Stories from Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Odis Herman Hillhouse, 92, of Mt. Vernon, died Sunday, Feb. 25, at the Mt. Vernon Place Care Center. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, at the Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon. Burial will be at the Summit Cemetery...

Leona Hancock, 61, of Washburn, died Sunday, Feb. 25. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Cremation arrangements are under direction of Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville.

Lillie Schange, 88, of Trophy Club, Texas, died Sunday, Feb. 18. Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26, at Fohn Funeral Home in Shell Knob. Burial was at Viola Cemetery in Viola.

Larry Dale Wooten, 74, of Hillsboro, died Thursday, Feb. 22. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, at the White Funeral Home and Crematory, Cassville, with Pastor Brad Hudson officiating. Burial will be at Maplewood Cemetery, Exeter. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, March 2 at the funeral home...

The Monett Ministerial Association will continue its annual series of Lenten services and luncheons today at St. Lawrence Catholic Church on Seventh St. Dustin Ray will be the speaker. The service will begin at 12:05 p.m., conclude by 12:30, and be followed by a light luncheon provided by the church. Next week’s service will be at the First United Methodist Church. Paula Lively will be the speaker...

Staff of Missouri State Parks, the Department of Natural Resources and Missouri Parks Inc., the park’s concessionaire, are ready to welcome the possible 2,000 people headed to the park for Opening Day festivities Thursday.

Kyle Troutman, editor of The Monett Times, answers a question from the audience at an Ozark Press Association membership meeting on Friday at the Botanical Garden in Springfield...

Even eccentric heroes had their day in Pat Cook’s play “If the Good Lord’s Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise,” presented Saturday by the Rebel’s Bluff Troupe at the MARC in Mt. Vernon.

Clear Creek, which runs through South Park in Pierce City, was near to running over it banks Saturday afternoon, following the weekend storms that resulted in flash flooding throughout low-lying portions of Lawrence County.

March offers that wonderful moment when, though the trees are bare, people seek out the water to renew their love affair with fishing.

Just less than six months after starting his post as the new Superintendent at Roaring River State Park, Roger Taylor is set to lead his team into Opening Day on Thursday. A graduate of the University of Arkansas with a bachelor of science in forestry in 2000, Taylor has spent the last 17 years working in the private forestry industry, first as inventory forester before promoting through to the Southeast Regional Manager for Campbell Global...

There will be plenty of 'Hoopla' at the Barry-Lawrence County Library branches come March 5, when the library system plans to make the digital entertainment platform offering over 700,000 titles available to its patrons. "We are now the Netflix," said Greg Brown, social media and marketing manager for the library system, who said the modern library is evolving to provide not just knowledge, but entertainment to patrons, referring to it as a busy hub for the community to connect, be entertained, transformed and inspired.. ...

The Southwest Missouri Chapter of Whitetails Unlimited is hosting it sixth annual fundraising banquet starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, at St. Mary's Catholic Church activity center. Tickets are $40 each and includes an annual membership in the Southwest Missouri Chapter. ...

Monett police received assistance from a llama during a recent fugitive chase that resulted in the arrest of a subject with outstanding felony warrants. Joshua Rust, 34, of Pierce City, was taken into custody on Feb. 21 on a felony probation violation from Lawrence County and on an outstanding Newton County warrant for felony stealing. Monett added a charge of felony resisting arrest...

The modern library is not just about checking out books and keeping one's voice down anymore, it's a vibrant hub of the community where people come together to connect, transform and be inspired, said Greg Brown, the Barry Lawrence Regional Library System's new social media and marketing manager...

At the coordinates 36.59, -93.83, one can find arguably the most wonderful part of Roaring River State Park — the spring where the river is born. The Roaring River Spring emerges from the base of a limestone cliff with an average daily flow of 20.4 million gallons, at an average temperature of 57 degrees. A smaller spring at the top of the cliff creates the waterfall, which splashes into the the main pool...

For Paul Spurgeon, Roaring River Hatchery Manager, things at the park leading up to Opening Day have been routine. Preparations for the 1,500 to 2,000 people expected to come to the park on March 1 include everything from getting the thousands of trout ready to be released to putting up signage throughout the park...

An Aurora man is charged with making a terrorist threat after allegedly threatening to shoot employees at the Tyson plant in Monett. George Bohmer, 56, of Aurora, is charged with second-degree terrorist threat. According to a probable cause statement filed by Scott Gaston, officer with the Monett Police Department, police were dispatched to the Tyson Foods plant on County Road in Monett at 12:30 a.m. on Friday for a report of an intoxicated employee attempting to leave the premises in a vehicle...

In February 2003, an article appeared in the Neosho Daily News explaining a potential problem with the Wildcats and Kickapoo basketball teams as they prepared to clash for the district basketball tournament championship. The game had received area-wide attention, and for good reason...

In six seasons at the helm of Pierce City, Rob Guerin and his Lady Eagles have only sat in the visitors’ seats on their home court twice — both times in Lady Eagles district title game wins. “I’m 2-0 when sitting in those seats,” Guerin said. “If sitting there means a district title, then we’ll sit there every time.”...

One of the hardest things to do is burn green firewood. The water has not had a chance to fully leave the material and it is 100 percent seasoned to burn at a hot temperature. It takes a hot fire to burn green wood, and this season for the Monett girls basketball team was much like trying to burn it...

It almost sounds like a broken record when Jeremy Dresslaer, Purdy boys basketball coach, begins to talk about his team and upcoming games. Dresslaer does not give his Eagles a detailed scouting report of their opponents, but he designs practice drills and scenarios to address what his scouting reports have told him...

CARTHAGE — Fans from Purdy got their money’s worth on Wednesday night, as the Eagles boys basketball team punched their ticket to the Class 2 quarterfinal round on Saturday with a 69-63 victory over Blue Eye. The game plan for Purdy coming into the game was attack the glass and get layups or fouled for free throws...

Filings opens Tuesday for the Aug. 7 primary election for county offices, prompting two races to quickly develop in Barry County from candidates filing by 1 p.m. In the presiding commissioner’s race, six-term incumbent Cherry Warren, of Exeter, surprised most political spectators by announcing he would run again, filing Tuesday morning. ...

A cougar is believed to be responsible for the attack of a resident's goat on her property in Barry County between Monett and Pierce City. According to resident Dolores Halbin, on Thursday evening, she heard what she described as frightening animal sounds coming from the south pasture of her property about 100 feet from her home...