Pulaski County Daily News

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- Waynesville police, with assistance from the St. Robert police, made a guns-drawn felony arrest Thursday afternoon on the Route 66 Bridge in downtown Waynesville in connection with a Tuesday armed robbery of the Shell gas station in Waynesville at Exit 156. Names have not yet been released, according to Waynesville Police Chief Dan Cordova, pending filing of charges. Chief Cordova said the Tuesday incident began with a panic alarm at 5:25 p.m. and Pulaski County Mo E-911 notified the Waynesville police of a holdup at 5:30 p.m. Nobody was apprehended at the time, but one white male and one vehicle were identified as suspects.

A three-vehicle Wednesday afternoon crash on I-44 east of St. Robert seriously injured a Dixon man, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol reports. Troopers reported that Bradley D. Poole, 28, of Waynesville, was driving eastbound at 1:45 p.m. at mile marker 164.4 when his 2020 Ram van struck the rear of a 2008 Ford Focus driven by Sara M. Arteaga, 29, of St. Robert, causing her car to strike the rear of a 2001 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Amanda L. Jennings, 32, of Buffalo. The crash totaled Arteaga's car and moderately damaged Poole's Ram, both of which were towed by Jacks Wrecker and Recovery. Jennings' vehicle had minor damage and she was able to drive it from the scene. Poole's passenger, Benny Gates, 49, of Dixon, suffered serious injuries and was transported by Pulaski County Ambulance District personnel to Phelps Health in Rolla

A Lebanon woman, Mindy L. Mulligan, 42, suffered serious injuries Saturday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 17 south of Buckhorn and two teens were hurt in a separate ATV crash near Dixon Saturday evening, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol reports. As of late Saturday evening, troopers hadn't yet issued reports on a Saturday morning I-44 crash near Waynesville or a separate ATV wreck in Camden County outside Richland. Troopers reported that Mulligan had been driving a 2001 Dodge Dakota northbound on Highway 17 about 3/4 mile south of the Waynesville city limits at Buckhorn when she was rear-ended at 4:20 p.m. by a northbound 2016 Ram 2500 driven by Chad M. Bone, 34, of Newburg.

Pulaski County Emergency Management Director Shauna McCullough told county commissioners during their Thursday morning meeting that she plans to open the emergency operations center tonight in anticipation of possible severe weather Friday. By opening the EOC on a standby basis, she said emergency personnel will be ready if storm damage becomes serious on Friday morning. McCullough asked Sheriff Jimmy Bench, who was present at the commission meeting, to have his dispatchers help her office. Quick notification of emergency needs could become critical, McCullough said, since storm damage could be widespread around Missouri and state officials may need to make rapid decisions on where to send help.

SAINT ROBERT, Mo. -- Police have confirmed that two people are dead following a crash and subsequent shooting inside a St. Robert business. The names have not been released, but one is a 33-year-old female and the other is a 29-year-old male from Fort Leonard Wood. St. Robert Police Chief Curtis Curenton said their relationship has not yet been confirmed.

Former Waynesville Mayor Luge Hardman has been named the Waynesville-St. Robert Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year for 2022. Hardman retired from teaching in the Waynesville R-VI School District in 2003 and was elected to the Waynesville City Council, where she served during a difficult period in which the council was deadlocked on a 4-4 split between different factions. Hardman's efforts to clean up downtown factored into her election as mayor in 2012, a position she held for two terms until 2020.

Local resident Xavier Souser has been ordered to leave the Pulaski County Courthouse after swearing at Presiding Commissioner Gene Newkirk and saying Pulaski County should use $30,000 in marijuana tax revenue to repair gravel roads. According to Newkirk, he's received calls and texts saying Souser is walking down Route 66 holding a sign objecting to taxation without representation in front of various local public offices including the Waynesville License Office and Waynesville Police Department. "He's still screaming at cars out there and showing his sign," Newkirk said.

SAINT ROBERT, Mo. -- A three-vehicle wreck killed one person before noon at the Missouri Avenue/Highway Z/Route 66 intersection and a second in late afternoon on Old Route 66. According to St. Robert police reports. Mineva Simmons Williamson, 70, a passenger, was transported by Pulaski County Ambulance District personnel to General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital (GLWACH) with what police described as "significant" injuries in first crash. She succumbed to her injuries at the hospital and was pronounced dead; next of kin have been notified. An unidentified woman was killed in the second crash; her name has not been released pending notification of relatives.

Pulaski County now has two declared candidates running for sheriff. Rex Larson, a school resource officer in the Laquey School District and former Pulaski County deputy, announced yesterday. Stacy Ball, a current deputy and an undercover drug task force member, has a kickoff rally today at the Hampton Inn St Robert/Fort Leonard Wood.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- City officials announced today that the impeachment trial for Waynesville Mayor Jerry Brown will be Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 5 p.m., in city hall. The announcement said Brown has filed a pretrial motion to which city officials will have until Monday, Jan. 16, to respond; the motion will be argued at 4 p.m. Tuesday, prior to the impeachment trial.

SAINT ROBERT, Mo. -- One man is dead and the suspected shooter is in custody following a Wednesday afternoon incident north of St. Robert. The victim is a male in his 50s with a gunshot wound to the chest who was transported from the scene but subsequently died. Pulaski County Sheriff Jimmy Bench confirmed that the suspect is in custody, but no names have yet been released. "Still under investigation but I can tell you that the suspect is in our custody," Bench said in a Wednesday evening statement.

CROCKER, Mo. -- Faced with an estimated bill of $4 million to bring its city wastewater treatment plant into compliance with discharge regulations, Crocker Mayor Glenn Smith said his predecessor as mayor, James Morgan, signed a consent agreement with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources more than a decade ago to improve the plant to bring it into regulatory compliance but the city wasn't aware of the agreement the mayor signed. "He didn't tell anybody!" said Alderman James Patton during a special Wednesday afternoon city council meeting called to address the problem. Council members met Wednesday with their city attorney, Ronda Cortesini, the city's engineer, Cary Sayre from Allstate Consultants LLC, and a financial advisor to plan how to deal with the problem. Voters approved a bond issue of up to $4 million to pay for the treatment plant upgrade. City officials plan to apply for a state revolving loan fund at an interest rate of less than 2 percent, probably between 1.5 and 1.7 percent, for 20 years.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. (Jan. 3, 2023) -- A Vietnam veterans memorial won't be coming to the Fort Leonard Wood area this year, but according to Waynesville Economic Development Director Doug Potts, it may be possible to bring the "Wall that Heals" to Waynesville next year. Speaking at Tuesday evening's Waynesville Economic Development Committee meeting, Potts said the cost to bring the wall to Waynesville for a full week would be $11,000. However, he said that amount was minor and likely could be covered by donations.

DIXON, Mo. -- A Dixon woman and child suffered minor injuries in a single-vehicle New Year's Eve crash when the driver, Gino V. Levine, 42, also of Dixon, fell asleep at 7:12 a.m. Saturday while driving on I-44 a mile west of Phillipsburg, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol reports.