Stories from Friday, July 15, 2005

The Tigers logged a perfect 12-0 record to win the regular season championship of the Optimist Softball Junior League for 8- to 11-year-old girls. In the post-season tournament, the Tigers turned around after an 11-8 loss to the Cardinals to beat the same team, 7-6, for the title. ...

Batting Leaders (min. 24 PA) Player T AB R H RBI DO TR HR AVG Brian Day CS 26 15 17 13 2 0 0 .654 Zach Pannell RAF 17 8 10 8 3 0 0 .588 Nathan Cato CA 33 19 16 7 4 2 0 .485 Brian Bergstrom RCP 21 18 10 15 3 0 1 .476 Cory McComas RCP 15 20 6 9 0 1 0 .400...

Two events both crested on news pages this week, something like an asteroid and a NASA publicity stunt. One was a survey by a Web site company about how much time employees waste at work. The other was Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. At Detroit's Comerica Park Tuesday night, multi-millionaires played a kids' game in front of thousands who had paid, at the least, hundreds of dollars to applaud the sport's best. ...

Marsha R. Wisdom, 47, of Marshall, died Friday, March 18, 2005, at Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall. Memorial services will be held at noon Sunday, July 17, at the Hilltop Shelter in Indian Foothills Park. Memorials are suggested to Saline County United Way...

For years Marshall Municipal Utilities customers have been able to purchase water at the MMU Power Plant using a coin-operated dispenser, but that service is now in jeopardy. The unit worked by giving customers a set amount of water when they deposited a quarter. While used regularly by some customers, the dispenser brought in roughly $200 each year...

Summer school's out in Sweet Springs and Elementary Principal Donna Wright reported the new program run by private company Newton Learning was a success. "I think it ended up being a positive experience for the kids and a positive experience for the school," Wright told the Sweet Springs R-7 Board of Education Thursday...

Three parents concerned about the size of the sixth grade class at Sweet Springs addressed the school board Thursday evening. The class currently has 27 students enrolled in it and is expected to grow. Though the elementary school sometimes splits large classes between two teachers, this year's sixth grade will all stay in one room...

When Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Stubblefield and Marshall Aquatic Center Manager Lori Godsey put their heads together last winter to come up with some new ideas about how to attract area parents and youth to the aquatic center, hitting upon a winning idea was a matter of time -- literally...

Top: From left, Breanna Wright, Jordan Allen and Tyler Driskell had a hopping good time at Thursday's Barnyard Olympics, held on the Saline County Fairground. The top three finishers in the 12-and-older division were Nathan Sullivan, Robbie Gorrell and Mckenzie Wright...