Carthage swimmer Haven Shepherd, 18, had to get up early to catch the first flight out of Joplin on her 13-hour trip to Tokyo, but her teammates, friends and family didn’t let the early hour stop them from giving her a rousing sendoff.
Shepherd left Saturday to participate in the 2020 Paralympic Games as one of 32 young people to represent the United States in swimming.
She left Carthage on the back of a fire truck at about 6:10 a.m. to the sound of sirens from the fire truck and escorting police cars and cheering family and friends on the historic Carthage square.
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