Stories from Friday, March 21, 2008

Melissa and Jared Wilkinson, of Carthage, are proud to announce the birth of their son, Hayden Jeffrey Wilkinson. Hayden was born at 7:06 p.m., on March 19, 2008, at St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin. He weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces, and measured 22 1/2 inches...

Those sinkholes in south Cape Girardeau have a lot of folks scratching their heads, and a bunch of them are so-called experts. Sinkholes come in all shapes and sizes. Some are just big enough to swallow a good-sized teenager. Others would accommodate a good-sized house...

That was the title of the last of the four famous books in the "2001: A Space Odyssey" series, by famed science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke. The noted writer and scientist passed away Wednesday, March 19, at age 90. He was a man who was able to write about our dreams...

Heartland Hospice, a Medicare accredited agency, is looking for volunteers to spend one to two hours per week with patients throughout Bates, Henry, Cass, Vernon and St. Clair counties. Heartland Hospice provides end-of-life care to patients with life-limiting diagnoses, such as cancer, COPD, end-stage cardiac disease, ALS and end-stage Alzheimer's Disease...

Community Outreach in Nevada has announced that the Ozarks Food Harvest Mobile Food Pantry has scheduled its next visit to the area on Thursday, April 3. The pantry is a tractor-trailer truck provided by the Rotary and Rotarct Clubs of Southwest Missouri. ...

The Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, serving Vernon, St. Clair, Cherokee and Barton Counties is to be honored by the Missouri Narcotics Officer's Association as the state drug task force of the year. CNET was chosen for this honor out of 29 Missouri drug task forces...

March 31 is the sign-up deadline for a free American Red Cross training course to certify area residents to volunteer in both general population and special needs emergency shelters. To help build the number of trained volunteers needed to operate Emergency Shelters in Vernon County that open in response to tornados, flood, ice storms and other disasters that could impact Nevada and Vernon County, the regional Independent Living Center On My Own, Inc. ...

Representatives from JE Dunn, construction managers for the Vernon County jail project, came to Nevada on Wednesday to update commissioners on progress made on the project and to explain some of the delays that have taken place. Dan Ferguson, JE Dunn representative gave a description of the company's responsibilities during the project and explained why it benefits the county to make use of their services...