Forum Flashbacks, Jan. 26-Feb. 1
FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO: Band members named all-state – Mary Dean and Brian Jewell, senior percussionists at Maryville High School, have received the highest honor available to high school musicians in Missouri, being named to the all-state band.
5 years ago
Fathers and daughters were treated to a special event full of photos, games food and last but not least, dancing galore last Friday at the Maryville Community Center.
The Maryville Parks and Recreation Daddy Daughter Dance saw more father-daughter couples than ever before, said Special Event and Marketing Manager Jordyn Swalley.
“We had 280 couples,” she said. “It’s really great.”
The event started in 2004 with 21 couples, “It’s skyrocketed since,” Swalley said.
Last Friday, many fathers found themselves without a ticket to share the special night with their daughters.
Swalley said that happens every year, “because the girls will talk at school to see who is going to the dance and then talk to their dads about it very last minute.”
15 years ago
When Lucille Godsy first served on the election board, she was paid $6 for the entire day.
Now election judges get paid $6.50 per hour. Before ballots were electronically counted, Godsy said she strung together paper ballots and tied a knot after every tenth one. And when she was a little girl, she said she couldn’t wait until she was old enough to check off the candidates’ names she’d heard about on the radio. Now she feels younger people are apathetic about their rights. Godsy, 90, is a resident of Skidmore and serving as an election judge for the Feb. 5 Primary Elections.
Gene Linebaugh, 81, is a resident of Pickering and will serve as an election judge too. She first voted at the age of 21.
“I think everybody took the responsibility more serious than they do now,” Linebaugh said. “It was a great thrill to reach voting age and to vote.”
Linebaugh said young people today don’t see it as their responsibility, and feel their vote doesn’t count.
Godsy said for those who take the initiative, they don’t lose out at all.
“I do not lose my vote,” Godsy said. “I cancel someone else’s out. I never felt like I lost it no matter who won or what. For every person that votes against what I believe, should be a vote to cancel it out.”
25 years ago
The halls of Washington Middle School will be a buzz(sic) Friday and Saturday as the school holds its annual science fair.
More than 350 fifth through eighth grade students will be displaying months of work on subjects ranging from the solar system to the ancient pyramids of Egypt.
Dave Weichinger, fifth grade science teacher at Washington Middle School, said the fair is an enjoyable time of year for the students.
“They get excited about it,” he said.
While it may be fun for the students, the true purpose of the fair remains to be education.
Weichinger said that students have the opportunity to choose their own topic for their projects, but must use the scientific method to research and explain what they found. …
For fifth graders, the projects are done in a small group setting. For sixth graders, partners are used to accomplish the task. Once students reach seventh and eighth grades, however, they are on their own.
The stakes, however, also increase for seventh and eighth graders. Each student in the upper two grades at Washington Middle School must give a presentation to a panel of judges on the second day of the science fair.
The panel of judges, which is made up of college students and area science teachers, selects a winner in each grade. These winners earn the honor of giving a presentation on their project at the Junior Academy of Science in St. Joseph.
100 years ago
SOMERVILLE OUT FOR REELECTION
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Leslie G. Somerville today announced that he will be a candidate to succeed himself as superintendent of the public schools of Nodaway County at the annual school election to be held on Tuesday, April 3, 1923.
Mr. Somerville was appointed county superintendent of schools about a year and a half ago to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Prof. Bert Cooper. It is believed he will have no opposition at the April election.
At the time of his appointment as county superintendent, Mr. Somerville was at the head of the Clearmont schools. Previous to that he had taught in the rural schools in this county and in Harrison and Mercer counties. He is thoroughly interested in educational work, particularly as it affects the rural communities and he is giving to his duties as county superintendent that enthusiasm and tireless endeavor that justify the success that has come to his work.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 100-year flashback is courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, viewable at shsmo.newspapers.com. The original article ran in the Jan. 31, 1923, edition of The Maryville Tribune, a predecessor of The Maryville Forum.
