Reports are getting back to me that students at Carthage Senior High School tried the same stunt that landed Webb City High School students on page one of the Globe and on the area TV news last week.
Students wore homemade T-shirts with gay-pride slogans to school one day last week. Apparently, if the reports are accurate, administrators ignored the students, didn't give them the publicity they were craving, and the problem went away simply because there was no problem.
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First Amendment issues are always at the forefront and oftentimes students' rights are the ones that end up being publicized. It was only two years ago that an openly gay teenager in New York was kept out of class for more than three hours after she wore a t-shirt that said, "Barbie is a Lesbian." Though no one has any proof that Barbie is a lesbian (and if you have such proof maybe you should notify her next of Ken), what the record does show is that Natalie Young sued the school and ended up receiving $30,000 in a settlement. The school had to settle since it punished Miss Young for violating a non-existent dress code.
Several lawsuits have arisen over schools attempting to punish students who publish websites which are critical of school officials. Eighth grader Ryan Dwyer of Newark, N.J. started a site to give himself a voice he claimed he didn't have at school.
He specifically told students who posted items on his site not to use profanity and never threaten "any teacher or person EVER." Though I am not thrilled about the reference to teacher or person since I have always considered teachers to be people, it was obvious this young man was trying to be responsible. Some of the items that were posted were critical of school officials so naturally, he was called into the office and told to shut down the website. He did, but he was still suspended for a week, kicked off the baseball team for a month and not allowed to go on the class trip to Philadelphia. That case is still pending.
Syndicated columnist Nat Hentoff, a nationally known First Amendment expert, recently wrote about a Brooklyn valedictorian who had her valedictory speech censored by school officials.
Tiffany Schley wrote a speech that opened with references to her school's textbook shortages, overcrowded classes, administrators who didn't want to meet with students to discuss problems, and a revolving door of principals, four in four years, that the school had gone through.
The principal read her speech, deleted the criticisms, then rewrote the speech. When it came time to deliver, it, Miss Schley began giving her original speech. She had included many positive references to her school toward the conclusion of the speech, but those who attended the graduation ceremony did not get to hear them. An assistant principal cut the power to her microphone and she did not get to finish. The next day, she and her mother went to the school to pick up the diploma. School officials refused to give her the diploma, saying that she had created a disturbance at the graduation and had hurt the school's educational atmosphere. Miss Schley and her mother were removed by security guards because they had allegedly been "disrespectful." She finally received her diploma but the issue was publicized heavily in newspapers across the country. Miss Schley is not suing the school.
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Pearl Harbor survivor Dick Ferguson of Carthage was featured on Channel 16's news last night. Ironically, he said that one of the things he did each Dec. 7 was open the morning newspaper to see if anyone remembered.
He must have been disappointed to read yesterday morning's Globe, which featured no mention whatsoever of Pearl Harbor. A wire story is included in today's paper.
I am certain the afternoon newspaper did not disappoint Mister Ferguson as The Carthage Press has always been a paper with a strong historical and patriotic bent.
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The Joplin Globe carried the story this morning of the return of laid off workers to the O'Sullivan plant in Lamar.
The article contained the news that the final member of company founder Tom O'Sullivan's family to work for the company, Michael O'Sullivan, has resigned. That now not only means that the connection to the O'Sullivan family is gone, but from a media standpoint it means that The Lamar Democrat has been scooped on virtually every important O'Sullivan story in the past several months.
The Globe story ended with new director of marketing Mike Franks, who recently resigned his position with the Neosho R-5 Board of Education, talking about the departure of the O'Sullivan family. “I’m assuming they chose to pursue other options,” Franks said.
While nothing has been put on the record about the other O'Sullivans, the resignation letter that former O'Sullivan Board Chairman Dan O'Sullivan, the oldest son of Tom O'Sullivan, wrote, indicated that he resigned because he did not agree with the direction in which the current management is taking the company. That information should have been included in R. C. Balaban's story.
I am not fully aware of what local officials have agreed to make the move to O'Sullivan's new corporate headquarters in Atlanta, but it is a sad state for the company to be in when the closest to a Lamar face they can put on their dealings with area media is a man from Neosho.
If anyone knows of any Lamar people who are making the move to Atlanta, send me an e-mail or leave a response on this blog.

It is amazing how the people who claim that the American system of government is corrupt are always the ones who try to use the freedoms offered by that same system to their advantage.
Take Robert Joos.
It was just 10 years ago that the white supremacist pastor's arrest on a weapons charge started a chain of events that led to the shooting of Missouri Highway Patrol trooper Bobby Harper. The damage done by that shooting eventually led to Harper's death two years later.
The man who allegedly shot Harper (forensics evidence linked the bullet that wounded Harper to one that had been fired from his rifle earlier), Timothy Coombs, supposedly did so to avenge Joos' arrest. A $10,000 reward was recently offered for information leading to Coombs' arrest. Coombs has been on the run for the past decade and is rumored to be living in Canada.
Joos, meanwhile, has followed up his weapons arrest with a series of arrests for driving without a license. The most recent, his third such arrest, is being categorized as a felony and Joos is doing everything he can to manipulate the freedoms offered by the society that he so hates.
He has filed papers in McDonald County Circuit Court, with Missouri State Supreme Court, and with the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri asking a writ of habeas corpus.
According to the petition in the case of Robert Joos vs. McDonald County Sheriff Robert Evenson, filed Nov. 19 in U. S. District Court, Joos claims that the time he has lost due to his most recent incarceration is time "which I can never recover." And, of course, it violated his right to due process, he says.
