Why there are no Morse Park results in the paper

We have received several calls about the lack of Morse Park scores and results in the newspaper this summer.

The answer is simple. This year, the Neosho Parks and Recreation Department decided to not have official scorekeepers for games, and instead use the funds that would be paid to scorekeepers to hire what they deemed to be higher-quality umpires. As an assistant coach and a father of two players, I believe the umpires this year have been an improvement over many of the umpires we have had in previous years. I will never forget the sight of an umpire texting on her phone between calling balls and strikes last year.

But, unfortunately, the Daily News did not receive word of the decision to not have scorekeepers until well after the season started. I have spoken with Todd Banes, the director of the parks department, and Tee Potter, sports director, and all are in agreement this was an oversight. Had the newspaper been contacted, we would have worked to put together another system to get results to us. When we found out, it was too late to do anything this season.

In past years, the scorekeepers turned in their sheets to the parks and recreation department, who in turn gave them to the Daily News to publish.

Even though that is not the case this summer, we have worked hard to get photographs from the action at Morse Park in as many issues as possible. We will also be publishing our Morse Park Memories tabloid section in late July. Attention coaches: Please e-mail your team photos to rrogers@neoshodailynews.com; or drop off the photos to be scanned at the Daily News office at 1006 W. Harmony St., Neosho, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Deadline for team photos is July 10. You should be receiving an e-mail or letter from the city’s sports department about team photos and the Morse Park Memories tab as well.

It is our hope that next summer we can work together with the parks department to bring back the scores and results for youth baseball and softball action in the newspaper.

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On page 1C of today’s edition, you will be able to view photos from our Customer Appreciation Day — the sequel — held on Friday at the Daily News office.

We called it “the sequel” because our first attempt of cooking lunch for our customers on June 12 turned out to be a soggy mess. So, we decided to try it again and had a great turnout Friday with more than 250 people stopping by to have lunch on us, and say hello.

Whenever you decide to put on such an event, it takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people. I would like to thank my entire staff here at the Daily News, because they went above and beyond in working the event. Not only was the first lunch a wet mess, but also Friday’s event was a hot one with temperatures in the 90s. Their reward for working so hard in the heat was the chance to dunk yours truly in the dunk tank. Wait, maybe that was my reward considering the heat.

I would also like to thank Jeff Werneke for letting me borrow some coolers and a canopy; Tom Workman for helping us set up the dunk tank, twice; the Neosho Fire Department for filling up the dunk tank, twice; Arvest Bank for the use of its grill, twice; and Les Rainwater for all his help with the meal, twice. Overall, we had more than 300 customers stop by and have lunch on us. Thank you to everyone who attended.

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In today’s edition we were supposed to publish a special “Where Are They Now?” section highlighting the achievements and interesting stories of Neosho or area natives who have moved away and led unique lives. Well, due to lack of interest and submissions, we have postponed this section until the fall or winter. It is disappointing considering the interest and success of last year’s “Where Are They Now?” section, but interest in this edition waned because our guess is that so many people are away on vacation, or spending much of their free time at the ballparks or with other summer activities. We will try to do the section before the end of 2009, and the nominations we received will be kept on file.

Rick Rogers is the publisher of the Daily News. E-mail him at rrogers@neoshodailynews.com.