Randy Turner

In Newton County Memories, author Randy Turner, a veteran newspaper reporter and classroom teacher, offers stories about the people, places and activities that made living in Newton County, Missouri memorable.Those who have lived in the area can relive an era before texting and binge watching, when evening entertainment included cruising the Neosho Square, sports including baseball and the dangerous, but addictive bicycle soccer and meeting friends at the Brown Derby and Reta's.The memorable characters profiled in Newton County Memories include a 400-pound police chief who never had trouble maintaining law and order, the "cold-blooded assassin" who shot the student council president, the coach who started a civil war in his family by having his brother intentionally walked with the bases loaded and the woman mayor who was a Mann.Turner also profiles some of the people who inspired others, including unforgettable classroom teachers, a breast cancer survivor who helped others for more than three decades after her initial diagnosis and a 20-year-old murder victim whose life and poetry live on more than four decades later.Newton County Memories is an engaging trip down memory lane even. Turner captures the era in a way that will ensure these people will remain in readers' memories, even if they are reading about them for the first time.

Some people just won't stay dead - Only a year after Cassandra Harper found her father murdered and slumped over the computer he gave her for her birthday, she begins receiving messages from him on that same computerAs Cassandra tries to find her father's killer, she slowly begins to wonder just what kind of a man he was and what kind of evil was he planning.And will she be able to stop him and his killer before she becomes the next victim?Devil's Messenger is a roller coaster ride of horror that you won't be able to put down. Grab your copy today

If the shooter doesn't get them, the system will.The teachers at dysfunctional Franklin Heights High School are caught between ambitious administrators obsessed with meetings and standardized tests and a violent, drug-riddled, sex-crazed student body that has the run of the hallways.When the new school district superintendent strikes an unholy deal with a teen gang leader and drug dealer to keep students in line and improve the dropout rate, a reign of terror is unleashed on teachers and students alike.Until one student decides a gun is the answer to his problems.No Child Left Alive is a nightmarish look at 21st Century education in the kind of school that may be in your neighborhood. Grab your copy today

They lost their school, but they never lost their spirit The deadly tornado that ripped through Joplin, Missouri May 22, 2011 killed 161 people and left 500 East Middle School students without a school In Scars from the Tornado, East Middle School students write their own tornado stories and they and their eighth grade English teacher tell the story of their first year attending school in a warehouse Scars from the Tornado is the heartwarming story of 500 students who made it through the worst tornado to hit the United States in six decades and the one student who did not make it.

161 people dead in Joplin in the worst tornado in the United States in six decadesMoments after the high school graduation, an EF5 tornado ripped through the heart of this city of 50,000 destroying the high school, homes and businesses and changing Joplin forever.Gripped in fear- Joplin residents offer first-person accounts of how they survived the natural disaster and mourn for those who did not.Rising from the rubble- First person accounts from Joplin residents and reporting from authors Randy Turner and John Hacker, tell the remarkable story of how Joplin fought back through the first year after the tornado with a volunteer spirit and courage that captured the heart of the nation.Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado tells the story of the people of Joplin and the people from across the nation and the world who helped with the recovery process.Spirit of Hope brings you to tears and then lifts your spirit as you join the people of Joplin on their journey back from disaster.

Death and destruction for as far as a person could see. The EF5 tornado that ripped a six-mile swath through Joplin, Missouri May 22, 2011, killed 161 people and changed the city forever. This book, written by veteran reporters Randy Turner and John Hacker and including stories written by survivors, is the original version. An expanded, updated 10-year anniversary edition was published in April 2021.

In Rockport, the bank was robbed, a man was killed, and the school superintendent vanished without a trace. It couldn't have worked out any better for high school journalist Tiffany Everett. Everything happened on the first day of her one-week internship at an area television station. Tiffany has a chance to see small town journalism.