Stories from Saturday, March 21, 2009

Larry Lee and Johnna Kay Ballou will observe their 50th wedding anniversary on March 29, 2009. The Ballous were married at Grace Baptist Tabernacle, in Fort Scott, on Easter Sunday March 29, 1959, by the Rev. Claude Craven. The couple noted that their anniversary has never fallen on Easter Sunday since their wedding...

David and Crystal Ayers announce the engagement and upcoming wedding of her sister, Kellen Mary Wheeler, to Luke Ashford Geneva, son of Brett and Nancy Geneva. The bride is a 2008 graduate of Fort Scott High School. She is currently attending Fort Scott Community College and is employed by Gene's Heartland Foods...

Announcement is made of the engagement of Sonya Annette Garcia and Christopher George Petroski. The couple plan to be married on June 20, 2009, in Jasper, Mo. Sonya is the daughter of Frank and Irene Garcia, Jasper, Mo., and granddaughter of Rachel and Louis Pennell, Jasper. ...

Paul Emery, a senior at College Heights Christian School, Joplin, has been appointed to attend the United States Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colo., as a member of the class of 2013. The appointment was awarded to only about 1,500 of the 9,200 applicants. It is equivalent to a scholarship valued at $403,000. He is scheduled to leave in June for basic training and then will begin school in the fall...

Gladys Jane (Ainley) Robb, 77, of Stockton, Mo., passed this life on March 19, 2009, at Cedar County Memorial Hospital, in El Dorado Springs, after a long illness. Gladys was born to Thomas and Ruby Ainley on Nov. 15, 1931. She wed Tony Robb on April 4, 1959, and spent her life as a busy homemaker, wife and mother...

Matthew Scott Bogatay, 32, of Fort Scott, died Wednesday, March, 18, 2009, at Perry, Okla. Matthew was born on July 10, 1976, in Dallas, Texas, the son of Steven and Jane Caolishaw Bogatay. Matthew worked for Mid-Continental Restorations Company, in Fort Scott. Matthew was reared in DeSoto, Kan., and graduated from DeSoto High School, in 1995, where he lived most of his life. He married Natasha Logan on Aug. 27, 2006, in Garrett, Kan...

Charles Lynn Smith, 54, of Decatur, Ill., passed away of an unexpected heart attack at 5:54 a.m., Friday, March 20, 2009, at Decatur Memorial Hospital. Services to celebrate Lynn's life will be held at 10 am Monday, March 23, in the Chapel of Graceland/Fairlawn Funeral Home, conducted by Pastor Adam Cruse. ...

Nevel M. Turner, 87, of Nevada, passed away Thursday March 19, 2009, in Grove, Okla. Nevel was born in Marion County, Ark., near Mountain Home, Ark. Nevel moved to Grove in January of this year to be taken care of by her son and his wife. She worked as a seamstress in Nelly Dawn Garment Factory in Nevada for many years...

Sabrina and Brian Nikodim, of Joplin, Mo., are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Brooklyn Marie Nikodim. Brooklyn was born at 2 p.m., on Feb. 14, 2009, at Freeman Hospital, in Joplin. She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 19 inches...

Cynthia Shirk and Jason Garren, of Nevada, and big brothers Brandon, Brian, Dakota, and Jordan, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and baby sister, MaKayla Marie Garren. MaKayla was born at 4:08 a.m., on March 14, 2009, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and measured 20 inches...

"That was intense." Julie Forkner, organizer of a special assembly at the Bronaugh R-VII school, couldn't have given a better description of what students and everyone else present was treated to on Tuesday afternoon. Accompanied by a disc jockey, Brad Bennett and Brent Longenecker brought a message of the proper methods to live life in a very different form. These two acrobatic specialists gave a show involving stunt riding on unicycles and dirtbikes as a means of teaching the values of life...

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School head tennis coach Lynn Barr has numbers, that's for certain. There are 20 players out for the boys' team this spring and he may have to add junior varsity matches to the schedule in order to give all those players opportunities to show their skills...

The madness of March in Missouri isn't confined to basketball. It also applies to fishing, including the trout parks opening on the first to spoonbill snagging on the 15th. Harold Thomas, Independence, couldn't believe what he saw when he pulled into the parking lot at the boat ramp in Osceola Sunday...

My day has gone a little something like this: I woke up at 7 a.m., after sleeping like a restless child the night before a Disneyland vacation. I put my compression stocking on my right leg to protect it from blood clots at high altitudes. I packed my morning luggage. ...

Hi neighbors. Where is your holy ground? You know, some people save a lifetime to travel to Jerusalem or Mecca to touch the ground they consider holy. There are other places in the world where different religions were first started, or where events considered significant to that religion occurred...

Nevada, Mo. -- David Harms, Administrator for the Barone Alzheimer's Care Center, has been involved in the health care field since 1989 and in the long-term care field since 1997. He was born in Columbus, Ga, where his father was stationed in the U.S. Army. He doesn't hesitate to claim Vernon County as his home, though. "My family moved to Nevada, Mo., in 1969."...

Fort Scott, Kan. -- The E.C. Gordon Fine Arts Series will present a free concert by No Better Cause, a vocal band from Lincoln, Neb., at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 24, in the Fort Scott High School auditorium, 1005 S. Main St. The concert is sponsored by the Bourbon County Arts Council and is supported by Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kansas Arts Commission and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Mis-souri, Nebraska, Okla-homa and Texas.. ...

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott Community College administrators and staff want to make sure the college is prepared in the event of a crisis situation. During the FSCC Board of Trustees meeting at 5:30 p.m., Monday, in the FSCC Heritage Room, 2108 S. ...

Nevada, Mo. -- Nevada's infrastructure committee is proposing that the city rebuild five streets in 2009 at an estimated cost of $521,118, which is above the $500,000 that is usually budgeted from the city's 1/2-cent transportation sales tax for new street construction...

Camp Clark, Mo. -- More than 200 soldiers from the newly formed 1st Battalion, 138th Infantry Regiment of the Missouri Army National Guard came to Camp Clark from across the state on Saturday, March 14, to take part in training in several different combat scenarios. This is the first time Missouri has had an infantry unit in more than 35 years...

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Several local youths assembled at Fort Cinema last Saturday to participate in an event hosted by the Fort Scott Skate Park Committee. According to Fort Scott Skate Park Committee member Nate Lyons, about 50 kids and parents were in attendance for the showing of the 2002 skateboarding documentary "King of Skate," and a free skating session in the parking lot. The event was a bit of a change from the previous events which involved only skating...

Throughout his tenure as the commanding officer of the Department of Kansas, Major General Samuel Ryan Curtis, was constantly faced with waging a war in three basic directions. These directions consisted of defending eastern Kansas from raids by the Confederate guerrillas in Missouri, enemy attacks into Kansas from the Indian Territory (present Oklahoma) and attacks on the commercial and military traffic along the Santa Fe, Oregon and Smokey River Trails by various Plains Indian Tribes and possibly Confederate guerrillas. ...

The Carver Birthplace Association, in conjunction with the George Washington Carver National Monument, has announced the eighth annual George Washington Carver Scholarship. The scholarship is a one-time award in the amount of $500 for the 2009-'10 academic year. ...

Charles was born in rural Ray County Mo., to Charles Henry and Anna Lee (Kern) Proffitt on July 15, 1927, and passed away on March 11, 2009, at Cedar County Memorial Hospital in El Dorado Springs. Charles was a truck driver with Atlas Van Lines where he became an owner-operator. He drove over one million miles while employed with McCormack-Payton, Atlas Van Lines...