View
2.065
Download
0
Category
Tags:
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
Testimony given to Tom Loraine by Gary Box.
Citation preview
Transcript of the Testimony of Gary Box
Date: November 15, 2013Volume: I
Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
Printed On: November 30, 2013
Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078
Fax: 417-451-1114Email:daholliday@hotmail.com
Internet:
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 1
IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION
SWORN STATEMENT OF
GARY BOX
Taken on Friday, November 15, 2013, from 11:50 a.m. to 1:11
p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626
S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of
Missouri, before
SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,
a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and
for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 2
APPEARANCES
MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE
Loraine & Associates, LLC
4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300
Osage Beach, MO 65065
tellaw@loraineandassociates.com
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 3
S T I P U L A T I O N
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn
Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by
SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and
afterwards reduced into typewriting.
It is further stipulated that the signature of the
witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of
said witness shall be of the same force and effect as
though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 4
I N D E X
Page/Line
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4
E X H I B I T S
(sic) - typed as spoken
(ph.) - phonetic
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 5
1 GARY BOX
2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,
3 testified as follows:
4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:
5 Q. Mr. Box, you're not a City employee?
6 A. No. Used to be a long time ago.
7 Q. Oh, you did?
8 A. I was Joplin police officer, Detective '72 to
9 '85.
10 Q. I'll be dern. I didn't know that. So '72 to
11 '85. What was your rank?
12 A. I went up to Sergeant, but most of my career
13 was spent as a Detective. I was a Sergeant
14 about a year and a half.
15 Q. Detective is a better position?
16 A. It was for me. I didn't like wearing a
17 uniform and I was an investigator and I
18 enjoyed doing that. I took a promotion to 19 Sergeant for about a year and a half and I'd
20 asked for a demotion and they wouldn't give
21 it because of protocol, but we had three
22 murders in one week and the Chief said do you
23 want your rank back and I said, please, and
24 he said we need you to go back.
25 Q. So actually Detective is not a pay level?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 6
1 A. Well, back then it wasn't, no. You went from
2 Patrolman, to Detective, to Sergeant.
3 Detective was the equivalent then of a
4 Corporal.
5 Q. Okay. Did you work with Joplin with this
6 present Chief?
7 A. No, no, no.
8 Q. That was way before him?
9 A. A long time.
10 Q. Who was your chief?
11 A. I had two of them, the first one was Bernie
12 Kakuske, and the second one was Larry Tennis.
13 They're both retired.
14 Q. It's fair to say you go back a little bit
15 with the City of Joplin then?
16 A. 1972.
17 Q. I sure did not know that. Good to have the
18 background. I'm doing an investigation and
19 I've been charged with according to the
20 newspaper and according to my contract, they
21 are consistent, I have been charged with
22 investigating Mr. Woolston, Mr. Scearce, and
23 any collateral matters that arise out of
24 items that were taken, allegedly taken from
25 Rohr's office, and any other collateral items
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 7
1 that arise.
2 A. Sure.
3 Q. As an investigator you know how that goes.
4 A. I understand.
5 Q. And a lot of times when you start that
6 process a whole bunch of other snakes pop
7 out.
8 A. I remember that well.
9 Q. Tell me what your present position with
10 Wallace-Bajjali is.11 A. I'm the Project Manager. I'm the head of the 12 Joplin office. We have including myself four
13 employees here. David Wallace is my boss.
14 He's the co-owner of Wallace-Bajjali.15 Q. How big is Wallace-Bajjali?16 A. It's a large company, not in the terms of
17 number of employees, but we are a traded
18 company.
19 Q. Traded on the big board?
20 A. Yes. We do master developments in several
21 communities. The home office is in Sugarland,
22 Texas. They do everything on all the other
23 communities. Joplin, of course, was the
24 destruction. They were selected this last
25 year in 2012 as the master developer for the
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 8
1 rebuild and by contract with the City and of
2 course that contract was with the City
3 Council. David felt it necessary to have a
4 presence full-time here in Joplin. Prior to
5 September of 2012 I worked as economic
6 development for the Joplin Chamber of
7 Commerce which contractually does economic
8 development for the City of Joplin. So I was
9 familiar with Wallace-Bajjali. In fact, I 10 was the Joplin liaison assigned to them, and
11 then they offered me permanent employment for
12 the rebuild.
13 Q. So as an economic development were you
14 working for the Chamber of Commerce?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Which has a contract with the City?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. So the City provides funds to them?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Are those funds under the control of the City
21 Council?
22 A. Yes, every year they determine what amount,
23 every year's budget how much that they will
24 allocate to the Chamber of Commerce for
25 economic development. In some communities
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 9
1 the economic development falls under the City
2 a lot of times in planning, but with Joplin
3 they find it very advantageous to do it
4 outside because of course the laws in regards
5 to disclosure, a lot of times in economic
6 development you are dealing with site
7 selectors and companies that have to maintain
8 total amenity and so it's easier for the
9 Chamber to do that than the City.
10 Q. You say you were working for the Chamber and
11 then Wallace-Bajjali offered you - you would 12 have been working with Wallace-Bajjali as a 13 Chamber member?
14 A. Oh, sure.
15 Q. As the economic development.
16 A. David first came to Joplin in late July of
17 2011, maintained constant contact, many, many
18 trips here. Late December of 2011 an RFP was
19 issued by the City for a master developer.
20 The City received six responses, two of which
21 were not considered, they weren't complete.
22 There were four entities that were vetted.
23 And then in April the City Council chose to
24 enter into contract negotiations with
25 Wallace-Bajjali and in late August the
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 10
1 contracts --
2 Q. That would have been 2012?
3 A. 2012, right, late August of 2012 those
4 contracts were signed and then David Wallace
5 hired me immediately and then I immediately
6 hired my staff.
7 Q. Would it be fair to say that the economic
8 development job that you had with the 9 Chamber, were you actually banking property
10 with them?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Nothing like that?
13 A. No, it was attraction of business and
14 industry is what we did.
15 Q. And what's your educational training?
16 A. It's actually in Criminal Justice a long time
17 ago, graduate of the Police Academy at
18 Missouri Southern. I do have certification
19 out of the University of Oklahoma in economic
20 development.
