Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1978-02-04

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70th Year - No. 119 ( ioml Morning! is Saturtlav Feh. 4. 1978 14 Pages - 15 Cents I
Insight
Many opt
to defend
themselves
Their own court
efforts cut costs
By Sandra Zee
Mlsscsrian staff writer
You're scheduled to appear in
Municipal Court for a traffic violation,
a shoplifting charge or for breaking an
animal ordinance. Yea know you're
innocent, but you can't afford a lawyer.
What do you do?
Some people plead guilty anyway,
pay their fines and leave. But many
people decide to fight it out
After all, who says you can't fight
QtyHafl?
Municipal Court Judge Fred Dannov
estimates that he hears at least 600
trials a year, and 70 percent of them are
handled by defendants without lawyers,
some very successfully.
People plead their own cases for a
variety of reasons, he said, diiefly
money. Lawyers are expensive and a
defendant must be practically pen-niless
to get a court- appoint- ed attorney.
The next best thing for the defendant to
do is to handle the case himself .
" I think if people feel they'll get a fair
shake," Dannov said, ' they'll take the
time to defend themselves. That's good
because I don't think the city's always
right. When people feel that the police
3 or whoever's involved have acted
improperly, then they ought to contest
that
" It's not the city's court, it's not the
Police Department's court and it's not
the prosecutor's court; it's the people's
court," Dannov said. " They should be
given the most opportunity to present
what they desire to present"
On Jan. 19, Gertrude Ledoux, Fulton,
appeared in court to defend herself
against -- a moving violation charge in
Columbia. She handled fhV'case,
without a lawyer, and she won.
Mrs. Ledoux brought with her into
court two photographs of her car as
evidence, her daughter to act as a
witness and her husband for moral
support Other than that, she made no
special preparations for She trial.
" I just knew what happened," she
said, " and I went over in my mind what
I was going to say. I felt in my heart I
was innocent of the whole thing.
" As God is my judge I knew I was
innocent"
The law provides that a defendant is
innocent until proven guilty. It was up
( See JUDGES, Page 11)
Ira towm today
10 sun. Preventive medicine clinic,
University Memorial Union, $ 10 fee.
7 pan. Quincy Fielding Jr. Choral
Ensemble, St Paul AME Church, 501
E. FifthSt
7 pjn. Missouri vs. Oklahoma
wrestling, Heames Center.
7: 39 p. m. " Saturday, Sunday,
Monday," Stephens College Playhouse,
$ 3 public and $ 1 JO students.
Movie listings oa Page 13
Chairs are arranged Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Lile observe the movement of the auction crowd
By Margaret Feltcn
Missourian staff writer
" Honest Charlie" is the biggest storyteller.
He says the " Fayette Widow" is looking for a
man. " She's pretty, got money, a chauffeur and a
400- ac- re ( ISO- hectar- e) farm, but she don't have a
man."
He talks while she blushes, but no one pays
much attention. The rumors and stories are part
of the routine for the " regulars" at the auction.
Velma Simmons, McDonald's Trailer Court, is
at the door of the Home Arts Building on the
Boone County Fairgrounds every Tuesday and
Friday before 8 ajn. She doesn't have anything
to buy or selL At noon the sunlit auction hall fills
with old boots, rickety chairs, farmers in
overalls and women wearing scarves. The
calling should start at 4 p. m. but it rarely does.
Regular auction- goe- rs enjoy s fat cigar more
than a good bargain. Most come to " till an af-ternoon"
and to keep up with who is " feeling
poorly." Others come just to antagonize one
another.
" You knock- knee- d, false- face- d, deformed old
reprobate," Doc Hendricks calls " Honest
Charlie," and follows the insult with a jab to the
second- han- d dealer's midsection. The rest of the
regulars cluck and shake their heads. It's not
assault, just friendship.
The recent wave of flu and cold weather has
separated the regulars from the auction drop- in- s.
Floyd Kemper, head auctioneer, said business
suffers when the auction has to move inside
during the winter.
TheKemper auctions on Tuesdays and Fridays
have been a tradition for nearly 25 years. On the
first Thursday of every month there is an antique
auction. The crowd that attends has remained
basically the same over the years: Boone County
farmers and their wives, with a lawyer and
University philosophy professor thrown in for
color.
The regulars don't come to buy, but some hate
to go home empty- handed- . Dick Nacy, a Jef-ferson
City lawyer, bought 55 pairs of women's
shoes for $ 86.25 last Sunday. " I don't know how
Til get it home but I'll take it" he said.
The shoes tat didn't fit his wife, daughter or
mother- in- la- w, Nacy sold to friends for $ 1.75 a
pair. He had come to the auction to buy one pair
of men's black shoes.
Nacy said the best buys can be made in elec-tronic
equipment, appliances and furniture. He
said he bought a dictating machine, which retails
- for more than $ 309, with a bid of $ 1.50.
Not only are the people the same, so is the
merchandise. Many articles are back for their
second or third time on the auction block.
Pete McBain, a second- han- d dealer for 18
years, tapped a cobwebbed Kenmore sewing
machine. " Put a bid on it and got caught," be
( See AUCTIONEERING, Page 11)
Prisoner may go free as Illinois dawdles
ByJohnMoticka
SiEsscorian staff writer
When Ron Shivers walked out of the
Menard, HL, state prison last Nov. 9 on
a work- releas- e program, be kept on
going all the way to Columbia .
