On 02-24-15 John D Barnett (33 years old, of Poplar Bluff) was sentenced to six years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on a conviction for Possession of Child Pornography (class C felony). This conviction stemmed from a Poplar Bluff Police Department/Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation which began in March 2013. Press Release by Poplar Bluff Police Department
Two students from O’Neal Elementary, second grader Blake Brown and Grace Neighbors of the third grade, recently won the Butler County Community Resource Council’s sixth annual spelling bee, sponsored by Fox Radio Network, at the County Road 448 station headquarters. Grace won on the sixth word, p-o-s-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y, after Eddie Thornton of Eugene Field, Keona Sample of Lake Road and Kennedy Zgaynor of Oak Grove got hung up on e-x-p-e-d-i-t-i-o-n. Meanwhile second graders Destiny Jackson of Oak Grove, Aaryn Johnson of Lake Road and Madelyn Hunter of Eugene Field made it to round 78, with Blake winning by spelling the word p-e-r-m-a-n-e-n-t correctly. Each of the elementary students did an incredible job, spelling well beyond their grade level expectations, according to
The Poplar Bluff High School Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps competed against five schools, from as far as Arkansas and Tennessee, winning the physical fitness challenge, plus placing third in the drill and ceremony events, at a drill competition held last month in E.T. Peter’s Gym.
Several educators from Poplar Bluff Schools were selected to present on topics related to the district’s one-to-one laptop initiative during the annual Midwest Education Technology conference held Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 10-11, in St. Charles. With over 2,000 participants, METC is the largest technology conference in the Midwest region. There were only 175 conference proposals accepted this year, including presentations by Junior High teachers Mike Berry, Jenn Nicolini, Marcia Priest and Josh Wesemann. R-I technology facilitators Valerie Ivy and Candace Warren also led workshops.
The fourth time was the charm for River Blount, a home schooled sixth-grader from Annapolis who won the sixth annual Three Rivers College Southeast Missouri Regional Spelling Bee held Feb. 28. Blount correctly spelled "adjudicate" in the 12th round of the regional event to earn a trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be held in Washington, D.C., May 24-29. “I studied really hard the last few weeks, just practicing and practicing,” Blount said. “I’m really excited about winning and about going to Washington.” Three Rivers began holding the Regional Spelling Bee in 2009 to provide area students with an official qualifying event for the national competition. Students in grades 1-8 travel from across Southeast Missouri to represent
