Couple denied bail, to remain incarcerated in Florida jail
John and Linda Dollar grant interview
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

(Editor's note: While on vacation in Florida, I was able to obtain an interview with John and Linda Dollar at the Citrus County Detention Facility located in Lecanto, FL. The Dollars signed a release to grant Ripley Publishing Co. exclusive information. They said they have been disappointed with media coverage of their case and have refused to talk to other media outlets, with the exception of their hometown paper, the Citrus County Chronicle, which they also granted an interview to. Their case gained national attention and has been referred to as a "media circus" in the county seat of Inverness, Fl, where the couple have been charged with five counts each of aggravated child abuse.)

"I feel like I'm in a twilight zone - this is not real," noted Linda Dollar (former Ripley County resident) as she quietly talked one-on-one with the Osgood Journal in an arranged interview at the Citrus County Detention Center in Lecanto, FL, on March 10.

Attorney Elizabeth Osmond, who is also a freelance writer for the Citrus County Chronicle and John Dollar, Linda's husband, were also present at the exclusive interview in a private room at the facility.

The Dollars have been charged with five counts each of aggravated child abuse, after five of their seven adopted children told authorities they had been tortured and starved. The children were removed from the home on January 27, when authorities began a full fledged investigation. The case attracted national attention.

The Dollars then left their home in the Beverly Hills, Fl, area, ending up in Utah. This is where police say the Dollars fled, but Mr. Dollar gives a different side. "We absolutely were not fleeing," he emphatically stated. "How could we be fleeing? We didn't even know there were any charges against us at that time."

The children had been removed, but it's true, criminal charges against the Dollars had not been filed when they left Florida.

"We needed some time and decided to drive," Mr. Dollar noted.

While the Dollars were not free to talk about the upcoming case they shared things about their lives.

ABOUT LINDA DOLLAR

Many people from Ripley County remember Mrs. Dollar as Linda Bowling. She was raised in the New Marion area, one of four children of Goebel and Margaret Meisberger Bowling.

Responsibility was something Mrs. Dollar accepted at an extremely early age when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. As early as four-years-old, she remembers working to help with chores because of her mother's illness. After her mother's
death, she said she would get up at 4:00 a.m., make breakfast, do chores, and go to school at New Marion.

While some news medias have reported Mrs. Dollar saying her father was an alcoholic who abused her, she says that was not the case. "He drank some, but it didn't affect my home life," she told the Osgood Journal. Abuse? None according to Mrs. Dollar, unless you consider hard work abuse.

"My dad was a hard worker him
self, and he expected us to work." Mrs. Dollar said she did her chores to please him, more out of respect than fear. "I just never crossed my dad," she said with a smile.

Mrs. Dollar said she lived on a farm where along with crops such as soybeans and corn, they raised massive amounts of produce, which they gave away to area families. She said her father insisted the vegetables be washed and cleaned before they could be given away.

Saying she left home at the age of 16, Mrs. Dollar went to live with an older sister, who she describes as being strict. She used her typing and business skills to work. She is remembered among South Ripley classmates for typing 160 words a minute in a one-minute test, and 113 words a minute for a five-minute test, with little or no mistakes.

Mrs. Dollar did office work for the South Ripley Corporation Superintendent, high school guidance office and principal. She also worked for her typing teacher, Walter Phinney, keeping his books. She credits the Phinneys, both Walter and his wife, Gladys, for getting her through college. She attended Ball State University and holds a BA in Business Education and Sociology and a Master's degree in art and education.

The Dollars are both well educated thus the decision to run a small Christian school of their own for a while and then afterwards home-schooling their own children.

"We never had one complaint while we were operating the school," noted Mr. Dollar.

At this point of the two-hour interview, Mrs. Dollar noted that it all seemed so strange - telling about their lives in a red jump suit, handcuffed, as inmates.

"I've never even had a speeding ticket, let alone been arrested," she noted. Mr. Dollar echoed the statement, saying he had one speeding ticket and one accident in his life.

Mr. Dollar said his six years of serving as a marine is the only thing that prepared him for the days he's been incarcerated.

ABOUT JOHN DOLLAR

"Our lives parallel in so many ways," he noted, referring to the similarities between him and his wife, Linda, in their childhood years. He, too, lived on a farm, worked hard and helped his family raise crops in Humboldt, TN.

