Stories from Saturday, December 26, 2009

Folks fortunate enough to have taken in the Community Choir's recent performance of the Wes Morton-directed "Christmas Wonderland in Nevada" might've been puzzled, for a brief second, in the second act, by the note appended to Don Besig's sweetly sentimental "Christmas in a Small Town."...

Hi neighbors. It is the day after Christmas! Are you already getting up early in the morning to sneak the batteries out of all those noisy children's toys? Are you hoping the monsters, mutants or aliens will go ahead and take over the planet if that is what it will take to end the video game?...

Last week both families were at the house along with their parents. We had been to the funeral home for a visitation and when we came back home, the noise level and excitement picked up. I walked into the living room to find the 5-year- old granddaughter chasing her five year old cousin around the table in the living room. ...

A passenger in a 1997 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Whitney Stone, 18, Nevada, was taken by ambulance to Nevada Regional Medical Center with minor injuries suffered after the car struck a tree along U.S. 54 Highway, about 2 miles west of Nevada, Wednesday, shortly after noon...

Local and state law enforcement officials are urging motorists to practice safety on roadways this holiday season, particularly after three local people were killed in separate car accidents within the last few weeks. This time of year, more people are traveling, more impaired drivers are encountered, and winter weather is always a threat, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol...

MAPLETON, Kan. -- Bobby Dean Clayton will be getting a new lease on life next week ... again. On Dec. 29, Clayton will have a second kidney transplant at the University of Kansas Medical Center, after receiving his first transplant 15 years ago. Clayton received his first transplant on June 7, 1995, from his sister, Terry Airey, who was the first of his siblings to get tested and proved to be a positive match. ...

Now that Christmas is past and everyone has recuperated just a bit from the hectic time leading up to the to the big day, it's time to start to clean up the often gigantic mess that such revelry can create. One of those cleaning chores is disposing of the family's Christmas tree...

Peggy Jean Bigley died Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009, at the Evergreen Community Memory Care Unit, in Olathe, Kan. She was born Feb. 7, 1925, she was a lifelong resident of Kansas. She was the daughter of James and Hazel Reed and grew up in Pleasanton, Kan...

Oliver Wayne "Buzz" Sinn, age 82, of Fort Scott, died Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009, at the Truman Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lamar, Mo. He was born July 6, 1927, in Fort Scott, the son of Fred G. Sinn and Elsie Eberle Sinn. Buzz married Juanita Mae Davis on May 28, 1950, in Fort Scott. ...

Wanda Maxine Bowen Foote, 85, Nevada, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009, at Moore-Few Care Center in Nevada. She was born Jan. 29, 1924, around the Mulberry, Kan., area to Adam James Jones and Hazel West Jones. She was married to Everett Bowen on Dec. 6, 1941, who preceded her in death on Feb. 6, 1987. She later married Walter Foote and he survives of the home...

Norma Jean Shumate, 81, Nevada, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009, at Moore-Few Care Center in Nevada. Family information and funeral arrangements will be announced later by Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada. View obituary and send condolences on line at www.ferryfuneralhome.com...

Alan and Sharon Crouse, of Nevada, announce the engagement of their daughter, Amanda, to Keb Walters, of Lamar, son of Max and Debra Walters, of Lamar. Bride-elect Crouse is a 2001 Nevada High School graduate and a 2005 Missouri State University graduate. She is currently employed by Lamar Middle School as a seventh grade science teacher...

While a lot of outdoorsmen and women can't wait until spring to get outside, there are many others who look forward to the winter months for a variety of reasons. Hunters like Carl Ferguson, Sedalia, who has hunted rabbits for more than 40 years, said, "That first snow means it's time to go rabbit hunting. I still use my .22 rifle when I go after cottontails. My dad told me years ago that after the first snow, the rabbits are at their best and the hunting can be very good...