Stories from Thursday, February 21, 2013

Time seemed to stand still at Wheaton High School on a rainy Monday afternoon. Inside the building was a shooter. From the moment he entered the building and started randomly firing at teachers and staff, all sense of normalcy ceased. This was not a real-life event, but a training exercise for local law enforcement officials, the Wheaton Fire Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Department of Conservation and Wheaton R-3 School District staff and administration...

Weight loss is serious business in Monett, and one business, WinTech, has taken it to a new level. Nine WinTech employees and a spouse have joined the Journeys program at Cox Monett Hospital as a group. According to Nancy Ridgley, Cox Monett wellness coordinator who runs the Journeys program, the group from WinTech lost more than 50 pounds in the first week, a drop of 2.4 percent...

Verona aldermen approved a resolution to Move to Amend 417, a Constitutional amendment in which the United States Supreme Court equated corporations with individual personhood and corporate money to freedom of speech in regards to political campaigns. The move came during the council's Jan. 29 meeting...

The City of Monett Emergency Management Office is promoting National Severe Weather Preparedness Week, March 3 through March 9. During the week, officials are asking members of the community to better prepare for severe weather threats in the area. Schools, businesses and families across Missouri will practice taking shelter at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, during a statewide tornado drill. If there is a threat of severe weather, the drill will be rescheduled for Thursday, March 7...

The top seeds advanced to tonight's Class 2, District 12 girls district championship in Purdy. Top-seeded Pierce City Lady Eagles and the second-seeded Purdy Lady Eagles earned berths into the title game with wins over Greenfield and Jasper respectively...

The second-seeded Verona Wildcats advanced to the Class 1, District 4 basketball championship game with a 53-45 win over third-seed Niangua on Feb. 19. Seth Losack and Ascencion Estrada led the Wildcats in scoring with 23 points each. Losack collected four steals, four rebounds and had seven assists. He hit nine of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory...

The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office made 54 stops for the month of January and issued 17 citations and 42 warnings. The breakdown is as follows: Driving while intoxicated, 2. Driving while revoked or suspended, 5. *Speeding, 19. Failed to register, 9...

The Monett Knights of Columbus will host a fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 and for the next three Fridays in the parish hall at St. Lawrence Catholic Church. Cost is $7 for adults and $6 for seniors. A program on protecting homes and farms from crime will be offered at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 25 at the Marionville Library Branch by Corporal Krissa Smith and Dawnielle Robinson with the Marionville Police Department...

National Guard soldiers from the 276th Engineering Company in Pierce City did their part to share the love on Valentine's Day. Private First Class Harley Dennis, of Anderson, assisted Sgt. First Class Eric Corcoran in a show of local community support for the McDonald County R-1 School District...

Kip Cullers, of Purdy, won two first places and two-second places in the 2012 National Corn Growers' Association's (NCGA) Corn Yield Contest in Missouri. Cullers won a first place in the no-till/stip-till irrigated division with Pioneer brand hybrid P2088HR, which yielded 314 bushels per acre and first place in the Irrigated division with Pioneer brand hybrid P2088HR, which yielded 317 bushels per acre...

No one was injured in a semi-truck rollover crash that took place at 9:04 p.m. on Sunday, on Ninth Street in Monett. According to a report from the Monett Police Department, the crash occurred when the driver of the 2007 Volvo, Guy Marion Clark, of Monett, reported he was traveling south on Ninth Street and swerved to avoid a large, black dog in the roadway. Clark overcorrected, which caused the vehicle to run off the right side of the roadway and overturn into a ditch and strike a driveway...

Sinclair Ulrey Rogers, age 88, of Monett, Mo., passed from this life on Tuesday evening, Feb. 19, 2013 while at Cox-Monett Hospital. Funeral services for Mr. Rogers will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 at the First United Methodist Church in Monett. Reverend Paul Lanning will officiate...

Dorris Maxine Ash, age 82, of Purdy, Mo., passed away Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, in her home. She was born June 2, 1930, in Purdy, Mo., the daughter of Marion E. and Florence (Perkins) Moudy. On Dec. 17, 1947, in Cassville, Mo., she was united in marriage to Oliver R. Ash, who preceded her in death on March 28, 2002. Also preceding her in death were her parents; three brothers; one grandson and one great grandchild...

Betty Caldwell, age 88, of Eureka Springs, Ark., died on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at Brighton Ridge in Eureka Springs. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of White Funeral Home, Cassville.