Stories from Friday, July 8, 2005

The Marshall Optimist Club, Marshall Parks and Recreation Department and Saline County Horseshoe Pitchers Club are forming a youth horseshoe pitching league for girls and boys in third grade through sixth grade. The league will have division for age groups and gender in individual, doubles and team competitions...

Esther K. Willard, 87, of Sedalia, died Thursday, July 7, 2005, at Sweet Springs Villa in Sweet Springs. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 9, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Sedalia. Pastor Ken Tatkenhorst will officiate. Pallbearers will be John Bargfrede, Scott Willard, Steve Mueller, Mark Mueller, James Mueller, Clifford Mueller, Nelson Mueller, Danny Weathers and Mike Hedgepeth. ...

Eunice Evelyn Stallings, 92, of Marshall, died Thursday, July 7, 2005, at The Living Center in Marshall. Funeral arrangements are pending at Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home in Marshall.

Velma Marie Hodges, 92, of Independence, formerly of Malta Bend, died Monday, July 4, 2005, at Independence Regional Hospital in Independence. Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 9, at Brooking Cemetery in Raytown. Visitation will be from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday at the cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of H.T. May and Son Funeral Home in Marshall...

Mim Drake, 79, of rural Marshall, died Friday, July 8, 2005, in rural Marshall. Arrangements are pending at Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home in Marshall.

Marshall Director of Parks and Recreation Jeff Stubblefield reported this week that the Missouri Valley College athletic department is in the process of upgrading Osage Field at Indian Foothills Park, which the school uses for its baseball team. The proposed modifications, which will not come at the park's expense, have been welcomed with open arms by Stubblefield and others involved with the local parks...

At Wednesday evening's Marshall Park Board meeting, it was announced that the problematic effluent irrigation system for Indian Foothills Golf Course has been scrapped, for the time being at least, in favor of a system using potable water. Director of Parks and Recreation Jeff Stubblefield told board members that the effluent water system, which has had numerous filtration problems because of a large amount of algae in the system, has been taken off-line...

The snowman in a clown suit, Doris Urban, carries has a little red nose and fluffy buttons. The clown wears a polka-dot hat and carries a sign encouraging all who see to "Be wise. Immunize." As immunization coordinator for the Saline County Health Department, Urban has launched a campaign to help improve the county's statistics on how many boys and girls have received the required shots...

A Marshall man awaiting trial on drug possession charges now faces new charges of distributing drugs near public housing. Kelly T. Coke, 20, was arrested with Amie K. Farr, 22, during a traffic stop in April after Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper J.C. Flanigan discovered cocaine in Farr's vehicle. Both Coke and Farr were charged with class C felony possession of a controlled substance and Coke's bond was set at $10,000 cash only...

Adding a boost to efforts toward getting the I-70 Medical Center up and running, the city of Sweet Springs has chosen to dodge several hard-to-get utility easements. A letter recently received from the Missouri Depart-ment of Transportation has given the city permission to run water and sewer lines in state right-of-ways along the northern outer road of Interstate 70, bypassing several properties unwilling to grant easements due to disputes with the city...

Six months to the day after an explosion touched off Marshall's worst fire in a decade, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced the findings of its inspections. The Jan. 7 incident at the MFA Oil Company bulk fuel facility just north of Marshall occurred as truck driver Arcie Sapp of Ashland was off-loading unleaded gasoline into a 12,000 gallon above-ground storage tank. ...

Thanks to the dynamic duo of Don Ronebaum and Tim Reeder, soon there will be more airplanes flying over Marshall airspace than there have been in more than a decade. Not full-scale airplanes mind you -- although Reeder does make his living as an instructor and commercial pilot at the local airport. The buzz aloft will be radio-controlled models that the pair are dedicated to bringing back to Marshall as part of the hobby they both enjoy...

"It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion's heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar." -- Winston Churchill If it wasn't clear before Thursday morning that the world is engaged in yet another global conflict, it should be now. ...