Forum Flashbacks: March 3-9

FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO: Students donate blood – The American Red Cross held a blood drive at Maryville High School on Feb. 26. Sixty-seven students donated fifty-one units of blood. Amy Riggs and Shandy Zion give a positive thumbs up to the camera.

5 years ago

“We were lucky,” said Nodaway County Emergency Management Director Christy Forney on Tuesday — the morning after a Monday-evening storm produced one and possibly two tornadoes. Forney said a twister confirmed by North Nodaway Fire and Rescue personnel hit the ground around 6:30 p.m. approximately two miles northeast of Skidmore near Highway 113.

A second funnel cloud reportedly touched down about the same time two miles southwest of Maryville, but Forney said she lacked official confirmation. A severe thunderstorm warning followed moments later by a tornado warning for the Maryville area were issued shortly after 6 p.m., and the city’s storm sirens were activated at 6:15. Despite the heavy weather, damage across the county was limited to a few farm buildings. There were apparently no injuries or fatalities.

15 years ago

The first step took place Wednesday morning concerning the possibility of consolidating Nodaway County’s 911 emergency calling system.

The next step will occur over the next couple of weeks.

Now the ball is definitely rolling on what presiding Nodaway County Commissioner Joe Baumli called a step toward improving the system. … The meeting was set up to begin gathering information concerning the chances of combining forces into a one-call center. As it exists, there are three levels of 911 calling in Nodaway County — Maryville residents who call reach Public Safety; Northwest Missouri State University residents who call reach Campus Safety; anyone outside those two zones but in the county reach the sheriff’s dispatchers. … Since the county is moving forward with its administration building, commissioners discussed the idea of housing a 911 call center there.

(MPS Director Keith) Wood, (Nodaway County Sheriff Ben) Espey and (Campus Safety Director Clarence) Green agreed taking steps toward consolidation would be easier than they were when 911 was introduced in Nodaway County.

25 years ago

In order to avoid duplication and promote government sharing, the Maryville City Council and Nodaway County Commission met last night to hold preliminary discussions on a joint 911 dispatch center.

The City of Maryville has provided 911 to its residents for the last five years, while the county is waiting for voters to approve a 15 percent telephone tax before it can go ahead with plans to install 911. If voters approve the measure giving the county a revenue to allow it to install 911, it has been estimated it will take 18 to 20 months to get the service online. … Stacen Gross, project coordinator for Geo-Comm Integrated Mapping and Communications, has done a feasibility study for the County Commission in regards to 911 and has recommended the joint venture between the city and county. …

Geo-Comm has recommended the physical placement of a dispatch center remain in the Maryville Department of Public Safety and does not foresee additional personnel being needed to run the system. … Geo-Comm has recommended the city pay one-half the cost of installing new equipment, which would be $3,197 and approximately $600 for 60 months during a lease purchase of the equipment.

100 years ago

K.K.K. ORGANIZER IN THIS COUNTY?

Worker for Secret Society Said to Be

Pussy-Footing Over County Getting Members for Klan

PLAN CENTRAL LODGE HERE

Then Smaller Organizations in Other Towns of County—Organizer Recently Run Out of St. Joseph But He Got Work Done

The Ku Klux Klan may get an organization in Nodaway County unless the people who oppose this un-American secret society get busy and warn their friends against the oily-tongued organizer who is said to be pussy-footing over the county.

According to reliable information, the plan of the organizer includes a lodge in Maryville and subsidiary organization in the other towns of the county. The organization that is being promoted here goes under the name of the “Non Silba Sed Anthar,” which is the same name used in the organization of the Ku Klux at St. Joseph recently. The promoter was driven out of that city, but the lodge was organized.

The 100-year flashback is courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, viewable at shsmo.org/collections/newspapers/mdnp. The original article ran in the March 8, 1922, edition of The Maryville Tribune, a predecessor of The Maryville Forum.