2020 Community Reflections

Community Reflections

A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF

The Monett Times

Page 9

Repurposed Faire vendors mixed many different styles of products and ideas in their offerings. Marley Miller, second from left, and mom Tammi Miller asked about unusual creations available at the booth shared by Cliff’s Crafts and the PB&J Acres farm, run by Jana Bricker, center, and Debbie Phillips. Murray

Bishoff/times-news@monett-times. com

Inside: BUSINESS:

Industry growth, contribution to memorial make news — Page 5

EDUCATION:

Building proposal, higher enrollments mark year in education — Page 6

AGRICULTURE:

Local agriculture sees strong year — Page 7

Moving Forward Page 5

HEALTH:

New hospital construction biggest news of year — Page 8

COMMUNITY:

SRO award, judge retirement mark year in community news — Page 9

Advertisers: CoxHealth — Page 2 Race Brothers Farm and Home Supply — Page 2 First State Bank of Purdy — Page 3 Hydro Aluminum — Page 3 Jack Henry and Associates — Page 3 Swartz Tractor Sales and Service — Page 12 Buchanan Funeral Home — Page 12 IMEC — Page 12 Main Street Feeds — Page 14 EFCO Corporation — Page 15 Lacoba Homes, Inc. — Page 15 WinTech— Page 15 Community National Bank — Page 15 Schrieber Foods — Page 16 Bennett-Wormington Funeral Home — Page 16

Assistant Principal Stephanie Heman extended a welcome to the audience in presenting the Class of 2019 for graduation. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

Page 6

Donors to Cox Monett Hospital’s Momentum Campaign and the hospital’s community advisory board gathered recently to unveil the updated contributions to the donor board. Pictured, from left, are: Donna Beckett, Community National Bank and Cox Monett Community Advisory Board member; Scott Spain, Jack Henry and Associates; Randy Henderson, First State Bank; Jeanne Garrett and Glen Garrett, First State Bank; Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett; Amanda Lee, First State Bank; Margaret Prim; Jack Prim, CoxHealth board member and Momentum Campaign co-chairperson; Phyllis Garrett, Cox Monett volunteer; Mike Garrett, Cox Monett Community Advisory Board member and Momentum Campaign co-chairperson. Contributed photo

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Community Reflections

The Monett Times

The Monett Times

Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Page 3

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Community Reflections

The Monett Times

Industry growth, contribution to memorial make news

Monett businesses continue positive progress in past year

Growth of Wintech, a contribution to a memorial, a boost in local construction, a bank merger and a new president at EFCO were the major takeaways in business news in the past year.

Wintech sees major growth

In November 2019, WinTech President Jack Williams offered an overview of his company’s operations, including a hint at ambitious expansion prospects in the next two decades.

Williams, a University of Arkansas graduate, came to Monett in 2006 from Conair, to head the engineering department at EFCO Corporation. He joined WinTech in July 2017 as vice president of operations. With the retirement of President Mark Harper in February 2018, WinTech leadership tapped him as the new head.

WinTech has three basic types of window products, Williams observed: commodity, commercial, and HVAC (heating and air conditioning). Commodity includes vinyl basement windows, WinTech’s only residential product; windows for the metal building market, such as pole barns; disaster response, for products such as FEMA trailers; and for modular construction. Williams explained modular construction targets the commercial market, primarily hotel construction. Rooms are built separate from the building, like Lego blocks, installing the electricity, plumbing and windows — “Everything but the bed” — before the finished unit is “inserted” into the building. WinTech makes windows for these projects.

In the commercial field, WinTech makes products like EFCO, but Williams said the two firms “don’t really” compete.

“We’re much more complementary,” he said.

WinTech has residential, light commercial and commercial products, mostly for assisted living, schools, and the hospitality industry —“mostly cookie cutter stuff; that’s where we shine” — and architectural products. Williams said EFCO excels in the architectural arena, having a much larger engineering staff that can custom make products on demand.

WinTech’s HVAC products, mostly panels and foam filled access doors, represent the company’s line for food service.

Trane is one of the local company’s biggest customers. Others are Carrier and Johnson Controls.

WinTech grew on the buy-and-resell model.

Williams said the firm is slowly moving away from that, selling many of its products as direct sale to other manufacturers, such as Boman and Kemp, which sells basement egress windows. Modular sales go directly to individual building companies.

Commercial sales represent about 30 percent of WinTech’s business, about 60 percent going through a network of independent representatives.

Williams said WinTech sells to its competitors, selling louvered windows to Quaker Windows one day and competing with them the next.

Williams reviewed WinTech employee stock option ownership plan (ESOP), where employees own the company, having started as a family-owned operation in 1991 by Bob and Debbie Berger, Gary and Karla Rickman, and Lonnie Dunn. All profits go back into the company. Williams said the

ESOP offers “a fantastic retirement opportunity if you stay over a long period of time.”

He continued, “The challenge is, because it’s not a publicly sold share, when you retire, you must sell the shares back. As the company grows, the share price grows. You need to have staggered growth.”

As for the future, Williams said WinTech has “fairly aggressive” growth plans through a combination of organic and acquisition growth.

“By 2035, we’d like to be six to eight times our current size,” Williams said. “We’d like to keep the main office in Monett.

We went to Cassville for access to its workforce.

We’re turning more to automation. Our biggest challenge will be the ability to find employees.”

Monett industry contributes to Native American memorial

Having acquired a reputation for using precision technology that applies well to artwork, Monett Metals completed a project in 2019 for the Osage Indian Tribe in Oklahoma.

According to Mike Renfrow, president of Monett Metals, the Monett foundry was approached by the Osage Tribe to cast a 20-foot eagle feather in metal to stand on the lawn by the Osage National Museum in Pawhuska, Okla. The feather was placed to recognize Osage who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

“This memorial, like all other memorials, is a bridge to the past for the people in the present to have some understanding of the great cost of war,” said Franklin McKinley, a veteran and the chair of the Osage Veterans Memorial Commission (OVM), who spoke to the Osage Nation Congress. “Loss is just not on the battlefield alone, but back at home as well.

Memorials are a compassionate way of respectfully reminding all of the sacrifices that are made by our veterans.”

The project was spearheaded by Maria DeRoin, a 21-year U.S. Navy veteran, as part of the memorial project started in 2011, but changed to the Osage Veterans Memorial in 2017 to honor all Osage veterans, whether or not they served in combat.

The memorial itself is a circle, 66 feet across and four feet deep, with a water feature on the north side and seating on the south side. Pavers on the walking surface lead to three gazebos. The eagle feather represents those worn by Osage men in ceremonial Osage dances.

Wallace Engineering designed the memorial to include a granite waterfall as the centerpiece, holding the eagle feather, surrounded by five granite plinths, each decorated with seals from the Department of Defense for the different branches of military service, bearing the names of Osage veterans.

“The feather casting is an art project, which is not really our core business,” Renfrow said. “Monett Metals produces castings for a variety of industries, including petrochemical, food processing and energy. Even though this project is not our typical work, I am always looking for jobs that our production team will enjoy and can take great pride in.

“We seem to be receiving more and more opportunities like this.

[We were also] asked to cast a 17-foot bronze fish hook. I’m not sure why there has been a steady stream of odd requests, but I assume we may be one of the few foundries willing to consider some of these crazy projects.”

To make the feathers,

A night view of the memorial commemorating service by the Osage people in the U.S. military at the Osage National Museum in Pawhuska, Okla. Contributed photo Monett Metals used a nobake sand system.

“Essentially, we use chemically bonded sand to make impressions from patterns,” Renfrow said. “Typically, patterns are permanent wooden boxes, but this project used styrofoam patterns.

Styrofoam is occasionally used for one-time projects. This cuts cost, but also eliminates the option for a second try if the first attempt fails.

“Once the sand impression (mold) is assembled we are ready for the molten material. Since the feather was to be placed outside, we cast it in a stainless steel to prevent damage from the elements. The raw materials are melted down at around 3,000 degrees and poured into the mold.

After solidification, the casting is removed from the mold and processed via grinding, blasting and heat treatment.”

The feather was cast in 10 pieces, and the artist assembled the sections on the quill.

“Personally, I wanted to take this job for two reasons,” Renfrow said.

“First, I am prior military and any opportunity to recognizes veterans and their service is a high priority and honor. Secondly, like most from the Midwest, my family has an oral tradition concerning Native American heritage. As a child, I was always told that my great-grandmother was full blood Choctaw.

“While this family story was hard to verify, it has always resonated with me and this project helped to solidify my respect for that potential ancestral link.”

Construction surprisingly strong in Monett

Construction picked up in Monett in the summer of 2019, mostly in the creation of new single family homes.

Building Inspector Wade Ennes said his office stayed busy as projects came in.

Digging for footings on the new Cox Monett Hospital began in early September 2019. The 126,080-square-foot complex will have barriers between the three contiguous buildings, with the hospital at one end, the clinic at the other and the administration in the center. While the facility is built simultaneously, Ennes said under the building code, it classifies as three different structures.

Also in September, Jacob and Alyssa Vaughn, doing business as Jade Enterprises, submitted a plat for a new addition to the Southwind Village subdivision, south of Race Brothers. The 60-lot plat to the west mirrors the existing subdivision started by developer Duwayne Eoff in 2006. The first phase includes 36 lots, running down the closest new

A topographic drawing of plans for the new Cox Monett Hospital shows the road leading off Highway 60, at lower right. The drawing shows the hospital complex with its three divided buildings — the hospital, at left; administration, in the center; and clinic, at right. Contributed photo

A close-up view of the veterans memorial at the Osage National Museum, centered around the feather cast by Monett Metals. Contributed photo street to the existing subdivision, leaving 24 lots for a second phase along the most distant street.

This will be the first new subdivision in approximately 13 years in Monett. The previous ones were Southwind Village and the third phase of the Ridgemont Meadows subdivision, north of Nellie.

