Scout leaders win Cookie Crunch-Off

For the first time in the event's history, the Girl Scout Leaders won the competition and let their exhilaration show in no uncertain terms.

Nevada, Mo. -- The joyous enthusiasm that always accompanies the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland's Cookie Crunch-off crescendoed memorably with the Girl Scout Leaders' first victory in the 13-year history of the event Friday night at Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center.

Finishing second, third and fourth, the five-member squads of the YMCA, Nevada R-5 Schools and Sheldon strove like cookie monsterish roustabouts, slurping milk and punch to keep up, but at the end of the contest the leaders' team proved hungriest.

Laughing that they had fasted all day to get ready for the lighthearted munchdown, the women said cookie sales by 13 Vernon County troops began Friday and will go through Jan. 25 with individual sales and from mid-February to March 6 with booths around the county.

They said 80 Scouts will learn goal-setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics while raising money for such activities as a springtime Kansas City Chiefs fitness fair and a June 2012 visit to Savannah, Ga., hometown of Girl Scouts of the USA founder Juliette Gordon Low.

Sheldon Scout leader Krystal McCartney said that along with the traditional $4-a-package offerings of Thanks-a-Lot cookies dipped in fudge, Lemonade, Shortbread, Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Carmel DeLites and Peanut Butter Sandwiches, there's a new offering this year -- Belgian Shout Outs with the words "Believe," "Create" and "Inspire" cooked into them.

After a round of games more than 100 children, their parents and the teams' leaping, cheering fans gathered across the hall for the competition, before which Bailey Hoffman garnered a golden trophy for selling the most cookies last year -- more than 600 boxes.

The YMCA's Lindsey Myers, Trey Miller, Michael Bolan, Elizabeth Burlingame and Derald Stanley went at their cookie-glomming with sugar-fiendish fury, but despite their unbridled chomping had not cleaned five plates of eight cookies each until some 15 seconds after the champs were celebrating.

Nevada R-5 was represented by Tonia Bowman, Pat McCarty, Jeremy Jahn, Mike McCaffree and Brian Leonard and Sheldon by Anna Warren, Sue Ann Middleton, Abbey Lamb, Lisha Lamb and Becky Morgan.

The Girl Scout Leaders team took home the coveted trophy with their decisive win over the other teams during the 13th annual Girl Scout Cookie Crunch-Off held Friday evening at the Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center. The event, which also features a carnival for area children, kicks off cookie sales in Vernon County. From left to right are Joelle Mason, Tricia Matthews, Nani Wilde, Laena Wiegel and Tammy Rundell.

Wal-Mart's "Cookie Bandits" became ineligible for further competition with a three-peat last year, as had previously 3M's "Sticky Crumbs" and the "Water Babies" of the city of Nevada Water Department.