Forum Flashbacks: Oct. 10-16

FORUM FILE PHOTO
The Maryville softball team did the improbable Monday afternoon by winning the District 16 Championship game in St. Joseph. The Spoofhounds stung powerhouse Chillicothe by the score of 6-1.

25 years ago

• Gov. Mel Carnahan praised Eugene Field Elementary School teachers for their efforts and then warned of the possible damage approval of Amendment 7 could do to hamper their progress during a visit to Maryville Wednesday afternoon.
  After a campaign stop for State Senate hopeful Doug Hughes, Carnahan toured Eugene Field Elementary School to inspect the school’s success under the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993. The district has received incentive funding for a technology program and for a low student/teacher ratio.
  “They are multiplying something we can do at the state level,” Carnahan said. “(It is) very exciting to me and … more than we could have ever hoped for from the Outstanding Schools Act.”
• Trudy Wolbert spent only a quarter, but the purchase might be priceless for one man’s family.
  Two years ago Wolbert was at a garage sale where she purchased a box of books for 25 cents. Included in that purchase was a German bible exchanged by two German soldiers while they were held as prisoners of war in Oklahoma during World War II.
  According to notes written inside the bible, the book was given to Johannes Wevering by Andreus Rauch for Easter, 1945.
  … Wolbert said he has learned both Wevering and Rauch went to Chile where they were called to the priesthood. He said Wevering died in 1983 of a heart attack, but Rauch remains in Chile, along with Wevering’s brother.
  … Wolbert said Wevering’s brother has asked for the bible and Wolbert says he will honor the request for the book.

15 years ago

• Michael Moore, the critically-acclaimed liberal filmmaker, author and activist, made a stop in Maryville at Bearcat Stadium Saturday afternoon as one of the 60 stops on his “Slacker Uprising Tour.” Moore’s tour has a two-fold message: to urge non-voters to go to the polls and to tout the video release of his film “Fahrenheit 9/11” along with his book “Will They Ever Trust Us Again?”, which is a collection of letters to Moore from servicemen overseas.
  Close to two dozen protestors stood outside the gates of Bearcat Stadium Saturday during the Michael Moore rally, most of them members of the Northwest Missouri State University’s chapter of the Young Republicans. Moore heckled the protestors and even invited them into the stadium, while offering his condolences over what he believes is an impending Republican loss on Nov. 2.

5 years ago

• Nodaway County has its fair share of pastures filled with all kinds of animals — cows, horses, sheep, goats, even the occasional llama. However, one fenced-in paddock at the former Parnell School is home to an uncommon herd.
  In 2011, Jesse Kearn, along with Jessica Miller and Chester Taylor, bought the empty school building and transformed it and the surrounding grounds into the headquarters of Camel for a Cause LLC, a camel training and rental business.
  “We’re in a rare world with a rare opportunity,” Kearn said.
  The three partners train one-hump dromedary camels and two-humped Bactrian camels. Once camels complete the course, Kearn contracts with zoos and fairs across the country and rents the animals out to camel ride attractions, petting zoos and animal education programs.
• The wait is, literally, almost over.
  At least that’s what city of Maryville officials are predicting following installation, planned for late this year, of a new radar-based traffic signal control system at the often-congested intersection of South Main and South Avenue.
  The busy crossroads at the heart of Maryville’s South Main retail corridor has been a headache for years, especially between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays as shoppers head for Wal-Mart and Hy-Vee, factory shifts end, school lets out, and employees at the Kawasaki Motors plant and St. Francis Hospital & Health Services end their workday.
  … The new system is expected to reduce the maximum vehicle wait time at the intersection from approximately 160 seconds — more than two and a half minutes — to around 42 seconds.