Forum Flashbacks: Jan. 16-22

FORUM FILE PHOTO
Marshall Gross repaired a tire on a Maryville R-II School District bus on Monday after vandals flattened tires on 19 buses over the weekend by breaking off the valve stems. Monday morning bus routes were canceled, but classes were held as scheduled. All buses were repaired and back in service for the afternoon bus routes.

25 years ago

• What a difference a few years can make.
  Three years ago, the Maryville R-II School District formed a technology committee which officials hoped would bring the district on-line in the ever-changing arena of technology.
  Now, the district has advanced far enough that being on line does not even require a “line.” Work is currently under way on a project which will link computers at Washington Middle School utilizing wireless technology.
  “When we started the district technology committee three years ago, I don’t think any of us thought we would be where we are today,” Maryville Assistant Administrator B.C. Thompson, who heads the technology committee, said this morning.
• For the second time in less than two weeks, an early-morning fire has destroyed a Nodaway County business.
  Hillside Veterinary Clinic, north of Maryville, was gutted in a blaze which authorities say erupted near an incubator in the north side of the structure, apparently around 2:30 a.m.
  Reportedly, three Iowa men who were on their way home from an MFA cattle sale shortly after the blaze started, contacted clinic owner Dr. Danny Burns, who lives near the clinic. Burns then contacted authorities. …
  Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said two state fire marshals who traveled to Nodaway County from Liberty early this morning, had deemed the blaze to be accidental.

15 years ago

• The Maryville Hy-Vee will double in size under a development plan approved by a city council committee Tuesday.
  The grocery store’s expansion — from around 25,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet — is part of a Tax-Increment Financing package approved by the specially-appointed committee for developer David Christy, who purchased Hy-Vee, the vacant building directly south of it, Hardee’s and the old Wal-Mart building.
  Christy’s development company will receive a $1.95 million bond from the city to remodel and expand the Hy-Vee store. The bond will be paid back over an estimated 12 years, with TIF tax money.

5 years ago

• The Maryville R-II board of education voted on Tuesday to terminate the existing contract with Manning Construction Co. effective immediately.
  Hired approximately 20 months ago, the construction managing company was unable to provide the district with reasonable prices.
  “Our community supported the bond issue back in April,” Superintendent Larry Linthacum said. “At which time, we entered into an agreement with Manning Construction. That process has not gone as well as we would have liked.”
  The first step of the construction project, site preparation for the new performing arts center at Maryville High School, was figured to cost 30.4 percent over what was initially estimated.
• The Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol are investigating the shooting death of a 9-month-old infant that occurred Monday morning at an Elmo residence.
  Sheriff Darren White said the child was shot in the head with a .22-caliber Magnum pistol shortly before 9 a.m. by a 5-year-old boy identified as the infant’s brother.
  White said the infant, who was flown by helicopter to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, was pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m.
  The shooting is being investigated as an accident.