There has been a considerable amount of comments and responses about my articles on this web site, and I would sincerely like to thank you for your thoughts and support. Our web site numbers have gone through the roof so I know we are really reaching you, the people. Now I want you to consider this. Ask yourself this question. I am a 5 term sheriff with absolutely no desire for 6 so I have nothing to gain here. Think about how easy it would have been for me to just leave this all alone. I was a virtual family member of the owners of the only newspaper. I went on out of state vacations with them. My wife and daughter even spent a week in London with them. I was invited to all family functions and they used to tell me I was even in their will. Many of you already know this. I am also a life long friend of the Presiding Commissioner, Russell Scheulen. I had it made. Do you know how easy it would have been to comfortably coast into retirement? All I had to do was stay in the family circle, make sure I didn’t upset the 911 director, and agree with everything Jerri Voss and the presiding commissioner said. It would have been great for me, but it wouldn’t have done much for you. That’s not me. That’s not what I’m about and that’s not who I am. You see, I actually need to look in the mirror when I shave in the morning, I’m not that coordinated. (I thought I’d through a little humor in at least one of these). I gain nothing from this, but I’m not supposed to.
There is an election coming up. Possibly the most important election I have seen since I began serving you in 1988. You are being told that if the 911 tax fails, (it’s actually a law enforcement tax), that 911 shuts down and we go back to the stone age to live in caves. Folks, that’s simply not true. The tax is funded through the spring of next year, and can be put back on the ballot after a determination is made as to who is going to be in charge of the fund, what the money is going to be used for, and how a system will be put in place to insure the your tax dollars are being spent wisely and appropriately. I don’t want to see 911 fail. I just want to see some accountability. And I want you to be told the truth. I don’t think that’s too much to ask from elected officials. And I really want to see decisions being made by your elected officials, with your best interest at heart. Not the U.D.’s,
As for the 911 director, according to her own people, she really doesn’t have anything to do with 911 anymore anyway, except get a paycheck. She isn’t even certified to dispatch anymore. She let her MULES/NCIC certification expire, and has delegated virtually all aspects and responsibilities in dispatch to others. She says she doesn’t have time. In fact, if you call the 911 center on any of the non-emergency lines, the phone is answered “Osage Co EOC”. I wonder what kind of story you would read in the U.D. if I let my law enforcement certification expire but was still getting the paycheck? I think most of you already know the answer to that question.
I had intended for this article to be relatively short, but I’ve gotten so many calls regarding my last article, and the July 28, 2010 edition of the U.D., this will be a little longer than expected.
They finally got Ralph to attack me in the “For The Record” section of the U.D. I’m not sure what any of this has to do with that section of the paper, but I guess it doesn’t matter. Wow, what do you say about that? I think most of you would agree here that I have tried to keep this relatively professional, to the point, and focus on providing you with information you wouldn’t ordinarily be given. Yes, I got personal at times, but that was usually directed at myself, and that was just so you understood I was speaking from the heart. Folks, I’m just going to tell you here, that Ralph just crossed a line that I would have never believed he would have crossed, but I guess to be honest, I’m really not surprised.
Jerri took her shots. Then they sent in Neal Johnson and that didn’t go very well for them, so they resorted to bringing in some outside help, a former St. Louis Post Dispatch Report by the name of Terry Ganey. A man they previously despised and had no respect for because of his liberal views and agenda, a man who coincidentally sent me a letter dated July 27, 2010 (the day before yesterday’s newspaper came out) threatening to sue me over the statements I made on the web site. Seems those who hide behind the first amendment sure don’t like when others exercise it and they read their name in print. The Voss’ would apparently be a prime example of this. Anyway, I guess Ralph was the only thing left in their arsenal. To put that in the ”For the Record” section is a considerable stretch though. Here’s why.
I did not, nor have I ever testified falsely in Dale Helmig’s case, or any other for that matter. Ralph knows this. He was the associate circuit judge who presided over cases I was involved in for years. He is the judge who heard the preliminary hearing on that case. He’s the judge who decided that there was probable cause to believe Dale Helmig should stand trial for the crime. I don’t want to give a law class here but it bears on this conversation so I will try to explain what some people may not know.
Law enforcement officers investigate, and yes we can decide that someone goes to jail for a short period of time. We submit our reports to a prosecuting attorney, who decides what, if any crime someone is charged with. The case then goes before a judge who decides if there is sufficient evidence or “probable cause”, to believe a crime was committed, and if the accused should stand trial for the crime. Ralph Voss was that judge in this case. I’m sure he just forgot to mention that in his story. It is after all, “for the record”.
