This blog features news and commentary from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com
For the first time today, Oklahoma law enforcement officials acknowledged what everyone had feared for nearly two decades.
Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, missing since 1999, were murdered years ago, a few days after the murder of Freeman's parents, Danny and Kathy Freeman.
And two of the three men who allegedly committed the murder, Phillip (Phil) Welch II and David A. Pennington, died years ago and will never be tried for the crimes.
The third man, Ronnie Dean Busick, 65, Wichita, (pictured) has been charged with four counts of first degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of first degree arson.
He has being held in a Kansas jail.
Details of what happened December 30, 1999, were detailed during a press conference earlier today by Craig County District Attorney Matt Ballard, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Aungela Spurlock and Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey. Members of the Freeman and Bible families were briefed this morning.
The press conference and the probable cause statement outlined a horror story in which the Freemans were murdered and their house burned to the ground as Welch and Pennington were allegedly attempting to collect on a drug debt.
Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible were kidnapped, kept alive for an unspecified number of days and sexually assaulted, according to the probable cause statement.
"Those young ladies' final days were certainly horrific," Ballard said.
Though the answer to who committed the crimes appears to have been answered, one mystery remains.
"We believe there are people with knowledge of this crime who can assist in recovering the girls' bodies and bring some closure to the families."
Witnesses with knowledge of the murders have been available all along, but lived in fear of Welch's threats to kill them and put them in the pits at Picher just as he had done with the two teens, the probable cause statement indicated.
Numerous people had seen photographs of the two girls bound and on a quilt that was identified as belonging to Welch.
"All three made multiple statements to people about their crimes," Ballard said.
A witness referred to as WH in the probable cause statement said he believed the three men were involved in the murder and that Welch and Pennington had referred to the missing girls as "them two little bitches" and said if "they wouldn't have taken off running from one of their vehicles they would still be alive.
Another witness, AS, reported overhearing the three man talking about the murders when they were intoxicated and did not know she was listening. She said that Welch was the triggerman and the other two were accomplices. When the girls came out of the room unexpectedly, the three men did not know what to do with them and took them with them, she said.
Have you wondered why parents who have had minimal involvement in their child’s K-12 education will pour over college catalogs with their high school senior? The reasons should be clear: first, there are choices to be made about cost, and second, there are choices about value. Choices focus our attention like little else. There are also questions about content (curriculum) and faculty influence (prevailing thought). For example, some parents who value civics education and the Bill of Rights might be very concerned with the growing body of research that among college students “diversity” is more highly valued than constitutionally protected free speech.
In Missouri, a number of bills were filed this year in both the Senate and the House of Representatives designed to address such concerns by bringing parents and students choices in education. Everything from charter school expansion and full-time virtual schools to education savings accounts via tax credit scholarships have been filed in the Senate. These proposals often have companion bills in the Missouri House of Representatives. Other reform measures include the elimination of teacher-tenure and the application of plain letter-grade ratings for how well students are being educated in a building or district. Parents need to know how well their school is doing and that the best teachers are retained regardless of how long they have occupied the classroom.
Only one of these measures, (SB 603) has passed the Senate in a very restricted form. It would provide a small improvement in access to online courses, but most of the bills are still bottled up in the Senate Education Committee. Most to date have not had a public committee hearing. It is beginning to look like another legislative session may come and go without providing students and parents any meaningful education choices.
I was interviewed this week by Dr. Ursula Hackett, an author from England, who is writing a book about the politics of education choices. She was inquiring of me and others as to why giving choices to parents have proven to be so difficult in Missouri. That is a good question given that some 30 other states have done it with consistently positive results.
Senate Bill 603 seems to have stalled. After multiple meaningful compromises, the opposition still seems to be winning. Expanding charter schools is another measure that may be stalled. According to Susan Pendergrass, although 14 percent of Missouri parents identified charters as their first choice for their child’s education, only 2 percent of Missouri students attend charters. That may be because of the 500 public school districts in Missouri, only two have charters – St. Louis and Kansas City.
Some Missourians don’t realize that charter schools are public schools and can be sponsored by the local school board of any school district in Missouri. One argument used against charters is that they don’t work in rural districts, but a charter in Walton, Kansas opened with 113 students. Since opening, enrollment has doubled, the school has a waiting list and plans are underway to build a new facility. Wisconsin has authorized charters in 100 local school districts, and Denver Public Schools has 65 charter schools.
There are a multitude of reasons that parents might choose a particular education for their child. We know that every child is different, and traditional public schools do their best to meet each child’s needs. However, that is an impossible task when only one socialized model is available. Parents must be given choices to help address the challenging diversities among students. One of the most revealing indicators of the success of choice program in other states is the level of parental satisfaction. With few exceptions, parents know their children best, and they are the ones to observe and benefit most from student progress. Parents are likely to be more focused on student outcomes than institutional stability.