21 Q. What kind of certification is that?
22 A. What is it? It's Oklahoma University
23 Economic Development Council. It was a
24 lengthy process of education that we had to
25 go through, weeks and weeks and weeks and
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 11
1 weeks and massive testing on economic
2 development.
3 Q. Not a degree then?
4 A. Oh, no. No, no, no, it's a certification,
5 not a degree.
6 Q. So what is the certification, six months?
7 A. Actually it took me approximately a year, no,
8 two years to obtain that.
9 Q. Is that an Associate's Degree?
10 A. It probably has an equivalent to it. I never
11 tried to check that out.
12 Q. Were you post certified as a policeman?
13 A. Oh, yes, absolutely. I no longer carry
14 commission because I've been out of it too
15 long.
16 Q. during the process of the selection of
17 Wallace-Bajjali you say there were four 18 entities that were chosen as possible
19 bidders?
20 A. Right.
21 Q. That would have been chosen by the City
22 Council?
23 A. Ultimately, yes. The Joplin Redevelopment
24 Corporation, they vetted it first and then
25 they made their findings known to the City
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 12
1 Council and the City Council was the one that
2 entered into it.
3 Q. So you played an important role in selecting
4 these four?
5 A. Yes, I was part of the vetting process.
6 Q. Vetting?
7 A. Due diligence. Out of the four there were
8 two site visits of the top two. One was of
9 course down in Texas and the other was up in
10 Kansas City. I didn't do any of the
11 traveling. My job was to actually get on the 12 phones and call people in each of the
13 communities and check backgrounds, job 14 productivity, likes, dislikes, calling the
15 local press, this type of thing.
16 Q. Who did the due diligence on travel?
17 A. That would have been Rob O'Brien, President
18 of the Chamber, Trish Laney, City Council
19 lady.
20 Q. Still is?
21 A. Uh-huh, Jane Cage.
22 Q. Who is that?
23 A. She is a private citizen, private business
24 woman, and she is - I don't know her exact
25 title, but she's head of CART, the Citizens
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 13
1 Advisory Review Team, that was established
2 post tornado.
3 Q. Oh, that's all tornado stuff, CART?
4 A. Yes, absolutely.
5 Q. Was that appointed by the City?
6 A. No, not really. It was a large group of
7 businessmen came together post storm. Upon
8 direction of a gentleman by the name of Steve
9 Castaner, he is FEMA, and he led the disaster
10 recovery team that came here.
11 Q. Where did he come from?
12 A. He's actually out of Kansas City, but I mean
13 he's with FEMA. He was the lead. He was
14 kind of the go to person, okay, what do we do
15 now type of person.
16 Q. How to get money?
17 A. (Nodding head)
18 Q. That was a yes? I'm sorry.
19 A. Yes, Steve is a great guy, I work with him
20 very much, and he gave a lot of advice to the
21 community as a whole. Out of it initially
22 right off the bat is you need a team of
23 responsible individuals that will start doing
24 some of the community input sessions and all
25 this. Jane was picked to head that.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 14
1 Q. Then came the CART?
2 A. Uh-huh.
3 Q. So actually it was not a City inspired
4 organization?
5 A. It had City influence on it. The City
6 Manager was involved, the Council knew of it,
7 yeah.
8 Q. How did Wallace-Bajjali's name, how were they 9 selected as a bidder on this project?
10 A. It was through a multi-step. The interview
11 panel, which again I was a part of, we did
12 personal interviews, half day interviews with
13 the four.
14 Q. Can you give me the names of those four, if
15 you can recall them?
16 A. I can't. There was one out of New Jersey,
17 two out of Missouri and I believe both of
18 them were out of the Kansas City area, and
19 Wallace-Bajjali in Texas. They were 20 actually, all of them were a contrite name of
21 a bunch of entities that came together to
22 assist. Once the personal interviews were
23 done they were ranked and the top two then
24 were vetted. And by that it was personal
25 trips, you go down and see what projects
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 15
1 they've done and take a look.
2 Q. Was Woolston involved in that?
3 A. Was Woolston involved? I believe he was.
4 Q. I was told that he was part of the due
5 diligence package.
6 A. Yes, I'm pretty sure.
7 Q. But I'm not sure who I was told that by.
8 A. I think Mike's role because Mike was Mayor,
9 Mike was Mayor at the time, his job was to 10 call the Mayors and Council people in the
11 communities of those that we were vetting.
12 That was his job.13 Q. Did the City Manager play a role in the
14 selection process?
15 A. Not really.
16 Q. Did the City Attorney, was he involved in the
17 process?
18 A. Yes, not to any - being involved, listening,
19 being updated on how --
20 Q. Was the City Manager also listening?
21 A. Oh, I'm sure he was.
22 Q. But I mean neither of those two people had an
23 active role in the selection process?
24 A. No, not at all.
25 Q. You told me they were selected and I was
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 16
1 surprised between the time they were selected
2 and the contract. Can you tell me how that
3 was?
4 A. Legal. Attorneys involved. It was quite the
5 contract. Areas of responsibilities, I mean
6 we have actually the designed area, a
7 geographic area that we were responsible for.
8 Q. Is it limited to that geographical area?
9 A. Oh, no, we can do development outside, but we
10 have a definite area within the City that we
11 are responsible for, you know, redevelopment.
12 And it just took time for both sides of 13 attorneys to write the contract.
14 Q. What period of time was that when they were
15 selected to? December to April?
16 A. Actually the RFP went out --
17 Q. What's an RFP?
18 A. Return For Proposal. It's a bid, if you
19 will. It ended in December. I think it was
20 a 30 day period month of January. And then
21 in February started the selection process,
22 the interview and all that process. It was
23 probably from April, late April if I remember
24 correct, late April until August before the
25 contract was actually complete.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 17
1 Q. So the negotiation period really extended in
2 all honesty from December until August?
3 A. I would say January to August, yes.
4 Q. And during that period of time who was
5 involved with setting up this entity,
6 selecting this entity and the meetings?
7 A. CART was involved, the City was involved, the
8 JRC, the Joplin Redevelopment Corporation was
9 involved in it.
10 Q. Who controlled the meetings?
11 A. Golly. Alden Buerge was in charge. He was
12 the lead person with the JRC. Of course Jane
13 Cage was in charge of CART. Golly, I don't
14 remember.
