Viewpoint

During this week’s Veteran’s Day assembly at Monett High School, speaker Dwight Heseman commented that the assembly, the eighth annual such gathering at the school, stood in contrast with his own experience. Growing up, he saw no such celebrations of national military service at school. He was glad to see the change...

One of the nice things about small towns is the personable environment at the governmental level. In most communities, a person can walk in off the street, find an elected official or the people who actually do the work, and strike up a conversation. Government is not hidden or remote. It’s very personal...

No doubt, Monett had a fabulous Halloween celebration this year. Much credit goes to a break in the weather. Thursday afternoon with clear and sunny despite the brisk temperatures. We had around 350 children stop at The Monett Times office for candy...

Historically, FEMA has treated our area well. The response to the 2003 Pierce City tornado was creative, innovative and generous. The commitment to restore Joplin after the catastrophic 2011 tornado came on a heroic level. Smaller undertakings, like floods, commonly shared across the nation, show the limits for how the federal government can help. Even so, time and again FEMA has worked with struggling bi-county road districts to help restore roads that have washed out, some over and over again...

Pierce City School Superintendent Kelli Alumbaugh commended her school board this week for its willingness to hold a public forum on the topic of improving security in the school district by adding armed personnel. She observed it’s a highly charged topic no one particularly wants to talk about...

Dear Editor: The Aurora schools have in place a policy that classifies essentially any absence as “unexcused,” with an accumulation of absences causing the student to be denied credit, regardless of what their actual grade may be. I always provide advance, written notice of my child’s pending absence, and I invite his teachers to let me know if he needs to be working on anything during the absence, and upon his return to school I provide documentation of the doctor, etc., visit...

Apple Butter Makin’ Days this weekend in Mt. Vernon offers a laboratory that Monettans should watch. First of all, it will be the test of endurance and stalwart response to the weather. Some people, we know, will not cross the street if it’s raining. ...

Thirty-five years ago I was riding my bicycle around Reading, Penn., when I came across an odd sight. Next to an old substantial cinder block factory building, there was a small subdivision of several dozen homes, surrounded by paved streets and sidewalks...

There’s been some notable tension in the air this week. We had another 14-year-old threatening suicide, just as we had a Pierce City High School student talking in those terms last week. Authorities handled both cases very seriously, taking every precaution and helping both through their crisis. Suicides are known to prompt similar incidents. That’s why school and first responders take nothing for granted under these conditions...

This was a trying week for Monett. The untimely death of Sergio Salas Rueda, an apparently well-liked and talented 14-year-old Monett Middle School student, shook the community in unexpected ways. Brad Ridenour, chief executive officer of the Clark Community Mental Health Center, said Monett has been incredibly insulated from such incidents. ...