GNM_5-19-2021

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Zero active cases in Daviess County! Finally! For the first time since COVID-19 disrupted life and took lives beginning in 2020, there are currently no active cases of the disease in Daviess County according to the Daviess County Health Department. The local caseload significantly decreased in early March and has hovered at 2-3 active cases for the past several weeks. The good news locally mirrors encouraging news nationwide as some states are lifting restrictions even as vaccination efforts continue. Since the pandemic hit, there have been 679 total cases reported by local authorities in this county with 665 recoveries and 14 deaths. Local numbers reported by the county health department may differ from state reports, largely depending on time delays in filing reports and when total are actually tabulated.* As was presented for more than a year, the following is an update describing COVID-19 as it has affected our county, region, nation and world:

by Liz Wilkinson choke Jason. The girl continued hitting Jason and the guy started chokBeing a good Samaritan didn’t ing him. As he was trying to mainwork out so well for a kind-hearted tain control of his vehicle, Jason was Daviess County man. losing consciousness and the van On May 4, Jason Jones was drivdrifted to the right, onto the shouling to Kansas City when he stopped der and into the mud at the side of to help a young couple with a flat the road. tire near Holt on southbound I-35 Jason then gathered himself to around 8:30 a.m. Jason took them Choyce U. Davis escape and jumped out of the van to a couple of salvage yards in Liberty to look for a tire, as their spare had a from the driver’s side. The young male folhole in it. The couple, a 19-year old male and lowed him and started beating him in the face. a teenage female, was from Illinois. At that point a passerby pulled up to help They had no luck finding a tire, so Jason took the couple back to their vehicle and Jason. The couple attempted to flee in the was trying to think of another plan to help van, but it was stuck in the mud. At 10:30 a.m., them. The girl sitting behind Jason suddenly law enforcement responded to a 9-1-1 call picked up a hitch pin and started hitting him about an ongoing assault at mile marker 31.8. in the head. “She hit him over and over, eight The two subjects were taken into custody. Choyce U. Davis, 19, Calumet, IL, has times!” says Jason’s wife Linda. Then the girl then told her companion to been charged in Clay County with assault

Scott Collins, Cyd Terry and Ann Cummings

(77th among 114 counties; +2 since 5/12)

(7th among 114 counties; +3 since 5/12)

Harrison County .........829 (18th among 114 counties; +2 since 5/12)

Grundy County ...........848 (39th among 114 counties; +7 since 5/12)

Dekalb County............940 (66th among 114 counties; +2 since 5/12)

Livingston County ....1392 (29th among 114 counties; +24 since 5/12)

Clinton County .........1575 (62nd among 144 counties; +9 since 5/12)

State to date: 508,205 cases, 8,996 deaths Statewide positivity rate (last 7 days): +3.7% Source: Missouri DHSS at 9:30am May 19

USA: 33M confirmed cases

(recoveries unreported); 587K deaths

Worldwide: 164M cases, over 95.9M recovered, 3.4M deaths Sources: CDC, Wikipedia, WHO, ECDC & The New York Times; and others

Jason and Linda Jones

third degree, E felony. Davis remains in Clay County Detention Center in lieu of $25,000 bond. A court date is set for June 2. The juvenile female has not been identified but may be charged as an adult. Jason was taken by ambulance to Liberty Hospital. He was released last Wednesday (continued on page 3)

Heritage Realty opens this summer

*Daviess County .......600 Gentry County ............743

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Altamont man assaulted while helping couple on I-35

Rank based per 100k pop. (1st is worst):

(68th among 114 counties; +4 since 5/12)

UPSP 213-200 Vol. 156, No. 52

Published Since 1864 — Our Best to You Each Week!

COVID Update: May 19 Caldwell County .........673

May 19, 2021

Shoe Caravan travels through Gallatin; Rotary donates over 100 shoes to effort The Gallatin Rotary Club was represented by Cyd Terry when the shoe caravan came to town last Thursday. Gallatin’s contribution to the effort was 126 pairs of shoes, 85 pairs of socks, and many, many shoe laces. The goal this year was to collect 20,000 shoes to represent the 20th anniversary of the collection drive. The Gallatin club has partnered with Ann Cummings of Foster Shoe Store since 2001 to gather shoes for the nonprofit program, Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. The shoes are sorted and sent to vulnerable children in countries like Kenya, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Gallatin Rotary purchases the

shoes from Foster’s Shoe Store at a generously discounted rate. Ann collects the shoes throughout the year, a good assortment of name brand footwear. The Rotary collection trailer arrived at Foster’s Shoe Store Thursday morning (after only slight delay due to GPS confusion) with several representatives from Northwest Missouri Rotary Clubs. Also present for this trip was Scott Collins representing Buckner Shoes, which is headquartered in Dallas, TX. This year, the caravan’s journey covered every Rotary community in northern Missouri: 44 stops in two legs reaching the district’s 56 clubs.

