Christian County

NIXA, Mo. -- Christian County sheriff's deputies are investigating a fatal shooting north of Nixa.   Sheriff Joey Kyle says one roommate shot another several times after a dispute over personal property on Wednesday.  James Skindelien, 65, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. The victim, identified on Thursday as Sidney Shuman, 60, died where he was shot, at the end of the driveway of the home that the two men shared with two other men.   Kyle said deputies arrested Skindelien after they arrived at the scene.  Kyle believes Shuman was trying to flee when he was shot.  Skindelien is the one who made the 911 call after the shooting.

OZARK, Mo. -- Here are the road closures in Christian County, as reported by Emergency Management Director Phil Amtower, as of 9:30 a.m. Monday. Riverdale Road, west of U.S. 160/Missouri 13 McCauley Road Tracker Road Holder Road Green Valley, west of Highway N The Finley and James rivers both were coming up fast.  The park in Ozark is totally under water. Amtower says lots of people are calling his office to request sandbags.  He said his department stocked up on sandbags last year, and stored them at the old Ozark Airport.  He said someone decided that it would be fun to take a knife to them and split them open.

Ozark, Mo-- Governor Jay Nixon was in the Ozarks to announce dozens of jobs are coming to Christian County. More than 60 jobs are coming to HealthMEDX. It's a company that provides computer software to the health care industry. The jobs are expected to be filled in five years. Managers say these are high paying jobs for software developers, quality control analysts and technical support personnel. Christian County is the fastest growing county in the state. Nixon says these are stable jobs to bring in this growing economy.

OZARK, Mo. -- There's not much left of a home south of Ozark after a fire on Sunday night. Neighbors on Capp Hill Ranch Road reported hearing an explosion before seeing the flames. Investigators don't know what sparked the explosion but they say the family kept black powder rifles and other weapons in the home. The family wasn't at the house.

NIXA, Mo. -- A Christian County neighborhood, just outside Nixa city limits, has been suddenly taken over by mosquitoes.   The pests showed up late last week, and now Don Daniel and his neighbors don't even feel safe going outside.  "When you have to stay in your house and feel like you're a shut-in," Daniel said. He's been dashing to and from his house for days now, and killing the blood sucking insects that get in. "Yesterday, when I went out to empty the trash, I had three bites on my face," Daniel said.

 

SPOKANE, Mo. -- An employee of Stutesman Auto Salvage died Monday after he was injured in a workplace accident.  A tire, which was being inflated, exploded about 8 a.m. at the business on U.S. 65 south of Ozark.  An ambulance took the employee to a hospital, where he died about noon.  Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle, acting Christian County coroner, had not released the name of the victim by 3 p.m. because family members were still being...

Police say speed is to blame for this crash at the intersection of Farm Roads 186 and 241 Sunday afternoon, just outside of Rogersville. The driver lost control and his vehicle left the road and rolled onto the side. The driver wasn't hurt.  The passenger suffered minor injuries and had to be cut out of the vehicle.

OZARK, Mo. -- A Christian County commissioner hasn't been on the job for more than a year, but he's still being paid. Tom Huff's wife, Jolene, said her husband fell about 12 feet while inspecting a culvert on behalf of the county in December 2010.  As a result of the accident, she said, Huff injured his back, neck, shoulder, and a knee. He has had four surgeries and plans to have another operation on his back.  He wants to wait until he has that procedure, she said, before he decides what to do with his position.

OZARK, Mo. -- Crime Stoppers says officers found fugitive Rebbeca Fernald, who was wanted in Christian County on charges of first-degree child endangerment, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, and traffic violations, as well as in Greene County on a forgery charge.  Her arrest on May 13 was not related to a Crime Stoppers tip. People with information about any felony can call Crime Stoppers at (417) 869-TIPS (8477).  You may also submit your information securely on-line at www.tipsubmit.com or text “417SPD plus your message” to 274637 (CRIMES)

OZARK, Mo. -- After interviewing seven people, the Ozark mayor and aldermen hired Sharon Mickey to be the new city clerk.   Mickey is the Strafford city clerk but lives in Christian County.  She has more than 14 years of experience as a city clerk. A city news release says aldermen and the mayor interviewed five external candidates and two internal candidates before deciding to hire Mickey.  She plans to start working for Ozark in early May. City leaders suspended 19-year City Clerk Lana Wilson on Feb. 25 and fired her in early March.  They were displeased because of two mistakes involving city elections in April.  In the first, Wilson didn't put an alderman's unexpired term on the ballot.  In the second, a proposed election for a Transportation Sales Tax got left off the ballot.

