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We learned from the Court’s ruling last week that former Poplar Bluff City Manager Doug Bagby had been operating under an illegal contract for over 10 years. Those who actually took five minutes to read the contract along with the unambiguous city ordinance and,  equally plain, Missouri state statutes knew immediately that it was an illegal contract. Any lawyer who saw that city manager contract would tell their client they have no contract. But, Bagby's lawyer pushed ahead and threatened to sue the city for the money stipulated in the illegal contract. Council turned to the courts and asked, "How much do we owe on an illegal contract?" The judges' answer was, "Not a dime." And now, the local Rust-owned daily

THIS STORY WILL ALSO BE IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION OF SEMO TIMES.   Tim Funke sees October 24-30 as a week to put faith in motion. That is the week scheduled for the film, “A Matter of Faith” to be shown at Poplar Bluff’s AMC Showplace Theatre. The film is about a Christian girl who goes off to college for her freshman year. Once there, she is heavily influenced by her biology professor, who teaches that evolution is the answer to the origins of life on earth. Her father decides he needs to take action in order to keep his daughter from drifting away from her foundations of faith. Funke says he first ran cross the movie on a website,

POPLAR BLUFF - A local court dismissed Doug Bagby's breach of contract case against the City of Poplar Bluff. Judge Kelly Parker ruled that there was no legal basis for former City Manager Bagby's claim that he had a three-year contract for life. In ruling for the City, and as SEMO TIMES reported earlier this year, the court determined that the claim was too weak to require a trial before a jury. The judge determined in Bagby's case that contracts greater than one year were against the law and, therefore, Bagby served at the pleasure of the City Council. This ruling follows longstanding state laws and local city ordinance. The City terminated Bagby's employment earlier this year.  After an extensive nationwide

POPLAR BLUFF - Last April's City elections gave rise to a "new" group of largely dethroned leaders whose supporters coalesced to form a public group known as "Citizens For Poplar Bluff's Future," a group who pressed for "transparency" and "financial responsibility," among other things (ironically, two of the very criteria that voters emphatically embraced in removing long-time incumbents and ultimately, their leader, former City Manager Doug Bagby). Over the past months, SEMO TIMES has confirmed that Citizen's for Poplar Bluff's Future (CFPBF) was selectively allowing commentary, deleting comments from those with whom it disagreed, and even blocking some individuals who disagreed with its views from participating at all. The group originally devoted to community-betterment and  transparency also refused to disclose the identity of its

Tuesday night’s meeting of the Poplar Bluff City Council practically set records on brevity, only meeting for 35 minutes before adjourning and moving to closed session A number of items of business were conducted though, including preparation for winter driving conditions by requesting bids for new snow plows and a salt bin. With last winter’s snows well within memory, the council decided to be proactive in getting ready for this winter by looking into new snow plows, which would go with the city’s current trucks. The council voted to amend its current budget for the Street Department in order include the purchase of the snowplows and salt bin. In other transportation matters, the council voted unanimously to execute an ordinance