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A GANNETT NEWSPAPERVOL. 120, NO. 129 ©2010, NEWS-LEADER

SUNDAY NEWS-LEADERSPRINGFIELD

NEWS-LEADER.COM • OZARKSMOBILE.COM SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI • MAY 9, 2010 • $1.75 METRO SPRINGFIELD / $2.00 STATE

COMPOSITE SOFTBALL BATS GET ‘HOTTER’ WITH AGE / 1D

OZARKS

JEROME T. NAKAGAWA / NEWS-LEADER

POSTAL FOODDRIVE HELPS AREAPANTRIES / 5B

BUSINESS

KIICHIRO SATO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DOW NOSE DIVECOULD HELPFINANCIAL BILL / 1E

NATION / WORLD

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AMBER ARNOLD / NEWS-LEADER

NURSE OF THEYEAR RETIRESTHIS MONTH / 6B

OPINION

CITY CYCLING NODSOMETHING TO BEPROUD OF / 1B

NATHAN PAPES / NEWS-LEADER

Meal time is a busy one for Leatta Workman as she feeds her son Jon, 5, who has cerebral palsy. Jon and 2-year-old Matthew (center), areamong eight adopted children in a family of 10 children. Leatta has one arm that ends at her elbow and a hand with two fingers.

VanessaWorkmanrests herhead againsther mom’shead afterchurch.

NATHAN PAPESNEWS-LEADER

the giftof motherhood

Celebrating

By Linda LeichtLLEICHT@NEWS-LEADER.COM

NEOSHO — When LeattaWorkman awakes this morn-ing, she will be greeted by 10eager faces and breakfast inbed.

That’s what daughter Cor-rine, the 10-year-old partyplanner in the family,arranged for a Mother’s Daytreat.

A more typical morningscene would be Leatta scoot-ing around the long woodentable in the kitchen makingsure everyone else gets break-fast.

For Leatta, that is no smalltask. She and husband Edhave 10 children, most ofwhom have special needs thatrange from tube feeding to

speech therapy.Corrine and Grace, 14, are

the Workmans’ biologicalchildren, while the remainingeight have been adopted —one from Ecuador and the restfrom Haiti.

When Leatta was young, shenever planned on a large fam-ily, although she eventuallyknew she would have chil-dren. Others may not havebeen so sure. Leatta was bornwith proximal femoral focaldeficiency, which left herwith one leg, an arm that endsat the elbow and a hand withonly two fingers.

But, like any other mom,Leatta is constantly pickingup kids, answering pressingquestions, taking kids on er-rands, kissing away hurts, ca-

joling, caressing and lovingon her brood.

Today is a special Mother’sDay for Leatta because four ofher 10 children arrived justmonths ago from Haiti. Theearthquake in January ham-pered their arrival, but de-spite delays and questions, allfour boys — Jon, Matthew,Mark and Luke — were homein Neosho by the end of Feb-ruary.

Everyone is settled in now.The household runs on a sortof controlled chaos thatseems to suit Leatta.

Like the proud mamma sheis, Leatta is happy to talkabout each of her children.

Jon, 5, has cerebral palsy. As

For Neosho mother of 10, controlled chaos makes forjust another joyful day in her diverse, tight-knit family.

“We didn’t feel he had fought everyday of his life to give up at that

point. He should have died at fourmonths. Now he was 11 months.”

— Leatta Workman, Neosho mother of 10.Workman and her husband Ed have adoptedeight children — most of whom have special

needs — from Ecuador and Haiti.

NATHAN PAPES / NEWS-LEADER

Leatta Workman holds her son Nate asher husband Ed untangles Nate’s oxygentube.

See Motherhood, Page 7A

By Wes JohnsonWJOHNSON@NEWS-LEADER.COM

For decades, Randy and KarenMitchell have enjoyed the com-fortable solitude oftheir tree-shadedhome on a dead-end road just offLone Pine Avenue.

“I’ve got twograndkids that canplay out here orwalk across thestreet without any worry,” RandyMitchell said. “I’ve been here for 30years. You can’t replace the peaceand quiet we have. What’s thatworth?”

They may soon find out.The Mitchells’ home lies in the

path of a proposed four-lane roadeasement that feeds a 500-acre res-idential and commercial develop-

ment project straddling U.S. 65.Although it may be years before

any dirt is turned, neighbors to the

Homeowners’ peace threatenedFour-lane road for 60-65project would swell trafficnext to quiet rural homes.

See Roads, Page 6A

AMBER ARNOLD / NEWS-LEADER

Pam Neblett leans against a tree in the front yard of the home on EastFarm Road 170 that she shares with her husband, Dr. Lewis Neblett.

Want to go?The Springfield Planning

and Zoning Commissionwill have a public hearingon three proposed roadalignments west of the60-65 development at6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The commission meetson the third floor of his-toric City Hall.

The Greene County Plan-ning Board holds its sec-ond public hearing on twoproposed alignments eastof the 60-65 developmentmon at 7 p.m. on May 18.

The planning boardmeets in the county com-mission chambers at theGreene County Court-house.

R. Mitchell

MOMSMore stories about The surprises only begin with the

news that more than one is on the way.Mothers of multiples share their storiesof motherhood. 1C

Mother cares for her 27-year-old son,Joseph Briseno Jr., one of the most se-verely wounded soldiers ever to sur-vive American combat. 3A

Moms team with marijuana activiststo forward pot-legalization efforts witha sales pitch that pot is safer thanbooze. 3A