Shivers, in the Illinois jail for armed
robbery, was participating in a
program that let him leave the jail
every day to work, then return at night
When Illinois authorities realized
Shivers was gone, they issued a
warrant for his arrest That was Nov.
11.
Shivers was picked up by Boone
County- - sheriffs deputies Nov. 27. He
has been in the Boone County Jail ever
since, fed and clothed by the state of
Missouri, waiting for someone from
Illinois to come and get him.
If they do not come by Feb. 13,
Magistrate Court Judge Temple
Morgett says, he will set Shivers free.
Morgett issued a fugitive order Jan.
13, giving Illinois authorities 30 days to
pick up their prisoner. If they do not
show up, Shivers' & 500 bond could be
suspended and he would be released.
Originally, Shivers was brought to
Boone County Magistrate Court to sign
extradition papers. The papers said he
was wanted by Illinois authorities on a
parole and probation violation. Shivers
refused to sign, saying he never was on
parole.
So Shivers was arrested for " fleeing
from justice," and the fugitive order
was issued.
Now, according to Boone County
warrant officer Gary Voss, Illinois
authorities must send a request to its
governor, who must send a request to
the Missouri governor, who must issue
a state warrant
" If we don't hear something pretty
soon," Voss says, " we're going to let
him go."
In the meantime, Shivers' expenses
are picked up by Missouri. According to
Warden Bill Etheridge, when Boone
County holds a prisoner for another
Missouri county, Boone County is
reimbursed at the rate of $ 8 per day.
That rate was established by the Boone
County Court, and does not include
medical and other extraordinary ex-penses.
But with an out- of- sta- te
prisoner, there is no reimbursement. At
$ 8 per day, Shivers will have run up a
bill of $ 632 by Feb. 13.
Shivers is originally from Columbia,
so be has been able to visit with his
family and friends while here. And,
Morgett says, when Shivers gets back
to Illinois, a judge may decide to give
him credit for the time he has spent
here.
" I don't like the idea of states leaving
prisoners with us. I get tired of it"
Morgett says.
Etheridge says Boone County
retrieves its out- of- st- ate prisoners
" right away, usually within a week."
Coming Sunday
B H
I News
8 Money manager
1 In Sunday's Bfissourian
I Harold Boldt, new city
I finance director, discusses
1 & e reorganization of feis
1 department. Two men who
I work with Boldt, comptroller
I Nat Scavone and risk
management supervisor
David C. Epps, also discuss
I tfeeir roles.
God sent me
The word " siloam" in
Hebrew means sent. And the
Rev. Luke Stewart says he
was sent to Columbia to
establish the Siloam Mission
Assembly. In Sunday's
People section read why
Stewart left his home, job, .
family and friends in St
Louis to establish his church
here.
Vibrations
Frontiersmen
A raw toad every morning?
That's what one of the
bearded, buckskin- cla- d,
beaver- eatin- g Fort Osage
Muzzlelcaders says makes
his day. Each year the group
gathers to swap guns and
stories about tfee lives of the
early mountainmen. This
week Vibrations meets with
me fantasy frontiersmen.
Sports I
High- score- r j
Last week high- scori- ng guard I
Harold Robertson scored his
2,090th career point for 8
Lincoln University's g
basketball team, in this B
Sunday's sports section read
about the man coach Don
Corbett calls one of the best
" all- aroun- d" guards in the 1
nation. I
Father was assessor
House fire kills
Columbia man
By C. Claire Weber
Missosrlan staff writer
A fire Friday night at 502 Lyons St
took the life of Hugh Points, 66, a 1934
University graduate and the son of a
long- tim- e Columbia city assessor.
Hubert Davis, 504 Lyons St, said
Points lived alone in the house that
burned.
Fire Marshall George Hughes said
the cause of the fire has not yet been
determined but he suspected the chair
the victim was sitting in was set afire
by " careless smoking."
The fire caused about $ 1,000 damage.
Fire damage was confined to a chair in
the living room and to draperies
nearby. There was " very limited"
smoke damage to the rest of the house,
Hughes said.
Davis said he notified police of the
fire after a friend called hhn aad asked
whether Davis' boose was burning.
Davis looked outside snd saw smoke
pouring from the neighboring house.
Firemen arrived at the scene shortly
before 10: 30 pjn. and quickly ex-tinguished
the fire.
Points was born in 1912 and
graduated from toe University School
of Journalism in 1934. After working for
the state in Jefferson City, he was an
officer in the U. S. Navy and was
stationed in Japan.
Points later moved to California,
where he was an advertising salesman
for the Santa Barbara News- Pres- s.
Points' father, William Emmett
Points, was Colombia city assessor for
more than a quarter century. W. E.
Points was elected la 1925 and re-elected
13 successive times lasifl his
resignation in 1962. The elder Pci& te
died in 1973 at the age c8S.
Hugh Points later moved to CohaaMa
and lived with bis mother, Mfea. Hafl
Pohtts, at9& LyonsStMra. P0i& s& ai '
New Year's night