OPERATIONS NOTIFIED OF GRANT APPROVAL

Sheriff's Department, Child Advocacy Center To Receive Federal Money

CASSVILLE, Mo. - The Barry County Sheriff's Department and the Child
Advocacy Center of the Ozarks recently received notice that they are in
line for federal grants. A grant of $79,589 will go to the sheriff's
operation from the Missouri Sheriffs Methamphetamine Team, a state-run
program that distributes federal aid to Missouri law enforcement agencies.

A grant of $50,000 to buy equipment to be used at the planned Child
Advocacy Center of the Ozarks was included in a federal appropriations bill
passed by both houses of Congress, according to Barry County Prosecutor
Steve Hemphill.

The advocacy center currently is being operated out of the Monett satellite
office of the Barry County Health Department.

Hemphill said the center should acquire a permanent location sometime next
year.

The Monett center serves abused children mostly from Barry and Lawrence
counties, and operates under an agreement with the Children's Center for
Southwest Missouri, located in Joplin.

"Once fully operational, I expect we'll be interviewing 100 children a
year," Hemphill said.

The Sheriff's Department will use its grant money to hire a full-time
narcotics investigator, said Sheriff Mick Epperly.

"Meth is a horrible problem," Epperly said. "We need to pay a lot of
attention to solving this problem."

The grant will be used over two years. The department is one of 16 grant
recipients in Missouri this year.