Stories from Sunday, August 30, 2015

Located on the "Lancaster Square" in the small town of Bloomfield, the Stoddard County Courthouse is a county treasure. The clock in the cupola is a "Maria Strike" clock, only one of four similar clocks in the state of Missouri. Though the original courthouse was burned during the Civil War, a portion of that building was incorporated into the current structure, when it was rebuilt in 1867-1870 and remodeled again in 1909...

Frances Moore was born on her family's farm in Morrilton, AR in 1935, one of four girls. "The boll weevils ate our cotton and the drought killed our corn and pasture, so we moved to Missouri in 1950," Moore remembers. "I still take the old Morrilton Democrat, but I'm running out of people I know. I go back each year, but I tell them each year may be the last. I can't believe I'm 80 years old."...

During the five years that Carl "Pete" Ritter has been mayor of Advance, he has spent very little time in city hall. "I like to drive around and see what improvements need to be made in the city," says the former educator and coach. "I'm not one for sitting in an office."...