Corporal punishment is still administered, though sparingly, at most of the schools in this area.
Earlier this week in The Turner Report, Rep. Barbara Fraser's bill, HB 289, which would outlaw corporal punishment in Missouri, was detailed. Today's Springfield News-Leader explored the issue, with reporters taking the time to call every school district in southwest Missouri to find out what each school's spanking policy was.
Schools in this area that do not allow any kind of spanking, according to the News-Leader report, are: Carl Junction, Everton, Greenfield, and Miller.
Schools that include spanking as part of their discipline policies include: Carthage, East Newton, Joplin, Lockwood, McDonald County, Monett, Mount Vernon, Nevada, Neosho, Purdy, and Webb City.
The article indicated that Jasper and Lamar school officials ignored repeated attempts to get information for the article. No mention was made of Sarcoxie or Golden City.
One school, Webb City, seemed to be headed in a different direction. The district, which is known for strict discipline, reported paddling 345 students in the year 2000, according to the News-Leader article. The school also has most of its swats being administered to high school students, rather than elementary students, as in the case in most school districts.
Dr. Ron Lankford, superintendent, said some students even ask for swats. "I was over at the high school the other day and there were three high school kids who were in trouble," Lankford told the News-Leader. "They said they wanted to come in and take swats so they don't have to stay after." The quote referred to a student preference of swats over after-school detention.
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CBL and Associates, the company that recently bought Northpark Mall in Joplin, is holding a fundraising collection drive for tsunami relief at all of its malls across the country, according to a company news release.
The article said representatives from local American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, United Way and other selected charities will be invited to have collection stations at the malls.
The news release said those wishing to donate to American Red Cross can also do so by visiting the website for each CBL-owned mall or CBL's website at www.cblproperties.com
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Nexstar CEO Perry Sook will be profiled in tomorrow's edition of Broadcasting & Cable, an industry magazine. In the article, Sook, whose company owns KSNF and is the de facto owner of KODE, claims that cable companies are mistreating his stations. The article features a lengthy biography, including the fact that his broadcasting career started in Punxatawney, Pa., home of the annual Groundhog Day celebration, and he once worked with Today Show host Matt Lauer at WOWK-TV in Charleston, W. Va.
Sook has been in the spotlight recently due to Nexstar's battles with Cable One and Cox Communications over whether those companies should pay to carry his stations. In Joplin, KODE and KSNF were removed from Cable One at midnight Dec. 31, while the two local stations are scheduled to be removed from Cox Communications franchises in Lamar and Carthage at midnight Jan. 31 if an agreement cannot be reached.
"Our goal was to have cable place a fair value on what we contribute," Sook told the magazine.
He has been Nexstar CEO since 1996.
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The Texarkana Gazette reports that a number of Cox stations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas will lose the right to carry the signals of Nexstar station KTAL in Shreveport, La., as of Jan. 31.
The cities include Magnolia, Ark., Mount Pleasant, Texas, Wright City, Okla, Valiant, Okla., Bossier City, La., and Minden, La. The article says if those stations are cut off, that will increase the number of Cox and Cable One subscribers not receiving to KTAL to 181,000.
Nexstar chief operations officer Duane Lammers told the Gazette, "We're basically saying to Cox it's time for us to figure out a long-term relationship for all of our cities. They carry us in a number of markets."
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The city of Joplin requesting a jury trial in the case of a woman who claims she was mistreated during an incident that began at Souls Harbor Shelter.
In a document filed Jan. 18 in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the city, through its lawyer Karl Blanchard Jr., of the firm of Blanchard, Robertson, Mitchell & Carter, asked for a jury trial in the suit, which was filed in December by Lori Bordock of Springfield.
Ms. Bordock is suing the city and Souls Harbor, seeking a million dollars from each. She was arrested by the Joplin Police Department following an incident at Souls Harbor, according to her petition.
She claims her civil rights were violated when she was handcuffed and put in a cell with "dangerous criminals." The mattress at the jail bothered her back and she said she was eventually forced to plead guilty to a crime she didn't commit in order to get out of that place."I could not take the inhuman treatment," she said, in the handwritten petition.She filed the suit on her own, she said, because "the lawyers always ask for money. Ms. Bordock said she wanted the seven-figure payout to recompense her "for this horrendous incident that happened to me, a decent American."