TRCC Board Election

In the campaign for the board of Three Rivers Community College, as in most campaigns, the incumbent points at successes and tries to diminish the importance of his or her failures. For Stanard and Turner, success means the college has not yet had to shut down. Sure, things are worse than they’ve ever been. Nine superintendents, the head of a vocational technical program, Southeast Missouri Hospital, and Southeast Missouri State University do not want Three Rivers Community College in Cape Girardeau County. Teacher moral is at an all time low, reports of harassment and intimidation flourish, but to Stanard and Turner this is success because at least the college has not completely shut down since they first joined the board. Stanard and Turner have merely made things worse.

To diminish their failures the two incumbents point to their most public failure, that of trying to discredit local hero Gene Bess. The two board members had private information about the coach given to a local newspaper and the leaker of the information was given an extended contract at the college. When the coach’s two former bosses asked for the board to rethink their attacks on the coach, the board responded in an embarrassing and tacky manner. Stanard admits to writing and signing a letter that Turner also signed. In the letter they mock the coach and in particular, mock the coach for being a deacon at his local Baptist Church. Stanard and Turner were surprised to find out this bothered people and that the local newspaper called the letter tacky. Stanard and Turner have decided to claim it is obvious the unwarranted attack on Coach Bess is the only thing their opponents care about.

True to form, Stanard and Turner have decided to attack their opponents in a childish manner. After mocking the coach for his religion, Turner has reportedly tried to paint retired Superintendent of Schools Randy Winston and Postmaster Wilbur Thornton as “troublemakers” who want to make an issue out the way the coach was treated. Leaking personal information to the press and mocking a man’s religion is a major issue to the rest of us but not to Stanard and Turner.

The treatment of the coach is not the only issue there are others. Problems include, money missing from the college, the hiring of unqualified cronies, low morale, finances being kept secret, threats, and the use of police to try to intimidate teachers, staff and booster club members. Problems also include the board picking fights with the booster club, the local university, a nearby hospital, and several local school districts. There are too many other problems at the college to be addressed in one article.

Its seems focusing on the shameful treatment of the coach by Stanard and Turner is Stanard and Turner’s best hope to keep people’s minds off of all Stanard and Turner’s many failures.

The previous post was copied from www.firedupmissouri.com , I suggest anyone who plans to vote in the TRCC Board election check out the comments concerning the election on that website as well as the adds in the DAR. We need to clean house at TRCC and take our community college back from the handful of power-hungry people who are using intimidation and threats to control faculty and staff. Vote out Stanard and Turner!

Just ask anyone who works at the college (other than the handful of people who are "in with" the Scotts) and they will tell you ALL about it. Just recently, Stanard yelled at faculty during a meeting and basically accused the instructors of conspiring together to make death threats against one of the VPs. It's bizarre! The instructors live under constant fear of retaliation if they don't fall into lock-step with the Board and administration (who are all under the control of the college attorney). The Gene Bess situation was just the tip of the iceberg, everyone really needs to elect Thornton and Winston and end the strangle-hold that the Scotts have on TRCC.

TRCC is corrupt you have standard and turner who want power v.s. Gene Bess's cronies beeing touted by the boosters club like winston(who is a crook) and thorton. Its a big power struggle between the two, it was wrong what Bess did to that basketball kid and it was wrong of the board to have what happened happen with that case. It's basically out of control up there. I would vote Stanard and Thurner back in however.

Hulshof, PLEASE find some faculty members to talk to prior to voting. For the sake of the people who are forced to work for these thugs, vote Stanard and Turner out! The two guys running against them are not perfect, but at least they don't go around threatening people. Some TRCC employees live under constant threat and intimidation because they have dared to speak up and challenge some of the corrupt and unethical things that have occurred on campus. It's out of control and keeping the current Board will only allow things to get worse and the good people at TRCC will continue to be harrassed.

How can you call Winston a crook? You obviously don't know him.

I do not personally know him but every teacher that worked with him inside the school district has had nothing good to say about him at all. A lot of this anti incumbant argument is coming from the gene bess/booster crowd. There in it for their boy Gene. I don't think it's going to get much better butting Bess's lapdogs in there compared to what we have now. Like I said TRCC is corrupt and there doesn't look to be too much hope. But you have every right to disagree with me.

