CAPE SCHOOL BOARD BEGINS PROCEDURES AGAINST THOMAS

About 70 people packed the Cape Girardeau School Board meeting room Monday night when the board reconvened after their regular meeting to begin dismissal procedures against Donna Thomas, a tenured junior high teacher accused of shooting Cheryl Litzelfelner July 23.

The school's attorney, Diane Howard, said the board could no longer employ a woman who would take out her frustrations by shooting someone with a .357 magnum revolver.

Al Lowes, Thomas' attorney, said the shooting was a result of years of torment by Litzelfelner, a woman who has been having an affair with Thomas' estranged husband, Bruce Thomas. Lowes said the board had to consider the circumstances surrounding the incident, not just the events of July 23.

Howard said Thomas was responsible for "immoral conduct," and her actions on July 23 and another incident involving Litzelfelner that occurred in March 1993, were "conduct that renders a teacher unfit to perform his or her job."

Thomas received a suspended imposition of sentence in 1993 after pleading guilty to property damage by scratching the paint on Litzelfelner's car.

Lowes said his client's actions were a result of Litzelfelner's years of "perpetual heat for Bruce Thomas." He also said that Litzelfelner had stalked Thomas, trying to coax her into granting her husband a divorce. The shooting on July 23, Lowes said, resulted when Thomas arrived at her home northwest of Jackson and discovered Litzelfelner's car in the driveway.

Lt. John Jordan of the Cape Girardeau Sheriff's Department, who was subpoenaed to testify at Monday night's dismissal procedure, said four rounds were fired by Thomas.

He said Thomas and Litzelfelner had a verbal exchange in the driveway. Thomas went inside the home, he said, and returned with a .357 magnum revolver. He said Thomas fired the weapon at Litzelfelner who was in her car by the time Thomas returned outside. He said three of the rounds hit the car as it was speeding away -- one of the rounds penetrated the vehicle's firewall and struck Litzelfelner in the lower right leg.

"She said she was aiming at the tires," Jordan said regarding Thomas' statement. "She said she wanted to disable the vehicle so that Litzelfelner's husband or someone else would have to come and get her there at the Thomas home."

School board members will review a transcript of Monday night's meetings and render a decision within two weeks.

In addition to possible dismissal from the Cape Girardeau Public Schools, Thomas faces one count of second degree assault, one count of property damage and one count of armed criminal action. She has a preliminary hearing scheduled Thursday at the Cape Girardeau Courthouse in Jackson.