Viewpoint

The two largest school districts in Barry County released their back-to-school plans on Thursday, and unlike how all districts in March did the exact same wellness break, this fall will look different depending on the district. Monett released a 10-page document detailing the most pertinent questions, such as the options for seated or virtual instruction, masking for students and staff, transportation protocols, the triggers for a change to out-of-school instruction, and a whole host of other details people may or may not have considered.. ...

I would like to begin this column with a description of a person that held many titles. Those titles included counselor, minister, best friend, a type of person that you can confide in and one that would drop everything to serve you in your time of need 24 hours a day, seven days a week — special person that always had the mindset of servitude...

Oh, say can you see, the mural gracing Front Street. Anyone who has driven on the eastern end of Front Street or who saw the front page of our July 11 issue knows — it’s a quintessential symbol of America. Rayne Clotfelter has been working on the project for weeks now, an eagle head over a cascading U.S. Flag on the historic grain silo at Seventh and Front...

If there’s anybody I don’t want to be right now, it’s a school superintendent or member of a school board. Many boards met this week or last to discuss how their students would reenter schools in a month’s time, and with the ongoing, ever-changing pandemic, those decisions are not easy ones to make...

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776...

Life has a way of bringing new challenges, and with the retirement of News Editor Murray Bishoff, one of those challenges has been thrown my way — contributing a relevant and worthwhile piece to this space every week. Prior to his retirement, Murray had been working at The Monett Times longer than I have been alive, a fact I like to point out to anyone that questions his dedication and experience. ...

I suppose everyone is probably familiar with this line from the song from the sitcom Cheers. There was the one particular character that would walk into the Cheers bar, and everyone would say, “Norm!” I can see that happening in the Monett and Pierce City areas, especially when Murray Bishoff walks into a meeting, the museums, stores, etc. — everyone will know who he is and will know his name...

Over the years, I’ve attended many local funerals. Kings and princes were honored for stature they had earned, for grace and kindness in action; women whose nobility and thoughtfulness earned them respect. Honor at graveside has been mostly a meritocracy here, not a right of birth...

Graduations this year in both Pierce City and Monett may have marked historic turning points for both school districts. Outdoor graduations have been a delight, and they suggest alternatives to what have been painfully cramped indoor rituals. In Pierce City, where a faction has argued for years to build a super performance gym, something the district can ill afford, dramatically showing an alternative makes one wonder why school leaders shunned a strategy that worked so well 20 years ago, the last time it was tried.. ...

Trouble is a’brewin’ in Barry County. As we entered Phase II of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) recovery plan this week, we had seen only a dozen cases from March 27, when the first confirmed case was announced, to June 12 — but now, the wave is coming. This week alone, Barry County confirmed 21 positive cases, tripling the amount confirmed in the last two-and-a-half months to a total, excluding the one presumptive case and two antibody positives. ...

Dear Editor: Monett turned a page in history recently, as its well known, award-winning historian turned a page in his own career as an accomplished writer. Our newspaper began a new direction and our classic newspaper man opened new doors for his own place in a literary tradition...

Last weekend, I went to the Kansas City area to make a purchase for the Pierce City Museum. There, I met with two sisters whose mother, Lois Rae Kennedy, died in 2006, and whose father, Bob Kennedy, now 91, has just gone to a nursing home. They were selling his stuff to help pay for his final years of care...

The protests that took place in Monett this week in solidarity with national marches, resulting from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, had a Monett touch. One could only hope such a civilized approach could be found in cities across the country that have been racked with violence and destruction...