Stories from Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Freddie Jim Perkins, 70, of Nevada, Mo., was received by the Lord on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013, in his home with family by his side. Freddie was born to Floyd and Janet Perkins on Aug. 19, 1943, who preceded him in death, as well as his beloved uncle, Jimmy Smith...

Franklin Leon Petty, 68, the owner and operator of Frank Petty Motors in Nevada, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013, at Mercy Hospital, in Joplin, Mo. He was born Feb. 13, 1945, in Bloomington, Ind., to Vernon Leslie Petty and Betty Joyce (Rife) Petty...

Diana Lynn McClure, 52, of Nevada, Mo., passed away on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013, at her home. She was born Jan. 23, 1961, in Mitchell, S.D., to Katherine M. Penrod. She spent most of her life in Kansas City, Mo. Diana was the Vice-President of Operations for SDMI in Overland Park, Kan., prior to moving to Nevada, in 2000, where she was the branch manager of Cash Advance Payday Loans in El Dorado Springs, Mo. Diana enjoyed spending time with her friends, children, and grandchildren...

Merle Robert Hicks, 92, of Yakima, Wash., formerly of El Dorado Springs, Mo., died Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m., Friday, Jan. 3, at Sheldon Funeral Home, El Dorado Springs, Mo., with burial in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery, Higginsville, Mo. Family will receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 2, and from 9 a.m. until service time, Friday, Jan. 3, in Sheldon Funeral Home...

Glenna Deene Martin, 78, died Friday, Dec. 27, 2013, at her home in Tiff City, Mo. She was born in California on Feb. 20, 1935, to Wayne Alton Burdick and Eunice Beatrice (Wilson) Burdick. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m., today, at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada. Interment will follow at Moore Cemetery, Nevada. Friends may call now until the hour of service at the funeral home...

I don't know about anybody else, but I've found myself experiencing some downright sickening deja vu this NFL football season. What happened? It's like we're back in the days of replacement referees, all of a sudden. All season long, everybody -- myself, included -- was very concerned about how things might go with respect to players adjusting to new rules, but as it turns out, it wasn't the players or the new rules that ultimately proved to be the problem. ...

By Ralph Pokorny Nevada Daily Mail January 2013 saw the end of Southwest Missouri Producers Grain when MFA took over its operations and financial obligations. Representatives of both companies met with the public and customers in early January, to discuss the options. Producers Grain had $6.7 million in assets and $7.6 million in debts. On Jan. 30, Producers Grain members accepted the take over by MFA, which agreed to run the Producers Grain operations in Bronaugh, Nevada and El Dorado Springs...

By Gloria Tucker Nevada Daily Mail Around noon Monday, Vernon County found itself in a communication dead zone. Was the source unpaid bills, apocalypse, zombies or zombie apocalypse? No, merely a damaged fiber optic line, near Milo, which left nearly everyone in Nevada and the surrounding area without phone service, and in many cases, without internet...

By Gloria Tucker Nevada Daily Mail The Sheldon Vision Committee brought in Breanna Sheridan, Stevens College computer and video equipment manager, who has a Bachelors in digital filmmaking, to produce a historical and informational film about the town...

By Ralph Pokorny Nevada Daily Mail A 2009 murder investigation came to an end when Bob Beisly II was arrested Feb. 9, for the July 15, 2009 murder of his wife, Belinda Beisly. The following day, Jeremy Maples was also arrested in connection with the murder and on Feb. 11, both Bob Beisly II and Maples were arraigned in Vernon County Circuit Court...

By Floyd Jernigan Nevada Daily Mail A group of Nevada Middle School students are daring to dream. What they want to be, what they want to do, and what they want to have in life -- those three focal points are the keys for a program begun by volunteer educator Mary Mitchell that has since spread to other nearby school systems in Bronaugh, Sheldon and Walker through the use of her curriculum...