Stories from Saturday, August 20, 2016

Monett wasted little time showing what it is made of in an impressive, 34-6 win over California Saturday night. The Cubs (1-0) used six different running backs, but it was senior Michael Branch who found paydirt the most, getting three scores in the first quarter on runs of 2, 7 and 13 yards...

Purdy Police Chief Jackie Lowe is seeking the identification of a white male that committed a strong arm robbery, a felony, at Ramey Supermarket in Purdy mid-morning Tuesday. "He was dropped off about 9 a.m. by a woman driving a red, soft-top Chrysler Sebring," Lowe said. ...

Monett Police Chief George Daoud has commissioned the first female patrol officer for the department in 10 years. Lyndsi Waltrip, 24, is a 2010 graduate of Monett High School. She graduated from the criminal justice program at Springfield's Drury Police Academy before stepping into full-time position as a police officer for Cox Monett Hospital...

Three people were flown to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin for treatment following a vehicle crash at the end of a police pursuit west of Monett at 5:49 p.m. on Thursday. Wayne Allen Sooter, 23, of Mt. Vernon, was driving a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am when Lawrence County sheriff's deputies began pursuit earlier in the day around the Dade County border. ...

A Green Forest, Ark., man was injured Friday in a wreck at 11:11 a.m. on Highway 86, one mile east of Golden. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Ricky Carpenter, 46, of Green Forest, Ark., was driving a 2006 Toyota Tundra westbound when his vehicle ran off the left edge of the roadway and struck a ditch, a tree and a fence...

Pierce City residents can breathe a short sigh of relief, as Mayor Allen Stockton recently requested the city's aldermen do not impose a tax levy increase on residents for the coming year. "I recommend not raising taxes this year," Stockton said. "Our residents stood behind us during the recent bond issue. The $200 difference [raising the tax levy would generate] is not going to break us."...

The Monett City Council has decided to move the municipal brush pile, located south of the Justice Center, to the old city dump on Farm Road 1100, northeast of town. The brush pile has been located next to the site for the new city animal shelter. Burning there has been limited because of smoke issues burning inside the city limits. With the animal shelter nearing completion, city council members decided in a work session this week that the time had come to move the brush pile entirely...

Winners in the annual Howdy Neighbor Days festival's various drawings, scholarship and duck race have been announced. Ben Slagle, secretary and treasurer of the Howdy Neighbor Days committee, reported Pierce City High School graduate Cody Cameron the winner of the $500 HND scholarship...

It is not uncommon to see adults gathered around the edges of a construction site, watching with wonder at large pieces of equipment and building blocks moving into place.

The Lawrence County Tax Board for the Developmentally Disabled will meet at 6 p.m. on Aug. 23 at the office and community center at 403 E. Elm in Aurora. The annual tax levy hearing will be held. The Mount Vernon Community Theatre will be holding auditions for the melodrama "Saved by the Serendipity Circus" at 7 p.m. ...

Christopher Smith, a Monett High School graduate, was inducted into the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2020 and began six weeks of midshipman training as part of Plebe Summer.

Frances Castle recently celebrated her 95th birthday with a cake and ice cream social.

There is an old saying, "A zebra cannot change its stripes." Generally, the meaning is associated with behavior, but the same axiom could be used to describe coaches and their offensive and defensive philosophies. For example, back in the 1980s and 90s, everyone in the Big 8 Conference knew what the Seneca football team and Coach Tom Hodge were going to do offensively...

At the Purdy school board meeting this week, A. Todd Goffey, a managing director in public finance for the investment banking firm of Piper Jaffray, told school board members how impressive it was to see patrons in the school district pass a bond issue on Aug. 2 with 82 percent in favor...