He claims that he never received official notice of the community service he was sentenced to perform after his second driving without a license arrest, and even if he had, it was illegal anyway, for as everyone knows, "Forced labor violates the cruel and unusual clauses of both U. S. and Missouri constitutions." Joos adds, "The sentence of community service under threat of jail is forced labor."
The cruel and unusual punishment, this evil forced labor Joos is talking about, is described in his petition. The judge had the nerve to expect Joos to pick up trash along the roadway
Joos has been singled out because of his lack of wealth, he said. He couldn't afford to pay a fine so he had to do community service. Besides, as everyone knows, or at least so Joos claims, the law that forces people to have driver's licenses is unconstitutional anyway.
Joos filed his writs as he was being held in the McDonald County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond. "Time is of the essence," he said, "as I lose both unrecoverable time and possibly my health as I have eaten nothing and drank but one liter of water since Nov. 14 and will eat nothing until heard on this petition.'
What has been done to him, Joos said, is a "manifest injustice against an innocent person, jailed by cause and prejudice." He is requesting an immediate hearing and his release.
The Nov. 28 Neosho Daily News reported that Joos had been hospitalized at Freeman Neosho from symptoms resulting from his hunger strike. Joos, described in the article as a "self-proclaimed white supremacist pastor" of the Sacerdotal Church of David has said in past interviews that his religion keeps him from getting a driver's license because he is a "servant of God and can have no covenant with the heathen government."
Apparently, a writ of habeas corpus ranks somewhere below a covenant.
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The Sears-K-Mart merger may not be a done deal.
The Tuesday Chicago Sun-Times reports that Vornado Realty Trust, a New York-based trust that recently bought a 4.3 percent stake in Sears could still team with a private equity partner or another retailer to bid for Sears and even if that falls through, there is still a possibility that another dark horse bidder could emerge.
Another possibility, the article said, is that Sears could offer Vornado prime real estate in exchange for Sears stock.
The Sears-K-Mart deal has already drawn the wrath of shareholders, who have filed lawsuits saying the deal is unfair. K-Mart's purchase of Sears is scheduled to close in March.

A federal appeals court decision issued this morning cited La-Z-Boy of Neosho for unfair labor practices designed to discourage union organizing.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit partially backed a decision made earlier by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which said the company unfairly disciplined two employees, John Phillips and Klint Guinn, during a union organizing drive.
The appeals court agreed with the NLRB as far as Phillips was concerned, but said that Guinn had not been unlawfully disciplined.
The Phillips incident occurred on June 16, 2000, when Phillips, a parts inspector, was called to a meeting with supervisors Dave Harris and Wayne Allen. According to the court ruling, they told Phillips that La-Z-Boy had received a complaint from another employee "alleging that Phillips had threatened to reject products from the employee, thereby negatively affecting that employee's pay, if the employee failed to sign a union authorization card."
Phillips said he had not made that threat. Harris testified he and Allen had warned Phillips about a company policy against union solicitation during work hours and then excused him.
Harris's version did not jibe with Phillips' recollections. He said that Harris did not just give him a simple reminder, but told him to "consider this your verbal warning."
The supervisors also created a written record of the conversation, according to the court decision, and e-mailed it to the director of human resources to put in Phillips' file.
The administrative law judge for the NLRB who investigated the case found the e-mails documenting the meetings that were put in Phillips' file and further said the company took that step to discourage union activity.
The judge also found that Phillips had never threatened the other employee, so he determined the company had no justification for the discipline and could not show that it would have done the same thing if Phillips had not been involved with the union.
The second incident involved Guinn, a parts picker, who claimed he was unfairly disciplined for not telling a supervisor he would be gone on Friday, Aug. 11, 2000.
The judge decided in Guinn's favor partially relying on information about tactics La-Z-Boy officials had used in the past to discourage union organizing and noted that Guinn had been "treated differently" from another employee, who was not involved in union activity, but who had committed the same transgression.
Though the NRLB said that Guinn was disciplined solely because of his union activity, the appellate court said it could not be determined that was the sole reason.
The case will now be returned to the NLRB to modify its order to comply with the court decision.
***
It's easy to get tired of some of the stories news outlets recycle year after year. I never assigned any stories about the shopping rush on the day after Thanksgiving. I also did not want to do any stories on shoppers returning gifts the day after Christmas.
The annual story about how much it would cost to recreate the 12 days of Christmas ceased to interest me even before the first time I read it.
But as much as some stories should be put to rest, there are others that should never be. Journalists should keep reporting on Sept. 11 and the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, the true meaning of the Christmas holiday, the patriotic stories that surround July 4, and so many others.
One story that should continue to be told as long as there are people alive to tell it is the Dec. 7, 1941, sneak attack that brought the United States into World War II. These stories must continue to be told. The reason why was pointed out to me during my first year of teaching at Diamond Middle School during the 1999-2000 school year.
I brought in my old friend, Dick Ferguson of Carthage, who was at Pearl Harbor, to tell the story to my seventh and eighth grade students.
The best part about his presentation was that the classroom VCR was not working, so instead of a video about Pearl Harbor, we had the opportunity to hear Dick's stories and the kids were fascinated.
After his talk, a question-and-answer session was held. One eighth grade girl, sitting in the back of the classroom, raised her hand. After she was recognized, she said, "This is really interesting. Who won that war?"
Before Dick could answer, another girl chipped in, "Yeah, I'd like to know that, too."
