Stories from Wednesday, April 7, 2004

By Nancy Malcom The Vernon County Soil and Water Conservation District celebrated its 42 annual dinner and awards ceremony April 2 at the Vernon County fairgrounds. A large crowd attended. One of the highlights of the evening was the announcement of the winners of the poster contest...

Last week a little girl living next door, a first grader, apparently taking a survey, asked me what season of the year is my favorite. When the answer was spring, she said that everyone was givingspring as their favorite season. Some people prefer fall and considers it as their favorite season. ...

By Brian Johnson The day after election day always brings with it a bittersweet feeling for candidates. Some are happy in their victory, others are wondering what could of been. This election day was no different. In a tough race for a Nevada City Council seat, Jim Rayburn beat James McKenzie 383 to 244...

By Ralph Pokorny Nevada will not be retaining the services of a law firm at this time to assist in moving the residents of Benton Hall at the Nevada Habilitation Center into other facilities. zTuesday night the Nevada City Council voted 3-1, with Bill Edmonds abstaining, to postpone consideration of paying a $5,000 retainer to Husch & Eppenberger, LLC, to provide consultation and other services to help the city deal with the closing of Benton Hall...

By Nancy Malcom "I've always had an interest in genealogy," Lyndon Irwin explained with a chuckle. "I was fortunate to have grandmothers who were patient and liked to show pictures and tell stories. I was just one of those kids who liked to listen." Irwin is now a professor of agriculture at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. He is a Vernon County native, and his parents still live in Bronaugh...

By Steve Moyer A local artist, Jeanne Board, wasn't at the recent Main Street Art Show in the old Heroes building on the Square -- she was busy in Kansas City at the annual Metcalf South Art Show of the Greater Kansas City Art Association. "I showed in Nevada last year but the dates of the Kansas City show this year, April 2, 3 and 4, conflicted. I do plan to exhibit next year," said Board...

By Larry Lewis The Nevada Tigers lost 8-1 to a strong Thomas Jefferson of Joplin tennis team on Tuesday. Freshman Ed Horst, the Tigers' No. 5 singles player, squeaked out a 9-8 (9-7 tiebreaker) win for Nevada's only victory. "We've got to take a negative (the loss) and turn it into a positive motivator," said Nevada coach Leon Lowe, of his team's decent effort against a quality opponent. ...

Recipients of the 2003-04 Nevada High School basketball awards were announced at the annual banquet. Senior forward Alex Hardin (left), a second-team all-Southwest Conference selectee, was voted the most valuable player.Senior Ricky Claypool (second from left) received the Crimson and Gray Award, while junior Taylor Rainey (second from right) and Bryan Campbell (right) were named the defensive and offensive players of the year, respectively. ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Nevada girls swim team finished with a 2-1 record at the Springfield Quadrangular on Tuesday. Teams from Springfield Central, Springfield Kickapoo and Carthage rounded out the field. The Lady Tigers defeated Carthage 85-61 and Central 104-41, while falling to powerhouse Kickapoo 114-65 in the dual-scoring format...

WEBB CITY, Mo. -- The Nevada Middle School track team participated in the Webb City Invitational on Friday. NMS's eighth graders placed third in the team standings with 68 1/2 points, while the seventh graders were seventh with 25. Seneca won the eighth-grade division of the nine-team field, edging Carthage 87 1/2 to 83. Carthage scored a runaway win in the seventh-grade division with 152 points to runner-up Carl Junction's 75...