Forum Flashbacks: March 4 – March 10

FORUM FILE PHOTO
5 YEARS AGO: It’s official – Nodaway County Senior Center board member Larry Cady cuts a ceremonial ribbon in recognition of a total renovation of the senior center, located at 1210 E. First St. The center hosted the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Coffee on Friday morning, as part of a weekendlong celebration.

25 years ago

• Twenty-one people addressed the Mozingo Recreation Advisory Board on recommendations which would be made to the Maryville City Council concerning hunting at Mozingo Lake.
  A majority of those who addressed the board were opposed to hunting at Mozingo, with five area citizens in support of restricted sports hunting and two Missouri Department of Conservation agents also advocating restricted hunting at the city park.
  The discourse remained rational and informative on both sides. Even toward the end of the meeting, when board members were asked to take a vote on the issue, board members refused saying they needed time to think the issues through.
  “I don’t know where I’m at right now (on the issue),” Barry Anderson, board member, said, following the numerous arguments. Other board members expressed the same sentiments.
• Graffiti plastered on buildings at various locations in Maryville is probably a sign of local gang activity, according to the Maryville Department of Public Safety.
  Spray painted graffiti was found March 6 on a restroom building at a local park, on local business buildings and on a retaining wall at a school.
  Keith Wood, public safety director, said the problem should be noted and addressed, but the public should not be alarmed.
  “What we’re probably dealing with is some wannabes,” Wood said.
  He added the department has identified a suspect, but has not decided the strategy of what to do next.
  An influence spurring local activity is the influx of youth who may have been involved in gangs elsewhere, moving into the area with their parents, Wood said.
  “Local kids who normally wouldn’t be attracted to it are exposed to it,” Wood said. “It’s just a trend we’re watching with some curiosity.”

15 years ago

• Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt used his opening keynote address at Northwest Missouri State University’s recent Centennial Education Conference to state the case for his Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative.
  The $450 million biotechnology and life sciences proposal, to be funded through the sale of loans held by the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, would provide $300 million for capital improvements at state universities, $100 million for student scholarships, $30 million for private sector enhancements and about $20 million for endowed professorships.
  The plan includes about $12 million for Northwest’s Missouri Center for Excellence for Plant Biologics, a business incubator designed to attract companies seeking to develop and market commercial bioscience technologies and products. The center is currently under construction on the Northwest campus.
• Chairs were brought in from around the courthouse as more than 30 concerned citizens crowded into the Nodaway County Commissioner’s office on Wednesday, March 8, leaving standing room only.
  Almost everyone was there to discuss a health ordinance that would prevent a CAFO, or large scale hog farm, from moving into Nodaway County.
  After viewing a video presentation concerning corporate hog confinement operations and the health risks involved, the Commissioners reacted to questions and comments from those in attendance.
  “We are concerned citizens, frustrated that our efforts to encourage the Commissioners to enact a County health ordinance have not been well received,” Greg Derr said. “These corporate hog operations are a public health issue. Our property rights are being trampled and the family farming community is being destroyed by industrial agriculture. Operators of the hog operations don’t come in saying they are going to devastate the area. They say they are going to improve the area.”

5 years ago

• Site Selection Magazine has included Maryville as one of its Top 10 micropolitan communities for 2015 in terms of economic development connected to industrial growth and new or expanding enterprises related to warehousing, distribution, and technology. Nodaway County Economic Development Executive Director Josh McKim said Maryville had never before achieved a Top 100 ranking in the publication’s annual list, but made its debut with a splash by entering at No. 10 in a three-way tie with two Kentucky cities, Danville and Somerset.
  Site Selection considered 536 micropolitan communities across the United States in compiling its list. A micropolitan area is defined as a community serving as a regional trade center that has a population of more than 10,000 people but less than 50,000.
  McKim said the allowable population range means Maryville was competing against many significantly larger communities, and was, in fact, the smallest micropolitan area to make the Top 10. Most of the top-ranked cities, he said, have more than twice the population of the Nodaway County seat.