Stories from Saturday, July 30, 2016

The changes David Williams brought to Monett High School when he became principal a year ago were swift, noticeable and welcomed with open arms by the student body. Williams' personality was on full display the first day of school when he wore a brightly colored all-purple suit complete with matching tie to display school spirit. If that outfit was not enough, his patriotic red, white and blue suit later in the year portrayed his support for the country...

Lawrence County Sheriff Brad DeLay was quick to snag a Missouri Water Patrol boat from state surplus when several recently became available to other agencies. "I saw an e-mail from the state that they had seven or eight for sale," DeLay said. "There were three left after I picked up ours."...

Following the recommendations of the traffic study on Ninth Street, the Monett City Council approved extending the closing of the street between Scott and Cleveland Avenue, as requested by the Monett R-1 Board of Education. "The TranSystem study showed there's just as much [pedestrian] traffic after school as long as student activity continues," said Dennis Pyle, city administrator...

Thursday evening offered perfect weather after days of heat and rain to enjoy the outdoors.

The Monett City Council has approved the annexation of Lot No. 11 in the Rosebud Place subdivision into the city limits. The Rosebud Place subdivision is located on the south side of Highway 60, west of the Timber Creek subdivision, west of the Jack Henry and Associates campus...

One teacher, a high school counselor and a custodian were hired by the Verona Board of Education to fill out the employment needs for the coming school year. Board members hired Lacy Daniels as an elementary teacher. Recommended by Jeanne Abeln, the elementary principal, Daniels will take on her first full-time position as a certified teacher. She worked from November 2015 to May of 2016 as a long-term substitute in the Lute School District...

Crews for Thad Hood's Hood Home Repair excavated the alley behind the new site for the Monett Museum at Fifth and Broadway on Tuesday.

As part of programming at the Monett Branch Library, Abigail Bradshaw, 12, has provided instruction on how to make 23 different designs of jewelry, bracelets, hand bands, even a jump rope or soleless sandals with a plastic loom, interweaving rubber bands...

Vehicles can end up in some strange entanglements. At 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, firefighters and police responded to a collision of two northbound vehicles on Fifth Street.

The Monett Chamber of Commerce hosted the new faculty for the Monett school district for a breakfast on Tuesday.

The Monett Artists' Guild will present "Play On," a comedy about presenting a play that goes very wrong, at 7 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $5 and available by calling the Monett Chamber of Commerce at 235-7919...

The Purdy FFA and FFA Alumni hosted their annual Purdy Livestock Show in conjunction with the Purdy Festival on Saturday, July 16. Supporters of the show included Kip Cullers, who bought the Megan Thomas's champion steer and a hog; Ed Mareth, who purchased hogs and sheep; David Young, who purchased all of the poultry in the show on behalf of Tyson Foods, and Chris Keeling, who bought a goat...

The ProfitStars division of Monett-based Jack Henry and Associates (JHA) reports its Centurion Enterprise-Level Recovery solution has received a strong reception in the marketplace. Centurion Enterprise-Level Recovery is a solution that secures Windows-based core systems, software, and data assets for financial institutions that have their servers in-house. More than 100 banks and credit unions have implemented the service for rapid data recovery and improved security...

As Jack Henry and Associates (JHA) celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, the Monett-based company continues to focus on evolving the way the core functions for the modern banker. A bank's core becomes the nucleus of an anytime, anywhere, constantly changing infrastructure. Through the SilverLake System, a product of the Jack Henry Banking division, banks have a dynamic starting point for real-time processing and customer experiences that create loyalty...

Monett High School will hold its annual Fall Sports Pride Night at the Burl Fowler Stadium on Aug 6. Pride Night provides an opportunity for the community to enjoy a football scrimmage and meet the athletes, cheerleaders and marching band representing Monett High School during the 2016-2017 fall sports season...

The Regal Athletic 18U competitive softball team recently participated in the United States Specialty Sports Association's National Championship in Dallas.

Reviewing the 1972 race for sheriff in Barry County offered a few insights into why we're not likely to see 25 people run for county sheriff again any time soon. In his runs for state office, Jack Goodman, the current presiding judge for the 39th Judicial Circuit, showed the advantage of campaigning your colleagues not to run. ...