NIXA, Mo. -- The Christian County sheriff says a standoff that followed a domestic dispute ended peacefully just north of Nixa shortly after 10 a.m.  Officers arrested a man who barricaded himself inside a home. Police cordoned off the Empire Bank and English Village Park mobile home complex to the west of U.S. 160 with crime scene tape after a man barricaded himself in the home.  The city deployed its tactical response team.  A nearby childcare center was evacuated as a precaution.

NIXA, Mo. -- Christian County sheriff's deputies are investigating a fatal shooting north of Nixa.   Sheriff Joey Kyle says one roommate shot another several times after a dispute over personal property on Wednesday.  James Skindelien, 65, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. The victim, identified on Thursday as Sidney Shuman, 60, died where he was shot, at the end of the driveway of the home that the two men shared with two other men.   Kyle said deputies arrested Skindelien after they arrived at the scene.  Kyle believes Shuman was trying to flee when he was shot.  Skindelien is the one who made the 911 call after the shooting.

CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Mo. - The truck driver who led authorities on a high speed chase in a tractor-trailer has pled guilty to a charge of assault on a law enforcement officer. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers tried to pull over a big rig driven by Jesse DeJongh last October. Officers believed DeJongh stole more than $700 of fuel from Hood's gas station on Interstate 44 west of Springfield. Eventually, DeJongh got on U.S. Highway 65 and crashed near Busiek State Forest. During the chase, he was accused of swerving the big truck at a law enforcement officer.

OZARK, Mo. -- Christian County prosecutors charged a man from Sparta this week for a crash that killed his son last Nov. 13.  John C. Clark, 33, also is charged for injuries to five other people during the crash. The crash was on Missouri 14 just east of Nixa about 4:40 p.m.  Highway Patrol troopers said Clark was drunk when he lost control.  His eastbound car went off the right side of the highwlay, then veered into the other lane into the path of an oncoming SUV, which struck Clark's car in the passenger side.  Another car then hit the SUV. Kohen Clark, 3, died at the scene.  He was riding in the back of Clark's Toyota.  John Clark and four others, including a baby and a 4-year old child, were all rushed to a hospital, some with serious injuries, by air ambulance and ground ambulances.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a loud boom on Saturday evening was caused by an exploding shooting target called a shockwave target.  Highway Patrol officials say troopers went to investigate the loud boom and found a family in Lawrence County that said it was from them. Officers took no action and say the shockwave targets are not illegal. According to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, shockwave targets can come in 16-ounvr plastic jars and are said to be stable.  The target contains two dry granular substances that have to be mixed before they will go off.  A company that sells them says the blasts are comparable to a stick of dynamite.

NEAR OZARK, Mo. -- Fire damaged part of a home west of Ozark Thursday evening.  Fire crews from Sparta, Ozark and Nixa assisted in the fire in the 200 block of McLean Road, west of Highway 65 and Highway F in Christian County.  The flames burned the second floor and the roof of the home. The homeowners were not there at the time of the fire.

SPARTA, Mo.-- Investigators are searching for the cause of an overnight fire in Christian County. Crews were called to the house on Misty Lane in Sparta just before 1:30a.m. Saturday morning. The family inside was able to make it out safely. The Red Cross has been called in to help the family find somewhere else to stay.

CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Mo--   It's a massive overhaul for Christian County, but it doesn't come without some kinks. Responders made the switch to use digital radios about a month ago.  Digital radios help responders communicate in rural areas and the sound is clear. Now they are switching back to analog. "The reason we turned it off is we were running into several problems," said Director of Christian County 911, Rance Duffy. The system has a lot of kinks and would often go silent.  "Because of that inconsistency, we could lose a link to one site and in some cases the all the sites.  Which in turn brought down the digital radio system," said Duffy.