At first, I thought the idea of the Neosho R-5 Board of Education holding two meetings Monday night to discuss a possible bond issue was an innovative one. Then after careful consideration, I realized that what I thought was two meetings was simply two media outlets with vastly different perspectives.
This morning's Joplin Globe indicated there is a group of people with strong concerns about any bond issue proposed by the current board and administration in the R-5 School District.
This evening's Neosho Daily News presented an outlook of the meeting that was a polar opposite. Everyone is pulling together to figure out a way to get a bond issue passed, which is greatly needed by the school district, and there is no dissension in the community.
Media outlets control what the public knows through their careful selection of which facts to use. The Globe emphasized a group of citizens who don't trust the current school leadership. The Daily took a non-critical approach that seemed a bit Pollyannaish.
The Globe needs to learn to even the scales with some positive coverage, while the Daily and other area small-town newspapers need to learn that the community needs a newspaper that is willing to explore all sides of an issue, even if some of those sides may be opposed to the powers that be. The power brokers in a town come and go over the space of a few years. If you win over the readers, you will have them forever.
***
The Daily and the local TV stations report that former Diamond High School principal Robert Blizzard pleaded guilty an indecent exposure charge in Oklahoma and was given a 10-year suspended sentence and placed on probation for 10 years. This is truly a sad, sad story.
***
A Carthage woman's killer will stay behind bars.
Leroy Norman, convicted of second degree murder in connection with the July 23, 2000, death of Lauren "Angel" Wallis, 24, was turned down Monday by the Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals in his bid for a new trial.
Norman's attorneys never claimed that he did not slit Mrs. Wallis's throat following a drunken party at a Carthage home. His appeal was based on alleged procedural errors by the judge.
According to court records, Ms. Wallis made what turned out to be a fatal mistake when she agreed to buy beer for 19-year-old Sandra Guzman, Carthage, and several of Ms. Guzman's underage friends. Miss Wallis then tried to hang around and party with the teenagers, which did not sit well with Ms. Guzman.
Ms. Guzman asked a partygoer named Andy Kelly to throw out Ms. Wallis, who was by that time intoxicated, according to court records. He took her outside and threw her in a dumpster, but she returned to the party.
The decision indicates that Ms. Guzman and Kelly got Norman to drive them to Springfield to get the illegal drug Ecstasy. Norman and Ms. Guzman rode in the cab while Kelly and Mrs. Wallis were in the truck bed.
Apparently, Kelly grew annoyed with Mrs. Wallis and asked Norman and Ms. Guzman if he could kill her. They pulled the truck over on TT Highway next to a low-water bridge near Republic. Court records indicate Kelly choked Mrs. Wallis. He repeatedly kicked her in the head. He then suggested they should just leave her there and let her find her own way home.
The court opinion says, "(Norman) then pulled out a knife and, as Guzman and Kelly both shouted, 'No,' slit (Mrs Wallis's) throat." Norman and Kelly threw the body over the side of the bridge and into the stream.
Norman, Kelly, and Ms. Guzman returned to Carthage. Norman and Kelly "bragged about the killing and Kelly suggested they go on a killing spree when they returned home," according to the opinion.
They stopped at a convenience store. When Norman and Ms. Guzman returned to the car, Kelly had vanished. Norman told Ms. Guzman he would "have to cut (Kelly's) throat, too."
Ms. Guzman reported the murder the next morning to the Carthage Police Department. Greene County Sheriff's deputies found Mrs. Wallis's body where Ms. Guzman said it would be. The autopsy showed it was the cutting of her throat which had killed her despite all of the damage that had been done to her by Kelly.
Kelly was arrested later that day, still wearing the same shirt he had been wearing the night before, according to the court opinion. Officers stopped Norman's car later that day, but he had loaned it to Demetrio Cortez to move some furniture.
Tests run on a knife found in the cab proved negative for the presence of blood, but three spots on a pair of shoes he had left in the truck matched Mrs. Wallis's DNA.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Monday, October 18, 2004
The concept of civil liberties seems more and more elusive.
Maybe it was 9-11. Maybe it's the drug problems that have invaded our communities leaving much wreckage in their wake.I had an interesting conversation with two of my former Diamond students at a convenience story Sunday.
I asked them what they thought about the Diamond R-4 Board of Education's plan to begin drug testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities. They both immediately gave the plan their full approval. "The drugs are really bad," one of them said to me. "Somebody has to do something."
I didn't argue the point.I can understand exactly how they feel. Something has to be done. But drug testing is not the way. Drug testing for students who participate in extracurricular activities is only the first step in what would undoubtedly turn out to be more and more intrusions by government into our lives.
I argued against the drug testing proposal in a post under the name "cateacher" at www.diamondtownforums.com
Drug testing is a band aid for a problem that needs something more than tired, shopworn ideas. I worry when I see people suggesting that all students be tested, or that everyone from the superintendent to the faculty to the students be tested.
And please don't give me that nonsense about extracurricular activities being a privilege and not a right. Those activities may turn out to be the only salvation for people who have turned to drugs. At least when they are participating in them they are not out on the streets where they could get into even more trouble.
Increase the number of after-school activities, strengthen the counseling corps at the schools. Make sure you are hiring people who relate to students and not old cronies of the superintendent or, as in the case of Diamond Elementary and Diamond Middle School, no counselor at all.
Let student leaders begin an in-school outreach program. Get them to see the importance of reaching out to people beyond their cliques and getting to know people who don't run in their regular circles. Many times, the use of drugs and hanging around with the wrong crowd begins when these young people are just looking for a place to belong and something they can call their own.
Let students know they mean more to you than a figure on the average daily attendance chart or an anonymous score on the MAP test and you may be able to reach them.
It would also help if the current administration didn't keep running veteran teachers out of the school system. Many teachers who put in hours far above what they were required to do under their contracts are no longer in the R-4 School District and many more will undoubtedly be on their way, either of their own volition, or through more machinations of the superintendent and the board of education. The teachers that students have related to are now the teachers that students in other school districts are relating to. The sad thing is, these teachers in many cases are the only adults who can reach some of the troubled students. New teachers who are having to feel their way through the educational process are not quite ready for that responsibility. And they shouldn't have to be.
Making the school a more comfortable, inviting place, where students find not only discipline, but people who actually care about them, is extremely important. This is the best wedge the Diamond R-4 School District or any other school district has against drugs. It has been squandered. There are still many good teachers in the school district, wonderful people who show up early and stay late and always have time for students or parents.
But who can blame the ones who feel a lack of support from the administration and no longer put in those extra hours because they are tired of knocking themselves out for someone who has no appreciation for them.
A strong community, in school and outside of school, are the best bulwarks against drug abuse. Drug testing is simply another way of avoiding responsibility.
***
Severance agreements have been reached with three former O'Sullivan Industries officials, according to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. The company entered into a severance agreement with Tom Riegel Oct. 8, another one with Richard Davidson on Oct. 13, and one with Tom O'Sullivan Jr. on Oct. 14.
Davidson,the company's former CEO, will be paid his regular salary through the end of the calendar year and will provide consulting services to the company through Dec. 31, 2005, though it is highly unlikely the company will call on him as a consultant.
Davidson and his family may continue to be covered by the company's medical and dental insurance and can continue to receive that insurance under COBRA for an additional 18 months at a premium set by O'Sullivan's Human Resources Department.
Davidson may continue to hold his stock in O'Sullivan Industries.
In return for these considerations, Davidson forfeits any right to file a lawsuit against O'Sullivan Industries, claiming breach of contract or wrongful firing, defamation, infliction of emotional distress, or for age discrimination.
Davidson retains the right as an O'Sullivan Industries stockholder to join in a lawsuit against the company, but he cannot be the one who starts the lawsuit, directly or indirectly, specifically if it involves anything that happened in connection with his dismissal.
The former CEO has to return any "files, records, documents, plans, drawings, equipment, software, pictures, spreadsheets or any other property belonging to O'Sullivan which may be in your possession."
He agreed not to disclose "any confidential or proprietary information concerning O'Sullivan or any of its affiliates, suppliers or customers, including, but not limited to specific processes, procedures, customer lists, financial information, etc. which may be regarded as confidential."
Davidson's agreement also includes a list of competitors for whom he may not work, including Sauder Woodworking, Studio RTA, Bush Industries, Inc., Dorel Industries, Inc., Mills Pride, Masco Corp, Creative Interiors or Furniture Brands International. Inc., or any other such company.
The no-compete agreement ends when Davidson's term as a consultant ends at the end of 2005.
The O'Sullivan officials also want to make sure that Davidson doesn't say anything bad about them. Ironically, in the agreement Davidson has to agree to be "governed by the highest moral and ethical standards, reflecting these values: integrity, honesty, loyalty, trust, fairness, and responsibility."
Riegel's severance agreement has most of the same details, but says he lost his position as Vice President-Strategic Operations because that position was eliminated. O'Sullivan's agreement includes the same provisions a those signed by Riegel and Davidson. O'Sullivan, who was senior vice president-sales, will also continue to receive his automobile allowance through the end of the year and will receive accrued vacation pay.
Maybe it was 9-11. Maybe it's the drug problems that have invaded our communities leaving much wreckage in their wake.I had an interesting conversation with two of my former Diamond students at a convenience story Sunday.
I asked them what they thought about the Diamond R-4 Board of Education's plan to begin drug testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities. They both immediately gave the plan their full approval. "The drugs are really bad," one of them said to me. "Somebody has to do something."
I didn't argue the point.I can understand exactly how they feel. Something has to be done. But drug testing is not the way. Drug testing for students who participate in extracurricular activities is only the first step in what would undoubtedly turn out to be more and more intrusions by government into our lives.
I argued against the drug testing proposal in a post under the name "cateacher" at www.diamondtownforums.com
Drug testing is a band aid for a problem that needs something more than tired, shopworn ideas. I worry when I see people suggesting that all students be tested, or that everyone from the superintendent to the faculty to the students be tested.
And please don't give me that nonsense about extracurricular activities being a privilege and not a right. Those activities may turn out to be the only salvation for people who have turned to drugs. At least when they are participating in them they are not out on the streets where they could get into even more trouble.
Increase the number of after-school activities, strengthen the counseling corps at the schools. Make sure you are hiring people who relate to students and not old cronies of the superintendent or, as in the case of Diamond Elementary and Diamond Middle School, no counselor at all.
Let student leaders begin an in-school outreach program. Get them to see the importance of reaching out to people beyond their cliques and getting to know people who don't run in their regular circles. Many times, the use of drugs and hanging around with the wrong crowd begins when these young people are just looking for a place to belong and something they can call their own.
Let students know they mean more to you than a figure on the average daily attendance chart or an anonymous score on the MAP test and you may be able to reach them.
It would also help if the current administration didn't keep running veteran teachers out of the school system. Many teachers who put in hours far above what they were required to do under their contracts are no longer in the R-4 School District and many more will undoubtedly be on their way, either of their own volition, or through more machinations of the superintendent and the board of education. The teachers that students have related to are now the teachers that students in other school districts are relating to. The sad thing is, these teachers in many cases are the only adults who can reach some of the troubled students. New teachers who are having to feel their way through the educational process are not quite ready for that responsibility. And they shouldn't have to be.