I know enough about the political bosses who control TRCC to know that anyone challenging the current board of trustees must be better than allowing the monopoly of power to continue. I too have heard how teacher's offices have been raided, teachers told they would be fired for any critical comment of administrators and the way everyone is talked down to by the millionaires who manage TRCC. Some of my old teachers from Three Rivers have been very blunt about the way they have been treated, and things are getting worse now that all the administrators are under Scott and Stanard's control. (They got rid of the VPs who didn't play the game) I'll certainly be voting for Wilbur and Randy on April 8th.

Couldn't we of gotten a better candidate than Randy Winston to run...doesn't make me think that bringing them in will help any. The Poplar School District was horrible under his control he was fired from previous school districts I'm just not content with someone linked to the corrupt poplar bluff school district.

Typical Poplar Bluff dribble. The town is still run by thugs and back patters. The Scotts, the Bloodworths, the Richardsons, etc etc etc. Poplar Bluff when are you going to stand up and take your town back?
Can you not see that they have their hands in every single aspect of that town?
If they are not stealing money, covering up, and putting the winningest coach on college history down, then you may be lucky (NOT) enough to get one of them for an atty or even worse a judge.
After all Poplar Bluff has a convicted drunk sitting on the judges bench right now. He dosen't hesitate to become personally involved, expecially if it is a "Country Club" croney.
The rest of us watch your town and laugh!

what? are you hi?

If you want to fight the small number of people who run this town, then stand up and vote Turner and Stanard out.

I spoke with an instructor at 3 rivers (my neighbor) and boy did he fill me in. He confirmed that John Standard treated them like second class citizens, shaking his finger at them, calling them "you people", slaming his notebook shut after attacking them and showing complete hatred for anyone who dared disagree with him. From what he told me, they (the instructors) are treated like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect. That's enough for me, my husband and I are voting the incumbants out.

I bet he also threw in words like "demogoguery". He likes saying that one. I bet he has used it a few times talking about the other candidates.

I blows my mind that some people actually think this is all about Gene Bess. Coach Bess' situation was just a tiny example of what happens over and over again at the college. There are dozens of cases I know of in recent years that are much worse than Coach's ordeal. Such mistreatment of employees is commonplace. This is about all faculty and staff who have been, and will continue to be mistreated and harrassed. We are begging the community to change the makeup of our board, shift control away from the handful of people who control everything in this town, let's take our community college back and bring peace to the campus. We are tired of living in fear and anxiety of "whose next" and what's the next attack going to be". Let us work in peace, throw out the people causing us this stress. It effects our abilty to teach when we are distracted by these issues. Let us get back to teaching, end this terror and vote these guys out.
Thank you.

This most certainly goes well beyond the Coach Bess letter, that was just an example of what they put up with down there.

I agree, its time for some changes to be made at TRCC. It's the same old PB crap. Its all in who you are or who you know. Coach Bess is a great Coach, but he has gotten away with many things over the years. Everyone has skeletons in their closet, I hope for Randy Winston's sake that his don't come out. If word gets around about his personal affairs, I don't think he will stand a chance to be elected. Even though his personal life doesn't have any bearing on his Administrative abilities.

This is part of the plan to remain in power, shift the focus to Gene Bess so that Wenston and Thornton are made out to be single issue candidates running only to support Bess. The whole "Bess mess" is history, that should not be the issue. Low pay, poor quality of insurance and the atmosphere of fear and intimidation that looms over the campus are the issues that should be driving this election. Read the posts from faculty and staff members, yes I'm one of them, we know who is behind all of this and overturning the current Board would limit their power. As previous posts state, lets throw out the millionaire political bosses and mafia-want-a-bes and take our community college back. TRCC belongs to the community, not a handful of millionaires and their bully of a lawyer.

This is all about Gene Bess and those people who cant see that or wont see that are ignorant or stupid, or both. Gene Bess is upset with the current administration and wants to have his buddies (ie cronies) inserted into power.
Does anyone really believe that Wilbur (voice of the raiders) Thornton doesn't have a soft spot for Gene Bess?
please...
and dont even get me started on randy winston.
that man is a crook and should never be in charge of anything. he ruined the Poplar Bluff schools and he will do no good at TRCC.
not that anyone can do any good at TRCC, everyone knows it sucks. the teachers, the staff, everyone.
TRCC is a joke.
it should be closed for good.
its nothing but a money laundering scam for the local politicians.