2007 -- a Year in Review

It was a year to remember, a year to lay in preparations for the future, and a year to honor those who served the community in many ways, from the soldiers toiling in the war-torn Middle East, to those here at home, striving to keep Nevada a great place to live, both for today and for tomorrow. In the next few issues of the Nevada Daily Mail, we'll present a month-by-month recap of 2007's news and newsmakers.

September

September began with a serious crackdown on local and national methamphetamine distribution. On Sept. 5, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that 17 people were indicted by a federal grand jury, on 13 counts involving the distribution of meth. Three of the 17 indicted were residents of Vernon County, Joseph Kutina, 31, Milo, Dustin L. Vittetoe, 33, Horton and Brandon Stone, 25, Nevada. In the multi-jurisdictional drug investigation named Operation Buckshot, county, state and federal agencies joined forces to uncover an alleged drug ring involving locals and several out of state parties. The indictment claimed that those arrested were responsible for the distribution of more than 50 grams of pure meth from Dec. 2005 to Aug. 3, 2007. Seized during the operation was $100,000 in cash, four vehicles, 89 firearms, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and blasting caps, along with more than 38 pounds of meth. In October, a fourth Vernon Countian was added to the list of those indicted, Zachery Erwin, 24, Nevada.

On Friday, Sept. 7, Patricia Breckenridge was appointed by Governor Matt Blunt to the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City. Blunt came to the Vernon County Courthouse and announced that Breckenridge, then a Missouri Appeals Court judge, would be making the move, filling a seat vacated by Ronnie White.

September also marked the beginning and end of demolition work at Nevada's airport. Crews tore down the existing terminal building to make way for new structures including a brand new hanger, tower, and terminal. By Tuesday, Sept. 25, the walls of the old building had already fallen to the ground.

The Sunday Herald-Tribune won four awards, presented during and awards luncheon in St. Louis during the Missouri Press Association's annual conference on Sept. 8. Dave Bradley, 2007 MPA president, presented the awards for success in the association's annual Better Newspaper Contest. The awards included first place, best story about history, Class 2 weeklies; second place, best editorial page, class 2 weeklies; third place, best sports photo; and honorable mention for general excellence, Class 3 weeklies.

On Tuesday, Sept. 11, Nevada firefighters conducted a fire bell ceremony to honor all those who had fallen victim of 2001's 9/11 attacks on New York's World Trade Centers. Fire Lt. Tim Bullard led the ceremony with a signal that dates back to before telephones. The signal of five taps then a pause, five more taps, a pause, and five more taps was once sent by way of telegraph to every fire station signaling the loss of a firefighter's life.

October

A federal investigation in September that netted more than 38 pounds of methamphetamine, $100,000 in cash, four vehicles, 89 firearms, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and blasting caps and the arrests of three Vernon Countians resulted in a fourth arrest in October.

Zachery Erwin, 24, Nevada, was taken into custody on Oct. 5 by agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency and members of the Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, after being indicted Oct. 3 by a federal grand jury in the wake of Operation Buckshot. Erwin was arraigned in federal court in Springfield on charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

In October, the Nevada Medical Clinic went electronic -- well, all of their records did.

According to Sherry Lakeman, the change will benefit everyone -- the patients, the doctors, the clinic and the clinic's workers who have had to file the literally tons of paperwork generated by a busy practice.

"In the past when someone made an appointment a worker had to pull the record and bring it up so it would be available," Lakeman said. "Then after the appointment someone would have to take it back down and file it."

With the new process, the records are stored on the clinic's servers and doctors and nurses have laptop computers called lifebooks. Lakeman said the new process is convenient for the staff and doctors and improves patient services.

"Having it on computer makes it easier for the doctors to track information," Lakeman said. "When new meds are put in, the system cross-references against allergies and interactions with any current meds the patient is taking. When a patient calls in for a refill we can pull the information up as they are on the phone instead of having to make them wait while we pull the chart and bring it up. We can fax the pharmacy directly from the lifebook, we don't have to print out a prescription and then fax it."

Missouri and Vernon County's Camp Clark are on the cutting edge of new pre-mobilization training concepts being implemented across the United States.

When a member of the Missouri National Guard is given orders for a 12-month deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan or Kosovo the period of actual time away from home and employment is typically 16 to 18 months With the new system, the mobilization training time has been divided into two segments.

The first is now dubbed "pre-mobilization" and is conducted within the Guard's own state. In the past mobilization activities were done at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Fort Riley, Kan., or Fort Dix, N. J. By splitting mobilization training into two segments, most of the training time can be spent in Missouri.

A steam boiler exploded at 3M in Nevada on Oct. 9, sending one man to the emergency room with minor injuries. Jim Norris was taken to the emergency room at Nevada Regional Medical Center but returned to work later that day. An inspector from the state's Division of Fire Safety's Boiler Inspection Unit and an outside firm hired by 3M conducted inspections of the boiler to determine the cause of the problem but no results were released.

The explosion shut down another boiler located in the same room and resulted in a portion of the plant being closed but plant manager David Clauss was not specific as to what areas were affected.

Lamar has cause to celebrate after several months of bad news following the closing of O'Sullivan Industries. A California company, Structured Equity Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif. has expressed an interest in the property to convert part of it for a state-of-the-art door manufacturing facility and part to house other tenants.

Lynn Calton, Lamar city administrator, said that the news brightened prospects for the city's merchants and laborers.

