Stories from Sunday, February 17, 2008

Special visitors come to Nevada each year in late January or February, and everyone who sees them can't help but notice. "They're very snobby," said a walker, passing by them at Walton Lake. It's true -- trumpeter swans are aloof and suspicious of people, but nevertheless they visit the area annually...

El Dorado Springs Police arrested a man on Wednesday, Feb. 13, for the alleged illegal use of a hidden video camera in the dressing room of an El Dorado retail store. 36-year-old Shaun Morgan, El Dorado, has been charged with a Class A misdemeanor for allegedly having a hidden surveillance camera in the dressing room of Leighann's, a retail clothing store...

Save the date of Saturday, March 1 for a Grandparents' Resource Fair in Vernon County. Learn more about children's literacy, how to be involved in children's schooling, legal issues, tax assistance, and more! This free fair will be held from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. ...

For many southwest Missouri producers the hay stack looks a lot smaller this year than it has in years past. But unless a producer is planning on getting out of the business they might want to consider how they're going to stretch that hay stack until spring...

Hope is a theme that resonates in today's headlines. For soldiers of the First Kansas Colored Infantry, the hope of freedom inspired them to join the ranks of the Union Army in Fort Scott during the Civil War. These warriors marched to glory, as they became the First African American regiment to defeat the Confederate Army in combat, according to a statement from the Fort Scott National Historic Site...

A group of individuals interested in the future of youth in Bourbon County has started the 4-H Development Fund to support 4-H members in the county. The not-for-profit charitable organization will accept donations to be used to assist youth as they take part in educational events and activities...

Who becomes the next sheriff of Bourbon County won't be decided until the general election in November. But judging by the number of people who have already filed, there seems to be much interest in the chief law enforcement position in the county. Three people have filed for sheriff. ...

Facing 12 charges involving illegal hunting activity and receiving stolen property, a Vernon County man fired his attorney with a plea bargain already on the table. Brian Barnett, 31, Metz, is facing 11 class A misdemeanors and one class C felony for his alleged role in the illegal hunting, tagging, transporting, labeling, possession and checking of several deer, failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, possessing marijuana and the theft of $1,000 worth of aluminum irrigation pipe...

Frances Rebecca "Becky" Murn, age 88, former resident of Fort Scott and more recently of Country View Nursing Home, in Prescott, died Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, at Fort Scott Mercy Health Center. She was born June 15, 1919, in Big Sandy, Tenn., the daughter of Perry and Stella Greer. ...

Jason and Kelly Ast, of El Dorado Springs, are proud to announce the bith of their son Alex Wayne Ast. Alex was born on Jan. 31, 2008, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. He weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces, and measured 23 inches. Maternal grandparents are Terri and Dick Meyers, of Nevada...

Iva Florence Reeder, 99, of Uniontown, passed away Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, at the Mercy Health Center. She was born Dec. 15, 1908, in Golden, Mo., the daughter of James Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth (Wright) Tackkett. Her family came to Kansas in 1914 by covered wagon, to the Dry Ridge area near Uniontown. She married Clyde Adron Reeder April 6, 1932, in Nevada. He preceded her in death Sept. 17, 1982. She was a member of the Sunshine Club of Dry Ridge...

Hi neighbors. Is it spring or winter? This weather has me more confused than ever...and that's pretty confused! At least we are having a few warm days here and there and that's always good. Nice weather makes us all think of having a few more days off of work...

Since roughly age 11, I've had an incorrigible attraction to books. My father's Heritage Club selections; my mother's hardback Harper mysteries. In my teenage years, the first thing I bought with my first paycheck, for running various errands around New York City on my first big-time summer job, for American Oil Company, in 1957, was, of course, a book: The Wapshot Chronicle, the recently-published, award-winning novel by The New Yorker magazine's John Cheever. ...