Both suffered a construction slowdown in the economic downturn of 2008 and are now filling up.

Ennes said permits issued in 2019 came close to filling all the existing subdivisions.

From January to September 2019, Ennes issued five permits for single-family homes in the Ridgemont Meadows subdivision to K&E Construction of Crane, expecting to sell for around $150,000 each. A few open lots remain on the south side of Penzance, and on the southernmost street in the subdivision, which is in the flood plain.

In the Woodland Ridge subdivision, north of the Price Cutter store, builder Josh Harris secured a permit for the last available lot, where he plans to build a 1,436-square-foot home.

In the Woodland Hills subdivision, in the northeast corner of the city, builder Bill Michel received final approval for a nine-lot addition

in July. His firm, Michel Custom Homes, has purchased building permits for two homes there, measuring around 1,900 square feet each and expected to sell between $225,000 and $250,000.

Meanwhile, in the southwest corner of the city, Turner Building and Development of Springfield has acquired permits for six homes in the Southwind Village.

These homes will measure more than 1,300 square feet plus garages and are expected to sell for around $150,000.

Ennes said once Turner finishes, there will only be one lot with a foundation, built by Oeff initially, that has not been spoken for in Southwind Village.

Elsewhere around town, Habitat for Humanity has permits for two houses off Logan, both on one very deep lot that has space for minimal requirements for two structures.

On Brandermill, the street-long subdivision north of the Plymouth Hills subdivision, G&S Hancock Properties has started work on two houses at the west end, measuring 1,600 square feet each.

Framing has started, along with a third house that builder Sergio Esquivel began that should measure 1,800 square feet.

With those houses

finished, Ennes said Brandermill will have two open lots remaining on it.

Charlie Huntress’s CTC Construction acquired permits for three houses. One takes up the last undeveloped lot in the second phase of the Ridgemont Meadows subdivision. Two are located in the Northport subdivision, north of North Park.

Ennes said other developers have looked at lots but made no moves. He felt it unlikely other houses would start before winter.

Adding to Ennes’ workload has been permits for 89 roofs, since the Monett City Council decided roof replacements needed to have permits.

At the beginning of 2019, Ennes was not aware of any major commercial projects. The biggest ones to develop were already on the horizon.

The EFCO warehouse at County Road and Bridle Lane is in use. Also finished was the 1,900-square-foot infill on the Domino’s pizza restaurant in the Old Town Village.

The A-23 Body Shop at Second and Front streets, owned by Don Casavez, framed a 40-by-80-foot expansion and enclosed the remaining open space on the lot. The firm has acquired use of the former CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

The Monett Times

Community Reflections

Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Page 5

Building proposal, higher enrollments mark year in education Monett school district plans to build new middle school

A proposal in Monett to build a new middle school, other building projects, a new after-school program and higher enrollments were the big news items in the education world in the past year.

Monett school board seeks to build new middle school

The Monett school board has voted to seek funding for a new middle school.

The action will require approval from voters at the June 2 election and would involve an increase in taxes for district patrons.

Board members made the decision at the same time they approved a master plan for the district, submitted for consideration in August. They also voted to refinance some of the outstanding debt at a reduced interest rate.

The master plan explored several options for moving forward to create more space for a growing student population over the next 10 years. The proposal calls for building a new middle school attached to the west side of the Scott Regional Technology Center that can be expanded over time.

The master plan will be posted on the district’s website at monettschools. org.

The plan calls for building a facility to house sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. As funds become available, the new middle school will be roughly doubled in size and become a new high school, moving the sixth through eighth grades into the present high school.

When the building is finished, the strategy will open space in the intermediate school and enable the district office to move from its location behind the E.E. Camp gym into the present middle school.

The South Building at the middle school would likely be torn down and replaced with a parking lot.

The change would enable the city to reopen Ninth Street to through traffic.

Other options increased construction projects on other campuses. The selected strategy limited the expense and provided a targeted solution to population growth. Both the high school and middle school were expected to run out of room first with student population projections over the next 10 years. While the ultimate solution of moving immediately into building a new high school had its advantages, projections placed the cost of a new high school at around $44 million, well beyond the district’s bonding capacity.

The proposal going to voters, dubbed Proposition CARE (Community Action Reinvesting in Education), would generate $21 million in general obligation bonds, requiring a foursevenths majority (about 57 percent) vote to pass.

Unlike a full levy increase, the proposal would confine the cost to the debt service, which would go away once the bond issue was paid off.

Superintendent Russ Moreland said the proposal would raise the debt service from 56 cents per $100 of assessed property to 81 cents. The total levy would rise from $3.6842 per $100 of assessed property to $3.9342.

Moreland provided a table showing where the Monett district presently stands in comparison to other southwest Missouri school districts. Of the 44 school districts, Monett would currently be ranked

30th, below the average of $3.93. Everton has the highest levy at $4.9435, followed by Nixa at $4.70.

Bi-county districts with levies higher than Monett include Exeter, Miller and Verona.

With a 25-cent boost in the debt service, Monett would rise to 24th, just under the average for all districts combined.

Bi-county districts with lower levies would range from Aurora at $3.80 to Mt. Vernon at $3.37.

Funds left over beyond construction would be committed, under the ballot language, “to complete other remodeling and repair improvements to existing facilities of the district.”

According to tables provided to board members, a 25-cent increase in the tax levy would cost the owner of a home assessed at $50,000 an additional $23.75 in taxes, which breaks down to $1.98 more per month. The owner of a home assessed at $150,000 would pay an additional $71.25 a year, or 5.94 a month.

Personal property would also receive a higher levy under the bond issue.

Owners of $5,000 in personal property, including vehicles, would pay an additional $4.17 in a year.

Owners of $20,000 in personal property would pay an additional $16.67.

Commercial property owners of $100,000 in property would pay an additional $80 in taxes.

Owners of $500,000 in commercial property would pay an additional $400. Agricultural land taxes vary by acreage and soil grade.

“For the community, this will be an investment for them,” said Darren Bass, board chairman.

“They understand our buildings will not support the number of students we’re going to have soon.”

Moreland anticipated the organization of a committee to promote the body issue and said he would speak to as many groups as possible. He cautioned that while the committee could advocate a position, he and board members could only provide information. He expected the effort to get underway quickly and to use graphic renderings prepared by Bonnie Crawford and Pam Haldiman with Sapp Design Associates for display.

To further enhance the district’s financial position, the board approved paying off a 2014 lease purchase with the new bonds, if approved by voters.

According to figures from the investment banking firm of L.J. Hart and Company, the current lease purchase runs through 2033 at 3 percent interest.

New bonds would lock in a fixed-rate at around 2.19 percent, saving the district approximately $207,000 in interest over the life of the bonds.

Verona gym construction progressing

Progress on construction of the new gym received the central focus of attention earlier this year. in February, Josh Haase, project manager, and Jason Brushwood, senior project manager for The CTS Group, overseeing the gym project as the district’s construction management company, updated the board on progress. Haase noted engineers found a way reinforce some of the columns on the mezzanine to reduce the number needed, thus improving the view of the gym floor. Board members were pleased to hear about the 18-by-18-foot Wildcat logo that will be painted on the gym floor, leaving, as Haase said, no doubt where people were when they arrived.

Brushwood talked about working with Superintendent Tony

Monett High School graduates peer down the hallway with anticipation of the signal to file in for commencement exercises in 2019 evening. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com Simmons on moving many of the banners and signs from the present gym to the new one, so that “from Day 1 it will look like home.”

“We’ll do our best to make sure it looks like what you’re accustomed to,” Brushwood said.

Simmons said the public will shortly see more sides going up on the new building, and the roof going in place. Construction crews will begin tearing out the wall on the old gym as engineering on the connecting building progresses. Simmons told board members the open space over the mezzanine has been eliminated and will serve as a batting cage for baseball players, placed on artificial turf to keep from damaging the gym floor.

Haase said he was pleased to see the building enclosed soon so that work could continue protected from the weather.

Simmons reported the entire project is proceeding on schedule, to be ready for next basketball season.

Verona High School graduates tossed their mortar board hats to conclude commencement ceremonies in 2019. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

New grant-funded program coming to Monett schools

The Monett school district has been selected to receive a 21st Century Community Learning Center (21CCLC) grant that will provide five years of funding for an after-school program to pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students living in the school district.

David Williams, director of the 21st Century Community Learning Center, announced the after-school program, called the Cub House, will provide students opportunities for academic enrichment, specialized programming, tutoring in core subject areas, and other creative learning opportunities.

The five-year government funded grant totals $1,958,425. The district will receive $398,101 in the first year.

Williams worked on the grant application through the spring and submitted the final application July 14, 2019.

Instead of having a central after-school location.

Cub House will have services and programs developed for each campus. Williams said this will allow students to select from a broad array of services, programs, and activities.

“Offerings will be designed to reinforce and complement what students learn during the regular school day,” Williams said.

Students may elect to participate in programming such as youth development activities, drug and violence prevention programs, counseling programs, art, music, and recreation programs, technology education programs, and character education programs.

Through these programs, children engage in learning activities, gain new interests and, according to national data, improve reading and math grades by 43 and 49 percent respectively.

“Students will be

Casey Mettlach, left, presented her friend and graduating classmate, Brianna Cantrell, a handful of roses during graduation ceremonies that took place at Pierce City High School. Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

An architect’s rendering of what a new high school would look like at the campus presently holding the high school, at right, and the Scott Regional Technology Center, at top. School board members voted to pursue building a smaller structure instead for a middle school that could eventually expand into a high school. Contributed photo offered a daily snack prior to the start of enrichment and tutoring activities,” Williams said. “Families of students served by Monett R-I Schools’ Community Learning Centers will also enjoy opportunities each quarter for family activities with their students.”

