Stories from Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Nevada Lady Tigers basketball team lacks experience in the post, but hopes are still high going into the new season. Head coach Brent Bartlett is going into his 12th season at Nevada High School and has attributed his very high hopes for the team to strong leadership from this year's senior class. This year's team sports five seniors, four of which have experience playing for the Lady Tigers...

MOUND CITY, Kan. -- Colton Byram, 9, son of Jeana Brownback of Mound City, Kan., and Keith Byram of Sheldon, Mo., received his all-around saddle Nov. 23. He won this saddle at an event in Butler, Mo., Labor Day weekend. Byram took first place in calf riding for the 2008 season, receiving a champion buckle. He finished in the top six in barrel racing and pole bending...

While Missouri deer hunters were busy taking more than 200,000 deer during the firearm deer season that closed Tuesday, other hunters were after waterfowl. Ben Hastings, Lexington, has a plan each fall, usually around Thanksgiving, that mallards usually return to a special oxbow lake near the Grand Pass Area and he is waiting for their return. At present there were 70,000 ducks -- most of them mallards -- on the Grand Pass Wildlife Area...

A serious historian has written that every soul who wants to be head of a government must be literally crazy. George W., Hitler, Mussolini? Maybe. But what about Churchill, Lincoln, Truman? I try to determine, from reading about modern leaders in Time and Newsweek magazines, as well as in full-length biographies, how much lunacy lurks behind the smiling facade I call up from memory or watch on the TV screen...

One of the things that is exciting to all of us, is to have been near greatness at some time in our life. This is why prominent figures are often besieged for autographs. The thrill of standing on the track at Wichita, Kan., watching Jim Ryan become the first high school athlete in history to run a mile under four minutes, is a special memory...

Hi neighbors. I hope you have finished all those Thanksgiving left-overs by now. Turkey is a good meat, but it gets to be old news after a few reheats and that final casserole. I hope you had a lot of visitors or could spend the day with friends and loved ones. My son and I had a nice diner. My daughter had been down from Iowa a couple of weeks ago and we had an early Thanksgiving then...

Nov. 10 Rodney R. Elliott, Nevada, no proof of insurance. Chadd A. Friar, Nevada, no proof of insurance. Nov. 11 Darwin R. Badders, Nevada, driving while revoked, no proof of insurance, and driving while intoxiated. Joyce J. Hibbs, Nevada, no proof of insurance...

Eldon Allen Williams, 82, Independence, Mo., passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008, at the Kansas City Hospice House in Kansas City, Mo., following an illness of a few weeks. He was born Dec. 5, 1925, in Vernon County, Mo., to Elbert Byron Williams and Thelma Fergus Williams. He married Betty Mooney on Oct. 8, 1949, in Kansas City, Mo., and she survives of the home...

Raymond A. Mapes, age 43, a resident of Pittsburg, Kan., died Friday morning, Nov. 28, 2008, at Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center, in Pittsburg. Arrangements are pending and will be announced by the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Fort Scott.

Corey Leon "Tooie" Martin, 17, Nevada, passed away as the result of an automobile accident on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. He was born Oct. 28, 1991, in Kansas City, Kan., to David Lee Martin and Tonia Rana Garrett Martin. Corey grew up in Nevada. He was a junior in the Nevada High School Class of 2010. He was a past member of the FFA and Richard's 4-H. He enjoyed hunting and fishing...

Angel Hallam, of Nevada, and siblings Breanna and Trenton, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and baby sister, Tierney Jo Hess. Tierney was born at 2:35 p.m., on Nov. 10, 2008, at Cedar County Memorial Hostpital, in El Dorado Springs. She weighed 7 pounds, 3.4 ounces, and measured 19 inches...

During a nearly three-hour special meeting Wednesday night, most of which was spent in executive session, the Nevada City Council voted unanimously to pass on first and second readings an emergency ordinance to hire Harlan Moore, Grove, Okla., as interim city manager while the council looks for a permanent city manager...

The Nevada Police Department joined with other law enforcement agencies on Nov. 26 to crack down on violations of Missouri's seat belt law to help reduce highway fatalities. "Regular safety belt use is the single most effective way to protect people and reduce fatalities in motor vehicle crashes," Police Chief Gary Herstein said...

Two local teens lost their lives in a Wednesday night crash, on U.S. 54, 6 miles west of Nevada. According to a report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Emily A. DeBrine, 15, of Nevada, and Corey L. Martin, 17, also of Nevada, were killed in a head-on collision with a 2005 Ford pickup driven by Gale R. ...

Fort Scott, Kan. -- An idea which was first envisioned by Fort Scott Police Sgt. Craig Rice six years ago has developed into an annual community event. Rice and the Fort Scott Park Event Committee in conjunction with the city of Fort Scott will conduct Christmas in the Park, from 6 to 9 p.m., on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Gunn Park...

Emily Ann DeBrine, 15 years young, of Nevada, died Nov. 26, 2008. She was involved in an automobile collision on 54 Highway, near Deerfield, Mo. Emily was the passenger in a truck driven by Corey Martin, 17 years young, of the Nevada/Deerfield area. The two were traveling westbound on 54 Highway, when a head-on collision shattered the lives of two of Nevada's best and brightest teenagers...