Attorney general tried to remove county school board members in 1972

Attorney Common Ed W. Hancock sued two users of the county Board of Instruction in 1972, claiming they had usurped their positions and must repay various yrs of their salaries.

Circuit Choose Carl Melton was out of town at the time the suit was filed by Owensboro lawyer Richard S. Taylor on behalf of the lawyer standard. That prompted Circuit Court Clerk George Raber to challenge a restraining purchase at 3 p.m. April 17, 1972, which prevented Chairman Wilburn Ray Buckman and board member Paul Thomas from voting at the conference that evening.

Neither of them attended the assembly, in accordance to The Gleaner of April 18. Board Vice Chairman James Flint, who presided above the April 17 meeting, explained to The Gleaner the restraining get could not be lifted in time for the two to go to the assembly.

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Each adult males have been accused of obtaining a conflict of fascination. They were elected Nov. 5, 1968, and took the oath of workplace Jan. 6, 1969. Even although they had been serving due to the fact then, the suit stated, “they in fact have no correct to physical exercise the obligations of stated place of work for the purpose that they are serving illegally or are if not ineligible.”

Buckman was the gross sales supervisor of Taylor-Dempewolf Motors and on July 20, 1970, he produced a movement for the university board to purchase a dump truck from his employer. The go well with alleged such motion violated condition legislation and mandated Buckman’s removal.

Thomas, meanwhile, was utilized by the Henderson Area Vocational University, which was a advantage process work. Merit process staff members had been prohibited from serving in a compensated political place by two sections of state law. “Paul Thomas has violated the higher than and, for that reason, he ought to be ousted as a member of the Board of Education,” the lawsuit mentioned.

The Gleaner’s story famous, “The accusation towards Thomas has been produced formerly by other people, but Superintendent Lewis Johnson and Thomas have denied any impropriety.”

That leads me to believe there was a backstory to this lawsuit that is not revealed by possibly the newspaper tales or the authorized papers. The go well with experienced major ramifications. Consider of it: If the election of the two guys ended up nullified by the courtroom, that would look to phone into dilemma every issue they had voted on considering that 1969. I suspect that could have been incredibly messy.

Story continues

The Gleaner’s second story about the controversy – and its last – appeared April 22 and it documented the restraining get experienced been lifted the previous working day soon after a brief meeting in Henderson Circuit Court docket. But the choose did not rule on no matter whether the two guys experienced been serving illegally.

In accordance to The Gleaner the foundation for dissolving the restraining order had been basically two legal technicalities: The affidavit submitted with the ask for for the buy unsuccessful to state irrespective of whether the petitioner “had ever been refused the issuance of this sort of an get in any other court, and also failed to state that the circuit decide was out of the county when the restraining get was issued.”

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The judge’s official order from the court docket file, nonetheless, phrased the causes fairly otherwise in that the “plaintiff has unsuccessful to file a movement for restraining purchase to be read at this time and date and even more that the affidavit filed for issuance of the restraining get is not ample to authorize the clerk to problem a restraining buy.”

According to The Gleaner, Buckman managed he experienced been voting to get the small bid for the dump truck buy. In the meantime, “Thomas said he cleared the matter of his company with the board with the lawyer general’s business just before taking office environment.”

On May well 19 the scenario was once all over again prior to the choose, who did not rule until eventually May well 30. He dismissed the situation for failure to state a assert “for which aid can be granted.” Even so, the attorney typical was provided permission to file an amended grievance.

The amended complaint claimed Thomas’ work with the vocational university and his services on the university board “are incompatible in that the capabilities of the two are inherently inconsistent and repugnant to just about every other that the a single interferes with the performance of the duties of the other and the occupancy of both equally by the very same individual is detrimental to the general public fascination.”

As for Buckman, the amended grievance claimed, through his college board time period he had voted to invest in not only the dump truck from Taylor-Dempewolf, but also “various other devices, supplies, components and services” and that he “received either straight or indirectly a monetary get from these said transactions.”

University board legal professional C.B. West, in his filings with the court, maintained that was not so because the income paid out Buckman by Taylor-Dempewolf did not alter no issue what the college board did. “While he might have experienced an ‘emotional interest’ in his employer acquiring the deal, the criticism fails to clearly show that any further more fascination on his element, immediate or oblique, existed.”

