Last Sunday, January 13th, was National AMBER Alert Awareness Day. Although we see AMBER Alerts on the news from time to time, it is important to be kept up to date so that children can be located immediately. After all, there is strength in numbers.
AMBER Alert stands for America’s Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response. It was first founded seventeen years ago on January 13th after Amber Hagerman was abducted in Arlington, Texas. After Hagerman’s abduction, her father soon figured out that media could play an incredibly large part in finding missing children. The Dallas police agreed with this idea and it sparked a revolution across the nation, officially creating the AMBER Alert System in 1996.
Back then, alerts were only sent through radio stations and local television stations, along with some local newspapers. Technology has quickly advanced and now AMBER Alerts are able to be sent to cell phones, televisions, faxes, emails, and are often shown on the national news channels.
Nearly 800,000 children under the age of eighteen go missing every year in the United States (that’s 2,185 children nearly every day). With a network of more than twenty AMBER Alert Plans across the nation, almost six hundred children have been safely recovered through the AMBER Alert Program.
The state of Missouri started using the AMBERT Alert system in 2002 and has had nearly fifty children recovered by the use of it. Missouri’s highway patrolmen along with MoDot play an incredibly large part in locating victims that are originally from Missouri or that are passing through.
Broadcasters, wireless cell phone companies, transportation agencies, and law-enforcement officials willingly work together to locate missing children. The whole idea of AMBER Alerts is to spread the word and have people working together as a community. With hundreds or thousands of people working together for one ultimate cause, the missing child’s chances of being found increase phenomenally. Law enforcement officials that have worked with AMBER Alerts before often say, “The more eyes, the better.”
With today’s technology at our very own fingertips, we can play a large part in finding abducted children. Due to the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) Program, you are able to register to receive text messages or emails about local kidnappings or disappearances of small children. If you are not in an area that allows you to use the WEA Program, AMBER Alerts are used often on Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, and Google.
Although the AMBER Alert System resulted from a terrible tragedy many years ago, it has created a nationwide network of people, media, and law enforcers so that future abductions can be prevented or quickly put to a stop. For more information on victims, reports, history, or national or local alerts, you can visit www.amberalert.gov or www.missingkids.com.
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Bloomfield, Missouri - The Missouri Department of Public Safety Veterans Commission is a state agency that was established by Missouri Statue to aid all Veterans, their dependents, and legal representatives by providing information regarding the rights of Veterans and to assist Veterans in accessing available benefits through both the State and Federal Government.
Within the Veterans Commission is the Veterans Cemetery Program. The Missouri Veterans Commission created a network of Veterans cemeteries throughout Missouri so that every Missouri Veteran will have reasonable access to a Veterans Cemetery. There are five such cemeteries in the State that are in operation at this time: Springfield, Higginsville, Bloomfield, Ft. Leonard Wood, and Jacksonville.
The Missouri Veterans Cemetery at Bloomfield conducted its first interment on September 29, 2003. The current Director is Ken Swearengin, who was recently awarded the Employee of the Month by the Missouri Veterans Cemetery Central Office/Veterans Services Program/Cemeteries program. Mr. Bryan Hunt, Deputy Director of the Missouri Veterans Commission and Mr. Stan Baughn, Missouri Veterans Commission, Director of Veterans Cemetery Program were on hand to recognize Mr. Swearengin with a plaque to honor him.
Ken is instrumental in organizing the "Wreaths Across America", Veterans Day Celebrations, Annual Fishing Day, Memorial Day Celebrations and honoring our fallen who are buried at the Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield.
If you would like to see pictures of the events and learn more about the cemetery you can go to their Facebook page, Missouri Veterans Cemetery - Bloomfield.
Jessica Snider, SMT Writer
With high school basketball at its peak, many people throughout the area are gearing up for the annual Stoddard County Basketball Tournament.
The tournament is set to be held in the Bloomfield Gym, and will begin Monday afternoon.
Even though many people are looking forward to the basketball competition that the tournament will supply, this tournament is also very big for the cheerleading teams throughout the county.
The cheer teams are judged while cheering at the county tournament, and will compete for the title when the tournament draws to a conclusion.
As everyone prepares for this upcoming week full of high school basketball, remember to support your local cheerleading team as they are also in a competition!
Good luck to all basketball players and cheerleaders!
Submitted by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
JEFFERSON CITY - What kind of transportation system do you want to see for Missouri? That's the question the Missouri Department of Transportation will be asking of Missourians over the next few months with a new statewide initiative called "On The Move."
The effort will update Missouri's long-term transportation plan through a series of listening sessions, a mobile tour and virtual forums. The "On The Move" website launched today at www.missourionthemove.org.
Visitors to the site can learn about the assets of Missouri's transportation system, track what MoDOT is hearing from Missourians, keep track of "On The Move" events, and comment on the specific projects they think are needed. "Missouri transportation begins with Missouri citizens - the very people who use our roads and bridges, railways, greenways, waterways and airways to travel to and from work, to the doctor, to soccer practice and everywhere in between," says MoDOT Chief Engineer Dave Nichols.
"Engaging Missourians to provide input is a critical step to ensure that MoDOT outlines a sustainable and economically viable transportation vision that serves the growing needs of Missourians well into the future."
The first two listening sessions are scheduled for February 5 in Columbia from 6-8 p.m. at the Reynolds Alumni Center, and February 19 in Cape Girardeau from 5-7 p.m. at the Osage Center.
The general public and transportation stakeholders are invited to attend, but due to limited seating, interested persons must register to secure a seat by RSVPing at missourionthemove.org/community-engagement/schedule-of-events.
Registration closes at noon the day prior to each listening session. Details on the remaining events will be forthcoming.
Feb. 5 Columbia
Feb. 19 Cape Girardeau
Feb. 21, 26, 28 St. Louis/St. Charles
March 5 Joplin
March 7 Springfield
March 12, 13, 14 Kansas City
March 19 Lebanon
March 21 Poplar Bluff
April 3 Kirksville
April 4 Hannibal
April 9 Maryville
April 11 St. Joseph
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Southeast Missouri - The Circuit Breaker tax rebate program, also known as the Missouri Property Tax Credit program has been in effect since 1973, but has changed some over the years.
The Missouri Department of Revenue will provide training to acquaint volunteers and other interested parties in how to prepare these forms.
The training will be held on January 30th from 1:30 p.m. until around 3:00 p.m. in the meeting room of the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging office, located at 1219 N. Kingshighway, Suite 100, Cape Girardeau. If you would be interested in a training closer to you please let us know, it might be possible.
Each year seniors who meet the eligibility guidelines can file for this tax rebate and there are volunteers available to assist with the filing.
For more information about Circuit Breaker Program, check out the article under Blogs on the ShowMe Times web page. There is a very interesting article by Ruth Dockins, Public Information Director.
Seniors do not need to pay for this service because there are plenty of well trained volunteers available for assistance.
If you would like to attend this training please call 1-800-392-8771 to register.