Belinda Cameron has selected a building site for her new real estate business that touches her with a special significance. Dirtwork has begun for her new venture on the lot where the historic McDonald Tea Room once stood. The lot is just west of the Gallatin square on Business Highway 6. “My building site where the McDonald Tea Room once stood is bittersweet,” says Belinda. “It was so sad to see the tea room burn down. It held so much history and pride for Daviess County. Several of my family members worked at the tea room at one time or another. Charles and I also had our wedding rehearsal dinner there with countless other ‘special days’ creating such wonderful memories.” Belinda has been a full-time realtor since 2008, and she is broker/owner of Heritage Realty Farm and Home LLC. “I chose the name Heritage Realty beBelinda Cameron cause I felt it had a deepmeaning in many ways. A real estate purchase, whether it is a home, land or business, can help build a family heritage and I am privileged to be part of that process.” Belinda was born and raised on a farm in Gallatin. Her parents, Max and Beverly Berry, both come from deep family roots in Daviess County. Her husband Charles Cameron is a fourth generation farmer in the Pattonsburg/Gallatin area. The couple has three children, Ashley (Jonathan) Smith, Christopher Cameron, and a son Anthony who passed away in 2005. They are also proud grandparents of a two-year-old grandson, Benjamin. Belinda says that she has been working remotely since COVID hit the area in 2020, and meeting with clients at the properties they are selling or buying. She says electronic signatures are very useful when clients are uncomfortable to meet in person. Diane McLey recently has signed on as a salesperson and Belinda is happy to welcome Diane to her team. “I am ready to move forward and am excited to start building,” said Belinda. “Hopefully by the end of July my building will be complete and I look forward to announcing a grand opening at that time.”

Charges filed on cattle fraud scheme resulting in two murders Braymer man indicted by federal grand jury for $215,000 fraud scheme

A Braymer man was indicted by a federal grand jury May 18 for a $215,000 cattle fraud scheme that he attempted to cover up by murdering two Wisconsin brothers. Garland Joseph Nelson, 27, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. The indictment charges Nelson with one count of mail fraud for a scheme in which he allegedly shot and killed two men whom he had defrauded of $215,000 in a cattle contract. Nelson has been charged with two counts of murder in a separate state case that is scheduled for trial in June 2022. According to the indictment, Nelson – an employee of J4s Farm Enterprises, Inc., a business started by his mother – agreed to care for cattle belonging to Diemel’s Livestock, LLC, located in Shawano County, Wisconsin. Nicholas and Justin Diemel were principals in Diemel’s Live-

stock, which invested and traded in cattle and other livestock. Nelson agreed to feed and pasture the cattle, then sell the cattle and send Diemel’s Livestock the proceeds (minus the costs of raising the cattle). The Diemels sent several loads of cattle to Nelson from November 2018 through April 2019. Nelson sold some loads of cattle and paid the Diemels. However, Nelson allegedly sold, traded, and/or killed many of the Diemels’s cattle without remitting the payments to the Diemels. Nelson continued to fraudulently bill the Diemels for feed and yardage for cattle that had been sold, traded, or had died. Nelson, the indictment says, did not properly care for cattle due to incompetence, neglect, or maltreatment. Cattle entrusted to Nelson had high death rates dues to underfeeding, neglect, and/or maltreatment. Nelson fed cattle inadequately and poorly. For example, he dropped hay

bales in a pasture for calves but did not remove the plastic covering so that calves ate the plastic and died. In another example, in December 2018, Nelson was entrusted with feeding and caring for 131 calves he co-owned with a Kansas farmer. On May 23, 2019, Nelson dropped off 35 calves at the co-owner’s farm in Kansas, apparently all that survived of the 131. Of the surviving 35 calves, many were emaciated and had ringworm. Some calves had their ears torn as though identifying ear tags had been removed. Throughout the spring of 2019, Nicholas Diemel pressed Nelson for payment for his cattle. He sent no more loads of cattle to Nelson while he awaited his payment. To deprive the Diemels of their cattle or their money and to prevent them from recovering either their cattle or their money, in June 2019 Nelson fraudulently

sent the Diemels a bad check for $215,936 while the account had a balance of 21 cents. The check had been intentionally torn and damaged so that it could not be submitted for payment. Nicholas Diemel determined to come to Missouri to retrieve his money. On July 17, 2019, Nicholas Diemel bought two round-trip airline tickets from Milwaukee to Kansas City. On July 20, 2019, Nicholas and Justin Diemel arrived in Kansas City and rented a pickup truck from Budget. On July 21, 2019, the Diemels drove their rental truck to Nelson’s mother’s farm in Braymer, the indictment alleges, where Nelson killed them both and attempted to dispose of their bodies. Today’s indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Nelson to forfeit to the government any property obtained from the proceeds of (continued on page 3)


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