Making the school a more comfortable, inviting place, where students find not only discipline, but people who actually care about them, is extremely important. This is the best wedge the Diamond R-4 School District or any other school district has against drugs. It has been squandered. There are still many good teachers in the school district, wonderful people who show up early and stay late and always have time for students or parents.
But who can blame the ones who feel a lack of support from the administration and no longer put in those extra hours because they are tired of knocking themselves out for someone who has no appreciation for them.
A strong community, in school and outside of school, are the best bulwarks against drug abuse. Drug testing is simply another way of avoiding responsibility.
***
Severance agreements have been reached with three former O'Sullivan Industries officials, according to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. The company entered into a severance agreement with Tom Riegel Oct. 8, another one with Richard Davidson on Oct. 13, and one with Tom O'Sullivan Jr. on Oct. 14.
Davidson,the company's former CEO, will be paid his regular salary through the end of the calendar year and will provide consulting services to the company through Dec. 31, 2005, though it is highly unlikely the company will call on him as a consultant.
Davidson and his family may continue to be covered by the company's medical and dental insurance and can continue to receive that insurance under COBRA for an additional 18 months at a premium set by O'Sullivan's Human Resources Department.
Davidson may continue to hold his stock in O'Sullivan Industries.
In return for these considerations, Davidson forfeits any right to file a lawsuit against O'Sullivan Industries, claiming breach of contract or wrongful firing, defamation, infliction of emotional distress, or for age discrimination.
Davidson retains the right as an O'Sullivan Industries stockholder to join in a lawsuit against the company, but he cannot be the one who starts the lawsuit, directly or indirectly, specifically if it involves anything that happened in connection with his dismissal.
The former CEO has to return any "files, records, documents, plans, drawings, equipment, software, pictures, spreadsheets or any other property belonging to O'Sullivan which may be in your possession."
He agreed not to disclose "any confidential or proprietary information concerning O'Sullivan or any of its affiliates, suppliers or customers, including, but not limited to specific processes, procedures, customer lists, financial information, etc. which may be regarded as confidential."
Davidson's agreement also includes a list of competitors for whom he may not work, including Sauder Woodworking, Studio RTA, Bush Industries, Inc., Dorel Industries, Inc., Mills Pride, Masco Corp, Creative Interiors or Furniture Brands International. Inc., or any other such company.
The no-compete agreement ends when Davidson's term as a consultant ends at the end of 2005.
The O'Sullivan officials also want to make sure that Davidson doesn't say anything bad about them. Ironically, in the agreement Davidson has to agree to be "governed by the highest moral and ethical standards, reflecting these values: integrity, honesty, loyalty, trust, fairness, and responsibility."
Riegel's severance agreement has most of the same details, but says he lost his position as Vice President-Strategic Operations because that position was eliminated. O'Sullivan's agreement includes the same provisions a those signed by Riegel and Davidson. O'Sullivan, who was senior vice president-sales, will also continue to receive his automobile allowance through the end of the year and will receive accrued vacation pay.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
The purpose of requiring public bodies to post their agendas before meetings is to keep the public informed as to what will go on at those meetings. An informed electorate is one of the hallmarks of a democratic society.
At Thursday night's regularly scheduled meeting of the Diamond R-4 Board of Education, the board members discussed requiring students who want to participate in extracurricular activities to have to undergo drug testing.
That would seem to be an important issue to me and I would imagine it would be an important issue to parents and students no matter how they feel about the idea.
Drug testing is not one of the items listed on the board agenda at the school's "official" website, www.diamondwildcats.org The superintendent has made sure that only a barebones agenda, telling what officials are going to speak, but not what those officials are going to speak about is listed each month.
This is something the Diamond R-4 Board and many other school boards and city councils across the state do. The purpose of an agenda is to let the public know what is going to be discussed at a meeting. The purpose of the agendas as seen by these public officials is to do the bare minimum the law requires and not let the people know what is going on. After all, it's just the public. Why should the public be allowed to have a say when policies are set that affect them, their children, and their tax money.
Even that barebones agenda was not placed on the website until shortly before the meeting. As late as Wednesday morning (and I did not check it later in the day), the agenda on the website was for the Thursday, Sept. 9, board meeting.
The public deserves to know what topics the board is going to discuss, no matter how mundane they may be. That is what a representative democracy is all about.
***
That Matt Blunt is really something.
He should have taken up journalism instead of politics. Somehow, he has uncovered a massive scandal involving sexual abuse that is taking place in senior citizen homes and long-term care centers across Missouri. And Claire McCaskill has apparently been ignoring it.
I keep up on these things, too, and there has been no overwhelming scandal in this state of senior citizens being sexually abused in nursing homes. Matt Blunt's ads make it seem like there is an epidemic of perverts preying on our state's senior citizens...and all because of Claire McCaskill.
***
On the other hand, Claire McCaskill's crack group of watchdogs at the state auditor's office has not been keeping an eye on whether the Division of Aging, which takes care of senior citizens centers and long-term care centers, has been following the law.
State law requires that people who cannot show financial responsibility are not to be allowed too operate nursing homes. Former Carthage Press reporter Cait Purinton, in her award-winning series on the owners of the Lamar Guest House in 1998 showed that owner Robert DuPont had declared bankruptcy, had failed to pay property taxes in Barton County, and had a lien placed on him by the federal government for failure to pay taxes. Of course, all of those things happened well before Claire McCaskill became state auditor.
But two weeks ago, Dupont again declared bankruptcy and it appears his River of Life Ministries is running the Carthage Guest House and a home in Joplin. Division of Aging records indicate that Dupont is considered the owner of those establishments.
That would seem to be enough to keep him from caring for people who are helpless to fend for themselves. But add to that, a long record of violations that have endangered lives at his establishments and it makes you wonder why the Division of Aging and the state auditor's office have not taken steps to curb these abuses and get this man out of the health care business.
Last, but not least, I should mention that the Division of Aging has continued to let Dupont operate these businesses even though he pleaded guilty two years ago in U. S. District Court to a felony charge of trying to defraud the U. S. Government, in connection with a scheme to bilk the Medicare system.
I'll provide more details sometime in the next few days.
At Thursday night's regularly scheduled meeting of the Diamond R-4 Board of Education, the board members discussed requiring students who want to participate in extracurricular activities to have to undergo drug testing.
That would seem to be an important issue to me and I would imagine it would be an important issue to parents and students no matter how they feel about the idea.
Drug testing is not one of the items listed on the board agenda at the school's "official" website, www.diamondwildcats.org The superintendent has made sure that only a barebones agenda, telling what officials are going to speak, but not what those officials are going to speak about is listed each month.
This is something the Diamond R-4 Board and many other school boards and city councils across the state do. The purpose of an agenda is to let the public know what is going to be discussed at a meeting. The purpose of the agendas as seen by these public officials is to do the bare minimum the law requires and not let the people know what is going on. After all, it's just the public. Why should the public be allowed to have a say when policies are set that affect them, their children, and their tax money.
Even that barebones agenda was not placed on the website until shortly before the meeting. As late as Wednesday morning (and I did not check it later in the day), the agenda on the website was for the Thursday, Sept. 9, board meeting.
The public deserves to know what topics the board is going to discuss, no matter how mundane they may be. That is what a representative democracy is all about.
***
That Matt Blunt is really something.
He should have taken up journalism instead of politics. Somehow, he has uncovered a massive scandal involving sexual abuse that is taking place in senior citizen homes and long-term care centers across Missouri. And Claire McCaskill has apparently been ignoring it.
I keep up on these things, too, and there has been no overwhelming scandal in this state of senior citizens being sexually abused in nursing homes. Matt Blunt's ads make it seem like there is an epidemic of perverts preying on our state's senior citizens...and all because of Claire McCaskill.
***
On the other hand, Claire McCaskill's crack group of watchdogs at the state auditor's office has not been keeping an eye on whether the Division of Aging, which takes care of senior citizens centers and long-term care centers, has been following the law.
State law requires that people who cannot show financial responsibility are not to be allowed too operate nursing homes. Former Carthage Press reporter Cait Purinton, in her award-winning series on the owners of the Lamar Guest House in 1998 showed that owner Robert DuPont had declared bankruptcy, had failed to pay property taxes in Barton County, and had a lien placed on him by the federal government for failure to pay taxes. Of course, all of those things happened well before Claire McCaskill became state auditor.
But two weeks ago, Dupont again declared bankruptcy and it appears his River of Life Ministries is running the Carthage Guest House and a home in Joplin. Division of Aging records indicate that Dupont is considered the owner of those establishments.
That would seem to be enough to keep him from caring for people who are helpless to fend for themselves. But add to that, a long record of violations that have endangered lives at his establishments and it makes you wonder why the Division of Aging and the state auditor's office have not taken steps to curb these abuses and get this man out of the health care business.
Last, but not least, I should mention that the Division of Aging has continued to let Dupont operate these businesses even though he pleaded guilty two years ago in U. S. District Court to a felony charge of trying to defraud the U. S. Government, in connection with a scheme to bilk the Medicare system.
I'll provide more details sometime in the next few days.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
I have been waiting for weeks to see how The Joplin Globe would handle the news that the Joplin R-8 School District had been accredited with distinction by the state of Missouri.
This is a big deal. To be accredited with distinction means your school district is one of the top districts in the state and has cleared all the hoops the state placed in its path.
At first glance, it appears The Globe has finally given a positive story about the R-8 School District the display it deserves. It is on page one, accompanied by a photo. But after that, the Globe reverts to its traditional reluctance to say anything good about its hometown school district.
The article quickly points out that the other two metropolitan Joplin area school districts, Webb City and Carl Junction, have already been accredited with distinction as have "several" other Southwest Missouri school districts.
The Globe is obviously trying to ward off complaints that it never plays up good news about the Joplin schools, while at the same time, not letting up an inch in its normal negative coverage. It makes no difference that Carl Junction and Webb City have already been accredited with distinction. So what? This story should have been about Joplin, not about Carl Junction and Webb City. And despite the Globe noting that "several" school districts have been accredited with distinction, there are a lot more that have not been.
***
The first news site to break the news about the Joplin R-8 School District was my Room 210 at www.room210.com , thanks to the hard work of intrepid eighth grade reporter Amy Herron Amy's article and a first-person article about the problems in adjusting to life in a new city (Joplin) when English is not your first language, written by eighth grader Mariana Rodriguez are featured on the Top News page at that site.
The formation of the new Journalism Club at South, which will have its works featured on Room 210 is one of the reasons (the final week of the first quarter being the other) that there have not been any updates of this website this past week. I will try to do better.
***
Back to The Joplin Globe. A letter to the editor in today's Globe hit the nail right on the head about the Globe's continued slide toward sensationalism. The article a few days ago about the bank robbery suspect which pointed out that his parents have criminal records was pure yellow journalism. Is it interesting? Sure it is. But the young man has not been convicted and this information adds nothing to the story of the bank robbery. I have had numerous e-mails asking me to write about a local candidate whose wife has written bad checks. It's not going to happen. Now give me a candidate who has written bad checks or declared bankruptcy and wants a post in which he or she has to handle taxpayers' money and I'll leap on it, but this candidate's wife should not be a story, any more than Dick Cheney's daughter, or the bank robbery suspect's parents should be stories.
