Former Joplin Assistant Police Chief Richard Schurman is one of two dozen candidates for the police chief position in Waco, Texas, according to an article in today's Waco Tribune.
Schurman was assistant police chief from 1973 to 1998 and has since worked as police chief in Grandview, Missouri, and Colonial Heights, Va. He current works a homeland security specialist, according to the article.
A decision on the position is expected to be made by the first of the year.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Plant closing a consideration as Modine shares fall to 52-week low
Modine Manufacturing stocks fell to a 52-week low after company officials announced they are considering plant closings and other measures to deal with a downturn, according to an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Modine has plants in Joplin, Jefferson City, Camdenton, and Trenton in Missouri:
Modine Manufacturing shares fell to a 52-week low after the company said it was considering plant closures and additional restructuring measures, including talks with lenders.
The Racine-based maker of heating and cooling systems for vehicles and buildings said it was hurting because of a difficult business climate and a slower-than-expected recovery in sales to heavy-duty truck manufacturers.
Modine employs about 7,800 people at 33 facilities worldwide. In a news release, the company said it was "actively formulating plans" for additional restructuring, including plant closures and other significant measures in North America and Western Europe.
After the announcement, Modine shares fell nearly 17% to close at $16.91.
Tribune: Graham pleads guilty to DWI charge
Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, pleaded guilty to a DWI charge today in Calloway County Circuit Court, according to the Columbia Tribune:
According to a press release from his office, Graham paid a $500 fine and $122.50 in court costs for the Class B misdemeanor. He made the plea in front of Associate Circuit Judge Carol England.
Graham, D-Columbia, was arrested Oct. 20 at West Green Meadows Road and Bethel Street after his Chevrolet Monte Carlo rear-ended an eastbound vehicle at a stop sign, pushing it into a third vehicle.
“I once again apologize to my friends, supporters, constituents and the other people involved in this incident,” Graham said in a statement. "I made a tremendous error in judgment, and it won’t happen again. I have learned a valuable and life-altering lesson, and I know I will be a better person because of it. I want to thank everyone who has supported me during this difficult time, and I look forward to continue representing the citizens of Boone and Randolph counties.”
According to a police report, Graham denied having consumed alcohol when questioned by police at the scene of the crash. He then said he had a “few drinks” during the previous two hours, and later said he drank two beers, according to the report.
Graham refused six requests to take a breath test and also refused to provide a blood sample at University Hospital, where he was taken after complaining of pain in his arm, according to the report. A police officer seized a container of Graham’s urine at the hospital, according to the report. A blood sample was taken later by court order.
Bowman co-defendant pleads guilty in federal court
The last remaining co-defendant in the bank and credit card cases against Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in St. Louis.
According to court records, Joanna Davis, 31, admitted she made a $1,000 payment to former Bank of America Vice President Robert Conner "in exchange for approval of a credit application."
Conner was found guilty following a trial earlier this month. His sentencing is scheduled for February.
Bowman's trial is scheduled for Feb. 4.
Conner and Bowman were indicted in January by a federal grand jury, which said Bowman and his co-defendants agreed to a scheme in which Conner took a bank lending program which provided money to small businesses by offering a $25,000 credit limit. Conner then arranged with the other defendants to apply for the loans, often with fictitious companies, then give Conner kickbacks ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 on each loan.
According to the indictment, Conner approved $1,213,970 in fraudulent loans.
Dupont attorney asks for continuance
The attorney for Anderson Guest House owner Robert Dupont wants to delay his trial on fraud charges until April, according to a motion filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Stuart Huffman, Springfield, says he has a trial beginning Monday, when Dupont is scheduled for a pre-trial conference, and also has trials set in January and February. According to Huffman, the government does not oppose the continuance.
Dupont is charged with defrauding the Missouri Medicaid program from Sept. 20, 2003, to Sept. 20, 2007. The fraud charges surfaced during the investigation of a November 2006 fire at the Anderson facility in which 11 people were killed.
