Stories from Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Walnut Grove Holiday Classic girls basketball tournament will feature five bi-county teams this season. Exeter, Monett, Pierce City, Verona and Marionville are part of the 16-team field that begins action on Saturday. The Walnut Grove tournament has earned the reputation of being the best small-school holiday tournament in the state...

The Cassville football team secured six spots on the Missouri Football Coaches Association (MFCA) Class 3, All-District 4 football team for the 2015-2016 season. Unlike previous all-district teams, schools were allotted a certain number of team slots based on their district finish. Additionally, the team was not divided into first, second and honorable mention designations, as released by the MFCA, players are just simply shown by an all-district description...

The Southwest Missouri Football Coaches Association and Missouri Football Coaches Association (MFCA) thought highly of the Cassville football program this season. The Southwest Missouri association selected eight Wildcats to its All-Area football team...

A benefit for Jim Turner and family has been scheduled for Friday from 5:30-9 p.m. at the Family Life Center in Cassville. The benefit will include a chili dinner, for which donations will be accepted, a bake sale and a silent auction. The Oak Ridge Missionary Baptist Church youth will present a Christmas program, "The A.B.C.s of Christmas," on Dec. ...

Exeter school children, from left, Zach Myers, Noah Jordan, Isabelle Donovan and Joe Beck, proudly show off the Dutch shoes they each created and painted during the after-school program.

Seligman Officer Joe Arnold picks up toys to check out from a cartful that Kaylee Carnes of Seligman picked out with her mom through the Shop with a Cop program at the Cassville Walmart Super Center Sunday.

Barry County Clerk Garry Youngblood, right, share a laugh with Cassville School Board President John Sullivan, left, High School Principal Jeff Swadley, right middle, and Middle School Principal Jim Barton during the annual Christmas Open House held Friday in the JC Duncan Gymnasium.

The Silver Leaf Club officially adopted residents of Peachwood Manor in Cassville, a 12-bed, assisted-living facility, for Christmas.

Exeter Elementary school children Lily Stevenson, left, Mason Lee, back, and Whitney Beck, work on painting Dutch shoes during the after-school program Friday.

A Cassville woman was injured Sunday in a wreck at 9:57 a.m. on Highway 39 in Stockton. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Yancey Pierce, 19, of Cassville, was driving a 1998 Nissan Sentra westbound when her vehicle traveled off the roadway, struck a culvert and utility pole and came to rest on its wheels...

Colton D. Bowman, 18, of Cassville, suffered moderate injuries when his westbound 2012 Chevrolet Cruze slid off the road at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and went through a barbed-wire fence, causing extensive damage. The accident occurred about 1.5 miles south of Cassville, on Highway 112...

A Seligman man and two Verona residents were injured Wednesday in a wreck at 5:20 p.m. on Highway 37, two miles south of Monett. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Devin Fisher, 36, of Verona, was driving a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 southbound on Highway 37. Her vehicle was stopped to make a left turn and was struck from behind by a 1997 Ford Escort, being driven by Jerod Black, 19, of Seligman, was driving...

An Exeter woman was injured Friday in a wreck at 9 p.m. on Highway 39, four miles north of Shell Knob. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Rickie Diamond, 51, of Branson, was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer southbound when his vehicle ran off the roadway and overturned...

Cassville's Cub Scout Pack No. 76's float took the $1,000 purse for the Hutchens Children's Choice award, after judges viewed numerous floats in the annual Christmas parade. Pack leaders are Bill Sims, Roy Edmondson, Lois Deneer, Don Stouder and Dawn Annecharico...

At the Herrin Animal Hospital in Cassville, a large box big enough to climb inside is quickly filling up with toys for Barry County children who might not otherwise have a good Christmas. The animal clinic has been hosting a toy drive in conjunction with the local Share Your Christmas program, which provides Christmas presents for needy children, for the last 16 years, kicking off with a chili dinner...

A 22-year-old former Exeter man has pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct or attempted misconduct involving a child under 15 years old. Dakota Dunam, 22, of Union, formerly of Exeter, has been sentenced to four years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to the class D felony on Nov. 24...

While picking up trash for a community service project at the Cassville City Park Saturday, members of Cub Scout Troop 76, and their parents, were surprised at just how much trash there was to pick up. "I had no idea there would be so much trash here," said Carlin Lakey, scout parent. "And, there are receptacles everywhere."...

The Ozark Festival Orchestra will continue its 36th season with selections from George Frederick Handel's "Messiah" at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center. Performing with the orchestra will be a community choir of nearly 50 voices and soloists, all under the direction of Todd Borgmann...

The Purdy school district is raising the pay for substitute teachers from $70 a day to $80 a day. The availability of substitute teachers has become an issue in the area, one that even impacts the Monett school district. Purdy Superintendent Steven Chancellor said the district had been paying one of the lowest rates in the area. ...

After one year and two months behind bars, a Seligman man has pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder, stemming from an Aug. 3, 2014, wreck on Highway 90 that killed 48-year-old Kenneth Patterson, of Seligman. Brian Sharp, 33, of Seligman, is set to be sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty on Oct. ...

'Twas the week before Christmas and throughout Barry County, there is great preparation and anticipation of the big day observing the birth of Jesus. Regardless the year, be it 1,845 years before Cassville was to become the City of Seven Valleys, to 2015, porch lights or lanterns can be seen burning in hopes that late-arriving packages might be delivered...