***
Since I am on a roll with the media criticism, let's examine the most recent issues of The Lamar Democrat. First, the Turner Report, then the Joplin Globe, and even a national publication like Furniture Today have run stories on the resignation of Dan O'Sullivan from his position as chairman of the board of directors for O'Sullivan Industries. Though that resignation was almost two weeks ago, at least three editions have been published with nary word said in The Democrat about this major news story. I won't receive my Saturday Democrat until Monday and nothing has been posted on the web yet, but hopefully it will at least be mentioned.
The change of O'Sullivan Industries from a community-based business to a primary example of cutthroat corporate treachery is the biggest story to hit Lamar in years and Lamar residents, who should be able to turn to their hometown newspaper to get the story, are having to go to other sources such as The Turner Report and The Globe.
At the same time, the Democrat ran a story in the Thursday edition that detailed the search for a new CEO at Barton County Memorial Hospital. The article never mentions what happened to the old one or even who the old one is. This isn't a big secret, but you can't expect everyone to remember every detail from stories that have been run in the past.
And the editor's column reminded me of the scene in the old Clark Gable-Doris Day movie "Teacher's Pet," where Gable discovers that Day's father, the renowned small-town journalist Joel Barlow Stone, was nothing more than a cracker-barrel philosopher who wasted space on page one trying to determine if what he had seen were blueberries or huckleberries.
While the city of Lamar is on pins and needles wondering what will happen next in the O'Sullivan saga, the Democrat has devoted far more space to details of Lockwood City Council meetings and Thursday's "From Where I Perch" column in which editor Rayma Bekebrock Davis describes her discovery of "two very lovely persimmons" and uses them to try to determine what kind of winter we will have.
She makes the column worthwhile by noting "I have not seen one wooly worm crossing the road."
Perhaps if the Democrat were to search for news rather than wooly worms and persimmons it might get back to having the circulation and the journalistic reputation it had not so long ago.
***
It's no secret how I feel about the drug testing of students. It's wrong, it shouldn't be done, so naturally the Diamond R-4 School District is thinking seriously about doing it.
I am sure it is no coincidence that this is being considered so soon after the football team has had incidents with a top player who reportedly had been using illegal drugs. The U. S. Supreme Court won't allow drug testing of regular students because they have rights under the Fourth Amendment against illegal search and seizure. The students have to be provided with an education, but do not have to be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities, and that is where school districts such as Carthage and Webb City have instituted drug testing, as well as other school districts across the nation.
I am not naive enough to think that there are not athletes, band members, academic team members, etc., who take drugs. Of course there are. But how can we teach students about the protections offered citizens by the U. S. Constitution and then turn right around and blithely propose infringing upon their most basic human rights. And don't give me that nonsense about "If it saves one person's life, it will be worth it."
No, it won't. Each time we sacrifice a little bit of freedom for any cause, no matter how noble, we are spitting in the face of what makes America the greatest country in the world.
The majority of students who take drugs (alcohol being a major exception) are not involved in extracurricular activities. Being involved in these activities helps keep young people away from drugs.
For the Diamond R-4 School District, which has bandied about claims of financial hardship, to be discussing a program which in other schools has cost about $10,000, is ludicrous. Why not spend some money on an elementary counselor and help nip some of these problems before they ever begin?
It is true that you could probably catch some people doing drugs by testing them. It may even be true that some would avoid drugs (at least during the season) so they could pass the test. It might also keep some people from going out for extracurricular activities who might need some kind of meaningful activity in their lives to keep them from continuing to use drugs.
While the Diamond R-4 Board of Education is considering drug testing, perhaps it should also consider ankle bracelets for athletes to wear so they won't be partying on weekends or hanging around with the wrong people.Or how about chastity belts to stop those pesky teenage pregnancies. Just because it's being done by other school districts doesn't mean the Diamond R-4 School District should do it.
Then again, we all know how the superintendent and the board there feel about the First Amendment, give them time they'll take care of the Fourth Amendment, the rest of the Bill of Rights, and maybe a few of the Ten Commandments while they are at it.
This is a big deal. To be accredited with distinction means your school district is one of the top districts in the state and has cleared all the hoops the state placed in its path.
At first glance, it appears The Globe has finally given a positive story about the R-8 School District the display it deserves. It is on page one, accompanied by a photo. But after that, the Globe reverts to its traditional reluctance to say anything good about its hometown school district.
The article quickly points out that the other two metropolitan Joplin area school districts, Webb City and Carl Junction, have already been accredited with distinction as have "several" other Southwest Missouri school districts.
The Globe is obviously trying to ward off complaints that it never plays up good news about the Joplin schools, while at the same time, not letting up an inch in its normal negative coverage. It makes no difference that Carl Junction and Webb City have already been accredited with distinction. So what? This story should have been about Joplin, not about Carl Junction and Webb City. And despite the Globe noting that "several" school districts have been accredited with distinction, there are a lot more that have not been.
***
The first news site to break the news about the Joplin R-8 School District was my Room 210 at www.room210.com , thanks to the hard work of intrepid eighth grade reporter Amy Herron Amy's article and a first-person article about the problems in adjusting to life in a new city (Joplin) when English is not your first language, written by eighth grader Mariana Rodriguez are featured on the Top News page at that site.
The formation of the new Journalism Club at South, which will have its works featured on Room 210 is one of the reasons (the final week of the first quarter being the other) that there have not been any updates of this website this past week. I will try to do better.
***
Back to The Joplin Globe. A letter to the editor in today's Globe hit the nail right on the head about the Globe's continued slide toward sensationalism. The article a few days ago about the bank robbery suspect which pointed out that his parents have criminal records was pure yellow journalism. Is it interesting? Sure it is. But the young man has not been convicted and this information adds nothing to the story of the bank robbery. I have had numerous e-mails asking me to write about a local candidate whose wife has written bad checks. It's not going to happen. Now give me a candidate who has written bad checks or declared bankruptcy and wants a post in which he or she has to handle taxpayers' money and I'll leap on it, but this candidate's wife should not be a story, any more than Dick Cheney's daughter, or the bank robbery suspect's parents should be stories.
***
Since I am on a roll with the media criticism, let's examine the most recent issues of The Lamar Democrat. First, the Turner Report, then the Joplin Globe, and even a national publication like Furniture Today have run stories on the resignation of Dan O'Sullivan from his position as chairman of the board of directors for O'Sullivan Industries. Though that resignation was almost two weeks ago, at least three editions have been published with nary word said in The Democrat about this major news story. I won't receive my Saturday Democrat until Monday and nothing has been posted on the web yet, but hopefully it will at least be mentioned.
The change of O'Sullivan Industries from a community-based business to a primary example of cutthroat corporate treachery is the biggest story to hit Lamar in years and Lamar residents, who should be able to turn to their hometown newspaper to get the story, are having to go to other sources such as The Turner Report and The Globe.
At the same time, the Democrat ran a story in the Thursday edition that detailed the search for a new CEO at Barton County Memorial Hospital. The article never mentions what happened to the old one or even who the old one is. This isn't a big secret, but you can't expect everyone to remember every detail from stories that have been run in the past.
And the editor's column reminded me of the scene in the old Clark Gable-Doris Day movie "Teacher's Pet," where Gable discovers that Day's father, the renowned small-town journalist Joel Barlow Stone, was nothing more than a cracker-barrel philosopher who wasted space on page one trying to determine if what he had seen were blueberries or huckleberries.
While the city of Lamar is on pins and needles wondering what will happen next in the O'Sullivan saga, the Democrat has devoted far more space to details of Lockwood City Council meetings and Thursday's "From Where I Perch" column in which editor Rayma Bekebrock Davis describes her discovery of "two very lovely persimmons" and uses them to try to determine what kind of winter we will have.
She makes the column worthwhile by noting "I have not seen one wooly worm crossing the road."
Perhaps if the Democrat were to search for news rather than wooly worms and persimmons it might get back to having the circulation and the journalistic reputation it had not so long ago.
***
It's no secret how I feel about the drug testing of students. It's wrong, it shouldn't be done, so naturally the Diamond R-4 School District is thinking seriously about doing it.
I am sure it is no coincidence that this is being considered so soon after the football team has had incidents with a top player who reportedly had been using illegal drugs. The U. S. Supreme Court won't allow drug testing of regular students because they have rights under the Fourth Amendment against illegal search and seizure. The students have to be provided with an education, but do not have to be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities, and that is where school districts such as Carthage and Webb City have instituted drug testing, as well as other school districts across the nation.
I am not naive enough to think that there are not athletes, band members, academic team members, etc., who take drugs. Of course there are. But how can we teach students about the protections offered citizens by the U. S. Constitution and then turn right around and blithely propose infringing upon their most basic human rights. And don't give me that nonsense about "If it saves one person's life, it will be worth it."
No, it won't. Each time we sacrifice a little bit of freedom for any cause, no matter how noble, we are spitting in the face of what makes America the greatest country in the world.
The majority of students who take drugs (alcohol being a major exception) are not involved in extracurricular activities. Being involved in these activities helps keep young people away from drugs.
For the Diamond R-4 School District, which has bandied about claims of financial hardship, to be discussing a program which in other schools has cost about $10,000, is ludicrous. Why not spend some money on an elementary counselor and help nip some of these problems before they ever begin?
It is true that you could probably catch some people doing drugs by testing them. It may even be true that some would avoid drugs (at least during the season) so they could pass the test. It might also keep some people from going out for extracurricular activities who might need some kind of meaningful activity in their lives to keep them from continuing to use drugs.
While the Diamond R-4 Board of Education is considering drug testing, perhaps it should also consider ankle bracelets for athletes to wear so they won't be partying on weekends or hanging around with the wrong people.Or how about chastity belts to stop those pesky teenage pregnancies. Just because it's being done by other school districts doesn't mean the Diamond R-4 School District should do it.
Then again, we all know how the superintendent and the board there feel about the First Amendment, give them time they'll take care of the Fourth Amendment, the rest of the Bill of Rights, and maybe a few of the Ten Commandments while they are at it.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
I have always defended today's youth, even before I was put in the position of teaching them. At the height of the hysteria over the school shootings at such places as Columbine and Jonesboro, it was seldom pointed out that the rate of violence in our schools had actually decreased.
The media plays such an important role in the stereotyping of our younger generation. They emphasize the bad things that happen and rarely point out the good. They also have played a key role in the heavy emphasis on test scores in comparison to test scores from other countries, always conveniently overlooking the fact that this country is the only country in the world that makes a genuine effort to educate everyone from the most intelligent to the educable mentally retarded. We have always had a goal of no child left behind, well before it became a political slogan.
This hysteria has backfired on the country in many ways. It has put such an emphasis on tests, all of which must, of course, be politically correct, that it is putting the country in danger of failing to educate its young on the basics of citizenship.
Too many times the lessons of today's news have to be left behind so teachers can strictly adhere to curriculums designed to enable students to pass standardized tests. Fortunately there are some teachers who continue to work civics into their lessons, engaging the interest of young people.
