Stories from Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The 2014-2015 Check Cashers 12-and-under softball team is pictured.

The 2014-2015 Four States Dental 16-and-under softball team is pictured.

The 2015-2016 school year brings several familiar faces to new positions in the Monett school district. The district employs 57 coaches to help lead all of its sports program, from the seventh grade to the senior level. The district has made 16 changes to this year's coaching rosters, making them 28 percent different from last year...

About 100 children ages preschool through sixth grade sang songs for the crowd gather at Purdy's Fourth of July event Friday.

The Monett City Council will meet at 9 a.m. today at Monett City Hall. Public discussion will be heard on a proposal from the Monett School District to close Ninth Street between Cleveland and Scott during the school day. Bids for renovating City Hall will be reviewed. A contract for dispatching services for the city of Miller will be introduced...

Two women were ejected from a vehicle that overturned after a wreck on Route O at Jenkins. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Donna Shepard, 28, of Joplin, was driving a 2003 Honda Shadow motorcycle when her vehicle lost control on gravel in the roadway, overturned and ejected the driver and a passenger...

Vehicle overturns on I-44 near Mt. Vernon A Springfield woman was injured in a wreck at 6:20 a.m. on Interstate 44, one mile east of Mt. Vernon. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Jedonna Stephens, 59, of Springfield, was driving a 2003 Oldsmobile Silhouette eastbound when her vehicle rear ended a 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage, being driven by Ronald Carter, 53, of Mt. Vernon...

An Eagle Rock man died Sunday in a motorcycle wreck at 7:01 p.m. on Interstate 49, north of Highway 7. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Mitchell Neimann, 58, of Eagle Rock, was driving a 2008 Honda Goldwing northbound on Interstate 49 in Cass County when his vehicle traveled off the left side of the roadway. Neimann overcorrected and returned to the roadway, but overturned and was ejected, coming to rest on the highway...

State Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, was successful in passing a bill that modifies the duration of unemployment compensation, the method to pay federal advances and raises the fund trigger causing contribution rate reductions. The bill, HB 150, would also tie unemployment benefits to the state's average rate of unemployment...

After 20 years of serving the community, Purdy Fire Chief Mike Redshaw hung his helmet for the last time, as he has resigned from the post after 20 years with the organization. In the letter, Redshaw cited increasing time demands from family and his profession, as well as an impending relocation as reasons for his departure. He emphasized there was no negative reasons for the departure...

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Barry County Sheriff's Office had to rescue eight people from high water, as flooding in and around the city of Cassville became dangerous. According to Mick Epperly, Barry County sheriff, two people were rescued from the Ozark Area Community Action Corporation Neighborhood Center on Highway 248...

Daniel Joseph Copenhaver, 55, of Mt. Vernon, died at 3:10 p.m. Monday, July 6. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, July 10, at Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon. Burial will follow in the Moore Cemetery west of Stotts City. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at the funeral home...

Bystanders at First Street and East Broadway in Monett rushed to the aid of a bicyclist who collapsed shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday. According to a passing motorist, the cyclist seemed to have lost control of his bike and crashed to the street, remaining motionless for several minutes...

Cleanup efforts are now underway in Cassville and at Roaring River State Park after flash floods on Tuesday struck about 30 businesses in the city and left portions of the city parks damaged. Flat Creek, considered to be in flood stage at 7 feet, crested at 19.84 feet in Jenkins at 1 p.m. ...