Stories from Tuesday, July 1, 2003

It's an exciting month for 24 students enrolled in free computer classes at CLARO in Marshall. The center began a four-week computer class Monday for Spanish-speaking individuals wanting to learn how to type, use computer programs, speak English and develop desired job skills. CLARO Executive Director Carrie Tyler is teaching morning classes from 8 to noon and evening classes from 5 to 9 until July 25. Then the course will be repeated the next four weeks at a site in Sedalia...

Batting Leaders (min. 2.0 PA/TG) Player T G AB R H RBI DO TR HR AVG Jason Rice CAR 16 44 16 20 10 5 0 2 .455 Eric Perkins MAR 14 28 13 12 13 2 0 1 .429 Brad Langan MAR 16 46 20 19 16 7 2 2 .413 Dustin Hays BRN 8 23 13 9 5 1 0 0 .391 Sean Eaves KAY 14 49 14 19 6 6 0 0 .388...

Entering the opening game of the final week of the Babe Ruth Junior League regular season, the stage was set for a possible -- and brief -- three-way tie atop the standings. ConAgra -- having won four straight -- was just a game behind its Monday opponent at Osage Field, defending champion Red Cross Pharmacy. With Rinker Materials, a half-game back, set to play winless Brunswick in the nightcap, a log-jam loomed at the top...

Overall League Team W L RS RA W L RS RA GB Marshall 13 3 138 72 9 2 105 55 ... Carrollton 7 6 87 89 3 4 39 47 4 Kaysinger 6 9 108 125 2 4 58 80 4.5 Brunswick 5 8 77 97 3 7 53 81 5.5

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will have Junior Naturalist award activities available throughout the holiday weekend at Van Meter State Park in northern Saline County. Activities will be set up from Friday, July 4, through Sunday, July 6, in the park visitors center for those wanting to work toward a Junior Naturalist badge. ...

Jensen Construction Company will begin the next phase of construction on the Route 65 Missouri River Bridge at Waverly July 7, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. The work will include constructing the driving surface of the bridge and approaching roadways at an estimated cost of $17.5 million...

Members of the Slater Board of Education gathered for a special meeting Monday evening to discuss end-of-the-year actions. They voted to clear student body accounts and approve the June "core data" report. Districts submit statistical data, or core data, six times annually to a database maintained by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education...

Saline County's unemployment numbers increased slightly in May, up to 4.7 percent, after dropping in April. Like the state as a whole, which reported unemployment at 4.9 percent last month, the same as in April, jobless rates were steady throughout the area, with the largest change being a .2 percent increase in Lafayette County...

Mikinzie Kennedy, 7, takes a flag from children's programmer Eveleth Hill Monday evening at the Marshall Public Library's Summer Reading Club pajama session. Children involved in this week's session each received a flag to hold in a short Independence Day parade around the children's area...

A Marshall man who made the news a year ago as the winner of new Ford Thunderbird at the Isle of Capri casino in Boonville lost his life Monday in a motorcycle crash. A preliminary report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol states that William L. Ballew, 55, died in a crash on Missouri Highway 240 in Saline County...

Junior League Red Cross 4, ConAgra 3 Rinker 12, Brunswick 7 Brunswick vs. Rose Acre, ppd.