Stories from Friday, September 8, 2017

Curtina Jean “Tina” Autrey, 62, of Cassville, died Monday, Sept. 4. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville. Burial will be at Maplewood Cemetery at Exeter. Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, at Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville...

George Christensen, 71, of Holiday Island, Ark., died Sunday, Sept. 3. A private family burial will be held at a later date at the Blair Cemetery in Blair, Neb. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of the White Funeral Home and Crematory, Cassville...

Sandra L. Gabbard, 46, of Seligman, died Friday, Sept. 1. Memorial services will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at OK Assembly of God Church in Washburn. Burial will be at Seligman Cemetery. Cremation arrangements are under direction of Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville...

Daniel Hornbeak of Kansas City, Kan., looks at a display at Arrowhead Stadium honoring Monett’s 2016 state football championship team during halftime of the Chiefs’ preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.

The Monett soccer team (4-2), defeated Carl Junction, 2-1 on Tuesday, in kicks from the penalty mark. Monett’s Jason Puente scored his 98th career goal to tie the score 1-1. After two scoreless overtime sessions, Monett hit all five of its kicks, then blocked the Bulldogs’ final attempt to preserve the victory...

The Monett softball team improved to 4-3 on the season and 2-0 in the Big 8 with an 11-1, six-inning victory over Lamar on Tuesday. The Lady Cubs pounded out 15 hits in 33 at-bats (.454), with Maddi Coones, Kelli McCalister, Josie Allcock, Amberlyn Schmidly and Kaesha George knocking at least two hits apiece...

The Purdy volleyball team improved to 4-4-2 and 2-0 in Ozark 7 Conference play on the season with a 25-11, 25-17 win over Thomas Jefferson on Monday. Casey Ellison had a big night with 9 kills, 7 digs and 1 block. Hallie Henderson added 15 assists. Purdy also won the junior varsity match, 25-24, 25-15...

The Monett volleyball team (3-3) took down their next door neighbors Pierce City, 25-22, 25-20, 25-16 on Tuesday night. Randi Prock paced the Lady Cubs with 8 kills and 5 blocks. Kaylee Davis distributed 22 assists. Cassidy Abramovitz collected 2 aces...

The Monett volleyball team improved to 3-3 on the season with a three set win over Pierce City on Tuesday.

A benefit chili dinner and silent auction is planned for 5 p.m. on Sept. 9 at the Monett VFW Post on West Highway 60. Proceeds will help Martin Essary, who was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. The Freistatt Fire Department will host its annual antique tractor pull on Sept. 8 at the Ernte-Fest grounds in Freistatt. A kids’ pedal pull will be held at 5 p.m., followed by the main event at 6 p.m. Cost is $10, and free to children age 12 and under...

A fundraising effort is underway by the Wheaton Historical Society to raise approximately $3,000 for restoration work on the railroad caboose at the depot museum.

Local business leaders gathered at Big Baldy’s Thursday for a Monett Chamber of Commerce’s membership mingle.

Crosslines in Monett found itself inundated with donations for its thrift store over the Labor Day weekend.

Smay Sar, daughter of Tha Kie, owner of Aung, the Asian market located at 309 Kyler in Monett, stocks shelves with tea and beverages with which the local Thai, Micronesian and Burmese refugees favor.

A wide range of activities are planned for Saturday at the University of Missouri's Southwest Research Center for the annual Field Day program. The open house at the center will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. A free lunch is available to the first 300 attending. The farm is located on Highway H between the west Mt. Vernon exit off Interstate 44 and Freistatt, east of the Mt. Vernon airport...

A post on social media sometime over the Labor Day weekend led to more Monett police officers working as security at the Monett school district this week. Jay Jastal, school resource officer, is not releasing much information about the incident yet, as suggested charges have yet to be submitted to the prosecutor...

During a town hall meeting in Mt. Vernon on Tuesday, Veterans Administration representatives spoke highly of plans to improve service to local veterans through the opening of new clinics in Springfield and Joplin. Nonetheless, issues with care surfaced in comments presented by the audience...

Children at the Melvey Hillhouse Early Learning Center, the preschool for the Verona school district, have a busy regimen under teacher Leigh Ann Self and her assistant, Addie Sialas.

A McDowell man received second- and third-degree burns in a garage fire discovered around 4 p.m. on Wednesday at a residence on Farm Road 1170. According to Daniel Basye, assistant chief for the Jenkins Fire Department, a call came in at 4:11 p.m. from a home on Farm Road 1170, about one mile west of McDowell. A resident at a home there, who was not identified, was out washing his motorcycle when he heard cracking in garage, located 20 feet from the house...

There will be a rally and a march on Saturday in downtown Monett in support of “Dreamers,” the children of illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. who will be impacted by President Donald Trump’s order to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order this week...

LAMAR – In a game where the Monett football team (2-2, 0-2) needed everything to go right for a victory, not much did in a 51-0 loss to Lamar on Friday. The No. 1 team in Class 2 showed no mercy in the first half, racking up 51 points and scoring on every drive but one. The Cubs did not help themselves with missed snaps, failed fourth down conversions and poor field position...

Different state, different week, different opponent, but the results were the same Friday night for Pierce City. The Eagles (4-0) got on the board first and didn’t let up, recording a 35-7 road victory over 0-2 Green Forest (Ark.) Sophomore running back Trey Sagehorn got the ball rolling for Pierce City, getting the first score of the night with 1:12 left in the first quarter. The Donnell Kleiboeker extra point was good, putting the Eagles up 7-0...

A Monett man died Friday night as a result of a confrontation with a Monett police officer at the man's home. At 9 p.m. Friday, Monett Police Chief George Daoud issued a statement that a shooting had taken place earlier in the evening. "Around 5 p.m., officers were dispatched to a residence in Monett for a reported overdose," Daoud said. "Upon arrival, an officer contacted the subject and the situation escalated. The Monett police officer discharged his weapon...

The Purdy golf team is quietly stringing together a solid season on area links. On Wednesday, the Lady Eagles took first place in the eight-team Purdy Girls Golf Invitational. Purdy shot a 394 and was followed by Mt. Vernon, 398; Bolivar, 399; and Pierce City, 439...