All games start at 7 pm unless otherwise noted. All games are subject to last-minute cancellation due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
August 20th – Worth County Jamboree.
August 27th – at South Holt.
September 3rd – St. Joseph Christian.
September 10th – at Schuyler County.
September 17th – Albany (Homecoming).
September 24th – at King City.
October 1st – Orrick.
October 8th – at Pattonsburg.
October 15th – North Andrew.
October 22nd – Stanberry.
The Allendale Rodeo returned Friday and Saturday after a one year hiatus. The arena was filled up and there were plenty of attractions. The line was full at the Allendale CBC food booth, Max Garrett brought his ice cream machine, and there were plenty of other attractions. There was a Durango Steer that kids could sit on; despite his huge size and long horns, he was as gentle as a lamb.
Lefty the Clown was the new clown for the rodeo; he kept everybody entertained with his jokes. One joke involved GPS technology, which he said was really Goat Path System; it took you to places where there wasn’t even electricity. When Zoey Tunks of King City got a spectacular 2.7 on the breakaway roping after nearly everyone else whiffed, he said that with one throw of a rope, they doubled their catches.
Later, Lefty brought out his magic clip, and brought out a helper, who introduced herself as April, but who looked like Alyssa (Miller) Ridge. Lefty kept saying the wrong magic words, pulled a dead chicken out of his hat instead of a rabbit, and finally blew up the box that he was supposed to bring some tied ropes out of, revealing boxes of Tide, Cheer, and All Laundry Detergent. The stick horse races attracted 65 kids, and they had to run two heats, which challenges news reports that the Worth County census dropped below 2,000 for the 2020 census. Another good group participated in the boot scramble.
A new attraction this year was the Outhouse Races, a scheme cooked up at Henry’s Place. Tyson Troutwine and Cash Jacobs were first and Henry and Dustin Rowen were second as all three occupants of the outhouse were dragged around hard. Nobody was injured.
Two local favorites tried their hand in the events. Brylea Paxson tried her hand in the barrel races and got 17 seconds. The best competitors got below 15 seconds, with Abbey Wilson getting just over 14 to win. Chance Jacobs tried his hand at bull riding, but was flipped off his animal right off the bat. Nobody could ride the bulls and few could catch the calves in the breakaway roping, but the team roping, one of the events that contestants usually have the most trouble with, saw a lot of teams get qualified scores. One team did it in six seconds, while on another, the woman did her job but the man did not, and broke the barrier in addition.
“Dolly Parton” made an appearance at the Allendale Rodeo Saturday on the second night of the rodeo. As Lefty the Clown, dressed up in a leprechaun outfit, told it, he encountered the biggest motor home he had ever seen just sitting in the middle of the road. He walked in, saw hardwood floors made of marble, and saw “Pardon Me Dolly.” She sang “Jolene,” only for the announcer to kick Lefty and “Dolly” out of the arena, because the announcer believed “Dolly” was lip-syncing.
But then, Lefty couldn’t start the Jalopy that he had driven into the arena in during the break between the breakaway roping and the saddle bronc events. As he looked into the possible problem, the announcer suggested it wouldn’t start because it must be a Dodge. As Lefty was continuing the look into the jalopy trying to figure out what was wrong, risking life and limb due to the sparks coming out of the car, “Dolly” started up the car and drove off at high speed with Lefty clinging to the car for dear life. The two apparently had some kind of falling out in the arena.
There was also the matter of the man who got divorced in Arkansas and the man in Oklahoma who got caught in a tornado. The reaction was the same: “Dang, there goes my trailer!”
Some local talent competed in the events. Morgan Quick of Redding ran the barrels in 15.066 seconds. Liz Brown of Allendale ran the barrels in 14.931 seconds, while EmiLee Brown knocked over one of the barrels; she would have had a time of 15.273. Colton Perry and Jake Dillard nearly got a time in the team roping event, but couldn’t catch the calf’s heels. Lane Watson of New Hampton nearly had a winning time in the calf roping, but the calf kicked loose at the last minute; the calf must stay tied for at least five seconds.
The outhouse races ran for another night, with the team of Colton Perry and Nathan Thogmartin winning handily. Henry Rowen dragged his son Dustin for a lap around the arena after completing their race, while Montana Rush’s rope broke off as he was trying to pull Colton Hibbs. He came back, got it tied back on, and proceeded to pull Colton the rest of the way.
The Allendale CBC sold 450 hamburgers alone Friday night and even more Saturday night. There were so many kids in the stick horse races that they had to run three heats, including one who let the horse ride him. There were lost hats, shoes, and one broken horse, along with one kid with a potential for trick riding; she rode her horse up side down. The Lions raffle sold well, and all of the booths were well attended.