Dupont remains free on bond.
Stuart Huffman, Springfield, says he has a trial beginning Monday, when Dupont is scheduled for a pre-trial conference, and also has trials set in January and February. According to Huffman, the government does not oppose the continuance.
Dupont is charged with defrauding the Missouri Medicaid program from Sept. 20, 2003, to Sept. 20, 2007. The fraud charges surfaced during the investigation of a November 2006 fire at the Anderson facility in which 11 people were killed.
Dupont remains free on bond.
Letters of support not sealed in Conrad Black case
In the four days since former Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for immigration fraud I have written about the decision made by Judge Jean C. Hamilton to seal 32 letters of support written by people favoring leniency for Cooper.
Apparently, those letters did their job since federal prosecutors were recommending that Cooper be sentenced to twice as much prison time than he receieved.
Who wrote those letters and why did they hold such sway over the judge? Or is this just a case of a judge automatically sealing documents that should be open to the public without giving it a second thought.
Other judges would not dream of sealing letters of this sort. A case in point is the recent sentencing of former Hollinger International CEO Conrad Black on federal fraud charges. One of those who wrote a letter asking for leniency for Black, who looted his company of millions, was syndicated columnist George Will, according to a column in the Chicago Sun-Times:
The Cooper case cries for the names of these people to be named. Are those signing the letters the same ones who are pushing for stricter laws to battle illegal immigrants in Missouri...a problem that was not helped by Cooper's illegal activities? Are these people who have been involved in the scandal surrounding the awarding of license fee offices?
The judge should allow those letters to be placed in the public record, and our U. S. Attorney for Missouri, Catherine Hanaway, should be leading the charge to see that it happens.
Apparently, those letters did their job since federal prosecutors were recommending that Cooper be sentenced to twice as much prison time than he receieved.
Who wrote those letters and why did they hold such sway over the judge? Or is this just a case of a judge automatically sealing documents that should be open to the public without giving it a second thought.
Other judges would not dream of sealing letters of this sort. A case in point is the recent sentencing of former Hollinger International CEO Conrad Black on federal fraud charges. One of those who wrote a letter asking for leniency for Black, who looted his company of millions, was syndicated columnist George Will, according to a column in the Chicago Sun-Times:
So when I read that Will wrote a letter to Judge Amy St. Eve in support of Conrad Black, I almost choked on my Cheerios.
Black is a convicted thief, albeit one who lives in mansions and rides in a Rolls. In July, a Chicago jury convicted him of stealing $2.9 million from the Sun-Times' parent company, then called Hollinger International. The jury also found him guilty of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors pegged Black's thievery even higher, alleging he stole $32 million. And a Hollinger-financed investigation concluded Black and his top lieutenant stole more than $400 million from the company.
Perhaps Will should ask shareholders at Cardinal Capital and Tweedy Browne --whose money the mogul was convicted of stealing -- if Black adhered to the rules of the free market.
In his letter to St. Eve, Will apparently asked the judge to show leniency in sentencing Black. Other luminaries, including Elton John and a former prime minister of Canada, made similar pleas.
Leniency? Wait a minute, George. I thought being soft on crime was a bad thing.
"The subjects of crime and punishment instructively demarcate differences between liberals and conservatives," Will wrote in 1998. "Liberals are disposed to favor punishment only when it is drained of retributive elements and when it is justified as therapeutic for the offender and society."
Last year, Will wrote a column bashing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for being soft on crime. Last month, he tut-tutted about a "flurry of indictments" among plaintiffs' lawyers and then pointed out Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' connection to these crooks.
Now, I believe in loyalty. Not being a particularly virtuous person anyway, I'm willing to commit sins for its sake. And I understand that Will and Black are friends, having met on a 1989 trip to Warsaw.
Their connection deepened, by the way. Will served on a Hollinger board of advisers during the Black years, drawing an annual payment of $25,000. On March 6, 2003, Will wrote a column extolling Black without disclosing the payments. The column ran in the Sun-Times.