On Aug. 18 a motion was listened to to set the situation for a pre-trial listening to, which was established for Sept. 27 but never ever happened. Area attorney George Stigger represented the attorney basic that day in court. The choose necessary the attorneys to listing their witnesses, any distinctive damages, and make for inspection all reveals anticipated to be entered into the history.

The lawyers were being also essential to submit any proposed instructions to the court docket, together with a memorandum exhibiting their authorized authority, and a memorandum about any anticipated “unusual problems” with the circumstance.

That action on Aug. 18 was essentially the previous gasp of the lawsuit – possibly due to the fact neither Buckman nor Thomas sought re-election and remaining office environment at the stop of 1972.

On Feb. 13, 1973, the courtroom dismissed the scenario “for failure of prosecution” and required courtroom expenses to be paid by the plaintiff. The legal professional normal “has no objection to dismissing the motion, the issues included in the motion now remaining mute” by which the scribe writing in the court purchase e-book most most likely meant moot.

100 Decades In the past

The Grand Theater premiered “The Sheik” April 20, 1922, together with theaters throughout the nation.

The silent movie built Rudolph Valentino one particular of the first international movie stars and had a enormous effects on popular society – although by present day requirements it is in no way politically right. In reality, the plot entails a typical situation of Stockholm syndrome.

The film played two times at the Grand. Admission was 15 cents for young children and 25 cents for older people. There was a matinee at 2 p.m. and the evening performance at 7 p.m.

75 Several years Ago

An post appeared in The Gleaner April 18, 1947, touting the positive aspects of the new herbicide 2,4-D.

“After two years of analysis in this condition and other individuals it is now doable to suggest its use for the regulate of quite a few weeds that are troublesome…. Weeds these types of as dandelion, buckhorn and plantain are killed with out damage to the bluegrass” utilized in numerous lawns, golf classes and parks.

In June 1947, in accordance to Maralea Arnett’s “Annals and Scandals” reserve, the local extension business office shown use of 2,4-D on a area of corn. “Gradually the horse weeds commenced to droop and slide in excess of, revealing the green stalks of corn the weeds had concealed.”

Up to that level, the herbicide experienced not been employed regionally on everything other than small text plots. But a moist spring had saved the fields far too soaked for cultivation until finally the weeds ended up thicker and taller than the corn.

Paul Rhodes sprayed 10 acres on June 18 and other farmers adopted as before long as they saw the outcomes. “It’s like a wonder,” stated a single.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency allows the use of 2,4-D, while due to the fact 1985 it has banned varieties of it that comprise dioxin, a chemical linked to cancer.

The exact April 18 edition also carried a story noting that Henderson Fiscal Court had acquired its initially electric power mower for keeping the courthouse garden. It drew pretty a little bit of interest.

25 Many years Ago

A joint enterprise among The Gleaner and Evansville-centered Planet Connection Providers furnished Henderson with yet an additional portal to the Environment Wide World wide web, in accordance to the April 20, 1997, version.

It was termed Henderson On the web and featured 32 modem phone traces that were being related to the Internet through a devoted T-1 line.

Buyers had been ready to access the Web, e-mail, and chat rooms in the Tri-Condition vicinity and were being entitled to 4 megabytes of personalized storage space for setting up a web web page. They also obtained a totally free duplicate of the Netscape browser.

The Gleaner was continuing to set up its Web webpage, in accordance to Publisher Steve Austin, which previously provided info about the newspaper and back links to sites of area curiosity. “In the future it will consist of all styles of information and information and facts expert services and labeled advertisements and temperature,” Austin claimed.

Henderson On-line was the fifth Online company to supply regional dial-up service. Other people incorporated campusMCI (also known as Uk On the net) Dynasty On the net kih online and LDDNet.

Viewers of The Gleaner can get to Frank Boyett at [email protected] or on Twitter at @BoyettFrank.

This posting initially appeared on Henderson Gleaner: Henderson background: AG experimented with to remove county faculty board customers in 1972