Articles

For all but a few minutes Tuesday night, the coach’s chair on Hickman’s side of the wrestling mat was vacant.

Coach J.D. Coffman stood for the duration of the dual meet and bark-ed orders and words of encouragement to his wrestlers.

The ACC is touted by many pundits as the best conference for men’s basketball, but this year the Big 12 is giving it a run for its money.

The Big 12 is the only conference with four undefeated teams. The ACC and Big East each have three.

Young basketball players can bring excitement and energy to complement veteran players.

The problem for Douglass High basketball coach Lynn Allen is that he doesn’t have many veterans.

Rock Bridge wrestler Jason Richards described Tuesday’s dual meet against rival Hickman as “the biggest match of the season.”

Although Richards thought the meet was huge, Hickman’s K.C. Pescaglia treated it the same as any other match.

The Hickman boys’ basketball team lost to Hazelwood Central 73-60 in Florissant. The loss dropped the Kewpies to 3-5. Hazelwood improved to 5-0.

The Kewpies were led by senior Kyle Smith, who scored 29 points. Hazelwood was lead by junior Alex Tyus’ 26 points. Hickman assistant coach Dan Bachmeier said Tyus lived up to his expectations.

When Melynda Lotven moved into her new home off O’Neal Road in Columbia, she found grit-covered gourds in a heap of rubble.

They seemed worthless, but with a short soak in hot water and a good scrubbing, they led to a change of career for the self-taught artist.

Sometimes, in the course of American history, something achieves cultural status simply by being mysterious or shrouded in a veil of uncertainty. Conspiracy theorists have their own spin on the Kennedy assassination, the Freemasons and, curiously, a McDonald’s sandwich.

In 1982, the McDonald’s Corp. unveiled a new sandwich oddly titled “The McRib.”

Each year, in the days after Thanksgiving, families flock to the Christmas tree lots to buy the perfect tree.

For the past 14 years, Ann and Wayne Harmon have provided Boone County with a hands-on Christmas tree experience.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care … empty and cold with nothing to share.

Kind of puts a damper on the Christmas spirit, doesn’t it? Don’t let your stockings hang lifelessly from the fireplace this Christmas. With a wide assortment of great stocking stuffers available, there is no reason that those giant socks shouldn’t be stuffed to the fullest.

The day after Thanksgiving avid shoppers rushed to malls and department stores to find the perfect gift for the perfect price.

Vendors in downtown Columbia suggest there is an alternate route for these holiday shoppers.

Bad gifts are as much a tradition of the holidays as mistletoe and menorahs.

Every year, as you eagerly rip open the brightly wrapped gifts in anticipation of the watch you wanted, you are met with an awful sweater, a pair of too-tight pants or a hideous homemade gift.

For almost 100 years, an aging 3½ -story building has towered above the corner at Wilkes Boulevard and Fay Street. In faded letters painted over its yellow brick, the words “Hamilton Brown Columbia Factory” label the structure’s place in Columbia history since 1907.

Soon, thanks to a federal grant and the optimism of its owners, the building will be remodeled so it can be useful to the community for another hundred years.

Not every gift is the perfect gift.

If Katie Scott, 23, were to be given a pedicure set, she would wonder whether she was being told her feet were “stinky.”

There are an overwhelming number of choices involved when choosing the perfect wine for a gift and accompanying it with the correct cheese, sausage and crackers.

Many take the easy way out and buy a prepacked gifts basket, but for the more adventurous, there are some key elements involved to create the perfect basket.

Tenants of the Atkins building have mixed feelings about plans to renovate the old factory. Most are excited about the pending changes, but one company feels it has been wronged.

The Atkins building, formerly the Hamilton-Brown shoe factory, has been used for years as an office and commercial building. Recent tenants include an eclectic mix, from a mandolin manufacturer and a recording studio to a janitorial supply company and a church.

Everyone has been subjected to a bad holiday gift.

Curtis Wieberg, a student at Moberly Area Community College, knows what to expect from his grandmother.

Residents opposed to a 1,000-acre development in their neighborhood east of Columbia presented estimates Tuesday of what they think the development would cost the city if it decides to annex the property.

Overall, the residents estimate that infrastructure improvements necessary to support the development of homes, stores, condominiums and a golf course will cost the city between $6 million and $7 million.

Christmas is all about giving … giving away your precious, hard-earned money.

From the girlfriend who whines about getting a Tiffany necklace to the people in the red Salvation Army vest repeatedly ringing their bells, people everywhere want your money.

If you’re the type who made a Christmas list and checked it twice all before Thanksgiving rolled around, read no further.

If, like the other 99 percent of the population, you have made a mad, last-minute shopping dash, you might want to keep reading.