The letter on Black's behalf wouldn't seem so outrageous if Will hadn't built his entire operation, so to speak, on sanctimonious moralizing.
The Cooper case cries for the names of these people to be named. Are those signing the letters the same ones who are pushing for stricter laws to battle illegal immigrants in Missouri...a problem that was not helped by Cooper's illegal activities? Are these people who have been involved in the scandal surrounding the awarding of license fee offices?
The judge should allow those letters to be placed in the public record, and our U. S. Attorney for Missouri, Catherine Hanaway, should be leading the charge to see that it happens.
Pre-sentencing investigation ordered for former Department of Social Services employee
A federal judge on Thursday ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for a former Missouri Department of Social Services employee who pleaded guilty Dec. 5 to four counts of fraud and identity theft.
Judge William A. Knox accepted the guilty pleas of the final two defendants in the case, Robin Lynette Deardorff and Anna May Stephens.
Ms. Deardorff, 31, Jefferson City, was indicted by a federal grand jury June 1 for a
fraud scheme in which she and six others allegedly used Social Security numbers, names and birth dates to set up cell phone andlandline phone service to help prisoners make calls through the accounts. She faces one charge of fraud and four counts of identity theft.
At the time she was indicted, Mrs. Deardorff worked for the Family Support Division of the Department of Social Services.
Judge William A. Knox accepted the guilty pleas of the final two defendants in the case, Robin Lynette Deardorff and Anna May Stephens.
Ms. Deardorff, 31, Jefferson City, was indicted by a federal grand jury June 1 for a
fraud scheme in which she and six others allegedly used Social Security numbers, names and birth dates to set up cell phone andlandline phone service to help prisoners make calls through the accounts. She faces one charge of fraud and four counts of identity theft.
At the time she was indicted, Mrs. Deardorff worked for the Family Support Division of the Department of Social Services.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Ohio attorney general is probably reading this post
For those of us in Missouri who have watched the Herculean efforts by some in Governor Matt Blunt's administration to bury or destroy troublesome e-mails,
story out of theYoungstown Vindicator in Ohio should show how the system should work.
Attorney General Marc Dann's policy goes even further than the one recommended by Gov. Blunt recently. According to the article, Dann requires that any private e-mail accounts "that are used to conduct public business" are subject to disclosure.
The Vindicator article noted that most of Dann's e-mails that the newspaper checked were either to or from his chief of administration and policy, former Joplin Globe Editor Ed Simpson, and that Dann has set up a Google alert to tell him whenever his name is mentioned in a blog:
Thanks for the promotion, but thankfully for the world of newspaper journalism, I never served as a publisher.
story out of theYoungstown Vindicator in Ohio should show how the system should work.
Attorney General Marc Dann's policy goes even further than the one recommended by Gov. Blunt recently. According to the article, Dann requires that any private e-mail accounts "that are used to conduct public business" are subject to disclosure.
The Vindicator article noted that most of Dann's e-mails that the newspaper checked were either to or from his chief of administration and policy, former Joplin Globe Editor Ed Simpson, and that Dann has set up a Google alert to tell him whenever his name is mentioned in a blog:
Dann was apparently amused when he forwarded a post to Simpson from a blog run by a middle school teacher and former newspaper editor and publisher in Joplin, Mo. Dann received the blog post from his "Google alert" set-up. Simpson quit his job as editor of The Joplin Globe to work for Dann. The blog post states if Simpson "was looking for a new job with plenty of challenges when he left Missouri ... he should be a happy man."
Dann added: "It's good to be loved" as a personal comment.
Thanks for the promotion, but thankfully for the world of newspaper journalism, I never served as a publisher.
An open letter to Catherine Hanaway
Two days have passed since I issued my invitation to those who wrote letters of support for former Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, and apparently helped him shave at least a year and half off his prison sentence for immigration fraud. The judge in the case sealed the 32 letters, keeping what should have been on the record, safely away from the people who deserve to know why this man, who so grievously abused the trust of the people of Missouri, should deserve to spend only 15
months behind bars.
