Stories from Sunday, August 20, 2006

By Lynn A. Wade Herald-Tribune Nevada, Mo. -- Lynn Ewing III has retained the Democratic nomination for Vernon County prosecutor, following last night's hand recount of votes cast in the Aug. 8 primary. The recount was ordered and supervised by 28th Circuit Presiding Judge James Bickel last night, after more than three hours of testimony in a hearing to determine whether there would be a hand recount, and to decide on a request for a new election filed by challenger Jeff Feuquay, who said that there were problems with the administration of the election.. ...

By Michael Glover Herald-Tribune Fort Scott, Kan. -- The city of Fort Scott has issued a "water watch," urging residents in Fort Scott and customers of Bourbon County Rural Water District No. 2 to conserve by limiting outdoor use of water. Customers should avoid watering their lawns from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to conserve water, according to a statement released this week by the city...

By Brett Dalton Herald-Tribune Fort Scott, Kan. -- The Fort Scott Public Square Vision Committee will conduct a community forum at 6:30 on Tuesday, Aug. 22 at the Fort Scott Middle School, to discuss the progress the committee has made towards improving the city...

Carol Sue Coonrod Pritchett, 54, Moundville, Mo., passed away Friday, Aug. 18, 2006, at Nevada Regional Medical Center, Nevada, Mo., following a lengthy illness. She was born Nov. 8, 1951, in Fort Scott, Kan., to Jack A. Coonrod and Jessie Geraldine Parker Coonrod...

Herald-Tribune With bans against cellular phone use while driving spreading nationwide, a recently released survey reveals that American drivers support bans against other activities they consider distractions on the road. According to a national survey by Response Insurance, a national car insurer, 65 percent of Blackberry owners favor banning the use of the digital wireless handheld devices behind the wheel. ...

By Colette Lefebvre Herald-Tribune "And then the dispossessed were drawn west -- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes dusted out, tractored out. Car loads, caravans, homeless and hungry, twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. ...

James Edward Keal, 80, died Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006, in Houston, Texas. VFW chaplain James Stradly will conduct graveside services at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 21, at the U.S. National Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Cheneny Witt Memorial Chapel, Fort Scott...

William Robert Haler, 68, Rich Hill, died Aug. 17, 2006. Memorial services will be Sunday, Aug. 21, at 3 p.m., at the First Baptist Church in Rich Hill. Burial will be at 10 a.m., Monday, Aug. 21, in Virgil City Cemetery with graveside and Military Rites...

Hi neighbors. Did everyone get their backpacks, pencils, calculators and laptops bought in time for the first day of school? It seems the list gets longer and more difficult to figure out each year. My granddaughter attends school in Iowa. This year she will start kindergarten and had to have mechanical crayons...

"Lawrence, August 21, 1863: 5 p.m.[To: Brigadier General T. Ewing, Comdg.: District of the Border,Kansas City, Mo.] General: I have, with regret, to report that Quantrill, alias Charley Hart, reached this town about 4:30 this morning; burned the town; slaughtered in cold blood about 60 citizens; then left by Blanton Bridge and by the way of the town of Brooklyn. ...

The following excerpt is from "The Book of Totally Useless Information" by Don Voorhees: Who was "Uncle Sam?" When we picture Uncle Sam today, we picture a man with a long white beard, red-and-white striped pants, and a blue jacket. There was an "Uncle Sam," but he looked nothing like this, although he did wear a top hat and he did come to be a symbol of the U.S. Government...

Shortly after my nearly fatal heart attack of 1992, from which I was saved by quintuple by-pass surgery, I experienced, as part of the one-two punch, a devastating depression that nearly sank me. Oh, I had no inclination to rise up from my bed and slit my own throat, but life looked bleaker than it had any right to look, given all the blessings that had been showered on my head from birth. ...