Rocky Biggers, my next-door neighbor at South Middle School is one of those teachers. Rocky, who teaches eighth grade social studies, has already managed to work in lessons involving this year's presidential race as well as lessons that compare our judicial system with that of 16th Century Salem.
I wouldn't put myself in Rocky's league, but the students in my communication arts classes were in the computer lab Friday and will be there again Monday to research the stances of President Bush and Senator Kerry on the issues in preparation for writing a comparison/contrast paper later this week.
Students always say they are bored by politics, but it has been my experience that they are almost always more interested than they let on.
Today's youth also have a strong feeling of allegiance to this country. For proof of that, go to my class website, www.room210.com to the Wall of Fame page and read my eighth graders' entries for the annual Elks Lodge Essay Contest. This year's topic was "What Old Glory Means to Me." Some of those entries will leave you with tears in your eyes.
***
The events of the past week served as a reminder to me of the importance of small-town newspapers in bringing together communities. Small-town newspapers are not there to serve as cheerleaders for a community, though they should be supportive and write about the good things that happen.
At the same time, they should not be constantly tearing down a community, but they must always present the bad news as it happens. And they owe it to their communities to have reporters who are trained to accurately report the news and who are able to write well.
Death in a community is always big news, especially when it happens to someone who is prominent or to someone who is young and never had a chance to live a complete life. I was disappointed to see the Saturday Lamar Democrat (at least the internet version) and see that only a small obituary was there for Rachel Blaser. The local newspaper can play an important role in the healing of a community during such a sad occasion. On the other hand, if it is done poorly, it is probably better off not being done at all, so maybe the right decision was made.
That being said, how in the world can the Democrat publish two straight editions without a story on the resignation of Dan O'Sullivan as chairman of the board of directors at O'Sullivan Industries, the company founded by his father.
That is big news in anybody's definition. Not only is it the removal of nearly the last link of the O'Sullivans to their family business, but it is a sign of continuing change in the company that is the largest employer in Barton County. If you get a chance, take a look at www.lamardemocrat.com and see what stories the Democrat editor considered more important than the O'Sullivan resignation.
The other big story this week was the Missouri State Auditor's release of the audit for McDonald County. That is the kind of big story that couldn't be ignored as was obvious from the two-day exposure given to the results by both The Joplin Globe and The Neosho Daily News.
The media plays such an important role in the stereotyping of our younger generation. They emphasize the bad things that happen and rarely point out the good. They also have played a key role in the heavy emphasis on test scores in comparison to test scores from other countries, always conveniently overlooking the fact that this country is the only country in the world that makes a genuine effort to educate everyone from the most intelligent to the educable mentally retarded. We have always had a goal of no child left behind, well before it became a political slogan.
This hysteria has backfired on the country in many ways. It has put such an emphasis on tests, all of which must, of course, be politically correct, that it is putting the country in danger of failing to educate its young on the basics of citizenship.
Too many times the lessons of today's news have to be left behind so teachers can strictly adhere to curriculums designed to enable students to pass standardized tests. Fortunately there are some teachers who continue to work civics into their lessons, engaging the interest of young people.
Rocky Biggers, my next-door neighbor at South Middle School is one of those teachers. Rocky, who teaches eighth grade social studies, has already managed to work in lessons involving this year's presidential race as well as lessons that compare our judicial system with that of 16th Century Salem.
I wouldn't put myself in Rocky's league, but the students in my communication arts classes were in the computer lab Friday and will be there again Monday to research the stances of President Bush and Senator Kerry on the issues in preparation for writing a comparison/contrast paper later this week.
Students always say they are bored by politics, but it has been my experience that they are almost always more interested than they let on.
Today's youth also have a strong feeling of allegiance to this country. For proof of that, go to my class website, www.room210.com to the Wall of Fame page and read my eighth graders' entries for the annual Elks Lodge Essay Contest. This year's topic was "What Old Glory Means to Me." Some of those entries will leave you with tears in your eyes.
***
The events of the past week served as a reminder to me of the importance of small-town newspapers in bringing together communities. Small-town newspapers are not there to serve as cheerleaders for a community, though they should be supportive and write about the good things that happen.
At the same time, they should not be constantly tearing down a community, but they must always present the bad news as it happens. And they owe it to their communities to have reporters who are trained to accurately report the news and who are able to write well.
Death in a community is always big news, especially when it happens to someone who is prominent or to someone who is young and never had a chance to live a complete life. I was disappointed to see the Saturday Lamar Democrat (at least the internet version) and see that only a small obituary was there for Rachel Blaser. The local newspaper can play an important role in the healing of a community during such a sad occasion. On the other hand, if it is done poorly, it is probably better off not being done at all, so maybe the right decision was made.
That being said, how in the world can the Democrat publish two straight editions without a story on the resignation of Dan O'Sullivan as chairman of the board of directors at O'Sullivan Industries, the company founded by his father.
That is big news in anybody's definition. Not only is it the removal of nearly the last link of the O'Sullivans to their family business, but it is a sign of continuing change in the company that is the largest employer in Barton County. If you get a chance, take a look at www.lamardemocrat.com and see what stories the Democrat editor considered more important than the O'Sullivan resignation.
The other big story this week was the Missouri State Auditor's release of the audit for McDonald County. That is the kind of big story that couldn't be ignored as was obvious from the two-day exposure given to the results by both The Joplin Globe and The Neosho Daily News.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
McDonald County residents who read this morning's Joplin Globe should be more than a little bit ticked off. Globe reporter John Hacker wrote the third in his series of articles on the recently completed state audit of the county.
The audit claimed that numerous county officials had received pay increases that were not authorized by the county's Salary Commission, which meets every two years.
That was not the case, county officials said. The commissioners did meet and did make the decision to increase salaries...only they didn't bother to let anyone know about it. Even worse, they didn't seem to even think that was a problem.
When decisions are made that have an impact on taxpayer money, no matter how minute they may be, they have to be documented, and they should be publicized. How else can the taxpayers know if their money is being wisely spent?
Of course, McDonald County officials insist there is no reason to give the money back.
***
That story was on page three of today's Globe. The article concerning the resignation of Daniel O'Sullivan, oldest son of O'Sullivan Industries founder Tom O'Sullivan, from that company's board of directors was the lead story in today's edition. (For those of you not familiar with how journalism works, a newspaper's lead story is either the one in the upper right hand corner of page one or one that is bannered all the way across the top of the page. This has to do with numerous studies that indicate the reader tends to look in that upper right hand corner first.)
This marks the second time this week that the Globe's top story has been one that was already published in The Turner Report. Monday's Turner Report featured articles on the O'Sullivan resignation and the allegations that were contained in the McDonald County audit. Tuesday's Globe led with the audit and today's edition led with the O'Sullivan resignation.
Glad to be of service.
***
On a sadder note, services for Rachel Blaser, 25, Lamar, who died Monday at Mt. Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg, will be held 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, at Daniel Funeral Home in Lamar. Contributions can be made to the Rachel Blaser Memorial Fund for medical scholarships at Lamar Bank and Trust in care of Daniel Funeral Home. A story on Miss Blaser was featured yesterday in The Turner Report.
***
I'm starting a new experiment in journalism next week on the website I have established for my eighth grade communication arts class at South Middle School in Joplin, www.room210.com
This week, students have been signing up for the newly-formed Journalism Club. We are going to try to be the first middle school in the state to have a news website that is updated daily. Students will be writing not only about what goes on in the classroom, in clubs, and in athletics, but they will also be writing about things that have an effect on their lives, everything from Northpark Mall and community activities to the war in Iraq and the presidential election.
Approximately 55 students have signed up. They will learn how to write news articles and feature stories. Those articles will be featured on the Top News page of the website, then will be shifted a few months later to an archives page so we can not only maintain a history of what goes on at South and in the community, but we can also have a record of their work that they will be able to look back on with pride in years to come.
***
South Middle School's ZAP (Zeroes Aren't Permitted) program was featured in a story on the local FOX newscast after the Yankees-Twins playoff game Tuesday night.
This program stresses the importance of students meeting deadlines. If they miss a deadline, they receive a ZAP. If they miss three, they receive a ZAP referral and have to stay after school for an hour each day until their work is completed. The program has only been in operation for a few weeks, but it has already made a big difference. The number of unsatisfactory reports was down at mid-quarter and students appear to be making the effort to keep current with their assignments.
***
It has been hard to find any information about it in the media, but a January 2005 trial date has been scheduled for Kimberly Schlup, 40, Deerfield, who is accused of stealing more than $5,000, but less than $25,000 from Barton County Memorial Hospital, where she served as the chief financial officer.
Ms. Schlup's trial may not be held at that time. Court records indicate it is the third trial scheduled at that time, which means it won't occur then unless the other two are postponed for some reason.
Maybe it's just me, but you would think that information about a top official charged with stealing from a taxpayer-financed institution would be considered big news in a community the size of Lamar.
The court records are available in the Barton County circuit clerk's office and Jerry Moyer has always been gracious in helping people know what to look for and how to look for it. Perhaps the Democrat or the Globe should send someone up there.
***
Speaking of Jerry Moyer, you can pin the credit or the blame on him. Jerry is the one who showed me how to use court records shortly after I returned to Lamar to become managing editor of The Democrat. He was always patient with me, no matter how many stupid questions I asked. He may never see this, but thanks, Jerry.
The audit claimed that numerous county officials had received pay increases that were not authorized by the county's Salary Commission, which meets every two years.
That was not the case, county officials said. The commissioners did meet and did make the decision to increase salaries...only they didn't bother to let anyone know about it. Even worse, they didn't seem to even think that was a problem.
When decisions are made that have an impact on taxpayer money, no matter how minute they may be, they have to be documented, and they should be publicized. How else can the taxpayers know if their money is being wisely spent?
Of course, McDonald County officials insist there is no reason to give the money back.
***
That story was on page three of today's Globe. The article concerning the resignation of Daniel O'Sullivan, oldest son of O'Sullivan Industries founder Tom O'Sullivan, from that company's board of directors was the lead story in today's edition. (For those of you not familiar with how journalism works, a newspaper's lead story is either the one in the upper right hand corner of page one or one that is bannered all the way across the top of the page. This has to do with numerous studies that indicate the reader tends to look in that upper right hand corner first.)
This marks the second time this week that the Globe's top story has been one that was already published in The Turner Report. Monday's Turner Report featured articles on the O'Sullivan resignation and the allegations that were contained in the McDonald County audit. Tuesday's Globe led with the audit and today's edition led with the O'Sullivan resignation.
Glad to be of service.
***
On a sadder note, services for Rachel Blaser, 25, Lamar, who died Monday at Mt. Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg, will be held 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, at Daniel Funeral Home in Lamar. Contributions can be made to the Rachel Blaser Memorial Fund for medical scholarships at Lamar Bank and Trust in care of Daniel Funeral Home. A story on Miss Blaser was featured yesterday in The Turner Report.
