Stories from Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Nevada Parks and Recreation Board president Jeff Post told the Nevada City Council last night that with the economy still recovering and no increase in Social Security for two years, this might not be a good time to increase the fees at the Frank E. Peters Municipal Golf Course...

The cookies are coming! The cookies are coming! It's time again for the annual Girl Scout Cookie Crunch-Off, kicking off Girl Scout cookie sales in Vernon County. For the 13th year in a row, four teams will compete for top crunching honors and the bragging rights that go along with them by collectively crunching cookies the fastest in an event slated for Friday, Jan. 7, in the Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center in Nevada...

Town hall meetings are scheduled in Vernon County -- one in Schell City today, at 8 p.m. and another in Bronaugh at 7 p.m., Jan. 10. Specific site information was not provided; for more information contact Sam Dingfelder at (660) 885-3393 or sam@kaysinger.com...

A small attic fire caused an estimated $1,000 in damage to a home owned by Don Hutchison, in the 1300 block of West Lee Street, Nevada, on Jan. 2. Firefighters responded to a report of light smoke in the attic at 12:52 p.m. -- so light, in fact, that it took firefighters some time to find the source of the smoke. ...

The Nevada School of Practical Nursing class No. 47 held a traditional capping ceremony on Friday Dec. 17, at 6:30 p.m., at the Nevada High School auditorium. Special guests: Ms Teresa Stark, director of Nevada Regional Technical Center, Janis Collins, director of adult education and Tammy Hendren, guidance counselor for the Nevada Regional Technical Center. ...

Another mountain lion has been killed in Missouri. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, the big cat was killed Sunday, Jan. 2 in Ray County by a cattleman after it had been treed by coon hounds in a pasture where the man's cattle were grazing...

Opal L. Prouty, 95, of Independence, Mo., passed away Jan. 1, 2011, at the Villages of Jackson Creek. Mrs. Prouty was born March 18, 1915, in Dederick, Mo., to Wesley and Mabel (Hawkins) Collins. She taught in rural schools of Missouri and in the Nevada, Mo., and Independence, Mo., public schools, retiring in 1980. She had lived in the Independence area for 53 years and was a member of Maywood Baptist Church...

Delores LaVerne Reaves Hicks, 75, a longtime resident of El Dorado Springs, passed away Jan. 3, 2011, at Barone Care Center in Nevada. She was born in Mansfield on March 19, 1935, to Virgie and Jesse Reaves. Delores was raised in Pacetown where she met her future husband, Lawrence...

Willis A. Hughes Sr., 90, of Grand Tower, passed away at 6:35 p.m., Monday, Jan. 3, 2011, at Southeast Missouri Hospital, Cape Girardeau. Willis was born at Eldorado, Ill., on May 6, 1920, to Elmer and Lorene (Bramlet) Hughes. On March 22, 1941, he married Velma Gladys Estel at Perryville, Mo...