Unfortunately, according to the curriculum at the Diamond school and so many others, World War II does not really come into play in the history classes until you get to high school. Dick said that was not the first time he had heard that question when he spoke at area schools.
It shouldn't be that way. We have a valuable opportunity to teach lessons about World War II, the Korean War, the Great Depression, and other occurrences of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s with in-person assistance from those who actually lived through those events.
So many times, though, the schools are not able to do that because there is simply not enough time to teach the curriculum and to bring in an array of guest speakers.
That makes it even more important that our local media keep the news in perspective, whether it be news that happened yesterday or news that happened 63 years ago.
That's why it was so disappointing this morning to read The Joplin Globe today and not see one word about Pearl Harbor. Yes, the stories have been done before, time after time, but sometimes the reminders are necessary and important because of what they contribute to the fabric of American society.
When we forget the sacrifices that were made for us, whether those sacrifices be today in Iraq or more than six decades ago at Pearl Harbor, the entire country is diminished.
Hopefully, the Globe editors have a big story in mind for the Wednesday edition detailing how the Pearl Harbor anniversary was observed locally and throughout the country.
***
An article on page 3 of this morning's Globe details how Jasper County officials have authorized the money to hold videotaped arraignments from the county jail.
Sheriff Archie Dunn says that 2,100 inmates were taken from Carthage to the courts building in Joplin for hearings from January to September of this year.
Most of those trips were for simple arraignments, he said. So the county is spending $8,600 for a video arraignment system, according to the article.
I have no problem with this system, but the whole situation raises a bigger question, one which was posed by a letter-writer in The Globe recently...Why are these prisoners being taken from Carthage to Joplin, when there is a perfectly good courthouse in Carthage where these arraignments could be held? Apparently, the judges are so comfortable in their Joplin offices that they cannot bring themselves to drive over to Carthage and conduct business.
The judges were quite content with taking the risk of one or more of these prisoners escaping or hurting someone or being involved in an accident that could bring a lawsuit against the county just so they wouldn't have to drive 20 miles to Carthage.
You can make a convincing safety argument for videotaping arraignments, but spare me the line about saving the taxpayers money. That ship sailed a long time ago.

One of the most important pieces of writing about the state of small-town journalism was done by American Journalism Review five years ago.
The magazine, which covers developments in the media, ran a series called "The State of the American Newspaper." One segment of that series dealt with small-town newspapers, including the companies that own The Joplin Globe, the Neosho Daily News, and The Carthage Press.
The article painted a bleak picture of the companies that own small-town daily newspapers, and unfortunately, nothing has improved in the five years since.
Quoting from the article called "The Selling of Small Town America," which was written by Mary Walton, a former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter:
"Deeply rooted as they may be, the nation's hometown papers are vulnerable to outside forces. And these days, they are changing hands like used cars at an auction- more than 380 in the past five years alone."
The article continues, "In one of the biggest shifts in newspaper ownership since chains began devouring independent papers more than a generation ago, bit-city businessmen with deep pockets are flocking to the industry, lured by small papers with generous margins. These new owners are highly leveraged and itching to make money. Indeed, often built into their financial arrangements are 'exit strategies' that force the companies either to sell or go public, generally within five to seven years."
That scenario can be seen in the situation with Liberty Group Publishing, the company which owns The Neosho Daily News, The Carthage Press, the Neosho Post, and the Big Nickel. The company was put on the auction block in August, only six years after it formed.
The American Journalism Review article noted that the companies often keep publishers, something that has been done in Neosho with Randy Cope.
The article notes that two of the top three newspaper companies in the county, as far as number of dailies owned, did not exist five years earlier. These are the Globe's owner, Community Newspaper Holdings, and Liberty.
"The frenzy of buying and selling has produced a new breed of 'financial owner' for whom small newspapers are just another business. Community Newspapers Holdings or CNHI, is bankrolled by a pension fund. Liberty is owned by a Los Angeles leveraged buyout company."
The AJR article hit the nail on the head when it says, "These new companies start out deeply in debt, with rigorous payment schedules based on expectations of steady profits. In the event of an economic downturn, these debt-laden companies have few options beyond cutting costs- which in some cases they've already done with a vengeance."
The article describes the way the companies make money. "The new owners are highly acquisitive. Because the bulk sales from old to new chains typically have involved a large number of leanly run 'mature papers' in no to slow-growth communities, the only way the new owners can increase revenue is to find fresh properties and cut costs."
The next paragraph in the article describes what has happened with the Neosho and Carthage newspapers. "As buyers look for papers that can be clustered around a single printing plant, community weeklies have become as important to the equation as dailies." The weeklies owned by Liberty in this area, for instance, include The Neosho Post, the Miller Press, and The Greenfield Vedette.
One of the major ideas of the article is that this frenzy of buying and selling newspapers has kept them from being able to continue serving their communities.
"Unlike large metros that must compete for news and advertising with suburban dailies, radio and television stations, direct mail and now the internet," the article reads, "many smaller newspapers are genuine monopolies. Because they have fewer pages than metros, small-town newspapers require far less newsprint per copy. Unions are rare, labor is cheap. It is not uncommon to find reporters earning as little as $7 an hour. (That is still the case with most small dailies five years later.)
The article continues, "Moreover, unlike big papers that are vulnerable to economic cycles, little papers have a more stable base. Their advertisers have nowhere else to turn, and even in bad times, people can afford 50 cents for a newspaper."