15 Q. Who for the City?
16 A. I don't know.
17 Q. You don't know?
18 A. Huh-uh. I mean they were involved as far as
19 being, but no, they didn't lead this process.
20 I know that Troy Bolander was involved of
21 course because he was the one that issued the
22 RFP. Troy is the City Planner, he was
23 involved in it.
24 Q. Did you get the spelling on that name?
25 A. It's B-O-L-A-N-D-E-R. I think David
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 18
1 Hertzberg that just left, David may have been 2 involved in this because at the time he was
3 Public Works Director and he was Troy's
4 supervisor.
5 Q. Okay. After the contract was established,
6 let's just say some time in August, by that 7 point you were on board?
8 A. September 1.
9 Q. September 1 you went to work for
10 Wallace-Bajjali?11 A. Right.
12 Q. And who took your former job over with the 13 Chamber of Commerce?
14 A. No one.
15 Q. Just dissolved, okay. Obviously you've been
16 involved in this community a long time, you
17 know a lot of people. That would be helpful
18 to Wallace-Bajjali?19 A. Absolutely.
20 Q. They felt so. You felt so.
21 A. Yes, I think the reason why I was chosen
22 definitely of course was my economic
23 development background. I worked with and
24 for Rob O'Brien, President of the Chamber.
25 He is a Certified Economic Developer. Also,
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 19
1 yes, my contacts and knowledge of people I
2 think I have a very trustworthy reputation.
3 A lot of people know me. Probably more know
4 me than I know.
5 Q. Are you registered as a state certified I
6 think they call it lobbyist, municipal
7 lobbyist?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Are you aware of that?
10 A. Uh-huh.
11 Q. You know what it is?
12 A. Uh-huh. Yeah, one of my good friend from
13 Joplin is one.
14 Q. Who is that?
15 A. Gary Burton.
16 Q. Is Mr. Kuehn one of those registered
17 lobbyist?
18 A. Mr. Kuehn? Are you talking about Mr. Kuehn?
19 Q. Yes.
20 A. No. Charlie?
21 Q. Charles.
22 A. No, he's a builder, not a lobbyist.
23 Q. I want to talk a little bit about the process
24 of how the City staff works with
25 Wallace-Bajjali. How does that go?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 20
1 A. How it is now and has been for several,
2 several months all communication between the
3 City and Wallace-Bajjali goes through myself 4 and Mark Rohr, the City Manager. Early on we
5 were, and not that we still aren't, in
6 uncharted waters. This is the first time
7 this community has ever done anything of this
8 magnitude. There were a lot of
9 communications. There was a couple of
10 departments with the City that we deal with
11 on a daily basis. This can be the City
12 Manager's office, this can be the City
13 Attorney's office, this can be the Finance
14 Department, Leslie Haase, the Director, this
15 can be Troy Bolander in the Public Works or
16 City Planning Department, and then post storm
17 they created the position and it's called
18 Disaster Recovery Coordinator and that is
19 Tony Robyn. You've not heard his name
20 before?
21 Q. No.
22 A. Okay. It's Tony, T-O-N-Y, Robyn, R-O-B-Y-N.
23 He is hired actually through a HUD grant for
24 I think two years, and it is what it says, a
25 disaster coordinator. Everything to do
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 21
1 ultimately goes through him at some point.
2 Q. Who is his supervisor?
3 A. I'm not sure. Ultimately it would be Rohr,
4 but I don't know if there's people in
5 between. I'm sure there is, but I don't
6 know. We have scheduled weekly meetings,
7 they're generally held on Mondays in the
8 morning. Those don't always happen. But we
9 take time to communicate. And when it's we
10 that's myself and Bruce Anderson. Bruce
11 works with me. He's my Finance Director.
12 And then when we go to the City for these
13 meetings it's Rohr, it's Brian Head, the City
14 Attorney, it's Leslie Haase, the Finance
15 Director, it's Troy Bolander, the City
16 Planner, and Tony Robyn, Disaster
17 Coordinator.
18 Q. Not Rohr?
19 A. Yeah, Mark is there.
20 Q. Okay. Got it. So that's the standard
21 operating procedure now and for two months?
22 A. Yeah, for several months. Once we were
23 established we started that. Now it has
24 developed in any lines of communication, and
25 by that I mean emails because everybody
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 22
1 communicates with that. Let's say one of my
2 staff has a reason that they've got a
3 question or they have a request it goes to
4 me, from me to Rohr, and from Rohr to whoever
5 that is directed to. Their response comes
6 back through him to me and me to my staff.
7 The same thing for them. If they have
8 something of us it goes through Mark to me in
9 the same way. We do that, and again this is
10 quasi military, okay, it works well. We may
11 not have - Mark and I may not have any direct
12 involvement of what that question or request
13 is, but at least we know. It works well that
14 way.
15 Q. So the primary contacts really are you and
16 Mark at this point?
17 A. Right.
18 Q. So, if you will, and I don't think you have
19 to answer this question, but how are you
20 paid?
21 A. Wallace-Bajjali.22 Q. But is it on a flat fee?
23 A. I'm on salary.
24 Q. Salary, all right. Is there like bonus
25 potentials for you for profits or anything
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 23
1 like that?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Nothing like that?
4 A. I'm straight salary.
5 Q. There's something going on right now with a
6 ball club?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Were you at the Monday meeting?
9 A. No.
10 Q. I understand that the ball club is an
11 independent league or something?
12 A. Uh-huh.
13 Q. And you did not develop that?
14 A. Yes and no. I've been involved in it. I was
15 the President for six years of the Joplin
16 Sports Authority. During my presidency we
17 were an entity of the City underneath the
18 CVB, Convention and Visitors Bureau. We then
19 left the City and went out on our own because
20 ultimately that was our original contact with
21 the City. The Joplin Sports Authority
22 receives funds through the hotel bed tax and
23 what they do is they market the community for
24 sporting events really.
25 Q. You're still involved in that?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 24
1 A. No, no. Baseball, I've been involved in
2 baseball my entire life. This facility, the
3 ball park, Joe Becker Stadium, I'm still
4 involved with ball there. I actually started
5 in 1956 as a bat boy for the American Legion
6 team, and there's not been a summer that I
7 haven't been involved over there than when I
8 was in the military. I've got great desire
9 for that facility. It's historic.
