Goodman's "Castle Doctrine" bill approved by committee

Sen. Jack Goodman's version of the so-called "Castle Doctrine" (i.e. Frontier Justice) bill which would give Missourians the right to blast away at people entering their property, was approved by the House Rules Committee today.

SB 62, which is being handled in the House by Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, Joplin, who introduced a similar bill which has been approved and is in the Senate now, offers Missourians a right to defend their properties and their lives...rights which they already have.

Though Goodman, a Mount Vernon Republican, and Mrs. Ruestman have said this bill is absolutely necessary to prevent lawsuits against those who do protect themselves, neither has cited one incident in which this kind of lawsuit has ever occurred. In fact, Goodman as much as told KY3 political reporter David Catanese that it has not been a problem. This segment from Catanese's blog was quoted in the March 14 Turner Report:

Is this a widespread problem?
"There have been not a lot of cases, but there have been some cases in Missouri of people who were victims of home intruders, being sued as a result of injuries they inflicted defending themselves," Goodman said. "Not a lot of cases, but some."

Has this happened around here?
"Not in this immediate area that I'm aware of, but they have been in the state of Missouri," Goodman said.

So far, neither Goodman nor Mrs. Ruestman has provided any evidence that this law is necessary. I doubt if such evidence exists.

Committee approves House version of independent candidate bill

The House version of Sen. Gary Nodler's bill to make it more difficult than it already is for independent candidates to mount a challenge to incumbents received a "Do pass" designation from the House Financial, Governmental Organizations, and Elections Committee today.
It should be mentioned the committee chairman is Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, who faced a stiff challenge from indepdendent Michael Holzknecht in 2006.
HB 894, sponsored by Rep. Ted Hoskins, D-St. Louis, requires independent candidates to have to file at the same time as candidates of Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties, even though these candidates do not have to go through primaries (the main reason for the early filing date) and already have the added burden of having to gather signatures just to get on the ballot.
The bill is essentially the same as SB 409, proposed by Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, who ended up having to spend a considerable amount of his campaign warchest when he was challenged by independent Kim Wright of Joplin last year. Nodler's bill was co-sponsored by Scott and was placed in Scott's committee, where, of course, it received a "do pass" recommendation.

When there is so many important items that our state legislators need to be working on, it seems almost beyond belief that they are spending time with this spiteful bill, which is just designed to make things easier for the Democrats and Republicans, who already have access to more money and organization than independents.

Appellate court approved $4 million judgment against Empire District Electric

The Southern District Court of Appeals today approved a $4 million judgment against Empire District Electric Company of Joplin in connection with a 1995 accident in which a construction worker received serious injuries after coming into contact with live wires.
The court threw out an award of $2 million plus in pre-judgment interest.
A Jasper County jury found in favor of Ed English during an October 2005 trial. According to the opinion, English was electrocuted "when the scaffolding he was holding inadvertently contacted an energized 69,000 volt power line, owned and maintained by (Empire), at the Ramey's Supermarket in Webb City, Missouri."

The opinion continued:

The evidence indicated that in the ten-year period before this incident, Appellant acknowledged numerous accidental contacts with its electrical lines, including contacts causing six deaths and ten serious injuries, as well as thirty-two power line "hits" and three hundred thirty "close calls." Almost all of these accidental contacts or "hits" occurred at construction sites. Appellant's Director of Commercial Operations had investigated more than ten accident scenes involving the same kind of electrical hits. There was also testimony from Appellant's Director of Engineering and corporate representative that one such accident, also involving a forklift, occurred less than two months before English's incident.
The jury heard evidence that, unlike other hazards, electricity is an invisible and undetectable danger. Human factors studies have born out that power lines are difficult to see as, depending upon sky and lighting conditions, power lines are known to fade into the background and become less visible to those on the ground nearby. There are three recognized measures that can be implemented to protect against the hazard of accidental contact: eliminate the hazard, guard against the hazard, or warn of it.
There was testimony that Appellant knew that serious injuries and deaths often occur during accidental contact because workers often have trouble judging their distance to overhead power lines, even when they are trying to be careful. That knowledge came from various sources including government bulletins from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ("NIOSH"). The bulletins reminded Appellant that many contractors and construction workers were unaware and may not understand the danger of contacting uninsulated power lines with scaffolding, cranes and other construction equipment. NIOSH recommended that information be given to contractors regarding these dangers and even urged electric utility companies to distribute NIOSH's recommendations on the hazards of working around energized lines.