The article delves deeply into Liberty Group Publishing, beginning with Leonard Green, the head of the investment firm that owns 90 percent of Liberty. Green is an investor, not a newspaper man. He is the first to say that. But to run his company, Green selected former Hollinger International (American Publishing Company) lawyer Ken Serota and not a newspaperman.
The problem with Liberty is that the only way it can continue to make money is by buying more and more newspapers then cutting them to the bone. Some of this can be accomplished through what they call "clustering," buying several newspapers in the same region, then combining services at one place, thus enabling the company to sell of extra machinery and cut personnel, payroll, and benefits.
Liberty officials tried to take the company public a couple of years ago, but then decided against it, leading to the auction that is currently taking place.
There had been some initial hope that a real newspaper company (if such a thing exists now) would buy Liberty and get the newspapers out of this dangerous cycle they have been in for years. But industry sources say that the only companies left in the bidding for Liberty are investment firms. This could lead to another round of cuts, acquisitions, and more cuts.
The sad thing is that newspapers already have a much larger profit margin than most companies. Small-town newspapers can rake in as much as 30 percent profit, while many large, well-known companies are able to survive with single-digit profit margins.
The outlook appears to be bleak, especially for those hoping that the upcoming sale of the Neosho Daily and The Carthage Press is going to lead to some journalistic renaissance. You're most likely going to continue to see poorly paid reporters, tons and tons of special sections and free niche magazines, and cost-cutting measures that continue to eat away at the heart and soul of the newspapers.
I hope I am wrong, but this is the way it has been playing out across America. I don't expect Liberty to become an exception.

The decision by a federal court judge to put Webb City junior Brad Mathewson and the R-7 School District into mediation is clearly a major story in the ongoing saga of a young man who wants to wear his gay pride t-shirts to school.
So why hasn't anyone written about it.
The order to seek mediation was issued Nov. 30...five days ago...and as of yet, it has only been mentioned in one place, The Turner Report of Dec. 1.
Why haven't the traditional media picked up on this story?
Several answers suggest themselves, beginning with the most simple one...they don't know about it. Let's face it, the Brad Mathewson case has been one in which the media have responded to calls from the American Civil Liberties Union or Mathewson. If they had to dig for their own stories, they might not know how to do it.
The follow-up story on seven Webb City High School students who were sent home from school for wearing homemade gay pride or gay support t-shirts obviously did not come as a result of investigative reporting. One of the kids who chose to go home rather than take off the t-shirt obviously called the media and the media couldn't wait to jump on the story. After all, how do you turn down a ready-made top of page one, lead off the six o'clock news story.
No one has called the media and said, "Hey, they're going to make the two sides choose a mediator and try to settle the dispute before it goes to trial." Even if someone did, people trying to use reason to settle a squabble doesn't make good television...though it does make news that people might have an interest in seeing. It also doesn't stir up trouble, which apparently keeps it off the Globe's radar.
I haven't changed my views about Brad Mathewson. I still agree with the school officials that he has no business wearing the t-shirts. No one is stopping him from proclaiming he is gay or that he is proud of being gay. All school officials have said is that he can't wear t-shirts that could cause a distraction. If school officials had been as diligent in removing t-shirts with anti-gay messages (and they should have been), they might not have found themselves in their current situation.
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The area media is also missing out on an opportunity to explore other issues that have arisen as a result of the Brad Mathewson case. Will officials at some area schools decide to get away from this business of checking what is on students' clothing by going to school uniforms?
That, too, could bring a major uprising since some parents and students like things just the way they are as far as clothing is concerned. Plus, the ACLU has come out on record time after time against school uniforms.
The Globe and the area TV stations could research how and if uniforms work and they wouldn't have to go far to do it. College Heights Christian School in Joplin implemented school uniforms this year. I am unaware if the uniforms achieved the results school officials hoped for, but I would be interested in finding out, and so, I would imagine, would the viewers and readers of this area.
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Effective Nov. 18, the O'Sullivan Industries Board of Directors approved a common stock option plan as an incentive for "executives and other key employees of O'Sullivan and its subsidiaries." The plan was filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Those who qualify for the plan may buy up to 93,182 shares of Class A common stock at one cent per share.
Apparently, the plan is being used. The first person to register buying the newly issued stock was O'Sullivan's vice president of marketing, Michael Franks, Neosho. Franks bought 6,500 shares, according to SEC documents. The cost would have been $65, based on the documents.
Franks recently resigned his position on the Neosho R-5 Board of Education, citing the increased amount of travel his job will require. It appears that Franks may be one of those officials who is making the move to Atlanta as the company relocates its corporate headquarters, something that Wednesday's Lamar Democrat said would give O'Sullivan "greater opportunity for recruiting sales and marketing personnel." That statement was made in what appears to be an O'Sullivan press release with the byline of Democrat Editor Rayma Bekebrock Davis attached, since there is no indication of any interview having been conduced, no quotes from company officials, no proclamations that someone told The Lamar Democrat something...and besides it reads exactly like a press release.

Pre-filing of bills for Missouri's 2005 legislative session began Dec. 1 and State Senator Gary Nodler of Joplin has been busy.
One of three bills pre-filed by Nodler was obviously inspired by the July 31 death of a Neosho man and his seven-year-old granddaughter. Nodler's bill would increase the penalty for involuntary manslaughter under certain circumstances.
Those circumstances, as outlined in the bill summary, would be if the person has a blood alcohol level that is one and a half times the legal limit or if a fatality occurs when the person's vehicle leaves a public thoroughfare.
Both circumstances apply to the case against Edward Meerwald, 50, Noel, who faces involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the deaths of James Dodson and his granddaughter. Of course, if the bill is passed, it would have no effect on the Meerwald case, but it would apply to all future cases in which such criteria would apply.