A frequent argument against education choice programs is that they might fail to educate every child or offer a threat to those who are being well served in the traditional settings. Support for that argument cannot be found in the experiences of the 30 states who offer choices. Neither is it valid if that same standard is leveled against the traditional public school. Not even the most zealous opponent of school choice would contend that the current setting never fails a child. My concern is that too often the opposition is not afraid of program failure but rather of program success and the competition that would foster.
During a closed session April 17, the Joplin R-8 Board of Education hired seven teachers and accepted resignations from 12 teachers.
The board also hired a building administrator and six classified employees and accepted resignations from eight classified employees, while another retired.
Those hired were:
Building Administration: Jennifer Sitzes
Renewal of Probationary Teacher: Annie Harrison
Certified Employment: Jessica Fletcher-Fierro, Marly Ramsour, Donald Atkinson, Cynthia Hilsabeck, Juliana Hughes, Bethany White and Shannon Brower.
Classified Employment: Kimberly Easter, Enyart Magan, Steve Mitchell, Tina Randalls, Donna Self, and Brian Starchman.
Resignations and retirements were accepted from the following:
Contracted Resignations: Samantha Bevis, Elisabeth Carroll, Candace Hill, Ashlee Neff, Mary Pace, Nicole Reynolds, Shannon Schlessman, Logan Taylor, Patricia Tufts, Rebecca Wilkins, David Noah, and Catherine McCombs.
Classified Resignations: Sandy Landolt, Tara Rowe, Anita Pape, Charles Covington, Darren Wallace, Libbey Randles, Sabrina Corey and Lindsay Roman.
Please join us in congratulating our Fred Laas Teacher of the Year, Miss Katie Gronberg!
Miss Gronberg is a special education teacher at Eastmorland Elementary School. Following are a few words written by her colleagues:
"Miss Gronberg has created a sense of excellence over four years at Eastmorland by working closely with her students, parents, administrators, paras and fellow faculty members."
The Eastmorland Family has benefited because of Katie's heart for kids and the initiative she has taken in pursuing professional growth opportunities to train herself and others to use Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) devices with a LAMP program. As a result, "Eastmorland has experienced first hand the excitement of families as they witness children who are not capable of the spoken word, manipulate the Ipad program, which allows them to answer questions and ask for basic needs."
"Katie wants her students to live their best life..."
"Miss Gronberg is a special teacher who puts everything she has into proving for the special students she prepares for life each day."
Ms. Gronberg was honored at the April 17 Board of Education meeting during which a representative of the Joplin Schools Foundation presented her with a monetary award.
You would think it would be one of those dates that would remain indelibly etched in my memory, but until a few moments ago, I thought today was the two-year anniversary of the open heart surgery that has kept me around a while longer.
As it turns out, a little research revealed to me the two-year anniversary was actually Saturday.
I am just grateful to be here to observe it, whatever day it was.
When it happened, I briefly wrote on Facebook about checking into Freeman on April 17, 2016, then I took my first real vacation from writing until I wrote a Turner Report post 12 days later detailing what had happened to me:
This is some of what I wrote two years ago:
Those who have read my Facebook page have known that on the early morning of Monday, April 17, approximately 2:30 p.m., I checked myself into the Freeman Emergency Room, not knowing I was in the process of having a heart attack.
Truth be told, it may have been a second one. I had a similar pain for a short time the previous evening. It went away quickly, but after a year that has seen me go undergo four stents, I decided I would go to the emergency room at the next hint of chest discomfort.
A quick procedure was done to implant a balloon which would stay in while my body was being drained of a blood thinner I had taken following the stents. The balloon stayed in for the next week, leaving me on my back in the Freeman ICU.
The procedure, a triple heart bypass, was conducted during a five-hour period the evening of Friday, April 21. I was told it was a success and now the hard part would begin- doing the necessary work to bring myself back to regular, ordinary life, as it is.
I did my best during this past week to do what I was told, not complain, and work toward being released as soon as possible. The hard-working people at Freeman have done so much for me over the past year, that I will never find a way to repay them.
The last thing they needed was some 60-year-old whiner, realizing that his life had taken a change for the worse and dragging everyone down into the mud with him. I won't say that I did not complain, but if I did, I quickly apologized for it and tried to do better the next time.
When it was time for four a.m. x-rays, three-times-a-day physical therapy, or having to take a dozen pills at a time when I was on a restricted liquid diet. (I have a hard time swallowing pills without plenty of water). I went along with it.
Finally, on Thursday, my last physical therapy session, took me into an area of the hospital where I could walk up and down stairs. I went up the stairs once and back down, but it was a big thrill when I was told, "You're ready."
Earlier this week, I had a checkup with the heart surgeon- things appear to be going nicely and I feel great.
