Mallory Maddix on your Action 12 News.
The Joplin City Manager finds himself in the hot seat when it comes to answering questions
about a former police chief.
There could be a common thread between all the suspects in the Joplin murder cases and
after 38 years of teaching the area's best and brightest, one local college professor
is calling it quits.
Good evening, you're watching Action 12 News at 6, I'm Mallory Maddix.
And I'm Jimmy Seidelicke.
More than a year has passed and people are still wondering why the former Joplin Police
Chief received severance pay if he did in fact leave on his own.
The Joplin Globe has even sued the city to get that information.
It has some people thinking the city misled the public.
Action 12's Kent Fadda spoke with the Joplin City Manager today to find out if that was
the case.
Kent?
Mallory Joplin City Manager Steve Lewis says he acted in the best interests of the city
and stands by his decision.
When Joplin Police Chief Ed Dennis resigned from his position more than a year ago, it
led to some questions.
The reason because the chief received severance pay even though he supposedly left voluntarily.
Court documents reveal that disciplinary action was taken against the chief, but the city
manager denies that the chief was forced out.
So it was really my duty, my responsibility to deal with the personnel situation that
arose.
But having said that, the chief did voluntarily resign and it was disappointing to me because
we had to make adjustments to keep the department moving forward.
Dennis received more than $5,000 in severance pay, but a lot of this information would not
have been available if not for a lawsuit brought against the city.
So this has left many Joplin residents suspicious.
Well I think they should have been more upfront with that.
You know, they kind of were hiding things and I don't think you should when you're
in public office like that.
Personally I think it was probably a cover up.
I think they probably asked him to leave and that's the only reason you give him severance
pay.
But the city manager says that this was a personnel issue and that the city didn't
think the information should be made public.
It should be kept confidential.
That was our opinion as well as another attorney's opinion as well that these were closed documents.
What we received through the court process was clarification of that and what we're
doing today is abiding by Judge Dally's decisions.
Another city employee did receive severance pay, Leroy Getchell.
I should say the city's finance director received more than $10,000 over a 10 week
period.
Now Kent, this controversy has been going on for quite some time now.
How much did the lawsuit end up costing the city?
Well it was pretty expensive Mallory.
It cost the city more than $5,000.
Thanks, that's Kent Faddis reporting live in the newsroom.
And we want to hear from you.
Do you think the city handled this properly?
Just go to our website at kode-tv.com and cast your vote.
A Miami man is found guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
41 year old Jimmy Lee Sharbett was found guilty of a crime three day trial yesterday.
Sharbett is a four time convicted felon with two previous convictions for armed robbery
and one for burglary.
He possessed a 9mm pistol in his home where evidence showed he conducted drug dealing
activities.
Turning to weather, it's been a very interesting week.
Just to keep you busy out there.
We started with some sunshine, had a little severe weather and kind of a dreary start
to our weekend.
Right, and now we may see fog in the forecast tonight too.
So not quite done with any news for you.
Just another week in the forest.
Exactly.
This is what we're looking at tonight.
Cloud cover for the evening and actually overnight tonight we're going to stay with the cloud
cover but I think late tonight the clouds will start to clear off and that will allow
temperatures to cool off enough to form some fog.
So look for some patchy fog.
It may be dense in the morning.
46 for a temperature at 7 a.m.
Into the 60s though by noon, into the 70s by 5 p.m.
Now it looks like Sunday is going to be even nicer and I'll tell you more about that in
just a few minutes.
Alright thanks Ray.
Joplin is not breaking any records with four murders this year but the total is above the
normal average of just two.
Action 12's Gretchen Bellander tells us about one common denominator.
Wayne Kindred is accused of murdering Tina Schott last month, of stabbing her repeatedly
then dumping her body on a rural county road.
But before that happened he was no stranger to hard time.
Kindred has been in and out of the Missouri prison system for armed robbery, two more
counts of first degree robbery, escaping from custody and another instance of breaking away
from custody.
For the most part you're going to find, you won't find people starting out with a murder
on their record.
There will be other convictions from minor things to more serious things.
Three suspects in four Joplin murders have prior convictions which doesn't surprise
police.
Homicides are a fairly serious crime.
Most people who commit homicides have some kind of contact with the police and the court
system before they do it.
Very rarely do you have a homicide suspect that has not been involved in the criminal
justice system at all.