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Nodler also re-filed a bill from the 2004 session, which would remove a portion of I-44 that has been designated George Washington Carver Memorial Highway. That portion of highway was already designated as the Congressman Gene Taylor Highway. Nodler was Taylor's legislative assistant.
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The other Nodler bill, if approved, would increase the number of voting members of the Missouri Southern State University governing board from seven to eight.
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Another busy legislator has been Rep. Ed Emery of Lamar, though you don't see his name as sponsor on any bills at this point. Emery is co-sponsoring two bills which appear to be more than a little bit controversial.
Both bills were sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Davis, a Republican from O'Fallon.
One would appear to be putting Missouri square in the middle of the growing evolution controversy. According to the bill, "All biology textbooks sold to the public schools of the state of Missouri shall have one or more chapters containing a critical analysis of origins. The chapters shall convey the distinction between data and testable theories of science and philosophical claims that are made in the name of science. Where topics are taught that may generate controversy, such as biological evolution, the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist, why such topics may generate controversy, and how scientific discoveries can profoundly affect society."
The other bill would strictly regulate how sex education is taught in Missouri schools. Among the bill's requirements, schools must:
-Present abstinence as the preferred choice of behavior because it is "the only method that is 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and the emotional trauma associated with adolescent sexual activity, and advise students that teenage sexual activity places them at a higher risk of dropping out of school because of the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy."
-"Stress that sexually transmitted diseases are serious, possible, health hazards of sexual activity.:
-"Present students with the latest medically factual information regarding both the possible side effects and health benefits of all forms of contraception, including the success and failure rates for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."
-"Include a discussion of the possible emotional and psychological consequences of preadolescent and adolescent sexual activity and the consequences of adolescent pregnancy, as well as the advantages of adoption, including the adoption of special needs children, and the processes involved in making an adoption plan.
-"Teach skills of conflict management, personal responsibility, and positive self-esteem through discussion and role-playing at appropriate grade levels to emphasize that the pupil has the power to control personal behavior. Pupils shall be encouraged to base their actions on reasoning, self-discipline, sense of responsibility, self-control, and ethical considerations, such as respect for one's self and others. Pupils shall be taught not to make unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances or otherwise exploit another person. Pupils shall be taught to resist unwanted sexual advances and other negative peer pressure."
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Another Senate bill, which probably will go nowhere, would change the teacher tenure law in Missouri. Presently in Missouri, teachers have to have taught five years at a school, then become tenured on the first day of their sixth year. Unfortunately, many good teachers have been victimized by unscrupulous superintendents who save money by eliminating teachers after their fourth or fifth year, then replacing them with cheaper first-year teachers. It has also been used as a tool by superintendents with self-esteem issues to remove teachers who disagree with them (I have no one in particular in mind.)
Unfortunately, when these teachers go to another school, they have to teach another five years to become eligible for tenure.
St. Louis Democratic Senator Pat Dougherty's bill would grant tenure after five years of teaching service, though a teacher would have to go through a one-year probationary period at a new school. Should a teacher leave teaching for more than five years, this law would allow that teacher to return and regain tenure after a one-year probationary period.
The fact that the bill is being presented by a Democrat in a Republican-controlled Senate probably spells doom for it. Also, the fiction persists that the tenure laws keep bad teachers in the classrooms. Bad teachers can always be removed, though it sometimes is a hassle. The people tenure protects are good teachers are targeted by school officials who want to hire teachers for lower salaries or who want to remove people with whom they have personality conflicts.
Obviously, I have a bit of a conflict of interest writing about this bill. I am in my sixth year of teaching, yet I will have to teach three more years after this one to get tenure for the first time. I have to be a probationary teacher for nine years even though so far I have had only good evaluations at both Joplin and Diamond.
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Another bill would allow for the recall of school board members. A recall election would be held if at least 25 percent of the number who voted in the last school board election sign a petition. If the voters decide to keep the board member in office, that member cannot be subjected to another recall during his or her term. A similar bill didn't make the cut in 2004.
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Wal-Mart has become the number one retailer in America over the past two decades, but it also has an important role in the Chinese economy, according to China Business Weekly. "If Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada," the article quotes Xu Jen, Wal-Mart China's director of external affairs as saying.
Remember that the following information comes from China's perspective. "So far, more than 70 percent of the commodities sold in Wal-Mart are made in China. Experts say Wal-Mart's plan of increasing its procurement from China has granted the firm a positive corporate reputation in the country," according to the article.
Wang Yao, China General Chamber of Commerce director of information, said, "Buying more products in China means more job opportunities, which helps the firm win not only the government's hearts, but also the customers' appreciation."
While Wal-Mart's strategy has undoubtedly made its stockholders and executives wealthier, it has also served to put many Americans out of work or into lower paying jobs. That should have been a major issue in our most recent presidential campaign instead of whether our president served in the National Guard when he was supposed to in the 1970s or what Senator Kerry did in Vietnam three decades ago.
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Third quarter earnings for CBL & Associates, the new owners of Northpark Mall in Joplin, are up.
According to the company's filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, total revenues increased 19.3 percent in the third quarter 2004 to $194,227,000 from $162,859,000. Same store sales in CBL's malls were up more than four percent.
The company also noted success with remodeling of the malls it owns. This strategy has enabled it to attract top-drawer tenants, which should be good news for Joplin.
