Forum Flashbacks: Nov. 9-15
FORUM FILE PHOTO
50 YEARS AGO: Walt Disney was saluted last night at Rickenbrode Field by the Marching Spoofhound band in their farewell marching appearance of the season. Majorettes portraying famous Disney characters are (left to right): Janet Duncan, the Big Bad Wolf; the Three Little Pigs, Julie Richey, Sue Murphy and Gina Henry; Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Kim Hall. The show featured a vocal solo by Lori Watkins and the Maryville R-II a cappella choir.
50 years ago
Sightings of unidentified flying objects have filled the newspapers for years, but recently a rash of reports of such sightings has made believers of the most adamant skeptics.
Several sightings in the northwest Missouri area and Maryville in particular have led many residents to believe (or fear) that perhaps this area has been singled out by whatever causes the strange phenomenons(sic).
Five men at Lloyd Metal Products, Maryville, sighted a UFO at 1:50 a.m. Oct. 18. Kurt Moore, one of the five, reported the sighting to the public safety department, and PSD chief Clifford Dotson viewed the object from the front porch of his home. He remarked later that the object looked like a large cluster of glittering lights.
At about 8 p.m. the same day, Leon Combs, Arkoe, reported an object to the public safety department. A state highway patrolman was dispatched to the scene and reportedly did not see the object.
However, two local policemen who had heard the report, traveled to the hill where Nodaway-Worth Electric Cooperative (REA) is located and they observed an object with white and red flashing lights coming from the southwest. The UFO then disappeared.
While patroling(sic) the town at about 2 a.m. Oct. 20, two policemen at the corner of Seventh and Buchanan streets noticed an object in the southeast. It was compared to a spinning top with red, glowing white, green and blue flashing lights.
The officers called Dotson who, accompanied by another officer, met them at the REA hill. The policemen, in two cars, tracked the object following alongside it at 55 miles per hour, to the Rt. V junction at Ravenwood where the object remained stationary.
Dotson reported that the object never moved in a continuous straight pattern, and that the object was about the size of his fist held at arm’s length.
On the way to Ravenwood, the officers said that they lost radio contact for nearly 1 ½ minutes. When an officer returned to the location the next day, the radio worked correctly.
Static on the radio while the officers were tracking the UFO was reported to be nearly four times as loud as static on a television channel when a station is not broadcasting.
While the tracked object remained stationary near the junction, another object appeared. It was accounted to be a light, bright white color. It soon disappeared.
Due east of the officers, another object appeared and seemed to be gaining altitude, they said. The UFO went directly in front of the moon which was in the last quarter stage. There was no reflection from the moon, according to the officers, as the object appeared to block out the light of the moon as it traveled across the center and disappeared. None of the UFO’s were picked up by radar.
The police departments in surrounding counties had been contacted. All departments verified the same color and movement of the three objects. The UFO which the officers followed to Ravenwood was reported south of Gentry, northwest of Stanberry, south of Harrison and northeast of Albany. …
An area resident on the way to work between 7 and 7:10 a.m. Oct. 24 nearly collided with a UFO which was three-quarters of the way across Rt. Z. Before entering a valley filled with fog, the individual heard a noise similar to that of a helicopter and saw lights. As the woman came out of the valley, she was blinded for a moment by bright yellow lights. The UFO reportedly was no more than two yards from the front of her car. The bottom of the object was even with the car hood, she said. It was spinning rapidly and she described it as two saucers turned upside down and placed together.
Because of chugholes in the blacktop, the woman was traveling between 25 and 30 miles per hour. When the car lights reflected on the object, the UFO suddenly flew straight up at a tremendous rate of speed and headed towards Maryville. …
Two Maryville policemen were traveling along U.S. 71 South nearly six miles from Maryville at about 9:15 p.m. Nov. 1 when the driver saw a glow in his mirror. There were no traffic vehicles behind him. After pulling to the side of the road, the two saw a light blue object coming from the west. From the southeast, a brilliant red and bright orange spinning object approached, bouncing up and down. The blue UFO appeared to enter the red and orange object and remain there. Another light blue craft came from the south, went in front of the red and orange object, then went west.
During this time, the officers reported that static on their radio became so loud that they had to shut it off. When it was on, the policemen in Maryville later reported to the two officers that they could hear only loud static.
100 years ago
COMMUNITY WORK MUST COME FIRST
_______________
Americans must promote the spirit of brotherhood in their own community if they desire to break down class and caste, jealousy and hatred in all the world.
This was the key note of the address of Uel W. Lamkin at the Armistice Day program held in the tabernacle yesterday afternoon.
“We are going on in our preparations for war and hesitate to take the steps for world-wide peace,” Mr. Lamkin said. “We must begin to stamp out hate in America, in our own town, if we wish to bring about a universal and lasting peace.”
About 500 persons attended the program yesterday afternoon. A number of ex-service men were present in uniform. …
Mr. Lamkin said in part:
“Five years ago marked the end of the conflict of arms which was to determine whether or not civilization should endure. Today, we are gathered to celebrate this, our newest national holiday. It is well for us to remember the reasons for this national holiday.
“It will be a sad day for us when we forget the ringing of the bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and use the day only for recreation. It is well for us to remember that this day should long be remembered in American history. …
“On this Armistice Day, it is well for us to remember the duties of American citizens.
“The call that took us into the great conflict was a call that came to all of us. It came first to the young man that could take over the duties of a soldier. But that call came to others just as well. It came to the workers as well as the leaders of America. It came to the miners, the factory workers, the farmers. It came to laborers who gave up those things for which they had fought — the eight-hour day and the forty-eight hour week. He increased his capacity to produce, and the laboring man, too, answered the call of war. …
“America fought, England fought, Belgium fought, France fought, the other allies fought for civilization. They fought for the sanctity of a piece of paper, they fought for the freedom of the seas, they fought for the brotherhood and equality of man. …
“On coming back to America, we find it torn by groups and blocs and class and hatred. We find profiteers exacting their toll in time of peace as well as in the time of war. We are going on with our preparations for war and hesitate to take steps for world-wide peace. …
“We cannot properly think of our flag if we always think of material things, but we can do it if we only say to ourselves, ‘How can I best serve mankind? How can I stamp out hate in America? How can I bring about a better feeling in my own town? What can I do to bring about a world-wide brotherhood of man?’”
*EDITOR’S NOTE: The 50-year and 100-year flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com. The original 50-year photo ran in the Nov. 10, 1973, issue while the 50-year article ran in the Nov. 12, 1973, issue of the Maryville Daily Forum. The original 100-year article ran in the Nov. 12, 1923, issue of the Maryville Daily Democrat-Forum, which would eventually become the Maryville Forum.
