Published by
Dick Schaefer, Part-time, Unpaid Contributing Writer and Investigative Reporter
"I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell."
~ Harry S Truman
We haven't gathered all the details yet, but we wanted to bring you the jist of an important breaking news story. We are working diligently to cross-check and confirm what details we currently do have.
Hermann Hearsay's editorial board has been agonizing for several days over whether or not to publish this story. Ultimately we have decided that the public's right to know what goes on inside its county goverment trumps the desires of a couple politicians to keep the information from the public in order to avoid personal embarrassment.
Here is our preliminary report .....
Thursday morning (7/22/2010) at the so-called "Gasconade County Road Department Meeting" in Drake, a serious altercation erupted when Southern District Associate Commissioner
Jerry Lairmore began badgering and verbally abusing Northern District Assocate Commissioner
Matt Penning. The verbal abuse went on for sometime while Presiding Commissioner
Ron Jost who was "leading" the meeting sat on his hands and took no actions to stop it. Eventually the harrassment, brow-beating, bullying and swearing became so extreme that Commissioner
Matt Penning simply excused himself and left the meeting rather than be goaded into a more serious response.
Unfortunately there were no media representatives in attendance at the meeting who can report to us on the nasty altercation which occurred. This time we won't be getting a lengthy transcript of the disgusting verbal exchange from any member of the media as we have in the past. County Clerk
Lesa Lietzow does not currently attend the "road department" meetings and keep minutes, so we won't be able to read her "official" minutes of this meeting in the newspapers.
Nevertheless,
Hermann Hearsay believes it is important that the good citizens of Gasconade County understand what is really going on in our three-man County Commission even if it isn't being covered by any of our traditional and non-traditional news media. We believe it is particularly important to report this story, because another "news" media outlet has been giving a certain vocal political pundit and provocateur a "soap box" (or "forum" as they choose to call it) from which he is allowed to launch untrue and extremely biased political attacks against Northern District Associate Commissioner
Matt Penning.
But I digress. Back to the subject of the verbal altercation which Commissioner
Lairmore reportedly created at the County Road Department Meeting in Drake this past Thursday morning ..... This incident, if it is true as described to me and I DO believe the account which has been described to me by one of the meeting attendees because I know this particular person to be very honest and straight-forward, was very unprofessional and very unfortunate. The incident was created entirely by Southern District Associate Commissioner
Lairmore and NOT by Northern District Associate Commissioner
Penning.
I'm going to do everything I can to flush out more of the ugly details regarding this story by attempting to contact all of the individuals who were directly involved in the incident which occurred during last Thursday's road department meeting in Drake. Perhaps I'll send them all an email or maybe I'll have to call them if they don't have an email address to see if they wouldn't mind responding to a few questions that I, as an admittedly amateur, part-time investigative reporter, have managed to formulate. Those who were present at the meeting in question are also quite welcome to come onto this site and make any comment they want. Others who may not have been in attendance at last Thursday's Road Department Meeting are also invited to comment. I promise to publish all comments in their entirety just as I always do, and I will not edit a single word.
The questions which it seems to me need to be responded to are these:
- What was the altercation all about? I understand it had something to do with county tire purchasing procedures and with the credit payments for usable tire casings which Central Tire Company paid to Gasconade County during this past year in which they had been awarded the contract. Is that true? What exactly is the issue, Commissioner Lairmore?
- I understand that it was Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore who initiated the mean-spirited verbal attack against Northern District Associate Commissioner Matt Penning? Is that true, Commissioner Lairmore? Is it true that you called your colleague a "lieing son-of-a-bitch" during the road department meeting and most regrettably in the presence of three county employees? Would you care to explain or refute?
- What specifically are you, Commissioner Lairmore, so concerned and agitated about? Why? Please explain.
- Commissioner Lairmore, why did you find it necessary to badger, brow-beat, belittle, accuse and curse at Commissioner Penning to the point that Commissioner Penning quite understandably felt he had no choice but to simply remove himself from the meeting?
- Commissioner Lairmore and Presiding Commissioner Jost, how many road department employees were forced to witness this unprofessional display by their County Commission "leaders"? Which road department employees witnessed this unprofessional exchange? We understand county employees Wayne Kottwitz, Roger Dahl and Debbie Thomas were present? Would you like to comment on this or refute it? How many man-hours of otherwise productive time were lost on this day by our road department employees so that they could witness your childish, unprofessional behavior?
- At the 'Meet The Candidates' night sponsored by The Farm Bureau Tuesday night in Owensville, you, Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost, took credit for the Gasconade County Commission "working so well together in harmony under your leadership". Why then did you allow this angry, bullying and unproductive line of interrogation by Commissioner Lairmore to go on for as long as it did? Mr. Jost, as Presiding Commissioner, isn't it your responsibility to maintain some semblance of professional decorum and order during official meetings of the County Commission?
- Mr. Kottwitz, Mr. Dahl and Ms. Thomas, I am very sorry that you were put in a situation whereby you were forced to witness this angry and unprofessional display by the very people who should be leading you. Do any of you wish to make a comment at this time? I completely understand if you don't.
I really hate to have to ask all of these detailed investigative reporter type questions! And I know that Commissioners
Jost,
Lairmore and
Penning as well as county employees
Kottwitz,
Dahl and
Thomas are all very busy people. But when I don't have a transcript of the discussions provided to me by another "news" organization nor the official meeting minutes from the County Clerk, I have no other choice but to investigate a bit further and let my nose take me wherever it may. Afterall, the citizens and taxpayers of Gasconade County have a right to know how their elected goverment officials are performing and behaving in the conduct of their official offices.
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