10 Everything is historic.
11 Q. That's where Mantle started, wasn't it?
12 A. Uh-huh, it was where he played his first aid
13 game.
14 Q. He was from what, Oklahoma?
15 A. Quapaw. I knew Mickey very well.
16 Q. You knew him?
17 A. Uh-huh, very well. Anyway, a few years ago,
18 and I say by a few this would probably be
19 somewhere 2008, 2009, Missouri Southern State
20 University, they had played their home games,
21 their baseball team has played their home
22 games there forever, and it was obvious that
23 they wanted to build a new facility on their
24 campus. That would leave a big void for the
25 use of Joe Becker. Mark Rohr with his Parks
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 25
1 and Recreation Director, Chris Cotten, made
2 contact with the American Association of
3 Independent Baseball. These are professional
4 baseball players. They're actually not minor
5 leaguers because in baseball with major 6 league baseball the minor leagues, each team
7 has a direct legal affiliation with a major 8 league club. These teams do not have that.
9 They are paid, they are made up former major 10 league ball players, former minor league ball
11 players, players that want to get a look and
12 several were signed. The President of the
13 league, Miles Wolf, I believe, came to Joplin
14 in I think 2010. We met with him. I was
15 invited to be there. And he met with us at
16 Joe Becker. We gave him the greatest dog and
17 pony show we could, but he was honest with us
18 and he goes, guys, Joplin is a great baseball
19 community. I think we could definitely have
20 a team here and would succeed, but this
21 facility, this ball park doesn't cut it. The
22 storm happens.
23 Q. Didn't take Joe Becker, though?
24 A. Huh?
25 Q. Didn't take it?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 26
1 A. No, no. The storm happens, we kind of forget
2 about that. Wallace-Bajjali steps in. 3 Wallace-Bajjali has been involved with and is 4 involved with the American Association.
5 Q. Without your involvement?
6 A. Right. Now I'm back involved, though. In
7 fact, the league, Mr. Wolf, gave a letter of
8 intent and he said that he would support an
9 independent team in Joplin if that team
10 chose. Wallace-Bajjali is in contact with a 11 team in this association in Amarillo.
12 They're called the Amarillo Socks. The owner
13 of that franchise has said I would like to
14 come to Joplin. They don't want Joe Becker
15 Stadium, they want a new nice facility. So
16 through investigation by Chris Cotten the El
17 Paso, Texas Diablo, that's the name of the
18 ball team there, they're in this league, they
19 have now lost the facility where they play
20 ball to an actual AAA team with the San Diego
21 Padres so they don't have anyplace to play.
22 So a few months ago representatives of that
23 team came to Joplin to meet with officials
24 and there was a meeting at Joe Becker
25 Stadium. Mark Rohr asked me to attend and I
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 27
1 said I'll be glad to. They came, the Mayor
2 Melodee Colbert-Kean was there, Mark, Chris
3 Cotten, and these representatives. The
4 dialogue has progressed and there is
5 interest. The down side they would like a
6 multi-million dollar investment back into
7 that facility to upgrade it to standards that
8 they need for that level of baseball. I'm
9 here to help if we can.
10 Q. Well, does this fall within the purview of
11 your contract?
12 A. Yes, it is one of our projects that we have 13 listed. Now we anticipate that if our
14 project would proceed --15 Q. That's the Amarillo team?
16 A. Not the team, it would be another team. That
17 team is going to stay there, but that owner
18 then would have two teams that he would own.
19 Or others. We would with other partners
20 build a new facility elsewhere in the
21 community not utilizing Joe Becker Stadium.
22 Q. Is Joe Becker Stadium owned by the City?
23 A. Uh-huh. Yeah, it's actually City property.
24 Q. You have to say yes for the record.
25 A. Yes, I'm sorry.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 28
1 Q. Have you worked with, what was the guy's name
2 that you said worked for Mark?
3 A. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation?
4 Q. Yes, have you worked with him on this
5 project?6 A. Yes.
7 Q. So what's the status of that contract? They
8 just had a meeting.9 A. Well, Monday night was a Council works
10 session. If I remember the Council voted to
11 continue discussions with the team, the El
12 Paso Diablos.
13 Q. Does that include Wallace-Bajjali?14 A. No, we're not doing that.
15 Q. Because you didn't develop it?
16 A. That's correct. That's not our project.17 Q. Because you said you worked with Cotten on
18 it.
19 A. Okay. I wear multiple hats in this
20 community. My Wallace-Bajjali hat would be 21 if we were to bring a team here it would be
22 at another location. If Chris is successful
23 of bringing this team, the Diablos to Joplin,
24 that would be a City project. I wouldn't 25 have anything to do with it. I could support
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 29
1 it, but I mean I wouldn't have anything to do
2 with that. That's not my project.3 Q. Are you aware of anything, can you shed nay
4 light on this Mr. Scearce issue?
5 A. Sure, I can.
6 Q. Tell me what you can shed on that.
7 A. I've known Bill since he came to Joplin. He
8 came here as Parks and Rec Director. I was a
9 patrolman. I've known him. I've had his
10 acquaintance. I'm not going to say we're
11 friends. I'm not going to say we're enemies.
12 We're acquaintances. After he left the
13 Packs and Recreation there was a period of
14 time when he ran an Army surplus store in
15 Joplin. Knew him in that business. There
16 was a time when he ran a staffing agency
17 called Olsten Staffing Services. I knew him
18 then as well. In the year 2000 in May of
19 2000, in fact, May the 15th of 2000, a mutual
20 acquaintance of Bill and myself by the name
21 of Bobby Landis, Bobby and I started a
22 staffing service called Priority Personnel.
23 Bill had somehow lost, sold, or whatever his
24 Olsten Staffing Business. His daughter was
25 involved with him in that business as well.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 30
1 She started a company that never - I mean as
2 far as started there wasn't any business and
3 she named it Priority Personnel. But they
4 had noncompetes with Olsten and she wasn't
5 allowed to do that business. Bobby did not
6 buy that business from Bill. Bobby and
7 myself, we were going to try to buy the
8 furniture that she had, but she wanted
9 nothing to do with us. Bill's office was in
10 the Sears Plaza at 7th and Illinois on the
11 north side of the building. Bobby leased
12 office space in the same building on the west
13 side and we opened Priority Personnel.
