Stories from Friday, November 16, 2007

Patricia "Sue" Faros age 77, passed away on Nov. 14, 2007 at St Luke's Hospital. Sue was born July 17, 1930, to Francis D. and Emma B. Woodfill in Nevada, where she lived her entire childhood. She was married Feb. 1, 1951, to George C. Faros, also of Nevada. The couple had two children; D. Christopher Faros and S. Cathleen Faros...

Velma Laveta Scott Still, 99, Nevada, passed away on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, at Moore-Few Care Center in Nevada following a brief illness. She was born April 20, 1908, in Nevada, to Chester Withrow and Emma Ann Ball Withrow. She married Virgil O. Scott in March 1927 and he preceded her in death in August 1954. Later she married Earl Still in July 1959 in Nevada, and he preceded her in death...

Most everyone in the area is cognizant of the fact the Southwest Conference is disbanding after this school year and Nevada appears to be without a conference for the next two school years, beginning next fall. Since February, Nevada has been denied admission by the Central Ozarks Conference, West Central Conference, the Show Me West Conference and most recently the Big 8...

Cottey College will put its perfect record on the line Saturday when it travels to Kansas for a meeting with Hesston College. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. "Hesston will provide a major test on the road Saturday, and I am anxious to see how we respond," Comets head coach Dave Ketterman said...

Host Nevada Middle School won 13 matches in a triangular with Carthage and Harrisonville to opening wrestling season on Thursday evening. Kyle Bennett and True Beisley each recorded pins over opponents from Carthage and Harrisonville to lead the Tigers...

Pierce City High School Project Graduation 2008 will hold a youth basketball tournament on Saturday, Dec. 15 and Sunday, Dec. 16 for boys and girls teams in grades 3-6. Cost is $75 per team. For more information or to sign up your team, contact Raymond Palmer at (417) 476-5007 or send an e-mail to rpalmer@efco.com or call Kevin Hatfield at (417) 850-0940 or e-mail him at kevin317@centurytel.net...

The past couple of days, my yard has taken on a new sensory effect. There is a distinctive sound which can best be described as a "crunch." This sound is caused by one thing only, the fallen leaves from my trees. Each year as autumn wanes towards the holiday season, the leaves fall and become a familiar sight of the season. They also furnish that particularly cozy resonance of dry fall foliage when they are trampled...

Nov. 12 The Joplin Globe, on Washington University study: Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered something about children on the heavy side that most adults learned through frustrating years of trial and error: Taking off weight may not be easy, but it can be much easier than keeping the pounds off...

Dear editor: I am an avid and regular reader of the Daily Mail. I appreciate critical discussion of issues of public interest, even when I do not agree with the writer. However, I think that it was inappropriate for you to allow Governor Blunt's attorney to use your paper to publish a partisan and very subjective defense of the Governor's policy on e-mail retention and to attack the Governor's former attorney whom he sought to discredit...

By Steve Moyer Nevada Daily Mail The Nevada R-5 School District has achieved the designation of Accredited with Distinction in Performance for the eighth consecutive year. To qualify for the honor the district must meet all required performance areas on the Missouri Assessment Program test and must earn 13 points on the Annual Performance Report...

Nominations are being accepted for the January election of the Vernon County University of Missouri Extension Council members, according to Council Chairman Larry Buckles. Council members are elected or appointed to two-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms. Nominees must be at least 18 and must reside in the district from which they are selected. Nominations must be made prior to Dec. 7...

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for 1,768 Missouri taxpayers who are due refund checks worth $883,596, and at least a handful of these are Vernon County residents, according to a recent press release. The refund checks, averaging $500, were returned as undeliverable and can be claimed as soon as their owners update their addresses with the IRS...

During a regular meeting Wednesday night, the Nevada R-5 board of education discussed a partnership with the Cedar Ridge State School. Cedar Ridge has empty classrooms that the R-5 district could use. Permission is being sought from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to use the classrooms for the early childhood programs currently housed at the Bowman Building. ...

Sears Dealer Stores around the nation will welcome the holiday season by sponsoring food drives to benefit local members of America's Second Harvest, the largest charitable hunger-relief organization in the country. This is the second consecutive year in which the Sears Dealer Store organization, with its more than 800 stores, will spearhead a national initiative to support America's Second Harvest members. ...

Recording artist and songwriter Kelley Hunt was so well received during her performance last year in Fort Scott that she's making a return engagement. And that's just fine with the versatile musician, who performs everything from blues and jazz, to roots rhythm and blues and gospel. During a Wednesday interview with The Fort Scott Tribune, Hunt said Fort Scott is a town she has become very familiar with through her musical ventures...

A Moundville woman was killed Thursday at approximately 1:50 p.m. in a one-vehicle crash on County Road 800, nine miles west of Nevada. Vicky A. Smith, 42, was driving a 2003 GMC pickup when she lost control, ran off the right side of the road and struck a tree...