Stories from Thursday, January 7, 2010

Ronald Gene Thomas, age 78, of Lee's Summit passed away at Lee's Summit Medical Center on Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, after a cardiac arrest at his home. Born in Nevada, Mo., on June 6, 1931, Gene spent most of his life in the Kansas City area. He graduated from Paseo High School in 1949 after which he joined the United States Coast Guard where he served for three years. Under the G.I. bill, Gene received a Bachelor's Degree in Business at the University of Kansas, graduating in 1958...

Dec. 16 A petty theft from a motor vehicle was reported in the 600 block of east Atlantic, made by Angel Hallam, of Nevada. She reported a license plate stolen. Dec. 19 An accident occurred at 11:20 a.m., on Osage and Hickory, involving an SUV driven by Kayla A. Horton, of Nevada, and a pickup driven by Lisa R. Miller, of Milo. No injuries were reported...

With more snowfall predicted Tuesday evening into Wednesday, KCP&L is putting additional crews on standby and offering safety tips for customers. In terms of crew preparations, extra personnel are added to shifts, which run 24 hours per day. The combination of round-the-clock availability and additional staffing minimize restoration times. ...

The Vernon County Historical Society will conduct its quarterly meeting at 2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 10, in the Bushwhacker Museum, 212 W. Walnut St., Nevada. Melissa Earll will present a program about opera superstar, Marion Talley. Born in Nevada in December 1906, Talley made her mark at New York's Metropolitan Opera and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, March 1, 1926, shortly after her New York debut...

The budget looms as the biggest concern for the Missouri legislature, which began its 2010 session at noon on Wednesday. Barney Fisher, District 125 Missouri state representative, said the budget would be "the big problem" but that he thought it "wasn't as bad as it could be."...

It's Girl Scout Cookie Crunch-Off time once again. The fun starts Friday, Jan. 8, at 6:30 p.m., at the Vernon County Fairgrounds with a carnival of games followed by the Crunch-Off itself. The team from Wal-Mart, which has won two previous Crunch-Offs, hopes to join two other teams; the Water Babies, a team from the Nevada Water Department and the Sticky Crumbs, a 3M team, in winning a three-peat, which would require them to retire from competition...

During a special meeting Wednesday night the Nevada City Council voted 3-2 before a council chamber full of vocal golfers to reverse their stance on private carts for the current year by voting 3-2 to pass on first reading an amended bill that will keep the trail fee for private carts the same for 2010, while adding several new programs. ...

The Nevada Middle School seventh and eighth grade boys' basketball teams got the season started Tuesday night with very strong performances at home against Joplin North. In the seventh grade B game, Tanner Handly led the Tigers to a 26-10 victory as he put up a team-high 10 points. In the A game, Tristan Smith's 14 led the Tigers as they cruised to a 34-22 victory...

There are many beautiful poems written about the beauty of snow. As a child I always loved to read John Greenleaf Whittier's "Snowbound." It sounded so exciting to be shut in by the snow and having to huddle around a fire. Then there is an earlier poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley whose words are, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" We just finished the season where we sing about "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let It Snow" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." I think I have had enough of that for awhile -- maybe a year from now I will appreciate it again, but right now I don't burst into song or wax poetically when I look outside at our plentiful snow.. ...