14 During the year 2001 Bobby hired Bill to be
15 somewhat of an outside sales person for us
16 for about a month or two, and every day he
17 would go out and contact area businesses in
18 an effort to gain new business for us and
19 Bill was not successful and that relationship
20 ended. I have known Bill like I said fairly
21 well for many, many years. In regards to the
22 gambling issue you could expect that me being
23 a detective I know a lot about a lot of
24 things that go on in Joplin, some of which
25 you may or may not be able to make a case on.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 31
1 I knew who some of the bookies were. In '85
2 I left the Police Department, I never
3 gambled, I'm not a gambler, I don't like
4 losing money, but I know who these guys are.
5 I knew when Bill had Olsten Staffing on 15th
6 Street, in fact, I went there on one occasion
7 to visit with him about a totally unrelated
8 subject. And was Bill involved in gambling 9 then? I don't have any direct knowledge of
10 that. Later was he involved? I don't have
11 any direct knowledge. I have heard rumor.
12 I've mentioned the name Bobby Landis. Bobby
13 is a 40 some year old man. His father, Bob
14 Landis, is one of Bill's best friends. They
15 were actually business partners. They opened
16 up a bar and restaurant in the 1200 block of
17 Main called the Kitchen Pass. I know Bob
18 very well as well.
19 Q. Bob?
20 A. Landis.
21 Q. The father?
22 A. That's the dad. In fact, it was through my
23 friendship with Bob that his son, Bobby, and
24 I started business. Bobby was the owner of
25 Priority Personnel, I was the manager. We
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 32
1 had other employees. I knew Bobby had a
2 gambling problem. He told me about it. He
3 would go to Las Vegas several, several,
4 several times during the year and gamble. I
5 would come in to work each day about 7:00
6 o'clock in the morning, I'd open up the
7 office, get ready, we didn't open until 8:00.
8 I saw faxes that came to our business from
9 Las Vegas casinos to Bobby. Did I see Bill's
10 name ever involved? No. I knew about the
11 relationship between Bill and Bobby. I heard
12 stories that Bill was gambling as well. Was
13 he running book? Again I don't know that to
14 be a fact. Just rumor.
15 Q. Let me ask you another question.
16 A. Sure.
17 Q. What do you know about the Woolston matter?
18 A. I know that Mike has been accused - or
19 alleged, let's don't say accused - alleged
20 that there's some improprieties in regards to
21 transactions of properties. Wallace-Bajjali, 22 we work contractually with the City and the
23 Joplin Redevelopment Corporation. Properties
24 that we are going to develop go through our
25 efforts from the owner, current owners, to be
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 33
1 purchased by the JRC, then we have contract
2 to buy those out from the JRC in a timely
3 manner to develop into major projects. Our 4 projects generally encompass multiple parcel 5 areas by multiple owners. There is one
6 project in regards to Mr. Woolston at 20th 7 and Connecticut. He was involved with
8 Charlie Kuehn, the owner of Four State Homes.
9 Charlie is our partner at that project at 10 20th and Connecticut.
11 Q. Wallace-Bajjali?12 A. Right. However, at no time have we had Mr.
13 Woolston involved in any land transaction.
14 As far as I'm concerned there's been no
15 impropriety.
16 Q. Let me ask you this question. What about the
17 zoning changes?
18 A. We haven't requested any zoning changes to
19 date. There will be. Some of those
20 properties, well, most of our projects, some 21 of them are going to have to be rezoned,
22 because some of them are residential
23 properties.
24 Q. You have to change to commercial?
25 A. Commercial.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 34
1 Q. Those zoning changes will ultimately go
2 through the Council?
3 A. They go through Zoning and Planning first.
4 That's where they're vetted. Then they
5 actually issue a decision, but ultimately the
6 Council has to make that decision. And I
7 know the Council forever as they are, if they
8 have a vested personal interest or they have
9 knowledge they all recuse themselves from
10 that vote. I mean I've seen them all do
11 that. Maybe somebody is asking for a zoning
12 change and it may be a friend of theirs or
13 something and they raise their hand and tell
14 the City Attorney that they've got to excuse
15 themselves from vote because they've got an
16 interest.
17 Q. What you're telling me is two of my issues
18 really aren't issues is what you're telling
19 me.
20 A. Well, one of the issues in regards to Bill
21 and gambling, gambling back then, but lying
22 now. For him to say that at the time that he
23 rented that space to Kenny Lovett, my
24 estimation that's a lie. He knew Kenny
25 Lovett. He knew what Kenny Lovett did.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 35
1 Q. Did you know Kenny Lovett?
2 A. Sure, I did. I knew Bill Lyle.
3 Q. Is Lyle the other one that got convicted?
4 A. Yeah, there's one older gentleman.
5 Q. How many guys got convicted?
6 A. Three.
7 Q. Who were they?
8 A. Kenny and Bill, and the third one, the older
9 gentleman, his name escapes me right at this
10 moment. He's no longer here. But to sit and
11 tell the Council on the dais or tell the news
12 media as he's done I only found out about
13 that later, come on, Bill, we all knew. We
14 all knew. Gambling back then if the FBI's
15 investigation that they didn't want an arrest
16 to him then that's their investigation, you
17 know. But the ethics on the lying, yes. As
18 far as Mr. Woolston, no. There is one
19 incident, though, or not incident, one matter
20 I would like to make you aware of, though.
21 Another project that we have is called the 22 Senior Independent Transitional Living
23 Center. This is a 24 plus acre project at 24 26th and McClelland. A portion of it is
25 going to be what we call villas. Actually
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 36
1 they're duplexes that will either be sold or
2 be leased to people of age. They live there
3 independently. If one of the spouses or
4 something needs a little bit better care they
5 can go into the independent living center,
6 then there will be assisted living, and then
7 a memory care unit. A portion of the
8 property that we are using for the villas,
9 5.85 acres has now been purchased from the
10 local Elks Lodge. I am an Elk, Bill Scearce
11 is an Elk, Jack Golden another City Council
12 person is an Elk. As we were looking at this
13 project actually a year ago --14 Q. We?
15 A. Wallace-Bajjali. We were trying to obtain 16 some land a little bit to the south, but the
17 owner of that property ultimately did not
18 want to sell.