Thanks to all of you who supported me through that time and in the two years that have followed.
All we need is an elephant, a tiger and a ringmaster to have a full circus in town! This past week saw the house investigative committee hard at work again. We expect to release a supplement to the original report this coming week. In the meantime, on Tuesday, Missouri’s Attorney General, Josh Hawley, announced that his investigation revealed the Governor had allegedly committed computer tampering regarding a list of donors to the “The Mission Continues,” the pro-veterans charity the Governor founded.
Note: It’s a felony to use a non-profit organization's donor list for soliciting campaign contributions. On Friday, the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney’s office announced the Governor had been charged with suspicion of stealing an electronic list of donors. This charge was based on complaint information and not a grand jury indictment. In advance of this hoopla, the Governor filed for a temporary restraining order to halt the Attorney General’s investigation. On Thursday, a Cole County judge ruled against the Governor’s request and on the same day Judge Burlison in St. Louis, ruled against the Governor’s request to drop the criminal charges of invasion of privacy.
Special Session
There’s a strong possibility of a special session being called to specifically deal with articles of impeachment. It takes a 75% vote of the House of Representatives to call ourselves into special session. Usually this is done by the Governor but obviously he’s not going to call a special session in this case. Speaker Richardson is collecting signatures to call forth special session. The intent is to begin as soon as the regular session is finished on May 18 th .
HR 6783 Filed
On April 17th, Rep. Gail Beatty, minority floor leader, filed House Resolution 6783, that authorizes the House Investigative Committee on Oversight to introduce articles of impeachment against Governor Eric Greitens upon a finding of good cause. At this time, HR 6783 has not been referred to our committee. If or when it gets referred, the committee will determine if there is indeed cause to introduce articles of impeachment.
Calls for Resignation
Several high level political leaders have called for the Governor to resign immediately because of a loss of confidence in his ability to effectively lead the state, moving forward. Thus far, the Governor has refused to resign citing all charges as untrue.
Investigative Committee
Our committee will meet again this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and probably Thursday to continue investigating the actions of Governor Greitens.
Artilius Jordan has yet to stand trial for the Christmas Eve murder of Sean Harris, 43, Joplin, but he is already headed to prison.
During a hearing Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court, Judge David Mouton revoked Jordan's probation on a 2013 burglary charge after Jordan, 47, Joplin, admitted to violating his probation by failing to pay restitution.
According to court records, Jordan was sentenced to five years when he pleaded guilty on July 28, 2014, with the sentence then suspended.
Jordan's arraignment on the murder charge is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday before Judge Gayle Crane. The probable cause statement alleged Jordan shot Harris because he believed Harris was having sex with Jordan's girlfriend.
Jordan is also charged with two counts of assault and three counts of armed criminal action.
Newly-elected Joplin City Councilman Josh Bard resigned last week after being told that state statutes made it illegal for him to hold office. He later rescinded that resignation after discovering information that his status might not be so cut and dried.
Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney Theresa Kenney is scheduled to decide later this week if Bard can serve on the City Council.
Bard shared the following letter with the Turner Report:
To Those It May Concern,
I have read hundreds of comments over the last few days. Some of them haven't been nice, but the majority have been very inspiring. This letter is to those that know the 1 in 10, struggling or have struggled with addiction.
To those that are dealing with an addiction or have and are doing all they can to pull themselves up and move on. This is a victory!
Regardless of the verdict given by the County Prosecutor next week. I will either serve my community to the best of my ability as a councilman or I will fix what is wrong and serve my community to the best of my ability until I have the chance to run again.
Change is the answer! I haven't been defeated because I can change the outcome with time.
Just as every person with or without a past, good or bad. Joshua 1:9 reads, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Whether or not you believe in God. Your past doesn't have to define your future. It's ok to forgive yourself and reach for the stars. You can change the outcome! But you have to let go and allow that change to happen.
We as a community have an opportunity to reach out to our youth.
In a study of high school students, nearly 44% of the students know of someone who sells drugs. When asked what type of drugs. These were the responses. 91% said marijuana 24% said prescription drugs 9% said cocaine 7% said ecstasy I want to be the example of what you can become after the addiction. But as a community we can help stop the problem before it becomes one.
Our youth are our most important commodity. We should treat them as such! With that being said, I want to thank you all for the support you have shown me.
I have a hard time believing some of the comments I read both on the Turner Report and on my Facebook page.
You might think I am referring to the comments on posts concerning the Jayda Kyle murder case, but those I find understandable- in those, the readers are commenting on the murder of a three-year-old child. It is the type of crime that shakes us to our core and commenting on public forums, even when the comments are sometimes cruel and hurtful, provides readers with a partial antidote to the helpless feeling that comes over us when this kind of unimaginable act occurs.
I have seen some who comment that people need to keep their comments to themselves because this is none of their business.
