman saves a seat for Zach Williams

3. Joplin R-8 Board accepts Tina Smith's resignation

4. R-8 Board to C. J. Huff: We're not paying extra for your travel, lodging

5. Joplin School Board rejects Bright Futures funding proposal

6. Joplin R-8 Board accepts three resignations, hires seven teachers

7. Former curriculum director lands job with consulting firm she pushed on Joplin

8. So you want to be a Joplin R-8 director of human resources

9. First bargaining agreement lands $1,000 raises, promise of discipline support for R-8 teachers

10. Joplin R-8 legal bill for P1 lawsuit- half a million and counting

The extras:

Joplin R-8 taxpayers pay $385 for Chamber membership, $1,100 for party inflatables

A salute to a special group of Joplin High School seniors (the ones who attended the East warehouse school during the 2011-2012 school year)

The Top 10 lists for the previous months

Diamond sex scandal, Blasters lawsuit, my triple bypass vacation on Top 10 list for April 2016

Threats of JHS school shooting, superintendent's love affair top March 2016 posts

Resignation of two Joplin R-8 principals, memories of T. J. Bowman among top February 2016 posts

KOAM departure, Zach Williams protest, $3.5 million lawsuit among top January 2016 posts

4 comments:

  1. Too far gone . . .6:40 PM

    Actually Randy, most of us view you with disgust and contempt. There isn't a week goes by without you whining about how CJ Huff, Angie Baby, Tina Smith, et. al. found you out and ran you off, along with other back-biting "teachers" ruining the minds of children in order to turn them into liberal whiners. Only when you are at death's door do you ever stop bitching.

    You have never owned up to how your firing was inevitable and deserved. The #1 condition for employment is that you obey the rules of those set over you. You couldn't and wouldn't and you got caught and after legal process were fired. Blacklisted because nobody else needs your lying whining crap.

    So this blog of your is "therapy" or "the_rapy". Nobody is going to pay for your whining crap. Better to get over yourself and stop whining. Problem is is that you are too far gone to stop.

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  2. Anonymous11:09 PM

    6:40: spot on. Truer words have never been spoken. It's a pity.

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  3. Paying Subscriber -6:37 AM

    OK - so don't read it. Problem solved.
    But - don't presume to represent "most of us" 8 million views.
    Randy - hitting some nerves there. Keep it up.

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  4. Anonymous2:30 PM

    Seems to me that Joplin and the area needed something like Randy to step up to the plate. Maybe being let go angered him, but I am willing to bet many have experienced this in our life and would have loved to have had the skills he has exhibited to strike back at those who have offended many. I only wished he would stop publishing the "crap" put out by Long and Blunt staffers that really serves no purpose except to anger many of us who feel betrayed and buffaloed by a pair of self serving trash.
    Randy, keep up the investigations as done in the past and in the spirit of good investigating reporting so sorely lacking in this slice of news void.

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