19 Q. Who was that?
20 A. Sonya, S-O-N-Y-A, Reneau, R-E-N-E-A-U. We
21 wanted to make that property kind of an
22 amenity to what we were building with walking
23 trails, water features, kind of a park
24 setting, if you will for this community. Not
25 the City of Joplin, but this senior
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 37
1 transitional community. When it was obvious
2 that we weren't going to be able to get that
3 David Wallace and I looked at other locations
4 in that vicinity that we may be able to
5 acquire. The Elks Lodge was totally
6 destroyed in the tornado and there was a loss
7 of four lives. We were in the process of
8 building back our lodge, we had constructed a
9 temporary facility. Well, it's not
10 temporary. It's now used as a garage, rather
11 large garage, we used that as our temporary
12 lodge building. In October of 2012 I
13 remember talking with the exalted ruler,
14 Charlie Sorenson, the treasurer, Randy Bell,
15 and one of the board, Jim Willis, one evening
16 out there about the possibility of
17 Wallace-Bajjali acquiring that property for 18 our project. That parcel had never been used 19 prior storm, it was just a wooded piece of 20 lane. Never had been used by the lodge.
21 After the tornado it was pretty much wiped
22 out. Again it wasn't in the lodge's plans to
23 use, they just owned it. They told me, yeah, 24 we might have some interest in that. What
25 are you going to precisely use it for? And I
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 38
1 said, well, we could use it as this amenity
2 parks type thing, but that we might want to
3 use it for villas or duplexes. They were
4 interested. There were several conversations
5 during the fall and early winter between me,
6 those three, and maybe two or three others,
7 and they wanted to further the talks. Some
8 time after the holidays, this would have been
9 in this year, the January/February time frame
10 Wallace-Bajjali was requested by Council to 11 give an update of all projects on a 12 non-Council scheduled Council meeting.
13 Q. Closed meeting?
14 A. Closed meeting? No, no, it was at a work
15 session. We've done several of these. In
16 fact, we were scheduled to do one this past
17 Monday night, but it got cancelled. At that
18 meeting David Wallace - it was held not in
19 the Council chambers, but in the anteroom
20 where they have their informal sessions, open
21 to the public. David gave one of his typical
22 updates, power point presentation, quite
23 lengthy, but it discussed where we were at in
24 all of this.
25 Q. David's last name?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 39
1 A. Wallace.
2 Q. That's your boss?
3 A. That's my boss. After that session was over
4 we were getting ready to leave and Mr.
5 Scearce and Mr. Golden came up to where I was
6 talking with David and they asked if they
7 could talk to him in private, and so the
8 three of them then walked into a darkened
9 Council chamber.
10 Q. Who was at the meeting?
11 A. It was all of Council.
12 Q. But who went into the --
13 A. Okay. It was Bill Scearce, Jack Golden, and
14 David Wallace. David went in there upon
15 their request. I go ahead and leave. The
16 next morning at our office David and I speak
17 and I said what was that meeting all about?
18 He said they had a unique request, and I
19 said, what was that? He said they want to
20 get involved in the Elks portion of our
21 project, and I said what is it they want to 22 do? He goes they want to act as our liaison
23 to the Elks in an attempt to acquire that
24 property. He said, Gary, I know you've
25 already went far beyond what they're asking
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 40
1 to do, but don't you think it might be in our
2 best interest to engage them on this so that
3 they are at least on our side on this
4 project? I might point out that those two 5 and one other Councilman, Benji Rosenberg, 6 have been in vast disagreement with a large
7 portion of what we do. They may vote for it
8 on dais to proceed on a project, but they 9 tell us aside we don't like it. We have to
10 deal with. It's politics in the City of
11 Joplin. So I agree with David, I say, well,
12 if they're for us and they want to do this,
13 well, okay. They're Elks, by the way.
14 Q. You're an Elk?
15 A. And I'm an Elk. I call Bill and I said,
16 Bill, let me give you some --
17 Q. Let's get the last name.
18 A. Scearce. I call Scearce on his cell and I
19 said let me meet you and I'm going to give
20 you some photocopies of exactly the land
21 we're talking about so you know. He goes,
22 okay, so I met with him at his office and I
23 provided these. He said Jack Golden and I
24 will be meeting with them and I'll let you
25 know how it goes. I thought, okay, good
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 41
1 enough. One Saturday morning at about 8:30
2 he calls me on my cell phone and I'm at home
3 and he says, Jack, I met with them. We've
4 got it set up. They're ready to talk with
5 you. I said okay. I tell David, in fact, I
6 called Wallace later that day and told him
7 that I'd talked with Scearce, and I said they
8 haven't done anything that I haven't already
9 done, but at least they're on our side. We
10 continued the talks with the Elks. Stay with
11 me. You can't question me because I'm going
12 to change gears here and you'll see why. On
13 an unrelated project I had been asked to make 14 a presentation to the Joplin Sports Authority
15 about an indoor athletic complex. I had to
16 cancel it once because of a conflict I had,
17 but ultimately it was rescheduled and this
18 was for the Executive Board of the Joplin
19 Sports Authority that would come to my office
20 and we would have a meeting. Jack Golden,
21 City Council member, is the official Council
22 liaison to the Joplin Sports Authority. Also
23 on the Joplin Sports Authority he's Board
24 Member Emeritus and that's Jim Frazier, Coach
25 Jim Frazier. Jim is a retired football coach
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 42
1 and athletic director at Missouri Southern
2 State University. He's also an Elk. He's
3 one of my greatest friends. At this meeting
4 in the afternoon in March at my office we had
5 this meeting. As soon as the meeting was
6 over I turned to Coach Frazier and Jack
7 Golden and I said if you guys have a minute
8 come into my personal office, I have
9 something I want to show you. And they said
10 that they would. What I had was some
11 architect renderings of a site plan for the
12 seniors project, and it included the 5.85 13 acres of Elks property. I laid this on a
14 small table in my office, in walks Coach
15 Frazier and Jack Golden. They're taking a
16 look at it and Mr. Golden asks me how much
17 are you going to pay them for this? And I
18 said --
19 Q. Is Golden an Elk?
20 A. He's an Elk as well. I said we are
21 considering two different prices. I said if
22 the Elks will not allow us to build the
23 duplexes and all that we can use that
24 property for is a parks amenity I think I'm
25 going to offer them $1.00 to $1.25 a square
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 43
1 foot. I said if they would allow us to build
2 these duplexes it is worth more to us and I
3 can offer them more. And Mr. Golden said how
4 much more, and I said I think we could offer,
5 Wallace-Bajjali through the Joplin 6 Redevelopment Corporation could offer them up
7 to $3.00 a square foot. Mr. Golden turned to 8 me, did not say a word, and it's going to be
9 hard for her - and I'll describe in words
10 what he did to me. He elevated both thumbs
11 upward in the air and with an upward humping
12 motion kept doing this (indicating) to me. I
13 took that as Mr. Golden was telling me to
14 keep upping the price, give more money to the
15 Elks because he's an Elk. I was a little
16 taken aback by it because I also know that
17 even though he's an Elk he's a former City
18 employee. He's a City Councilman. And I
19 thought at that time that crossed the line.