***
I'm starting a new experiment in journalism next week on the website I have established for my eighth grade communication arts class at South Middle School in Joplin, www.room210.com
This week, students have been signing up for the newly-formed Journalism Club. We are going to try to be the first middle school in the state to have a news website that is updated daily. Students will be writing not only about what goes on in the classroom, in clubs, and in athletics, but they will also be writing about things that have an effect on their lives, everything from Northpark Mall and community activities to the war in Iraq and the presidential election.
Approximately 55 students have signed up. They will learn how to write news articles and feature stories. Those articles will be featured on the Top News page of the website, then will be shifted a few months later to an archives page so we can not only maintain a history of what goes on at South and in the community, but we can also have a record of their work that they will be able to look back on with pride in years to come.
***
South Middle School's ZAP (Zeroes Aren't Permitted) program was featured in a story on the local FOX newscast after the Yankees-Twins playoff game Tuesday night.
This program stresses the importance of students meeting deadlines. If they miss a deadline, they receive a ZAP. If they miss three, they receive a ZAP referral and have to stay after school for an hour each day until their work is completed. The program has only been in operation for a few weeks, but it has already made a big difference. The number of unsatisfactory reports was down at mid-quarter and students appear to be making the effort to keep current with their assignments.
***
It has been hard to find any information about it in the media, but a January 2005 trial date has been scheduled for Kimberly Schlup, 40, Deerfield, who is accused of stealing more than $5,000, but less than $25,000 from Barton County Memorial Hospital, where she served as the chief financial officer.
Ms. Schlup's trial may not be held at that time. Court records indicate it is the third trial scheduled at that time, which means it won't occur then unless the other two are postponed for some reason.
Maybe it's just me, but you would think that information about a top official charged with stealing from a taxpayer-financed institution would be considered big news in a community the size of Lamar.
The court records are available in the Barton County circuit clerk's office and Jerry Moyer has always been gracious in helping people know what to look for and how to look for it. Perhaps the Democrat or the Globe should send someone up there.
***
Speaking of Jerry Moyer, you can pin the credit or the blame on him. Jerry is the one who showed me how to use court records shortly after I returned to Lamar to become managing editor of The Democrat. He was always patient with me, no matter how many stupid questions I asked. He may never see this, but thanks, Jerry.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
She was the girl next door, a fresh-faced blonde with a smile you could take to the bank.
Her first open heart surgery came on Nov. 15, 1996, two days after her 18th birthday, but she was never in any danger. She was just a spectator watching the surgeons at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin helping sustain the miracle of life.
At that moment, she knew she had found her life's calling. She had already watched the doctors perform an aortic valve replacement. Now she was watching a quintuple bypass procedure. "We watched while they took the artery out of the leg to use in the operation," she said. "They showed us how they tied off all the veins."
She and a fellow high school senior watched each step, including the draining of the blood, the sawing open of the rib cage, and an up-close look at the actual heart.
"I had seen pictures of the heart," she said, "but I never thought I would see one like that. I could have almost reached out and touched it."
She didn't get to see the entire surgery, but she saw enough to know that she wanted to devote her life to medicine and to helping people. "It didn't gross me out at all," she said. "I thought it might. It made me want to go into medicine."
She had already been sure that was the direction in which she was heading. So sure that she gave up playing basketball her senior year so she could take an EMT class. "It was really hard to give up basketball," she said. "I've always enjoyed being a member of the team, but I knew I wasn't going to play college basketball and this is something that would help me with what I wanted to do."
As grown up as her decision-making process was as she went through her high school years, she felt more like a scared little girl when it came time for her to leave her high school and the hometown she loved. "I'm a daddy's girl and I'm scared of leaving to go to college," she said.
As she prepared to begin her college days at Drury College in Springfield, she had a hard time leaving behind the friends she had made while participating in DECA, National Honor Society, Spanish Club, yearbook, Student Council, basketball, and volleyball. It was those sports where the young blonde made a reputation for herself, as a never-say-die competitor who gave her all for her team. "I've always been competitive," she said. "It gives you an edge and helps you to succeed."
A week after she said those words, she crossed the stage and accepted her diploma, turned her tassel and joined the Lamar High School Class of 1997 members as they reached that moment when they turned from students into alumni.
"It's a turning point in my life," she said. "I'm finally growing up."
She eventually earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing and worked at Mt. Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg, Kansas, while she worked toward completing her degree as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.
Rachel Ann Blaser, the daughter of Roger and Ann Blaser, may have been a daddy's girl, but she was the toughest little daddy's girl you'd ever want to see. Her last battle ended when she died at Mount Carmel Medical Center Monday a little more than a month shy of her 26th birthday.
She spoke her own epitaph seven years earlier, when she spoke of her philosophy of life. "You don't have to always win, but you always have to do your best or whatever you do isn't going to mean anything.
"When I have something I really want to accomplish, I try to reach down deep and give it a little extra."
A little extra was an understatement. Rachel was a shooting star, shining briefly...but brilliantly...in our lives.
She will be missed.
Her first open heart surgery came on Nov. 15, 1996, two days after her 18th birthday, but she was never in any danger. She was just a spectator watching the surgeons at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin helping sustain the miracle of life.
At that moment, she knew she had found her life's calling. She had already watched the doctors perform an aortic valve replacement. Now she was watching a quintuple bypass procedure. "We watched while they took the artery out of the leg to use in the operation," she said. "They showed us how they tied off all the veins."
She and a fellow high school senior watched each step, including the draining of the blood, the sawing open of the rib cage, and an up-close look at the actual heart.
"I had seen pictures of the heart," she said, "but I never thought I would see one like that. I could have almost reached out and touched it."
She didn't get to see the entire surgery, but she saw enough to know that she wanted to devote her life to medicine and to helping people. "It didn't gross me out at all," she said. "I thought it might. It made me want to go into medicine."
She had already been sure that was the direction in which she was heading. So sure that she gave up playing basketball her senior year so she could take an EMT class. "It was really hard to give up basketball," she said. "I've always enjoyed being a member of the team, but I knew I wasn't going to play college basketball and this is something that would help me with what I wanted to do."
As grown up as her decision-making process was as she went through her high school years, she felt more like a scared little girl when it came time for her to leave her high school and the hometown she loved. "I'm a daddy's girl and I'm scared of leaving to go to college," she said.
As she prepared to begin her college days at Drury College in Springfield, she had a hard time leaving behind the friends she had made while participating in DECA, National Honor Society, Spanish Club, yearbook, Student Council, basketball, and volleyball. It was those sports where the young blonde made a reputation for herself, as a never-say-die competitor who gave her all for her team. "I've always been competitive," she said. "It gives you an edge and helps you to succeed."
A week after she said those words, she crossed the stage and accepted her diploma, turned her tassel and joined the Lamar High School Class of 1997 members as they reached that moment when they turned from students into alumni.
"It's a turning point in my life," she said. "I'm finally growing up."
She eventually earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing and worked at Mt. Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg, Kansas, while she worked toward completing her degree as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.
Rachel Ann Blaser, the daughter of Roger and Ann Blaser, may have been a daddy's girl, but she was the toughest little daddy's girl you'd ever want to see. Her last battle ended when she died at Mount Carmel Medical Center Monday a little more than a month shy of her 26th birthday.
She spoke her own epitaph seven years earlier, when she spoke of her philosophy of life. "You don't have to always win, but you always have to do your best or whatever you do isn't going to mean anything.
"When I have something I really want to accomplish, I try to reach down deep and give it a little extra."
A little extra was an understatement. Rachel was a shooting star, shining briefly...but brilliantly...in our lives.
She will be missed.
Monday, October 04, 2004
The Missouri Highway Patrol is investigating claims that a former bookkeeper embezzled from the McDonald County Sheriff's Department.
Cash receipts totaling $16,375 collected by the sheriff's office between January 2003 and March 2004 were not deposited and are missing, according to a Missouri state auditor's report issued Sept. 30. The embezzling could have been prevented Sheriff Robert Evenson had listened to a recommendation made by state auditors in March 2003, according to the report.
"In March 2003, our office peformed a limited review of the sheriff's management practices and provided recommendations of how accounting controls and procedures could be improved." Those reommendations were almost totally ignored by the sheriff, the report indicated.
In December 2003, a sheriff's department employee told the sheriff a $300 cash bond which was recorded in the jail receipt book had never been deposited. "There was no evidence that an investigation into the missing monies was performed by the sheriff," the audit report said.
The report continued, "These shortages may have been prevented or detected if our recommendations had been implemented or had the sheriff conducted an investigation of the missing bond or notified our office."
The thefts were made possible, the report indicates, by "various internal control weaknesses, including little or no review by someone independent of the sheriff."
The audit showed the following amounts were missing for each month beginning with January 2003, with only three months, July 2003 and January 2004, in which no money was reported missing: $873, $469, $372, $350, $2,805, $2,149, $3,908, $299, $935, $3,900, $286, and $2,952.
An attempt was made by Evenson to cover up the shortage, according to the audit report. "Unrecorded checks totaling $12,148 of accountable fees (which should have been turned over to the county) were actually deposited into the sheriff's bond bank account. These unrecorded checks were apparently substituted for the missing cash bond receipts that were recorded on the deposit slips.
"In addition, in an effort to conceal the shortage, Evenson transferred $1,000 from the civil fee bank account to the bond bank account." The sheriff told the auditors he did that because the bookkeeper had told him she had made a mistake and depositeda bond into the civil account.
"To further conceal the shortage," the report said, "$1,600 of cash from the sheriff's calendar sale proceeds was deposited into the bond account."
The auditors had conducted the March 2003 investigation after receiving citizen complaints about the operation of the sheriff's department.
The sheriff issued the following response to the audit, which was included in the report, "You audit uncovered potential criminal activities, namely theft by an employee in the bookkeeper position in the sheriff's office. During your audit, preliminary examination revealed some problems. These initial findings were investigated further. After the audit was started, the bookkeeper began avoiding the auditor and then began avoiding work and eventually terminated her employment during the audit."
The alleged embezzlement was far from the only problem the audit noted in the sheriff's department.
"The sheriff apparently claimed and was paid for more miles than he actually incurred in the personal vehicle used to conduct official business," the audit said.
The report also cited seized property vanishing, including three ATVs and a dirt bike, which were later determined to be with a former deputy and were still there as of Aug. 3.
Other findings of the audit include:
-The bookkeeper paid herself $207 for civil papers that she did not serve in April and August 2003.
-A February 2003 statement said 5.5 gallons of diesel fuel was purchased for a patrol car by a deputy "however, the sheriff indicates that none of the patrol cars use diesel fuels."
-The same deputy bought fuel at three different times during a ten-hour time span on Feb. 16, 2003. That's a considerable amount of driving and is all the more remarkable because he was off duty on the day for which he claimed the mileage money.
-The chief deputy maintained poor records for the inventory of seized property. A March 4, 2004, listing indicated a rifle was on hand, "however, that rifle could not be located in the seized property room. Subsequently, the chief deputy located a release form for the rifle indicating it was released on May 19, 2003, over nine months earlier.
