Nobody's talking to Globe about Bruce Speck

If you read the latest Joplin Globe story on the controversy surrounding Bruce Speck, you would have to wonder what the big deal is.

The only people quoted, for the most part, are those with good things to say about Speck. The others, of course, have little or no confidence in the Joplin Globe considering the newspaper only discovered that Speck's tenure at Missouri Southern State University might be brief.

Take this passage quoting Faculty Senate Secretary Gerald Schlink:

The committee is now going to be charged with looking at the nature of the beef,” said Schlink, a professor in the biology department. “Hopefully this is not a witch hunt. We want to get enough opinions so people can look at it, and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so we can move on.”


Schlink said he personally has confidence in Speck’s leadership.

“The guy has done some good things,” he said. “He’s kept us afloat financially over some turbulent times. Look at the construction that’s going on.”

Meanwhile word has reached The Turner Report that a drive to save Bruce Speck's job has started, reportedly with the approval of his chief benefactor on the Board of Governors Dwight Douglas.

Most likely this is a humanitarian concern on Douglas' part since if Speck ends up losing his job he may have to sing for his supper...and in that case no one is safe.

Rhonda Justice returning to KOAM

Former KOAM anchor Rhonda Justice will return to the airwaves later this month, resuming the co-anchor spot opposite Dowe Quick.

Show-Me Opinions broke the story on the blogosphere earlier tonight, noting the mention on the KOAM website:

"It's exciting to be back around my KOAM family," she told her new coworkers. "(I) never really left in the heart, it's nice to be around the people I love."

Former anchor Erica Edwards said goodbye on Friday, but she isn't going far.

Erica is teaching TV production at Pittsburg State University and we wish her all the best.

(Photo: Shane Gallagher, Andrew Hoffman, and newly named KOAM anchor Rhonda Justice at the November 2005 signing for my first book Small Town News. That's one cheap plug; here comes another one. My new book, Newspaper Days, will be out in a few weeks.)

KSN interviews MSSU students on Speck controversy

KSN has posted an interview with MSSU students about the faculty senate's 23 to 2 vote to form an ad hoc committee to explore a no-confidence vote for President Bruce Speck.

A capsule summary: The station interviewed one guy who supports Speck and one guy who opposes him.

Not much depth. Not much value.

Blog: Turner Report part of Republican smear campaign

One thing I learned early during my three decades plus of reporting the news in one fashion or another- you must be doing something right if both political parties are unhappy with you.

For a long time, I have been amused to read the comments from those who consider me to be some sort of left-wing radical. If I write something bad about a Republican, I am immediately branded part of the "liberal media." All of this happening while I have consistently written about the problems Democrats have had with the law and with accepting gifts from lobbyists and campaign contributions from special interests.

My reporting on the $9,000 plus Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, has received from lobbyists this year (nearly $5,000 more than the nearest representative) drew the ire of the Tony's Kansas City blog, which is mostly my fault. As has been my practice, I sent Tony the link because that is something I have consistently done when I have a story I believe may interest a blogger.

This is part of Tony's post:

And phony teabag ethics don't win out in downtown.

Also, I find GOP propaganda regarding ethics from the same people willing to kick most of the State off Medicare a little confounding.

But go ahead and believe this is a big deal . . . Unlike the paper of record TKC is happy to link Republican smear tactics and challenge them head on . . . And anybody who believes this is a big issue or will influence an election is far too childish and naive for Kansas City politics.

Judging from that passage, Tony has not been a reader of The Turner Report, which has criticized the decision to pare thousands off the Medicaid rolls and has been especially critical of those who feel it is their God-given right to be rude and overbearing at town hall meetings.

I am concerned about Tony's passage which says there is nothing wrong with Mike Talboy accepting all of those gifts because Talboy is a good guy:

Furthermore . . . These attacks are stupid and prey upon misguided people because they only represent Talboy keeping really good track and REPORTING all of his interactions with lobbyists.

But here's the most important fact for me . . .

KANSAS CITY NEVER FAULTS A POLITICO FOR MAKING OR ENJOYING CASH!!!

It may not be right, it probably represents a corrupt culture but it's a fact of life.