20 I don't think that a City Councilman should
21 be directing me as far as what I'm supposed
22 to offer someone, but he did.
23 Q. Did you ask him about what he meant by the
24 upward motion of the thumbs?
25 A. No, I didn't have to. I knew what he meant.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 44
1 If he had went thumbs down in a downward that
2 would have meant lower the price. I happened
3 to inform someone of that incident and that
4 person made a request to the City Attorney to
5 investigate. I was not ever questioned by
6 the City Attorney about this incident. No
7 one, again this is secondhand information, it
8 is confidential, no one other than the two
9 Councilmen in question, Mr. Golden and Mr.
10 Scearce, were questioned by the City
11 Attorney. I have since heard what the
12 results of that investigation was. I was
13 told that the City Attorney asked these two
14 individuals, Golden and Scearce, what their
15 involvement was in the purchase of the Elks
16 property. They both informed the City
17 Attorney that, number one, David Wallace
18 contacted them and requested them to
19 intercede in an effort for us to acquire the
20 Elks property. It went to the point that
21 evening at the Council update session David
22 Wallace went to them, took them in another
23 room and asked. That did not occur. That's
24 a lie. The next thing that they said is that
25 when they contacted the Elks Lodge in this
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 45
1 intersession the three individuals that I had
2 originally been involved in talking with
3 informed Scearce and Golden that the Elks did
4 not want to deal with Gary Box. That's not
5 true.
6 Q. Who are those three that --
7 A. This would be - actually it's going to be
8 more than three now. It would have been
9 Charles Sorenson, Randy Bell, Jim Willis, and
10 Attorney Jake Skouby. Jake is the Newton
11 County Prosecuting Attorney. Jake is now the
12 Exalted Ruler of the Elks Lodge.
13 Q. What's Jake going to tell me?
14 A. Jake's going to tell you that's not true
15 because I've asked Jake that recently and he
16 said, no.
17 Q. Are you intending on prosecuting them?
18 A. No, there's nothing to prosecute. I mean you
19 can't prosecute somebody for lying. But when
20 asked by the City Attorney they lied to him
21 about their involvement. That's not the way
22 that happened.
23 Q. Would any of these people including Wallace,
24 would any of those people be willing to
25 testify to that?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 46
1 A. Sure, David Wallace it's my understanding --
2 Q. I had a meeting and he cancelled it.
3 A. He was going to be in Jeff City and I was
4 supposed to tell you this at a Missouri
5 Development Finance Board meeting. He was
6 flying from Houston up there and that's been
7 cancelled so he'd like to meet with you the
8 next time the two of you can here in Joplin.
9 Q. Let me ask you this. Could you get any of
10 those other gentlemen to agree to come down
11 and talk to me?
12 A. Sure.
13 Q. Who could you get for me?
14 A. I could ask Jake.
15 Q. He'd probably feel a little bit intimidated
16 by the --
17 A. Well, you know, I said did you guys not want
18 to deal with me, and he goes, no, never,
19 ever. I can ask him, I can ask Charlie
20 Sorenson. Definitely David Wallace. David
21 will inform you that he nor Wallace-Bajjali 22 went to these Councilmen and asked for their
23 help. They came to us.
24 Q. Let me ask a question. Did this ultimately
25 sell?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 47
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. For what price?
3 A. It was at $3.00 because they are going to 4 allow us to build these duplexes behind
5 there. Originally they would have put a
6 covenant on that property with redeed
7 restrictions, but now they have eliminated
8 those. There are still deed restrictions, we
9 can only be one level above ground. We can't
10 have multiple stories.
11 Q. Is that not within the City limits?
12 A. Yeah, it's in the City limits.
13 Q. So it's still under control. Yeah, I've seen
14 a legal memoranda somewhere about that, but
15 the finding was negative, I know that.
16 A. I would have loved to have talked to Brian
17 Head about it, the City Attorney. He and I
18 are friends. We deal with each other all the
19 time. But I felt it was inappropriate for me
20 to make that request, but I was somewhat
21 shocked that he didn't come and ask my
22 thoughts or at minimum go to David Wallace
23 and ask him.
24 Q. It's a matter of thoroughness is what you're
25 saying?
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 48
1 A. Absolutely.
2 Q. I probably don't have a lot - I mean you've
3 straightened a lot of stuff out for me on
4 Wallace-Bajjali. I was going to tell you I 5 probably don't need to talk to Wallace, but
6 now I think I do for that issue only
7 probably, but it could be a limited basis. I
8 would like you not to talk about what has
9 occurred in here, but I do feel if anybody
10 would like to talk to me I'd like to schedule
11 an appointment with them. I'll give you one
12 of my cards. I'll be back and forth here
13 probably another two or three weeks. I don't
14 know.
15 A. It's possible I will see all the individuals
16 that I need to at the Elks this evening.
17 Q. If you could.
18 A. Sure.
19 Q. I don't want a discussion about what we're
20 doing in the streets so I don't know if they
21 would - I mean it seems to me that the issue
22 would be credibility on why they didn't want
23 to deal with you versus the other two saying
24 that they didn't want to deal with you. I
25 mean that's the issue there.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 49
1 A. I can tell you my opinion on why they would
2 have said that, and this is my belief. Bill
3 Scearce does not like me.
4 Q. Well, I'm sure you don't like Bill either. I
5 mean I understand, but likes are not at issue
6 here.
7 A. No.
8 Q. We're to the point of bigger things.
9 A. Oh, sure. I understand.
10 Q. Okay. Anything about the notes on Rohr's
11 desk? You don't know nothing about that?
