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Registration deadline for the gardening summer day program at Butler County University of Missouri Extension is coming up soon! Summer programs provide a safe environment for youth ages 5-18 to spend summer learning about the world. Through gardening youth learn through hands-on activities. Youth will learn the basic concepts of gardening and will be able to garden their own plant, vegetable, or flower. This course will be held on June 8 from 1:00 pm– 4:00 pm. To register contact the University of Missouri Extension Butler County office at 573-686-8064 or stop by at 222 N Broadway in Poplar Bluff. Cost is $5 for the program.

A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), will arrive 03/22/15 to examine all aspects of the Poplar Bluff Police Department’s policy and procedures, management, operations, and support services, Chief Danny Whiteley announced today. Verification by the team that the Poplar Bluff Police Department meets the Commission’s state-of-the-art standards is part of a voluntary process to gain accreditation – a highly prized recognition of public safety professional excellence, he said. As part of the on-site assessment, agency personnel and members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public information session on 03/23/15 at 5:30 p.m.  The session will be conducted in the community room on the bottom floor of the

Republican Candidate Emily Clark Parks won Tuesday night’s election for the Butler County Collector’s Office by 437 votes. Her total votes were 3,974 versus Write-In Candidate Tammy Marler’s 3,537 votes. Democrat Chris Michel obtained 889 votes. Clark, the official Republican candidate, won 47.31 percent of the county’s votes and slightly over 5 percent more than Marler’s write-in votes. By 8:15 p.m. all 27 Butler County precincts had reported in, having had to carry their boxes of ballots up the stairs of the Butler County Courthouse because the elevator was not working. According to the still uncertified election results, 8,592 ballots were cast in Butler County, giving a voter turnout rate of 34.6 percent of the county’s registered voters. In the

BUTLER COUNTY - SEMO TIMES spoke with Butler County Clerk Tonyi Deffendall on Monday to find out the details of counting votes when there is a write-in candidate. Here are the bullet points of that conversation: Votes cast must include both the write-in name and the arrow must be connected to the right of that name Any ballots with a write-in candidate marked (every contest has a write-in listed on the ballot) are automatically separated by the voting machine for later counting The only race where a candidate has registered to be a write-in is the County Collector race, no other write-ins are allowed At 7pm and at each of the 26 polling stations the write-in ballots will be tallied Each polling station will

Butler County hasn’t seen a race like this since, well, ever. An election with two Republicans running, one on the ballot and one as a write-in, and a Democrat is very unique in this heavily Republican county. One key controversy within the race focuses on the $25,000 compensation for collecting taxes for the city of Poplar Bluff; this is in addition to the $62k salary the county official receives. Tammy Marler, the write-in candidate, was first to speak out against using the office for personal gain. The interim collector and Democrat candidate, Chris Michel, told SEMO TIMES he would not accept any personal payments of tax income. Emily Parks, Republican Candidate, choosing to evade giving a direct answer to the