Past convictions don't play a role in the court case but they can affect a prison sentence.
Just like if you're punishing anybody, the first time somebody commits offense you may
have some leniency toward them but if they keep committing the same one the punishment
needs to get more serious.
We don't have three strikes in or out in Missouri but if you do have two prior felony offenses
then the law allows us to increase the maximum amount of time you're allowed to be in prison.
Gretchen Bolander, Action 12 News.
Both 20 year old Jason Price and 61 year old William Hartman have had past convictions
before being charged with murder but there are exceptions.
Dana Gouge is also charged along with Kindred.
She has no record in the Missouri system.
And the second degree murder charge against 48 year old Ted Londo would be his first Missouri
conviction if found guilty.
A local company has a hefty fine leveled against them because of an environmental concern but
it says the pollution is not the problem.
Able Manufacturing, formerly known as Able Body, was fined $85,000 by the Department of
Natural Resources.
Company Vice President Dan Blackburn says the 2002 violations involved a problem with
record keeping.
The issue was really a technical violation.
It wasn't an actual pollution mission into the environment.
And the way our permits were written it was based on large units or number of units and
now we are more diversified and build a lot smaller product.
The state even has acknowledged that they knew we couldn't comply with their permit
the way it was written.
Able Manufacturing has since corrected the problem and has reestablished its DNR permit.
Coming up next on Action 12 News at 6 is become an annual fundraiser for Joplin Catholic Schools.
We'll look at a few of the items going up for sale at this year's auction.
And after 38 years on the job, a local college professor is calling it quits.
We'll take you to his retirement ceremony next.
This is Action 12 News with Jimmy Sadalecki, Mallory Maddox, meteorologist Ray Forman,
and sports with Bruce Von Der Har.
This is your Action 12 News at 6.
You're never too young to...
A local school newspaper wins top state honors.
The Missouri Southern State College paper, The Chart, was named best in the state at
a Missouri College Media Association's annual convention.
This year marks the fifth time The Chart has received its award since 1994.
Up here every day working hard, morning, afternoon, night.
And we actually have a really small staff and not as much equipment as some of these
other schools do that we compete against, but yet we still compete with them and we
win.
Campus newspapers from 28 colleges and universities competed at this year's convention.
Missouri Southern State College learns it will be losing a long-time faculty member.
Dr. Larry Martin, vice president for academic affairs, announces he will retire after this
school year.
Martin has been with Missouri Southern for 38 years.
He has acquired a lot of knowledge about higher education, about this college, about our students,
our programs.
So he's, as I said, in 38 years he's become a very valuable individual and we really are
going to lose a lot when he leaves.
As far as satisfaction, it probably comes from the teaching, and I think most people
would say that.
The individual students over the years, you know, how many hundreds of students, how many
teachers are there that I helped train.
Martin says he will enjoy having more free time to spend with his family.
It has become one of the biggest auction events in the Joplin area and it all goes towards
a good cause.
Joplin area Catholic schools will hold their seventh annual silent spring auction this
Saturday starting at 530 in Joplin's Memorial Hall.
Some of the highlights of the auction, it includes a restaurant and vacation packages,
sports memorabilia, and a Disney cruise to the Caribbean and Walt Disney World.
All the money raised will go towards area Catholic schools.
Coming up next on Action 12 News at 6, it continues to be a strange year for the Kansas
City Royals.
Now they make their way to Toronto where there is a very serious concern about the SARS virus.
Bruce will have more on that story in sports, but first, Ray standing by in the Weather
Center, Ray.
Yes, it is very cool out there this evening.
If you're headed out, you might want to take along a light jacket.
Now overnight tonight, we're going to see the clouds that we have in place right now
starting to clear off.
That could lead to some fog to start off tomorrow morning.
However, the rest of the weekend is really improving.
Details coming up next.
Plus, the Wireless Connections Weather Wise question today, how much of an impact does
hail have on the farming community?
The answer coming up.
Now your Action 12 weather with meteorologist Ray Foreman.
Well, as advertised, it's a kind of dreary day.
The rain did move back in around noon as forecasted by Ray Foreman last night.
Now hopefully it'll get out of here for the weekend.
It will just in time for the weekend.
The first part of it tonight.
I guess everyone considers Friday night.
Yes, part of the weekend.
I do.
