Stories from Thursday, August 18, 2011

Kenneth Earl Messick, 60, Springfield, Mo., passed away at 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011, in Springfield, after suffering a sudden heart attack. He worked as a land surveyer and was an avid softball player and sports fan. Ken was a member of Springfield Community Church of the Nazarene, Springfield...

HUME -- Hume School Board members are asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $600,000 to build a "safe room" to help protect this town of 350 people as well as students and the school staff. Superintendent David Quick said Toth & Associates Consulting Engineers of Springfield are helping with a FEMA application to build a steel-reinforced room similar to one the firm recently completed for Archie Schools 40 miles north-northeast of here...

Vernon County Cancer Relief is preparing for its fourth annual fundraising dinner to be held on Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Eagles Lodge. One of the auction items will be a quilt, made and donated by Janice Almquist. VCCR is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 through the efforts of Jody Renwick and the Finis Moss Charitable Trust. ...

Vernon County Girl Scouts have been working hard over the summer -- besides the service projects, camps and troop activities, they've been raising funds for a very special trip. July 15-22, 2012, 55 area Girl Scouts and chaperones will be boarding a chartered bus to travel to Savannah, Ga., home of Girl Scout founder Juliet Lowe, and the city where the Girl Scouts of America is headquartered...

The Nevada R-5 School District's fleet of more than 40 buses will be back on the roads of Nevada and the surrounding area beginning today. That many buses means a motorist can encounter a bus or a child getting on or off the bus or a pedestrian or bicyclist almost any place in the city...