Stories from Wednesday, March 2, 2016

An Abundant Blessings Tea will be held at the Family Life Center in Cassville from 10:30 -- Noon on Saturday, April 16, and area ladies are invited to attend. The event will benefit Barry County Drug/DWI Court, an intensive court-supervised drug treatment program. ...

Here we are the second day out of February, hoping that the last of the winter winds have blown through Barry County. There is no reason to believe the area isn't due some reasonable weather conditions, even though there are several weeks ahead until the official arrival of spring...

Amy Leigh Oliver, Eagle Rock, $50 for failure to register a vehicle; $200 for failure to register a vehicle. Sean E. Peters, Fayetteville, Ark., $75.50 for failure to register a vehicle. Colton Blake Pointer, Wheaton, $150.50 for a financial responsibility violation; $50.50 for failure to drive on the right half of the roadway...

Mikil Knight, St. Louis, $47.50 for defective equipment. Joshua Caleb Lannum, Butterfield, $30.50 for failure to drive on the right Jared Russell McCracken, Cassville, $10 and six months probation for driving with a suspended license, a seat belt violation and a financial responsibility violation...

This week's pet of the week at the Haven of the Ozarks is Rocky Road.

An open house in honor of Marlee and Johnnie Edie, will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at the Cassville Golf Club.

Members of Cassville Middle School Future Business Leaders of America recently celebrated Career Day by visiting three local businesses.

Members of Cassville Middle School Future Business Leaders of America, Family Career Community Leaders of America, and Ag Club joined together to spend a day of fun at The Jones Center in Springdale, Ark. Saturday, Feb. 20.

Members of the Purdy Future Business Leaders of America competed at the 2016 District Leadership Conference held Feb. 11, at New Site Church in Monett, with eight students qualifying to advance to the state competition. Students receiving district level accolades included Umar Akhtar, first place in sales presentation and first place in entrepreneurship team, both state qualifying events; Morgan Schilly, first place in word processing and first place in entrepreneurship team, both state qualifying events; Kaden Propps, first place in entrepreneurship team, a state qualifier, and fourth place in public speaking II; Joby Young, second place in introduction to parliamentary procedure, a state qualifier; Gannon Clevenger, second place in securities and investments, a state qualifier, and fourth place in impromptu speaking; Justin Brand, third place in networking concepts, a state qualifier, and third place in website design; Andrea Humphrey, fourth place in word processing and sixth place in business ethics team.. ...

Cassville senior Jackson Kirk prepares for a prick from a needle, which he describes to another student nearby as feeling like a "bee sting," while his girlfriend, junior Kaylee Boxley, stays close by for moral support.

Cub Scouts Den Leader Kelly Johnson leads her Webelo 1 group in singing, "It's A Small World," during the Scouts' Blue and Gold annual banquet last Sunday. The banquet is held each February to celebrate the birthday of scouting, which began in 1910. Julia Kilmer reporter@cassville-democrat.com...

Second-grader Eliel Boche, 8, and kindergartener Analia Boche, 6, both of Exeter, work on a math project at the "Star Wars graph station" at Exeter Elementary's Math Night last week, while mom helps hold glue.

Student members of Future Teachers of America (FTA) recently took a field trip of sorts -- on their own campus. On Feb. 2, Cassville campuses participated in an all-day, joint job shadowing event to help 13 FTA members get an inside view into the daily realities of being a teacher...

A Seligman teenager was injured Saturday in a wreck at 6 p.m. on Route KK, one mile north of the Arkansas state line in McDonald County. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Landon Hendrix, 16, of Washburn, was driving a 2003 Toyota Tacoma northbound when his vehicle lost control, ran off the left side of the roadway, struck a ditch and overturned...

Two teenagers were involved in a wreck at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday on Highway 90, three miles west of Washburn. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Rebekah McKeever, 17, of Seligman, was driving a 1999 Toyota Solara and pulled her vehicle from the eastbound lane to the westbound lane, where she was struck from behind by a 1990 GMC 1500, being driven by Sean Knighten, 16, of Washburn...

Senior Life Solutions, in conjunction with Mercy Hospital Cassville, will hold a seminar entitled "Depression and Older Adults" on March 9 from noon to 1 p.m. The speaker will be Senior Life Solutions Program Medical Director Dr. Tamon Paige, M.D., and Program Therapist Valerie Yarmouth, MSW, LCSW...