And while I would prefer that the comments be toned down, please do not tell me that the Jayda Kyle murder is not our business. That heinous act, just like the murder of Jonathan Munoz-Bilbrey only a few days earlier, are everyone's business. When a child is taken from us in such a senseless fashion it affects all of us.
We wonder what kind of evil exists in our community, we all take a look at our own loved ones and it makes all of us wonder if we ever really know the person who lives next door.
Those comments are understandable.
What I have a hard time understanding are some of the comments that have been made on political stories.
The Eric Greitens charges
There is no witch hunt against our governor.
I am sick of these people to put a partisan spin on every story that comes along.
The Eric Greitens story is not a case of Democrat vs. Republican, it is a case of right versus wrong.
The Greitens sympathizers point to the prosecuting attorney who has filed charges against the governor in St. Louis and she certainly is a Democrat, but let us not forget that the House committee that released the damning report on Greitens behavior and said that his alleged victim was credible, was heavily Republican.
The attorney general who investigated the suspected misuse of Greitens' veterans charity The Mission Continues is a Republican.
The attacks on the woman Greitens allegedly blackmailed are way out of line. House members from both parties found her testimony credible and while Greitens is quick to say everyone is out to get him and is already warning people to watch out for more bad stuff to be revealed by his enemies (not a good sign), he never comes out and says that he would never do such a thing.
Apparently the only mission he wants to continue is to the White House.
Billy Long, Las Vegas and meals
Some of the same people who are backing Greitens and label anything Republican as a beacon of light have been criticizing my coverage of Seventh District Congressman Billy Long's financial campaign reports.
First, a clarification- I have never written that Billy Long is using taxpayer money to go to Vegas or to wolf down these meals. In each post, I clearly state that the people who contribute to his re-election campaign are the ones who are footing the bill.
I write these posts because they give us an insight into how Billy Long is representing us. Since he took office in January 2011, his donors have paid for him to take approximately two dozen trips to Vegas.
There is no indication that any of these trips are for campaign events or for educational purposes, both of which are allowed under federal law. He did hold a Weekend in Vegas campaign event a couple of years back, which was noted in the Turner Report, but the campaign report filed the next quarter did not show any contributions that were made to him during that time period.
Even more importantly, while he has made about two dozen trips to Las Vegas since he took office, he has yet to have even one town hall meeting.
Long did hold one telephone town hall meeting, which consisted or four pre-screened calls, addressed no issues and is an hour of my life I will never be able to get back.
One comment said everyone does this stuff and that I was wasting time writing this.
That is nonsense. Everyone does not do what Billy Long does.
I have looked at the campaign reports for Missouri's other members of Congress. They don't fly off to Vegas for regular junkets and charge it to their contributors. They charge meals, but most of tAhem appear to be for genuine campaign events.
I write about this because it is abnormal, it gives an insight into Billy Long's character and because somebody has to write about it.
Top Posts for This Week
What do these area news stories have in common?
-Jeff Koch leaves the Joplin R-8 Board of Education
-Jarub Baird is sentenced to 12 years in prison
-Attorney General Josh Hawley says there is enough evidence to charge Eric Greitens with felony computer tampering
These are all Turner Report posts that received thousands of views and in past weeks might have ranked number one, or at least in the top five of the weekly list. This week, none of those posts even made the top 10.
The Top 10 lists for the Turner Report, Inside Joplin and Inside Joplin Obituaries are printed below with links to each of the posts: The Turner Report
*** The Turner Report/Inside Joplin continues to report news that is not available from other area media sources, but this is a one-man operation and it takes money, especially to provide in-depth, investigative reporting, as well as important news about our community, crime, courts, and to continue to provide free obituaries and not charge grieving families hundreds of dollars for something that was once considered news (and is still is at the Turner Report/Inside Joplin.) Subscriptions are $30 for a year, $3 per month or $1 per week by PayPal or credit card if you use the PayPal button below. Contributions of any amount, large or small, can be made through the "donate" button. Contributions or subscriptions can also be mailed to me at Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Joplin, MO 64801. If the work I am doing is benefiting you or if it has benefited you in the past, please consider paying what you can to maintain an alternative news source for Joplin and the surrounding area.
I will be in Neosho Wednesday, May 2, for the second annual Crowder College Local Author Symposium. All of my books, including Silver Lining in a Funnel Cloud, 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, Classroom Confidential and No Child Left Alive, will be on sale at reduced prices and Turner Report t-shirts will also be available.
Nancy Hughes, Lamar, whose columns appear weekly on the Turner Report, will also be there and at this point, 19 authors have signed up.
While books will be available all day long, the writers will also give readings from their books. Mine is scheduled for 1:20 p.m., while Nancy's is scheduled for 11 a.m.
More information will be provided later.
The authors who have signed up thus far are listed below:
