The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Thursdays.

(Last updated January 11, 2012)

(Published 1-11-12) 

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor,
On Dec. 29 a subject dropped by the Lake Ozark Police Department and wanted to return a wallet that was found on the Lowes parking lot.

The wallet contained approximately $400 in cash and numerous credit cards and identification.

A local man who lost the wallet was thrilled to find not only his wallet but all of its contents as well had been returned.

That sounds pretty good to hear about local people but it happened again!

The very next day, Dec. 30 a subject walked into the lobby of the Lake Ozark Police Department and returned a wallet found on the strip.

This time the wallet contained $998 and even more credit cards and pieces of identification.

The owner was not a local man but was in town for holidays.

Again, the owner was reunited with his property and was thrilled it was all as he left it.

He offered a $100 reward to the good citizen who found the wallet.

In both cases, it demonstrates that we have some super honest and decent people here at the lake and if you ever doubted it, then don't!

These two incidents suggest to me that there are many good apples left in the basket!

Chief Mark Maples
Lake Ozark Police Department

 

Linn Creek Alderman Chris Thompson at his last meeting

(Published 12-28-2011) 

Column - A proud father

By Jeff Thompson
I have two amazing children.

My daughter Rachel and my son-in-law Yair have given me (and the world) two astonishing grandchildren, Elliyah and Elan. Rachel and Yair are great parents and hard workers and dote on their children so much there’s hardly anything left for a grandpa to do except brag on his grandchildren.

(By the way, it ain‘t bragging if they can actually do it. More on my grandchildren‘s exploits in another column)

Rachel has an older brother; my son, Chris. This column is about him, about his sacrifice and dedication to his family.

About four years ago Chris came up from Texas on the heels of an unpleasant situation. In-between semesters at college, he figured to get away for a while, clear his head, and go back to the Lone Star State with a renewed enthusiasm for education and life in general.

Chris was staying with me while lending a helping hand to my mother, Joyce. Her longtime companion, Jules, was 83 years old and not in the best of health: long term diabetes, dialysis three times a week, and an emergency quintuple heart bypass in 2001, just to mention a few of his health problems.

One thing led to another - one hospital led to another - and Jules ended up spending a couple of months on his back while the doctors diagnosed an infection that had settled in his spinal column.

When Jules finally came home it was obvious some serious health care decisions had to be made. My mom was not going to put Jules into a nursing home, but it would have been difficult for her and I to take care of him at home by ourselves.

It was during this time that Chris decided to stay longer than he had planned, to help take care of Jules.

Understand something: My son put his entire life on hold for four years to help his family take care of a man he hardly knew, to help his grandmother keep her longtime companion at home instead of placing him in a geriatric care facility.

Chris took care of Jules during the week; I took care of Jules during the weekends. The task was all-consuming as three people centered their lives around the 24-hour care of one man for nearly four years, and Chris did the lion’s share of the work.

On top of that, last year he decided to run for a Ward 2 Alderman position here in Linn Creek. Another family tradition, Chris was following my mother’s footsteps in local government and I’m sure he would’ve eventually become mayor, just like his grandmother did.

But Jules passed away peacefully in his sleep last month while at a hospital in Jefferson City - it was a long time coming - and after the initial grief, Chris knew it was time to get back to the life he had put on hold.

Chris is going back to Texas this week, he’s going back to college but with a new plan.

When he started college, he was majoring in history with an idea to eventually teach at a high school or college level.

Now he’s decided he wants to be a nurse specializing in hospice care. Like his mother, Chris has a gift, a special talent for taking care of people, and he discovered that talent while taking care of Jules.

I’m very proud of both of my children, and love them both equally.
But right now, I’m especially proud of my son.
 

(Published 12-14-2011) 

Editorial - The whole truth and nothing but the truth

It has been well over a decade since the brutal murders of Lena and Leonard Walters shattered the peaceful Greenview area – and the rest of the lake.

So the police and prosecutors did their job, made the arrest, prosecuted the case and found Danny Wolfe guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced him to death. Justice served, right?

