Corrupt Greene County MISSOURI

This being my initial entrance into this domain I shall attempt to be as concise as possible.  There are four other web sites all bearing different names all containing identical posts to protect the content from being hacked and the sites taken down.

     This has to with the corruption and good old boy syndrome which is rampant in Springfield Missouri and Greene County.  This issue has to do with the Greene County Appraiser "Little"  Rick Kessinger (pronounced Kissing-er).  The appraisal agenda on real property is as follows.  The "Appraisers"  some state licensed and some not.  Some appear to be friends or relatives of "Little" Rick.  They are only required to drive down the street and observe the house, building or land through their  automobile window.  They are not allowed to actual observe the property.  The appraiser then decides what they believe the property is worth.  The property owner can object and offer up actual comparisons or actual appraisals performed by state licensed people.  They then appear at a meeting of Board Equalization, these board members are old retired folks, some so old and decrepit they can barely stand.  They hear your proposal and supposedly look at your document and then agree with the Corrupt Appraisers Office.  These people appear to be friends or relatives of the office of Greene County Clerk, Richard Struckhoff or Strukhoff.  He has different spellings of same name, apparently he does not know who he is, or how to spell his name.  Maybe this is deliberate on his part.
    At the Board hearing evidence was submitted.  Actual written evidence, this was promptly refuted by the appraiser who had the properties in question.  The Greene County appraiser actually jumped up and called the elderly citizen a Liar, stating the owner had made two completely false statements,  however he never stated what the falsehoods were.  This was in a open public meeting, this is where the insanity ensued.  The corrupt board found in favor of the corrupt county as they are paid to do so.  The little fellow from the appraisers office had not given a name and refused to acknowledge who he was.  Subsequent letters to the Office of  Greene County Clerk Strukhoff and letters to Appraiser Kessinger were not answered as to the name of the offending party.  Evidence was entered into the record, such as it was as to the training of the members of the Appraisers Office, as told by Ms. Cynthia aka Cindy Baldwin, no relation to the Canadian Baldwin's.  She had stated that there were two members of "Little" Rick's employees who were not trained at all and in fact had no real experience.  This totally shocked the corrupt Board of Equalization as this is not protocol to enter such damming evidence  before them.  They had no idea what to do as they were after all elderly people toddling around the room, pretending to be aware.  Ms. Baldwin is an employee of "little" Rick. 
     The matter was then set for a hearing by the Corrupt state of Missouri.  The case was offered up to a friend of "Little" Rick  the law firm of Lowther & Johnson,  Teddy Johnson drew the case, he was awarded two such cases this year and last year.  Estimated fees for Teddy appx.  $800.00.  "Little" Rick uses his friends to handle his cases.  He is to busy in fact to even see a tax paying citizen.  This matter will cost at least $800.00 and when it is decided it will be in favor of the corrupt Appraisers office.  "Little" rick will get an extra $176.00 on taxes for a net loss of $624.00 for the county.  He does this on every case.  I guess the citizens of Greene County love to pay Rick's buddies large fees.  An actual appraisal was acquired by the property owner, it was $17,000.00 lower that the corrupt office of Appraiser.  However real appraisals are not acknowledged in Missouri.  The little fellow who drove down the street and looked out the window to make his appraisal is deemed to be more accurate than an actual hands on observation.  In checking the property values of the few members of "Little" Ricks group it was observed all employees had their propertry values decreased, odd don't you think.  The appraisal performed by a real licensed person was ignored by another of "Little" Rick's employees one Bob Jaudes, Bob had his property values reduced for this year.  "Little " rick shown no property in his name, there is a Richard Kessinger, this might be "Little" Rick using a shortened name.  Missouri ranks at the very bottom of all states in subscribing to the Sunshine Law.  In fact it is almost nonexistent.  There is a Cart and Pony hearing scheduled for January 28, 2015.  It was scheduled by John J. Treu, senior hearing officer for the State of Missouri.

     This case of what appears to be retaliation by the Appraisers office in refusing to accept a bonafide  appraisal may be in response to the elderly man finding out and bringing to the attention of Appraisers office, the fact of his primary home being incorrectly valued at 1057 sq. ft. more than the house actually contained.  The actual size was 2662 sq. ft. not 3613 sq.ft. as the Appraiser had on file.  For 13 years the man had been improperly billed for in essence another house.  Since the actual sq. ft. was entered into the system the footage has grown 66 sq. ft.  The house must be a magical house or perhaps there is a program running to slowly add sq. ft. to various properties.  There was also another property of the elderly  man that had improper footage on file.  This property was changed and has not grown as of yet.  When the man brought to the attention of Appraisers regarding the discrepancies, the first thing he was asked was," have you added on a HUGE room and forgotten about it".  This would have been amusing to some people, or they may have just thought ,  this fellow is old and has just forgotten.  The old man was not amused.  As stated before the footage was changed but has now started to grow.  On the other property it was 114 sq.ft. larger than it actually was.  The appraiser who represented this property was insulted to be questioned as to his ability to ascertain actual footage.  He informed the elderly man he had a special program that can measure the inside finished area via a fly over of a highly intelligent camera feed and could actually see inside the property to verify the data.  It was only 114 sq.ft. so he changed the total sq.ft.  It has not grown as of this date.  It was also stated the Greene County Appraiser is only responsible for the year in question and not all the previous years.  It was not so much the illegal taxes collected but the much higher insurance premiums that were incurred for the 13 years as insurance companies quote prices based on sq.ft 
    
