Brad Hollerbach is the Director of Information Technology for the Southeast Missourian. His opinions are his own and do not reflect those of the newspaper or its editorial board. He writes this blog primarily for his own amusement and to parody the absurdities of the world we live in. He lives with his wife and two cats that don't really care for one another in Cape.

State Guilty Of Due Negligence

Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2010, at 12:00 AM

I'm completely flabbergasted that the state of Missouri awarded $2 million in state aid to a proposed dental and vision cooperative based in Cape Girardeau, even though the CEO of the firm pled guilty to a felony in 2007.

Who knew Homer Simpson was in charge of due diligence in Jefferson City?

I think you would go through a more stringent background check getting a $200 advance from a payday loan company than the state did with this startup firm. It looks like due negligence to me.

Ever since Governor Jay Nixon announced at a press conference on December 8 that Hometown Innovation Team LLC and its CEO W. Weaver Dickerson were going to create a first-of-its-kind dental and vision cooperative in downtown Cape Girardeau, I felt something wasn't right. The fact the fledgling firm was getting so much taxpayer money without any apparent proof-of-concept ever being done bothered me.

Then the Associated Press broke the story last Friday revealing that Mr. Dickerson pled guilty three years ago to writing bad checks in excess of $90,000. This curious, but not surprising turn of events, made me even more inquisitive. I spent much of Sunday night exploring Case.net, the online system of court information for the state of Missouri, trying to figure out more about Mr. Dickerson and his legal issues.

There are 21 cases listed on the website with names "Weave Dickerson," "Wilburn Weaver Dickerson," "Wilburn W. Dickerson," "Wilbur Weaver Dickerson" and "Weaver Dickerson."

Based on the addresses listed for the defendants in the cases, it looks like they are all the same Weaver Dickerson who has canoodled two million dollars of taxpayer money for this proposed dental and vision cooperative. Two-thirds of the cases are civil in nature while the remaining third are criminal, pertaining to the aforementioned bad checks.

Several of the civil cases particularly concern me.

Weaver Dickerson organized a company in June 2006 named T.R.E.M Recycling LLC. The address for Dickerson and the company was listed as 12965 Carrier Lane in Dexter, Missouri. Dickerson and the LLC lost a judgment of $126,122.98 in July 2007 to Federal International, Inc. -- (Case 2107CC-01324)

Earlier that same year, Weaver Dickerson and DWW, Inc. -- both with the same address in Benton, Missouri -- lost judgments of $9,118.36 and $8970 "for Possession of 12965 Carrier Ln, Dexter, MO 63841" to TOMAM, LLC. -- (Cases 07F9-AC00267 and 07F9-AC00267-01)

Weaver Dickerson and DWW, Inc. were also defendants in a case in August 2007 where they were found guilty of a breach of contract and ordered to pay $39,488 plus attorney's fees. DWW, Inc. and Dickerson were listed as the same address in Paducah, Kentucky. -- (Case 07S0-CV00285)

These cases show me that Mr. Dickerson does not appear to have a track record of a successful businessman. Normally, this would not be any of my concern. That would be between him, his investors and his creditors.

But when a new business solicits and gets public money on the promise that it will generate jobs, I feel that is a completely different situation. This is taxpayer money. Requests should be scrutinized and the backgrounds of those requesting the funds should be thoroughly checked. It seems apparent that this was either not done in this case or the information was ignored.

I find this situation and the lack of due diligence from Jefferson City appalling. How the state felt this was an investment worthy of our tax dollars is beyond me. I'm just completely flabbergasted.

As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!"

Comments

View 9 comments or respond

Community discussion is important, and we encourage you to participate as a reader and commenter. Click here to see our Guidelines. We also encourage registered users to let us know if they see something inappropriate on our site. You can do that by clicking "Report Comment" below.

