THE HEART OF THE OZARKS UNITED WAY held its 2009 campaign kickoff breakfast today at the West Plains Country Club. “This year’s goal is $270,000,” said Board President R.A. Pendergrass. “We raised $255,000 last year. You know the saying, ‘where there’s a will there’s a way,’ well, where there’s a need there’s United Way. It’s economically a tough season. We’re going to have to roll up our sleeves and work hard.” The local United Way is in its 48th year. Other speakers today were Mayor Joe Paul Evans, who was a member of the first United Way board in the area, and Vicki Elmore of Samaritan Outreach. There also was a video shown, highlighting some of the agencies such as Samaritan Outreach, Meals on Wheels and Special Olympics that receive funds from United Way. Front row, from left: Pendergrass, board members Dale Rickert, Susan Courter, Susan Gettys and Kristi Johnson. Back row: Treasurer Barbara Nyden, board members Mary McCravy, Kevin Gleghorn and Amanda Smith, Vice President Tim James and board member Brad Wickham. Other members include JoAn Bailey Russell, Lois Bostic, Sunie Pace, Erin Scott, Kyle Walker and Tera Weaver. (Quill/Daniels)
Mtn. View
Library to host kickoff events for ‘The Big Read’
The Mtn. View Public Library, a participating organization in The Big Read in Howell County, will kick off the month-long celebration at 10 a.m. Sept. 6 at the gazebo in front of the library. It will feature performances by Alex Primm of Rolla and musicians Tom Rowley and Renee Wood of Willow Springs.
Librarian Beth Gilbert said, “Alex Primm will begin with some storytelling as Huckleberry Sawyer, ‘son of Tom Sawyer, foster son of Huck Finn and a third generation Missouri river rat.’ He will mainly focus on stories from the Tom Sawyer book and river lore and offer some interactive games which will be fun for all generations.” According to Primm, “The basic purpose of our presentation will be to encourage people to read this book, discuss it and how life has changed in the state over the last 100-plus years.”
Primm will have decorative banners and a variety of tools and other objects to incorporate into the story-telling process.
Musicians Rowley and Wood will accompany the storytelling presentation.
The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Support for The Big Read is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
ON TO
WILLOW SPRINGS
A copy of Mark Twain’s book, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” will then be taken to a kickoff ceremony set for 11 a.m. Sept. 6 at Butler Children’s Park on Broadway in West Plains. The event will include a community picnic.
The book will then be relayed by carriers to the Star Theater in Willow Springs for that city’s noon kickoff celebration.
GET THE BOOK
The critical edition of the book is available at the Drago College Book Store on West Main Street in West Plains.
A different version of the book is available at the public libraries in West Plains (256-4775), Willow Springs (469-3482) and Mtn. View (934-6154). It also is available from Big Read Project Coordinator Leigh Adams. Call 255-7282.
Howell County is one of 208 communities nationwide to participate. From Sept. 2 to Oct. 2 it will celebrate “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain with a full calendar of events including film, performing arts, radio theater, book groups and more.
Gilbert can be reached at 417-934-6154. A full calendar of events for The Big Read in Howell County is at http://www.wparts.org.
Special quail hunts set
BY MIKE WOODRING
Wildlife Management Biologist
Missouri Department of Conservation
West Plains
Hunting quail on public land can be frustrating. Quail that do not succumb to the gun become very difficult to hunt. They hide in heavy woody cover, neighboring private land, and they run and flush wild.
To improve your chance of finding quail, the Missouri Department of Conservation restricts hunting pressure on select conservation areas.
On two areas in Howell County, public use is limited to a handful of days, and only one hunting party each of those days. MDC is accepting applications for special quail hunts on the Dan and Maureen Cover Prairie Conservation Area and the Carrick W. Davidson-Robert G. Paris Wildlife Area, both near West Plains.
Permits for the hunts will be issued by lottery. Applicants may apply for only one of the areas. Successful applicants will be given one-day permits to hunt on the area selected, during the assigned time period.
There will be 18 hunts on the Cover Prairie C.A. and eight hunts on Davidson-Paris W.A. Each successful applicant will be allowed to take three other hunters, and they will have the area to themselves. Each party will be allowed to take four quail.
To apply for these special hunts, write to the Missouri Department of Conservation, Special Quail Hunts, 551 Joe Jones Blvd., West Plains, MO 65775, or call 417-256-7161. All applicants must include the area on which they wish to hunt, the applicants name, permanent mailing address, phone number and the names of no more than three additional people who will be in the hunting party. No person’s name may be listed on more than two permits.
Applications will be accepted from Sept. 1 through Sept. 30. Successful applicants will be notified by mail by Oct. 15.
Clinic and hunt are for young hunters
There will be a youth dove hunting clinic from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the White Ranch on Highway 17, south of West Plains, followed by the hunt from 6 a.m. to noon Monday. Lunch will be served to participants and their adult.
Participants must have completed a hunter-ed certification class, be between the ages of 11 and 15, and be accompanied by an adult for the Monday session.
Class size is limited and those who did not participate in last year’s hunt will be given first consideration, according to Missouri Department of Conservation Ozark Region Outdoor Skills Specialist Larry Lindeman of West Plains.
He said ammunition for 20-gauge and 12-gauge will be furnished, but participants may choose to bring their own shotguns and ammo.
To apply for the hunt or for more information, call Lindeman at 417-256-7161, Ext. 230, or e-mail larry.lindeman@mdc.mo.gov. Those selected to participate will be notified by phone on Friday, he said.
‘Preparedness’ class set for Fri.
A “Disaster Preparedness Begins with You” class will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Howell-Oregon Electric Co-op on U.S. 63, north of West Plains.
The free-of-charge class will be presented by the Region Eight Council on Development Disabilities of Poplar Bluff. The council serves 18 counties, including Howell, Oregon, Shannon, Carter, Reynolds, Wayne, Ripley, Dunklin, Stoddard and Butler.
The idea is for people to be “ready in three,” said one of its organizers, Margaret Freeman. “We’re going to show people what they need to get together, proper medications and needed items, and where to have it, in case of a potential disaster, tornado, flood, ice, etc. We also will show what to do for the pets.”
There will be door prizes, she said.
For more information, call 573-785-0165 or 573-888-7369, or e-mail mamielbenson@yahoo.com.