COUNTY LEADERS CLASH OVER DRUG-TAX AUDIT

Latest Dispute Involves Padlocked Records

Two county legislators stopped just short Wednesday of accusing County
Executive Katheryn Shields of interfering with an audit of the
county's anti-drug tax.

"It's time for this to stop," Ron Finley, chairman of the Jackson
County Legislature's Finance and Audit Committee, said at a news
conference. "We just don't need this continued, what appears to be,
cover-up or a stonewalling of trying to get this (audit) done."

Legislator Henry Rizzo, a committee member, joined Finley in his
criticism and said, "I think there's been a real breach of the whole
system." This most recent dispute was touched off when auditors
arrived at the courthouse Wednesday and found that records they wanted
to review had been padlocked by a firm Shields said she hired to
protect the documents. Finley and Rizzo voiced their concerns at a
news conference in which they verbally sparred with Shields, who
denied their allegations. The legislators said auditors from Cochran,
Head & Co., a firm hired by the legislature, had been denied access to
anti-drug-tax financial records. The documents had been locked away by
another financial firm hired by Shields this week. Shields said she
hired the second firm - Prestia, Vick & Associates LLC - to secure and
inventory the documents after an anonymous allegation late Monday that
some papers recently were destroyed. She said Cochran, Head auditors
still would have access to the records.

"It seemed to be prudent to secure all the documents," Shields said.
"If you are going to say documents are being destroyed . then I think
I have an obligation to make sure those documents are secure and to
know who is looking at them, who's checking them out and what they
plan to do with it. "I very much apologize if someone on my staff
indicated they (Cochran, Head) couldn't have access to those documents
this morning. That was not the intent." The secured records include
budget documents, canceled checks and payment vouchers from 1996
through 2003. Most of the documents have been padlocked in a finance
department conference room, with the exception of records from 1999,
which are padlocked behind bars in the old jail on the top floors of
the courthouse.

Shields said she hired the second firm after failed attempts late
Monday to reach Cochran, Head and after conferring with another
finance committee member, Legislator Bob Spence.

At the news conference, Spence downplayed the dispute, saying:
"There's some degree of paranoia that's crept into county government.
. I don't think there is any intent here on anybody's part . to
destroy records or hide records." Shields agreed.

"If any documents have been destroyed by anyone on my staff, I will
take action to remove those people from county government," Shields
said. Meanwhile, Prosecutor Mike Sanders and Sheriff Tom Phillips
posted deputies to guard the records. Phillips said he would ask the
Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate the records destruction allegation.

The Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax, called COMBAT, is a quarter-cent
tax for law enforcement, drug treatment and drug-abuse prevention.
Questions earlier this year about how the tax is spent launched an
audit of tax funds and a federal investigation of the county.

County officials on Wednesday said COMBAT invoices from 1996 that they
earlier said were available were recently found to be missing. Shields
explained that, like similar records earlier reported missing from
1997 and 1998, the 1996 records were destroyed during routine purging
without first being transferred to microfilm or microfiche, as had
been done in the past. She said incorrect labeling on a storage box
misled staff to believe the 1996 invoices had not been destroyed.