Attorneys to women: 'Forgive and forget'

The two women working as deputy auditors for Cape Girardeau County say they have been told they must forgive their boss for using the Internet to repeatedly view and print images of half-naked women and forget that it happened.

According to deputy auditors Virgie Koeppel and Beth Biri, they were instructed to "forgive, forget and move on for the good of the county" Thursday by the county's prosecuting attorney, Morley Swingle, and the attorney for County Auditor David Ludwig, Al Lowes.

Koeppel reported finding printed images in June 2007, and again April 17. Ludwig was privately confronted both times by county commissioners. The first time, Ludwig signed a document saying he would not violate the county's computer-use policy again or he would be asked to resign. He was approached for the same violation in a closed meeting April 17 and left the county administration building that day. The commissioners asked for Ludwig's resignation, but he refused, citing health reasons for taking a leave of absence.

Ludwig is scheduled to return to work at 1 p.m. Monday.

"I want to know one thing," Koeppel said Friday. "Who takes care of the employees of Cape Girardeau County? Who stands up for us?"

Koeppel and Biri said Swingle and Lowes told them they did not have a valid sexual harassment complaint. After the lawyers left the auditor's office, the women said, they were near tears.

"They said sexual harassment was more touching and comments and things that never happened," Biri said. "They said this was toward the bottom. They indicated that there really wasn't anything else that could be done."

But Biri is concerned because "even if what happened could be considered minor, there's no reason to even complain if it was a little worse because nothing could be done. What if it was a little worse? There's no contingency plan. What do you do?"

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said he and Swingle met with Lowes, Ludwig and Ludwig's wife earlier this week to arrange for Ludwig's return to the county administration building and the office he shares with Koeppel and Biri. According to Jones, Internet access on Ludwig's computer has been removed.

Cape Girardeau County is updating its personnel policy handbook. Two sexual harassment training workshops have been scheduled for September, according to Jones. The first session is for elected officials, department heads and supervisors; the second session is for employees. Each session will last 90 minutes, he said. Before Koeppel's complaints, the county had no sexual harassment prevention training.

"My husband says if you're a Christian you're going to have to forgive him," Koeppel said. She paused for a long moment. "I don't know. It's going to be very hard for Beth and I."

She said she is not confident that Ludwig has changed.

"If he just would have done what the commissioners asked him to do last year [after her first complaint], none of this would have come out," she said.

Jones said he alone addressed Ludwig's return to the county office. First District Commissioner Larry Bock said he has not been in touch with Ludwig. Second District Commissioner Jay Purcell said he has not been informed about Ludwig's meetings with county officials. He said he did not know by what authority Lowes was allowed to meet with county employees, but called Thursday's meeting between Lowes and the deputy auditors "inappropriate and arrogant."

"It's arrogant to think that [Swingle and Lowes] can do this and have no repercussions," Purcell said.

Lowes, contacted by phone Friday, said he would not comment on the matter. Neither Ludwig nor Swingle returned phone messages.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

Audio clip: Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones - a 'quirk in the law'

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Audio clip: The commissioners confront David Ludwig

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