Stories from Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Phil Roy Medcalf, 79, of Battlefield, died Tuesday, July 14, at the Cox South Hospital in Springfield. A visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, at the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora. Burial will be held at the Maple Park Cemetery in Aurora...

Eldon Lee McCracken, 82, of Monett, died Thursday, July 16, at the Truman Healthcare and Rehab Center in Lamar. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 22, at Buchanan Funeral Home with Rev. Chris Carver officiating. Interment will follow at the Arnhart Cemetery, Purdy...

Elvert “Al” E. Garver, 81, of Monett, died Saturday, July 4, at the Bentonview Park Health and Rehab Center in Monett. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, at the Liberty Baptist Church, 610 S. Eisenhower, Monett. Arrangements have been entrusted to Buchanan Funeral Home, Monett...

Tammy Diane Bever, 61, of Monett, died Saturday, July 18, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Memorial services are incomplete and will be announced later. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the Bennett-Wormington Funeral Home in Monett...

Allan C. Heseman, 63, of Jefferson City, passed away Friday, July 17, 2020, after a courageous battle with Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Allan was born on June 28, 1957, in Monett, a son of Erwin Richard and Lela Ann (Doss) Heseman. He was married on September 12, 1981, in Freistatt, to Sherry L. Haggett, who survives...

Better late than never was the attitude the Monett wrestling team took as it finally held its awards banquet last week. The state champion Cubs had planned to host the event in late March, but the quarantine due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) put a hold on the celebration...

American Red Cross recently awarded John Beckwith of Monett, a plaque for achieving the 10-gallon blood milestone in donations for the Monett blood drive.

The Crowder Quill literary-art magazine contest of Crowder College has announced the winners of the annual contest. For the 2020 contest and 40th annual anniversary, 1257 entries were received, which is a record number of participants. Winning entrants receive a certificate and are published in the magazine; this year, 106 awards were presented...

The Monett Rural Fire District will have its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday July 28 at the fire station no. 1 on County Road. A fundraising effort is underway to complete a mini-theatre at the Monett Historic Museum, reminiscent of the original Gillioz. ...

The moratorium on music concerts was broken in Monett on July 11.

New signage is in place at Freedom Bank of Southwest Missouri, formerly Community National Bank, at 901 E. Hwy. 60 in Monett.

Monday was the first appearance of the mobile Murphy’s Orchard from Marionville bringing fresh produce to Monett.

Some rides were a bit slower pace at the Purdy Festival, like the barrel train that weaved its way through the festivities.

A Monett man was injured Saturday in a wreck at 7:40 p.m. on Farm Road 1100, one mile east of Monett. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Matthew Henson, 37, of Monett, was driving a 2007 Yamaha 450 ATV northbound and attempted to outrun a train...

A Monett man was arrested last week for a June incident where he allegedly pulled a gun on two people in their home, demanded money, then fled the home with cash and prescription pills. Trenton Carrington, 19, of Monett, is charged with first-degree robbery, a class A felony, and armed criminal action...

Organizers of First on Front, the popular summer concert series sponsored by First State Bank of Purdy in Monett, are hoping to be able to host a 2021 season. “It rained every night of our event in 2019,” said Amanda Lee, one of the event organizers. “Then, COVID-19 wiped out our 2020 season. But, we are hoping to be able to return in 2021, once it is safe for everyone to gather again.”...

A Pierce City landlord with property in the Village of Freistatt has lost a two-year legal battle with the Board of Trustees in that community, but that has not stopped him from requesting a “settlement” for damages he allegedly incurred in providing water to a tenant, and for reimbursement of legal fees incurred when he instigated the legal action...

Things are shaping up at the new Cox Monett Hospital construction site, with the majority of patient rooms, operating rooms and nurses station steel beam infrastructure in place. “We’ve made some changes to the original plans and now we will have four negative pressure rooms in the emergency department,” said Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett Hospital and system vice president of Community Hospital Group for CoxHealth in Springfield. ...

The Monett school district is aggregating data from a parent and staff survey in an ongoing effort to formulate its plans for returning to school in August while COVID-19 (coronavirus) is still a concern. Russ Moreland, Monett superintendent, said the district has a rough draft of its plans for reentry, but the situation is fluid, and surveys submitted to patrons of the district are an important piece of the reentry puzzle...

As COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases in Barry and Lawrence counties near 300 total, some of the hardest hit areas have been nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. As of Tuesday, Barry County had 180 cases, and Lawrence County had 117 for a total of 297. Between both counties, at least 86 of those cases (29 percent) have been in nursing homes or other long term care facilities...

The number of COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases in Barry County is at 180, up 29 from the previous week, but with 40 people recovering. According the Barry County Health Department and Barry County Office of Emergency Management, there have been 177 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, one presumptive and two antibody positives. As of Tuesday, a total of 53 people were considered active cases in isolation, two of whom are hospitalized, and 247 close contacts are quarantined in their homes...

On April 19, Sy Rogers passed into eternity after struggling with cancer for nine months. A Celebration of Sy’s life will be live streamed on the First United Methodist Church website at www.fumcmonett.org/watch at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, July 31. Because of current health concerns, attendance will be limited to the family. ...