The event which contestants had the hardest time with was the bull riding. Out of ten bulls bucking both nights, none of them were ridden. The majority of breakaway ropers successfully got their calves; although two contestants came close, nobody could catch Zoey Tunks from Friday night at 2. Seconds. The fastest calf rope time for Friday was 9.3 seconds; Tanner Schultz got it right off the bat, and nobody could catch up with the man from Leon. There were four team ropers who got a score in the event Saturday; Jeff Gray and Rodney Garber won the night with a time of 7.2. Joe Teague and Buck Owens would have gotten it faster, but only caught one heel.
A Des Moines man was seriously injured Saturday at around 4:04 pm after being ejected from his motorcycle near Blythedale. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that a 2000 Harley Davidson driven by Timothy Brunsworth (53) of Des Moines was westbound on Route N three miles east of Blythedale when he failed to negotiate a curve, traveling off the north side of the roadway. He overcorrected, returning to the roadway, and was ejected. He came to rest in a ditch, and the motorcycle came to rest on its side, blocking the westbound lane of Route N. Brunsworth was taken to Harrison County Community Hospital.
A Shenandoah woman was ejected from her motorcycle and injured after a mattress came unsecured and struck it. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that a 2021 Chevy driven by Cory Cronk (31) of Maryville was northbound on Route 71 ½ mile north of Maryville Saturday at around 1:23 pm, while a 2004 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Kathryn Silvestre (41) of Shenandoah was southbound. A mattress from the bed of the Chevy came unsecured and slid across the roadway, striking the motorcycle and ejecting Silvestre. She was seriously injured and taken to Mosaic in St. Joseph. Cronk was not injured.
Three people were injured in a Maryville wreck and one was life flighted following a wreck on Route 71 and Hawk Road Friday evening at around 5:38 pm. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that a 2014 Ford F-150 driven by Makenzie Cobb (27) of Maryville was southbound on Hawk Road approaching Route 71, and a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Shoba Brown (74) of Maryville was westbound on Route 71. The Patrol says the Ford failed to yield the right of way after stopping and turned into the path of the Jeep, resulting in a head-on collision.
Three people in the Brown vehicle were injured. Bridget Brown (63) of Maryville was seriously injured and lifeflighted to Mosaic. Karen Fulton (77) of Maryville was seriously injured and taken to Mosaic in St. Joseph. Richard Fulton (81) of Maryville received moderate injuries and was taken to Mosaic in St. Joseph. The drivers, Makenzie Cobb and Shoba Brown, were not injured.
By Superintendent Chris Healy
Hi, and welcome to the 2021-2022 school year. There have been some exciting changes at Worth County R-III over the summer and this video will talk a little bit about those changes. We have a few back to school items of information.
The staff has received their beginning of the year letters, which signals students will be walking in our school doors in a short couple weeks. Students will receive their information during the back to school events or on the first day of school. One piece of information that will be included in these packets will be the “Free and Reduced Lunch Application”. Completion of these forms benefits the school in many ways and is extremely important that everyone turn back in whether they qualify for free and reduced or not. While this year, the Seamless Summer Option of free lunches for all students is still in place, we would really appreciate families completing the free and reduced lunch application. As an incentive to fill out the time consuming form, every form will be entered in a drawing to win one of the multiple Chromebooks or iPads we are giving away.
This year, we have seven new staff members at Worth County and are still looking for a full-time bus driver and substitute teachers, drivers, cooks, and custodians. We’d like to welcome the following people to our staff for this school year. Mrs. Amber Hawk will be our new special education director, Ms. Katelyn Halsey is our new Ag Education teacher and FFA advisor, Mr. Cree Beverlin is our high school social studies teacher, Head HS boys track and field coach, and assistant high school football coach. Ms. Holly Praiswater will be teaching HS math. Mr. Ryan Hutchcraft is our new kindergarten through 12th grade PE teacher and he’s also going to be boys golf and assistant JH football coach. Ms. Jamie Degase will be in charge of Parents as Teachers and be an elementary para this year. Codey Sawyer is a new addition to our food service staff. Ms. Jonell Cook will be returning to us in the FACS department. If you see any of these new or current members of the community, please welcome them and show them support.
