Stories from Saturday, July 18, 2015

One axiom that holds true in small towns is that change, at least change for the better, comes slowly. Two incidents this week reflected that truism. The Cassville City Council had a rather robust debate over how to spend the city's .375-percent sales tax for transportation needs. ...

The Monett school district has purchased two pieces of property located near its facilities aiming to make more parking lots. School board members approved spending $22,500 for a lot of land at 1200 E. Cleveland, next to the 12th Street intersection and Murphy's Garage, north of Burl Fowler Stadium. Superintendent Brad Hanson said the land will be used for parking...

After extended debate and a twist over insurance, the Freistatt Village Board awarded the contract to replace the hail-damaged Freistatt Community Building roof with a metal version, installed by a Kansas City contractor. Trustees opted initially to hire the second-lowest bidder, a local firm, but ended up falling back to the low bidder over the insurance issue...

Batman was a recent visitor to the Monett Branch Library, where he met some of his biggest fans and future crime-fighting pals.

Passage of two major issues, the transportation plan guiding the Monett sales tax proposal and the dispatching contract with Lawrence County, will take place at the Monett City Council's monthly meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at City Hall. The transportation plan, developed by the engineering firm TranSystems, details the projects on which revenues from the proposed sales tax would go over the next seven years...

The Purdy Farmers Market is open on Tuesdays, the same day as the recycling center.

Summer is the time for adventure and free enterprise.

A severe thunderstorm dropped into the Pierce City and Monett area Thursday shortly before 9 p.m., dropping two inches of rain in less than an hour.

Work crews for the Monett street and parks department recently set a windmill on the Highway 37 side of the new clubhouse at the Windmill Ridge municipal golf course.

Registration is still being accepted to participate in the MASH Camp at Cox Monett Hospital for students grades six to nine on July 30 and 31. Participants will learn about dealing with medical issues, play a pandemic game and participate in workshops, beginning at 9 a.m. each day. For additional information, people may call 417-836-6154...

As a freshman, Pierce City's Gage Brown admits starting as the varsity quarterback was a dream. "I was the third string quarterback and didn't give it much thought," he said. "I always figured my time would come my junior or senior season." Fate, however, thought differently...

After eight seasons at the helm of the Aurora football program, Houn' Dawg Head Coach Rick Scholten stepped down on Friday. Scholten said he was presented with an opportunity outside of education that was too good to pass up, and there were no hard feelings between him and the school district...

When the University of Missouri left the Big 12 Conference, I had mixed emotions. On one hand, I hated to see rivalries that had been in place for a century or longer tossed aside like a used tissue. However, the opportunity to move into a stable conference that promised more money and exposure for the university was too good to pass up...

The 2014-2015 GV Machine T-ball team.

The 2014-2015 Monett Glass & Mirror T-ball team.