Stories from Thursday, August 4, 2005

Although the visitor center at Van Meter State Park near Miami has been closed since the start of this week for a $336,300 expansion project being executed by the Irvinbilt Co. of Chillicothe, Administrator Connie Winfrey wants everyone to know that the park is still open for uses such as hiking, camping and picnicking...

Two very large cats stare out of separate canvasses, portrayed in the strokes of local artist Aimee Vance. Several frames down the hall, Jerrold Carton's portrait of a young girl gazes vacantly across the hall into foggy space. "It's incredible art," Dee Yoh said. And it is found in an unlikely location, the lobby of a former hospital...

The quest to build a skateboard park in Marshall could be over by the end of this year. At its regular meeting Wednesday, the Marshall Park Board voted to approve a bid for the construction of a retaining wall needed to move the project forward. Jeff Stubblefield, Marshall director of parks and recreation, said only one bid -- from Hoffman Enterprises of Glasgow -- was received. ...

With the filing of formal charges Wednesday, additional information into the arrests of a Marshall couple were made available. Corey D. Winn, 26, and Rosalyn A. Bolden, 25, were arrested early Aug. 2 following a raid on their home by Marshall police...

The big news at Tuesday evening's Slater City Council meeting was the absence of Mayor Andree Petersen and Councilman Ron Monning, who suffered a heart attack and was recuperating at home. Petersen's absence was due to a prior engagement. The meeting, led by Councilman Stephen Allegri, was split into two portions. The first segment centered around the annual city audit while the latter part focused on the purchase of several botanical items to be placed along Main Street...

A Marshall man on parole for trafficking in drugs was back in court Wednesday facing new charges. Michael T. Anderson, 26, was charged Monday with class C felony possession of a controlled substance after officers recovered cocaine and marijuana during a raid on his residence in the 400 block of South Redman. Anderson, who told officers he was unemployed, also had $5,500 in cash hidden in a bedroom floor vent...

The Santa Fe Trail Days parade will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, with entries lining up starting at 8 a.m. on North Street west of the square. Entries are asked to come in from the corner of Benton and North. The parade route will be North to Lafayette, then around three sides of the square -- south on Lafayette, east on Arrow and north on Jefferson -- disbanding near Marion and Jefferson...

Author's note: This is the second in a two-part series As the warriors closed in, Yellow Hair ordered his men to shoot their horses and stack the carcasses to form a wall. This provided little protection against bullets. In less than an hour, Custer and his men were killed in the worst American military disaster ever. ...