Stories from Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Clarence L. "Rowdy" Toland passed away on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, at Nevada Regional Medical Center, Nevada. He was born on April 29, 1949, in Joplin, Mo., to Loren and Josephine Toland. Rowdy was raised in the Joplin, Mo., area and had worked as a mechanic, heavy equipment operator, and as a junker for most of his life. He had lived in Vernon County since 1999. Rowdy was raised a Baptist and loved to fish and hunt...

The Moradokmai Theatre Troupe will take the stage in the auditorium in Cottey College's Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22, for a special performance. Troupe members live in a rural community in Thailand, where they have built a home base for professional actors and a theatre school under the leadership of Khru Chang, a leading Thai film and theatre artist. ...

The Nevada Lions Club will be serving its annual Fall Pancake Breakfast at St. Mary's Church, 330 N Main St., Nevada. Pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs will be served for a donation of $5 for adults, in advance; or $6 at the door and $3 for children ages 6-12. Children younger than age 6 may eat for free...

* Annual Oktoberfest fundraiser is slated Oct. 13, in the grassy lot next to Great Southern Bank. Nevada Daily Mail The United Way of Vernon County has kicked off its funraising campaign for this year. Community Outreach director Barbara Long said United Way funds are vital in helping the organization help serve the needs of 400 people each month. "It's a great help," she told the crowd at a recent kick-off breakfast for the campaign...

By James R. Campbell Nevada Daily Mail Republican gubernatorial nominee Dave Spence said in Nevada that he has a hard battle to wrest the governorship from incumbent Democrat Jay Nixon, but the St. Louis manufacturer believes his campaign to provide Missouri with better leadership will succeed in the Nov. 6 general election...

By James R. Campbell Nevada Daily Mail LAMAR -- A somber panel of law enforcement officers announced Tuesday afternoon that a former Lamar city policeman was suspected of shooting his estranged wife to death, seriously wounding his mother-in-law and then driving to a remote area of Barton County before turning his rifle on himself about 90 minutes later...