Empire's attorneys tried to have the judgment overturned with a claim that English had been drinking before the accident, but the judges ruled that while there was evidence he had been drinking (his BAC was .05) there was no evidence that the drinking had anything to do with the accident.

Georgia company asks bankruptcy court to order O'Sullivan to pay

It appears Missouri companies are not the only ones waiting to be paid by management at O'Sullivan Industries as the company enters its final days of existence.
Documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia indicate a temporary staffing company, Randstand InHouse Services, Atlanta, is owed $26,049.31. The company is a non-secured creditor and is asking the court to allow O'Sullivan Industries to pay the money.

Sentencing hearing set for Memorial Middle School shooter's father

Sentencing hearing for Gregory White, Joplin, who pleaded guilty Dec. 4 to federal weapons charges, is set for 10 a.m. Friday, May 4, in Springfield, according to a document filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
White, the father of Memorial Middle School shooter Thomas Gregory White, was charged with violating federal weapons laws which prevent him from owning firearms since he has been convicted on two felony charges.

A hearing on a defense request to put the younger White's case in juvenile court will be held June 15 in Jasper County Circuit Court.
Thomas Gregory White, 14, a former seventh grader at Memorial, has been charged as an adult with two counts of assault, and one count each of unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action, and attempted escape, in connection with the Oct. 9 incident in which he took a gun into the school, aimed it at school officials and fired it into a ceiling. According to police reports, his attempts at firing the gun again were thwarted when the weapon jams.

Ball introduced in Carthage Press column

Former Neosho Daily News Managing Editor Buzz Ball introduced himself to readers at his new newspaper, The Carthage Press, in a column in Sunday's edition. (I would provide a link, but as far as I can tell, it has not been posted on the newspaper's website.)

In the column, Ball talked about his background and about what he wanted to see for The Press:

"My goals for The Carthage Press are quite simple: To be accurate, timely, local, respected and trusted. Sounds like simple goals, but maintaining them is the difficult part. But we cannot become the community newspaper that you deserve just by ourselves. It takes a team effort from the Press staff and our readers. We need to know what you want to read in your newspaper. We need to know what is happening. With just a four-person news staff, we cannot be everywhere at the same time.
John Ford, the new managing editor in Neosho, said it best: 'If it's news to you, it's news to us.' "

You might want to look that one over, Buzz. That can be taken more than one way.

The Sunday edition also included something Press readers will likely see many times over in weeks and months to come: Every page one article has John Hacker's byline.

Ball also says he wants to "become a Carthagenian or a Carthage-ite or whatever you call yourselves."

The word is Carthaginian. Unfortunately for Buzz, there was a time when a large number of people who worked at The Press could have told them that, but GateHouse (formerly Liberty Group Publishing) has neatly removed nearly all that is Carthage from the newspaper, as it fired workers to centralize operations in Neosho, and removed assets to improve the bottom line at Neosho.

Buzz has his work cut out for him.