"Our unemployment has been over 10 percent," Calton said. "No one is buying cars or furniture and we have lots of empty houses. This will help our local economy. People will buy furniture and cars again. The housing industry has collapsed, there are empty houses all over town. All those businesses will be helped."

The company that planned to move into the renovated building, hoped to eventually create approximately 475 new jobs in the area; however, the deal had not been finalized at the time.

November

In November 2007, an escapee who had absconded from the East Palatic Prison, in Florida, on Christmas Day, 1975, was captured by the Bates County authorities. Russell S. Trawick had been running from the law for 32 years. He convicted of six counts of check fraud in Florida, and was to serve 10 years in prison. He used the alias of John Stover, an identity he had stolen in order to obtain a driver's license in the state of Kansas. Then the real John Stover was arrested and fingerprinted, and that is when things became suspicious and law enforcement officers caught onto Trawick.

Sheldon received a $3,500 grant check from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, to replace the old siren system. The system that replaced the outdated siren can be operated as far away as the Vernon County Sheriff's Office.

The hospital board OK'd a new system for digital radiology. The old system costs around $19,000 per month and the new system operates at a cost of $12,648 per month, saving the hospital $397,970 over the five years of the contract.

Prairie Pride began production of biodiesel after several months of preparation.

The Supreme Court celebrated the investiture of Judge Patricia Breckenridge. 28th Circuit Court Presiding Judge Bickel noted that she would be an excellent addition to the Supreme Court as she cares for people and that it matters to her what her decisions will impact the lives of the people that are involved.

The Nevada Daily Mail and the Fort Scott Tribune held a Christmas card drive for the troops overseas. The drive was held from Nov. 19 to Dec. 3. Cards were sent in from area schools and from individuals.

A Moundville resident, Vicky A. Smith, age 42, was killed when she lost control of her 2003 GMC pickup, ran off the road and struck a tree. The coroner pronounced Smith dead on the scene of the accident; Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Krehbiel reported that Smith was not wearing her seat belt when the accident occurred.

December

Missouri's first winter storm of the season came through the area the second weekend of December, leaving thousands of area residents without power and utility companies scrambling. Another round occurred the following Monday, leaving still more without power.

Power was out throughout Lamar, portions of Sheldon, Moundville, and many areas of rural Vernon County. Parts of Nevada were without power for about three to four hours Monday night, after a transformer failed just after 9 p.m., affecting an area of about four blocks. About 15 area homes and businesses reported outages, among them the Nevada Daily Mail offices at 131 S. Cedar St.

The ice storm which hit most of southwest, central and northeast Missouri hard over the weekend brought down trees, limbs and power lines all across the state. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt issued a state of emergency for the effected areas, activating the Missouri National Guard, State Emergency Management Agency and Emergency Operations Center.

A contentious Sheldon Board of Aldermen's meeting almost cost the city their volunteer firefighters. After coming to a standstill over the issue of setting the date and place for the 2008 election the aldermen turned their attention to the volunteer fire department. A laconic answer from Chief Joe Brzuchowski to an alderman's question brought a sharp retort of "That's simply not an adequate response," from Alderman Robert Moran. In response Brzuchowski threatened to resign. Order was restored by the president of the Board of Aldermen, Jerod Lamb, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Mayor Rob Sewell.

A lifelong farmer, Leonard Pope's interest in exotic animals has bloomed into quite an avocation.

Seeing a Missouri rural magazine one day with an advertisement for an unusual animal sale, Pope drove to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he purchased his first head of Watusi. This started him on the path of buying and selling animals not commonly found in this area, which has lasted about two decades.

Watusi are medium sized cattle with very large, wide horns. They are commonly used for breeding with beef cattle due to their lean hearty build.

Over the years Pope's collection grew to llamas, ostriches, rheas, even a lion, Antarctic fox, and bear at one point. Speaking as to why he continues to ensue the exotic animal trade Pope said, "Stuff like that just fascinates me. Just like those big ol' ostrich, I just love them big ol' birds."

The Nevada City Council approved the 2008 city of Nevada fiscal budget in December.

The total budget of $24.3 million, which was passed with fewer questions than usual, includes $4.98 million for personnel costs, $2.91 million for supplies and services, 798,000 for capital outlay, $14.7 million for capital projects, and $230,767 for debt service.

"The overall operating budget is increased from $7,598,307 in 2007 to $7,893,946, which is recommended for 2008. This reflects an increase of 3.8 percent, most of which is in the higher cost of fuel and energy and an adjustment to the employee pay plan. The pay plan adjustment equalizes the percentage increase between ranges and steps and insures that salary adjustments are equitable between the various classifications of employees," City Manager Bill McGuire read from his prepared budget message accompanying the budget.

McGuire told the council that he is also recommending an increase in the entry level pay for firefighters, since the current pay scale has made it very difficult to recruit firefighters.

More than 800 Christmas cards were sent overseas for troops stationed in Iraq by the Nevada Daily Mail thanks to local schools and residents.

The idea was sparked to be in conjunction with the Nevada Daily Mail's Christmas parade float titled "Hearts Come Home for Christmas." Kandette Jones of the Daily Mail who began the card drive said, " It was a way for Nevada to reach out to our troops and bring them a little bit of Christmas Spirit."

Great news came at the end of December -- the National Guard's Show Me ChalleNGe program could return to Nevada sometime within the next several months. The program, for at-risk teens, encourages community service and encourages teens to finish high school and work toward other goals as contributing members of society.