Forum Flashbacks: Nov. 12 – Nov. 18

FORUM FILE PHOTO
Forum Flashbacks: Five years ago – David Dredge, left, and Bill Hall, both of American Legion Post 100, posted the colors Wednesday morning during the Nodaway County Veterans Day Ceremony.

25 years ago

• Maryville Parks and Recreation is currently offering a $125 reward for the arrest of anyone connected with the vandalism at Beal Park Halloween night.
  Vandalism of the park was estimated to exceed $1000 in damages and labor.
  The MPR Board briefly discussed increasing the reward from a standing $125 reward, to an up to $500 reward.
  “This really irritates me,” Ray Courter, board member, said. “A neighborhood watch is the only way to stop it.”
• The Maryville R-II Board of Education last night approved a recommendation to hire a part-time person to help with the Medicaid program.
  Bob Lewis, Eugene Field principal, and Joyce Harris of Eugene Field, recommended a part-time position be created to help with administrative case management and direct billing portions.
  Secretaries at Eugene Field had been working with the Medicaid program and Dr. Gary Bell, superintendent, said the district paid about $3,000 in overtime last year for this work.
  The board approved the hiring of a part-time worker with a wage of $5.50 to $6 per hour.

15 years ago

• Nearly one year after Northwest Missouri State University announced a plan for Ventria Bioscience to relocate its headquarters to Maryville, the California company is reconsidering the much-touted agreement.
  Ventria’s announcement Tuesday came as a result of the Missouri Development Finance Board’s decision not to consider a $10 million pledge from the state for the construction of the Missouri Center of Excellence for Plant Biologics on campus at Northwest.
  “This means that we will not have the money from that source necessary to complete the Center by the dates promised,” Northwest President Dean Hubbard wrote in an e-mail to university faculty members on Tuesday morning. “I have been advised that Ventria Bioscience will explore other alternatives in lieu of relocating its operations to the University’s Maryville campus due to the delay in funding and an apparent change in its business plan that necessitates moving to full production capability earlier than anticipated.”
• United States Attorney Todd Graves announced Wednesday that he would seek the death penalty against Lisa Montgomery for the death of Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skidmore last year.
  Montgomery, 37, who is accused of cutting open the womb of eight-months pregnant Stinnett to remove the baby, is awaiting an April 24, 2006, trial in Kansas City.
  “We intend to prosecute federal defendants to the full extent of the law, and will not shy away from seeking the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime,” Graves said through a press release. “Our decision to seek the death penalty in each of these cases is made with careful deliberation so that justice is served.”

5 years ago

• As the holidays approach, a local mother who has turned tragedy into a way to work through her grief is continuing efforts to help the less fortunate.
  Marsha Martin, Hopkins, lost her son, Ben McIntyre, in 2011 in a car accident.
  In the fall of 2012, as a way to cope with her loss, Martin made Christmas stockings for other family members out of her son’s shirts. …
  Thinking about her family’s positive response, Martin decided to do something more. …
  “Ben loved Christmas, he loved Christmas stockings, and he loved children,” Martin said. “So in honor of his memory we started making Christmas stockings for children in need, and making sure that they were stuffed with everything they would need to have a good Christmas.”