***
A decision by Jasper County Associate Circuit Court Judge Richard Copeland apparently kept a Miami,OK woman driving long enough for her to be arrested for DWI.
According to court records, Tondra Jo Phillips, 28, has a pre-trial conference set for 9 a.m. Dec. 21, on charges of driving while intoxicated and failure to drive on the right half of the roadway. Her case will be heard in front of Judge Joe Schoeberl.
Ms. Phillips had her license revoked earlier this year after refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test. Judge Copeland has granted two stay orders preventing the revocation from taking place. Court records indicate that the second one was granted Aug. 27, less than two months before she was charged with DWI.
Ms. Phillips is scheduled to go before Judge Copeland 1:30 p.m. Dec. 17, just four days before her pre-trial conference in the DWI case, for a final decision on whether she should keep her driver's license.
Judge Copeland has a reputation for using technicalities to return the driver's licenses of those who had them taken away after alcohol-related offenses. For more information, check back postings on The Turner Report.
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The Lamar Democrat on Wednesday trumpeted the story of the recall of 150 workers who had been laid off at O'Sullivan Industries. It was a big story and deserved the prominent page-one placement.
But once again, there has still been no mention of the resignation of Dan O'Sullivan, son of the founder of the company, from his position as chairman of the board of directors, nor has there been any comprehensive coverage of what has happened at O'Sullivan the past few months, except for information that has been spoonfed to the newspaper by company officials.
From Wednesday's article, "The corporate offices of O'Sullivan Industries are now located in Atlanta, Ga., where there is greater opportunity for recruiting sales and marketing personnel. The new executive team has been working to improve strategic planning, to make the manufacturing process more efficient and to improve the management of capital following four years of declining sales for the company."
I put the material in the preceding paragraph in quotes simply because it came directly from the Democrat article. There are no quotes around it in the article, which was written by Democrat Editor Rayma Bekebrock Davis. It appears to be her stating her opinion, even if that is not the case.
This is the first time I can recall that an O'Sullivan article has run on page one that featured a Democrat byline and was not simply a verbatim press release from the company. Unfortunately, it still sounds like a verbatim press release from the company. Company officials' viewpoints need to be featured in the local newspaper, but they need to be weighed along with other sources of information that are not being provided.

Brad Mathewson's lawsuit against the Webb City R-7 School District has been assigned to an outside mediator.
According to documents filed in the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the case was selected for inclusion in the court's Early Assessment Program.
After the two sides have filed their pleadings in the case, they will have 15 days to choose a neutral mediator and file that mediator's name, address, and telephone number with the court. The school district, Mathewson, and the mediator will collectively determine how the cost of the mediator's services will be paid. If the two parties cannot agree on a mediator, the court will prove them with a list of possible mediators, then they will have 10 days to pick one or risk having one appointed by the Early Assessment Program's administrator, Magistrate Judge James C. England.
The Early Assessment Program is designed to allow parties to "confront the facts and issues in their case before engaging in expensive and time-consuming discovery procedures," according to the general order that began the program.
It allows the parties to consider each other's views, discuss the issues, consider the costs and try to settle the case before added costs make settlement more difficult, and lets them consider other means of solving the dispute.
The program is designed to help parties in a legal action to "identify areas of agreement and explore the possibility of settling the case through mediation techniques."
Mediation sessions will be held either in meeting space at a U. S. Courthouse, or in some other location selected by the administrator or mediator.
What happens in the mediation sessions should remain secret, the rules say, and cannot be used in any future court case should the mediation effort fail. Participants cannot record the sessions or use private reporters to take down proceedings unless all parties agree.
Mathewson, for those who have not been paying attention recently, is the 16-year-old Webb City High School junior who filed a lawsuit against the R-7 School District, claiming R-7 officials violated his First Amendment rights, when they would not allow him to wear gay pride T-shirts or T-shirts from the Gay/Straight Alliance chapter which he was a member of while attending high school at Fayetteville, Ark., last year.
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Another local case has also been placed in the Early Assessment Program, though details of that case have not been publicized and are not yet available. Documents issued by the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri earlier this week indicate that the lawsuit filed by former Newton County Jail prisoner Oscar Alvarez against lame duck Sheriff Ron Doerge has also been placed in that program.
This would appear to be another indication that the Alvarez lawsuit is not one of the typical jailhouse cases filed against every sheriff in the United States. As indicated earlier in The Turner Report, the Alvarez case was not filed by Alvarez himself or by a public defender, as is usually the case in these prisoner lawsuits, but was filed by a high-powered litigation firm from Springfield.
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The flurry of legal activity surrounding the Newton County sheriff, including the Alvarez case and apparent ongoing investigations by the Missouri Ethics Commission and the Attorney General's office, now features another lawsuit.
A man named Stanley Paul Smith has filed a lawsuit against Doerge in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, but Doerge is far from the only defendant named. Also included are Attorney General John Ashcroft, Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt, U. S. Cellular Company, Freeman Hospitals and Healthy Systems, the City of Joplin, Joplin Mayor Phil Stinnet, Former Police Chief David Niebur, the Joplin City Council, the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole, Attorney General Jay Nixon, U. S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan, President George W. Bush, former President George Bush, Missouri Governor Bob Holden, Missouri Highway Patrol Officer Miles Parks, officials from the Social Security Administration, former CIA Director George Tenet, current CIA Director Porter Goss, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, U. S. Senators Kit Bond and Jim Ryun and a number of other officials.
Smith opens his petition by requesting nearly $1.3 billion in actual damages and more than $10.3 billion in punitive damages for "damages for illegal and unconstitutional injuries caused to (his) physical-mental health and violations of the First Amendment as well as actual property damage."