The Cub House is open Monday through Friday when school is in session, beginning Jan. 6, 2020, from 3-6:30 p.m.

Locations will include Monett Elementary for pre-kindgertaen through second grade, Central Park Elementary for grades 3-4, and Monett Intermediate School for grades 5-8.

Bus routes will be

arranged prior to the first day of the program, but parents will also be able to pick up their children at any time during the program.

The Cub House 21st Century Community Learning Center will be offered free of charge to all pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students living in the Monett School District. More details regarding types of activities, registration forms, and bus routes will be shared as the January 6, 2020 “Grand Opening” gets closer.

21st Century Learning Centers are funded through the U.S. Department of Education and adminis-

tered through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The program is designed to target students in high poverty or low-performing schools.

“Overall the district has a high, 64.54 percent of free and reduced lunch rate,” Williams said.

“Additionally, we also have a unique demographic of a 22 percent K-12 English language learners population, which can present challenges for meeting the specific educational needs of those students. While the most recent APR (Annual Performance Review) data is positive CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Page 6 • Saturday, March 30, 2019

Community Reflections

The Monett Times

Farming often involves construction, or at least being handy with basic skills. During Field Day at the Southwest Center near Mt. Vernon, Dave Stahl, of Emery Sapp and Sons, gave high school students attending a chance to finish concrete in a form, pushing the mixture evenly for a finished square. Cameron Parrish, of El Dorado Springs, was one of the teens taking the challenge. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

Local agriculture sees strong year

Beef outlook positive; Lavender farm celebrates a year in business

Outlooks for beef and dairy farmers are looking positive after the past year, and a local farming operation has celebrated a year in business.

Beef outlook offers boom potential

Cattlemen may be on the verge of a banner year, if international trade moves according to indicators.

Scott Brown, state agriculture business specialist with the University of Missouri Extension in Columbia, spelled out the details at the 90th annual Stone County Livestock and Forage Conference in Crane in February.

According to market indications and federal statistics, Brown said the beef market domestically has remained strong. A 2.5 percent growth in meat supplies every year since 2014, the year of peak beef prices, would have normally driven prices down. It has not, because demand has increased. Americans were eating 180 pounds of meat per capita in 2014 are now eating 205 pounds. At present, beef demand domestically appears to have flattened and may decline in the next few years.

“Everything looks good versus what we don’t know,” Brown said.

With “pretty good grass” in Missouri in 2019, herd sizes grew within the state, one of only five states in the nation to do so. Growth did not even match the decreases in herd supplies that took place in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Feed yards reported 12 million head of cattle in them, record levels for several months, putting “feed yards in the driver’s seat,” Brown said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture revised its projections of cattle supplies downward.

Lower supplies will help to bolster prices.

Brown identified contributing factors that may impact the picture over time. Prime quality beef continues growing in price, while select beef is dropping in price. This led Brown to conclude producers must continue to provide high quality beef to satisfy consumers, keeping them from turning, as an alternative, to “chicken wrapped in bacon.” Pork chops in the past had

commanded prime prices.

Now the prime market demand is for bacon.

The emphasis on quality, Brown noted, may have a price. “The time may come when below average calves aren’t worth very much,” he said.

The big variable in the marketplace will be international trade, Brown declared. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would at least firm up trade across the adjacent borders.

Conditions in the Asian markets in particular are reaching a critical point. A trade agreement appears in the offing with Japan, where U.S. beef has carried a 38.5 percent tariff. Brown projected an increase in sales to Japan in 2020, after a drop in 2019.

China has become an even greater wild card than in recent years. The Chinese, Brown said, who have historically consumed half the world’s pork supply, have seen their domestic production of pork drop by 19 million metric tons in two years, due largely to the impact of the Asian swine flu, a factor that is “far from done.” If the Chinese seek to import pork, they will turn to the European Union. The Asian beef market has been dominated by Australia and New Zealand, but both those countries have suffered from heat, and Australia from wild fires, driving down their supplies and driving up their prices.

Pork producers, Brown said, already anticipate the Chinese will turn to them.

Beef sales may be next.

Factors like the Coronavirus continue to create instability for the Chinese, pressuring the government to make a choice. Brown added he also does not think Australia and New Zealand will be able to keep up with demand in Japan, again pushing sales toward the U.S. Full details on the latest trade agreement with China have not yet emerged to see what its impact will have. Brown reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that in Phase 1 of the new agreement, U.S. beef and beef product exports to China could reach $1 billion annually. U.S. exports of pork products, at $700 million in 2017, are expected to reach $1.7 billion annual in the next two to three years.

The USDA further reports that due to the new agreement, “China will expand the scope of beef products allowed to

be imported, eliminate age restrictions on cattle slathered for export to China, and recognize the U.S. beef and feel products’ traceability system.” If that holds true, projections estimate trade on top of the $19.5 billion trade level to China in 2017, before the current tariff/trade war began, could more than double in the next two years.

The University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources has made projections on prices cattle producers can expect in the next two years. Fed steer prices are likely to hold steady, inching upward from $120 per hundredweight. Feeder steers, the college projected, would rise from $170 per hundredweight to $180.

Brown acknowledged some stressers still threaten producers.

Corn prices remain low with a harvest of 1.9 billion bushels in 2019. The USDA expected a harvest of 2.5 billion in 2020 as the market tightens.

“If we have serious dryness, that will move corn prices up, and it will push feeder cattle prices down,” Brown said. “We can’t have much higher feed costs.”

Traditionally, cattle cycles have run around 15 years, the last one taking from 1995 to 2014 to rebound to price peaks again. Brown said a lot of the pressure on prices in that last cycle came from low demand. He did not expect that cycle to take nearly as long to recover this time.

Brown said producers with questions can reach out to him @MUScottBrown or call 573-882-3861.

Veterinarian Dr. Scott Poock dissected an udder for producers at the Monett Dairy Day conference, identifying the mechanics of the organ and problems from illness that could surface. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

Farming innovations shared during Field Day at the Southwest Research Center near Mt. Vernon included a presentation by Renew Biomass, which grow Miscanthus on 2,500 acres in southwest Missouri, including north of Aurora. The high-growing plant, at left, can be ground into fiber and sold to pet food companies as a supplement for animal digestive health. Eric Allphin, director of agriculture for Renew Biomass, said its product is largely sold to help calm upset stomachs in dogs and cats. Murray Bishoff/times-

news@monett-times.com

Forecast of new Farm Bill offers new options for dairymen

Dairy producers received three varied ways to look at their operations during the annual Dairy Day conference hosted by the Monett Chamber of Commerce and the University of Missouri Extension Service last year.

For an unusual handson approach, veterinarian Dr. Scott Poock with the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri in Columbia dissected an udder from a recently slaughtered cow.

Poock looked for practical issues to discuss as well as probing the half of the udder showing evidence of mastitis, which likely led to why the cow was culled.

An udder, Poock said, can hold from 100 to 400

Each year, Field Day at the Southwest Research Center offers details on the advantages of growing crops in a high tunnel. Nahshon Bishop, with Lincoln University, told visiting high school students how the tunnel harnesses the sun and holds its heat and providing light. He noted produce generally stopes 10 times from field to table. Growing in a tunnel reduces the steps for local production. Cold season crops such as lettuce are started in August and grow through late November. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com milliliters of milk. Milk does not flow on command, but only after stimulation.

Generally Poock recommended 90 seconds. An initial flow of milk will follow, approximately 12 ounces, then a second flow will generally follow. Early lactation cows require less stimulation. Some cows become conditioned to release milk

at the sight of a calf, which is why some dairies have a calf in the milking barn.

Poock advised against milking a cow as long as six or eight minutes to completely drain the udder. The prolonged pull of a vacuum on the nipple can hurt the cow, making it harder for her to give milk subsequently. He recommended

a salve to treat the nipple and carotine plug to retard leakage after milking.

Some animal rights advocates, Poock said, have gone so far as to call milk “puss” and unfit for consumption. Poock said that is inaccurate. The average number of white blood cells in Missouri milk is 300,000 CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

The Monett Times

Community Reflections

Miranda Oxendine, left, a volunteer with Cox Monett assisting with the MoChip identification program, prepared to take a photo of Mya Gilberti, 5, for her identification packet as Micah Moorehouse, another Cox Monett volunteer, awaited her next child subject. The event was part of the Cox Monett Health and Wellness Fair, held at the Monett Area YMCA. Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Page 7

Isabel Cantos might have been practicing to become a future surgeon at the Cox Monett Health and Wellness Fair, held at the Monett Area YMCA. Cantos stopped by one of the booths sponsored by Cox Monett Hospital to try her hand at playing Operation. Melonie Roberts/reporter@

monett-times.com

New hospital construction biggest news of year

Cox wins numerous awards throughout 2019

The construction of the new Cox Monett Hospital is the biggest health news of the year, but things like telemedicine and a healthy schools award also made headlines.

Three $1 million gifts accelerate new hospital effort

Three separate $1 million gifts in August 2019 were made to Cox Monett’s Momentum Campaign, taking the total to $4.6 million toward the $7 million local goal at that time.

All the donations help propel CoxHealth Systems’ $42 million project to build a new and modern critical-access hospital, taking shape east of Monett, off Highway 60. The 70,000-squarefoot hospital is due for completion in 2021.

The most recent major gift commitments have come from Dayton and Pearl Mackey and Chris and Ginny Fuldner. All are longtime Cox Monett friends and supporters.

The other milliondollar donors are Jack and Margaret Prim, who announced their gift at the hospital’s groundbreaking ceremony in May. Prim, past president of the Cox Monett Community Advisory Board and chairman of the board at Jack Henry and Associates, is co-chairperson of the fundraising campaign.

“We are grateful to every donor who has committed to the future of health care for this region,” said Lisa Alexander, president of the CoxHealth Foundation.

