Candidates stump for votes in state, local races

There were few surprises and the gloves stayed mostly on during the three-minute stump speeches made by local Republican primary election candidates Tuesday during the annual GOP watermelon feed and candidate forum in Big Spring Park.
Those seeking local and state office took the podium and spoke in order of their placement on next Tuesday’s ballot.

130th State Representative District

Bill Reiboldt, Neosho, said he shared the “same, common sense, conservative approach to government” as Kevin Wilson, the outgoing State Representative for the 130th District.  Reiboldt said serving in state government has always been a dream of his.

“I’m a hard worker, I believe in hard work, and everything I’ve ever tried to do in my life, be it farming or business, has always been to the best of my ability as I try and do the very best job I possibly can,” Reiboldt said.

He said he believed in America, in the U.S. Constitution, in the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, in less government and in good stewardship and personal responsibility.

Lynn Otey, Neosho, said she has already tried to make a difference in people’s lives as an educator, a Realtor, a school board member, an active member of the Republican Party and in civic clubs. She promised, if elected, to “work diligently to adequately fund the Missouri school system”, to bring jobs to Missouri, create needed jobs and keep existing jobs.

“Adversity will be part of my daily life and I will be facing some of the toughest economic challenges and making tough decisions that will affect the lives of those I represent,” Otey said. “...I will do the very best I know how, the very best I can and will continue to do so until the very end.”

131st State Representative District

Bill Lant, Joplin, said he has lived and worked in the 131st District for 40 years. He spent 30 years as salesman and served three years on the Seneca R-7 school board (at which time the late $10 million school bond was passed). He built, owned and operated Lant’s Feed, Farm Supply and Bridal Shop 12 years ago and then rebuilt it again after it was destroyed by a tornado two years ago. He said he knows all the ins and outs of running a small business. And he knows how to persevere when things go wrong.

“Those are a few of the qualifications I want to take with me to Jeff City and help make a difference,” Lant said.

He said the state legislature is facing a $1.2 billion adjustment next year and that he felt he was qualified to help make those adjustments.

Bill Buening, Diamond, served three years on the Diamond Planning and Zoning board and three years on the Diamond R-4 school board, two years as president. When he left the school board, Buening said the district had a reserve fund of nearly $5 million.

The biggest challenge facing the state of Missouri today, Buening said, is getting people back to work and he said he understood the hardships people are going through.

“There has been a knock on me during this campaign because I do work for a living, that I don’t own my own business, that I’m not a political insider,” Buening said. “And that’s what separates me from my opponents. I don’t want to be a politician — I have to be a politician in order to get things straightened out and represent the people who work for a living.”

David Liveoak, Neosho, was not present.

129th State Representative District

Bill White, Joplin, said he was a proud, life-long Republican and had Republican values. He said he is  pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, and believes in a free-market economy with minimal government interference and regulation. He said he knows how to promote businesses and create jobs and called for “real tax reform” to do so. He said he wants to reduce or eliminate business taxes and decrease personal taxes. White said the state needed to strengthen tort reform and “get rid of frivolous lawsuits” that hurts businesses. He said he would fight to support teaching American values in education.

Shelly Dreyer, Joplin, noted that her father was a factory worker and her mother a stay-at-home mom, that she has been working herself since she was 16, that she put herself through college, is proud to have owned a small business and that she understood Southwest Missouri conservative values. Among these is a very strong pro-life stance, as she said her adopted two-year-old daughter was saved from being aborted. If elected, she said she would fight to put together a state plan to attract jobs to Southwest Missouri and to cut taxes for small businesses and promised to throw her support behind the state education system.

“I can’t promise you I have all the answers, but I can promise you that in Jeff City I will be fighting for our families every day,” Dreyer said.

Newton County Presiding Commissioner

Clarence Nowak, Neosho, detailed his various business successes and his struggle to learn how to read and write again after sustaining a serious injury and losing his memory for nine years. In business and in life, Nowak told of overcoming fierce challenges.

“When you do vote, just give me a chance,” Nowak said.

Marilyn Ruestman, Joplin, has represented more than half of Newton County for eight years in the Missouri House of Representatives, during which time she said she legislatively worked on an infrastructure or capital improvement project in every town and village in her district. Ruestman listed several of those projects and said she would continue to work for the entire county. She said she has already prepared an investigative document about what to do with the various special road districts and said she would work through the issues and problems bound to come up as Newton County is reclassified from Second Class to First Class status over the next few years. Her experience in Jefferson City already qualifies her to work with budget numbers, she said.

