Forum Flashbacks: March 9-15
FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO – One-Lane Only – U.S. Highway 136 East was blocked in several areas Monday afternoon, with drifts causing one-lane driving. By early Tuesday the Missouri Department of Transportation had cleared the east section of 136. The west section of 136 was not opened until Wednesday.
5 years ago
A large group of Northwest Missouri State University students and faculty members gathered Wednesday morning at the International Plaza to join thousands across the United States participating in a national walkout aimed at bringing awareness to gun violence.
Marissa Mallon, president of Northwest’s Young Democrats group, organized the event for the campus. Mallon said the event was to honor the students across the country who have lost their lives to gun violence, and to bring awareness to the issues in terms of civic duties.
“What you’re doing today is great,” Mallon said. “I think it’s one of the most powerful things you can do,” Mallon said. “However it does nothing if this message does not get to your legislators.”
While many schools had a moment of silence that lasted 17 minutes, one for each victim of the Parkland shooting, Northwest chose to fill this time with speakers from the campus community who encouraged students to take action.
Alyssa Lincoln, the student senate vice president, offered a unique perspective on the subject of gun violence. As a gun owner and concealed-carry permit holder, she spoke about her ability as a proud gun owner as well as an advocate for gun control.
“As someone who respects and enjoys the Second Amendment, I’ll be the first one to tell you this isn’t what our Founding Fathers envisioned for us,” Lincoln said. She added that she believed it would be her generation that could initiate change.
“Bearcats, now more than ever, the political activism of our generation is needed,” she said. “Our parents and grandparents may have grown callous to the inaction of Congress, but the energy and passion of our generation will not fade.”
15 years ago
Pie aren’t square. Pie is round. Cornbread are square. And if you believe that, you should have been with the fourth through sixth grade students at the National Pi Day celebration at Nodaway-Holt on Friday.
March 14 (3-14) is National Pi Day and Nodaway-Holt teacher Stacey Calfee takes celebrating that day very seriously. For the last four years, Calfee has enlisted the help of Family and Consumer Science instructor Carol O’Riley in teaching the elementary students about Pi.
The elementary students arrived at the high school on Friday morning singing Pi songs. After entering the FACS room, several donned red aprons, started measuring, stirring and rolling out dough and were soon ready to bake their pies.
While some were preparing to bake pies, others were going from room to room with lengths of yarn, measuring circles. Trash cans, oatmeal boxes, door knobs and pie pans were attacked by the students.
After measuring the circumference of the circles, the students took that length and stretched it across the circle to prove that it would go three times plus a little more (3.14 times).
No matter what size the circles were, the formula worked every time. The only problem they ran in to was when they tried to measure a classmate’s head. Heads are ovals, not circles.
After reading “Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi” by Cindy Neuschwander, the students participated in a Mono-Pi-ly game and enjoyed learning about this special mystery number that is represented by the 16th letter in the Greek Alphabet and is actually 3.14159.
25 years ago
The Friends for Quality Life and their supporters received a harsh blow earlier this week in their battle to regulate hog farms in Nodaway County.
Members of Friends for Quality Life and Nodaway County pork producers met with the Nodaway County Health Board, a meeting that ended with the Health Board making a decision on the Friends for Quality Life’s request for the Board to support a proposed County Commissioner’s ordinance.
“We voted unanimously not to support the ordinance in its existing form,” Board Chairman John Bade said. “We also sent a letter to the County Commissioners saying we did not support the ordinance and that if it did pass, we wanted all reference to our board removed — we just don’t have the wherewithal to do the things they required of us.”
Bade added that Friends for Quality Life had addressed the Health Board in February asking for them to pass an ordinance themselves, but the board had rejected that idea. …
The Health Board, according to Bade, looked at both sides of the issue and did their homework before coming to their decision not to support the ordinance.
“We went in well prepared,” Bade said. “Both sides were given time to voice their opinion.”
With the decision, the Nodaway County Health Board probably ended their involvement with the hog confinement debate.
100 years ago
Youngest Movie Man Starts Picture Show
Forrest Koger, 16 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Koger of the Gaynor neighborhood is probably the youngest movie man in Nodaway County, or will be when he gets his new projector working and tunes in with the time theaters on a real film circuit.
Young Koger was in Maryville today making preliminary arrangements for his new venture in business, and his plans are to open a moving picture theater in Parnell and possible in Sheridan for a twice a week service. He has already secured a building in Parnell which will seat two hundred movie fans nicely and will open for business as soon as his plans can be completed.
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 March 9, 1923, edition of The Maryville Tribune, a predecessor of The Maryville Forum.