“Today we give special thanks to Dayton and Pearl and Chris and Ginny for their gifts of $1 million that has helped propel our campaign past the halfway mark and closer to our goal. These gifts will ensure that the community has a hospital prepared to serve for generations to come.”

The Mackeys are wellknown philanthropists in the Monett area, focused on improving the resources of the region for the benefit of its residents.

Their Pearl Foundation influenced service and scholarship programs for decades.

Chris Fuldner is a long-standing member of the Cox Monett Community Advisory Board, and along with wife Ginny, a staunch supporter of health care initiatives, including diabetes. The Fuldners have

Donors to Cox Monett Hospital’s Momentum Campaign and the hospital’s community advisory board gathered recently to unveil the updated contributions to the donor board. Pictured, from left, are: Donna Beckett, Community National Bank and Cox Monett Community Advisory Board member; Scott Spain, Jack Henry and Associates; Randy Henderson, First State Bank; Jeanne Garrett and Glen Garrett, First State Bank; Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett; Amanda Lee, First State Bank; Margaret Prim; Jack Prim, CoxHealth board member and Momentum Campaign co-chairperson; Phyllis Garrett, Cox Monett volunteer; Mike Garrett, Cox Monett Community Advisory Board member and Momentum Campaign cochairperson. Contributed photo also individually involved in and contributed to many community programs. Ginny Fuldner is the founder of the Water Thrashers swim program. Chris Fuldner was the longtime president of EFCO Corporation.

Both families have been past supporters of hospital fundraising efforts.

The Fuldners’ gift in 2000 helping to re-establish labor and delivery services at Cox Monett.

All donors to Cox Monett’s Momentum Campaign will be recognized on a permanent display when the new hospital opens. Special donor recognition is also available within areas of the hospital. All gifts are fully taxdeductible as CoxHealth is a non-profit organization.

These gifts help grow excitement at the building site, where ground work is complete on the land where the new Cox Monett Hospital is being built.

“The contractor will begin to mobilize on the site and you will begin to see the start of the building in early September,” said Rod Schaffer, vice president of Facilities Management for CoxHealth.

Cox Monett Hospital is the continuation of Dr. William West’s hospital, which began service more than a century ago and opened a building solely for that purpose, its third site, in 1928 at Benton and Lincoln in Monett.

It became St. Vincent’s Hospital in 1943 when the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabased Vincentian Sisters of Charity took over the operation in 1943, after Dr. West gifted the hospital to them.

CoxHealth Systems

bought the hospital in 1993. The first remodeling plans began in 1999, leading to the reopening of the obstetrics unit on July 1, 2001, and adding two surgical suites. The Campaign for a New Cox at that time raised $2.5 million of the $5.3 million renovation. Continuous subsequent renovations have expanded the emergency room facilities, a $1.2 million project completed in 2015, upgraded the second floor nurses station and the business offices, and upgraded the patient rooms to private rooms.

Today, Cox Monett Hospital is one of CoxHealth’s two criticalaccess hospitals. The other – Cox Barton County Hospital — is located in Lamar.

Monett school board approves telemedicine deal

A contract was approved in 2019 with Cox Health Telemedicine and Monett schools, allowing school staff and their dependents to receive free telemedicine visits if they use district machines presently at Monett Elementary and at the intermediate campus.

Cost will be $19,025.89, including $12,953.61 to CoxHealth, $1,680 for additional phone service, $1,892.28 for supplies and $2,500 for signage and marketing.

“We will expand our hours and Cox is working on getting a third machine to place in the high school,” said Russ Moreland, Monett superintendent. “This potentially helps the district by providing an additional perk to staff, reduces sub pay, CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

Eleven area high school students participated in the fifth annual Missouri AHEC Science and Health (MASH) day camp in July 2019 at Cox Monett Hospital, a two-day immersion experience geared to educate about careers in science, the medical and health field. On one afternoon, three campers gave eggs soaked in Coca-Cola for one to three days a 30-second scrubbing with toothpaste to see which one would come cleanest.

Pictured are Paige Price from Galena, McKenna Schmidt, a Trinity Lutheran in Freistatt graduate, and Marissa McCleary of Carl Junction. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

The MASH camp in July 2019 also provided a teacher externship through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Teachers, from left, Jaclin Lane from Parkview, Jennifer Thornton from Southwest and Kristin Frey of Pierce City High School judged the eggs, determining the longer the soaking, the deeper the stain. Dr. Nick Moore, the dentist presenter from Jordan Valley Community Health Center, looked on at rear. Monett’s MASH Camp was run by Heather Phillps for AHEC, with assistance from Trish Lavish. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

Page 8 • Saturday, March 30, 2019

Community Reflections

The Monett Times

SRO award, judge retirement mark year in community news

Local events continue to find success

Recognitions, a retirement and successful events were the big news makers in the community over the past year.

Jay Jastal named SRO of the Year

Jay Jastal, Monett’s longest serving school resource officer received state recognition for his service in 2019.

The Missouri School Resource Officer Association named him SRO of the Year for the state.

Jastal began serving as a school resources officer eight years ago, shortly after the state authorized the position and the city partnered with the school district in sharing costs.

At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, Monett had three SROs, with Marvin McCracken joining Jastal and Juan Salazar, who had served for one year.

Jastal does not see his duties differing far from his duties with the Aurora Police Department, where he served as detective and a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officer with the Aurora schools.

He noted that in Missouri, an SRO is a certified position, unlike many states.

Jastal completed the basic 40-hour certification, as well as the advanced training and a supervisor’s class.

Darin Chance, president of the Missouri School Resource Officer Association and chief of police in Ash Grove, nominated Jastal. Chance observed he could think of no one better to received the honor.

Jastal was not aware of the source of his nomination. He deflected the idea that he accomplished anything in particular to deserve the honor.

“It’s a team effort,” Jastal said. “I’ve been doing it for awhile. I’m known a little around the state by helping other school districts. It’s an honor to be recognized.

There are a lot of guys and women out there doing this job.”

Jastal referred to SRO work as a triad, working in tandem with law enforcement, teachers and counselors. He said at times the role of the SRO becomes blurred.

“We are not disciplinarians,” he said. “We’re really there trying to keep students safe and help them more forward.”

Changes have come to the job over time, particularly from the legislature and the governor’s initiative on SROs. “People are bringing issues to schools that may or may not happen in school,” Jastal said.

“They want the school to fix it. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to create these problems.”

SROs become part of a response to issues such as bullying and drugs.

“You have to change the culture in a community to solve these problems,” Jastal said. “We must teach some coping skills. Drugs are a matter of supply and demand.

We haven’t found a way to solve that.

“Just being there for them is a lot of what we do. You may never know if you’ve helped a kid.”

Many issues brought before schools cross socio-economic boundaries, impacting students and families regardless of their background.

“We’re coaching kids and families these days,” Jastal said. “Years ago we didn’t do that as much.

They will come to you with a life problem. You’ve got to talk to them, and give the best advice you can.

“Now if a kid is being

bullied, we’ve got to work with them, or the kid who is the bully. We must be sensitive to what’s going on in their world. Bullying has taken on a life of its own.

Sometime the label gets used too freely. Something mean gets said, that’s not bullying. Bullying is a repetitive action. Social bullying is the worst, like ‘We don’t want you in our group.’ People do that kind of thing in the community or at church. Kids pick up on that stuff.”

Jastal said a broader effort is being made statewide to address bullying.

One of the local SRO board members serves on the governor’s committee on bullying and has asked for recommendations to take before the larger forum.

“We as school resource officers throughout the state take bullying serious,” he said.

Being effective as an SRO involves more than the basic training. Jastal has his own advice for officers taking on the role.

“I tell them, ‘Get to know the students and the faculty. They’ve got to learn to trust you. That takes time. Eventually they will come to you,’” Jastal said. “Whatever school you’re in, the kids, faculty and administration, it’s a team effort. It’s not just us.

We’re there to advise. At the end of the day, we are law enforcement officers.”

After 20 years in law enforcement, Jastal enjoys his work as an SRO most of all.

“This is rewarding,” he said. “Most law enforcement is reactive. As an SRO, we can be in proactive programs. We want to develop more afterschool programs. The media paints a bad picture of law enforcement in the last few years. Those are isolated incidents. I don’t think [the Monett community] looks at us that way. As SROs, we can show we’re there to help.”

Sweeney completes term as city judge

J. Edward Sweeney stepped down on July 16, 2019, as Monett’s municipal court judge, after completing court that day, ceding responsibilities to Victor Head.

A reception was held in Sweeney’s honor for professionals in the court business the previous week to not conflict with Law Day in Barry County on Sweeney’s last day. The reception was kept low key at Sweeney’s request.

Having hit age 75, the legal limit for service by a municipal judge, five years more than a circuit court judge, Sweeney concluded his judicial duties after serving as associate circuit judge under Presiding Judge William H. Pinnell for the 39th Circuit from 1985 to 1994, and as circuit judge from 1995 to 2006. The Monett City Council tapped him to succeed Mike Garrett as municipal judge, making Sweeney the first person to serve as presiding judge of the 39th Circuit to take on duties in the city court.

Sweeney’s last report on activities in the municipal court covered calendar year 2018.

Sweeney declined the invitation to offer advice to the Monett City Council in regard to the appointment of future municipal judges.

His successor represents the last circuit court judge from Monett, now retired, who could be available for the post. He did not feel it was appropriate to offer counsel on the subject.

“I would like to thank Mayor Mike Brownsberger, council members Jerry Dierker and Al Dohmen and City Administrator Dennis Pyle for giving me the opportunity to serve as the Monett municipal judge four three years and four months,” Sweeney said. “Having been a judge since September of 1985

A wide range of items repurposed into artistic designs and new products were offered at C&M Designs in Sarcoxie, run by Martha Haynie, Monett High School Class of 1976, and Cindy Bailey at the Monett Repurposed Faire in 2019.

Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

and serving at various levels, it is especially satisfying to have been born and raised here in Monett and be able to close out my legal and judicial career in my hometown. I would like to thank Jim Randall, city prosecutor, who diligently represents the interests of the city but is also eminently fair to defendants.

I thank local attorney who represent defendants for their courtesies. I thank Chief Daoud and all the Monett Police Department employees for their courtesies. They are a well-trained body of officers who protect the public’s safety.

“I particularly want to thank Court Administrator/Clerk Mechele James. She is a highly trained individual who has been certified as a court administrator by the Office of State Courts Administrator. She is organized, knowledgeable about municipal laws and ordinances, extremely efficient and dedicated. To handle 1,649 newly filed cases in 2018 and closing out older ones is an awesome task. It is been a privilege and pleasure to work with her. You will not find a better municipal court clerk in the state.”

Rain-plagued Repurposed Faire finds success anyway

Monett’s Repurposed Faire unexpectedly ran for only one day in 2019 due to threatening weather forecasts, but organizers were not discouraged and reported a very successful event, even in the shorter time frame.

“We ended up cancelling on Sunday because of the anticipated poor weather,” said Ann Saunders, co-chairperson of the faire with Cheri Davidson. “We had conversations with all the vendors before we made the decision. Everybody said they had a great show in 2019. Some said they sold more than on both days last year.”

This was the sixth year for the Repurposed Faire, a project of Monett Main Street, and the second located under the Jerry D. Hall Memorial Pavilion at Fifth and Front streets.

Organizers settled on establishing the event’s date for the last weekend in August, regardless of the weather, which has ranged from cold and rainy to sweltering heat, sometimes in the same day. The pavilion mitigated some of that, offering a roof and a rather reliable breeze.

Rain took its toll on the vendors. Saunders said more than 10 cancelled. Many of those offered products like furniture that they felt could not afford to get wet. Two of the food trucks also cancelled.

Nonetheless, the pavilion was full of vendors.

The reduction came largely in separate tents

Judge J. Edward Sweeney and his wife, Donna, greeted friends and colleagues who attended a reception in his honor a week prior to the judge’s last day on the bench.

Contributed photo

Lane Robison, left, from Texas, and Ian McCaghren from Alabama, right, demonstrated skills they learned at the Heartland Horseshoeing School in Lamar during the Monett Repurposed Faire. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com that would have set up on the lawn of the Glen and Sharon Garrett Park.

“We put up the bounce house for kids to have something else to do while their parents shopped,” Saunders said.

“It was cold, so the splash pad was not a good fit for a cold day. Bouncing turned out to be a good fit. The [Barry-Lawrence Regional] library had art activities for kids nearby.

They were busy all day.”

Saunders had no way to measure attendance for the free event. From her station in the southeast corner of the pavilion, the size of the crowd was not evident. However, she noted that walking through the pavilion, vendors saw a steady stream of people.

“The feedback was really outstanding,” she said. “We had a very high percentage of returns on applications already. To me, that’s a good sign.

If vendors were able to make as much money in one day as in two previously, that’s reassuring.”

The weather cleared as the afternoon progressed.

The Shandies took the stage to present live music at 2 p.m. after the morning settled for recorded music due to different performers not wanting to risk carrying their sound equipment through intermittent showers. Music continued for the rest of the day, closing with a country band from Aurora.

TV personality Jeremy Rabe, a repurposing enthusiast, made several stage appearances and

Monett School Resource Officer Jay Jastal, left, received the Missouri School Resource Officer Association’s SRO of the Year Award, presented by Monett Police Chief George Daoud. Contributed photo went through the faire, speaking to all the vendors and recording segments for his online platform.

“Susana Branum came from Kansas to have a booth with her mother,” Saunders said. “She posted she had a reunion-like feeling being here that was so special, ‘I could have sold nothing and it would have been worth it.’

“I’ve notice my own kids all come back for this. It’s like a reunion for them, seeing friends. Lots of young people will come back for this. I had not expected that. Fair Groves has a Heritage Festival.

We could have something like that. People don’t realize they want a festival in their community, but they’re coming to get food and listen to the music.

It can be something for everybody.”

Saunders especially wants to make sure the pet parade, scheduled for

Sunday, comes back in 2020. The car show organizer for this year backed out, taking the steam out of that effort. Saunders said two people have already volunteered to take on that task for next year. She also plans to study where other car shows promote their events to follow the same strategy.

They also studied the rain to see how it drains, as some parts of the pavilion floor became more wet than others. Saunders plans to rearrange vendors accordingly to work around the less usable spaces in the future.

Saunders and Davidson have begun brainstorming on what else to add to the festival. Participation by community groups and churches is a link they still hope to forge. They hope to disburse tasks like signage and parking among teams CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

The Monett Times

Community Reflections

Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Page 9

Business: Locally owned banks merge together; EFCO names new president

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Fast Eddie’s building on the other side of Second Street for use in its growing operation.

With two dozen new homes built in 2018, Ennes was optimistic new construction could match that pace. He is pleased to see the volume of work that developed.

CNB branches merge into Freedom Bank in 2020

Community National Bank, a Monett-based national banking association since 2002, announced plans to merge with Freedom Bank, a Missouri state-chartered bank located in Cassville, in 2019.

Community National Bank and its branch in Aurora will become branches of Freedom Bank.

In a statement, Freedom Bank announced its parent bank holding company, Freedom Bancshares of Southern Missouri, had entered into a definitive agreement with Community National Bank for a merger of the two operations under the name of Freedom Bank.

“As is customary, the bank merger is subject to regulatory approvals, a vote of Community National Bank’s shareholders, and other conditions precedent,” the state-

ment said.

“Upon completion of the bank merger, Freedom Bank will have total assets of a p p r o x i - BENDT mately $430 million, deposits of $367 million, and loans totaling $326 million.

Freedom Bank presently has branches in Cassville, Shell Knob, Golden, Seligman and Willard.

“As our board evaluated many opportunities to partner with another financial institution, Freedom Bank clearly stood out as the best fit for our associates, customers and communities we serve,” said Michael Wallace, chairman of Community National Bank said, “Their extraordinary commitment to customer service and employee satisfaction played a significant role in the selection process of Freedom Bank.

We are excited about our future together.”

Stan Kelley, president and CEO of Freedom Bank, and Darrin Newbold, president and CEO of Community National Bank, will bring their combined 70-plus years of banking experience together to continue to enhance their respective

markets and bring new products and technology to their customer bases.

“We feel fortunate to team up with Community National Bank’s associates and investors in relation to the pending transaction,” Kelley said.

“Community National Bank is highly regarded as a top quality bank among its banking peers.”

Freedom Bank opened in Cassville in 1999.

Newbold said the family style of doing business with Community National Bank will not change in the merger.

“We are committed to making this process as seamless as possible, but would like to thank our customers in advance for their patience and loyalty,” the merger announcement said. In addition to the close proximity to one another, Freedom Bank and Community National Bank share similar core values and put personalized customer service and serving their communities at the top of their priority list.

“Both banks are owned locally by a consortium of investors from mainly the Barry and Lawrence county areas, and their investor groups will be joining efforts to continue to grow the bank and look for

future opportunities in the southwest Missouri area.”

The statement noted that over the last decade, mergers have been commonplace among community banks across the country. This tactic was considered an excellent way for banks to come together in order to handle increasing regulatory burden and control costs through economies of scale.

Both banks have reported healthy growth since inception and attribute that progress to their community involvement and the resulting loyal customer bases that refer friends and family.

“With personal relationships being of utmost importance, customers can rest assured that they will continue to see all of the friendly faces they have come to know and trust at each location,” the statement said.

The merger process is expected to be finalized in second quarter of 2020.

EFCO names John Bendt as new president

On Dec. 12, 2019, EFCO Corporation in Monett announced John Bendt has been promoted to president of the company, succeeding John Klein, retired at the end

of the 2020 fiscal year.

Bendt served as EFCO’s vice president of sales and marketing since August 2018.

According to a company statement, Bendt officially began the transition process in December so he could fully own the FY2021 annual operating plan (AOP) process and coordinate with Klein on an effective transition of responsibilities. Bendt took full accountability for the EFCO business on March 1, 2020.

Bendt will continue to be based in Minneapolis, Minn. The statement said Bendt will ensure he has an effective plan to spend time in Monett with the EFCO team and with customers.

Having joined Apogee in 2002, Bendt has held several leadership roles across the organization.

Prior to joining EFCO, he served as vice president of building retrofit strategy, where he led the development of Apogee’s renovation initiative, growing that division to $40 million in orders in fiscal year 2018.

Previously, Bendt worked as vice president of sales and marketing at Wausau Window and Wall Systems from 2008 to 2012. He was vice presi-

dent of service and special projects for curtain wall manufacturer Harmon Inc. from 2002 to 2008. Prior to joining Apogee, Bendt worked in numerous general management positions for the Otis Elevator Company, a unit of United Technologies Corporation.

He holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor of science in business administration from Marquette University in Milwaukee.

One of Bendt’s first tasks was to initiate a search for his backfill.

“As we congratulate John on his new role, we also want to thank John Klein for his eight years with Apogee,” said Brent Jewell, president of architectural framing systems for Apogee. “John Klein postponed his planned retirement to lead the EFCO business, which was working through a number of commercial and operational related issues. Today, EFCO has turned the corner on many of the most significant issues, and made a game changing investment in the EFCO Distribution Center (The EDC). I know we all wish John Bendt success in his new role and wish John Klein a well-earned and deserved retirement.”

Education: Pierce City sees first-day growth; Berean hires new principal

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

and trending upward, we do still fall below the state in many areas. This would help go to remediate those numbers.”