-County officials received more money than they should have. The McDonald County Salary Commission met on Nov. 16, 2001, according to the audit, and voted not to give any salary increases until the county's financial condition improved. The committee did not meet again in 2003 to increase salaries but county officials went ahead and increased them anyway in violation of state law. Those receiving the allegedly illegal increases were: Presiding Commission, $1,980; Eastern Commissioner $1,980; Western Commissioner 1,980; County Clerk $3,000; Treasurer, $2,200, Collector $3,000, Coroner $2,000, Public Administrator $1,000, Assessor $3,000; and Prosecuting Attorney $4,000; for a total of $27,160.
The auditors recommended that county officials consider repaying the unauthorized salary increases. The county officials responded that they would talk to the prosecuting attorney and get his advice before they do anything.
***
First round bids in the auction of Liberty Group Publishing, owner of The Neosho Daily News, The Carthage Press, The Big Nickel, and The Neosho Post, as well as nearly 300 other newspapers across the United States have been collected, according to newspaper industry sources.
Management presentations began the week of Sept. 20.
Another bidding round is scheduled for late October.
Cash receipts totaling $16,375 collected by the sheriff's office between January 2003 and March 2004 were not deposited and are missing, according to a Missouri state auditor's report issued Sept. 30. The embezzling could have been prevented Sheriff Robert Evenson had listened to a recommendation made by state auditors in March 2003, according to the report.
"In March 2003, our office peformed a limited review of the sheriff's management practices and provided recommendations of how accounting controls and procedures could be improved." Those reommendations were almost totally ignored by the sheriff, the report indicated.
In December 2003, a sheriff's department employee told the sheriff a $300 cash bond which was recorded in the jail receipt book had never been deposited. "There was no evidence that an investigation into the missing monies was performed by the sheriff," the audit report said.
The report continued, "These shortages may have been prevented or detected if our recommendations had been implemented or had the sheriff conducted an investigation of the missing bond or notified our office."
The thefts were made possible, the report indicates, by "various internal control weaknesses, including little or no review by someone independent of the sheriff."
The audit showed the following amounts were missing for each month beginning with January 2003, with only three months, July 2003 and January 2004, in which no money was reported missing: $873, $469, $372, $350, $2,805, $2,149, $3,908, $299, $935, $3,900, $286, and $2,952.
An attempt was made by Evenson to cover up the shortage, according to the audit report. "Unrecorded checks totaling $12,148 of accountable fees (which should have been turned over to the county) were actually deposited into the sheriff's bond bank account. These unrecorded checks were apparently substituted for the missing cash bond receipts that were recorded on the deposit slips.
"In addition, in an effort to conceal the shortage, Evenson transferred $1,000 from the civil fee bank account to the bond bank account." The sheriff told the auditors he did that because the bookkeeper had told him she had made a mistake and depositeda bond into the civil account.
"To further conceal the shortage," the report said, "$1,600 of cash from the sheriff's calendar sale proceeds was deposited into the bond account."
The auditors had conducted the March 2003 investigation after receiving citizen complaints about the operation of the sheriff's department.
The sheriff issued the following response to the audit, which was included in the report, "You audit uncovered potential criminal activities, namely theft by an employee in the bookkeeper position in the sheriff's office. During your audit, preliminary examination revealed some problems. These initial findings were investigated further. After the audit was started, the bookkeeper began avoiding the auditor and then began avoiding work and eventually terminated her employment during the audit."
The alleged embezzlement was far from the only problem the audit noted in the sheriff's department.
"The sheriff apparently claimed and was paid for more miles than he actually incurred in the personal vehicle used to conduct official business," the audit said.
The report also cited seized property vanishing, including three ATVs and a dirt bike, which were later determined to be with a former deputy and were still there as of Aug. 3.
Other findings of the audit include:
-The bookkeeper paid herself $207 for civil papers that she did not serve in April and August 2003.
-A February 2003 statement said 5.5 gallons of diesel fuel was purchased for a patrol car by a deputy "however, the sheriff indicates that none of the patrol cars use diesel fuels."
-The same deputy bought fuel at three different times during a ten-hour time span on Feb. 16, 2003. That's a considerable amount of driving and is all the more remarkable because he was off duty on the day for which he claimed the mileage money.
-The chief deputy maintained poor records for the inventory of seized property. A March 4, 2004, listing indicated a rifle was on hand, "however, that rifle could not be located in the seized property room. Subsequently, the chief deputy located a release form for the rifle indicating it was released on May 19, 2003, over nine months earlier.
-County officials received more money than they should have. The McDonald County Salary Commission met on Nov. 16, 2001, according to the audit, and voted not to give any salary increases until the county's financial condition improved. The committee did not meet again in 2003 to increase salaries but county officials went ahead and increased them anyway in violation of state law. Those receiving the allegedly illegal increases were: Presiding Commission, $1,980; Eastern Commissioner $1,980; Western Commissioner 1,980; County Clerk $3,000; Treasurer, $2,200, Collector $3,000, Coroner $2,000, Public Administrator $1,000, Assessor $3,000; and Prosecuting Attorney $4,000; for a total of $27,160.
The auditors recommended that county officials consider repaying the unauthorized salary increases. The county officials responded that they would talk to the prosecuting attorney and get his advice before they do anything.
***
First round bids in the auction of Liberty Group Publishing, owner of The Neosho Daily News, The Carthage Press, The Big Nickel, and The Neosho Post, as well as nearly 300 other newspapers across the United States have been collected, according to newspaper industry sources.
Management presentations began the week of Sept. 20.
Another bidding round is scheduled for late October.
At one time, the O'Sullivan family provided prosperity for the Lamar community and the entire area through their stewardship of O'Sullivan Industries. As of Sept. 29, one of the family's last remaining links to the legacy started by Tom O'Sullivan Sr., is no longer with the company.
Mr. O'Sullivan's oldest son, Dan, resigned from the company's board of directors following a special meeting Sept. 29.
In his resignation letter, O'Sullivan told million-dollar CEO Bob Parker that he did not agree with the direction in which Parker and his executive team, nearly all of whom worked with Parker at Newell Rubbermaid, are taking the company.
"I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign from the Board of Directors of O'Sullivan Industries Holdings, Inc. effective immediately at the close of today's special meeting," O'Sullivan wrote in his letter, which was addressed to Parker.
"I have been deeply ijnvolved in the operation and direction of O'Sullivan Industries for my entire adult life," O'Sullivan wrote. "I served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of O'Sullivan Industries Holdings until Oct. 16, 1998, and was an employee of O'Sullivan Industries from 1962 to 2000. However, due to recent changes in the methods used by management in directing the company's operations, I do not believe that I can remain on the board of directors. I do not question that management has the right to run the company as it sees fit, but I cannot remain a director because I do not subscribe to the methods management has recently used.
"Although I am resigning from the board, I remain a shareholder in the company, and will continue to follow the company's operation closely."
Though O'Sullivan did not spell out the methods with which he disagreed, it is no secret that in the past few months, Parker was eliminated many people who have worked for O'Sullivan Industries for more than three decades, people who helped lead the company to much of its success, including members of O'Sullivan's family.
The company also recently hired Parker, Rick Watkins, and Michael Orr from Newell Rubbermaid, with a deal already in place to move the corporate headquarters from Lamar to Atlanta, GA.
Mr. O'Sullivan's oldest son, Dan, resigned from the company's board of directors following a special meeting Sept. 29.
In his resignation letter, O'Sullivan told million-dollar CEO Bob Parker that he did not agree with the direction in which Parker and his executive team, nearly all of whom worked with Parker at Newell Rubbermaid, are taking the company.
"I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign from the Board of Directors of O'Sullivan Industries Holdings, Inc. effective immediately at the close of today's special meeting," O'Sullivan wrote in his letter, which was addressed to Parker.
"I have been deeply ijnvolved in the operation and direction of O'Sullivan Industries for my entire adult life," O'Sullivan wrote. "I served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of O'Sullivan Industries Holdings until Oct. 16, 1998, and was an employee of O'Sullivan Industries from 1962 to 2000. However, due to recent changes in the methods used by management in directing the company's operations, I do not believe that I can remain on the board of directors. I do not question that management has the right to run the company as it sees fit, but I cannot remain a director because I do not subscribe to the methods management has recently used.
"Although I am resigning from the board, I remain a shareholder in the company, and will continue to follow the company's operation closely."
Though O'Sullivan did not spell out the methods with which he disagreed, it is no secret that in the past few months, Parker was eliminated many people who have worked for O'Sullivan Industries for more than three decades, people who helped lead the company to much of its success, including members of O'Sullivan's family.
The company also recently hired Parker, Rick Watkins, and Michael Orr from Newell Rubbermaid, with a deal already in place to move the corporate headquarters from Lamar to Atlanta, GA.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
It was 25 years ago today when Tommy Wilson, publisher of the Lamar Democrat and Lockwood Luminary-Golden Herald came to Lockwood when to tell the Luminary-Herald staff that it was putting together the final issue of that newspaper.
It wasn't that the Luminary-Herald was losing money. It really wasn't. The final issue featured large ads from Preston's Home Furnishings, Farmers State Bank, Rice's Feed Service, Haubein Farm Supply, IGA Market Center in Golden City, Ag Service Center, Hagen's Meat and Grocery, and Gas Service, as well as numerous smaller ads and a full-page of classified advertising. Our circulation had been increasing. The simple fact was Boone Newspapers, which owned the Democrat and the Luminary-Herald, had never wanted a weekly newspaper. When it bought the newspapers from David Palmer in 1978, it had to take the Luminary-Herald and the Democrat in order to get the newspaper it really wanted, the Raton Range, in Raton, N. M.
The Tommy Wilson era was a disaster for the Lamar Democrat and the Luminary-Herald. Tommy demoted Lou Nell Clark, the woman who was responsible for my hiring at the Democrat in May 1978, and placed a man named Don Davis in his place.
Several years later, Doug Davis and I came across some old papers in the Democrat files as we were moving from the square to the newspaper's current location which indicated that Don Davis (no relation to Doug) had severe emotional problems when he was at another newspaper. Those problems were spelled out clearly in the documents. Nevertheless, the head man at Boone, Dolph Tillotson, decided that maybe he could straighten himself out at Lamar.
I can't recall Don Davis ever going out and doing a story during the two months I worked with him and Lou Nell. Boone was in a cost-cutting mood and publisher Dennis Garrison called me into his office in December 1978 and told me I was being let go. He offered me the job as editor of the Luminary-Herald, a position which a man named Steve Painter had at the time. I turned him down. Painter was being paid $170 a week. I told Dennis I would take the job for that salary. He said he could only pay me the $130 a week I had been receiving at the Democrat. I said no thank you and joined the ranks of the unemployed.
I didn't stay unemployed long. Less than a month later, I received a call from Dennis Garrison, again asking me to become editor at Lockwood. Steve Painter had left to take a reporting position at the Springfield News-Leader. Dennis said he would be happy to pay me $170 a week. I told him that would have been good enough a month earlier, but now I wanted $180 a week. He paused, then told me I was hired for $180 a week.
The 10 months I lived in Lockwood were 10 of the most enjoyable months of my life. I loved the town, I loved the people, and I loved the job. I met some people who have been my friends for a quarter of a century. I worked at the newspaper every day, spent my nights at ballgames, covering them during the school year, then umpiring during the summer season.
