Stories from Saturday, February 13, 2021

Mary Ellen White, 75, of Ash Grove, died at 9:41 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at Mercy Hospital in Joplin. Visitation will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 18, at Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon with a funeral service immediately to follow at 2 p.m. in the funeral home chapel. Burial will follow at the Rock Prairie Cemetery in Halltown...

Steven Duane Ward, 69, of Mt. Vernon, died at 8:11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 7, at his home. A celebration of Steven’s life will be held at a later date at the Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon and in New Palestine, Indiana, at a later date to be determined...

Dominic Michael Roberts, 18, of Aurora, passed away on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, at Mercy Hospital in Springfield. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 19, at the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora. Due to COVID-19, the family has requested for those attending the services to please wear a mask and to practice social distancing...

Henry Melvin Rampy, 87, of Springfield, passed away at 7:40 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 25, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Mt. Vernon. Graveside services will be held at a later date at Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Springfield. Arrangements are under the direction of the Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon...

Dorthy Frances Jones, 79, of Mt. Vernon, died at 3:40 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 8, at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13, at Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon with burial to follow at the Campground Cemetery in Chesapeake...

I have a bone to pick with the Farmer’s Almanac. The “Bible of weather” never seems to be correct for southwest Missouri, especially this week, when it predicted “mild” weather and “rainy periods.” Parents may not have been prepared for students to have a full week out of school. I was surprised Monday when my kindergartner got to stay home, and looking ahead to next week, I told my wife she’d better get used to it...

Missouri’s catch-and-keep trout fishing season officially begins at 6:30 a.m. Monday, March 1, at Roaring River State Park near Cassville, Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon and Montauk State Park near Salem. Trout anglers are required to have a fishing permit and a daily trout tag to fish in Missouri’s trout parks and can learn more at huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/huntfish/seasons/trout-parks...

The Verona boys and girls basketball teams will each host a district tournament contest this year, as Class 2, District 12 seeds were released this week. The Wildcats earned a No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Jasper at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 20. No. 3 College Heights Christian will host No. 6 Greenfield, also at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 20...

Monett senior Ray Villalta may have missed most of his senior football season and was kept out of wrestling this winter, but that did not stop him from signing to play on the gridiron at Evangel this fall. In the second week of the 2020 football season against Aurora, Villalta, a defensive tackle, heard a pop at the end of a play, but he continued on. ...

Wisper Internet’s expansion to Barry County is due to its success in the Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II). CAF II was a rural broadband auction held by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2018. Wisper was named the winner of $220.3 million; funds were allocated across the following six states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma...

Monett school district has announced students named to the first semester honor roll for the 2020-2021 academic years. Seniors: Benjamin True Bluel, Joseph Gabriel Bricker, Caitlyn Makenna Calhoun, Christian Jared Canales, Jennifer Masina Faavi-Cordero, Payton Ann Flynt, Jordan Alexis Garrison, Chee Nue Hang, Melanie Giselle Hernandez Salas, Jennifer Deon Hurst, Abigail Faith Jastal, Kaia Breann Johnson, Miles Edward Laning, Estin Dale McBroom, Abby Rhea McCaffrey, Kalysa Diana McGuire, Dominic Taylor McMahan, Molly Jazmine Montoya Diaz, Tapanga Ann Morris, Doss Wiley Nation, Sydney Jo Parrigon, Kimberlee Brianne Parris, Deesha Sandip Patel, Andy Quoc Pham, Peyton Erica Poage, Oo Reh, Zariah Hope Rosenbalm, Christian Kash-Gene Selvey, Dylan Parker Smith, Katherine Anne Smith, Hannah Elise Stewart, Donovan Andrew Thomas, Ben Verstraete, Tanner Jackson Wright and Lorena Jo Yax-Currens.. ...

American Red Cross recently awarded Paul Renfro, of Carterville, a plaque for reaching the 25-gallon blood donation milestone.

Pierce City resident Joshua Ridenour recently won $50,000 playing a Missouri Lottery “Show Me $1,000,000” Scratchers ticket. He purchased his winning ticket at Fastrip, 104 S. Main St., in Cassville. “Show Me $1,000,000” is a $10 Scratchers game with over $26.1 million in unclaimed prizes, including a top prize of $1 million...

The children of Glen and Mary (Latshaw) Young happily announce their parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Glen Young and Mary Latshaw were united in marriage on Feb. 19, 1971, at Temple Baptist Church in Monett, by Rev. Gordon Parker. They have been blessed with two sons, Brent (Mandy) Young and Brad (Shari) Young and five grandchildren: Marcus, Andrew, Miles, Mason and Lauren Young...

Pierce City Senior Center will be closed in January and February due to COVID. The center will evaluate the situation at the end of February to consider opening for March. The Monett branch of the Barry-Lawrence Regional Library hosts a weekly virtual story time from 4-4:30 p.m. each Friday. To register and receive a Zoom invitation, call the library at 417-235-6646...

Monett Fire responded to reports of a possible house fire at 1306 7th St. in Monett at approximately 1 p.m. Wednesday.

One of the signature features of the City’s parks system is the Sportsman’s Lake at South Park.

A long and lonely road is the perfect title for roads across the bi-county area this week, and one more description can be added — icy everywhere.

Ronald McDonald House Charities will be hosting its 28th annual Share a Heart Campaign throughout the month of February to help local families with ill or injured children. McDonald’s restaurants throughout the Ozarks, including in Monett and Cassville, are encouraging customers to donate $1, $5 or $20 to “adopt” a heart that will be displayed in the restaurant and feature the donor’s name...

Starting on Friday, Monett residents are invited to enjoy a Monett Artist’s Guild live performance of Joan Vail Thorne’s play “The Exact Center of the Universe.” Local actors and producers have been working since the Christmas break to bring this popular production to life and three shows are scheduled this weekend at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19 and 20, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21...

Snow, ice, frigid temperatures and more ice has proven to be dangerous this week, and the outlook for next week is not looking much better. Luckily as this is written, locally, there has not been any bad automobile accidents or outages as a result of the bad weather and extreme low temperatures...

Schools have been closed, roads have been icy and some businesses have closed their doors this week due to extreme weather that is expected to continue well into next week. Area schools from Monett to Cassville and from Pierce City to Verona cancelled classes this past week due to unsafe road conditions resulting from snow, ice and ongoing freezing temperatures...