Forum Flashbacks: April 3-9
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, APRIL 7, 2000
25 YEARS AGO: Just say no – Zone winners in the “Promise Yourself to be Drug Free” poster contest include: Trevor Henggeler and Megan Cooper.
25 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, April 4, 2000
The writing was on the wall.
The North Nodaway High-Middle School, Hopkins, received an unusual bomb threat early Monday morning.
The incident occurred just before 8 a.m. when a written threat was found on the wall in a classroom of the school building.
“When school opened, we found the writing on the wall; students weren’t even in their classrooms yet,” Clinton Kimbrough, principal, said. “They hadn’t gotten in, except for the cafeteria.”
He said students were taken a safe distance from the school and took about five minutes to get the students out of the building.
“It was a written note,” Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said. “We evacuated all students from the building.” …
Espey said he and other officers did a walk-through and searched every room in the building.
“We did a visual search with eight or nine officers,” Espey said. “Every nook and cranny was completely searched and we didn’t find anything.”
A bomb detection dog was called in at 9 a.m. and got to the school building around 10 a.m.
“The dog was done searching the building around 12:30 p.m. and we didn’t find anything,” Espey said.
The bomb detection dog came from Lamoni, Iowa, which is the closest location of one to this area.
“It costs the school $6 an hour for the dog,” Superintendent Charles T. Toler said. “He was here a minimum of three hours.”
Bomb threats, whether they are pranks or not, cost the school district money, as well as lots of time and anguish said Espey.
“They don’t realize what 15 seconds of writing on a wall can cause,” Espey said. “This is very serious.”
100 years ago
Maryville Daily Democrat-Forum April 6, 1925
HIDES $10,300 IN A MANGER
William Tame who lived four miles north of Hopkins a few days before he died called a banker to his home for consultation. And thereby hang a tale —
…Mr. Tame was 80 years of age when he died. He has lived north of Hopkins on a farm for approximately forty years.
Just about a week before death came Mr. Tame called Charles Donlin, a banker at Hopkins, to his home, and there instructed him to go to the barn and there in a manger under a manure pile he would find considerable money stored away in a box.
On April 3, Mr. Donlin followed Mr. Tame’s instructions and found: in cash, $6,500, in notes $3,500. Mr. Donlin made deposits for Mr. Tame that day at his bank in Hopkins. This $6,500 in cash was in currency, ranging in bills from $10 to $500, but most of them of the smaller denominations.
Mr. Donlin said today that Mr. Tame had been known in the community as a rather eccentric man but always treated with respect, and it was his opinion that Mr. Tame had put this money away from time to time for many years. Mr. Tame lived on a farm of 160 acres. His wife died about a year ago.
Maryville Daily Democrat-Forum, April 8, 1925
WOMEN WILL HEAD TOWNS
Every town in Nodaway County held its annual election yesterday to choose its officers and school board members, and to approve the regular levy for school purposes.
Three towns, Graham, Parnell, and Quitman, voted to experiment with the “Ma Ferguson” rule during the next two years by electing women to head the city government. As one man in Parnell said this morning, “We’ve turned it over to ’em; now let’s find out what they will do.”
These are the first towns in Nodaway County to try the “experiment.” …
For the first time in the history of Graham, the town board will be controlled by women, as a result of the election there yesterday. Mrs. John Geyer, Mrs. Clyde Long, Mrs. E. L. Morgan, Mrs. E. W. Geyer and N. I. Harvey were chosen as members of the town board. At the organization meeting, the mayor will be elected. …
Parnell also sprang a “Ma Ferguson” surprise by electing Mrs. J. F. LaFavor as mayor. She won out over E. J. Klaas by a majority of four votes. W. I. Burns was elected alderman from the first ward and Mrs. Goldie Wilson alderman from the second ward.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 100-year flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.
