Dexter, Missouri - U.S. Senator Roy Blunt’s staff will host a Mobile Office on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, from 10:00am to 11:00am at the Dexter Chamber of Commerce.

Mobile Offices are opportunities for Missourians to discuss their questions or concerns with the federal government one-on-one with members of Senator Blunt’s staff.
 
Senator Blunt’s Columbia office also extends one-on-one service to all Missourians who have an issue with a federal agency or need additional assistance.
 
To reach the Senator’s Office of Constituent Services, please call at (573) 442-8151 or send a letter to 1001 Cherry Street, Suite 104, Columbia, Missouri 65201.
 
What:             Senator Blunt's Staff Hosts Mobile Office
 
When:            Tuesday, April 12, 2016 from 10:00am to 11:00am  CT
 
Where:          Dexter Chamber of Commerce
                       515 W Market St #B
                       Dexter, MO

Dexter, Missouri - Bulk trash pickup is being offered by the City of Dexter each Friday in April.

"Red Tags" may be purchased at City Hall or Harp's Grocery Store for furniture or other bulky items for $1.00 each.

Major appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, and hot water heaters require a "Blue Tag" and can be purchased at City Hall or Harp's Grocery Store for $10.00.  There is a limit of four (4) items to be picked up.

"Red Tags" may also be purchased at City Hall or Harp's Grocery Store for YARD WASTE pickup.

You MUST call the Water Department at (573) 624-5527 by Thursday of each week to schedule either the bulk trash or yard waste pickup (please one call per household).

Columbia, Missouri - Janet Johns of Stoddard County, Missouri was named a 2016 Frank Graham 4-H Volunteer Leadership award winner by the Missouri 4-H Foundation on March 18^th.  Janet was recognized for her commitment to the University of Missouri Extension 4-H Youth Development Program.

“It is our great pleasure to honor Janet with the Frank Graham Volunteer Leadership Award for her dedication to Missouri 4-H,” said Dr. Marla Tobin, chair of the Missouri 4-H Foundation board of Trustees.  It is volunteers like Janet who have made Missouri 4-H the quality experience for which it is so well known, and we are indebted to Janet for her service.”

Johns has served Stoddard County 4-H for 18 years, working with members of the Star Banner 4-H club and assisting the Stoddard County Extension Center with school field trips and events.  She helps with donations for Ag Day at the county fair and 4-H and FFA Farm Safety Day.  Johns has also hosted exchange students from Japan and Armenia through the 4-H International Exchange program.  In addition, Johns helps with community service outings, recognition banquets, Show Me Wares projects, and more.

The Frank Graham 4-H Volunteer Leadership Award recognizes volunteers who work to guide our youth.  The award is named for Frank Graham, who served as director of the MU Extension 4-H Center for Youth Development from 1958 to 1975.  During his 33 years of service, Mr. Graham was an avid supporter of volunteer leadership, believing that volunteers are the foundation of the 4-H program.

About the Missouri 4-H Foundation:  for more than 65 years, the Missouri 4-H Foundation has been managing funds for the MU Extension 4-H Youth Development Program, providing higher education scholarships and recognizing 4-H volunteers.  MU Extension 4-H is a community of more than 260,000 youths from across Missouri learning leadership, citizenship and life skills.

Hillsboro, Missouri -  The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that Travis Cardona of Hillsboro became the most recent record-breaking fisherman in Missouri when he shot a giant black buffalo on a lake at Duck Creek Conservation Area using a bow and arrow. The new “alternative method” record black buffalo taken by Cardona on March 14 weighed 74 pounds. He shot the fish at 11 p.m. in one of his secret “honey holes.

“Believe it or not, once I shot the giant, I didn’t know it was that big of a fish until it started swimming back to the boat,” Cardona said. “Believe you me, after it swam towards the boat the fight was on.”

Cardona added that it took a total of four arrows to get the behemoth in the boat.

“It was a five minute battle that seemed like an eternity,” he said.