If a defendant is then bound over for trial, it is held at a future date, which was the case here. A circuit court judge hears that case. A jury is selected, and in this case they decided that Dale Helmig was guilty. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. The case had been appealed in state and federal court dozens of times over the past 15 years. Those appeals have been denied, even up to and including he supreme court. Ralph knows this. Now all of a sudden, after 15 years, he decides that our investigation was sloppy. Are you kidding me?
Folks, we the law enforcement officer frequently get credit for being judge, jury and executioner. Truth is, in the criminal justice system, we are at the bottom of the food chain. No body cares what we think, they only care what we can prove. That’s okay, that’s the way it should be. That’s why we have judges, juries and appeals courts. If our investigation was so sloppy, why did Ralph, or I guess I should say Judge Voss, bind Dale Helmig over for trial. I’ll tell you why. Because he believed Dale did it, and he believed there was sufficient evidence to prove he did it. Turns out he was right. But I think what bothers me the most here, is he accuses me of testifying falsely.
Folks, you have no idea how hard it is for me to maintain some professional integrity here where Judge Voss is concerned, but I will do my best. He knows that I did not testify Dale threw coffee in the victim’s face the night before she disappeared. He knows that. Her estranged husband did that two weeks before she disappeared. I testified to that. I have always testified to that. At the trial, at all the appellate hearings anytime I was questioned about the “coffee throwing incident” I have testified it was Ted Helmig. I have never testified that Dale threw coffee in his mother’s face. And as I have always told you and done since writing these articles, you don’t have to believe me, I will show you. I have the transcripts to prove it and I would be happy to make you a copy if you would like to come by and get one.
The transcript is several hundred pages long, so I can’t post the entire transcript. It is also available for view in my office, the prosecutor’s office, and the attorney generals office,( unless of course they now want to call the Mo State Attorney General’s office a “sham”) if you have any doubts or just want to see it for yourself. But that’s really not the issue here.
I don’t know what will come of Dale Helmig’s latest appeal anymore than I knew what would become of all those that came before it. The justice system will deal with that as it comes, as it has the thousands of cases that came before it and the thousands yet to come. What is at issue here is that Ralph Voss, the former Judge, husband of Jerri Voss, owner of the U.D., and father of the 911 director, knowingly lied to you. He knows what those transcripts say. He knows what I said in court. He knows that testimony is on record. For a former judge to tell you in his newspaper something that he knows can be disproven by certified court records is just mind boggling to me. I have to admit, I know these people better than anyone, and have said on numerous occasions that nothing they say or do surprises me. Folks, I stand corrected.
I have to give Ralph credit though. At least he finally just came out and said he endorses Russell Scheulen. Thank you Ralph. That’s some of the truth I’ve been talking about. You say he is a “terribly decent guy who tries hard to be fair and do the right thing”. I’ve known Russell my whole life, and though he may now disagree, I still consider him a friend and would help him without hesitation if he ever needed anything. He still cuts the hay off my farm as he has for many years at no charge. I have never said Russell was not a decent man, where we differ, is our definition of doing the right thing. Ralph, I know you too, remember. To you, doing the right thing is what you and Jerri want done. Fairness is what you say it is, and the truth apparently, is nothing more than what you want people to believe it to be, so shame on you Mr. Voss.
On a personal note, I can’t help but wonder what becomes of Russell when he no longer serves your purpose. You used to refer to me as your son. Look at us today. How will you refer to Russell someday when he no longer does your bidding, follows your orders, or advances you, your wife or your daughter’s agenda? But that’s between you and me, it really has nothing to do with what is at issue here, but I felt the need to say that because frankly, I don’t see what your “for the record” comments have to do with what’s going on here either.
As for as my taking Kenny Perrey’s ad to the U.D., I confess. I did it. I did it as a favor, there is a deadline for that stuff as you know, and I happen to work 50 yards from the U.D. I have dropped many things off at the U.D. for people over the years, and will continue to if asked or if it’s a matter of convenience. But I will tell you the truth, “for the record” always, even when it’s painful. And if Mr. Perrey is not, I’m sure offended that Ralph said he would do the sheriff and prosecutor’s bidding. The only bidding that man has ever done is on construction jobs. Anybody who knows Kenny knows that without me telling them. I just find that statement insulting coming from Ralph Voss, because if he were to really tell you the truth, it’s not that Kenny Perrey will do the sheriff and prosecutor’s bidding, it’s just that he won’t do the U.D.’s. And I suspect that scares the hell out Ralph and Jerri Voss. I know it does their daughter. And “for the record”, I did not have my “trusty tape recorder” with me, but now I sure wish I did. If it weren’t for people like you and your wife, I wouldn’t need a tape recorder. Why do you think we had to start recording county commission meetings? Or why I refuse to have a conversation with your daughter without one? It’s also why we make an accurate court record of someone’s sworn testimony in court! You remember those days, don’t you Ralph?