Then the sentence was appealed - like all death penalty cases – and eventually problems were found that resulted in his death sentences being commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But notice what we just said: problems were found.

In reading through the decisions by the Supreme Court of Missouri we found a load of interesting things that bring even more “problems” to light.

We’re not saying Wolfe is innocent, it’s not our place to do so, but there are a lot of unanswered questions (see ‘Facts’ disputed on page one).

Here are a few, according to the Supreme Court’s Feb. 11, 2003 hand-down:

• None of the physical evidence directly linked Wolfe to the killings.
• The police obtained fingerprint, footprint, tissue, blood and hair evidence, yet none of it implicated Wolfe.
• The clothes that Cox indicated Wolfe had worn were discovered and were not bloody, despite the victims' extensive blood loss.
• Wolfe's clothes were free of any fibers that would tie him to the crime scene.
• Wolfe's gloves did not have hair, fiber, gunpowder or blood on them.

That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it, but there is more to the story than has been revealed.

Most people in jail will claim to be innocent and some of them are, but many more are guilty and Wolfe may be one of them.

Wolfe’s recent filing to the Camden County Court points the finger at his counsel and what he feels was incompetence on the counsel’s part to bring up several inconsistencies in the evidence against him.

It will be interesting to see the results of this case and whether Wolfe is grasping at straws, or his claim is correct: he was framed.

Whatever the outcome, we hope that the truth is fully revealed. It won’t bring back the Walters, but the complete truth is needed.

 

(Published 12-7-2011) 

Guest Editorial - Because we don’t trust ‘em

By Jack Krier

The week following Black Friday there was a story on the front page of USA Today with a big, bold headline on the lead story which said “Guns were a big seller on Black Friday.”

The story went on to inform readers that sales of firearms hit record numbers on the day after Thanksgiving, with a surge in FBI background checks by 129,166 new buyers, “smashing the single-day, all-time high by 32 percent, according to bureau records.”

In an apparent state of denial about why guns sales have surged at this time, the left-leaning USA Today disingenuously quotes a few so-called firearms experts and “reports”: Some gun industry analysts attributed the surge to a convergence of factors, including an increasing number of first-time buyers seeking firearms for protection and women who are being drawn to sport shooting and hunting.”

Referencing one obviously brain-damaged liberal, the paper quotes Dennis Henigan, acting president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, as saying “he was skeptical of the Black Friday gun surge, adding, ‘I think there is no real significance at all ... It’s possible that gun companies are just catching on to creating a Black Friday frenzy for themselves.”

Yah, and it’s possible the sun will rise in the west tomorrow!

It is obvious to anyone other than an anti-gun public-interest group and other liberals – including the lamestream media and a huge percentage of elected Democrats – the American people, true to the intent of the Founding Fathers as embodied in the Second Amendment, are stocking up on guns during this time of economic and international crisis and peril to protect themselves from the evils of a dishonest, non-responsive and incompetent government that has brought the nation and the rest of the Western world to the brink of collapse.

Our so-called leaders – as seen with Obamacare, the threat of huge tax increases and other forms of fiscal confiscation and violation of property and privacy rights, to name a few “atrocities” – are invading our individual and family rights and taking away our liberties.

It is evident that the people have near lost hope and now are arming themselves to the hilt for the next revolution. And, why have they lost nearly all hope at this time? Simply put, because they see no one on the horizon who can lead this nation back from Armageddon.

While the liberals have led the charge to neuter the Second Amendment, we are forced to admit the opposition party – Republican – has not put forth a very strong defense. People also realize that when Armageddon descends upon us, it will be accompanied by lawlessness from unruly citizens.

Most of us realize that, even under ideal conditions, the police are to help arrest people after a crime occurs. there is not a police force big enough to protect every person from harm. Therefore, it becomes the duty and right of every citizen to protect themselves.

Concealed carry and having a gun in the house are the best tools to stop crime. Following are quotes from throughout the ages which help prove our point:

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