Forum Flashbacks: Dec. 24-Dec. 30
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, DEC. 26, 1974
50 YEARS AGO: ’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house … was a lot of shredded wrapping paper. At least there was at the household by the time Angela Findley, 4-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Findley, Maryville, got through ripping open her packages Christmas Eve. Angela and a newly acquired Teddy bear are shown peeking through the debris.
25 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, Dec. 29, 1999
An Elmo woman is being held in the Adams County Jail in Iowa on charges of attempted murder and solicitation to commit a felony.
A Shenandoah, Iowa, Police Department press release said Tuesday that Tammy Karg Rightsell, 30, was arrested in the early evening Monday and is alleged to have paid an undercover police officer to kill her husband. …
“This is the second case of ‘murder for hire’ in recent memory in this county,” (Fremont County Attorney Vicki) Danley said. …
Rightsell is being held in Adams County because the jail facilities in Fremont aren’t set up to hold women, she said.
Rightsell is staying quiet for now.
“We still don’t know her reasons for doing what she did,” Danley said. “She has the right to remain silent and she is exercising that right.”
The investigation began a week ago.
Cases like this don’t surface daily, but they do surface as more than just “movies-of-the-week,” Robert Henderson with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said.
“Of all these types of cases that I’ve worked over the years, generally the way it begins is that a person makes it known to a certain element of people that they’re looking for this job to be done, or this crime to be committed,” Henderson said. “In this case, law enforcement was able to find out that a contract was out and we were able to step into the situation with an undercover officer.”
Rightsell was arrested, he said, after she “… had a conversation with our undercover agent and there was an agreement with an exchange of money.” Henderson would not release the amount agreed upon for the murder. When she actually paid the would-be killer, the crime was complete.
“That’s the difference between idle talk,” he said. “And putting your money where your mouth is.”
100 years ago
The Maryville Tribune, Dec. 24, 1924
TRAFFIC STOPPED ON SIXTH STREET
Coasting with sleds and bob-sleds is in vogue on Maryville’s favorite coasting hill on Sixth street from Market street east now and public traffic on the hill is prohibited so long as the coasting remains good.
The strong wind and the drifting snow scared the coasters out last night, but last week-end there were crowds of children on the hill enjoying the long, swift descent. A feature of the hill that adds spice to the ride this year is a large hump in the pavement about halfway down, caused by a repairing of pavement last summer. The coaster who hits this rough spot is out of luck for he gets a bad spill as a general rule.
Maryville’s kind hearted mayor gladdened the hearts of the devotees of coasting by flooding the sled tracks on the hill with water from a nearby fire plug to make the going extra fine. The excess of snow that drifted up on the hill last night was also dragged off today by city employees so that the hill may be used as much as possible while coasting weather lasts.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 50- and 100-year flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, DEC. 29, 1999
25 YEARS AGO: School’s out —Let’s Play! – Ready to approach the challenge, T.J. Lanier (left) and John Morton (right) spent one of their days off from school, snowboarding in their neighborhood, before all the snow was melted away with warmer than usual temperatures in December.