Brad, I agree the lack of due diligence from Jefferson City is appalling. But you have made the local officials smile by deflecting the blame from them. The head of our economic development group states our officials have been working on this for two years. If you put aside the criminal and civil judgements, nothing in this group's background would indicate a chance of success in this venture. While this concept might work in a very large city, the business plan (if there is one) is flawed. Even if it were to work, it is charging our residents a large amount of money per year which does not equal the benefits received. Yes, you need to be completely flabbergasted, but it needs to extend to our city officials, our chamber, the magnet, and anyone else making a decision on this. It shows the lack of sophistication and common sense in those we depend upon to bring business opportunities to our area.

-- Posted by ParkerDaws on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 6:18 AM
Brad, maybe you or the Southeast Missourian can do some investigating and find out who in Jefferson City actually signed off on this little project. I wonder if this individual is still working for our great State? Were they fired for this little $2 million dollar blunder? Maybe it was the same "inspector" who signed off on the roof of the Federal building that later had to be replaced (at great cost to taxpayers) because the material used wasn't the material specified. Did anyone ever claim responsibility for that? In the "real" world, someone would be responsible and ultimately fired for something this obvious...

-- Posted by rockstarr on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 7:41 AM
Good point, Parker and you are correct.

Others should share the blame for this questionable investment in taxpayer dollars. While the state may be who is authorizing the subsidy, large-scale proposals like this one take many groups and local and state government entities working together to get to this stage of the process.

Unfortunately, because so many hands are in the pot -- to take credit initially -- I bet we will never know who is to blame.

I would love to know whose job it is to do the basics, such as run a credit check.

I feel that if your credit score is below 700, you are not worthy of getting taxpayer-provided subsidies of $2000 or $2,000,000.

Thanks for reading.

-- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 8:14 AM
If we were getting a real gambling boat, maybe they would have the traditional "shell game" that was portrayed in old movies. If we had a "shell game" have we found some one to run the game?

-- Posted by IonU on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 11:45 AM
Way to go Brad!

For pete's sake, the state of Mo, and the city of Cape, our mayor, and Scott Meyer, have NO excuse. If we, simple every day people, can pull up this crud on case.net, then so can they. I expect our political leaders to check someone out before handing them our tax dollars, but I guess that is too much to ask in a good ole boys shake hand society.

-- Posted by Skeptic1 on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 5:19 PM
Thank you Brad, for being on the ball with this thing. I would however like the chance to email you some additional information on Weaver Dickerson's past. My wife was his secretary at TREM Recycling, and we have very disturbing facts regarding this man. feel free to contact me at h2orace@msn.com and I will send you a copy of the letter I've sent to the Governor, the Mayor, and the news agencies- including names, contact info, and additional crimes committed by this man. The $90k in bad checks is just the tip of the iceberg.

-- Posted by lift dr. on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 6:47 PM
A good investigative reporter should really look into Noranda's multiple Nixon grants. If my math is correct, they have received in excess of $8 million from Nixon THIS year. That amounts to approximately $10,000 for each of their 800 employees. Does that make sense to any one? ~sigh~ Corporate welfare at its very best!

As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!"

-- Posted by ho ho ho on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 6:55 PM
IonU, "If we were getting a real gambling boat"

IF is the key word, speaking of "Guilty Of Due Negligence". Has anyone else peeked at Isle's financial statements? Losses the last 3 out of 4 years, failed stock offering June '10, terrible debt to capital ratio, serious cash flow issues and ~drum roll please~ on a financial bankruptcy watch list.

As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!"

-- Posted by ho ho ho on Tue, Dec 21, 2010, at 6:58 PM
Has Mayor Rediger done anything right since he got the job? Besides all of this mess, dont forget that because of Mayor Rediger the residents of Cape Girardeau now have LESS rights then we did before he took office. He's going to sell out the City and then quickly retire with money in the bank! WATCH AND SEE!

-- Posted by timexx on Wed, Dec 22, 2010, at 3:12 PM

Respond to this blog

Posting a comment requires a subscription.