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Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018 Vol. 154, No. 28 • $1.00
INSIDE
Happy N ew Year!
A Weekly Newspaper Serving the Dade County Area Since 1866
Santa Drops in to Read Polar Express at the Lockwood Library
OBITUARIES • Donna Mae Yohe, 74, South Greenfield • David H. Lee, 72, Greenfield • Faren Dale Fite, 64, Greenfield • Lola Mae ChaneyBrown, 83, Aurora • Anna Lee Vaccaro, 88, Mt. Vernon • Evelyn Estelle HydeKarr, 93, Verona • Donna Sue Collier, 74, Mt. Vernon
McGee Retirement Reception, Dec. 28
A reception for retiring Dade County Circuit Clerk Mary McGee has been planned for Friday, December 28, from 2-3:30 p.m., in the second floor courtroom of the Dade Court Courthouse.
Lockwood Public Library Cataloging Party, Dec. 31
The Lockwood Public Library will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 31 and the staff is inviting the community to come visit and start the new year out right.
American Legion Breakfast, Jan. 12
The Roy E. Carr Post No. 372 of the American Legion hosts their next monthly breakfast Saturday, January 12, from 7-9:30 a.m. The breakfast is served at the American Legion building on Locust Street in Lockwood and includes pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits gravy, coffee and juice for just $5 per plate. All donations received go toward Legion programs to assist local veterans and post activities. CONTENTS Obituaries...................Page 2 Events.........................Page 3 Directories.............Pages 5-6 Sports.........................Page 9 Legals.......................Page 10 Classifieds............... Page 11 Year in Review.........Page 12
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January Decision Possible on 4-Day Weeks for Greenfield R-IV By James McNary Articles Editor
From Phyllis Hagerman Lockwood Public Library
Our Books with Santa storytime was a major success! Visiting children were enthralled with Santa’s reading. A special thank you to Justin Holder for arranging this visit from Santa. After the story, the children were able to take photos with Santa against a backdrop lovingly crafted by our very own board member Kristy Miller and her sisters, Tonya and Holly. While waiting for their picture opportunity, the children worked on making jingle bell Rudolphs that were then used to shake while singing Jingle Bells. Library staff had a blast with everyone today! Those who were able to stay later, utilized our Big Briks tub and created some super tall towers. Thank you all for joining us and helping us spread some jingly joy! As a reminder: Everyone is invited to visit the Library on Monday, December 31, sometime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Maria Schnelle, daughter of Amy Schnelle happily sits upon Santa’s lap. (Photos by Gina Langston)
to enjoy snacks and let us demonstrate some of the uses of our new patron cards. Also, help with building our database would be much appreciated. We are approximately half-way to having that done!
Greenfield Ready-Mix Under New Ownership on Jan. 1 By James McNary Articles Editor
Local concrete plant Greenfield Ready-Mix will transition from the longtime ownership of the Julian family to that of Lloyd Mason on Jan.1, but Mason said that customers and the commu-
nity won’t see many changes in the day-to-day operations. “Gordon [Julian] has been trying to talk me into buying it for a while now,” said Mason, with a slight chuckle. “We’ve worked together quite a bit over the years; everything here is already set up how I do it already.”
Mason, who has lived in Dade County for most of two decades, said that he has previous experience in running his trucking firm, as well as several years in the ready-mix concrete business. ‘Ready-Mix’ Continued on page 4
Live Well Transformation Challenge From the Live Well Center
The community is invited to participate in the Live Well Health & Fitness Center’s 2019 Transformation Challenge. It will officially run from January 2 to April 1 and sign will be accepted between those dates. There is no cost to participate in the challenge. At the end of each month, Live Well will give the person who has achieved the most transformation at that point a prize. Then, at the end of the three-month challenge there will be one overall winner selected to win the main prize. The challenge is open
to both women and men. At sign-up, participants will be weighed and measured on their legs, arms, waist and body fat percentage.