To this day, I have never tasted ham salad as good as what Jerry Hagen made at his grocery store, or barbecued beef sandwiches as good as those I ate at the C & J Drive-In. After the ballgames were over, I returned each night to the Luminary-Herald office, sat in a swivel chair in the front part, alternately writing a murder mystery novel on an old Underwood portable typewriter and watching the traffic go up and down Main Street until things started slowing down at about midnight.
Every Tuesday at about noon, I began typing all of the stories I had gathered since the last paper was published. Then at night I would work with the others at the newspaper, Donna Shaw, Linda White, and Carolyn Fahlenkamp come to mind, and we would paste up the next edition. We usually didn't finish until about 4 a.m.
After about two or three hours sleep, everyone was back at it, taking the paper to Lamar to be printed.
We put out the only progress edition of the Luminary-Herald in March of that year, if memory serves me correctly. The Democrat was doing its progress edition at the same time.
When the Democrat's progress edition was complete and all of the hard work was done, the vultures at Boone Newspapers fired Dennis Garrison and put Tommy Wilson in Dennis's place. Shortly thereafter, Democrat editor Don Davis got the ax, a move that was long overdue. He should never have had the job in the first place. I told Tommy I was interested in the Democrat editor position. He told me I was too young (I was 23 at the time). A week later, he brought in a man named David Farnham, with whom he had worked at an Arkansas newspaper, to be the Democrat's editor. Dave Farnham was 22 years old. I had a feeling my days with the company were numbered.
It was on Oct. 2, 1979, that Tommy Wilson delivered the death blow to the Luminary-Herald. I will never forget his exact words. After he told us we were putting together the final issue of the newspaper, he turned to Donna Shaw and said, "Donna, we're taking you to Lamar with us." Then he looked at me, paused very deliberately and said, "Randy, we're not taking you."
It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, though it sure didn't seem like it at the time.Following advice that had been given to me a year earlier by Lamar High School football coach Chuck Blaney (now Neosho High School principal), I returned to Missouri Southern State College, finished my last year and earned my teaching degree, something which had always been my goal, but I had been sidetracked at the Newton County News, the Democrat, and the Luminary-Herald.
In the meantime, Tommy Wilson and Dave Farnham began a sustained attack on everything in Lamar. Those of you who have followed my writing for the past 27 years know that I don't hold back when it comes to pointing out flaws and trying to expose problems. However, this was a case of two outsiders coming in and knocking the town without also pointing out the good things that were happening in Lamar on a daily basis.
Their misguided approach to journalism spelled the end of Lamar being the smallest town in Missouri with a daily newspaper. Advertisers who were tired of being forced to use The Democrat to get their message across actively sought an alternative advertising source, led by Dan Arnold of Lamar Supermarket. Before long, Jim Peters, the publisher of the XChanger, a Butler shopper, started XChanger2 in Lamar and the surrounding area and the revenue that had been pouring into the Democrat for years slowed to a trickle.
Finally in early 1981, Wilson and Farnham took off (I never knew the exact circumstances) and a longtime troubleshooter for Boone Newspapers, Doug Davis, was brought in to try to get the Democrat back on its feet.
I have related this story before in The Turner Report. The damage done to the Democrat by Wilson and Farnham was so severe that Davis was eventually forced to cut the Democrat from a five-day-a-week newspaper to a weekly.
In November 1982, he decided to hire an editor to rebuild the news content. I was hired. I don't know if I would have taken the job if I had known that one of the others who Doug had been considering was my former mentor Lou Nell Clark. Reportedly, I was hired because it was thought by some of the leaders in the town that I would be less trouble.
Within a few months, we were able to increase the Democrat's publishing frequency to twice a week and I stayed there for seven-and-a-half years before I left to take a reporting job at The Carthage Press in April 1990.
I still look back with fondness at the 10 months I spent in Lockwood in 1979. I still had a long way to go to become a good reporter, but it was a place that helped steer me in the right direction.
***
The students in my eighth grade communication arts classes are required to write a half-page prompt each day. The prompts on Thursday and Friday both revolved around the first presidential debate. On Thursday, the students wrote about what issues they would like to see addressed in the debates. Friday, they assessed the previous night's debate.
I was well aware that more than half of my students would not have seen a single moment of the debate, even though it had also been assigned by their social studies teacher, Rocky Biggers. A prompt written by a girl in my first hour class really bothered me. This girl wanted to watch the debate but her mother would not let her, telling her "you get too much of that politics on the streets." I felt bad for the girl and I still don't have the slightest idea what her mother meant by that remark.
***
The attorneys for a Joplin bar are trying to get the bar dismissed from a wrongful death lawsuit. Midwestern Music Co, also known as the Mo Pub Bar is being sued by Betty Jean Dodson, and Amy and Michael Mann, in connection with the July 31 drunk-driving related death of Mrs. Dodson's husband, James Dodson, and the Mann's seven-year-old daughter.
According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, Edward Meerwald Jr., 50, Noel, drove off Highway 86 and hit Mr. Dodson and his granddaughter who were standing in the Dodsons' driveway. Meerwald was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. He is also being sued by Mrs. Dodson and the Manns.
A pre-trial conference in Meerwald's criminal cases is scheduled for 3 p.m. Oct. 25, in Jasper County Circuit Court, where the case is being tried on a change of venue from Newton County.
Meerwald has lost a lot more than his freedom from this case. According to Newton County Circuit court records, his wife Kyong Suk Meerwald, filed for divorce shortly after the accident. The divorce was granted last month. Meerwald's real estate was awarded to his ex-wife.
But no matter what Meerwald lost, it pales in comparison to what was lost by Mrs. Dodson, her daughter, and her son-in-law.
***
Newton County Circuit Court records indicate the Diamond R-4 School District reached a settlement with Earlene Sharon, who filed a lawsuit in July seeking damages in connection with an accident that involved her daughter, who is a senior at Diamond High School. The amount of the settlement was not listed on case.net and has not been released by the district on either its website or in one of Superintendent Mark Mayo's regular e-mail messages to his devoted public.
Perhaps some of the veteran members of the R-4 Board of Education should reflect back on the days when the district reached a financial settlement in connection with a sexual harassment suit involving a previous superintendent and a court ruled that it has to tell how much the settlement is since it is being financed by the taxpayers.
Perhaps the information woudl be available if someone were to call the superintendent's secretary or the superintendent and ask. On the other hand, people should not have to ask. This information should be released immediately to the public.
***
Wasteful construction policies being followed by the U. S. Agency for International Development and the U. S. State Department are increasing the chances that other U. S. embassy employees may meet the same fate as Lamar's Kenneth Hobson who died as as result of an Al Qaeda attack on an embassy in Kenya in 1998.
The General Accounting Office (GAO), Congress's investigative arm, released a report this week, indicating that a construction policy is increasing not only the danger, but the cost of building embassies.
It was Aug. 19, 1998, that more than 500 people crowded into the Thiebaud Auditorium in Lamar to say their goodbyes to Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hobson, who was killed 12 days earlier.
After the bombing of that embassy in Kenya that the U. S. began a multibillion-dollar, multiyear program to "build new, secure facilities on compounds at posts around the world," according to the GAO report.
The Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 requires that all offices for the embassies be located in the compounds. The embassy compounds have been built in stages, the report said, with the primary portion of the embassy being built, then later an annex for the officeworkers. During the time the annex is being built, the officeworkers are being house in temporary quarters.
"Staff who remain in a temporary facility after other U. S. government personnel move into a new embassy compound may be more vulnerable to terrorist attack becausae the temporary facility does not meet security standards for new buildings and may be perceived to be a 'softer' target relative to the new, more secure embassy compound," the report said.
Current plans call for this approach to be followed through the year 2009.
The GAO is recommending concurrent construction and suggests building the offices within the compound instead of in annexes. "Concurrent construction would eliminate the second expensive mobilization of contractor staff and equipment and added supervision, security, and procurement support expenses that result from nonconcurrent construction," the report said. Building the office quarters concurrently with the compounds at the next nine embassy construction sites could save taxpayers $35 million, the report concluded.
Hobson, it should be recalled, was only 27 years old and left behind a wife, Deborah Hobson, and a young daughter, Megan. The embassy attacks were precursors to the attack on the U. S Cole in 2000 and eventually the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
***
The two cases mentioned earlier in The Turner Report in which Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Richard Copeland used technicalities to restore the driving privileges of people whose licenses had been revoked because of alcohol-related incidents, are far from the only such cases that are being handled in our appellate courts.
During the same eight-day span in which two of Judge Copeland's decisions were reversed by the higher court, another southwest Missouri judge also had a decision tossed out by the same panel.
The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Southern District ordered Barry County Circuit Court Judge Carr L. Woods to reverse his decision restoring William Laney's driving privileges.
According to court records, on Feb. 10, 2003, Barry County Deputy Douglas Henry spotted a Ford Ranger pickup off the road, stuck in a creek. When Henry approached the car and spoke to the driver, he "noticed that Laney's speech was slurred and that there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from the pickup."
Henry asked Laney is he had been drinking. Laney said, "Yes, I am drunker than hell."
Laney said he had been at Our Place Bar in Seligman. Henry asked Laney to submit to field sobriety tests. Laney said he was drunk. Henry asked Laney if he would submit to a breath test. Laney said, "No, I said I was drunk." Under Missouri law, a refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test is grounds for revoking a driver's license.
Laney was arrested for driving while intoxicated. When they arrived at the station, Laney was asked one more time to submit to a breath test. He refused. Judge Woods found that there was reasonable cause for the DWI arrest, but noted that Laney did not think he had to take the breathalyzer test because he had already said he was drunk. Therefore, Woods surmised, Laney had technically not refused to take the test and deserved to have his license back.
In its decision, the appellate court judges said, "Laney's subjective belief that he did not have to take a chemical test because he admitted he was intoxcated is immaterial."
To add a little commentary to this, as long as these people can bargain shop for sympathetic judges who will put them back on the streets, drunk driving will continue to be a major problem in this country.
It wasn't that the Luminary-Herald was losing money. It really wasn't. The final issue featured large ads from Preston's Home Furnishings, Farmers State Bank, Rice's Feed Service, Haubein Farm Supply, IGA Market Center in Golden City, Ag Service Center, Hagen's Meat and Grocery, and Gas Service, as well as numerous smaller ads and a full-page of classified advertising. Our circulation had been increasing. The simple fact was Boone Newspapers, which owned the Democrat and the Luminary-Herald, had never wanted a weekly newspaper. When it bought the newspapers from David Palmer in 1978, it had to take the Luminary-Herald and the Democrat in order to get the newspaper it really wanted, the Raton Range, in Raton, N. M.
The Tommy Wilson era was a disaster for the Lamar Democrat and the Luminary-Herald. Tommy demoted Lou Nell Clark, the woman who was responsible for my hiring at the Democrat in May 1978, and placed a man named Don Davis in his place.
Several years later, Doug Davis and I came across some old papers in the Democrat files as we were moving from the square to the newspaper's current location which indicated that Don Davis (no relation to Doug) had severe emotional problems when he was at another newspaper. Those problems were spelled out clearly in the documents. Nevertheless, the head man at Boone, Dolph Tillotson, decided that maybe he could straighten himself out at Lamar.
