Opinion

Last weekend, I made the trek to Osage Beach for the annual Missouri Press Association Convention, stomach in knots with every turn that I would leave empty-handed. In a sense, I did, as this was the first year in the last eight — my entire eligible career in Missouri — that neither the Monett Times nor Cassville Democrat won a Gold Cup.

Just as quickly as this year has gone by, the fall season is upon us, and all around there are sure signs of one of the best seasons going for this part of the woods. If you don’t think the color change in the forests that surround us isn’t just around the corner, drive down to the Roller Nursery growing grounds south of Washburn and see some of the young trees getting ahead of their elders out in the woods in converting to the Flaming Fall Review.

When I was a freshman in college, I bought myself a new cell phone. I had it all planned out.

With the revelations coming out of Roaring River these days, another door has been opened for the state park that will only add another attraction in luring more visitors to the facility that continues to lead Missouri’s park system in popularity.

Fall is on its way, and I don’t know about you all, but there’s one thing I enjoy a bit about Autumn more than anything else — the food. My wife and I kicked off the season Wednesday by pressure cooking the most marbled chuck eye roast you’d ever laid eyes on. OK, maybe it wasn’t that marbled, but after years and years of overcooking roasts in a crockpot, I give our pressure cooker every bit of kudos.

It would be a wonder if many people today remember the Blue Law in Missouri, or even care so far as that is concerned. The law prohibited the sale of certain items on Sunday.

Dear Editor: I always read Bob Mitchell’s view in the paper. This is in response to his article of Aug.

A dastardly act at the city pool cut short the cooling off time of the facility, with hopes those responsible would hopefully pay for their misdeed. That facility was important to the people, especially during hot weather, just as those of the past served water lovers. Some of those pools of years gone by served their purposes until regulations arrived that those without treatment facilities could no longer exist in rural communities.

It’s rare for a Barry County school to make national and international headlines, but for the last two weeks, Cassville has made the rounds. From the Springfield paper to CNN and KY3 to the Guardian in the United Kingdom, the coverage of the district’s re-instatement of its corporal punishment policy was just as disappointing as the policy change itself.

Anything that has been in existence 151 years, gone through four generations of the Ray family as owners and is now under a third corporate hand is bound to have had the opportunity to have experienced a number of good employees. However, none can compare in longevity, consistency and reliability to those qualities demonstrated by Darlene Wierman.