Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Kathryn Jones of the Glen Rose Reporter newspaper has a bombshell article that she has just posted on their site, here. The article will be printed in full next week, meantime subscribers can go read the whole thing online. And it is spectacularly nasty.

Seems that Dwain *Moose* Whitefield, Barbara Mitchell's son,  lied about whether he had been arrested before he filled out his application in 2005 to work for the city. You can read the article to see allt he details, including how the city attorney, Andy Lucas, seems to make excuses for how they all knew he had this criminal record (gee, wouldn't it have been great to have him tell the truth on his application? Is it really good enough that someone can just tell somebody else about his criminal record and not have to disclose it on a signed piece of paper??????????? )

But this is the part that kills me. Whitfield was arrested for indecent exposure when he lived in Stephenville.He was masturbating in full view of the tenants, on several occasions. You must read it........

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

WHY IS THIS MAN IN CHARGE OF OAKDALE? HE LIED ON HIS APPLICATION. HE"S TRYING TO DO FAVORITISM FOR HIS WIFE BY BUYING HER A GOLF CART. HE THINKS IT"S PERFECTLY OKAY TO HAVE EATEN AT HOOTERS ON THE CITY"S DIME. As does his mom.

Please.

Good job, Kathryn! Now the rest of you, go read that article and prepare to feel your face twisted up in disbelief and disgust.

P.S. The article includes Whitfield's Stephenville MUG SHOT!

P.P.S. Been thinking about this some more. This man, who has been caught and seen exposing himself (and not, um, *merely* exposing himself but taking some action) IS A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE AT OAKDALE PARK. Where there's a public swimming pool with CHILDREN.

And how come it's not an immediate firing offense when someone lies on their employment action. Why isn't the ctiy attorney insisting that he be fired in order to prevent culpability to the city?

Nice and cozy as well, wasn't it?

Makes me wonder why Whitfield wasn't at that last city council meeting to talk about why he wanted those 2 expensive golf carts. Maybe the Reporter had already been asking about his criminal record and he was laying low.

Anyway, the whole thing stinks.

UPDATE from the August 24 2010 Glen Rose Reporter -editorial from Kathryn Jones about why she wrote the editorial about Dwain Whitfield's criminal record. I love this...

Shouldn't it be the public's business, however, when a city employee does not disclose a crime conviction although specifically asked about it on a job application? Page three, Section 2.05, of the city's personnel manual says an applicant shall be disqualified from consideration if he or she has made any 0 statement of fact on the application, depending upon the seriousness, willfulness and applicability of the 0 information to the position.

Shouldn't it be the public's business when that person subsequently is given more and more responsibility, especially for overseeing renovations at Oakdale Park, despite having serious issues in his past with handling finances -- including a conviction for theft by check -- an arrest for performing an indecent act around a swimming pool and with following rules?

Shouldn't it be the public's business when taxpayer money is being spent to pay someone's salary who has violated city policy?

Yup, Yup, and Yup.

FIRE WHITFIELD.

UPDATE: Two city councilpersons, Chris Bryant and Johnnie Martin voted to keep him on rather than fire him. Mayor Miller broke the tie against Bob Stricklin and Sue Oldenburg to keep Whitfield on. I heard but have not verified that he is not going to be at Oakdale any more but will still have his same level of position elsewhere in the city-Here's link to video of council voting on this after an executive session on August 26, 2010

Update: here's link to police record with judgment.