Kenny and Velma Wescoat will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary on Saturday, Aug. 26. The couple were married on Aug. 26, 1976, in Nevada. The couple's children and grandchildren, Cindy and husband Carl Johnson and Jordan, Roger and wife Kim Sanders and Tom, Chris and husband Kevin Pettibon and Blair and Lindy, request a card shower to honor the Wescoats' 30th anniversary...

Larry and Terry Brooks and Dennis and Brenda Goedde of Houston, Texas, announce the engagement of their children, Erica Diane Brooks and Dustin Lynn Goedde. Brooks is the granddaughter of Orville Brooks and the late Reba Brooks of Emporia, Kan., and Gerry Browning, Fort Scott...

Terry and Hazel Lawson, of Nevada, announce the engagement of their daughter, Leona Lawson, to her high school sweetheart, Rodney Bastow. Rodney is the son of Rowann Bastow and Jim Bastow, both of Nevada. Bride-to-be Lawson is a 2004 graduate of Nevada High School. She attended Missouri Southern State University in Joplin and took a year off to join the Army National Guard. She plans on returning to college in the spring of 2007...

Meredith Anne Ballantyne and Jonathan Douglas Eden were married at 3 p.m., on June 10, 2006, at First Christian Church in Topeka, Kan. Meredith is the daughter of James and Margaret Ballantyne, Topeka. She is a 2003 graduate of Washburn Rural High School, Topeka, and will graduate from Pittsburg State University in May 2007 with a degree in elementary education and two minors in psychology and multi-cultural studies...

By Nancy Brown Special to the Herald-Tribune The 69th Hopkins-Simrell reunion was held on, Sunday, Aug. 13, in the Walker Community Building, in Walker, Mo. Lunch was served at noon with Weldon Cully saying grace for the abundance of food. Election of new officers was this year. Merle Simrell is president and Ethan Hopkins was elected secretary...

By Helen Emery Special to the Herald-Tribune Some 30 people braved the extreme heat to attend the Clinkenbeard family reunion on Aug. 12 and 13, at the Vernon County fairgrounds diner in Nevada, Mo. Family histories and photos were shared, some new family ties discovered, "first timers" recognized, games played and prizes awarded, before the evening meal. Greg Gooch asked the Lord's blessing on those attending and the bountiful potluck meal...

By Joe Warren Herald-Tribune NEVADA, Mo. -- When John Skeans took over as the head football coach at Nevada High School prior to the 2004 season, he knew there would be a transition process. While he wouldn't say so, Skeans was facing a rebuilding task for a program that had fallen on hard times...

Two Sundays from now, this fine publication will have stories about the first game of the season played by whatever your favorite high school is. Ain't it great? Football is the beginning of a cycle. When the school year starts, the sport that signifies the beginning is the first football game. Baseball caps things off...

Herald-Tribune Vernon County's Angie Pennington won the tall class at the National Physique Committee, Inc. Missouri State competition in Springfield July 22, and was chosen to do a photo shoot for FemFlex.com, the nation's largest fitness Web site for females...

Man, what a season it was. I hope it wasn't my last one. When Jack McDonald asked me to throw out the first pitch of the 2006 Nevada Griffons baseball season, little did I know that the team was about to embark upon its worst journey ever in a 22-year existence. I think my pitch, which bounced about half way from the pitcher's mound to the plate, was a harbinger of things to come...

While driving down U.S. 71 highway this week, Fred and Doris Davis counted more than 100 monarch butterflies between Butler and Rich Hill. Davis, who has always had a fascination with the annual migration of these "flying flowers" said, "Every year that I open the dove season in September I have watched the migration of monarchs and it's really amazing how they recognize direction and join others after flying south for a thousand miles."...

A local racing family continues to grow at Nevada Speedway. Shawn Hendren (right), owner of Shawn's Trash Service, has been racing for 14 years and is the current points leader in the Factory Stock Division. He also races in the Street Stock Division, where he is currently in seventh place. ...