The mission of the 21CCLC program is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”

School numbers show first-day growth

The Pierce City schools recorded a slight increase of students. For the second year in a row, Pierce City numbers were up on the first day of classes at 693, four more than a year ago, It was the largest tally in 10 years, close to the over-700 count that continued until 2010.

Kindergarten, which hit a 20-year peak in 2006 and 2009 of 57, grew by five from last year to 50, recovering half the drop between 2017 and 2018. The smallest class of the year is last year’s kindergarteners, now in first grade, at 42.

The largest class is the sophomores with 76. The high school tightened up with the new year, increasing the population for the four grades by 12 to 252.

Superintendent Kelli Alumbaugh reported she had seen “lots of smiles” on the first day of classes.

“Everything went smoothly, and I can’t complain,” she said.

One change on campus came from the construction of a new high school office inside the entrance off Adams Street, where the middle school and superintendent’s offices are. With the high school principal taking over the duties of the middle school principal, the new office is especially strategically located. A corridor past the office provides a new way to reach the high school from the entrance without going through the gym, a chronic problem for athletic activities in the gym.

Alumbaugh said students still park on what is known as Senior Hill and enter the high school from the north side.

Branco Enterprises finished construction by the time classes began, providing a new pattern for student foot traffic and the public, now directed to the south entrance.

“It’s working great right now, because the gym is locked down for refinishing the floor,” Alumbaugh said.

“Hopefully when it reopens, we’ll have everyone trained to use the new way.

“It looks like we’re in good shape. I’m looking forward to a great school year.”

Class numbers follow, with a comparison to first day number in 2018: Kindergarten, 50 (+5); first, 42 (-14); second, 49 (+9); third, 45 (-1); fourth, 46 (-3); fifth, 46 (-14); fifth, 46 (-14); sixth, 55 (-1); seventh, 59 (+8); eighth, 49 (+3); ninth, 58 (-19); 10th, 76 (+14); 11th, 61 (+2); 12th, 57 (+15).

Mary Blinzler named new Berean Academy principal

Mary Blinzler has been named to new principal for the Berean Christian Academy, following her assignment as interim principal at the conclusion of last school year.

Blinzler, BLINZLER who had served as the school’s curriculum instruction facilitator, succeeds Wyatt Howerton in the top job at Berean. In that role, she worked together with all the staff, a building process she liked. Blinzler is in her 41st year in education, having retired from teaching in the Monett school district in 2015.

“I want to provide an excellent Christ centered academic education,” Blinzler said. “I’ve been using Proverbs 3:5-6 a lot, [‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths’].”

Blinzler said the Christian school has distinct differences from the public school system.

“We are free to pray with students, read the Bible and discuss it, and discuss our Christian walk,” she said. “We call ourselves the ‘BCA family.’ It’s more of a family atmosphere.

“In our graduation requirements, we require one more credit to graduate than the public schools, because students have Bible classes every day. All of the other academic requirements are the same.”

Like other Christian schools in the area, Berean has seen an increase in students. Going into opening, Berean has 160 students enrolled in pre-

Josh Haase, project manager for construction of the new Verona school gym, showed school board members a new artist’s rendering of the view of the main gym floor from the mezzanine, with fewer columns in place to obstruct the view. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com kindergarten through high school, up from last year, a trend that has continued for several years.

“Parents tell us they want a Christian atmosphere for their kids,” Blinzler said.

“Kids out there as a general rule consider it a privilege to go there. The staff at BCA is very committed to students and families. We want them to have the best Christ-centered education they can have. And, they work very hard.”

Blinzler said she has no immediate plans to introduce new programs. In the last two years, Berean became certified as an A+ school, making graduates eligible to qualify for benefits such as free tuition to a two-year college. Last year, it had its first graduate go on to play college sports at an NCAA school.

Berean students attend the Scott Regional Technology Center, and last year, a student in the education strand of Monett High School’s GO CAPS program did field work at Berean.

“When I retired from public schools, I thought, ‘Are you ready to completely quit?” Blinzler said. “I saw an article in the paper for a part-time person, and here I am.

God got me out here in the first place. My goal is I want BCA to shine brightly in our community.”

Tossing their mortarboards in the air, Pierce City graduates celebrated the last milestone of their high school careers during ceremonies that took place at the school.

Many will go on to attend college or trade school, enter the military or the workforce in the weeks to come. Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

Arm in arm classmates sang the Monett High School School Toast as graduation in 2019 came to a close. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com

Page 10 • Saturday, March 30, 2019

Community Reflections

The Monett Times

Agriculture: Farmers hear from experts on farm bill, weeds and insurance

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

cells per milliliter, while human blood has 15-30 times that amount. For every 100,000 cell increase in the somatic cell count, a cow loses 5.5 pounds of milk production and reproductive performance.

Producers try to hold the somatic count to 250,000 milliliters The count will jump when the cow deals with infection, like mastitis in the udder.

Looking at the other half of the udder, Poock quickly found lymph glands quite enlarged compared to the first half, indicating a fight with infection. Cutting into the udder found tissue bloodier, firmer and more odor. He said the udder was probably hot, hard and painful. He offered a regimen for treating animals, taking samples from each cow in the herd, as he does at the university’s dairy, dating it and freezing it for later comparison.

“Amazingly, a lot of mastitis goes away,” Poock said.

A Staph aureus infection, on the other hand, “can be a bugger,” and when it surfaces, every cow has to be tested. The treatment for Staph aureus is eight consecutive days of treatment with the antibiotic marketed as Pursue. If an older cow, such as a nineyear-old, comes down with Staph aureus, Poock said “it probably doesn’t pay to treat it,” and the cow would be culled from the herd.

University dairy specialist Reagan Bluel, host of the conference, offered a primer on how to calculate nutrition needs for lactating cows. Referring to the National Academy Press publication “Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle,” Bluel walked the audience through several formulas, working off the foundation that a 1,000-pound cow needs 21.5 pounds of dry matter per day to eat. Not all food is equally nutritious, so Bluel talked about how to make sure a cow gets 11 pounds of mega calories a day.

Not all food, she stressed, is degradable in a cow’s rumen. Bluel urged producers to have their feed tested for nutritional value. After a hot period in 2018 that spikes nitrates in grasses, Bluel especially urged testing to make sure stockpiled hay had no toxic quantity of nitrates.

“The best thing you can do is next spring, harvest the best hay you possibly can,” she said. “That is the competitive edge.”

Looking ahead, economist Dr. Scott Brown, an agricultural and applied economics professor with the University of Missouri, provided an introduction to the dairy portion of the recently passed federal Farm Bill. “[The bill] is probably not the best thing ever,” Brown said. “We’ve done a lot of policy things on dairy. Not many have worked. It’s hard to write policy to where the cost isn’t billions of dollars.”

Price supports, started in the 1980s, resulted in milk prices moving very little for decades. The last vestiges of it did not disappear until the 2014 Farm Bill.

“Fixed costs today are so high producers have to run operations at full boar,” Brown said. “In 2018, we couldn’t get the supply side to turn down. I been saying for years, ‘The cure for low prices is low prices.’”

The new Farm Bill modifies some older programs that may have had better intentions than they performed. The Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC), passed in the 2002 Farm Bill, Brown noted, was widely disliked because producers could not collect on it no matter how the market turned, though it did pay for short periods.

MILC was replaced by the Margin Protection Program (MPP), which again didn’t pay. MPP offered different levels of

coverage, figuring producers would pay more for better coverage. Brown said the vast majority signed up for the minimum, leaving too little in premiums to pay. The problem, the local producers confirmed, was in the feed cost adjuster, which did not respond to conditions. Brown said the old feed cost adjuster would have worked better.

“You don’t need as much risk management on feed as on milk,” Brown said. “I think you’ll get better protection this time.”

MPP worked better in 2018, he noted, because producers were given until June to sign up. With a half year gone, they could calculate how much would be paid out. Several of the local producers took advantage of that and signed up for the higher coverage.

The new bill has Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC), a new version of MPP, though it offers new risk options.

Brown projected the signup deadline this year would likely be by June. He noted DMC offers a 25 percent discount to producers who sign up for the same rate over all five years of the program. He expected the university would send staff across the state to help producers sign up once the final rules operating the program were announced.

The Dairy Revitalization Act in Missouri provided another source of income, as one producer noted, refunding some of the premiums to the federal program. Brown said that worked well for many who participated. Those who choose to invest their premiums in new coverage will get 100 percent of it back.

Those who want cash back will receive 75 percent.

Asked how much coverage to buy, Brown recommended getting 35 percent of production covered at the maximum amount. He considered that an incentive to stay even, and did not think that would encourage creating more milk supplies.

“The porridge can’t be too warm or hot,” he said.

“You don’t want policy that produces too much milk.

Now at least we’re warm.”

If the formula is “too hot,” Brown warned it likely will remain in place all five years of the bill and producers will “have to live with it.”

Farmers briefed on weeds, insurance issues

Weeds and insurance provided two major topics for the 96th annual Lawrence County Soils and Crops conference at the University of Missouri’s Southwest Research Center near Mt. Vernon in February.

Dr. Kevin Bradley, state weed science specialist with the University of Missouri, warned local producers to watch out for two varieties of pigweed: waterhemp, the most common weed problem in the state, the worst hitting north of Interstate 70, and Palmer-Amaranth, the number one weed in the Missouri bootheel.

These weeds spread easily, he noted, even spreading seed in equipment purchased in other states. Even mixed seeds brought in for wildlife can spread them.

Other problems can stem from what had been harmless plants, such as Chinese fountain grass, an “escaped ornamental.”

This waxy plant is hard to cut, disliked by cattle and difficult to stop once it gets into fields.

“It’s hard to get grass out of grass pastures,” Bradley said. “Some have had to kill the whole field to get rid of it.”

