Taney County

SPOKANE, Mo. -- The body of a man who drowned in Bull Shoals Lake in Taney County has been pulled from the water. Police say 25-year-old Jason Sissel of Spokane was was trying to retrieve his empty canoe that had drifted off the shore of the lake.  Friends saw him go underwater and he never resurfaced. Dive teams searched yesterday until dark, and then resumed the search again today.

TANEY COUNTY, Mo -- It's known as a vacation destination, but leaders in Taney County want it to be known as so much more. While millions of people go to the Branson area for the attractions, officials say they want to attract more businesses to the area that are not tourism driven. It's a new group called the Taney County Business Development Partnership and it's just that. A group of local officials hoping to have one voice to attract businesses that provide stable jobs.

BRANSON, Mo. -- It's the beauty of Table Rock Lake that draws people to live at its banks. "We sit out here and look at that beautiful lake with all our neighbors," said Joanne Erickson, who lives a block away from the water underneath the Taneycomo bridge on U.S. 65. Its power may make them leave, however.  Erickson and the rest of her block are ripping up carpet and throwing out soggy remnants of their lives pre-flooding. The American Red Cross was in the neighborhood, gathering addresses of homes damaged by rising water.  It's one of the first steps of many needed to get back on track, including an assessment from the city of Branson.

KIRBYVILLE, Mo.--   Three suspicious incidents on Friday have parents, especially in Taney County, on high alert.  It's not clear if they're all connected, but all three involve a mini-van stopping and the driver talking to children.  On quiet Norman road near Kirbyville, Leonna Rasha didn't used to worry about her kids playing in the front yard, but that's now changed.  "I've not let them out the front door since," Rasha says. She worries someone was trying to kidnap her children.  "They had went to the neighbors and took some food over to the neighbors, and when they came back up the driveway, a van pulled in behind them," says Rasha.

CHATTANOOGA, Tn. -- A man charged with forcible rape in Taney County is in custody in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Our NBC affiliate reports police arrested Lonnie Pickle last night while he was working.  Pickle lived in Merriam Woods before moving to Tennessee, he's waiting for extradition back to Missouri.

TANEY COUNTY, Mo. - Sheriff's deputies in Taney County have arrested two people they believe are connected to several home burglaries. In a press release, Taney County Sheriff Jimmie Russell says two men from the Kissee Mills area, ages 27 and 30, were taken into custody after an investigation into six burglaries began Nov. 1. Their names were not included in the release. Russell said some of the stolen property included guns, televisions, tools, all-terrain vehicles and hunting equipment.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A man from North Carolina is accused of having sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl from Taney County at least three times in February and once last fall, when she was 13.  The girl told investigators last week that she and Daryl Waldron, 26, met on a social networking web site, MySpace, last August and had meetings in person "on more than one occasion prior to and since her fourteenth birthday. " The girl's grandparents, with whom she lives, reported her missing on Feb. 15 and didn't know where she was until Feb. 23 when the girl says Waldron dropped her off at the U.S. Post Office in Ridgedale, near the Arkansas state line south of Branson.

TANEY COUNTY, Mo. -- The crowd for Taney County's town hall meeting about last month's flooding was so large, people made parking spots in the lot of College of the Ozarks. The auditorium of the Keeter Center was full of families flooded out of their homes. "We’ll have answers, some of the answers you may not like but we do have answers," said Taney County Commissioner Jim Strafuss. County staff played to a crowd eager to listen, but also wanting to be heard.  Some needed guidance on what to do next.

FORSYTH, Mo. - A man who authorities called armed and dangerous is behind bars in Forsyth after an eight-hour standoff that began Thursday evening. Johnny Bryan, Jr. was arrested Friday morning after being on the run for more than two months.  Taney County Sheriff Jimmie Russell said in a news release Friday morning that Bryan was arrested after his office received a tip as to where Bryan was. Deputies obtained a search warrant and went to a home in the 1700 block of State Route VV in Powersite at 7 p.m. Thursday, where they tried to contact Bryan.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A man from Springfield is being treated for serious injuries after crashing a car during a chase in Taney County early Thursday.  The sheriff says officers tried to pull over Shannon Watts, 26, in Branson because the 2009 Toyota Corolla that he was driving was reported stolen in Nixa. The chase reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour before coming to an end on Missouri 76 about five miles east of Taneyville.  The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the car ran off the right side of the road, hit a fence and flipped, throwing Watts from the car.  An air ambulance took Watts to a hospital in Springfield.