CARTHAGE, Mo. —
Norman Rouse, counsel for the Jasper County Commission, said Friday an investigation is under way into whether Sheriff Archie Dunn may have broken any laws when T-shirts were passed out to students in three schools as part of the DARE program that also contained a message on the back that read: “Re-elect Archie Dunn, Jasper County Sheriff.”

A bill for the T-shirts distributed at Sarcoxie schools was submitted to the county, but officials have refused payment, according to John Bartosh, presiding commissioner.

“We think it’s against the law; we’ve turned it over to legal, and they’re investigating,” Bartosh said Thursday night after attending a meeting of the Sarcoxie School Board at which officials there discussed their concerns about the T-shirts.

Shirts congratulating DARE program graduates and containing the campaign advertisement also were distributed to students in DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) programs at Avilla and Jasper elementary schools. A sheriff’s deputy oversees the classes in the three schools; Dunn added the training in the rural schools several years ago after voters approved the Law Enforcement Sales Tax.

The sheriff in a statement issued Friday said he personally paid for the advertisements as a sponsor, which has been done in the past by other sponsors to reduce costs of the shirts.

But he said he understood the reservations raised by school officials about involving the schools, and school students, in political campaigns.

“I can understand it once it’s been pointed out, but it didn’t enter my mind at the time,” he said.

Dunn said his attorney, Bill Fleischaker, said he had done nothing illegal and had not violated any ethics laws, since he was treated the same as sponsors on DARE shirts in previous years.

In a written statement released Friday morning, Dunn said he would reimburse the county for shirts paid for by public funds, but he corrected himself in a telephone call later.

“There’ll be no reimbursement since the bill wasn’t paid. I’ll pay the bill,” he said.

He said the county will receive no bill for Avilla and Jasper schools, because shirts for those schools were donated.

According to a purchase order submitted to the county auditor’s office, the Sarcoxie shirts cost $456. The order noted a $150 donation, and sought reimbursement for $306 from Law Enforcement Sales Tax funds.

Julie Allen, head of the Missouri Ethics Commission, would not speak to the Jasper County situation but cited a provision of state ethics law that specifies public funds cannot be used to support or oppose a political candidate.

“In general, if a political subdivision pays for something that advocates for or opposes a political candidate, that’s prohibited by law,” she said.

Members of the Sarcoxie School Board discussed the issue Thursday night and Superintendent Kevin Goddard said he had written a letter of complaint to Dunn and the DARE officer emphasizing the district cannot be involved in political campaigns, and its students may not be used in such.

Goddard said his own daughter was among DARE graduates on May 2, but he did not learn about the advertising on the shirt until he received two complaints. He said he wrote to Dunn, citing a May 10 letter emphasizing that school board policies limit advertising in the schools and specifically prohibit political campaigning.

“While it would not be realistic to try to rectify the situation at this time, I would remind the sheriff’s office to avoid such advertisements in the future within schools,” he wrote.

Classes have ended for the year at Avilla Schools and no official was available to answer questions. School Superintendent Rick Stark in Jasper said he has learned that the shirts were passed out at the DARE graduation a couple of weeks ago. He said he had received no calls from parents or others, and was not aware of the contents of the shirts until Friday.

“If I had known, I would have said it’s not a good idea for the school district to get involved in politics,” he said.

John Lewis, a member of the Sarcoxie School Board, said he was very troubled by the shirts being passed out in the school and wanted “to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

Lewis is a supporter of Randee Kaiser, one of Dunn’s opponents in the sheriff’s race, and has given $500 to his campaign. Lewis said he would have raised the same objections if the advertising had come from Kaiser.

“This has nothing to do with it; it’s using our schoolchildren as campaign ads.”

Bartosh, who was at Thursday night’s meeting at Lewis’ request, said the commission started looking into the issue earlier in the week when members received phone calls from some parents in Avilla. He said the bill for Sarcoxie shirts arrived in the auditor’s office on Wednesday, but payment was refused.

“We can’t pay for political stuff with government money,” he said.

Dunn said he would have attended the meeting in Sarcoxie to discuss the issue with board members, but he was not invited.

The sheriff earlier had complained that he would not be informed of meetings of the County Commission when actions would be taken concerning his office. Commissioners in recent months have revised their public notice policies to list those discussions on the agenda, which is posted at the courthouse and on the county’s website.