12 A. All I know is what Mark has told me.
13 Q. What's that?
14 A. That note was on his desk. I mean going back
15 putting my old top hat on as an investigator
16 when Scearce holds a news conference and
17 discusses what I call fruits of the crime and
18 being in possession of, that's a felony.
19 You're in possession of stolen property. For
20 him to say - it would be interesting to know
21 how he got it. Again investigator hat, if a
22 City employee would have found that laying on
23 the floor in a common area on the second
24 floor that individual would have recognized
25 Rohr's handwriting. Why would anybody take
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 50
1 it to Bill Scearce? As an investigator that
2 makes no sense to me. I'm not saying that
3 Bill is the one responsible for removing that
4 from Mark's desk, but someone did. I'm in
5 Mark's office all the time. He keeps yellow
6 sticky notes on his desk and there's lots of
7 them all the time. I'm not saying it's
8 impossible that note could have been found
9 outside that office laying on the floor, but
10 I find it highly improbable. That's
11 something for you and Mr. Scearce to discuss,
12 but ultimately I mean I've had that
13 conversation with a few people that asked my
14 opinion and I said actually as the Missouri
15 statutes read the entry into an open door
16 into Mark's office for the purpose of
17 removing something constitutes burglary. You
18 don't have to break and enter anything other
19 than a plane. Okay? If he removed something
20 that constitutes theft. In a burglary value
21 has no bearing. Okay? That piece of paper
22 and being in possession of constitutes a
23 felony.
24 Q. Burglary?
25 A. Burglary. And I don't think whoever may have
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 51
1 done that considered that at the time that it
2 was done, but ignorance to the law is not a
3 defense. It's unfortunate. I know that
4 there is this push/pull match between not
5 just Mr. Scearce but other Council members 6 and Mr. Rohr. I have my own opinion on it
7 and I can tell you as a citizen of Joplin I'm
8 embarrassed by what's going on now. I have
9 spent the last two and a half years of my
10 life working solely on the rebuild of this
11 community, but yet we have City Council up
12 there that can't get their act straight that
13 are impeding the progress that we're trying
14 to do and it's based solely off of egos and
15 not really caring for anybody but themselves.
16 And I'm sorry and I'm embarrassed.
17 Q. Pretty bad state of affairs in this town.
18 A. There's a few people from the City that went
19 to Tuscaloosa here a few weeks ago. I can
20 tell you in the months following the storm my
21 counterpart at the time in Tuscaloosa, he and
22 I would talk regularly. He was very
23 embarrassed on his part and very jealous 24 about Joplin. Those roles have reversed. We
25 are now, oh, my god, the laughing stock. And
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 52
1 we should. But then again I know the egos
2 and the personalities of these people that
3 are involved and it doesn't surprise me.
4 They're that way in their personal life as
5 they are on that dais and it's sad.
6 Q. You know, elections have a tendency to
7 straighten those things out. I hope all this
8 does.
9 A. You know, again my involvement in the City
10 since 1972, we've always had that in the back
11 of our mind, if you don't like - and you can
12 go whichever side you're on, if you don't
13 like it you know that within two years it
14 could change. The sad thing though is now as
15 months go to the next election we're burning
16 daylight. And again this is way off track,
17 but just to let you hear. A city has only so 18 many moments in the sun where people are
19 willing to contribute and help. We were the
20 poster child for a natural disaster for the
21 first year and a half. Not that we still
22 aren't, but with this turmoil people are
23 starting to take a second look at us and not
24 in a positive way. Yesterday there was a
25 press conference in City Hall with one of the
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 53
1 community leaders spoke about 5/22/16.
2 That's the five year anniversary. Generally
3 that's the last look that the media will give
4 you. It's the five year anniversary. Okay,
5 what have you done in five years? This is my
6 own town, okay? We had a chance in the
7 1950's to make this community bigger and
8 better, but we turned our back on it. In the
9 1950's Joplin was bigger than Springfield,
10 Missouri in population. Joplin was a mining
11 and a mining implement manufacturing
12 community. In the 1950's an industry came to
13 the city, went to the city fathers, and asked
14 for some incentives to build an industry here
15 and they turned their back on them and said,
16 no, we're mining, go away. That company went
17 to Springfield. That company's name was
18 Dixie Cup. Progress. Not that I don't want
19 to live in Springfield, it's a big city, but
20 generally in economic development a community
21 gets one chance. We had one chance. We've
22 been given a second one. So help me I don't
23 want to go through what we did the second
24 time for a third chance. So why we all can't
25 get along and play well and make this easy, I
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 54
1 don't know. Again I do know. I know these
2 guys and it's sad.
3 Q. I wish the two sides, or more actually, I
4 wish the sides would get together and try to
5 do something together, but not what I see
6 from this end.
7 A. I mean we're looking at ethics violations by
8 Council. You're always going to have one
9 side or the other is going to be the leaders.
10 I mean generally you're not going to have
11 out of nine people nine all on the same side.
12 Nor should you. But the Council that we've
13 got now it's almost as if, yeah, I'm a
14 Council member, that doesn't pertain to me.
15 We used to have a phrase on the P.D., they
16 don't say it now, but we used to joke, I 17 don't have to obey the law, I am the law.
18 And I use that, that doesn't pertain to me,
19 I'm Council. No, it does. There's a right
20 way and a wrong way. Just because you're a
21 Councilman doesn't give you free reign on
22 anything you do. I'm sorry I've went off,
23 but --
24 Q. I appreciate you coming in. Sometimes we
25 take it all down and try to sift through it.
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 55
1 I'll have to read all these things and try to
2 come up with some kind of analysis of what's
3 going on here. The more the better.
4 A. I thank you for being here. I wish you
5 weren't.
6 Q. There you go. Thank you very much for coming
7 in. I appreciate it.
8
9 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)
10
11
12
Gary Box In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation
417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.
Page 56
REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
STATE OF MISSOURI
ss.
COUNTY OF JASPER
I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the
State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the
foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the
15th day of November, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was
examined. That examination was then taken by me by
steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn
Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set
out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith
returned.
I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or
relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of
either party or of the attorney of either party, or
otherwise interested in the event of this suit.
_________________________
SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650
Recommended