He asks for an additional $300 million apiece from Eagle Picher Industries and the U. S. Government for "lead poisoning that has caused permanent disabilities" and weakened his immune system.
Smith accused the defendants of being involved in a conspiracy. According to the lawsuit, the conspiracy started on April 27, 1995, when Smith was laying on the ground examining his son's wrecked car. He found himself unable to stand up due to "excruciating abdominal pain" caused by his non-functioning gall bladder.
He had been scheduled for gall bladder surgery earlier at Oak Hill Hospital but the surgery was canceled, he said, when the hospital canceled the surgery because it would "not accept Medicaid pending."
After Smith went on a mercy mission to drop off food to a friend who had suffered a heart attack, he determined that he should go to the hospital and demand emergency surgery.
Unfortunately, as he was heading west on 32nd Street, he was stopped by a Joplin police officer. He could not reach his wallet to get his driver's license, due to the excruciating pain, the petition said.
He asked why he had been stopped and the officer told him one of his headlights was burned out. As police backup arrived, according to the petition, Smith tried to tell the officers that he had to get to the hospital. He said he was afraid his gall bladder would rupture.
"All of his requests for immediate medical attention were ignored by all three police officers," the lawsuit said. Smith was told to lean over the trunk of his car. He said he couldn't because of the pain, but he offered to turn away from them and put his hands behind his back if the officers wanted to frisk him.
Smith claims the officers pulled their guns and aimed them at him. One Officer "came up behind him, threw him against the trunk of his car and kept slamming his abdominal area into the trunk by hitting him in the small of the back."
The lawsuit says he was beaten for 15 minutes, then told he was going to be arrested because his driver's license was not valid. An officer told Smith's wife, who was sitting in the front seat that she would have to drive. Smith said he had already told the officers his wife couldn't drive because of "ongoing psychiatric problems," as well as the fact that she didn't have a current driver's license.
Smith's son was called to come take care of Smith's wife, who was left alone, according to the lawsuit, while Smith was handcuffed and taken to the station. When he arrived there, he had to go through the booking procedures, still needing emergency medical attention.
Smith couldn't believe what was happening to him, his lawsuit said, especially since there would be no United States if his illustrious ancestor, George Washington, had stopped "when all seemed hopeless at Valley Forge."
Smith continues with allegations that hospital and police officials lied about him, being that he was known for filing lawsuits.
The lawsuit also claims that because he was unlawfully imprisoned in the state of Missouri at a later date, (You would have to see this lawsuit to believe it.) he was unable to prevent a young girl with whom he had been instant messaging from dying from cancer.
Smith also claims that the CIA has been taking money from him that he had earned in his lawsuits. The petition doesn't quite explain how they were doing this, but when conspiracies are involved, you never know.
There is no end to the people involved in this conspiracy against Smith. He concludes his lawsuit by claiming that he was delayed at a medical appointment Nov. 5 so he would not be home when his mail is delivered. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?)
Smith's detailing of that last incident also reveals the final member of the all-encompassing conspiracy. "Smith wonders who stole what important piece of mail this time. Smith's son, Jeremy Smith, is believed to be one of the culprits involved in taking mail."
The lawsuit would be laughable, except that taxpayer money is being used to deal with this since, of course, Smith cannot afford to do so.
The biggest conspiracy, it seems, may be against the average taxpayer.

As regular readers of The Turner Report may recall, I wrote a few weeks ago about the Joplin R-8 School District becoming "Accredited with Distinction" by the Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
It is a big deal. It means that your school is one of the top schools in the state of Missouri.
That was not the way the story was treated by The Joplin Globe. Globe editors did put the story on page one where it belonged, but the editors and reporters selectively chose facts that made it appear that the accomplishment really wasn't that big of a deal.
First, the reporter interviewed officials from two other school districts, Webb City and Carl Junction, which have also been accredited with distinction but received the designation earlier. That made it appear as if everyone else has already done it, why did it take Joplin so long?
That is the way editors can take even one of the most positive stories the R-8 School District has had in recent years and put a negative spin on it. Why were only officials from Webb City and Carl Junction interviewed.
Joplin's accomplishment was put into perspective today by a news release from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Only about 25 percent of the state's schools were accredited with distinction and only a handful from this area.
It would have been just as easy for Globe reporters to have interviewed officials from the Carthage or Neosho school districts, which did not receive the award.
What does it mean to receive the "Distinction in Performance" designation? According to the news release, "The annual recognition is based on school districts' performance on MAP test scores, ACT scores, attendance and dropout rates, and other measures of academic performance during the last school year."
Commissioner of Education Kent King said, "This award is unique and demanding, because it requires districts to demonstrate growth and progress across the board. Districts must show improvement or high performance at every level- elementary, middle and high school. It isn't good enough to excel in a single area.
The Turner Report generally features news from a four-county area, Jasper, Newton, Barton, and McDonald.
Jasper County had three schools receive the recognition: Joplin, Carl Junction, and Webb City. The Carthage, Jasper, Sarcoxie, and Avilla school districts did not make it.
In Newton County, only one school, Westview, was recognized. Neosho, East Newton, Seneca, and Diamond did not qualify.
The McDonald County School District was recognized, but the Lamar, Golden City, and Liberal school districts in Barton County did not qualify.
So congratulations should go to the teachers, students, administrators, and parents in the Joplin, Carl Junction, Webb City, McDonald County, and Westview school districts. That doesn't mean that students in the other school districts are not receiving a quality education. But it is definitely a good sign for the five school districts which achieved the honor.