I can't recall Don Davis ever going out and doing a story during the two months I worked with him and Lou Nell. Boone was in a cost-cutting mood and publisher Dennis Garrison called me into his office in December 1978 and told me I was being let go. He offered me the job as editor of the Luminary-Herald, a position which a man named Steve Painter had at the time. I turned him down. Painter was being paid $170 a week. I told Dennis I would take the job for that salary. He said he could only pay me the $130 a week I had been receiving at the Democrat. I said no thank you and joined the ranks of the unemployed.
I didn't stay unemployed long. Less than a month later, I received a call from Dennis Garrison, again asking me to become editor at Lockwood. Steve Painter had left to take a reporting position at the Springfield News-Leader. Dennis said he would be happy to pay me $170 a week. I told him that would have been good enough a month earlier, but now I wanted $180 a week. He paused, then told me I was hired for $180 a week.
The 10 months I lived in Lockwood were 10 of the most enjoyable months of my life. I loved the town, I loved the people, and I loved the job. I met some people who have been my friends for a quarter of a century. I worked at the newspaper every day, spent my nights at ballgames, covering them during the school year, then umpiring during the summer season.
To this day, I have never tasted ham salad as good as what Jerry Hagen made at his grocery store, or barbecued beef sandwiches as good as those I ate at the C & J Drive-In. After the ballgames were over, I returned each night to the Luminary-Herald office, sat in a swivel chair in the front part, alternately writing a murder mystery novel on an old Underwood portable typewriter and watching the traffic go up and down Main Street until things started slowing down at about midnight.
Every Tuesday at about noon, I began typing all of the stories I had gathered since the last paper was published. Then at night I would work with the others at the newspaper, Donna Shaw, Linda White, and Carolyn Fahlenkamp come to mind, and we would paste up the next edition. We usually didn't finish until about 4 a.m.
After about two or three hours sleep, everyone was back at it, taking the paper to Lamar to be printed.
We put out the only progress edition of the Luminary-Herald in March of that year, if memory serves me correctly. The Democrat was doing its progress edition at the same time.
When the Democrat's progress edition was complete and all of the hard work was done, the vultures at Boone Newspapers fired Dennis Garrison and put Tommy Wilson in Dennis's place. Shortly thereafter, Democrat editor Don Davis got the ax, a move that was long overdue. He should never have had the job in the first place. I told Tommy I was interested in the Democrat editor position. He told me I was too young (I was 23 at the time). A week later, he brought in a man named David Farnham, with whom he had worked at an Arkansas newspaper, to be the Democrat's editor. Dave Farnham was 22 years old. I had a feeling my days with the company were numbered.
It was on Oct. 2, 1979, that Tommy Wilson delivered the death blow to the Luminary-Herald. I will never forget his exact words. After he told us we were putting together the final issue of the newspaper, he turned to Donna Shaw and said, "Donna, we're taking you to Lamar with us." Then he looked at me, paused very deliberately and said, "Randy, we're not taking you."
It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, though it sure didn't seem like it at the time.Following advice that had been given to me a year earlier by Lamar High School football coach Chuck Blaney (now Neosho High School principal), I returned to Missouri Southern State College, finished my last year and earned my teaching degree, something which had always been my goal, but I had been sidetracked at the Newton County News, the Democrat, and the Luminary-Herald.
In the meantime, Tommy Wilson and Dave Farnham began a sustained attack on everything in Lamar. Those of you who have followed my writing for the past 27 years know that I don't hold back when it comes to pointing out flaws and trying to expose problems. However, this was a case of two outsiders coming in and knocking the town without also pointing out the good things that were happening in Lamar on a daily basis.
Their misguided approach to journalism spelled the end of Lamar being the smallest town in Missouri with a daily newspaper. Advertisers who were tired of being forced to use The Democrat to get their message across actively sought an alternative advertising source, led by Dan Arnold of Lamar Supermarket. Before long, Jim Peters, the publisher of the XChanger, a Butler shopper, started XChanger2 in Lamar and the surrounding area and the revenue that had been pouring into the Democrat for years slowed to a trickle.
Finally in early 1981, Wilson and Farnham took off (I never knew the exact circumstances) and a longtime troubleshooter for Boone Newspapers, Doug Davis, was brought in to try to get the Democrat back on its feet.
I have related this story before in The Turner Report. The damage done to the Democrat by Wilson and Farnham was so severe that Davis was eventually forced to cut the Democrat from a five-day-a-week newspaper to a weekly.
In November 1982, he decided to hire an editor to rebuild the news content. I was hired. I don't know if I would have taken the job if I had known that one of the others who Doug had been considering was my former mentor Lou Nell Clark. Reportedly, I was hired because it was thought by some of the leaders in the town that I would be less trouble.
Within a few months, we were able to increase the Democrat's publishing frequency to twice a week and I stayed there for seven-and-a-half years before I left to take a reporting job at The Carthage Press in April 1990.
I still look back with fondness at the 10 months I spent in Lockwood in 1979. I still had a long way to go to become a good reporter, but it was a place that helped steer me in the right direction.
***
The students in my eighth grade communication arts classes are required to write a half-page prompt each day. The prompts on Thursday and Friday both revolved around the first presidential debate. On Thursday, the students wrote about what issues they would like to see addressed in the debates. Friday, they assessed the previous night's debate.
I was well aware that more than half of my students would not have seen a single moment of the debate, even though it had also been assigned by their social studies teacher, Rocky Biggers. A prompt written by a girl in my first hour class really bothered me. This girl wanted to watch the debate but her mother would not let her, telling her "you get too much of that politics on the streets." I felt bad for the girl and I still don't have the slightest idea what her mother meant by that remark.
***
The attorneys for a Joplin bar are trying to get the bar dismissed from a wrongful death lawsuit. Midwestern Music Co, also known as the Mo Pub Bar is being sued by Betty Jean Dodson, and Amy and Michael Mann, in connection with the July 31 drunk-driving related death of Mrs. Dodson's husband, James Dodson, and the Mann's seven-year-old daughter.
According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, Edward Meerwald Jr., 50, Noel, drove off Highway 86 and hit Mr. Dodson and his granddaughter who were standing in the Dodsons' driveway. Meerwald was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. He is also being sued by Mrs. Dodson and the Manns.
A pre-trial conference in Meerwald's criminal cases is scheduled for 3 p.m. Oct. 25, in Jasper County Circuit Court, where the case is being tried on a change of venue from Newton County.
Meerwald has lost a lot more than his freedom from this case. According to Newton County Circuit court records, his wife Kyong Suk Meerwald, filed for divorce shortly after the accident. The divorce was granted last month. Meerwald's real estate was awarded to his ex-wife.
But no matter what Meerwald lost, it pales in comparison to what was lost by Mrs. Dodson, her daughter, and her son-in-law.
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Newton County Circuit Court records indicate the Diamond R-4 School District reached a settlement with Earlene Sharon, who filed a lawsuit in July seeking damages in connection with an accident that involved her daughter, who is a senior at Diamond High School. The amount of the settlement was not listed on case.net and has not been released by the district on either its website or in one of Superintendent Mark Mayo's regular e-mail messages to his devoted public.
Perhaps some of the veteran members of the R-4 Board of Education should reflect back on the days when the district reached a financial settlement in connection with a sexual harassment suit involving a previous superintendent and a court ruled that it has to tell how much the settlement is since it is being financed by the taxpayers.
Perhaps the information woudl be available if someone were to call the superintendent's secretary or the superintendent and ask. On the other hand, people should not have to ask. This information should be released immediately to the public.
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Wasteful construction policies being followed by the U. S. Agency for International Development and the U. S. State Department are increasing the chances that other U. S. embassy employees may meet the same fate as Lamar's Kenneth Hobson who died as as result of an Al Qaeda attack on an embassy in Kenya in 1998.
The General Accounting Office (GAO), Congress's investigative arm, released a report this week, indicating that a construction policy is increasing not only the danger, but the cost of building embassies.
It was Aug. 19, 1998, that more than 500 people crowded into the Thiebaud Auditorium in Lamar to say their goodbyes to Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hobson, who was killed 12 days earlier.
After the bombing of that embassy in Kenya that the U. S. began a multibillion-dollar, multiyear program to "build new, secure facilities on compounds at posts around the world," according to the GAO report.
The Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 requires that all offices for the embassies be located in the compounds. The embassy compounds have been built in stages, the report said, with the primary portion of the embassy being built, then later an annex for the officeworkers. During the time the annex is being built, the officeworkers are being house in temporary quarters.
"Staff who remain in a temporary facility after other U. S. government personnel move into a new embassy compound may be more vulnerable to terrorist attack becausae the temporary facility does not meet security standards for new buildings and may be perceived to be a 'softer' target relative to the new, more secure embassy compound," the report said.
Current plans call for this approach to be followed through the year 2009.
The GAO is recommending concurrent construction and suggests building the offices within the compound instead of in annexes. "Concurrent construction would eliminate the second expensive mobilization of contractor staff and equipment and added supervision, security, and procurement support expenses that result from nonconcurrent construction," the report said. Building the office quarters concurrently with the compounds at the next nine embassy construction sites could save taxpayers $35 million, the report concluded.
Hobson, it should be recalled, was only 27 years old and left behind a wife, Deborah Hobson, and a young daughter, Megan. The embassy attacks were precursors to the attack on the U. S Cole in 2000 and eventually the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
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The two cases mentioned earlier in The Turner Report in which Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Richard Copeland used technicalities to restore the driving privileges of people whose licenses had been revoked because of alcohol-related incidents, are far from the only such cases that are being handled in our appellate courts.
During the same eight-day span in which two of Judge Copeland's decisions were reversed by the higher court, another southwest Missouri judge also had a decision tossed out by the same panel.
The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Southern District ordered Barry County Circuit Court Judge Carr L. Woods to reverse his decision restoring William Laney's driving privileges.
According to court records, on Feb. 10, 2003, Barry County Deputy Douglas Henry spotted a Ford Ranger pickup off the road, stuck in a creek. When Henry approached the car and spoke to the driver, he "noticed that Laney's speech was slurred and that there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from the pickup."
Henry asked Laney is he had been drinking. Laney said, "Yes, I am drunker than hell."
Laney said he had been at Our Place Bar in Seligman. Henry asked Laney to submit to field sobriety tests. Laney said he was drunk. Henry asked Laney if he would submit to a breath test. Laney said, "No, I said I was drunk." Under Missouri law, a refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test is grounds for revoking a driver's license.
Laney was arrested for driving while intoxicated. When they arrived at the station, Laney was asked one more time to submit to a breath test. He refused. Judge Woods found that there was reasonable cause for the DWI arrest, but noted that Laney did not think he had to take the breathalyzer test because he had already said he was drunk. Therefore, Woods surmised, Laney had technically not refused to take the test and deserved to have his license back.
In its decision, the appellate court judges said, "Laney's subjective belief that he did not have to take a chemical test because he admitted he was intoxcated is immaterial."
To add a little commentary to this, as long as these people can bargain shop for sympathetic judges who will put them back on the streets, drunk driving will continue to be a major problem in this country.
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