Bradley had reservations about the new weed strategy of mixing herbicide with fertilizer and applying them together.

Though the approach seems to work, not enough research has been

done on its side effects.

He noted the producer of Grazon Next has aggressively marketed the strategy and may be overselling it. Some chemicals prove detrimental put on specific crops, like soybeans.

Bradley had major concerns about growing weed resistance to herbicides, particularly Glyphosate (Roundup). North of I-70, for example, pigweed has become “100 percent” resistant. Surveys of many waterways have found pigweed resistant to two combined chemicals.

To keep fighting pigweed, Bradley stressed application of a herbicide prior to the plants emerging from the ground. Several herbicide brands will provide three weeks of residual control, then need reapplication. He expressed concern that with the growing practice of spraying preemergent and post-emergent herbicides will result in increasing resistance to all herbicides.

Bradley expected a big push next year in marketing herbicide resistant soybeans, like the Liberty links brand. He noted Extend soybeans are also resistant to Dicambra, the most notorious of easily disbursed herbicides.

According to Bob Hartzler with Iowa State University, the chemical era of weed management may be coming to an end.

After 16 years of studying hemp, Bradley said he now needs to think “outside the box.” He discussed trying cover crops, like Mares tail on cereal rye, though it requires dense enough enough seeding to work.

Another approach, imported from Australia, involves cutting field chaff, placing it in a wind row and burning it. Their problem is rye grass — “a great forage but a bad weed” — that has become resistant to 11 chemicals.

Bradley said waterhemp seeds will burn at 13 minutes of temperatures over 500 degrees. Burning is a common strategy in the bootheel, he noted, but often temperatures do not get not enough, like they do in a windrow.

Bradley also discussed new equipment developed in Australia. The wind seed management machines, like the Seed Terminator, pick up seeds and propel them into screens that damage them. He found these machines impressive, though very dusty. They are sold exclusively by two Australian companies and are not available in the U.S. These might become more common as herbicides become less effective.

Dr. Ray Massey, state agriculture economics specialist with the University Extension, offered a primer on how to understand insurance.

Many people, he observed, buy liability insurance and think they are covered, period. He explained the industry doesn’t work that way. People often don’t know they have no coverage until they file a claim.

For basic background, property insurance pays the insured person. Workers compensation insurance pays the employee medical and subsistence. Farmers are not required to have workers comp unless their operation meets a certain size, even though farming is one of the most dangerous occupations. Liability insurance only pays the injured person.

General farm liability insurance covers the farmer who is legally responsible for damages caused by negligence. Insurance pays for harm caused unintentionally and defends the policy holder against lawsuits. Intentional harm is not covered.

If a farmer invites a person onto his farm, the farmer has a duty to care for the person if injured, Massey said. The injured person can specify the

amount of the damage.

“Liability [insurance] covers people outside your business. Workers comp covers people inside your business,” Massey said.

Insurance law also includes strict liability, where if someone engages in a dangerous activity, such as having a bull on a farm, and someone is hurt by the bull, the owner is automatically responsible.

“If a bull is out of the fence, they [the injured party] will win [a lawsuit],” he stated.

Massey said that applies even if a trespasser gets hurt. Horse riding is also a strict liability activity. If there is a claim, the policy owner can expect to pay higher premiums.

If there is accidental or unintentional injury, the law says the policy owner “gets to pay the premium and must cooperate with the insurance company.”

The company will want to investigate. If they want to see the victim or fight the claim, the policy owner must go along. If any incident occurs, the company will want to know about it, and will not look kindly on failures to disclose other cases.

Massey warned that many policies will set maximum limits for payments on both single incidents and the period covered.

The higher the coverage, the less it costs. If liability is capped, the party seeking compensation will come after the policy holder’s assets. Jury settlements, he noted, will seek sympathies to win higher claims.

In some situations, coverage may be questioned. If a herbicide like Dicambra drifts onto a neighbor’s field and diminishes the neighboring crop, the party responsible for the spray is liable. If a farmer has insurance on his farm but also does custom work, the

policy will only cover the farm. A farmer spraying chemicals who does not have a private applicator license may not be covered.

General liability insurance does not cover employees, so if a hired hand gets hurt, that policy will likely not provide coverage. If a farmer fails to tell his insurance company that he has employees, and one gets hurt, the policy may not cover that.

“If you’re not sure if you’re covered, ask your agent,” Massey said.

Pollution on a farm carries limited liability, and may have specific limits, he noted. Any solid, liquid or smoke can be considered a pollutant, and may or may not be covered.

Even manure may in one case be considered fertilizer on one hand or a pollutant in another, depend-

ing on the jury.

“Most insurance companies are not trying to cheat you, but will give you what you purchased.

You get what you paid for,” Massey said.

The better documentation a farmer has, the better he will fare in a claims case.

In a claim over chemicals, Massey said documentation of the amount, the when and where it was applied, and even checking the wind speed, will all help if there is a claim. It would not be unusual, he observed, for an insurance company to try to push liability onto another insurer.

“The burden of proof is always on the injured party,” he said. “Every farm probably ought to have liability insurance, but it’s of no value to you if it doesn’t protect your assets. Ask if this is covered.”

The Monett Times

Community Reflections

Dr. Armin Kamyab, general surgeon, and Cathy Lewis, volunteer chaplain, are all smiles at one of the many employee appreciation events held throughout the year at the hospital. Contributed photo

Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Page 11

Lou Ellen Honeycutt, left, spoke to Sara Swope, a nurse in the surgery department, at the fourth annual Cox Monett Health and Wellness Fair, held at the Monett Area YMCA. The event offered a plethora of information on health issues ranging from stroke, to bone density, blood pressure and body mass index testing. Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

Health: Cox Monett Hospital, all Monett schools earn healthcare recognitions

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

increases student attendance and reduces insurance claims.”

Monett hits national ‘healthiest’ schools list

All five schools in the Monett school district were named to 2019 List of America’s Healthiest Schools by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

Central Park Elementary School, Monett Elementary School, Monett Intermediate School, and Monett Middle School and Monett High School have been named to the 2019 list of America’s Healthiest School.

As a part of the Healthy Schools/Healthy Communities (HSHC) initiative, the Monett school district worked to create a healthier future for Monett’s children through funding and programs made possible from Missouri Foundation for Health. A total of 355 schools nationwide were selected based on a rigorous set of criteria — from availability of nutritious foods to access to quality physical education opportunities — as part of Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program.

The five awarded schools in Monett serve more than 2,000 students, and are among 32 schools in Missouri to receive this recognition.

According to Alex Severs, wellness coordinator for the district, Monett Elementary School and Monett Middle School achieved silver recognitions, two of only 49 schools in the entire country that have been recognized at that level. Central Park Elementary School, Monett High School and Monett Intermediate School achieved bronze recognitions.

Severs credited the following steps taken that contributed to creating a healthier environment: • Implemented breakfast in the classroom for all students (Pre-K through sixth grade) • Continued working partnership with the City of Monett to help improve pedestrian transportation efforts, and established safe routes to school for students via Walking/ Biking School Bus events.

• Created and revitalized before and after school programs such as the Morning Mile, Cubs on the Move, Cubs on the Run and more.

• Initiated Farm to School efforts in the form of taste tests and school gardens that allow for integration of classroom curriculum, most recently partnered with our district high school GO CAPS program to help us integrate these gardens into school meals.

• Created and implemented an insurance based Employee Wellness program that encourages staff to act as healthy role models for our students.

“Our entire community is committed to creating a healthy space for our children to learn and grow,” said Severs, who is also co-founder of Missouri Southwest Initiative to

Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett Hospital, at back, and Heidi Clark, nurse manager of the Cox Monett ER and CoxHealth Urgent Care, flipped some flapjacks for staff to celebrate the hospital again receiving a five-star rating. Contributed photo

Danielle Bennett stopped by the Cox Monett Health and Wellness Fair at the Monett Area YMCA with her ninemonth-old son, Henry. The smallest of the bicycles, available to win in a drawing, caught her eye for young Henry.

Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

Change Health (MO SWITCH). “Food insecurity is a huge issue in Barry County. Some children only receive meals at school, so providing our students with healthy, well-balanced breakfasts and lunches, as well as opportunities for physical activity, is a top priority.

“We have worked hard and are thrilled to receive this recognition from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. We know it’s important to stay committed and want to continue to improve even more over the years to come.”

The Missouri Foundation for Health congratulated the Monett team for its continued recognition.

“The list of Missouri schools named America’s Healthiest Schools is inspiring,” said Paula Ballew, program officer, Missouri Foundation for Health. “These schools used the Healthy Schools/ Healthy Communities initiative as a springboard and took their dedication to the next level, engaging school district and community leaders to achieve this accomplishment. Building a healthier future takes all of us working together.”

America’s Healthiest Schools — 77 percent of which are Title I schools that support underserved student populations — receive Healthier Generation’s National Healthy Schools Award at the bronze, silver or gold level, based on the number of best practices they have implemented relating to children’s health.

Healthier Generation’s team of school health experts evaluate schools based on their ability to serve healthier meals and snacks, get students moving, offer high-quality health and physical education, and support staff wellness.

Cox Monett earns numerous honors

For the second consec-

utive year, Cox Monett Hospital was named as one of the nation’s top 150 Best Places to Work in Healthcare, according to Modern Healthcare magazine.

Modern Healthcare’s recognition program honors workplaces throughout the health care industry that empower employees to provide patients and customers with the best possible care, products and services.

“We are honored once again to be named as one of the nation’s best places to work in health care,” said Dr. Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett.

“If you ask our staff what makes Cox Monett a great place to work, they will tell you it’s because of our family atmosphere — we support and empower one another to be the best we can be.”

Cox Monett was selected for this national recognition based on elements such as competitive employee benefits, employee satisfaction and innovative organizational culture.