It's going to be cloudy.
It's going to be cool too.
So take along a jacket.
After that, though, very nice weekend in store.
56 for temperature right now in Joplin.
So yes, it is a little on the chilly side.
The cool temperatures, the result of cloud cover today and also the rainfall that we
had from earlier today.
Now the south of us 55 in Pineville, 59 in Miami.
Overnight tonight, we take these temperatures on the local cast towards 6 a.m. and we will
be actually in the mid 40s for temperatures.
And one of the reasons for that, the skies are going to be clearing out right at about
6 a.m. and as temperatures cool off this much as a result of the rainfall we had, we'll
probably see a little patchy fog around the area and some of that could be dense for the
morning hours.
During the afternoon, though, we climbed through the 60s already at lunchtime and into the
70s by five o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
And this is just the beginning of our warm up that we're going to see here in Joplin.
We could see a few spots actually hitting 80 as we get towards Sunday afternoon.
Now as far as the clouds, yes, we are still socked in with the cloud cover.
It's all the result of the upper level low off here to the east of us.
That's going to continue to track away.
As it does, high pressure is actually going to be building into the west of us and this
is going to be our saving grace, you might say, for the weekend weather because that
is going to clear the skies out, especially as we get towards 6 a.m. high pressure starts
to build in.
But also, as I mentioned, once the temperatures cool off this much, we're going to replace
the clouds at 6 a.m. with fog.
I would say probably by nine or 10 o'clock we'll start to see that fog burning off and
during the afternoon plenty of sunshine as high pressure is centered right overhead.
Not only do we have high pressure at the surface, also in the upper levels of the atmosphere
and out to the west of us.
Once high starts to move on to the east of us by tomorrow evening, southeasterly winds
are going to come back into Joplin.
That's going to help with the warming for Sunday.
The southerly winds we see out to the west of us tomorrow will be right here in Joplin.
We also add in the fact that we're going to see clear skies right on through the weekend
as a strong upper level ridge is building to the west of us.
That will keep skies clear for the weekend and our weather will be dry for the weekend
as well.
Now for tonight, cloudy and cool.
Apache fog developing late tonight down to 45 for the low with north winds at about five
to ten miles an hour.
Keep in mind the clouds will disappear by sunrise, but we're going to replace that with
some patchy fog.
Temperatures in the 40s to start off the day with light northeast winds and during the
afternoon a high temperature of 70.
Mostly sunny skies though, definitely warmer than what we saw for today and the weekend,
Sunday 78 for a high temperature.
So very nice as we go into the second half of the weekend.
70s for next week's highs, but unsettled weather for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
So definitely we are fortunate that the unsettled weather is happening on work weekdays rather
than the weekend.
Good point.
I look forward to the weekend, but now I can't use an excuse to sleep in like I did this
morning.
Exactly, you'll have to get up early.
Be outside tomorrow.
Hey, I mentioned the weather wise question for today.
What impact does hail have on farming?
How about one billion dollars in damage every year?
I know it has a huge impact on car dealerships as well and people's roofs that get damaged,
but I never thought about that.
Well Illinois actually spends 60 million dollars a year on insurance for their farms.
Wow, that's a lot of money.
Thanks so much Ray.
First is in with sports now and this weekend will be an interesting one for 32 NFL teams.
Interesting and long.
I think it's safe to say for the NFL draft it takes place today and tomorrow.
Seven rounds, we'll have more on the draft coming up.
Tell you where the Rams and Chiefs are going to select.
Plus high skill baseball from this afternoon.
Joplin in action.
Hosting Fayetteville.
We've got highlights of this one plus news on the Royals as well.
Stay around.
Let's go play and spend the day at Grand Lake Casino.
And now your action 12 sports with Bruce Fonderhar.
The Kansas City Royals are in Toronto to start a series with the Blue Jays tonight, but there's
much more on their minds than trying to improve on their 16 and three record.
The team is concerned by the SARS outbreak and brought with them among other things bottles
of disinfectants.
Toronto is dealing with 160 cases and 16 deaths so far.
Outside of Asia, Canada has been the country most affected by SARS.
The team plans to stay close to the hotel and avoid all autograph seekers.
Particularly great about going there.
They say it's safe, so I'm assuming it's safe if we take the precautions that we need to
take, however I'm not thrilled.
