A series of oopses have caught up with Butler County after a 1974 audit. Fortunately, State Auditor John Ashcroft believes the situation is an honest mistake. Officials are cooperating with him to correct the numbers.
March 5, 1924
• Five people are in a legal tug-of-war over a telephone line.
Plaintiffs E.J. Barrow, Henry Helms, Wiley Walker and Siebert Greer have filed suit against H.W. Peterson. All five men are farmers who jointly own a telephone line connecting their properties, but the plaintiffs allege Peterson is seeking to divide ownership of the line and sell his portion. They believe this would endanger their continued use of the line.
March 5, 1949
• Police put a speedy end to a Van Buren man’s joyride last night.
Elton “Buddy” Rogers, 21, broke into McSpadden Chevrolet Garage in Poplar Bluff last night and stole a light green 1949 floor model. State troopers and sheriff’s deputies followed the skid marks on highways 60, 21 an 34 to the Starlight nightclub near Piedmont. Rogers was quickly arrested.
Rogers was out on bond after a Carter County arrest on grand larceny charges.
March 5, 1974
• The City Council of Poplar Bluff established a special business district downtown to help finance a planned parking garage, but has not finalized a decision on where to build it.
Citizens turned out in droves at a previous meeting to voice their opinions on tearing down the historic Post Office on Broadway for the garage. Some were in favor of using the vacant building’s space to buoy struggling downtown businesses, while others protested the loss of a local landmark and urged the council to build elsewhere.
• A regular audit finds a few errors in the Butler County audit, specifically in the offices of the county clerk, treasurer, collector, and recorder. However, State Auditor John Ashcroft said officials had “substantially complied” with the audit, and, “The errors we have noted...can be labeled ‘honest mistakes.’”
He recommended the county clerk write a check for $491 to the county to make up for miscalculations in his salary, which he did. He also directed the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority to reduce its payments to the city by a few percentage points, the treasurer to move around $2,000 via inter-fund transfers, and a prorated refund to be made to District No. 12 taxpayers.
Due to a change in state statutes in 1969, the Butler County Sheriff’s Department received and retained fees it was no longer entitled to for court attendance, summoning juries and partition an execution sales. Sheriff Clyde Hendrix gave the $2,973 to the general revenue fund. The county returned just over $200 to the BCSD because it made an overpayment on fees.
The audit period covered Dec. 31, 1968 to Dec. 31., 1972.
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