Stories from Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Nathan, Brandi and Ryan McInroy are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and baby sister, Addison Nicole McInroy. Addison was born Aug. 20, at 9:48 a.m. at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 20 inches long...

The Community Choir and the Community Council on the Performing Arts will present "A Star Spangled Summer: A Salute to America" at 8 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Fox Playhouse, 110 S. Main, Nevada. The concert, featuring a collection of patriotic songs is directed by Teresa Sword and accompanied by Rhonda Leonard and "Taps" is played by Brian and Bryce Leonard. ...

For some Vernon County shut-ins the Meals on Wheels volunteers are the only visitors to drop by on a regular, or any, basis. Meals on Wheels volunteers do more than deliver food, their short visit is a bright spot in otherwise boring days. It takes teamwork to get meals to the shut-ins. That's where Earl Ackley comes in. Ackley, with the aid of his wife, Shirley, coordinates the program and keeps the cooks and drivers up-to-date on changes in the delivery routes...

When the going gets tough, the moms get together. In Nevada, a growing group of Mothers Of Preschoolers is beginning its second year of sharing fun, fellowship and information. "MOPS is about building better mothers, to build better families, to build better communities," said Kim Niestrath, Nevada's volunteer MOPS coordinator...

The Internal Revenue Service estimates 30 percent of Kansas and Missouri taxpayers could have received a bigger 2006 federal tax refund but didn't ask for the Telephone Excise Tax Refund, and Vernon Countians are likely to be among them. This one-time refund is owed to just about anyone who paid for long distance telephone service, including most cell-phone users, between February 2003 and August 2006...

Rained out the day before at Clinton, the Nevada High School varsity softball team opened the 2007 season at home against McDonald County Tuesday afternoon, the second-best team in the Southwest Conference behind Webb City last season. Playing against an upper-tier team translated to facing one of the conference's top returning pitchers in the Lady Mustangs' burly intimidator, Tara Higgins...

This is a third and final column about a trip my family recently took to Ireland. In many ways it seems like a dream. It was a wonderful experience, and it provided wonderful memories. A portion of what we experienced and the sights we viewed has been shared with you, in this column some more of these will be shared; but even then, there will be significant events and sights not included. In sharing something of this type, it is difficult to know where to begin -- and where to end...