Rick McCully, Neosho, said he has lived lived in Newton County for 48 of his 58 years and said he has traveled all over the county during his 25-year tenure as a sports referee and as a member of the Granby Fire Department, which he said has provided mutual aid to every fire district in Newton County. He served on the Granby city council for three years, was Mayor of Granby for four years, spent six years on the East Newton school board, two years as president. Demonstrating that he was a “hands on” player while on the schoolboard, McCully said he even got his bus driver’s license so he could fill in when needed as a substitute driver. While he was mayor of Granby, he drove the trash truck when the regular city employees couldn’t come to work.

“I get out and like to talk to employees and members of the community and be available to all of them — and I would also be available to all of you in Newton County,” McCully said. “I am a very hard worker, I would always be available for you, and I feel I communicate well and have a good rapport with the people of Newton County.”

Donald “Buzz” Ball, Neosho, said that most of those present had probably already made up their minds about who they would vote for so he would talk instead about how he has ran his campaign. He said he was just “an average guy who wants to serve this county that I love so very much.” Ball said he didn’t have thousands of dollars in his campaign fund, but instead campaigned “the old fashioned way” — door to door, voter to voter.

“I spent untold hours of my personal time talking to people of this great county and finding out what your concerns, needs, wants and wishes are, and what your fear of the future of this county is,” Ball said. “I have heard all of those things and kept them in my heart. And I pledge to you right now that if elected I will bring that same passion and that same work ethic with me to the Newton County courthouse. I will do my very best to earn your trust and your support every day of every year I am in office.”

Newton County Circuit Court Clerk

Phillip VanWinkle, Neosho,  said he has lived in Newton County for 34 years, graduated from Neosho High School, from Crowder College with an associate degree in business administration and attended Missouri Southern State University. For the last 25 years he has worked as dispatcher for the Newton County Sheriff Department and as a civil process server for 20 years. He has been a part of the management team at Neosho’s AutoZone store for more than four years. He said the Circuit Court Clerk’s office called for management and that he has been in management positions since he was 17 years old. VanWinkle said what makes him different from the other two candidates is that he does not now work in the courthouse and would bring in a fresh perspective.

“What I’m trying to do, if you will help me, is give this office a different look at the way it is ran,” VanWinkle said. “It runs good now, but I think if somebody can get in there with a different view on things it can run even better. I would also like to make the courts a little more public-friendly.”

Patty Krueger, Neosho, is a lifetime Newton County resident, a graduate of East Newton High School, holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Missouri Southern State University and a certificate in court management from Missouri State University. She has worked for the Newton County courts for more than 15 years, starting out as a deputy court clerk before moving into the office of Circuit Court Judge Tim Perigo. There, she said she processes and schedules all types of court cases on a daily basis, develops and maintains the budget for the circuit judge’s office and for court administration. She keeps records for all the bonding agents in Newton and McDonald County as well as employee records. She said she performs procedural audits at the various municipal courts and assists in record keeping and has spent hundreds of hours of jury trial experience in the court room under various judges. Her 15 years of experience in a circuit judge’s office has given her “a rare insight” into the workings of the court “both inside and out,” she said.

Tabitha Tichenor, Neosho, is also a lifetime Newton County resident and is a 1996 alumnus of Neosho High School. She attended Crowder College and is scheduled to graduate from Missouri Southern State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration. She said she is the only candidate who is currently a deputy circuit clerk, a position she has held for five years. She said she has also accepted an invitation from the Office of the State Court Administrator to be on the faculty for the 2010-2011 Court Clerk College. She said her present experience as a deputy circuit clerk “far and away sets (her) apart” because she knows what it’s like to be a circuit court clerk in today’s court system and can better manage the deputy clerks and “have an inside look at what it working and what might need to be changed in order to increase our efficiency.” She said she wants “to build on the current foundation of customer service” now found in the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office.

“No matter what may bring you into my office you will be treated with the highest level of respect by professional, friendly and courteous clerks,” Tichenor said.

She also said she would like to see the courts more user-friendly by making access to information easier.