Collins News

A ribbon-cutting Friday symbolized the end of a major construction project between Springfield and Kansas City.

Another Ozarks community is trying to get ahead of the storm. The village of Collins dedicated its new community storm shelter this afternoon.

The former leader of the Village of Collins in St. Clair County faces a new criminal charge.

A Stockton man was seriously injured this evening in St. Clair County when his motorcycle ran off the road and into a ditch, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. via Springfield News Leader

“He (Kauffman) said something like, 'I know what this is about,'”

A former mayor of Collins will stand trial on three charges of enticing a child, based on testimony Monday by a Diamond police detective who conducts Internet sting operations targeting alleged sexual ... via Joplin Globe

“Several people have stopped me at Wal-Mart and the filling station and said they appreciate what we're doing on the Internet stuff. And that's a good feeling.”

Jim Murray, a retired chief of the Diamond, Mo., police department, speaks in his home near Diamond on Wednesday, Jan., 16, 2008, about his role in a sting that led to the arrest on Tuesday of Collins, Mo., ... via Lexington Herald-Leader

“I guarantee, I guarantee you, that I will never have that [chat] program on my computer again as long as I live”

A former pastor and leader of a small town who is charged with enticing a child over the Internet called the investigating detective at home and asked him to stop the case. via KYTV Springfield

We at Wonkette would like to apologize to you, our readers. We have not had nearly enough coverage of ugly, male politicians and their twisted sexual peccadilloes lately but, between Chris Hansen and Larry ... via Wonkette

He's already accused of trying to solicit sex from a 13-year-old girl on the internet. via OzarksFIRST.com

Diamond -- A small-town mayor and pastor charged with enticing a child over the Internet called the investigating detective at home and asked him to stop the case. via Springfield News Leader

“Nobody asked for it, but he offered it”

Collins village board chairman Allen Kauffman submitted a "very brief, to-the-point," letter of resignation Tuesday in the aftermath of his arrest on child enticement charges, Village Clerk Pam Myers said. via Springfield News Leader

Allen Kauffman resigned on Tuesday as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Collins, a town of about 200 people in southern St. via KYTV Springfield

A mayor was in jail Monday on charges of soliciting sex over the Internet from a police detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. via Benton County Daily Record

A small-town mayor is in jail in Newton County on four counts of soliciting sex over the Internet from a police detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. via The Kansas City Channel

“Prices aren't nearly as high as they were 30 years ago, but they are higher today than they were six or seven years ago”

The trapping season that opened on Nov. 15 and runs through this month continues a tradition of one of the oldest sports known to man. via The Nevada Daily Mail

“A lot of trees had been partially cut through, half to three-fourths of the way through”

Business owners and residents are adjusting to the new lanes of Missouri 13 that bypass this town in southern St. via KYTV Springfield

“We may have the Bolivar area cleaned up in a day or two”

Tree trimmers from Shade Tree Service Company try to make way for the utility company to get power hooked up in Jefferson City. via Branson Tri-Lakes Daily News

“The rural roads are pretty rough, the main highways are pretty clear, and the overpasses are slick”

Tens of thousands were without power and the governor declared a state of emergency in the wake of an ice storm that glazed roads and snapped power lines as it moved across Missouri on Sunday. via News Tribune