JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

I can only imagine how frustrated and discouraged KC Star reporters Judy Thomas and Laura Bauer must be.

The team has spent more than a year investigating and reporting student abuse at two unlicensed, Christian boarding schools in Cedar County, Missouri, and now officials at the larger of the two facilities appear to be getting what amounts to a pass from the Cedar County prosecutor’s office.

On Tuesday, Prosecutor Ty Gaither announced he was charging five staff members of Agape Boarding School with low-level, Class E felonies. A class E felony is the lowest-level felony, punishable by up to four years in prison or, alternatively, a year in jail or even probation. Conviction can also carry a fine of up to $10,000.

The Agape charges stand in stark contrast to charges brought in July by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office against the couple who operated Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, which had five times as many students as Agape and dozens of staff members.

The A.G.’s office charged Boyd and Stephanie Householder with 100 criminal counts — all but one being felonies — including statutory rape, sodomy and physical abuse. The Householders have pleaded not guilty and were released in July on $10,000 bond pending trial.

The difference in the cases is that Gaither ceded the charging and prosecutorial authority to the A.G.’s office with Circle of Hope, but he did not do that in the Agape case, although he did ask the A.G.’s office for assistance.

In a statement to The Star, Gaither, who has been prosecutor the last eight years, said he deemed the five low-level felonies “appropriate” and the only charges he expected to file.

A possible reason he brought only wrist-slapping charges, however, is — as Thomas and Bauer reported — some law enforcement officials in Cedar County have close ties to the school. For example, two Cedar County Sheriff’s deputies, including one who was a student at Agape, have worked at the school. In addition, the former student’s daughter works for the Sheriff’s Office.

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For reporters, the most gratifying part of a big expose is not getting the expose published but seeing it bring tangible results, like significant policy changes or, in these cases, serious criminal charges.

Thomas and Bauer have put hundreds of hours into this effort — which translates into more than $100,000 in “manpower” for The Star — and they have seen some results. In addition to the numerous felony charges pending against the Householders, the Missouri General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill, which Gov. Mike Parson signed into law, giving the state some oversight over unlicensed boarding schools.

However, with “the big fish” — key Circle of Hope staff members — seemingly slipping away, Thomas, Bauer and The Star are seeing a significant piece of investigative and public-service journalism sliding downhill, largely out of their control.

In addition to the insult served up by Ty Gaither, Thomas and Bauer also suffered some indignity at the hands of KC Star editors. On the paper’s website this morning, their story about the low-level charges was placed low on the page and was much shorter than the story that appeared in the print edition. By tonight, the story was not even on the front page of the website, meaning readers had to go “shopping” for it to find it. (As I’ve said before, the news judgment that is reflected on The Star’s website is just appalling.)

Even the print edition had to be disappointing to the reporters: The story was positioned at the top of Page 10, instead of on Page 1, where it should have been.

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Sometimes, life is a bowl of cherries when you’re a reporter. At other times it’s just the pits. And for the next few days, at least, Judy Thomas and Laura Bauer will be spitting those pits vigorously.