The Ozark Area Community Action Corporation's Barry County Neighborhood Center is looking to get local elementary children thinking about their future careers, and a new program being devised will help reach that goal. Vocational Opportunities Inspiring Children in Elementary, or VOICE, is in the panning stages in Barry County and aims to target children in Cassville Elementary, and possibly other local districts...

The Cassville school district recently got $190,000 worth of technical upgrades to the school, but only had to pay a fraction of the cost -- 25 percent. "The project was eRate funded," said Richard Asbill, superintendent. "Most all school districts qualify at some level for this federal program. ...

The Barry County Sheriff's Office is planning to soon place licensed officers in its jail, which will provide the county with more advantages because employees with these credentials will be able to provide services a non-certified jailers may not. Currently, jailers are not required to have a license, but under the new plan, jailers would be officers licensed by the state through the Peace Officers Standards and Training program (POST) and Missouri Department of Public Safety...

Cassville High School is beginning the process of repairing its HVAC units, as the system is about 20 years old and in need of upgrades. "The elementary and middle school HVAC units were replaced a couple years ago," said Richard Asbill, Cassville superintendent. "We used that as an example to reference the upcoming need for the high school."...

The City of Cassville recently made two purchases aiming to help keep roads safe for drivers and maintaining the city's infrastructure. To help maintain sewer lines, the city purchased a 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 Crew Cab truck to pull the city's sewer camera, which helps pinpoint problems in sewer lines so they can be repaired and maintained...

The Barry County Clerk's Office has consolidated voting precincts in three different locations around the county. The changes will be in effect for the next election on March 15, the Presidential Preference Primary. Gary Youngblood, Barry County clerk, mailed a letter advising all registered voters in the affected precincts of the changes on Oct. 23, 2015...

Crafted in Barry County, two bills, one in the Missouri House and another in the Missouri Senate, would open up road districts statewide to consolidation, starting with Shell Knob and Viola. Cherry Warren, Barry County presiding commissioner, said he and the commissioners drew up the bill, as when Shell Knob and Viola road districts came to the commission looking to consolidate, it had to be done on a state level...

The Barry County Sheriff's Office will soon be getting four new Ford Explorers to add to its fleet of patrol cars. "We believe it's a good vehicle for the terrain in Barry County," said Mick Epperly, Barry County sheriff. "They are all-wheel drive. They seem to be holding up pretty good. We've been using the Ford Explorer for about five years. We had to go with a car that was big enough to carry everyone's supplies, and maybe two inmates."...

Trout season kicked off with a bang on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon fired a full magazine from the Opening Day gun to allow anglers to reel in the treasured trout at Roaring River State Park. Nixon spent Monday night in a cabin at the park, then made his way to the gazebo to fire the gun and then trekked just below it to the banks to fish for some trout on his own...

Filings for Barry county offices as of 3 p.m. Wednesday. Filing deadline is Tuesday, March 29. The primary election will be Aug. 2, and the general election will be Nov. 8. Sheriff Travis Hilburn, R-Cassville Danny Boyd, R-Purdy James A. Smith, R-Aurora...

Thousands of people, with varying levels of fishing experience, descended upon Roaring River State Park on Opening Day. While I spent March 1 only fishing around for pictures, I will soon have to make my annual stop by the park store to get my license for the year...

Coaches tend to worry about every detail when it comes to their teams, no matter how minute. Tommy Egan, Purdy's boys hoops coach, is no exception. Egan's Eagles (19-8) fly into tonight's (Wednesday's) Class 2 sectional playoff game against Marionville (19-10) on the heels of the team's best performance of the season in a 83-64 district title win over McAuley Catholic on Friday...

As the final 90 seconds ticked off the game clock, Purdy Coach Tommy Egan was not even looking at the action on the floor. He was too busy walking down his bench giving each and every player a hug and personalized message. "I was just telling them how much I loved them and how proud I was of them," Egan said. "They played their hearts out, and I could not have been prouder of a group of players."...

The Cassville girls basketball team overcame a sluggish start, scoring only 1 point in the first quarter, to rally past McDonald County, 43-32, to open play in the Class 4, District 12 tournament in Carthage on Monday. The Lady Wildcats (13-13) advance to the semifinal on Thursday at 4 p.m., where the No. 1 district seed and state-ranked No. 4 Carl Junction girls await...