Stories from Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The former office manager of the Barry-Lawrence Ambulance District has been charged with official misconduct, following the payment of $135,000 to her in March. According to a probable cause report filed by Det. Robert Evenson, Jeaniettia Pierce, 47, of Purdy, was issued a criminal summons on Aug. 18 and is charged with the class A misdemeanor for allegedly knowingly demanding or receiving a fee or reward that is not due for the execution of any official act...

Property assessments in Barry and Lawrence counties reflect positive economic conditions in numbers released for political subdivisions. Each year by Sept. 1, government entities that levy a property tax hold public hearings to approve the rate for the year-end taxing cycle...

The Freistatt Village Board of Trustees will hold a special session at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27 at the Freistatt Community Building. The only item on the agenda is upgrading the water and sewer billing program, which requires emergency action.

A Saginaw man was seriously injured Tuesday in a wreck at 10:30 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 44, two miles east of Halltown. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Robert Richmond, 52, of Saginaw, was driving a 2001 Toyota Celica eastbound on Interstate 44 when his vehicle traveled off the left side of the roadway, struck an embankment and overturned...

After nearly two months of use, the nine-hole disc golf feature added at South Park has proven quite popular with the public. Installed in the first week of July, the attraction begins at the east end of the Monett Area YMCA and continues to the north side of the City Park Casino...

Making final preparations for the new school year, the Purdy Board of Education gave final approval to hiring two new teachers and approved the preliminary substitute list for year. The board approved hiring Erin Livingston to teach seventh- and eighth-grade social studies. Livingston is a graduate of Republic High School and a recent graduate of Missouri State University. This is her first teaching job...

After an extremely wet season and severe flash flooding, Barry County farmers were dealt a heavy hand on this season's crops. First, hay couldn't be baled because of wet weather conditions and lack of sunshine, which then negatively impacted corn, wheat and soybean planting...

Brandon Perdock, an Arizona artist who recently moved to the Wheelerville area in eastern Barry County, was among the artisans showing work at the Crane Broiler Fest over the weekend.

It has been 2,497 days since the East Newton football team last won a Big 8 Conference football game. Since a 31-22 victory over Aurora on Oct. 9, 2009, the Patriots have dropped 39 consecutive conference gridiron contests. On Friday, they seek to end that streak as the Cubs invade Don Johnston Stadium...

In less than 96 hours, his Eagles will be back on the gridiron to play another contest, and time is precious. "Come ready to work on Tuesday," Hocker said. "We'll watch film and then get straight to conditioning. We saw tonight that we aren't in the best of shape. The only way to fix that is work harder to get there."...

One bright spot for the Pierce City football team during a 61-42 loss to Carl Junction Monday was the play of kickoff returner Brian Parra-Navarro. No football coach wants his team to surrender 60-plus points in a game. Pierce City Coach Brad Hocker even discussed with his team the difficultly in winning contests in which they yield 60 or more points...

7 Monett's current ranking in the latest Class 3 poll. 260 The number of rushing yards Monett gained against Seneca. 2,497 The number of days since East Newton's last Big 8 Conference victory (Oct. 9, 2009, defeated Aurora 31-22). 39 The number of consecutive conference defeats since last conference victory for East Newton...

McDonald County at Aurora Mt. Vernon at Carl Junction Cassville at Mountain Grove Monett at East Newton Seneca at Lamar Willow Springs at Marionville Liberal at Pierce City Aurora at Cassville, 20-21 East Newton at Carl Junction, 7-61 Lamar at Mt. Vernon, 52-6...

Karen Sue Weathers, 52, of Seligman, died at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22. No services are planned. The body has been donated to science. Arrangements are under the direction of Fohn Funeral Home, Cassville.

Fredrick Oneal Tubbs, 91, of Aurora, died at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 25, at his home. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, at Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at Maple Park Cemetery in Aurora...