Especially when you consider that the McDonald County School District receives less per pupil than any other school district in the state.
Now, back to The Joplin Globe for a moment. My original thesis remains the same. Being accredited with distinction should have been written as a positive story for the Joplin R-8 School District, not out of any phony sense of cheerleading for the local school, but because that is exactly what it was. A later story talking about other schools that have been accredited with distinction would have been a far better way to get the Globe's point across. At the same time, it could have been shown that most school districts have not reached that level. That would have been a completely accurate depiction. Apparently, that was too much to hope for from the area's largest newspaper.

Sometimes making a healthy profit just isn't enough.
Ask the employees of the Pennsylvania House furniture factory in Lewisburg, PA. They received an early Christmas present from plant owner La-Z-Boy when the company announced it would shut down the Lewisburg plant and put its 425 employees out of work.
La-Z-Boy officials are shipping the work, which had been done by the U. S. workers to China to improve the company's profit margin. This time, it was a little more difficult than usual to sell out American workers. The governor of Pennsylvania became involved and tried to broker a deal for employees to buy the plant. On Nov. 16, La-Z-Boy rejected a $37 million buyout package without even submitting it to its board of directors.
Robert Joel Zechman Jr, a worker at the plant for 29 years, told PennLive.com "They led us all down the path and then they pulled the plug. I don't think they wanted to sell. They didn't want the competition."
That was the least of the charges leveled against La-Z-Boy officials. They claimed the plant was losing money, but workers say that was not the case. The workers say La-Z-Boy made sure the plant was bathed in red ink by buying a large number of unnecessary purchases during the past few months.
One example: one day before the plant was closed, according to the PennLive.com report, a new truck and snowplow were ordered. Other large-ticket purchases were also made, the workers claimed.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said at news conference, "Somewhere we have to draw the line and say we can't lose everything to China."
The closing of the Pennysylvania House plant was made at the same time as closings of three other plants. La-Z-Boy officials said the manufacturing would be shipped to China.
So far, La-Z-Boy's plans have not affected the Neosho plant, which employs nearly 1,500 workers, but only because China still does not do as well with upholstery orders. That will likely change since Chinese officials are already working at improving in that area. La-Z-Boy officials have already indicated that when China is ready to handle production, they will waste no time in shipping it there.
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Condolences to the family of former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Cloyd Boyer of Alba, whose son, Mike, was killed in a hunting accident in Barton County over the weekend. Mike Boyer was also the nephew of former major leaguers Ken and Clete Boyer.

Change continues to come to Lamar.
According to the Saturday Democrat, Danny Little is resigning as president of Lamar Bank and Trust Company. The Democrat gave this story the kind of prominent page-one play it deserved...but I am going to ask the same question again.
How in the world can the city of Lamar's newspaper of record go all of this time without running a single word about the resignation of Dan O'Sullivan as chairman of the board of the company his father created.
Danny Little's story deserves to be told and it deserves to be told on page one. It is the kind of story that should be running on page one of a small-town local newspaper, but the continuing saga of O'Sullivan Industries and the changes it has been going through is the biggest story going in the Lamar area and has been for the past several months.
The entire family of the man who saved the city's economy after Lawn Boy moved out in the early 1960s has been ousted from positions of leadership, along with others who had helped guide the company for three decades or more.
The only stories the Democrat has run have either been press releases from the desk of million-dollar CEO Bob Parker or items that were spoonfed to the paper by him.
Parker's side of the story deserves to be heard, no doubt about it. But when the local newspaper runs that side, without writing anything about what has happened to the O'Sullivan family and other long-time company officials, then it is not serving its public.
Some of the people who have been pushed out by the new regime are not able to talk to the media due to clauses in their severance agreements. Big deal. Those severance agreements are part of the public record (as was the text of Daniel O'Sullivan's resignation letter). The other side is out there, it just takes a little digging to get to it.
The O'Sullivan story is not over. Let's hope it doesn't get totally bypassed by Lamar's newspaper of record.
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I hope the protest and counter protest at Webb City High School Monday morning are peaceful. From what I saw of the anti-gay protesters on the TV news tonight, they may be the best thing that could ever happen for high school student Brad Mathewson's cause. Yes, these bigots should be allowed to protest. That is the American way and it is the First Amendment. It is hard to believe such ignorance exists in the 21st Century, but it obviously does.
But those who are staging the counter-protest also have First Amendment rights. I hope they show up in large numbers. I still don't agree with the premise that Brad Mathewson should be allowed to wear his T-shirt, any more than I believe those who wore the anti-gay t-shirts should be allowed to wear those at school. Those rules do serve a purpose, even if the Webb City officials did a poor job of evenly enforcing them, which appears to be the case.
What these Topeka protesters are doing is making it look as if there is only one right side in this case and that only lunatics like this reverend and his followers would think of opposing a gay youth's constitutional rights.
That is far too simplistic. This is truly a case with many legitimate arguments pro and con. And despite what the ACLU officials have said, the Tinker vs. Board of Education case does not grant carte blanche to students to allow them to exercise their First Amendment rights any time and any place they want.
The courts have recognized for years the need for public education to continue with minimal interruption. For instance, you can't have a student jump up and begin shouting political slogans while a math class is working on equations.
The current situation, obviously is different, but is it as clearcut as the ACLU press releases would have us believe? Being on the front lines every day, I can tell you it is not.
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Where did the Thanksgiving vacation go?