Forum Flashbacks: May 18-24
FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO: Miles for Meals – Washington Middle School students participate in the “Miles for Meals” walk-a-thon to raise money for the meal services at the Nodaway County Senior Center. In conjunction with the Senior Center, the group from Washington Middle School was able to raise $2,078.59. That is enough to serve 1,187 meals. Ashley Hooppaw, Michael Swinford and Natalie Billings raised the most money.
5 years ago
A concrete project at Northwest Missouri State University may set a world record for a construction crew that has been working on the Hughes Fieldhouse.
Workers from E.L. Crawford, J.D. Bishop Construction and Loch Sand and Gravel worked on a curb project that they believe is the “longest, flattest and straightest” indoor curb project in the world and have submitted their work to be considered by the Guinness Book of World Records. …
As they began working on the indoor portion of the fieldhouse — where the six-lane track and turf area would be — the workers were told that it would take at least six weeks to complete a curbing project that stretches 917 feet.
According to Eric Moore, vice president of E.L. Crawford and foreman of the project, the reason the project was expected to take this long is because it often has to be reworked several times to meet standards. …
The project only took the team, consisting of subcontractors J.D. Bishop and Loch Sand and Gravel, about a week to complete, and the curb fell into NCAA standards on the first attempt. …
Rick Steiner, superintendent of the project, said that hiring trained union workers made a difference in the project.
“If you belong to the union, that’s where we take pride in our people to be the best we can be,” Steiner said.
The project leaders said the curb eventually will be covered by the track, but they hope a world record will give the workers the recognition they deserve.
“The biggest reason why they wanted to do it, was because we were told it couldn’t be done,” Moore said. “We’d be one in a thousand to do it that quickly.”
Investigators from Guinness are currently working to verify whether or not the curb project will be included in the world record book.
25 years ago
The Maryville R-II Board of Education Wednesday unanimously chose Maryville Middle School as the name of the new middle school being built adjacent to the high school.
“We had been listening to the community, but we hadn’t heard much input,” Maryville Superintendent Dr. Gary Bell said after the meeting Wednesday.
In naming the new school, the Board honored the recommendation of a committee established to address the issue.
“I hope we give the new building the name and the fanfare that it deserves,” Board of Education member Rego Jones said. “I’m sure some people will be disappointed we didn’t keep the same name. … The building has served us well, but it’s time to move on.”
100 years ago
Class Fight Will Take Place Tomorrow
The class fight between the Seniors and Freshmen of the high school on one side and the Juniors and Sophomores on the other side is scheduled to take place tomorrow evening at 6:30 o’clock. Certain restrictions have been placed on the fight this year. They are: no student can be taken more than five miles from the city and left to walk back, and the Juniors are not permitted to molest any Senior who is in the class play. According to present plans, the fight will end up at the Athletics field at the State Teachers College and the fight will stop at midnight.
A proclamation was issued today by the Seniors and Freshmen. It follows:
To whom it may concern, know ye:
That all inappreciable, insignificant, infinitesimal, runty wouldbe(sic) scholars of the right honorable educational institution known as the Maryville High School, ye feeble Sophomores and trivial Juniors are hereby urged, for your own healthful condition to heed this warning.
Traditions as old as the school itself point out that for two days during the last week of the school year the Right Honorable Seniors, (assisted by the Freshmen) erect an insignia which the weasened middle classmen aimlessly endeavor to remove. In the past the Sophs & Juniors have furnished unlimited pleasure and amusement for the Honorable Seniors by taking unconventional moonlight strolls about the suburbs of Maryville.
The Sophs and Juniors are hereby warned that if they appear singly or in a body on the streets of Maryville after the town clock strikes 8 on the evening of May 23 they are liable to one of the ancient and honorable scraps followed by the still more ancient walks in the wee small hours of the morning.
Further let it be known that as in the past the four classes agree that any person or persons not enrolled in the Maryville High School taking part in the scrap are liable to punishment from both sides.
Take heed Sophs and Juniors and hit the hay at 7:30 or be liable to a scrap.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The next day…
NO CLASS FIGHT THIS EVENING
There will be no class fight at the high school. The fight scheduled for this evening between the Seniors and Freshmen on one side and the Juniors and Sophomores has been declared off.
L. E. Ziegler, superintendent of the public schools, addressed the boys of the high school at a meeting this afternoon. He explained to them that if wanting to retain their standing in the school they will have to stop the practice of having these fights.
A statement as to how the school board feels about this matter was issued today. It follows:
“To Maryville High School students and their parents:
“The practice of so called class fights has been carried to such a point that we, the superintendent and the members of the board of education, feel that it is dangerous, useless and absolutely void of good.
“Therefore, it is the desire of the superintendent and the board that all class fights be declared off and we ask the cooperation of the students and their parents in helping to eliminate this dangerous practice.”
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 articles ran in the May 22 and May 23, 1923, editions of The Maryville Daily Democrat-Forum, which later would become the The Maryville Forum.
