Dexter police chief stays on

DEXTER, Mo. -- Police Chief Ken Rinehart will stay on after the Dexter Board of Aldermen voted unanimously Monday night not to accept his resignation.

"I'm going to stay," a smiling Rinehart said following the meeting's executive session, in which he spoke to the aldermen. "I am proud and impressed that the board is willing to stand behind me and not buy into all the innuendo."

Rinehart said his first order of business will be to work to earn the trust of the citizens in the local police department back.

Rinehart tendered his letter of resignation Friday to Dexter Mayor John Pruitt after being in the center of a whirlwind surrounding the local police department for the past several weeks.

In July, Robert Kennedy resigned as an officer with the Dexter Police Department following his arrest on two counts of statutory rape, rape and other charges. Kennedy was sentenced to five years of supervised probation.

But rumors of wrongdoing in the Dexter Police Department continued to fester.

According to Dexter Mayor John Pruitt, the Missouri Highway Patrol conducted three investigations into the department's operation in recent months, one centered on Rinehart himself. All three cleared Rinehart and the department of any wrongdoing, Pruitt said.

However, by late last week, Rinehart said he did not feel he had the total support of the Board of Aldermen. So Friday afternoon, he delivered a letter of resignation to Pruitt and city administrator Mark Stidham.

Before a packed crowd Monday evening, Rinehart issue a statement concerning his resignation. Dressed in civilian clothes, Rinehart gripped the podium with both hands to read a prepared statement.

"The Department and I have been criticized and condemned by the coffee-shop rumors and frivolous allegations," he said. "I refuse to lower myself to the level of those people who have attacked my character."

Rinehart received a standing ovation from most of the residents there.

Alderman Mark Snider said he would not vote to accept Rinehart's resignation. He then offered a motion that the board refuse the resignation, which passed unanimously.