Stories from Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Rev. Garry Martin Willoughby, 69, of Monett, died Saturday, Jan. 19, at Cox South Hospital in Springfield. Memorial services for Reverend Willoughby will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Purdy First Baptist Church with Rev. Bill Banks officiating. A private burial will be held at a later date in Oakdale Cemetery in Monett...

Loren Ray Williams, 73, of Monett, died Monday Jan. 21, at Mercy Hospital in Springfield. Memorial services are incomplete and will be announced upon completion. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the Bennett-Wormington Funeral Home in Monett...

Kenneth Carl Sturgeon, 95, of Stella, died Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019. Funeral services were held Tuesday, Jan. 22, at McQueen Funeral Home in Wheaton. Burial was at Muncie Chapel Cemetery in Wheaton.

Carroll Gene Patrick, 81, of Mt. Vernon, died Saturday, Jan. 19, at Cox South Hospital in Springfield. A visitation will be held from 1-2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, at the First Christian Church in Mt. Vernon. A memorial service will follow at 2 p.m. A private family burial will be at a later date at the Mt. Vernon City Cemetery...

Faye Katherine Foltz, 84, of Seligman, died Friday, Jan. 18. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, at Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville. Burial will be at Viney Creek Cemetery in Golden. Visitation will be held from 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, at Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville...

It was not quite the desired result the Monett wrestling team had hoped for. The Cubs took second at the Big 8 Conference wrestling meet on Friday, finishing just a single point behind conference champion Seneca. The Indians totaled 344 points, and the Cubs 343...

Two years ago, on a trip back from Texas, my father and I found ourselves in the town of Hugo, Okla. Hugo sits a stone’s throw from Texas and is notable for a couple of reasons. First, it is the winter home to two circuses. In fact, during the winter months, it had the highest concentration of elephants in North America...

CRIMINAL • Dennis P. Dobard: failure to register vehicle, misd. B, fined $130. • Raymond A. Godsy: operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner involving an accident, misd. A, fined $195. • Evelio Gonzalez: animal abuse, SIS, two years unsupervised probation, $100 LERF, CVCF $10...

• Charles N. Brand, failed to register vehicle, $102. • Mitchell A. Craker, disorderly conduct, $77; possession of open container of alcohol, $52. • Jasmine M. Mend Bickford, failed to register vehicle, $77. • Llury T. Perez, defective equipment, $152...

Addison Avondet a fifth-grade student of Judy Younker’s at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Pierce City, is the winner of the school level spelling bee and will advance to regional competition Monday, March 18, at Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School in Joplin...

Students from the 1958 graduating class at Purdy High School recently reunited at Angus Branch Restaurant to observe their 60th year reunion.

The 2019 graduating 8th grade class at Trinity Lutheran School in Freistatt will host its annual chili cook-off on February 10 in the school fellowship hall. The community is invited to attend and/or compete. The meal will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with the announcement of the winners and a dessert auction at 12:30. All money donated will support the 8th grade class trip to Branson. People may call the school office at 235-5931 to enter the competition...

Monett city employees reaching a milestone of 10 years of service received pins in recognition of their work at the January City Council meeting.

A Mt. Vernon man was injured Saturday in a wreck at 8:10 p.m. on Farm Road 1090, two miles south of Cassville. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Steven Hubert, 39, of Mt. Vernon, was driving a 2012 Kia Sedona southbound when his vehicle failed to negotiate a curve, went off the roadway and struck a tree...

A Cassville man was injured Saturday in a wreck at 3:35 p.m. on Highway 76, two miles east of Cassville. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Allen Foster, 53, of Cassville, was driving a 1994 GMC Sierra eastbound when his vehicle lost control on an ice-covered roadway, slid off the roadway and struck a ditch...

In the face of shifting federal priorities toward agriculture and a year after a significant drought, speakers have lined up to talk about new realities in the marketplace for the Monett Chamber of Commerce’s 50th annual Dairy Day and Beef Cattlemen’s Conference, part of a day-long series of talks on agriculture on Feb. 12...

The crime rate is up in the bi-county area, according to local law enforcement officials who reported their findings at the January meeting of the Barry-Lawrence Chapter of Crime Stoppers. Det. Sgt. Dave Haskins, with the Monett Police Department, said there had been several reports of storage units being broken into in the past few weeks...

CoxHealth has raised its starting wage to $11 after six months of service to better support employees. From a desire to invest even more in the lives of employees comes a change in compensation at CoxHealth. Health system leaders have invested $6 million to raise CoxHealth’s starting wage to at least $11 an hour – a figure that’s $3.15 per hour more than Missouri’s minimum wage...

A stubborn rural Monett house fire and gusting wind conditions provided a major challenge for area firefighters on Monday. Firefighters received a report of flames through the roof of an unoccupied two-story rural home at 20288 Farm Road 1070, north of Monett, shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday...

On Sunday, skywatchers were treated to a celestial phenomenon, a super blood moon lunar eclipse.

The Ozarks Drug Enforcement Team (ODET) has released its annual statistics for 2018, showing 6.6 pounds of meth and 18.1 pounds of marijuana were seized in Barry County. Chad Allison, ODET commander, said the primary function of the Team is to dismantle large scale drug trafficking organizations...

Few names in the pint-sized Barry County town of Exeter brought as much pride to the residents of the community as Mason Lowe. Lowe was the typical All-American boy. He grew up in the small town, played sports at the high school and had a dream that burned inside of him that no amount of water could extinguish...

Members of the Lawrence County Commission, the Monett-Lawrence County 911 board and stakeholders in the 911 system met Tuesday morning to hear comments about placing a question on the April ballot to establish a county-wide sales tax to fund the 911 communications system...