All participants in the challenge will get help with a workout and suggested meal plan. Measurements for the one-month prizes will be due by February 1 and then again on March 1. The three-month mark measure-
ments will need to be taken by April 1 so the grand prize can be awarded by April 2. Entrants are asked to personally take a picture that they would be comfortable sharing for their “before” photo. That way, at the end of the challenge, the winner can take an “after” photo to share their transformation. Anyone that participates in the Transformation Challenge will also get a discount on any 1st Phorm supplement products ordered. Anyone wanting to participate in this challenge is urged to sign-up. There are no sign-up fees for the month of December at the Live Well Health & Fitness Center.
A decision on whether to move the Greenfield school system to a four-day week could come as early as next month, if the current indications the board of education has received of public opinion keep true. “I did not see anything the other night that the community did not have enough of a negative opinion to come and speak out against it,” said Supt. Chris Kell. There was some discussion about having another public forum on the topic, however, there was concern that a second meeting could possibly have a lower turnout than the first. Kell said that after further discussions with a Missouri State University expert on four-day weeks, it appears that there could easily be 50 school districts in Missouri adopting the modified calendar next school year, many of them in southwest Missouri. There are over 500 school districts in Missouri. Most of the districts adopting a four-day week are smaller, rural districts. The question of why larger districts are not switching to the modified schedule has been raised during discussions. “A small school can react more quickly – and our reasons for considering a fourday week don’t apply to [larger districts],” said Renee Meents, board president. Kell said that even in some of the larger districts, some are considering “technology days,” during which students would receive assignments and work from home. Obviously, students in those districts would require access to technology and
high-speed Internet service, a challenge for many rural districts. “I think the January meeting should be the time to vote,” said Kell. Kell also gave an update on the potential invite to join the WEMO Conference in football. “The short answer is that there is no invite,” said Kell. “Their proposal to form two divisions fell apart, so I guess you’d say they had to ‘disinvite’ us.” Greenfield is still without a conference for next school year, but Kell said that there are possibilities, and that the district will find a conference home someday. In other business, the board: Heard reports on the parents-as-teachers, fine arts/ music, fourth grade and fifth grade programs. Approved one request for early graduation. Approved a resolution to adopt the Dade County Hazard Mitigation plan as soon as a final draft is presented. Discussed transportation options; no further information from Apple Bus had yet been received. Heard a report from the district maintenance supervisor. Heard reports from the school principals and district superintendent. Other written reports from various departments were submitted as well. Held a portion of the meeting in closed session. It was also announced that school will be in session Jan. 2, due to oversight in making up a missed snow day last school year.
State Auditor: Sheriff’s Office Still in Need of Improvement State Auditor Nicole Galloway last week issued a follow-up report of audit findings in Dade County. The progress report outlined the need for continued improvement to accounting processes in the sheriff’s office after a May 2017 audit revealed weak record keeping, lack of oversight and missing money. “My initial review of Dade County found concerns with financial oversight within the sheriff’s office and laid out a series of recommendations to ensure funds are properly accounted for by the office,” Auditor Galloway said. “While some changes are underway, there is more that needs to be done to ensure basic financial safeguards are in place.” Responses to requests for further comment from the state auditor’s office and from the Dade County Sheriff’s Office were not re-
ceived by press time due to an early holiday deadline, look for a follow-up story in next week’s edition of the Vedette. The previous report recommended the sheriff further investigate approximately $800 in missing money that could not be accounted for during the previous audit. The sheriff was able to provide additional records for $267 of those funds, but documentation for an additional $528 could not be found. The sheriff has shifted some financial responsibilities in an effort to address concerns about oversight, but still does not have a system to ensure independent or supervisory reviews of accounting and bank records. Efforts have also been made to improve processes for depositing and issuing receipt slips for inmate funds and to ‘DadeCo Sheriff’ Continued on page 4