No one has responded to my invitation, which should come as no surprise, so I am using this post to send a message to U. S. Attorney CatherineHanaway, who once served as Speaker of the same House which Cooper disgraced with his actions.
Dear Ms. Hanaway:
One of the most disturbing aspects of the resolution of the Nathan Cooper case has been the decision to seal 32 letters sent to the judge in an effort to bring a more lenient sentence to Mr. Cooper, an effort which has apparently succeeded.
The hallmark of the American judicial system is its accessibility. The public has the right, in most cases, to examine court documents. There is no law that says these letters should have been sealed, and by all rights, the public should be able to examine them. That is the usual course that is taken in federal cases across the nation.
Who are these people who think so highly of Nathan Cooper that they would offer support for him? There is nothing inherently wrong with trying to put in a good word for someone whom you believe deserves a lighter sentence or no sentence at all.
Those who have such compassion should not have any problem with the public knowing who they are.
It has been said that one of the reasons for the delay in bringing charges against Mr. Cooper was the possibility that he would provide information that could be used in an investigation of the Missouri fee office scandal. If that is the case, then Missourians have a right to know if any of the ones who might have been affected by a prosecution of that case are among those who have put pen to paper on behalf of Mr. Cooper.
Court records do not indicate that your assistant made any kind of motion to prevent the judge from sealing these letters, so I am requesting that you, as the U. S. Attorney whose name accompanied Mr.Crowe's on all of the legal documents in this case, ask the judge to unseal the letters.
The Cooper case has had the stench of corruption to it from the outset; perhaps a good-will effort to let the people know the truth can remove that odor.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Randy Turner
months behind bars.
No one has responded to my invitation, which should come as no surprise, so I am using this post to send a message to U. S. Attorney CatherineHanaway, who once served as Speaker of the same House which Cooper disgraced with his actions.
Dear Ms. Hanaway:
One of the most disturbing aspects of the resolution of the Nathan Cooper case has been the decision to seal 32 letters sent to the judge in an effort to bring a more lenient sentence to Mr. Cooper, an effort which has apparently succeeded.
The hallmark of the American judicial system is its accessibility. The public has the right, in most cases, to examine court documents. There is no law that says these letters should have been sealed, and by all rights, the public should be able to examine them. That is the usual course that is taken in federal cases across the nation.
Who are these people who think so highly of Nathan Cooper that they would offer support for him? There is nothing inherently wrong with trying to put in a good word for someone whom you believe deserves a lighter sentence or no sentence at all.
Those who have such compassion should not have any problem with the public knowing who they are.
It has been said that one of the reasons for the delay in bringing charges against Mr. Cooper was the possibility that he would provide information that could be used in an investigation of the Missouri fee office scandal. If that is the case, then Missourians have a right to know if any of the ones who might have been affected by a prosecution of that case are among those who have put pen to paper on behalf of Mr. Cooper.
Court records do not indicate that your assistant made any kind of motion to prevent the judge from sealing these letters, so I am requesting that you, as the U. S. Attorney whose name accompanied Mr.Crowe's on all of the legal documents in this case, ask the judge to unseal the letters.
The Cooper case has had the stench of corruption to it from the outset; perhaps a good-will effort to let the people know the truth can remove that odor.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Randy Turner
The questions the media should be asking Empire District Electric Company
You can't blame Amy Bass.
Ms. Bass is the target of a lot of anger since she, in her role as public information spokeswoman for Empire District Electric Company, has had to explain to residents of Joplin and the surrounding communities why their power has not been restored nearly five days after the ice storm that wreaked havoc throughout the community.
It is not Ms. Bass' fault. She is told what to say and she says it. She is good at her job. Unfortunately, it does not appear that anyone in the media is doing much except taking her statements at face value.
