Stories from Saturday, January 12, 2019

David Abraham Stephens, 63, of Aurora, died on Jan. 5. A celebration of life under the direction of the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora was held Friday, Jan. 11, at Aurora High School.

Barbara LeCompte, 89, of Cassville, died Wednesday, Jan. 9. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at United Methodist Church in Cassville, under direction of Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville. Burial will be at Washburn Prairie Cemetery in Washburn...

Gayla Earlene Garoutte, 60, of Marionville, died Monday, Jan. 7, at the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Williams Funeral Home in Marionville. Burial will follow at the Marionville IOOF Cemetery...

Janice Faye “Grannie Jan” Moore, passed from this life at the age of 77 to her heavenly home on Tuesday afternoon, January 8, 2019, while in the comfort of her home and surrounded by her loving family. Jan was born August 31, 1941, in Ramona, Okla., daughter of the late Otis and Nola (Brown) Wofford. ...

Dear Editor: On Thursday, the Lawrence County Commission will present its proposed 2019 budget. We are in the second year of the Law Enforcement Sales Tax (LEST), and with more than 60 percent of Lawrence County being rural, a review of our law and order situation is timely...

You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief this week when the announcement came that flexible modular scheduling at Monett High School would end with the present school year. The sigh came from educators outside of Monett. The concept, even more controversial than the four-day school week, presented a wide range of challenges that other school districts did not want to face. ...

The Verona boys basketball team held onto its state ranking in the latest Missouri Basketball Coaches Association poll. The Wildcats are ranked the No. 10 team in Class 2 as they prepare to head to the Spokane Tournament on Monday. The Wildcats are not the only regional team to find a home on the who’s-who list...

It is not uncommon for coaches to be such good friends that they understand what each other wants to do on the basketball floor. In some instances, scouting is not even necessary because they are so familiar with each other’s tendencies. Occasionally, the tie that binds coaches is a family ties, such as a father and son on opposite coaching teams, but on Monday, one of the most unusual coaching matchups unfolds in Anderson when Monett’s Alyssa Kennedy leads her 4-6 Lady Cubs against the 3-8 Lady Mustangs coached by her husband, Chris Kennedy.. ...

Purple- and gold-clad singlets ruled the night on Thursday, as the Monett boys and girls wrestling team went undefeated in a quad meet with Willard, Carl Junction and Logan-Rogersville. The Cubs dropped Carl Junction, 44-33, then topped Rogersville, 43-12, and concluded the night with a 39-30 win over Willard. Monett is 9-1 on the season...

Filings for the April 2 municipal and school board elections run through Jan. 15. All branches of the Barry-Lawrence Regional Library will be closed on Jan. 21 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Cox Monett Hospital Dining for Diabetes fundraiser will be held at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26, beginning with dinner at St. Mary’s Catholic School fellowship hall in Pierce City. The event has a circus theme. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 each. For information, people may call 417-354-1280...

Last Saturday offered ideal conditions for construction work on the latest Monett/Purdy Habitat for Humanity home at 526 W. Logan in Monett.

Volunteers from across the Monett community and many churches helped ring bells for the Salvation Army during the Christmas season.

Barry County Prosecutor Amy Boxx will serve the state in an advisory capacity in coming months, as she was selected as one of 12 advisors on incoming Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s transition team. The team will focus on reviewing the Attorney General's Office and gathering information relevant to Schmitt’s top priorities as Attorney General...

Wheaton School District Superintendent Lance Massey attended two different state legislature meetings recently in Springfield and Webb City, learning about a few topics up that stuck out to him regarding proposed state laws. “One thing that will actually take effect next year is the way that we count school days,” Massey said. “Currently, it is a combination of hours and days, and it will be moving to an hours-only system.”...

The Wheaton school district has set goals for some projects that need attention in its buildings, and will be purchasing a new air-conditioned trip bus. Lance Massey, Wheaton school district superintendent, said CTS is a company that the district has done business with before, a group that will come out and give a no-obligation, no-cost estimate...

The Verona City Council resolved its ongoing telephone problem recently by contracting with Losh Network Systems from Springfield to convert to a voice-over-internet system, abandoning its long-standing association with Windstream. Clerk Laura Hazelwood reported initially receiving three quotes for voice-over-internet phone service. ...

A flash fire at senior citizen apartments in Verona on Friday damaged a building with four units but resulted in no injuries. According to Aaron Siegrist, chief for the Aurora Rural Fire Department, the fire took place at 301 W. Ella, where a resident was smoking while wearing an oxygen tank. The fire burned the oxygen tube in two and spread through the apartment. Monett city, rural and Freistatt firefighters joined the Aurora Rural district in fighting the blaze...

The success of the Somos program at the Monett campus of Drury University has helped inspire Drury to use a new grant opportunity to reach potential students in the Springfield area. Drury's Somos ("We Are") program, a five-year College Assistant Migrant Program (CAMP) grant through the Department of Education, is an outreach to help students from a migrant background seek a college education, now in its third year in Monett. ...

One of the next big plans for Monett’s transportation system received a big boost last week with the approval of funding under the federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) for new sidewalks on Central Avenue between Broadway and Cleveland Avenue...

Lawrence County commissioners planned another round of discussions with county officeholders on Monday in preparation for the annual county budget hearing at 10 a.m. on Thursday at the historic county courthouse in Mt. Vernon. Commissioners are considering a $3,540,594 budget for fiscal year 2019, not including an additional $1.5 million anticipated from the law enforcement sales tax that largely goes to Sheriff Brad DeLay for running the Sheriff’s Office and the jail. ...

A home daycare center serving 14 children erupted in flames shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday, destroying the garage and damaging much of the house as the rapidly moving blaze spread through the attic. Monett dispatch received a call at 2:18 p.m. of a fire at 920 Rosewood, which Detective David Curts, arriving momentarily on scene, said started in the garage. ...