Kansas City accepts success by any means necessary.

Tony's post received several comments, many from readers who tried to correct Tony's erroneous perception of The Turner Report, including this one:

The Turner Report just hates lobbyists in general, nothing other than that.

Actually, as hard as it may be for some to believe, I don't hate lobbyists. In fact, I acknowledge they serve a valuable purpose for our system. That being said, I have a strong belief that our elected officials should accept no gifts from lobbyists and that lobbyists should not be involved in collecting campaign contributions from their clients for politicians.

Eliminating these things would still leave lobbyists with a considerable advantage over the rest of us. They are located in Jefferson City, for the most part, with easy access to our senators and representatives. They normally have more research material available on issues and more money to conduct such research. Let the business be conducted in the office, and if they have to meet over a meal, let the politicians pay for their own food and drinks.

It wasn't long ago that a Missouri politician said, "People think these lobbyists are somehow giving gifts and providing benefits for lawmakers, and that simply isn't the case. If you simply eliminate the practice, it clears up the question."

It's time for the politician who spoke those words, Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, to back them up with some action. All Nodler has to do is steer a bill like that through the General Assembly and I will never write about the gifts that he, Mike Talboy, or any other state legislator receives ever again.

No new trial for Lamar Heights killer

The Missouri Supreme Court will not hear Jim Edward Ryan's appeal of his conviction for the May 25, 2005, murder of his brother-in-law John Kullie in Lamar Heights. The original trial was held in Cedar County Circuit Court on a change of venue from Barton County.

Ryan, 46, Lamar, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2006 after being a Cedar County jury found him guilty of first degree murder. Ryan was convicted to murdering Kullie, with a tire jack.

An earlier Southern District Court of Appeals opinion gave the following account of the murder:

Rebecca Kullie ("Rebecca" and her husband, John Kullie ("Victim") lived with her brother Johnny Ryan and his girlfriend Pattie Coy in a mobile home in Lamar, Missouri. Defendant, who was Rebecca's adopted brother, did not live at the mobile home, but would stay there on occasion with his wife, Oleta, and his girlfriend, Evette Noe ("Evette").

On May 25, 2005, Victim was resting in the back bedroom of the mobile home after an evening of "partying" at a neighbor's house, where he had consumed alcohol and Xanax.(FN3) Rebecca was in the kitchen of the mobile home, while Defendant, Oleta, Evette, Michael Wilkinson ("Michael"), and Zachary Dominguez ("Zachary") were in the living room. At some point during the evening, a small dog went into the room where Victim was resting, and Rebecca heard the dog growling. Oleta went to the bedroom, retrieved the dog, and came out cursing.

At some point thereafter, Defendant went outside and returned carrying a bumper jack.(FN4) As he was walking toward the back bedroom where Victim was located, Defendant looked at Rebecca and smirked. Rebecca heard a thump and heard Victim say "No. Don't. Stop. Why?" When she ran into the bedroom, she saw Defendant swinging the jack at Victim, and saw that Victim was gurgling blood and had an open cut on the side of his neck. When Rebecca tried to stop Defendant he threatened to kill her, so Rebecca ran next door and called 911. Michael and Zachary also heard three or four loud blows from the bedroom after they had seen Defendant go back there with the jack. Victim died as a result of his injuries.

After attacking Victim, Defendant and Evette went to a neighbor's house and Defendant asked the neighbor if she could "put [him] up." After Evette informed the neighbor that Defendant had killed somebody, the neighbor said she could not hide Defendant and that she would have to turn him in. Defendant then hid in the brush near Victim's home, where he was later discovered and arrested. When Defendant was arrested, he told officers, "I wasn't going to let him beat me." After Defendant was given the Miranda warnings, he spoke with police, but told them he could not remember what had happened.

Dr. Keith Norton performed an autopsy on Victim and determined the following: Victim died of multiple blunt injuries to his head and neck; he had fourteen lacerations on his body caused by five to fourteen blows; he had defensive wounds on his arms; and he had large amounts of alcohol and Xanax in his bloodstream, a combination that would have sedated a person and impeded his ability to respond quickly to an emergency.

