Gangs..Problem?And how prolific/Areas?

[TornadoAlley]

Originally Posted by DeeMac

I found a few websites for you - for Springfield Public Schools, Bolivar Public Schools, and the Gang Task Force website:
http://springfieldpublicschoolsmo.org/
http://www.bolivar.k12.mo.us/
http://associations.missouristate.edu/nogangs/ (broken link)

I grew up about 30 minutes west of Springfield, went to college there (MSU), met my husband there, and lived in Spfd until our daughters (twins - now 12) turned 2. We were ready to buy and home, but didn't want to raise the girls in Springfield (being a small-town girl myself) so we started looking at the surrounding communities.

Not surprisingly, we ended up in my hometown. Our town has just over 4,000 residents, a thriving downtown square, and is close enough to both Springfield and Joplin for an easy trip, but far enough away that we don't have the problems facing some of the towns closer to Springfield (Republic, Ozark, and Nixa).

High snowfall?! What's that?! Any kid around here will tell you that we don't get enough snow - no snow days at all last year. We usually do have a few inches at a time - it'll snow and then a couple days later the temp will be 50 and it will all melt. I hate to use the MO cliche, but...."If you don't like the weather just wait, it'll change." We do have occasional frozen rain - that is a much bigger concern than the snow.

The highway between Springfield and Boliver is Missouri 13. It is a main highway and is kept clear during snow and/or ice. The one thing to know about highway 13 that it is nicknamed "Bloody 13" because of all of the wrecks that have occurred on it. It is in the process of being widened, but for years has been a 2-lane highway which carries A LOT of traffic and has many crossroads off of it. I googled the highway and found this newspaper editorial excerpt from early last year:
"Along the northbound stretch of Bloody 13 between Springfield and Bolivar, crashes happen twice as often as on similar roads in our state, according to a News-Leader analysis of state accident data published Sunday. In the last five years, more than 900 people have been injured between Springfield and Humansville on Bloody 13."
If you would like to read the full editorial, you can find it at: http://springfield.news-leader.com/o...shipneede.html

Truly, SW MO is a great place to live. Be prepared to slow down your pace and wave at passing motorists - even if you don't know them.

What town did you move to?

[DeeMac]

TornadoAlley - I grew up in Mt. Vernon and only made it as far as Springfield before moving to the safety of Mt. Vernon again. I lived in Spfd when I was 18-27yrs old - by then I had children and wanted to raise them someplace nice and quiet -- so, back to Mt. Vernon I came.

[TornadoAlley]

So is Ozark a good area to raise kids?

[tat2willa]

I am so looking forward to the friendliness you speak of- we wave here in our neighborhood but mostly when I am out I don't KNOW anyone- so no waving. One block from my place there are THOUSANDS of people driving by. I live just off of Pacific Coast Hwy but I don't feel threatened- everyone here is worried about me moving there LOL!!!!!! I tell them I am moving out to the Ozarks & I hear "What about those backwoods people- they're really scarey!" This is from local tough guys, mind- I guess I always feel that if there is going to be any butt kicking Iwill be handing 'em out!

[MOviaCA]

Originally Posted by DeeMac

That's kind of scary. The waving here is important because, if you neglect to wave at your neighbor or neighbor's sister-in-law's cousin....you'll hear about it at the grocery store. "I waved at her earlier and she didn't wave back! I wonder what's wrong." The funny thing is, we have some new neighbors from California (a couple houses behind me). It took the longest time for them to wave as they drove past. I would be watering my flowerbed, right next to the road, and they would drive by like they didn't know I was there - like they were intentionally looking the other way. They must be getting used to things because they do wave now.

The greatest thing about living in the Ozarks is the kindness of others. If anything happens in your family, to your home, to your dog, help will be given to you - even if you don't ask for it.

Guess if I move to Missouri id best remember to wave

[HMcD]

Talk about Hwy 13 brings back a lot of memories for me. Back in '59 (my, I hate to say that!), it was a killer. Had little rounded curbs and diversions on the edge of the concrete. My uncle ran a wrecker service and there were some bad wrecks on that road. We pulled up a red '56 Buick out of a ravine one night. It had four drunks in it. We had the hardest time convincing them they weren't parked in their front yard. I can hardly wait to see my stompin' grounds.