Stories from Sunday, February 25, 2007

By Michael Glover Herald-Tribune Fort Scott, Kan. --Edward E. Thomas pleaded not guilty Thursday in Bourbon County District Court on accusations he repeatedly raped a then 15-year-old girl in 2004. Thomas, 43, is now headed to jury trial. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for March 13...

Herald-Tribune Nevada, Mo. -- In honor of Career and Technology Education Month, Nevada Regional Technical Center conducted tours and treated members of the Nevada/Vernon County Area Chamber of Commerce to refreshments during a Friday morning open house event...

Herald-Tribune Nevada, Mo. -- The issue of identity theft is a common one. Its victims can be anyone. In fact, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, on average, victims spend more than 175 hours and $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses to clear their names. ...

Herald-Tribune Nevada, Mo. -- The results of tuberculosis testing at Cottey College following the news that one student had been diagnosed with the disease earlier this month have reveled little evidence of transmission at this time. Ninety-four members of the campus community were tested. ...

By Jason E. Silvers Herald-Tribune Fort Scott, Kan. -- It's business as usual for the Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees on Monday. Trustees have a list of routine items to address during their regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the FSCC Heritage Room, 2108 S. Horton St. Among those items are reports on recent activities at the college; a number of employment issues and other annual agreements and assignments; and a brief list of reports from FSCC President Jim Miesner...

Herald-Tribune Nevada, Mo. -- Meetings relating to the proposed law enforcement tax in Vernon County continued with a reception on Friday. Local residents had the opportunity to review information and to ask questions of a committee promoting the tax...

Joe and Anna Lusk, Walker, Mo., and Crestin are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and sister, Brylee Laela Lusk. Brylee was born at 3:26 a.m., Feb. 18, 2007, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and measured 20 inches...

Carl M. Bunker, 82, Irwin, Mo., passed away suddenly on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007, at Barton County Memorial Hospital in Lamar. He was born Sept. 15, 1924, in Nevada, Mo., to Moses Bunker and Daisy Mae Keller Bunker. He married Rosa Kargl on July 24,1956, in Germany and she survives of the home...

Mary L. Mellenbruch, age 96, of Rich Hill, Mo., passed away Feb. 22, 2007, at the Bates County Memorial Hospital, Butler, Mo. She is survived by four nephews, Gerald Mellenbruch and his wife Pat and family of Rich Hill, Walter Mellenbruch and his wife Norma Lea of Rich Hill, Clint Mellenbruch and family of Foster, and George T. ...

I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems to me that we have had our fair share of winter. At least here in the Midwest, the effect of global warming has had little impact on our month of February. I had the garden plowed last fall, but, for most of the last month, it has been under a blanket of ice and snow. ...

Hi neighbors. Who would have thought it would be such a huge media event deciding where a body should be buried? All week the news has been filled with where to bury Anna Nicole Smith's body. I have never met Anna Nicole Smith, her mother, nor her sister, nor any of her family, friends or boyfriends. I won't visit her grave as a tourist...

"P.S. Bravo," wrote friend and colleague Dr. Don Lamore, in a recent note to Ginny and me, "for taking in stray dogs and cats at your stone house barn." "Sweet" is not a term I usually apply to those of the male persuasion, but it sure fits Don, who, with his wife Marie, until their retirements a few years ago, taught French at Cottey for many, many years. ...

By Joe Warren Herald-Tribune FLORISSANT, Mo. -- Cottey College's two all-region performers played like it Friday as the Comets upset the Meramec Magic in the Region 16 semifinals at Florissant Valley, 82-73. Kerri Shanks hit two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime and Lacy Leonard hit back-to-back threes as part of her game-high 32 points to put the Comets in front during the extra period as the Comets advanced to Saturday's region championship game against North Central Missouri College.. ...

Herald-Tribune SALINA, Kan. -- Dakota Hall is the only member of Fort Scott High School's six-man contingent guaranteed to medal at the Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament here. Hall and Cody Kramer were the only two Tigers to win their opening matches. But only two Fort Scott representatives were eliminated on the first day of the double-elimination tournament...

Herald-Tribune FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School's boys defeated Nevada, 60-39, in what turned out to the championship game of the Fort Scott Freshmen Basketball Tournament at the FSHS gymnasium here Friday night. Fort Scott, Nevada and Iola all finished with 2-1 records in the round-robin tournament while Chanute was 0-3. Fort Scott allowed the fewest defensive points while Nevada beat Iola head-to-head...

When it comes to remembering that magnificent structure now gone 50 years that stretched from Washington to Oak on Cherry, I suppose I'm more fortunate than most 9-year old kids were. Heck, I'm certain there were others my age who never saw the inside of the old Nevada High School building...

The countdown has started, the unofficial start of the fishing season is almost here. Of course, fishing never stops in Missouri, but there's something special about the annual trout parks fishing season in the four trout parks on March 1. After a cold and snowy winter, the trout anglers will be even more anxious to get a line in the spring fed water...