     As the hearing date approached the elderly man had not received the time and place of said hearing.  He eventually received a letter from the law firm of Lowther and Johnson.  The attorney handling said case is Theodore  L. Johnson, he sent a letter stating the date and time but no location.  
The elderly man notified the attorney handling the case from Jefferson City Missouri of his concerns regarding not being notified.  The senior hearing officer one John Joseph Treu responded by telling the elderly man to read the order that John Joseph Treu had previously mailed to the man. The older man replied he had not received any such order, just some e-mails telling him to read the order.  The two e-mails from Treu read, "One more time, I left out the "r" in Strafford and second mail", "Oops, I sent the below mail to myself."  No where was any order listed, he did however send a mail on January 21st which contained a PDF that would not open.  This would appear to be an obvious effort to make the hearing a non appearance by the elderly man.  This tactic is widely used through out the US.  The result of said hearing will be the disposition of the case in favor of the Greene County Assessors office, for failure of the elderly man to appear.

     The principals will now be listed:  Information from tax records

The citizen who initiated this proceeding:  Leonard G. Jones  7554 East Farm Road 68  Strafford MO.

State and county officials  Rick Kessinger, or Richard H. Kessinger 326 South Troy Ave. Springfield Mo.  Actually there was no one registered owning property using Rick Kessinger, there was a Richard H. Kessinger.

Bob Jaudes, not found, there was one Robert W. Jaudes of 12094 N. Northern HTS Dr. Brighton Mo.

Richard T. Struckhoff  1321 East Hanover Springfield Mo.

Cynthia Baldwin 1962 S. Chapel Drive Springfield Mo.

John Joseph Treu  5435 Collier Lane  Jefferson City Mo.

Theodore L Johnson III  (Attorney)  4945 South Pratt Ave. Springfield Mo.

Craig F. Lowther  (Attorney)  Firm of Lowther & Johnson)  2415 East Raynell St. Springfield Mo.

     The firm of Lowther & Johnson have handled all three cases in 2014 and now the first case thus far in 2015.  It would seem this firm is the sole receiver of county funds to defend the corrupt office of Greene County Assessor.  In fact if you are requiring legal assistance in Greene County Missouri in the 31st Judicial before any sitting judge, this would be the firm to acquire, if you can afford their services, and you are needing a favorable decision.

     The attorney for the state, John Joseph Treu who heard said case was previously involved in the Department of Corrections, along with his boss  Jeremiah (Jay) Nixon then attorney general now governor of Missouri.  Both cases were dismissed for failure of petitioner to pay filing fees.  He was a guest of the State of Missouri in the Corrections system.  He had filed as a pauper, having no money and being in jail, which should have been allowed.  Both cases were dismissed by the highly rated  'Judges" of Missouri, incidentally Missouri is ranked at #14 as the most corrupt in the entire US.  The state of Tennessee is ranked at #1, which borders Missouri, maybe they are in contention for the number one rating.  John apparently feels he has the same absolute power he held sway over the incarcerated individuals.  He utterly failed to provide the required information in this matter to the complainant Jones.  The way the laws are written the state always accepts the word of the Assessor over the taxpayer, it is up to the taxpayer to prove completely their case, the Assessor does not have to prove their case.  This is in many of the decisions recorded at the State tax website www.stc.mo.gov.  

     There were two individuals involved in these sham proceedings who acted in good faith and conducted themselves with dignity.  These two employees of  Greene County were the only people who displayed any knowledge in dealing with the public at large, or as they would want to be treated.  There was a lady at the office of Greene County Clerk who asked not to be named in any proceedings brought forth, who only performed her job but was concerned about disciplinary actions against her.  Therefore she will remain nameless.

     The other employee with the office of Greene County Assessor did not require being anonymous, she is Cynthia Baldwin.  She conducted herself with honesty.  When presented with written comparisons of property in her area she actually did a revaluation of the property in question.  After doing a more through inspection she then lowered said property value to compare with the other properties in area, in size and condition.  It was in this time frame of events she conveyed to citizen Jones of the problems of certain staff in the Greene County Assessors office.  Simply stated some of the associates , namely two individuals were not properly trained or lacked knowledge in the art of appraisal.  As stated before this did not set well with the powers in control of  the Board of Equalization or her own office.  During the presentation with the Board of Equalization, before citizen Jones was to be heard there was a proposition put forward to Ms. Baldwin by the Board to change an item of fact on a comparison brought by another citizen.  Ms. Baldwin refused, stating she could loose her license for performing this act.  This displayed a high degree of integrity on her part.  By bringing forth the problems inherent in the Greene County Assessors, this would be considered "Whistleblowing" something sadly lacking in America today.  Far to many people look the other way, but who can blame them.  After the way the Obama administration went after Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden this is a disgrace for this country.  This writer hopes no damage was done to Ms. Baldwin.  It is acknowledged her display of these facts were not on the scale of the aforementioned individuals, but it showed courage  nonetheless.  She should be commended for her actions.

