WAYNE COMMISSIONER STAYS IN RACE: TRUTH WILL COME OUT IN COURT, KEEL SAYS OF CHARGES

Brenda Hill, Bruce Keel's sister, said she thinks media coverage of the incident involving her brother in this Mill Spring, Mo., convenience store parking lot had been slanted against him. "I just want everyone to realize that there are two sides to this," she said.

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Only three Bruce Keel campaign signs still stood Wednesday along Wayne County's main roads compared to a dozen or so for his two challengers. Residents say Keel's other signs have been systematically torn down, leaving his opponents' signs untouched, for more than a month.

On June 29, residents say Keel had enough.

Having found whom he thought was the person responsible for vandalizing his signs, the six-year Democratic incumbent in Wayne County's race for Western District commissioner is alleged to have hit a man with a pistol in the head before attempting to force the gun's barrel into his mouth, a Missouri State Highway Patrol report says.

Keel, 47, also threatened the man's girlfriend, the report says, by aiming at her with a laser sight on the gun.

At the Wayne County Courthouse on Wednesday, Keel said he has no intention to end his third campaign for commissioner, because many facts reported about the incident so far aren't true.

"I don't even know what a laser sight looks like," Keel said.

Keel is counting on his years of contributions to county residents as an insurance agent and politician to pull him through a political race that was seriously competitive before the reported gun incident.

"I'm campaigning to win," he said.

Random vandalism of political signs is common particularly in rural Wayne County, Sheriff Larry Plunkett said. "Even some of my signs have been torn down," Plunkett said.

But it does seem that Keel's yellow signs have been singled out, especially in Piedmont, the sheriff said.

No one seems to have an explanation for why Keel's posters have been attacked, while those of Western District candidates Henry "Bud" Snyder and Don Kemp remain undamaged.

Kemp would only say that the situation is sad since Keel has built up a good reputation over the years.

Brenda Hill, Keel's sister, believes the extensive media attention given to her brother's arrest without comments from her brother have prejudiced voters. A lot of people think because it's written in the paper it happened," Hill said. "There are always two sides."

Despite the reported gun attack, some Wayne County residents say they intend to vote for Keel.

"Everybody makes mistakes," said Junior Ludeke, owner of Wayne County Tire Co. near Piedmont.

Melvin Brinkley is mayor of Mill Spring, Mo., where the incident is said to have taken place. Brinkley said he took down a Keel campaign poster from the window of his game arcade after receiving threats of property damage if he refused. Now he just wears a "Re-elect Keel" cap.

"Bruce as a commissioner has done as good a job as anyone," Brinkley said. "I hope all of this doesn't hurt Bruce."

Jim Gudley hears a variety of opinions on Keel as he pours drinks at Mr. C's Bar in Piedmont. "Most people have already convicted him in their minds," Gudley said.

Nevertheless, Gudley said he would vote for Keel if he could, but the bartender lives in Iron County.

Although Brinkley didn't see the incident when it occurred across the street from his arcade just before midnight, he said alcohol and a case of mistaken identity by the attacker had created the problem.

Keel declined to elaborate about details surrounding felony charges of assault and unlawful use of a weapon pending against him. He said it would all be explained in court.

The victim, Dustin Graham of Mill Spring, stopped at the convenience store Thursday where the incident took place to buy a cold drink and gasoline. The man, in his early 20s, would not talk about Keel but said the attack has left him disillusioned about politics.

"I used to go and vote when I took my dad to the polling place, but after this I don't think I can," Graham said. "I'm just turned off on politics now."