Stories from Thursday, August 5, 2010

WICHITA, Kan. -- Errors are often a baseball coach and team's worst enemy, but can sometimes become their best friend, depending on which way the miscue goes. Defensive miscues proved to be the story of the day as the Nevada Griffons took on the El Dorado (Kan.) Broncos Wednesday afternoon...

Wilma N. Howard, daughter of Benjamin Harrison and Lola Carmin (Smith) Cochran, was born Oct. 20, 1924, in Tiffin, Mo. She passed away Aug. 1, 2010, in Portland, Ore., at 85 years of age. Wilma and her husband of 65 years, Clarence Howard, lived in Kansas City, Clinton and Harrisonville and, for the last 30 years, had resided in Appleton City, Mo., before she moved to Portland, Ore. ...

Dorothy Jean "Judy" Bell died Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010, in Akron, Ohio, after a brief illness. She had lived in Nevada, most of her life. Dorothy was born Feb. 3, 1923, in Rockville, Mo. She was the youngest daughter of Ohmer Lee and Mildred B. Judy. She was married to Robert William Bell on April 5, 1945, in Fort Scott, Kan...

Such a wide array of public land sometimes makes it difficult to choose an area to write about. This week's choice was made by getting on the Missouri Department of Conservation's Web site and scrolling down through the counties blindly and clicking on one at random. Several areas in Boone popped up and it was a matter of choosing one that hasn't been profiled yet...

If your garden and lawn is like ours, you've been trying to pull some weeds and no more get off the lawn mower than it's time to get back on. I'm not talking neatly manicured, but trying to hold back the jungle. What with plenty of moisture and hot temperatures, the foliage has really grown this summer. Spending so much time on the lawn mower made me wonder about what grows under our soil. What do root systems look like?...

"Moonlight Becomes You" was the title of a popular song when I was young. In fact, it was sung to me in a derisive tone after a group of us went swimming at the Ellis rock quarry. My hair was plastered against my head and I was pulling some sort of pond scum off of my shoulders. ...

Well, that'd be okay, because at that moment I was suddenly swept back to my boyhood, when the neighborhood gang played softball in the big vacant lot between Phillip Daitch's and J. Fred Coots's houses. We called that field "Cootzeslot." It had no carefully manicured grass, as did this stadium, only a wild profusion of tall green weeds. ...

Dear Residents, I offer my most sincere thanks for your continued support of the Transportation Sales Tax and the street maintenance and repair programs that these funds support. I encourage each of you to participate in the evaluation and selection process this fall as we begin identifying improvements for 2011. ...

Nevada Daily Mail The American Legion, Leon Ogier Post No. 2, which has been housed in the Memorial Hall building located at 402 East Cherry Street in Nevada since 1922, will celebrate the 100 year birthday of the building on Saturday, Aug. 7. Saturday's celebration will begin at 9:30 a.m., with a Parade of Flags on Austin Boulevard. ...

For 75 years, the Social Security Administration has been committed to providing quality customer service and has recently adopted a "Go Green" mission. In recognition of this effort, the week of Aug. 9-13 has been proclaimed Social Security eServices Week by Jayne Novak, mayor of Nevada; and Sherry Brown, mayor of Bronaugh...

Games, giveaways, and a free evening of fun in the water at Walton Aquatic Center were highlights of Tuesday's National Night Out. Local organizations and public safety groups hosted booths that offered information and activities. The annual event is part of a national effort to get residents out and about for a crime-free evening...

The Postal Service has failed to take into account the effect of the loss of Saturday mail delivery upon small town America, and has overlooked new competition it will spur from newspaper carrier forces if it drops Saturdays, National Newspaper Association witnesses told the Postal Regulatory Commission today...

Once again a United States warship bears the name of the Show Me State, the USS Missouri (SSN-780), a 337-foot Virginia class submarine commissioned Saturday in New London, Conn. It is the fifth ship to bear that name and the first submarine to do so. It is the seventh Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine to be commissioned into the Navy and is commanded by Commander T.A. Rexrode...