NEOSHO, Mo. — Area law enforcement officials are keeping a watchful eye on sex offenders as Halloween draws closer.

The “Newton County Sheriff’s Office” has a full time officer who checks on registered sex offenders throughout the year.

But Sheriff Chris Jennings says the officer gets some extra help this time of the year,

“There are restrictions on their contact with children, they have the lights out between 5 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., not to have any direct contact with children or anything to entice children,” said Chris Jennings, Newton County Sheriff.

Jennings says they generally don’t have many problems with offenders not abiding by the regulations.

He says they must post a sign that states they aren’t giving out candy.

We have a link to the Newton County Sex Offender registry, here.

NEOSHO, Mo. — Crowder College has always contracted with the Neosho Police Department to provide two of their officers on campus. Dr. Katricia Pierson, School President, says a student focus group requested the school have their own, independent fully commissioned officers to go along with an existing security officer.

“And having a police department on site is something that actually benefits retention, because those police officers are employees of the college and get to know the students in a different way and the students in turn know them,” said Dr. Katricia Pierson, Crowder College President.

The goal is to have the same law enforcement faces on campus so students can develop a rapport with them that might not develop when those faces change on a frequent basis.

And that’s just fine with Officer Johnny Humphries, who was hired by the school earlier this week.

“We’ll be providing serveral services, one of them will be just being a deterent to anybody who might cause violence to the students, making the students feel better, a lot of our job’s just providing service, might be changing someboy’s tire or giving somebody directions, that kind of stuff, general community service,” said Officer Johnny Humphries, Crowder Police Officer.

That’s exactly what happened to Kayla Talbot this week when her car had a flat. At first she thought someone slashed her tires, until it became clear that wasn’t the case.

“And he looked at the security cameras and made it like noticeable that I drove on it flat which punctured my tire and he helped me change my tire and got a couple of the guys from the diesel place to help me change and then he aired up the rest of my tires,” said Kayla Talbot, Crowder College Student.

NEOSHO, Mo. — You might be eligible for a low-cost tablet, thanks to a new federal program.

The FCC’s “Affordable Connectivity Program” is giving away tablets for a one-time activation fee of $20.

Anyone who already receives federal or state assistance is automatically eligible, including programs like free and reduced lunch, SNAP, Pell Grants and veteran or tribal benefits.

Families making at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines are also eligible. The goal of the program is to get people connected in the digital age.

“Applying for assistance, almost everything is shifting to online. And so mail not only takes longer, but it’s becoming almost obsolete, paper. Everybody wants everything to be digital because it’s faster, it saves trees, and so on. So nowadays it seems to be crucial. And of course you have online education. A lot of medical services are going over to telehealth services,” said Robert Smith, Affordable Connectivity Program.

To register for a tablet, you can call 417-396-4365.
You can find more information on the FCC’s website, here.

NEOSHO, Mo. — Many professional and amateur racers competed at the “4-State Moto Complex” today in the “Bonnie & Clyde Shootout”.

For the children, it was a chance to practice their techniques, and learn from some of the professionals. The professional racers were competing for a chance up to win $15,000.

“It’s cool to see professionals out here. It’s cool. We get to see all the professionals, pros. The fun part is how we get to watch them do the champagne party,” said Garrett and Alex Feagans, Amateur Racers. “We get to watch them fly up in the air on these massive jumps and just whip and scrub its fun, its awesome.”

“The race is huge like for us privateers. We need the money to go racing. There’s a lot of really good pro riders here and it feels awesome and I just tried to go out there and get a good start. I didn’t get a whole shot on the first one to the first turn like yesterday. I got both of them but I made my way around the guys pretty quickly, and put my head down and went to work,” said Chandler Baker, Professional Rider.

“4-State Moto Complex” has more events in the spring, like the “Battle of the Borders Outdoor MX Series” in April and May of next year.

NEOSHO, Mo. — If you haven’t received your flu shot yet, experts say, now’s the time.

Flu season typically runs from October through March, although the number of patients affected can fluctuate.

Overall cases have been lower in the last two years, likely due to pandemic precautions.

But this year, experts are worried numbers could rebound.

“Mid October to November, that is the best time to get vaccinated for the flu. That will give you the longest protection to last through the remainder of the flu season,” Larry Bergner, Newton Co. Health Dept.

The Newton County Health Department has a walk-in flu shot clinic every day from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and again from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Folks don’t have to live in the county to get a shot there.