O'Sullivan news release makes no mention of million-dollar CEO

The removal of Bob Parker as O'Sullivan Industries CEO does not appear to be an amicable one, based on the news release issued Wednesday by the company to announce the permanent elevation of Rick Allan Walters to the top spot.
Parker's name was not mentioned once.
The news release reads:

ROSWELL, Ga., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- O'Sullivan Industries, Inc., a leading designer, marketer and manufacturer of office, home, storage and organizational products, today announced that Rick Walters was named President and Chief Executive Officer by the company's board of directors.

"Naming Rick to lead O'Sullivan positions the company to continue the execution of the strategy and plans designed to turn O'Sullivan into a stronger company for the future," stated Tom Shandell, who was named chairman of the O'Sullivan board of directors.

Mr. Walters joined O'Sullivan as CFO in June 2004 from Newell Rubbermaid, where he served as group vice president and CFO of the company's Sharpie/Calphalon group. He has served as interim CEO of O'Sullivan since November 2005.

The company also announced the promotion of Russ Steinhorst to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Mr. Walters.

Mr. Steinhorst joined O'Sullivan as Corporate Controller in August, 2004 from Newell Rubbermaid, where he held progressively increasing responsibility in various accounting and finance roles, with his last position as Vice President - Finance for the Sharpie group.

"Russ has done an outstanding job helping to guide O'Sullivan through our recently completed restructuring," commented Rick Walters. "He is a solid financial and business leader and we look forward to his continued contributions to O'Sullivan's successes into the future."

KOAM owner's CEO receives $400,000 bonus

Edward K. Christian, CEO of Saga Communications, owner of KOAM and KFJX television stations in the Joplin/Pittsburg market, received a $530,438 salary and a $400,000 bonus during 2005, according to a proxy statement filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bonus was based on Christian's meeting goals set by the Executive Compensation Committee, according to the proxy statement.
"Of the bonus awarded Mr. Christian, $225,000 was awarded based on the Company achieving net revenue and free cash flow goals for fiscal year 2005. An additional $175,000 was awarded by the Committee, in its discretion, based on market conditions and a subjective evaluation of Mr. Christian’s performance."

Jarden annual stockholders' meeting scheduled

The annual stockholders' meeting for the Jarden Corporation is set for 10 a.m. Friday, May 19, at the Four Seasons Hotel, 57 E. 57th Street, New York.
Agenda items include electing two directors and ratifying appointment of Ernst & Young as the company's accounting firm.
The proxy was filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Leggett & Platt reports record earnings

Carthage-based Fortune 500 company Leggett & Platt reported record first quarter earnings today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sales were up to $5.9 billion, up 5.9 percent from the first quarter of 2005.

Priest's deposition to be taken in New Mexico

Philip Bucher, the former Branson priest at the center of a sexual harassment lawsuit, will be questioned by lawyers for his accuser Friday, April 28, in Albuquerque, N. M., according to documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Also scheduled to be deposed is a woman named Carol Giannini, whose name has been linked with Bucher in news accounts. Initially, the deposition had been scheduled for this week in Springfield, but Bucher's attorneys asked to the New Mexico deposition since that is where he lives since he retired from his position in Branson.
Glenna McKitterick is suing Bucher for sexual harassment, claiming she was fired from her job with the church after she refused to submit to Bucher's sexual advances. She is suing Bucher, the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, Bishop John J. Liebrecht, Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church and Our Lady of the Ozarks Catholic Church.

Rural Republicans may kill voucher proposal

HB1783, which would open the door to educational vouchers in this state is teetering on the brink of defeat, according to Jo Mannies' column in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The cause, according to Ms. Mannies, is a split among the GOP's urban and rural divisions, with the rural legislators opposing the proposal. That split apparently does not apply to this area, where thus far, only Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, has come out against the bill.
As mentioned in the March 31 Turner Report, the bill is sponsored by Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, and is co-sponsored by a host of his colleagues, including Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, Ron Richard, R-Joplin, Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City, and Steve Hunter, R-Joplin.

Globe losing Jefferson City reporter

Sadie Gurman, who has provided statehouse coverage for the Joplin Globe during this legislative session, will leave the newspaper once the session is completed, according to her blog, Life Under the Dome.
Ms. Gurman does not specify the new job she will have, only that is in the "free north."