There have been several facility improvements throughout the summer and our custodial and maintenance staff, along with the contractors have done a great job in getting the changes made and ready for the students on August 24. One of the major changes was the removal of the tile in the HS, locker rooms, lunchroom, and elementary restrooms. We were able to use some of the federal funding to upgrade our flooring with a flake, epoxy finish. We also decided to carpet some of the HS classrooms. Take a look at some first look pictures of our new floors throughout the building. We got rid of some of the red and green colors that were present throughout the building on the floors and the walls. We weren’t able to save the Tiger at the center of the hallway from the class of 1962. It was a mosaic of about 30 tiles that were securely attached to the concrete. We do still have a Tiger in the middle of the hallway and we will continue the tradition of not stepping on the Tiger. We look forward to you getting in the building and seeing the improvements.
The restrooms have also seen a major upgrade over the course of the last year. We have been able to add touchless equipment, install new stalls, and upgrade the flooring and wall systems in all of the restrooms throughout the building. Another exciting improvement are the locker rooms for the 7-12 grade PE kids and athletes. The new flooring and lockers are a much needed update to both locker rooms and should reduce cleaning and maintenance time for our staff.
A couple other additions that were made possible because of donations are the new gym mats, donated in memory of Donnie Waldeier and the softball scoreboard that was donated by Patty and Lynn Trump.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be completed in these next 2 weeks to prepare for the start of the school year, but the hard work by all involved has ensured that the improvements were completed on schedule and we are ready for the 21-22 school year.
There have also been several educational changes that teachers continually make over the summer. A couple of the highlighted changes are the purchase of new 7 through 12th grade math materials and online content. Our teachers also participated in professional development for new math diagnostic and assessment software to help bridge gaps and find ways to cover new content in the classroom.
COVID-19 is still present in our community and around the world. At this time, masks will be optional. We will continue to have a focus on other mitigation strategies to help reduce the spread of any virus. Handwashing and hand sanitizing is important and will be a big focus. We also encourage everybody to cover coughs and place a focus on limiting face touches. The Tri-County Health Department will continue to be the agency that notifies individuals of the need to quarantine for close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. Individuals that are told to quarantine will be in quarantine for 10 days and can test out of quarantine 7 days after their last contact with a person who has tested positive if they remain symptom free. Any individual who has been completely vaccinated will not have to quarantine after a close contact, unless they are experiencing symptoms. Vaccination is one way, along with other mitigation strategies to remain in the classroom and on the playing field as much as possible. Quarantines will impact our educational process and extracurricular activities. We need our students and staff in the building in order to be highly effective. With this in mind, we are asking students, staff, and community members to stay home if you exhibit COVID-19 symptoms. A student or staff member should wait 24 hours after all symptoms have been resolved to return to school. Those that have been diagnosed with COVID-19 should follow the guidance of their healthcare provider.
Listed here are some important dates for the next few weeks. The elementary open house, 7-12 grade sports parent meeting, and 7th grade orientation will be August 19. The first day of school will be a half day on August 24th.
Important Dates
- August 19: 5:00-6:00 PM Elementary Open House
- 5:30 PM 7-12 Grade ALL Sports Parent Meeting (cafeteria)
- 6:00 PM Grade 7 Parent/Student Orientation (cafeteria)
- August 20: 7:00 PM Football Jamboree @ WC (Worth County, King City, Stanberry, Albany)
- August 24: First Day of School / First Day of Vo-Tech Classes (Early Dismissal 1:00 PM)
- August 24: 5:30 PM Softball Jamboree @ North Harrison
- August 31: Picture Day (Elementary, High School)
- September 2: 5:00 PM First Home SB Game vs. Maryville
- September 3: 7:00 PM First Home FB Game vs St. Joseph Christian
- September 13 - 17: Homecoming Week
- September 17: 7:00 PM Homecoming Football Game vs. Albany
There are several ways to find out more about Worth County R-III. We encourage you to go to our website at wc.k12.mo.us and to sign up for “Tiger Texts”. Facebook is another source of information at Worth County Tiger Talk’s page. You can also follow @WorthCoTigers on Twitter. The school’s system for notification about school closings will send automated emails and phone calls. Make sure the school has your updated contact information on the beginning of year forms. Other good sources of information are our local newspapers. They do a good job of covering events and happenings of our district.
We also encourage parents and the community to reach out to staff and administration to learn more about what is going on in our school. We have a highly qualified staff that has a passion for educating our kids. There are many different types of lessons that are taught in our classrooms every day that prepare our kids for successful futures.
We look forward to seeing 280 students walk in our doors on August 24 ready to learn and represent our school district and communities. This time of year is always filled with the excitement of something new and different, plus the familiarity of seeing friends and teachers every day. Let’s make it a good year and #WintheDay everyday. Go Tigers!
