Butler County Emergency Management Director Jeff Shawan donated 65 weather radios to all the schools in the county, including at least one device for every facility within the Poplar Bluff R-I school system, on Monday, Dec. 8. The donation was made possible with a $1,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation, which was matched by the Butler County Commission. Jim Hager, lead field spotter of the Poplar Bluff Severe Weather Response Team, made the suggestion to Shawan, who wrote the grant proposal. “They’re as valuable as smoke detectors in terms of saving lives,” Hager stated.

The Poplar Bluff High School Future Business Leaders of America recently organized a can drive that generated almost 1,200 perishable food items for the United Gospel Rescue Mission.

A Poplar Bluff High School student will be featured on a popular MTV doc film series for the role she played in a Native American panel discussion that recently took place in Washington, D.C. Accompanied by guidance counselor Tamara Day, Darian Sales—a senior—was one of 36 Native American teen correspondents invited to attend the Tribal Nations Conference on Monday, Dec. 1, at the White House. Sales has distinguished herself with her leadership in Graduate for Mas, which is an academic and college-readiness program sponsored by Get Schooled in partnership with the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens. “My whole team knows that Poplar Bluff has been one of my absolute favorite schools to work with this fall, and it was no

DEXTER - On 12-17-14 at 10:14 PM Dexter PD and the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department responded to Timber Creek Subdivision in reference to a male subject that discharged a firearm inside his residence.  Officer's met with the suspect's family members outside the residence and were told the suspect had fired two shots in a bedroom window.  Officers were told family members had collected all the firearms inside the residence prior to law enforcement arrival and the suspect was still inside the residence. Officers located the suspect inside his bedroom sitting on a bed with a deer rifle laying across his legs.  The suspect pointed the rifle at the Officers and they immediately took cover.  For approximately 6 minutes Officers negotiated

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the outdoors-folk in our beautiful little piece of America! Jesus is the reason for the season, and there are blessings abound in our neck of the woods. Lord knows I love the thrill of fishing and hunting, and the beauty of the great outdoors, but without friends and family to share this awesome passion with, I doubt many of us would be near as adamant about it. So take a kid fishing or hunting, and thank the Lord for time spent in the serenity of God’s creation with the ones we love, because you never know what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully a lot of kids (and dads and grandpas) are receiving a ton

CARUTHERSVILLE, MO - You could call him the Steve Jobs of Crappie Fishing. Big Lou Mansfield started the Grizzly Jig Company in his garage and in 1991 opened in a sheltered workshop in Haiti Heights. In less than a year, the company outgrew their space and moved into downtown Caruthersville. By 1994, the store needed more space and began buying up the block of buildings at the corner of Ward and 3rd Streets. Grizzly sells everything from rods and reels, trolling motors and depth finders, boat seats and accessories, and an enormous selection of jig heads, plastics, and jigs. Many of their products are exclusive to Grizzly, like their hand tied jigs, custom crappie poles, and locally poured heads and