Ryan testified on his own behalf at the trial, according to the appellate decision:

He saw Victim choking a little dog and he told him to stop, to which Victim responded, "[y]ou want some of it?"; Defendant got the women out of the house because Victim appeared angry and he thought he was going to wreck the place; when Defendant stepped outside he saw the jack, and brought it inside to get Victim to "turn loose of the . . . dog"; when Defendant went into the bedroom, Victim threw the dog at him and pressed down on the jack which was resting on Defendant's foot; Defendant fell on top of Victim and the two exchanged blows; as Defendant was trying to get up Victim kicked him in the groin area knocking him against the wall; as Victim was grabbing Defendant's foot, Defendant swung the jack at Victim hitting him in the face or throat area; he hit Victim with the jack a total of three times; Defendant thought that he was fighting for his life.

Ryan was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for the murder and 10 years for armed criminal action.
The appellate court rejected Ryan's contention that evidence of his previous violent acts should not have been admitted. Also rejected were defense claims that Ryan's case was prejudiced by the failure to give directions for conviction for a lesser offense and failure to admit evidence that might have cast doubt on the verdict.

Probation violation hearing for accused killer of Carthage couple continued

The probation violation for Darren Winans, 22, Jasper, one of two men accused of murdering Bob and Ellen Sheldon of Carthage Oct. 11, has been postponed to Sept. 29, according to Barton County Circuit Court online records.

Winans' most recent probation violation was reported after the Jasper County Sheriff's Department charged Winans and Matthew Laurin, 19, Springfield, with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and a single count of burglary in connection with the Sheldons' murder.

An examination of Winans' records indicate that at the time he is alleged to have murdered the Sheldons, he should have been behind bars, since he has a history of probation violations.

Winans pleaded guilty in Barton County Circuit Court March 21, 2006, to stealing a motor vehicle and was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Charles Curless. At that point, the sentence was suspended and Winans was placed on supervised probation for five years.

His first probation violation was reported Nov. 3, 2006. At a hearing 11 days later, Judge Curless continued the probation. The next violation was filed Jan. 2, 2008, and another filed Jan. 30. No hearing was held for the first violation. The second violation appears to be his arrest on drug charges in Jasper County. Judge Richard Copeland signed off on a deal that let Winans plead guilty to a misdemeanor and sentenced Winans to one year in the county jail, then suspended the sentence and placed him on unsupervised probation for a year. After that, a probation violating hearing was held in Barton County where Curless sentenced Winans to prison for five years, but kept the case on a 120-day callback. Winans' prison stay began May 1, according to court records, and concluded Aug. 28, six weeks and two days before the Sheldons were murdered.

Winans' next probaiton violation was reported three days after the murder, according to court records, with two more violations reported Oct. 30 and Dec. 9. The records do not indicate that hearings were scheduled for any of the three alleged violations.

In the meantime, Jasper County Circuit Court records show Winans' "ex-spouse" asked for a child protection order to be issued May 19. During a May 27 hearing, Winans denied her allegations, but Judge Stephen Carlton issued the full order of protection. Whatever the allegations were, online records do not show that any probation violation was filed.

Speck: Come on in and sit a spell

In a news release issued today, embattled Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck said he is ready to talk with any faculty members who are concerned with his performance. The university could probably go a long way toward solving its alleged financial crisis if it simply charged each faculty member who has a problem with Speck. The news release is printed below:

Missouri Southern State University President Bruce W. Speck said he is looking forward to meeting with representatives from the Faculty Senate to identify any faculty concerns.

“At this time, the Faculty Senate has not provided any specific issues, so I am looking forward to learning what those may be and working with the Faculty Senate to discuss and resolve those to the best of our ability,” the president stated.

A "Speck said" at the end of that statement would have seemed considerably less pretentious than "the president stated."

Speaker of the House tops Joplin area legislators in lobbyists' gifts for July

Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin, topped Joplin area legislators with $359.42 in lobbyists' gifts in July, according to documents posted this morning on the Missouri Ethics Commission website.

The gifts pushed Richard into the list of representatives who have received more than $2,000 in gifts this year. His total is $2,265.67.