His mother, Pauline, was living with him when they were arrested. "It's been real hard on her," he admitted, saying the 85-year-old lady has since gone to live with relatives in North Carolina.

Mr. Dollar's grandparents were missionaries to Japan and his family had a strong Southern Baptist faith. "I was saved at the age of 12, taught Sunday School when I was 15 or 16, and sang in the choir," remembered Mr. Dollar.

He said his dad was a hard worker who expected him to be the same. "You just did what you were supposed to do," he said. He reported no abuse as a child, but said he "would get a spanking if he was bad." My
father was known as a 'gentleman farmer'", he noted. His mother was a school teacher.

Mr. Dollar attended the University of Tennessee and went into the real estate business - appraising and insurance. He currently holds IFA, IFAS and IFAC designations, is a Master Senior Appraiser, certified in five states - TN, AL, GA, SC, and FL.

Accomplishments include co-authoring two income manuals, authored a residential manual, teaching at Jackson State Community College and holding a bachelor of science degree in business and real estate from Western State University.

In the past, Mr. Dollar has served as church historian, minister of music at Oakfield Baptist Church in TN, and had also been the minister of education.

After the Dollars were arrested in Utah - where they had gone after their children were taken from them - Mr. Dollar said people ministering at the jail there prayed with him. There he read the entire New Testament in the Bible and much of the Old Testament and feels he's called by God to "some type of ministry."

He's already begun some ministry work while locked up in Florida. "I've never written poetry in my life, but now the words just come to me," he revealed. He read several poems, one entitled, "On a Cloudy Day, the Son Shines."

The couple said they were shocked when police in Utah told them there was a warrant for their arrest. "We obviously knew the children had been temporarily removed from us - but felony charges? No way!" exclaimed Mr. Dollar.

While not able to comment on their case, they maintain things aren't always as they seem and feel that the truth will win out. They have initially pled not guilty to accusations of torturing and starving five of their seven children.

At the initial hearing on Sunday, February 20, the Dollars were denied bail. They were denied bail again last week, March 15, when they came before Circuit Judge Ric Howard. Although their attorney, Charles Vaughn, argued that the couple had no criminal history, the judge still said they posed a flight risk. An April 11 court date has been set to review the status of the case. A trial is expected to be held in the matter by the end of the year.

ABOUT THE CHILDREN

Since the Dollar's seven children were placed in the custody of the state, three of them have been moved again.

Reports in the March 6, edition of The Daily Commercial that covers news in Inverness, FL, say high school officials were concerned about
one of the children, saying, "he had a problem with his leg from what he had been through and may have been on his feet too much." The report said he had been working in the foster family's business.

The seven children, who had initially been spread out among four foster homes, were recently reunited with each other for a supervised visitation, according to Gail Tierney, Public Information Officer for the Citrus County Sheriff's Department.

Tierney said the meeting was emotional, with the children glad to see each other. "They continue to be eating well," she noted, adding they have "gained weight and actually grown" since they were placed in foster care.

The future custody of the Dollar children is being debated with an older sibling now out of the Dollars care, wanting contact with her siblings. Shanda Shelton, 25, has hired attorneys, but so far DCF (Department of Children and Families) has moved to block any contact she might have with them.

According to reports, Florida's DCF has told a judge that Shelton may have participated in some of the abuse her brothers and sisters have allegedly sustained.

What has been described as a media circus came to a screeching halt on March 9, as Circuit Court Judge Barbara Gurrola banned the media and general public from hearing further custody issues regarding the Dollar children. According to Asst. State Attorney Rich Buxman, the criminal case against the Dollars will be public.

Initial press releases from the Citrus County Sheriff's Department stated that the Dollar children were taken from their home after their 16-year-old was treated at Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center for suspicious injuries to his head and neck. He was reported to be severely malnourished weighing less than 60 pounds.

The other children were interviewed by detectives and the press release reads, "It became clear to detectives...that they (the Dollar children) had been tortured."

PIO Tierney said atrocities included: malnourishment to the point of stunted growth and sub-normal body weights; electric shocks; toenails pulled out by pliers; bondage by chains or locking plastic strips; and feet struck by hammers.

If convicted, the Dollars could serve a minimum of 30 years to a maximum of 150 years in prison, under Florida law.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

John and Linda Dollar remain incarcerated in the Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto, FL. They were denied bail at a hearing last Tuesday, March 15. The facility sits back off the main road in a wooded setting.