The new black buffalo broke the previous alternative-method state-record of 59-pounds-8-ounces taken on the same body of water three days prior by David Burle of Bloomsdale.

“The month of March has been full of potential record-breaking fish caught throughout the state,” said MDC Fisheries Programs Specialist Andrew Branson. “This just goes to show you that conservation makes Missouri a great place to fish.”

MDC staff verified the new record-weight fish using a certified scale in Fenton.

“Once my friends and I got the fish in the boat, we knew that it was a state-record fish,” Cardona said. “This is by far the biggest fish I have ever caught in my life, and I still can’t believe it!”

The longtime angler said that the fish is in the freezer and will be sent off to be mounted very soon.

“I already have a place on the wall picked out for this once-in-a-lifetime fish. Now I’m ready to get back out on the water and try to take another giant,” he said.

Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Bowfishing is considered an alternative method and consist of a bow or crossbow that shoots arrows attached to a string so that the fish can be retrieved after they’re pierced. Other alternative methods include: throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, and atlatl.

For more information on state-record fish, visit the MDC website at http://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/state-record-fish.

Shown in the photo: Travis Cardona of Hillsboro shot this 74-pound state-record black buffalo on a lake at Duck Creek Conservation Area on March 14, 2016.

Dexter, Missouri - The potential of your business experiencing an electronic theft attempt is ever-growing. Would-be crooks are becoming smarter, and their schemes more sophisticated, as security practices of companies heighten. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), one such scheme, Business E-mail Compromise (BEC), is a growing financial fraud that is more sophisticated than any similar scam it has seen before. BECs, in their various forms, have resulted in actual and attempted losses of more than one billion dollars to businesses worldwide.

Typically using wire or electronic fund transfers as their method for theft, criminals use a well-crafted email sent to a member of the company's financial office staff that appears to be sent from an executive officer of the company. The email directs the staff member to initiate an electronic transfer or wire transaction of funds to an account to which the criminal has access. The phony email address is nearly identical to the executive’s actual address, and therefore the fraudulent email is nearly impossible to detect. Without secondary identification and authorization processes in place, an unsuspecting staff member will complete the transaction, and the money is often never recovered.

The information below regarding BECs is from the FBI. At Montgomery Bank, we use these steps to help prevent successful fraud attempts, and thought this might be valuable information for you to incorporate into your wire transfer security protocol as well.

Call to verify wire transfers. Before authorizing a wire transfer, call the person requesting to verify they really asked for it. Don’t call any number in the email or reply to the email; call the requestor directly.
 
Train employees to look out for these scams. The FBI provides a list of tips and other helpful information to avoid becoming a BEC scam victim.
 
Confirm any changes to wire transfer processes or locations. If a vendor suddenly asks for money to be sent to a new location, verify the new location over the phone or separately from the email thread.
 
Use social media cautiously. Make executives and managers aware and encourage them to limit how much they share on social media. Many of these scams use knowledge gleaned from social media about executives’ and managers’ whereabouts and activities.
 
Register domains similar to your corporate domain. Fraudsters may use similar domains that are one letter off of the victim’s domain to receive email responses or set up spoofed websites.
 
Conduct regular social engineering assessments. In addition to network penetration tests, organizations should also conduct social engineering assessments, including phone and email, to gauge the effectiveness of security policies and training. Use the results to update policies and educate employees.
BEC scams are difficult to spot, so don’t rely on any single method to avoid your business becoming a victim. The fraudsters will change their tactics to increase their chances of success. As these tactics change, the defenses must change as well. As with so many attacks of this type, security awareness and good processes are vital keys to crime prevention.

If your company has been victimized by a BEC scam, it is important to act quickly. Contact your financial institution immediately and request that they contact the financial institution where the fraudulent transfer was sent. Next, call the FBI, and also file a complaint—regardless of dollar loss—with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at https://www.ic3.gov/complaint.

If you have questions regarding this or other security issues regarding your Montgomery Bank accounts, please do not hesitate to contact your Relationship Manager or contact our Customer Service Department at 800-455-2275.