Stories from Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Al Hill, age 84, Springfield, died Monday, Nov. 19, 2007. He was born Dec. 1, 1922 in Tehuacana, Texas, the son of William Al and Ruth B. (Potter) Hill. Al served his country in the United States Navy during World War II. He was a member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Nixa. Al was also a member of the Marmaton Masonic Lodge No. 245, Moran, Kan...

Albert Randall Evans, age 63, Joplin, Pastor of Friendship Baptist Church, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007, at St. John's Regional Medical Center. Bro. Al was born May 29, 1944, in Kansas City, Mo., son of Albert C. Evans and Virginia Smith Evans of Nevada, Missouri. ...

Crystal and Jared Sheets are proud to announce the birth of their son, Easton Gage Sheets. Easton was born at 5:14 p.m., Nov. 6, 2007, at Liberty Hospital. He weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and measured 20 inches. Maternal grandparents are Jeff and Denise Kirchhoff, of Higginsville, Mo., and Gene Bredenhoeft, of Concordia, Mo...

The Cottey Comets came back from a nine-point deficit to beat the Ottawa University Lady Braves 77-49 Monday night bringing their season record to 4-1 after their 79-60 loss to Heston College Saturday. The Comets were unable to find the basket Monday until a free throw by Brittany Smith started the Comets on the way to a win...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently made news in a new way. It held a fake press conference where FEMA employees posed as reporters. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff called the misleading stunt one of the "dumbest things" he's seen and said it won't happen again...

Children get sick. Parents expect it and hope they never get anything more than a cold, but they want to be prepared for the worst. Part of that preparation is making sure their children have health insurance. Millions of low- and moderate-income families can't afford private insurance and are eligible for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program. ...

Dear Friends: Nowadays, our globalized society is demanding us bigger challenges, day by day the competition between people is increasing, talking about education. In our case, my wife and I had been trying to offer our children a good education. We want them to have good "tools" to improve their education, which will help them to succeed! We consider that it is really important for them to learn the English language. It represents a really big effort for us (my wife and me)...

High gas prices are having a variety of effects that manifest themselves differently in different segments of the population. Every cloud has a silver lining, according to Greg Hoffman, Hoffman Financial Resources. While higher gas prices put a bite on consumers' wallets, the high prices are opportunities for some businesses...

The Nevada City Council will be considering two pieces of unfinished business during tonight's meeting. The first will be an ordinance regulating city employees running for elective office. The second will be an ordinance to permit a gourmet food store located on, or within one block of the Nevada Square to sell liquor provided that such a store must maintain at least 40 percent of its inventory in food...

The Vernon County University Extension Center now has the order forms for seedling trees and shrubs. These seedlings, grown by the Missouri Department of Conservation, are sold to persons desiring to make conservation plantings. Plantings may be made for such purposes as Christmas trees, the production of wood products, wildlife food and cover, windbreaks, erosion control, nut production or beautification. ...

November is National Adoption Month, a time dedicated to creating awareness of adoption needs. Missouri has always played an important role in the lives of orphans going back to the Orphan Train runs from 1854 to 1929. These trains transported thousands of orphans from New York City to the Midwest...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Turkeys fear a lot more things than an ax this time of year. "Turkeys are quite afraid of certain things," said Jeff Firman, University of Missouri turkey researcher. "They are not too bright," he said. "So you have to be pretty smart to deal with all the things that will kill these birds." The birds will scatter and run with disastrous results if a hawk, owl or airplane passes overhead...

Jearl G. Scism, age 65 of Nevada, died on Friday, Nov. 16, 2007 at the Nevada Regional Medical Center following a sudden illness. He was born on Feb, 7, 1942 in Nevada to Ray Edward Scism and Nancy M. Biby Scism. On June 10, 1978 he was married to Betty L. Cummins in Nevada and she survives of the home...

Vicky A. Smith, 42, Nevada, died suddenly on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007. She was born July 9, 1965, in Nevada, to Floyd Dwayne Fahnestock and Betty Ann Buckner Fahnestock. Vicky was born and raised in Nevada and graduated from high school here. She worked for Key Work Clothes for 20 years and had worked for Valu Merchandisers in Ft. ...

April and Donald Flager Jr., and Justin Lynn, of Shawnee, Kan., are proud to announce the birth of their son and baby brother, Wesley "Wes" Sanders Flagor. Wes was born at 9:19 a.m., on Nov. 12, 2007, at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, in Merriam, Kan. He weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces, and measured 18 inches...