Most unlimited contributions going to Blunt, Nixon

Another of the flaws of Missouri's new wave of unlimited campaign contributions has been shown during the first reports, according to an article in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
While the money is pouring into the coffers of Governor Matt Blunt and his challenger, Attorney General Jay Nixon, lower level candidates and political parties are receiving less. And, as you might expect, there are concerns that with that much money coming from a few sources, the voice of the average voter is going to be lost (you would have thought people would have seen that one coming):

Blunt's report shows that he received a whopping $3 million from about 500 donors during the past six months, while Nixon raised $1.3 million from roughly 2,000 contributors. Dozens of their donors gave $5,000 or more, and eight of Blunt's contributors wrote $100,000 checks. Advertisement

But the rest of the state's top officeholders or candidates were, with few exceptions, left with the scraps.

All of the campaign contributions for the top 14 of Missouri's other statewide officeholders, legislative leaders and declared statewide candidates totaled less than $1 million. And little of that money came from any of the top donors to Blunt or Nixon.

"The governor's race is sucking up most of the cash," said local Republican consultant Paul Zemitzsch

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Devil's Messenger signing goes well

It wasn't quite the success that the October 2005 signing for Small Town News was, but Saturday's signing for my novel Devil's Messenger at Hastings Books, Music and Video in Joplin went well. My understanding is that it was the second most successful book signing in the store's history, following the Small Town News signing.
As always, it was a pleasure to see a mix of folks ranging from current and former students and colleagues to old friends from the newspaper days and friends from the East Newton High School days.
I had an opportunity to talk with former Carthage Press General Manager and Managing Editor Ron Graber, who is upbeat despite the shabby way he was treated by GateHouse Media this week. I have no doubt Ron will wind up benefiting from this in the long run, and maybe even in the near future.
Thanks as always to my publicity director and former student at Diamond Middle School Michelle Nickolaisen, who helped lay the groundwork for the event and took photos, which will soon be available on this site and on the Devil's Messenger website.
And thanks to the staff at Hastings, which was extremely helpful and helped make the day a success.
For those who were unable to make the signing and wish to receive an autographed copy of Devil's Messenger, please contact me or Hastings, or check out the information at the book's website, and we will be sure to accommodate you.

(Photo: Michelle Nickolaisen and Alicia Bradley take a rare break during the Devil's Messenger signing.)

Montana, Washington battling Real ID law

Montana and Washington are leading the fight against federal Real ID requirements that force Americans to prove they are Americans before they can receive driver's licenses, according to an article from Stateline.org:

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) signed legislation Tuesday (April 17) that bans the state's Motor Vehicle Division from enforcing the national rules, which set uniform security features for driver’s licenses and require states to verify the identity of all driver’s license applicants.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) signed a bill Wednesday (April 18) barring that state from complying unless the federal government comes up with an extra $250 million to cover the state's expenses. The law also gives Washington's attorney general the right to challenge Real ID in court.

Montana's Schweitzer complained that the Real ID law is another way for the federal government to stomp on residents' personal privacy. "Montanans don’t want the federal agents listening to their phone conversations, rifling through their papers, checking on what books they read and monitoring where they go and when. We think they ought to mind their own business," he said in a written statement.

Gregoire in a statement said the Real ID Act "is another unfunded mandate from the federal government and, even worse, it doesn’t protect the privacy of the citizens of Washington."

Our legislators in Missouri should have been among the first to challenge this law, which requires that people who have been receiving driver's licenses for decades have to provide a birth certificate to show they are legally in this country. Americans should not have to prove they are Americans and please do not give me the nonsense about how people who have nothing to fear should not be concerned with having to show ID.

This is not legislation that protects us one bit. All it does is increase the cost of government and make money for people who specialize in providing voter IDs for driver's license or for voters. As I noted in the May 12, 2006, Turner Report:

Undoubtedly, companies will be vying to provide these voter IDs and one of the companies that stands a good chance of landing the state contract is Austin, Texas-based BearingPoint. On March 21, BearingPoint, which describes itself as a "leading global management and technology consulting firm," announced a teaming with Colorado-based Archon Technologies to "jointly pursue opportunities to provide information technology solutions for vehicle registration, drivers licensing and revenue management services to state, provincial, territorial and local motor vehicle departments in the United States and Canada."
The BearingPoint news release continued, " 'By aligning our business processes and information systems with Archon, BearingPoint will be better able to provide states with cost effective solutions to comply with the federally-mandated Real ID Act,' said Gary Miglicco, vice president for BearingPoint’s National Motor Vehicle Solutions Practice.
'Together, our two firms will review potential opportunities and work together to provide clients with integrated solutions that will allow them to upgrade their current systems and deliver results to citizens and other key constituents in an accelerated time frame.' Miglicco said the companies have already identified nearly a dozen potential market opportunities for 2006 and beyond."
Assuredly, Missouri is one of those markets since the following day, March 22, a Missouri lobbyist, Jay Reichard, filed documents with the Missouri Ethics Commission registering BearingPoint as a client. Reichard has some interesting connections. He shares a number of clients with another lobbyist, Andrew Blunt, younger brother of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, with most of those clients added to his list shortly after the governor took office.
Though Andrew Blunt is not listed as a lobbyist for BearingPoint (a wise move since the FBI is currently looking into the license fee operations in the state), there is little doubt that Blunt and Reichard are closely connected.

Reichard is still the registered lobbyist for Bearing Point. With the money to be made from these businesses is it any wonder that the politicians in the party which has always stood against government interference is willing to tolerate one intrusion after another? As usual, follow the money.

Sherwood: Media used by Giuliani, Blunt, during candidate's visit

KY3 reporter and blogger Michelle Sherwood offers a revealing glimpse at how politicians use the media. In an April 17 post, Ms. Sherwood describes the way the media was played by Giuliani and Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt when the former New York City mayor appeared at a Blunt fundraiser this week:

People paid to see Rudy Giuliani. I get that...but Roy Blunt's office sent out a press release to all the media, inviting them to attend. We were told that we could even have a one-on-one interview with Rudy. But instead, when we got there, Roy Blunt told the media that the one-one-one was off...that Rudy would be taking a few questions from the audience...but not from the media. He told the media that Giuliani wouldn't answer any questions because he didn't want it to become controversial.

Excuse me, huh?

We got used.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Politicians want media coverage, but naturally, they want to control it. It brings to mind the 1968 election when Richard Nixon took softball questions from audience members and from former University of Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson during a major election eve program. Media members were not allowed any access whatsoever.

I am also reminded of an incident in August 1992 at the Capital Plaza in Jefferson City at the victory party for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Webster. Since I was from the candidate's home town, I was told I would receive a one-on-one interview with him and would get 10 minutes.
Later that evening, Webster's aide Tony Feather of Sarcoxie told me I would only get five minutes. After that, it was, "Sorry, Randy, but it looks like you and the other newspaper reporters will have to interview him all at once."

Eventually, as I feared, we newspaper reporters were told we would not get to interview the attorney general at all. Then we watched as Webster went down a row of about a dozen television reporters, stopping to do one-on-one interviews with each reporter. One reporter, whom I believe was from a Columbia station, and who was standing barefooted on the hotel floor, climbed up on a chair and the dutiful candidate climbed up on a chair right beside her where she conducted the interview.

Of course, primary election night was about the last positive moment in Webster's campaign since he soon found himself inundated with the revelations about the Second Injury Fund (first raised by his primary opponent, Secretary of State Roy Blunt) that torpedoed his political aspirations and ended up with him serving time in prison.

As for the Giuliani incident, Ms. Sherwood rightly notes that there are many legitimate questions that the media could have asked and should have been allowed to ask him:

Secondly, controversial? Is it really too much to ask the former New York mayor what the heck he's doing in little-old Springfield? When Blunt introduced Giuliani, he said that the presidential-hopeful understood the needs and desires of Republican voters...but I beg to differ. For the most part, Mr. Giuliani holds non-traditional Republican views on issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control. So would it be too controversial to ask the guy why he thinks he can connect with the majority of Southwest Missourians??????? Can I get an AMEN?