OFMP sweeping area for local "criminals"

The 83 “criminals” served arrest warrants last week are running against the clock to raise their $100 bail for Old Fort Madison Preservation’s first Jail & Bail event. They’re hitting up friends, neighbors, family, social media and more trying to raise the dough by Thursday, April 16, when they must report to “the jail” located in the Amtrak building in conjunction with one of the museum’s displays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Want to see who raised their bail and who must throw themselves at the mercy of an OFMP judge? Drop by the jail display (signs will be posted directing you to the site) anytime between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday. There will be light refreshments and coffee available.
Seven OFMP deputies, wearing a “Special Arresty Person” gold star, served the warrants to the 83 “criminals” and wherever they could find them, like at the April 7 meetings of the Lee County Supervisors and Fort Madison City Council, meetings of the Fort Madison Rotary Club, at Fort Madison High School, and to individual businesses and homes.
But is has been difficult to say which group is having the most fun with this fundraiser – OFMP members or the “criminals” themselves.
OFMP members enjoyed coming up with the list of the most wanted criminals, drumming up their alleged offenses and then serving the warrants – so much so that the group has already started a new list of “criminals” for its 2027 Jail & Bail.  
The criminals have found creative and humous ways to make their plea for the $100 bail.
For example, Phyliss Gorrell, owner of the Stage 2 consignment shop, let everyone know she was charged with “showing us that secondhand can be first class.” 
Former Daily Democrat Sports Editor Chris Faulkner went so far as to make his Facebook plea in an orange jumpsuit. Faulkner retired from the local newspaper after 41 years of service and now works part-time for The Burlington Beacon, therefore OFMP has charged him with “not knowing how to really retire.”
Fort Madison Tourism Director Chi Eastin, who is accused of being nothing like her first name (shy), went to the jail display in the Amtrak building and made her public appeal from behind bars.
Several “criminals” were located at the North Lee County Offices recently. Supervisor Chuck Holmes is charged with “boarding the wrong SHIIP” as a volunteer helping people navigate Medicare options; Supervisor Tim Wondra is accused of being “a local chiropractor that can’t keep his hands off his patients”; Treasurer Becky Gaylord is charged with “serving as county treasurer when she could make more money as a financial advisor”; and Supervisor Denise Fraise is accused of “giving elected officials of both genders a role model.”
An All-Points Bulletin, or APB, has been issued for Chuck Vandenberg, the county’s grant writer and editor of the local online newspaper, who has been on vacation this week. However, once he hits the city limits, he will be served. His crime? “Keeping Fort Madison, aka the Pen City, current.”
Several warrants were served at the April 7 meeting of the Fort Madison City Council. For example, City Manager Laura Leigois is facing charges for posting appealing photos of her cuisine on social media and Public Work Director Mark Bousselot is accused of turning the Doobie Brothers’ hit “Takin’ It To the Streets” into a career.
The list of criminals goes on and on. Local historian Andy Andrews is accused of making overalls fashionable.  Gene Enke is charged with riding around in his red sports car and making us jealous. Rachel Benda is facing jail time for teaching us how to “walk it off” on the PORT trails. Longtime Old Fort Players actress Shelley Dowling is accused of being a drama queen. Ellyn Freitag has been charged with being a longtime devoted member of the Eagles Club Auxiliary.  Sub Arena owner Jacqueline Lumsden is charged with “knowing everyone’s sandwich number as well as their name.” Fort Madison High School Coach Derek Doherty is accused of putting sportsmanship above the score of the game. YMCA Director and FMHS basketball coach Ryan Wilson is charged with “being our own Bobby Knight – without throwing a chair.”
And, as promised in an earlier press release, there is an east-end Fort Madison couple charged with being “the best neighbors ever to their older neighbors and making others look bad.” That arrest warrant went to Lee and LeAnn Cashman and their grateful neighbors paid their bail.
If you want to see who else was “arrested,” drop by the jail display in the Amtrak building between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday, April 16. Get a photo of the “criminals” behind bars… or make your own donation to OFMP.
Old Fort Madison Preservation is the 501(c)3 nonprofit designated to reconstruction and reopen Old Fort Madison and build a new Living History Center in Fort Madison’s Riverview Park.
The first phase of OFMP’s project will consist of removing existing structures off their foundations to raise all buildings 4 feet above the floodplain to protect again future flood damage. The buildings will then be returned to their foundations and repaired, in addition to the reconstruction of the blockhouse, the enlisted men’s barracks and the Palisade stockade that were at the site before structural safety issues resulted in their demolition.
The second phase will bring a new asset to Fort Madison’s most significant landmark – the Living Center - that will be built at the site of the old factory building and will house ADA accessible and modern restrooms, exhibition space for fort- related and local historical artifacts and year-round use for programs and activities. One area will be earmarked for revolving displays related to local history on a variety of topics, such as the railroad history, the women’s suffrage movement, Native Americans, the civil rights era and movement, Prohibition, local and area residents’ participation in the nation’s wars, visiting celebrities and more.