What is it that you're going to do to make sure you cut down on the risk?
What have they told you and what are you going to abide by?
We're going to stay in the room, stay in our room and just go to the stadium and back,
avoid contact with people and avoid congested areas that are enclosed.
Can't help but be worried about it, so just going to take every precaution that our trainers
tell us to do and try to stay away from people and just go there and play ball and get out
of town.
I know we're going to make a lot of people mad because we're not going to be able to
sign autographs in groups of people, handshakes, no public transportation.
The Royals are underway.
We'll have highlights at 10.
High school baseball from Joplin.
Kirk Herriman's team hosting Fayetteville.
First inning, 1-1 game.
Jason Sullivan with a base hit to right center.
That scores a pair of Eagles and that gives them a 3-1 lead.
Joplin sends Chris Riggs to the mound.
He gets a strikeout to end the second inning.
Right now, fourth inning, Joplin leads 3-1.
We'll pass along scores of this scheduled doubleheader tonight at 10.
Another Seneca basketball player is signed to play college ball next year.
Dale Hunter is off to Leavenworth, Kansas to play for St. Mary College, an NAIA Division
II school.
Hunter was a two-year starter for the Seneca basketball and football team.
For the basketball squad, he was the first team all Big Eight selection this year, averaging
14 points a game and shooting 60% from the field and helping the Indians to a 24-3 record.
His teammate Heath Sitten signed earlier this week with the College of the Ozarks.
It will be a busy couple of days for the NFL this weekend.
Tomorrow, the 68th annual draft takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
There will be a total of 262 selections made in seven rounds, rounds one through three
tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m. and then four through seven on Sunday.
Here's a look at the order of the draft.
The Bengals, of course, have already signed USC quarterback Carson Palmer.
Detroit likely takes Michigan Statewide receiver Charlie Rogers with that two pick.
Then comes Detroit with the two pick.
Houston with a three pick will make one of their 13 selections in the draft.
The Jets traded up today with Chicago to get that fourth pick.
Dallas will pick fifth, followed by the Cardinals, the Vikings.
The Rams will go at number 12.
They will likely pick an offensive lineman or a linebacker.
The Chiefs at the 16th spot likely take a defensive end or a running back.
It's very interesting that the Chiefs in the early rounds will likely draft a running back.
There's still a lot of question marks right now with Priest Holmes, his injury, whether
he's going to hold out once the season starts.
So it's going to be a very interesting day to see what the Kansas City Chiefs do Saturday
and Sunday.
Isn't it incredible how big of a deal this has become?
It used to be held like on a Tuesday and no one watched it.
Now everybody watches and everybody waits for a team to mess it up, which the Bengals
usually do, but I think this year they're making a good pick.
Also, the Rams, Mike Martz is so unpredictable, there's no telling who they're going to take
in this draft.
So it's going to be fun to watch tomorrow and see what happens.
I know what you two will be doing.
I'll be watching the draft.
We'll be critiquing Mel Kuyper's hair.
Hasn't moved in six years.
Wind tunnel tested.
Coming up next on Action 12 News at 6, we'll check in with Ray for the weekend forecast.
But first, let's take a look at these cops.
They might be taking a donut break, but it's all for a good cause.
We'll explain when Action 12 News returns.
In Chicago, cops competed in the World Cop Donut Eating Championship.
Nearly 30 police officers took part for bragging riots on who can eat the most donuts, not
to mention more than $2,000 in prizes.
Proceeds went to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington, D.C.
The fund maintains the wall where names of police officers killed in the line of duty
are kept and nine donuts in three minutes was good enough to win that contest.
You and Bruce were saying that you could do more than that.
I expect more from our members of the law enforcement community.
There's a lot of powder on those donuts.
You just dip them in milk, soften them up a little bit.
You can get more nine down.
So coming up tonight at 10, you guys are going to try it.
They'll be the sportscast tonight at 10.
Bruce Jam and nine donuts.
No, Bruce and Jimmy.
It sounds like you guys have already tried this before.
I'm conceding the competition to Bruce.
How about the weekend?
The weekend is very nice.
We're going to see plenty of sunshine after morning fog tomorrow with highs in the 70s.
All right.
Thanks, Ray.
That's going to do it for Action 12 News at 6.
You won't want to miss tonight.
Salon services provided by Bioskin.
Custom services, custom products and a full service.