This award program identifies and recognizes outstanding employers in the healthcare industry nationwide. Modern Healthcare partners with the Best Companies Group on the assessment process, which includes an extensive employee survey.

Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring ranked lists of all the winners along with the Sept. 30 issue.

Four hospital staff members will represent Cox Monett at the awards gala on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Renaissance Dallas.

Cox Monett Hospital also maintained its prestigious five-star rating in patient satisfaction from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The five-star rating, earned from patient feedback via the national HCAPS Survey, puts Cox Monett in the top seven

April Bailey talked to Lace Withnell about services offered by Monett Physical Therapy and Rehab at Health and Wellness Fair, held at the Monett Area YMCA. Melonie Roberts/ reporter@monett-times.com

percent of the 3,505 hospitals surveyed nationwide.

“We talk with our employees about providing consistent care within our facility — every patient, every encounter, every time,” said Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett. “This latest fivestar rating assures me that Cox Monett is delivering the best care right here in our community.”

The star rankings are awarded from patient feedback via the on the HCAHPS Survey, which asks patients to rate their experience in several categories: communication with nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, communication with doctors. pain management and cleanliness of hospital environment.

CMS added star ratings, like restaurant reviews, to encourage hospitals to strive to continuously improve the patient experience and quality of care delivered to all patients.

The star ratings range from one to five stars, with five stars being the best.

Cox Barton County Hospital, the second of CoxHealth’s critical-access hospitals, also maintained its five-star rating in patient experience for the latest reporting period.

The first-ever ranking

by Forbes magazine of the top employers by state has CoxHealth Systems, which operates Cox Monett Hospital, as No. 18 in Missouri out of all industry types, the No. 3 health system in Missouri

It’s all about the bikes for Barry Lasiter, 2, one of the many youngsters attending the fourth annual Health and Wellness Fair at the Monett Area YMCA. Lasiter was agog at the string of appealing bikes, trying to determine which one he would like to win. Melonie Roberts/reporter@ monett-times.com

out of 156 hospitals in the state, and the No. 1 best healthcare employer in southwest Missouri.

Forbes recognized 2,500 U.S. companies with 500 or more employees on the “Best Employer in America” list that is based on results of an independent survey of more than

80,000 employees across the nation.

Employees were asked about their willingness to recommend an employer to family and friends, and about work-related topics such as working conditions, salary, professional development and company image.

Page 12 • Saturday, March 30, 2019

Community Reflections

Monett Police Officer Chris Whitehead changes a tire for a man who went over the median on Highway 60 last week. Whitehead was recognized on social media for going above and beyond the call of duty. Contributed photo

The Monett Times

The playground equipment at the Jerry D. Hall Memorial Pavilion was a hit with youngsters as they whiled away the hours enjoying fun, food and freedom at the annual National Night Out community outreach, hosted by the Monett Police Department. Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

Community: Power of Pink hits milestone; officer recognized for good deed

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

of volunteers in the future.

“We need help letting the community know we want participation from a broad spectrum of people,” Saunders said.

Power of Pink celebrating 10 years

The color pink has, since the early 1980s, represented the women and men who fight to beat breast cancer.

More specifically, pink ribbons offer support to victims of breast cancer and awareness to the disease. Locally, one family has spent the last decade bringing breast cancer into the spotlight and reaching out to those facing diagnoses with support, both monetarily and emotionally.

In 2010, the Power of Pink mission was born in the midst of a rodeo with the purpose of helping local women battling breast cancer.

In the past 10 years, Power of Pink has raised $188,041.49 for 32 women.

For the 10th anniversary, Janice McCracken, founder of Power of Pink wants people to bring 10 friends to the May 2020 walk.

“My husband is a professional rodeo clown,” McCracken said. “Years ago, Wrangler started a program Tough Enough to Wear Pink, and they started raising money for breast cancer awareness.”

The McCracken family would go to rodeos every week, and Janice was constantly seeing the Tough Enough to Wear Pink program, which resonated with her even more when she and her husband started building the Gizmo Event Center in Wheaton.

“I told my husband that I wanted to help someone local that was battling breast cancer,” she said.

“We had our first recipients in 2009, but we didn’t start the walk until 2010.”

The McCracken family had their first rodeo in 2009, and as a family of goal setters, they decided to help two local women

and donate $1,000 to each of them.

“We fell a little short on the $1,000, but as a family, we put in more money to make sure we reached our goal,” she said. “We realized it was a little harder than we had initially thought. In 2010, we started the walk, which helped to bring in more people.

The walk was something that the community could be a big part of.”

McCracken said she wanted to do the Power of Pink walk on Mother’s Day weekend.

“What better thing to do with your mom than to spend a morning walking for a cause while spending quality time?” she said.

McCracken said she has not had breast cancer and no one in her family has either.

“I just saw a need, and I felt like breast cancer could happen to anyone,” she said. “Anybody can get that devastating phone call, and I couldn’t think of a better way to help.”

McCracken said she never really understood what people diagnosed with breast cancer go through until she became involved with them every day.

“I call and speak with each woman when they are nominated,” she said.

“I listen to their stories, and it breaks my heart.

My husband always says he hates the night that I make those calls, because I am so emotional.”

One of the women nominated last year had a chemo that was called the Red Devil, McCracken said this woman lost her fingernails and toenails, and the doctors eventually told her they had to stop the heavy sessions or she would have ended up in a wheelchair.

“The cancer is killing these women, and I can’t imagine how much it hurts,” she said. “But, on top of the cancer, the treatments they have to endure to beat the cancer are just as painful.

Nobody thinks about the chemicals that are in the treatments, and each time

I speak with one of these women, it opens my eyes.

“They are so strong to take what they have to do every day.”

The point of the Power of Pink is to take care of a small piece of these women’s lives, McCracken said, whether it is a car payment or whatever they need that will bring them some peace.

“We want them to just think about getting better,” she said. “When we first started, we only focused on Barry County, and now, we have expanded to the four-states area.”

McCracken said so far, Power of Pink has been blessed in the fact that they have not had to turn down anybody.

“We have had ladies who have turned us down,” she said. “I have had women who said they have great insurance and that we should help someone else who needs it more, and I think that speaks volumes for those ladies.”

Power of Pink is a nonprofit organization and is currently working with an attorney to look into some changes that the organization can make.

“We would like to be able to help people yearround,” she said. “For example, if a woman finds out she has breast cancer after our walk in May, we want to have some kind of reserves that we can hand out to help.”

Plunder Designs, out of Utah, is teaming up with the Power of Pink again this year for the 10th anniversary.

“We are all very excited about that,” she said.

“Twenty percent of all the sales from Plunder goes to the Power of Pink. It is a huge factor and a blessing that they picked us to team up with. My husband said it was God who put us together.”

McCracken said she is trying to get people to bring 10 friends for the 10th anniversary.

“We are working on trying to develop some new ideas during the

Members of the community lined up for two blocks waiting to be served grilled chicken, fries and baked beans by some of Monett’s finest during the annual National Night Out outreach, hosted by the Monett Police Department. Officers and volunteers who rolled up their sleeves to serve the al fresco fare are pictured. From left: Dennis Camp, Alice Camp, Marvin McCracken, Police Chief George Daoud, Jay Jastal and Kim Landreth.

Melonie Roberts/reporter@monett-times.com

event to make it more of a celebration,” she said. “I set a goal last year to have 500 walkers in Wheaton on the day of the walk for our 10th anniversary.”

Another goal for the 10th anniversary is to have each of the women that have been helped throughout the years there and recognized.

“The Friday before the walk is when we do the banquet,” she said. “Last year, we almost sold out tickets for the banquet, so it is growing, and the auction is growing, as well.”

The Power of Pink 10th anniversary walk is scheduled for May 9, 2020.

“Anyone who wants to be involved, I would love for them to get ahold of me,” she said. “I am amazed and thankful that God has allowed us to grow so much in the last 10 years, and I am excited to see what happens over the next 10 years.

“I have thought before, what would I do if no one was nominated one year, and my daughter tells me that would actually be amazing. We could actually say we have raised the money and it is here if someone needs it, but thank the Lord that no one needs it right now.”

For more information on the Power of Pink, the

women helped or how to get involved, people may visit www.powerofpinkmo.com, the Facebook page Power of Pink.

Cop lauded for helping man change tire

A Monett police officer received a wealth of positive attention in December 2019 on social media after he was photographed helping an elderly man change a tire in the city.

Chris Whitehead, who was an officer in Pierce City before coming to Monett in September, said on Dec. 17, he was dispatched to a motorist assist call at Highway 60 and Kyler.

Upon arrival, he found an elderly man who had gone over the median and could not fix his tire.

“Normally, we don’t change tires, but I wasn’t going to make him call a tow truck,” Whitehead said. “We found some tools and I started changing it. He was sitting in my car to get warm, but then he wanted to help so he held the flash light for me.”

Whitehead said the man thanked him, and then another man came approached and thanked him for helping the man.

“I’m not sure where the lady who made the Facebook post came from,” he said. “Normally,

if it’s an able-bodied person, they can change a tire themselves, but this man was in no physical condition to change it. He was thankful, and I just did what I thought was right, I guess.”

George Daoud, Monett Police chief, said officers are allowed to use their own discretion when helping people in the city.

“If they see a need, they can take action,” he said.

“We don’t pass up problems. Once in a while, people say we did something above and beyond what was expected, like helping with a flat tire, fuel or a hotel.”

Daoud said doing such acts helps promote the community service aspect of the police department.

“We recognize individual officers when they perform acts of community service, and we always want to build better relationships with the community,” he said.

The Facebook post,

by Randi Harkins, said Whitehead did go above and beyond the call of duty.

“Officers actually take time out of their day all the time and do good deeds like this not because they have to but because they are kind hearted,” the post said. “Let’s show him some love.”

The Monett Times

Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Page 13

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The Monett Times