Stories from Saturday, April 6, 2019

Richard Allan Woods, 59, of Monett, died Friday, April 5, at Freeman West Hospital in Joplin. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Buchanan Funeral Home. Interment will follow at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Monett. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. prior to the service...

Nawal S. Masri, 80, of Monett, died Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at Cox South Hospital in Springfield. Her wishes were to be cremated, with services at a later date. Arrangements have been entrusted to Buchanan Funeral Home, Monett.

Dorothy Lee Fly, 88, of Aurora, died Tuesday, April 2, at the Ozarks Methodist Manor in Marionville. A graveside service was held Thursday, April 4 at the Maple Park Cemetery in Aurora under direction of the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home, Aurora.

Lonnie Ray Nine, age 84, of Monett, Mo., passed from this life on Wednesday, April 3, 2019. Lonnie was born on April 30, 1934 in Shattuck, Okla., the son of the late Floyd and Rhea (Mayberry) Nine. He graduated from Gage High School in 1952, and continued his education at Oklahoma State University. ...

WillaDean McClellan Mele, of Sun Lakes, Ariz., passed away on March 31,2019. She was born Dec. 19, 1934, in Cassville, to Elmer and Fontella Inman McClellan. She was a 1952 graduate of Purdy High School. Survivors include four children, Steven Glenister, of Michigan, Sharon Davison and Susan Ward, both of Colorado, and Sandra Rachelle Lawendowski, of Hawaii; three brothers Bart, Jay and Ross McClellan; two step-daughters, Pat Curtis and Angie Tomer; 17 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. ...

James Loren Etter, 79, of Sarcoxie, passed away Saturday, March 30, 2019, at his daughter’s home after a brief hospital visit. James was born Sept. 3, 1939, in Monett, to the late Oscar and Martha (Douthitt) Etter. He proudly served in the United States Army, returning home in 1963. ...

It was with considerable relief that we reported passage of the 911 sales tax for Lawrence County this week. The alternative to no reliable or adequate funding for central dispatching was too bleak to contemplate. Passing a countywide sales tax happens rarely and usually accompanies a crisis. This one snuck up on us gradually over the last 20 years as cell phones became part of everyday life, making landline surcharges as obsolete as rotary phones...

The Wheaton baseball team defeated conference foe McAuley, 14-3, on Thursday. Ty Hudson earned the win throwing six innings, allowing 4 hits and striking out 5. Klay Reed hit two doubles and drove in four runs. Ricky Miller scored three times and Jack Mitchell collected 2 RBI...

The Monett girls track team traveled to Springfield Thursday to compete in the annual Girls Night Out. The Lady Cubs finished eighth in the 30-team field. “We faced some of the best competition from all classes in Missouri,” said Kelly George, Monett coach. “We just missed placing in the top eight in several events. I am proud of the girls for persevering through the weather and competing at a high level. We are still fine-tuning some things to reach our goals by the end of the season.”...

Change is something that most people are reluctant to embrace. Whether it is committing to a weight-loss plan, accepting that you aren’t as young as you used to be or realizing that you must face the fact that the world changes. On Tuesday, the voters in Verona recognized the need for change or more appropriately the need to provide for the future when they passed a no-increase bond to build a new storm shelter-gymnasium at the high school...

Wednesday was a frustrating day to be a Monett baseball player or fan. The Cubs showed flashes of brilliance at times, but also demonstrated lack of focus in a 9-7, 8-inning loss to Carthage. On Thursday, the Cubs (6-3) proved that they could put a bad performance behind them when they earned a 11-1, 5-inning victory over Nevada on Thursday...

• Cory Dale Garrison, second degree property damage, misd. B, 90 days in the Lawrence County Jail, SES, two years unsupervised probation, Restitution of $1,307, LERF $50. • Brandon T. King, failure to stop sign, misd. C, fined $155. • Ian J. Taylor, non-support: misd. A, SIS, two years unsupervised probation...

The Monett community Easter Egg Hunt will be held at 10 a.m. today, April 6, at the Monett City Park Casino. A shoe sale sponsored by the Cox Monett Hospital Auxiliary will be held in the hospital lobby from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 11. Men’s and women’s shoes by Klogs, Dansko and Alegria will be available, and accessories by Vera Bradley. Proceeds will benefit scholarships for high school students pursuing careers in healthcare. Additional information is available by calling 417-354-1404...

Aurora High School students attending the 2019 prom, held March 30 at SomePlace Nice near Pierce City, showed how low they could go through the Cha-Cha Slide.

The JROTC cadets from the Scott Regional Technology Center in Monett participated last weekend in the 100-year anniversary celebration of the Joplin JROTC, the oldest such program in the nation.

During an Easter crafting event at the Monett Branch of the Barry-Lawrence Regional Library on Thursday, Meg Young, of Monett, chose to paint a Mason jar in a delicate pastel pink as Carlye Withnell, of Verona, supervised.

Carolyn Dean, youth services coordinator at the Pierce City Branch Library, adjusts some of the artwork submitted for the 2019 Draw Pierce City contest which will remain on display through April 27.

Few school board seats faced contested races in the bi-county area on Tuesday. Exeter school district Experience provided an edge to the winners in the three-person field for two seats on the Exeter school board. Five-term incumbent Eric O'Neill led the field with 124 votes, followed by board appointed incumbent Bryce Stephens with 110...

A memorial to long-time Monett civic leader and Monett’s longest serving mayor, V.B. Hall, will be unveiled at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the garden area by the new Fifth Street parking lot on Broadway, south of the Monett Museum. The undertaking was spearheaded by Rod Anderson. ...

The Freistatt Village Board of Trustees adopted its budget for calendar year 2019 at its March meeting, holding rates on water and sewer service pending review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. With no planned capital improvements, trustees approved a budget with total anticipated income of $88,085, which included $63,200 from payments for water and sewer service. In 2018, the village took in $87,604.01, including $63,060.52 coming from water and sewer...

A variety of races filled out the April 2 ballot for road districts and other government bodies. Two races emerged in Barry County. In Sugar Creek, where neither incumbent ran, a tough contest emerged where Michael Sconnell won the race over Max Duncan 76-66, securing nearly 54 percent of the vote. In the Washburn Special Road District, incumbent Jimmie Hayworth held a definite edge in winning 101-73, taking 58 percent of the vote...

Two Pierce City High School students, Kendyl Hayward and Valentina Estevez, presenting a project for their Supreme Court studies class but probably did not expect a bevy of questions from school board members and spectators at their March meeting. The case surrounds the claim from the American Humanist Association that the memorial cross in Bladensburg, Md., which has stood for 94 years and memorializes 49 soldiers from Prince George’s County who died during World War I, violates the Constitution because it is on public land, amounting to a government establishment of religion.. ...

Close races dotted the landscape as results came in from the annual municipal and school board elections on Tuesday. Barry County Clerk Jill LeCompte reported turnout was just under 13 percent county-wide. Lawrence County Clerk Tammie Riebe reported just under 17 percent of voters in her county cast ballots...

Bi-county voters generally supported money issues placed on the Tuesday ballot, as they did the 911 sales tax in Lawrence County. However, several tax issues fell short of approval. Cassville school district The $4 million bond issue sought by the Cassville school district to build an early childhood center and other improvements found a receptive audience at the polls. Voters passed the measure 644-218, with 75 percent in favor...

After nearly a year and a half and one case declared a mistrial, a jury judgement has been reached in the case of Matthew Jackson, of Holiday Island, Ark., accused of stabbing a man to death in Golden in December 2017. Following a three-day jury trial and four-and-a-half hours of deliberations, a jury found Jackson guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action...