Two of the gifts, a $63.25 dinner and a $273.48 in lodging and travel, were provided by Rodney Boyd, lobbyist for Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal.

The only gift received by Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, was a $15.19 meal from Warren Wood, Missouri Energy Development Association. Emery's total for 2009 is $246.75.

Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, also had only one gift, a $23 meal from Larry Cole, Cornerstone Health. Flanigan's total is $498.84.

The other three area legislators, Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City; and Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, did not have any gifts in July.

Mrs. Ruestman has received $659.70 for 2009, Stevenson $1,284.94, and Wilson $494.47.

Joplin Globe discovers there is trouble on MSSU campus

If anyone doubted there is controversy boiling over on the Missouri Southern State University campus, those doubts have certainly been laid to rest.

It's in today's Joplin Globe so it must be true. The Globe noted the vote by the Faculty Senate Monday to create an ad hoc committee to explore a no-confidence vote for University President Dr. Bruce Speck.

During a time when the MSSU campus has been racked with one mindboggling occurrence after another, most of them thanks to the leadership of Speck, the Globe has been serving as a public relations agency for the Speck administration.

As I wrote in an Aug. 3 post:

The following are recent headlines from Southern News Service, Missouri Southern State University's public relations operation:

-MSSU to open new bookstore

-Big three projects planned at MSSU

-Impressions prove lasting for new MSSU A.D.

-Hola: 79 enrolled in MSSU's Spanish language village

-MSSU notes summer enrollment hike

-State OK to be sought for medical program at Joplin university

-Partnership could bring osteopathic medical program to MSSU

-New MSSU board chairman says keeping education affordable top priority

-FCA reborn at MSSU

-MSSU president gets contract extension through 2011

-MSSU introduces new athletic director

-Five questions for MSSU Athletic Director Jared Bruggeman

-MSSU selects athletic director

-MSSU summer registration begins today

-MSSU committee chooses two finalists for athletic director post

CORRECTION: These are not headlines from Southern News Service, but from Missouri Southern State University's other public relations office, The Joplin Globe.

While the International Piano Competition has been axed, the university's international program virtually gutted, raises withheld from faculty due to a dubious interpretation of depreciation, and a university official quits a new job only 18 days into it, noting the negative tactics and intimidation used by the university president, everything is lollipops and rainbows as far as the Joplin Globe is concerned.

I hope for Rod Surber's sake that no one realizes the university can save money by eliminating his p. r. job so that it is not duplicated by the Globe's Melissa Dunson.

(And to be fair to Melissa Dunson, I would guess the problem is further up on the Globe's food chain.)

Miss Dunson has moved on to continue her public relations career at TAMKO and Greg Grisolano has taken over the newspaper's education beat. Whether this has resulted in the shift in coverage or whether events have simply gone so far that the Globe could not ignore them is a hard question to answer.

What is not difficult to ascertain is that if the Globe had been doing its job the situation at Missouri Southern State University may have never reached this point.

Talboy cracks $9,000 mark in lobbyists' gifts

Not only has Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, accepted more gifts from lobbyists than any other Missouri state representative, but as of this morning, he appears to be almost $5,000 ahead of his nearest competitor.

Documents posted today on the Missouri Ethics Commission website show Talboy received $2,705.04 in gifts during July, making his total for the first seven months of 2009 $9,185.65. His nearest competitor, fellow Kansas City Democrat Leonard Hughes is nearly $5,000 behind him.

The July totals include $1,655.48 for travel to a Bio World Congress in Montreal, paid for by lobbyist Alex Eaton, Missouri Biotechnology Association, $760 for Crown Seat tickets at Kauffman Stadium to a July 19 game between the Kansas City Royals and the Tampa Bay Rays from Madeline Romious, AT&T, and $165 worth of St. Louis Cardinals tickets from Irl Scissors, representing Simmons Cooper LLC.

Talboy also picked up a $64.08 meal from David Hale of the Missouri Hospital Association and two $5 tickets to Riverfront 2009 from Michael Burke, Port Authority of Kansas City.

Details on Talboy's lobbyist gifts from earlier in 2009 can be found at this link.