The sheriff and commission have been in conflict for the past year primarily over budget disputes, the control of money from the Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund and operations of the county jail. Those are among the issues cited in a lawsuit Dunn has filed against commissioners, County Auditor Richard Webster, and members of a new board that oversees the allocation of grant funds from the Law Enforcement Sales Tax Fund.

The Globe was unsuccessful in attempts to reach the DARE organization with questions on whether the group had policies regarding political advertising on materials linked to the program.

Tax proceeds

The one-fourth cent law enforcement sales tax generated revenues of more than $3.2 million in 2011.

The black T-shirts are emblazoned with the names of three St. Petersburg officers lost in the line of duty last year: Tom Baitinger, David Crawford and Jeffrey Yaslowitz. Already familiar locally, the shirts were out in force this weekend in Washington, D.C.

More than 250 members of the St. Petersburg Police Department and their families traveled to the capitol for National Police Week to see the names of the city’s fallen officers added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

But what struck St. Petersburg Maj. Melanie Bevan was how many different T-shirts there were.

“Everywhere you looked, you had people with pictures of their fallen heroes on their shirts,” she said. “We were all turning to each other and saying how sorry we were.”

The St. Petersburg contingent’s busy week will end today when Baitinger, Crawford and Yaslowitz are honored as their families and fellow officers watch on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building. The ceremony will remember the 162 officers who died in the line of duty last year, and the 199 officers whose past deaths recently came to light.

“Since this tragedy the Tampa Bay area has come to know Jeff, Tom and Dave as local heroes,” Bevan said. “But (today) they become national heroes. I can’t imagine a more fitting tribute for the three of them.”

Lorraine Yaslowitz, whose husband died along with Baitinger on Jan. 24, 2011, took her three children to the ceremonies. She also ran in Saturday morning’s 5K memorial run with four officers, including Bevan. Later that day the St. Petersburg group watched as 12 of their own biked with the Police Unity Tour.

On Sunday the St. Petersburg group had breakfast near the White House at a famous local haunt, the Old Ebbitt Grill. Paige Baitinger, wife of the fallen sergeant, paid for the breakfast but did not attend.

Baitinger’s parents hosted the breakfast in their son’s honor. Detective Mark Marland spoke about his friend to the crowd and reminded them that breakfast was Baitinger’s favorite meal.

The candlelight vigil was Sunday night. Amanda Crawford attended the ceremony in honor of her father, David, who died on Feb. 21, 2011.

Then on Monday, four sergeants from St. Petersburg’s honor guard — Eddie Borrelli, Marlin Heyward, Tim Montanari and Frank Williams — laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

“It was a great, great honor for us to be allowed to do that,” Bevan said.

SALEM – Almost a quarter of the 275 Salem Super Cruise T-shirts have been sold, Service Safety Director Ken Kenst said Wednesday during one of the final meetings before the 7th Salem Super Cruise.

The shirts are available at city hall for $10 apiece and are available in women’s, men’s and children’s sizes.

Kenst said the T-shirts “aren’t going to make a lot of money, but are for publicity.”

The Super Cruise is scheduled for the June 21-24 and Tom Hall and Sam Sicilia, organizers for the annual Expert Tire of Salem Show and Shine car show, said, “everything is good to go with us.”

The Expert Tire car show begins at 11 a.m. and runs to 3 p.m. on Sunday with a $5 donation that will help defray city expenses. The show features some top street rods and hot rods in the area with dash plaques to the first 100 participants.

Hall said the trophies have been selected and are currently being built, handing out stacks of the fliers that were printed for the event.

The Expert Tire show will award three top trophies, best of show, mayor’s choice and a sponsor’s choice along with 20 participant trophies.

The show and shine will be held in the municipal parking lot across from Timberlanes and goes on rain or shine. There is participant judging, refreshments and food are available.

He said the Super Cruise brochure should be ready for printing next week and expected to have them available shortly after that.

Kenst made an observation related to the shale boom, noting, “We have a lot of new oil and gas guys around here and they don’t have a whole lot of places to go.

“There are a lot around in the area and I’m sure hotels are full and the car guys are having trouble finding rooms.”

Super Cruise organizer and advisor Jim Bonfert said, “Not that many cars drive from that far away to stay overnight.”

Kenst said most of the details have been finalized and the committee will meet again at 7 p.m. on June 6.

“There are a lot of things we’re going to try this year and hopefully they’ll work,” Kenst said. “If not we’ll change it for next year.

“We can make all the plans, the only thing we can’t plan is the weather. Hopefully we’ll get a lot more cars and a lot more of the general public.”

Larry Shields can be reached at lshields@salemnews.net