Stories from Saturday, May 11, 2019

Charles Robert “Bob” Jones, 77, of Miller, died at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, May 5, at the Mt. Vernon Place Care Center. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 10, at Miller Christian Church. Burial will follow at Sycamore Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, at the f Morris-Leiman-Mosher Funeral Home chapel...

Lois Marie (Brown) Zent, 91, of Mt. Vernon, died Monday, May 6, in Republic. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, May 13, at Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon. Burial will follow at 1 p.m. at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Springfield...

Last week gave us plenty to worry about, from the sky. Twice at The Monett Times, we sandbagged our doors. In the record of 32 floods, going back to 1908, seven have taken place in April, the most of any month. There have been six in May, if you count the three days in a row that it flooded in 1943 as three different events. So we had good reason to worry, if just from a psychological standpoint...

Mothers and grandmothers will be admitted free into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame if they bring a child to the museum during this Mother’s Day weekend, President and Executive Director Jerald Andrews announced Wednesday. The museum is open from 10 a.m. ...

The Ozark 7 Conference wasted no time in releasing its 2018-2019 all-conference softball team. The list is as follows: Player of the Year: Rachel Lacey, Wheaton Coach of the Year: Cheri Nash, Verona Haylee Hobbs, Exeter Brooke Friesenborg, Golden City...

Hoping for good weather and playing to his potential are the two main things on the mind of Monett senior Clayton Kaiser as he prepares for his final entry in the state golf championship on Monday and Tuesday. Kaiser’s path to Columbia has been rock solid...

The Verona baseball team continues its historic season on Monday with an automatic bye into the Class 1, District 5 tournament in Hurley. The Wildcats (11-2) will play the winner of the No. 4 seeded Bradleyville and No. 5 seed Chadwick, which will be played at 10 a.m on Saturday...

Officials at Monett Elementary School have chosen students demonstrating the characteristic of being safe as Students of the Week for April 29.

Students in fifth through eighth grades at St. Mary's Catholic School in Pierce City pitted their math and technological skills against their peers from St. Peter's Catholic Middle School in Joplin, and St. Lawrence Catholic School in Monett for their first Science/Math Day competition...

The annual Waldensian Cemetery Association meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on May 13 at the Waldensian Presbyterian Church, south of Monett. Anyone owning a grave site or that has ties to the cemetery are encouraged to attend. A vote will be taken on revised bylaws. New rules and regulations will be distributed...

A total of 27 Marionville High School graduates have earned scholarships and awards to be applied toward collegiate expenses as they enter the next phases of their lives. A list of students and their scholarships follows. Breanna Bowman, John and Betty Morris Scholarship, A+ Scholarship and Community Blood Center of the Ozarks Scholarship...

A total of 45 Marionville High School seniors ended their high school careers with commencement ceremonies that took place Thursday, May 9. Valedictorian for the Class of 2019 was Alexus Buckert. She is the granddaughter of Jeff and Jan Buckert. She plans to attend University of Missouri Kansas City in the fall...

Graduation ceremonies were held for 14 preschool students at Berean Christian Academy in Monett on Tuesday.

Graduation ceremonies were held Thursday for the three members of the Class of 2019 at Berean Christian Academy in Monett. Valedictorian Kirsten Powers, daughter of Marcy Gripka and Robby Powers, thanked the teachers at Berean in her address and pledged to strive to make them proud. Salutatorian Taylor Powers, daughter of Amy and Jason Jordan, gave specific thanks to teachers, staff, family and classmates...

On Tuesday, between 500 and 600 students at Monett High School will participate in the ninth annual Community Service Day, spreading out around the community to engage in a variety of projects. Coordinator Amy Sampson said students will go to more than 20 locations...

After 24 years of service, Monett Police Lt. Greg Brandsma retired this week from the Monett Police Department. A party in his honor was held at the Monett Justice Center on Wednesday, Brandsma's last day. Brandsma was the second-longest serving officer on the department, next to Sgt. Kermit Howell. He is the longest serving lieutenant, following the reorganization of the department after the retirement of Chief Wes Thomas in 1992...

For the fifth year, the Southwest Missouri Area Health Education Center will hold its annual M*A*S*H (Missouri AHEC Science and Health) day camp at Cox Monett Hospital. Registration is being accepted through July 12 for high school students from any area school to participate...

A total of 36 Pierce City High School seniors will end their prep academic careers with commencement ceremonies taking place at 6 p.m. on May 19 in the high school gymnasium. Valedictorian for the Class of 2019 is Jessica Spencer. She is the daughter of Alisha and J.D. Stewart. She will be attending Missouri State University in the fall and plans to major in music education...

Friday morning, Monett High School seniors headed to graduation that evening took a “victory lap.”

This week, firefighters in and around Monett had an unusual opportunity to undergo extensive training in response to hazardous material leaks and spills, in partnership with the Barry-Lawrence County Local Emergency Planning Committee. Fifteen students from four different fire departments took part in classes held at the Monett Athletic Center. ...

It’s the Missouri Army National Guard to the rescue. In January, Mayor Kenny Smith decreed that he wanted vandals causing damage to picnic tables at Pierce City South Park to be “caught, arrested and publicly humiliated,” after it was reported that three of the tables had been torn up, stolen, or tossed into the lake...

At a special meeting of the Monett City Council on April 29, the Council approved contracts to Lawrence County and Mt. Vernon to cover dispatching service until Oct. 1, when administration of dispatching will transfer to the new Lawrence County Emergency Services Board...

Monett High School seniors received recognition for outstanding achievement and years of consistent performance during the Senior Honors Program, held Monday at the MHS Performing Arts Center. The President’s Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence is presented to students for maintaining a seventh semester grade point average of 3.67 on a 4.0 scale, and who scored in the 85th percentile or higher on the math or reading portions of the SAT or ACT college entrance exams. ...