Settlement reached in wrongful death lawsuit

Documents filed this week in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicate a settlement has been reached between parties in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Brandie McLean, mother of Braxton Wooden, the eight-year-old who was shot to death by his foster brother in Alba last June.
Joplin attorney Karl Blanchard filed documents Tuesday indicating foster parents Mark and Treva Gordon of Alba, and Ethan Gordon, who was sent to a juvenile facility after shooting Braxton Wooden, have settled with Braxton's survivors. "The necessary settlement documents required for the approval of the wrongful death settlement are being prepared and will be submitted to the Court at the earliest possible date," Buchanan said. No other information was given about the settlement.
Ms. McLean and her children, through their next friend, Braxton's great-aunt, Rhonda Stone, are still suing the Missouri Division of Family Services and two of its caseworkers. An amended complaint was filed earlier this week in district court.

Drunk driving essay wins annual South contest

Judging on the third annual South Middle School Essay Contest was completed this week and eighth grader Fox Navarre captured first place with an essay on the effect drunk driving has on those who are left behind.
This year, we left the contest open for students in grades six through eight to write about any subject that was important to them. Subjects chosen by the students ranged from abortion to school financing, the danger posed by North Korea, gay marriage, cruelty to animals, obesity, and starvation.
Anyone who thinks that today's teens are totally self-centered and have no interest in the world around them is mistaken.
Miss Navarre's winning essay is printed below:

THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK AND DRIVE
By FOX NAVARRE

Have you ever looked back on memories of your childhood and finally realized what your parents were talking about; what you didn't understand then? It clicks in your mind and you think, "Oh, that's what they meant!" Most memories like these are fond to most people, but as I think back on my eight or nine-year-old self, the recollections aren't exactly full of sunshine and smiles.
It was during the summer that Allen, one of my father's employees, came to him asking for a place to stay when his mother had kicked him out. I remember being angry at his mother for being so cruel. It never occurred to me, then, that maybe there was a reason for it. In my eyes was a young man, wounded by a horrible parent, not a drunken 22-year-old working for my father, a restaurant manager. Naive as I was, I was open and eager to the possibility of adding a member to our family. I was even a bit depressed when they said he'd only stay for a week or two until he could get back on his feet. They graciously allowed him into our home.
Now that I sit and think about it, I quite clearly remember disliking him with a passion after the first week. He was a slob and having to share my bathroom with him, I found this out immediately. He was impersonal, indifferent and I never saw him out of his room or in the house at all for that matter. On the rare occasions that I did he was drinking a beer or eating our cereal. I was angry over the cereal, my fondest breakfast food at the time. I wished he was gone every day he was there. Those days grew into weeks and into months and every day I complained and whined. My parents used to think that I was extremely messy, but I was the neatest person in the world compared to him. I wanted him gone. Seven or eight months passed before the incident that scarred me...left haunting images pressed into my mind to this very day. It was yet another thing for me to blame on myself.
I'd had a bad dream one night nearing Christmas break and was asleep between my parents in their bed when the phone rang. My mother's movement was what woke me up but it was the phone ringing that caused me to stay alert. It's a habit of mine to listen in on conversations, or the side of it that I can hear.
I didn't know what had happened, but I'd managed to get back to bed, and snuggle against my father by the time Mom came back in to wake him.
"Allen's dead." The words were too much for me to handle. I wanted him gone, not dead. I wished him to leave our home, not his life. I cried. I remember the long drawn out sobs as the words repeated in my mind. "Allen's dead."
Allen had borrowed my dad's white truck (all the better to see the blood) claiming that he was going to visit his grandfather in the hospital. He had liked. He somehow managed to cram seven other people into a five-person cab of the truck, one of whom was a pregnant female. He had a lot to drink that night and passed out at the wheel. The truck swerved and slammed against the median where it slid along before spinning out into the middle of the road. By the time it was over, Allen was no longer in the truck. The seven others were unharmed other than a few scratches from the broken glass.
I didn't know the details of Allen's physical appearance afterward until I sat my mother down one day and said, "It can't be bad. It's not like his head came off." My mother had to regretfully inform me that it did, and so did his left arm, which had been hanging out of the window as he drove. This information is probably why I cringe every time my father rests his arm out of our open window when we travel. I yelled at him once for it. For a year afterward, images of Allen's mangled body and face haunted my dreams and I even developed a fear of closed doors, always amusing myself with thoughts of what was left of Allen hanging just on the other side. All because of a few beers and a set of wheels wrapped in a lie or two.
Before you get in a car with someone who has been drinking, think about a lot of the lives you could affect. I doubt that I was even on the list of who Allen would hurt when he died if he were to create that list. Even the most insignificant person to you cares, even if they want you gone. Care about them, too.

Leggett & Platt gay discrimination shareholder proposal discussed in Business Journal

A shareholder proposal designed to ban alleged discrimination against gays at Leggett & Platt, the Carthage-based Fortune 500 company, is the subject of a Springfield Business Journal article.
The shareholder proposal was first revealed in the March 31 Turner Report.