Citizen-Times (Newspaper) - February 3, 1966, Cedar Rapids, Iowa DOES ML T John Ely vs Bruce Glenn on THE POVERTY PROGRAM Complete Weather Forecast I ll INDEPENDENT Newspaper WE WILL THE PUBLIC WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR EMpire VOLUME FIVE NUMBER FIVE 606 4th Avenue South PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA FEBRUARY 3 1966 DID COUNTY ATTO R N E Y WITHHOLD EVIDENCE I've got a lot to be thankful for friends and family stuck by me and two great lawyers believed me when I said I didn't steal the says Ken Weber just because the jury found the man innocent doesn't mean he didn't take the that's just our system of says Jack Fulton Testimony in a recent District Court trial revealed that the county attorney's office withheld dence which could have affected the establishment of the guilt or innocence of a young Cedar Rapids man truck and withheld a month's pay as payment against the note The same evening Weber was ar- rested and placed under been charged with em- by agent Brought to r trial in December of a county investigator showed that the county attorney's office knew that another worker at the station had been taking funds during the same period as the alleged em- This knowledge was withheld from the case and according to Jack Fulton county not since been acted upon E R Christie of Iowa City had employed Weber for seven years as attendant dealer and station manager for the Apco Stations But on Tuesday October Mr Christie and his attorney con- fronted station manager Weber with accusations that the company was short Mr Christie had taught Weber the retail value in- system used at the tion but demanded a and deposits accounting on this Christie took Weber's records after first asking Weber and his wife to sign a note of re- sponsibility for the money and Weber Christie and the latter's attorney then went to the station Weber signed the note with no objection thinking no ey was missing He stated this to police and denied any theft Christie asked Weber to return to work but the following Friday fired him took Weber's 1956 o -j n ja i p co cr o o 00 V-r i- prosecution had juggled records and that his fabricated because he readily answered all questions except where the money was But if Weber had lied it was noted that the prosecution would have brought their witnesses back to refute him They did not During the testimony county in- John Hlavacek stated that his queries had resulted in the admission of thefts over a period of time by one of Weber's When asked by de- fense counsel what he had done with the information Hlavacek re- plied he had turned it over to the county attorney's office This in- formation was not the prosecution nor was the un- named worker called to testify As defense council pointed out the prosecution failed to show that Weber took any money or con- verted money to his private use The would like to know if any money is missing where has it gone? Further if an admission of theft by the other worker exists are charges being When questioned by the county attorney Jack Fulton said there is no tion in progress now Just be- cause the jury found him innocent doesn't mean he didn't take the That's just our system of justice Evidently his office feels the case is closed But eight other employees also had access to cash drawer and it has not yet been established where the supposedly missing has gone Ken Weber has filed suit against Christie asking in ages and fees charging prosecution loss of work and damages to his reputation His attorneys are Nelson and Fassler At the time of his arrest Weber's salary was per month In the year between the arrest and the trial he worked at a number of being denied work by some Bruce Glenn Against the program The so-called War oh Poverty appears to be the only war in which the current Administration is un- willing to negotiate Rather ing short of unconditional render is demanded When the good people of Scott county believing in government of by and for the people appeared ready to vote down a proposed community action program the vote was arbitrarily cancelled The Governor of Iowa complained publicly in ber that he was rather fully ignored when it came to being informed just where the next tle in the War on Poverty was to take place And by late January Mayor Bob Johnson of Cedar frankly told the United Com- munity Service board that This War On Poverty really isn't a locally controlled program With all this smoke one would certainly expect to see some fire So while sociologists political and politicians do all they can to produce more smoke let's see if we can t discover where the flames are and just what they are burning As will be readily noted as you continue reading this report much of the information is from firsthand experience For I was a selected participant in a War on Poverty Institute held this past summer 1965 at California State College at Los Angeles These factual observations in It's fiord to believe that something like this could happen to a person thank God 1 was able to prove I wasn't guilty panics because of the pending charges He worked at 31 an hour in Solon Then for an oil products repair company for several months He is presently station manager Miss Fire Fighter The Cedar Rapids Fire Fighters Local number their annual banquet Friday January 28 at the Cedar View Country Club The was marked by the pre- of new officers selection iam Smith Walter McNamara Myron of Miss Fire for 1966 Oxley and Keith Kennedy John and comments by speaker Vernon Cook International Vice President of the Union Officers installed were Robert Thompson President Ed Vosmek Vice-President Bob Simon tary La Vern Daugherty financial Secretary and Robert Salasek on the the Honorable Gross states The review of Mr Glenn's experience es the widest possible tion and I commend his remarks to the attention of my colleagues I was employed by the Los es City Schools and taught at John Muir Junior High The school not far from the ill-famed Watts area is considered adjacent to a erty In mid-spring 1965 an official of the Federal office of Economic Opportunity war on erty in the area served by the school spoke at a regular faculty meeting of the school This official's major point was going to have to change our way of thinking a great deal to accept the idea of men never working in their entire lifetime but living from cradle to grave on federal welfare This would be accomplished by taxing those of us so fortunate as to have jobs to support those for another oil company which be- so unfortunate as to be him hiring him as unemployed Almost ant and moving him up to manager isn't as positions became available Well when faced with this nation in a radio debate the Iowa on the War on Poverty re- plied that it was an unfortunate remark Indeed Especially since I happened to hear it and have been telling all who will take the time to listen Now the War on Poverty Institute mentioned earlier was setup ex- for teachers in areas designated as and those adjacent to such ets Limited to sixty recommended by their Principals as in the top of his teaching institute cost a total of The stated purpose s of this In- were to aid teachers of disadvantaged youths and to give us an inside view of the War on Poverty Not only did we be- come privy to what is going on currently but we also learned of Cont page 4 He is married and the father of a two year old girl treasurer Bonnie Helgevold is the new Miss Fire Attending were state Senators John Ely and Tom Riley and re- Dave Crozier Helming and John Connors dent and Secretary of the Iowa Association of Fire Fighters were also present Additional Fire Department news is the hiring of three men Virgil Johnson James Ronald McLean all of Cedar of February 1st