Time after time, Ms. Bass has commented on how many "customers" still lack service. How many of those who are huddled in the cold (with colder temperatures coming this weekend) are residential customers? I drove through residential areas of Joplin earlier tonight shortly after dark and I saw very few lights, and those can probably be safely attributed to generators.
About half of the "customers" who lost their power have had it restored, Ms. Bass indicated. I would like to know, and I am sure I am not the only one, just how many of those who had their power restored were business "customers" and how many were residential "customers."
By now, we know that great efforts are made to restore power to hospitals and other vital institutions first, but why can't we provided with a step-by-step blueprint of how Empire restores power and an explanation of why it does it in that fashion?
If that information is not forthcoming from Empire, and odds are it will not be, an enterprising reporter for the Joplin Globe or one of our Joplin area television stations, should hit the phones when this is over, and find out when power was restored in each section of town.
Exactly what steps did Empire take between January and last weekend to prepare for an ice storm? As usual, when the media is involved, they do an excellent job covering the story when it was taking place 11 months ago, but have done little, if any, follow-up since. Obviously, the possibility of another ice storm in the near future is real, but even if one does not occur, the time for the media to be tracking this story is through the spring, summer, and fall months, when preparations should be made. Empire may have been working all along to prepare for a storm of this magnitude, but we have no way of knowing that if the questions are not asked.
Why have other electric companies been able to restore power more quickly than Empire? Was the storm that much worse in areas that are serviced by Empire?
Let's make sure we give credit to the hard working electrical linemen and tree trimmers for the job they are doing this week, and maybe next, but now is not the time to give their bosses a free ride. These questions must be asked and answered.
It is quite possible that there is a perfectly logical reason for everything that has been done or has not been done, but if the questions are not asked, how will we ever know?
Ms. Bass is the target of a lot of anger since she, in her role as public information spokeswoman for Empire District Electric Company, has had to explain to residents of Joplin and the surrounding communities why their power has not been restored nearly five days after the ice storm that wreaked havoc throughout the community.
It is not Ms. Bass' fault. She is told what to say and she says it. She is good at her job. Unfortunately, it does not appear that anyone in the media is doing much except taking her statements at face value.
Time after time, Ms. Bass has commented on how many "customers" still lack service. How many of those who are huddled in the cold (with colder temperatures coming this weekend) are residential customers? I drove through residential areas of Joplin earlier tonight shortly after dark and I saw very few lights, and those can probably be safely attributed to generators.
About half of the "customers" who lost their power have had it restored, Ms. Bass indicated. I would like to know, and I am sure I am not the only one, just how many of those who had their power restored were business "customers" and how many were residential "customers."
By now, we know that great efforts are made to restore power to hospitals and other vital institutions first, but why can't we provided with a step-by-step blueprint of how Empire restores power and an explanation of why it does it in that fashion?
If that information is not forthcoming from Empire, and odds are it will not be, an enterprising reporter for the Joplin Globe or one of our Joplin area television stations, should hit the phones when this is over, and find out when power was restored in each section of town.
Exactly what steps did Empire take between January and last weekend to prepare for an ice storm? As usual, when the media is involved, they do an excellent job covering the story when it was taking place 11 months ago, but have done little, if any, follow-up since. Obviously, the possibility of another ice storm in the near future is real, but even if one does not occur, the time for the media to be tracking this story is through the spring, summer, and fall months, when preparations should be made. Empire may have been working all along to prepare for a storm of this magnitude, but we have no way of knowing that if the questions are not asked.
Why have other electric companies been able to restore power more quickly than Empire? Was the storm that much worse in areas that are serviced by Empire?
Let's make sure we give credit to the hard working electrical linemen and tree trimmers for the job they are doing this week, and maybe next, but now is not the time to give their bosses a free ride. These questions must be asked and answered.
It is quite possible that there is a perfectly logical reason for everything that has been done or has not been done, but if the questions are not asked, how will we ever know?
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