Stories from Thursday, September 5, 2013

Francis Dean Jones, 82, went home to be with the Lord on Monday, Sept. 2, 2013. He was born Feb. 6, 1931, in Sheldon, Mo., the son of Earl Robert Jones and Iva Marie Tyree Jones. He was married to Marlys Ann Bruncheon Jones in Waterloo, Iowa. Francis served in the United States Navy, including a tour in the Korean War. He worked in the automobile industry all his life, which he thoroughly enjoyed, retiring from Don Wessel Oldsmobile Honda...

Ella Louise Munkers, 92, of Independence, Mo., passed away Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. Louise was born March 31, 1921, in Nevada, Mo., the daughter of Frederick Francis and Bina (Burris) Jones. She moved from Nevada in 1943 and lived in Kansas City, until she moved to Independence in 1960. ...

Dale and Kristi Nowak of Conroe, Texas, and older siblings, Maci and Mason, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and baby sister, Madison Avery Nowak. Madison was born at 10:26 p.m., Thursday, July 25, 2013, at Memorial Hermann Hospital The Woodlands, The Woodlands, Texas. She weighed 5 pounds, 14 ounces, and measured 18 and 1/2 inches...

Bobby and Brittany West welcomed their daughter, Mercedes Elizabeth West, who was born Sept. 3, 2013, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce, and measured 21 and 1/4 inches.

Thomas and Heather Payton welcomed their daughter, Aria Reece Payton, who was born Sept. 3, 2013, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and measured 21 and 1/2 inches.

Regan Kannady, Susanne Hartman, Skye Malcolm, and Ashley Hedstrand are among the new students at Cottey College. Kannady is the daughter of Maria and Chet Foreman of Sheldon. She graduated from Nevada High School, and plans to major in the health sciences...

Nevada Daily Mail The Schell City Fall Festival kicks off with tried-and-true traditions like the talent show and parade Sept. 6 and 7. This year's new events include a horseshoe tournament on Saturday and a great golf ball challenge on Friday. "We hope this year is a success, and we can get through it," city clerk Sharon Sanderson said...

Several Vernon County agencies responded to a residential fire on the south edge of Nevada at about midnight on Monday, according to a news release from the Nevada Fire Department. Firefighters arrived at 14301 East Pawhuska drive and discovered heavy smoke coming from the eaves of a home belonging to James Collins. Shortly after, flames were visible on the north side of the house, and firefighters made the decision "to move into a defensive operation[s]," according to the news release...

Nevada Daily Mail Vernon County commissioners Bonnie McCord, Neal Gerster and Everett Wolfe met with Sheriff Jason Mosher and Butch Renwick of the Renwick Insurance Agency to discuss some of the options the county has for insuring all the county-owned vehicles...

Nevada Daily Mail If everything goes as planned the city will be doing a lot work and spending about $3 million upgrading the city's sanitary sewer system to reduce the amount of water that leaks into the system during rainy weather and overloads the wastewater treatment plant, as well as one project to replace a sewer line that is too small for the area it serves...

The Nevada High School boys' swim team officially got its season started Tuesday in the Springfield All-Relays meet. "We went into this meet as a kind of a time trial," Tigers head coach Ryan Watts said. "I was more concerned with getting times than what place we got."...

MIAMI, Okla. -- The Cottey College Comets dropped their third match of the season Wednesday, at Northeast Oklahoma A&M Community College. Though things did improve for the Comets between Friday night's season opener and Wednesday, but it wasn't quite enough as NEO took the victory in three sets, by the final scores of 25-13, 25-18 and 25-23...