No Further Cat Burglaries Reported By County Collector

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Investigative Reporter

Matt Penning's volunteer work crew last worked at the Gasconade County Courthouse ove the 2009 Labor Day weekend.  The following week a break-in was reported to courthouse employees by County Collector, Shawn Schlottach, according to a confidential source within the courthouse.  The implication or inference was that Commissioner Penning and/or one or more of his volunteers had entered Collector Schlottach's office without proper authorization.  Although Collector Schlottach made the "cat burglary" claim, no solid evidence was ever produced at that time.  Schlottach was subsequently confronted regarding her wild accusations by Commissioner Penning as well as one or more of his volunteers, but she denied that she had ever made such accusations against them.  At the time, her adamant denial seemed quite peculiar because our confidential source within the courthouse is usually very reliable.

Now, over six months later, we have checked with our confidential source in the courthouse, and we have been told that no subsequent "cat burglaries" have been reported by Collector Schlottach.  This is quite interesting!  One reported "cat burglary" at the courthouse immediately following the weekend during which Matt Penning's volunteer group worked and then no subsequent reported "cat burglary" since that time!

Our questions are these:

1. Did the reported "cat burglary" over the 2009 Labor Day weekend actually occur?
2. Who might have had the motive to break in to Collector Schlottach's office?  At that time, Schlottach appeared to point the finger of blame at Matt Penning and his volunteer workers.  But what would any of them possibly want in Schlottach's office?
3. Why was no evidence produced at that time which could lead to a successful prosecution and conviction of the alleged break-in?
4. Why didn't Collector Schlottach report the incident to the proper legal authorities instead of making her wild accusations and inferences in the presence of other courthouse employees?
5. Why have there been no further break-ins at the courthouse since last year's Labor Day weekend?  Is it because the "cat burglar" got what he/she wanted during the first break-in?  Or is it because the Penning volunteers have never again had weekend access to the courthouse since the 2009 Labor Day weekend?  Or is it because the first so-called "cat burglary" never actually occurred?

We don't have the resources to conduct a full investigation of this nature and we have no one on our staff who has the proper private investigator's license, so we have contracted the job to Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, now retired from the French Police Force.  Inspector Clouseau will be arriving at Lambert International Airport this coming Wednesday.  He plans to spend a week on the case and report his findings to us before returning to Paris.

When we have more information to report, we will.

Jimmy Oldsun
Investigative Reporter
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/

Hermann Live Webcam Expose

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Investigative Reporter

Live webcams have been used by the big TV stations in the big cities for over ten years.  But now, live webcams have come to Hemann, MO ...... population 2,700.

CountyNewsLIVE.com currently has two webcams broadcasting dramatic and breathtaking live video images.  CountyNewsLIVE.com is on the leading edge of hi-tech news coverage in the Hermann area.  No one even comes close to them when it comes to webcam broadcasting!

One of their expensive, articulated live webcams is mounted on the front outside wall of Wings-A-Blazin' at 120 East Fourth Street here in Hermann.  Look up the next time you go to Wings-A-Blazin' for hot wings and beer.  The camera is housed in a cool-looking white metal housing with a tinted windshield. The cool thing about this particular webcam is that you can see who's coming and going at a number of locations on Fourth Street.  If your spouse has threatened to divorce you, you can monitor the entrances to the law offices of Donald Althauser, Dennis Barks and Michael Mundwiller, all located on Fourth Street, to see if he/she might be seeking legal representation from one of them.  If you're interested in seeing if your husband or boyfriend might be purchasing flowers for you from the new flower shop on the north side of Fourth Street, you can keep an eye on that webcam image all day long from the comfort of your home or your office.

The other webcam is located in Dundee, MO and broadcasts an image of the Missouri River looking east and down the river.  This view will be very helpful if we are ever attacked by a hostile armada sailing up the river from St. Louis and toward our fair town.  I don't know what we'll be able to see in the dark of night since there is no light on the river in that location, so we may need to post sentries along the river during the night.  If we outfit them with cell phones they can call ahead to the offices of CountyNewsLIVE.com and leave a message on their voice recorder.  Hopefully, the folks at CountyNewsLIVE.com will be checking their messages through the night and will alert us all if we are under attack.  Hopefully we are not attacked from the west, and hopefully we are not attacked by submarines.

There used to be a live webcam focused on the entrance to People's Savings Bank.  I always found that view interesting.  You could monitor the comings and goings of bank customers.  There are a few Hermannites who must really have a lot of money.  I used to watch them come and go frequently.  I don't how big their deposits were, but I do know they made frequent deposits.  That view is no longer availale from CountyNewsLIVE.com.  Maybe those frequent depositers complained to the bank about the unwanted intrusion into their privacy and maybe bank officials asked Mr. Noedel to take his live webcam elsewhere?  We don't really know.  Our calls have not been returned.

In discussing the proliferation of live webcams with people down at the coffee shop, I have heard a variety of opinions.  Some say that they think all of these live webcams represent an intrusion into their personal privacy.  Some say it ought to be against a city ordinance for private companies to install live webcams in Hermann for their own private commercial use.  Some say they don't care one hoot in hell if CountyNewsLIVE.com wants to waste their resources on this live webcam technology.  Some say they support it and want to see more webcams in Hermann.  Locations most often mentioned by those who wish to see more live webcams are:  Sharp's Corner Tavern, the Concert Hall and Barrel Bar, weekly County Commission Meetings, weekly City Council Meetings, a special night vision camera to monitor the feral cats, and the emergency entrance to Hermann Area District Hospital.  Some have said they would like to be able to control the field of view and focus on these webcams.  Some CountyNewsLIVE.com subscribers have said that they would pay more to be able to view the video images in 3D.

Truman T. Tiger, our owner and founder, has said that he will wait to see how this technology is accepted by Hermann residents and the Hermann City Council before he invests any of his money in webcams.  Besides, the technology is likely to improve and become much less expensive.  "Until that time", Mr. Tiger quipped, "Hermann Hearsay will report to its readers that traffic continues to flow east and west on Fourth Street and that the Missouri River continues to flow from west to east here in the Hermann area."

Tell us your opinion of the live webcams in Hermann.  Do you like them?  Should they be legal?  Do you want more of them?  Where?  Would you pay more for 3D?

Jimmy Oldsun
Investigative Reporter
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/