    
     There was an interesting quote made by State Auditor, Tom Schweich in his speech after winning reelection to the post of state auditor, " Jefferson City is overrun with special interest groups that have corrupted the entire government there." You could say the same thing of Springfield Missouri.  There was also a follow up e-mail from John Joseph Treu, sent to citizen Jones and law firm of Lowther & Johnson.  This was sent on January 28 2015 at 3:28 p.m.  Content of said mail is as follows:  In the interests of full disclosure, after the scheduled Evidentiary Hearing, of this date, while riding the elevator down with several of the county people who had been in the hearing room, there was a discussion among them involving the fact they had tried to work something out with you (resolution/settlement) and a round figure ( e. g. a few thousand, several thousand)  I in a non confrontational way, signaled I did not desire to hear such. 

     There is no apparent reason for this e-mail.  There was never any offer made by the office of Greene County Appraiser, the only contact with citizen Jones was with one "Bob" Jaudes.  On one occasion Jones had to bring back another appraisal to county office as they had lost or misplaced the first such appraisal which had been hand delivered by Jones.  At this time Jaudes made no offer, just made copies of said appraisal while Jones waited.  Jaudes did make one call to Jones at a later date, again no offer was forthcoming.  There was one letter from Teddy Johnson of Lowther  & Johnson law firm.  There was no offer of settlement.  All conversations with county people were recorded, whether at the home of Jones or while he was in county offices by way of a mini-recorder.  This would appear to be the end of this fiasco.  The moral if there is one to be gleaned from this would be: It is useless to attempt to fight the corrupt State of Missouri, as long as there are people without any values in charge.  This is a state where the laws pertaining to Eminent Domain have been drastically altered.  It is no longer necessary to effect actual service on a party when the corrupt city, county, state desires to take your property.  All that is required now is for the matter to be filed in court and then published in a paper called  Daily Events.  If you should be one of the few people who actually subscribe to this paper, it is not free you might find out you are being sued.  The filing fees are not required for filing if you are the county, state, or city.  This little jewel of a law was walked through the Missouri State Senate by non other than (Christine)  Chris Koster, then a state senator, now the attorney general and soon to be governor for eight years. 

Addendum:  February 13 2015,  It is of some amusement in checking further into the escapades of "Little" Rick Kessinger it was discovered the values of the property of one Craig Lowther, partner to Teddy Johnson of the firm of Lowther& Johnson, the numbers had been reduced $13,000.00 for one of his properties. During the same time period the values of Citizen Jones had the values of his property in question reduced $800.00.  One could surmise this would be an open payback of sorts for Mr. Lowther.  This is easily checked by going to the Greene County Appraisers site online.  One could further suggest this type of selective behavior goes on constantly, taking from one taxpayer and giving to a friend of Rick Kessinger.  In this manner the tax can still be collected and no one is the wiser.  One can also see where Kessinger will make a fantastic state senator,  as he has shown his willingness to do whatever is necessary to legally steal from the citizens.

     Epilogue:  Citizen Jones filed a written appeal of sorts to the State Commissioners who have dominion over these matters involving these issues.  These people were placed in their positions by the governor of Missouri, Jeremiah (Jay Bird) Nixon.  Their names are Bruce E. Davis, Randy Holman, and Victor Callahan.  There were separate letters sent to each person to their respective offices in Jefferson City Missouri.  The appeal was straightforward, simply stating the facts and the ultimate fact being their man John J. Treu had failed  to notify Citizen Jones of the proper address of the stated hearing.  The letters were mailed on January 30, 2015.  No reply was forthcoming from the state.  In fact the whole matter was hidden from public view, the case was not posted in the commissions published reports which are available online to read.  The case number is Appeal No. 14-33001, filed by Leonard G. Jones.  This in itself is not surprising as Missouri is such a corrupt state.  After observing how few appeals are made in the state one can only surmise this state is very cowardly, the people being content to bow down to their masters.  Jackson County, a very large county does not appeal almost ever.  After viewing the corrupt manner of doing business in Missouri displayed by its officials, perhaps many of the citizens already know to protest is futile.  So far the only people who have had the courage to speak out were the people in Ferguson Missouri.  They at least had the backbone to stand up and the intelligence to stand down when the Fascist police force told them to do so.  They made a small splash, exposing to the world just how corrupt this state is.  This state is typical of the rest of the US, this is clearly a Fascist country and becoming more so as the days march forward.  In conclusion it is pointless to protest peacefully against an oppressive government, the only way change will occur will be by force, sadly the people in the US have lost all of their courage and the backbone to effect any change.