Forum Flashbacks: Nov. 13-19
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, NOV. 16, 2000
25 YEARS AGO: Bake Sale Treats – Preschooler Kelli Bradshaw peruses the treats available at a recent bake sale held at St. Gregory’s. The sale was conducted by kindergartners, who were raising funds to benefit Toys for Tots.
50 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, Nov. 15, 1975
Goat Acquittal Motion Taken Under Advisement
The fate of two nanny goats, five ducks and seven chickens was in the hands of Circuit Judge J. Door Ewing today, as the judge took under advisement a defense motion for acquittal in Robert D. Nagle’s appeal of a municipal court conviction.
Nagle was found guilty in city court last year of keeping livestock within 300 feet of a dwelling located inside the city limits, an ordinance effective only when a written complaint is received. The defense built its case around the last provision, charging the ordinance is unconstitutional in that it gives discriminatory power to the individual land owner. …
Representing Nagle was Grant City attorney Jerry Drake, who was not allowed by Judge Ewing to pursue several lines of questioning, which Drake argued were vital to the defense. But his intentions were brought out when he made offer of proof presentations before the judge. Included among them:
Nagle’s race and religion were not allowed to be pursued; the defense contended Nagle is a Jew and it was for this reason the complaint was made.
Why Nagle kept the animals was not regarded by Ewing to be relevant to the case; the defense contended, in the offer of proof, that the animals have great economic value, ecological value, and were more like pets than livestock and served “as a zoo, so to speak, for children in the neighborhood.”
Questions to (Lester) Keith (public safety director) on how many others had been prosecuted under the same ordinance, and what his definition of livestock was were not allowed by Judge Ewing.
After the city had rested its case, Drake made a motion that charges be dismissed, as the ordinance was unconstitutional. He cited a previous court case, “St. Louis vs. Russell,” in which a court ruled against a city law which required anyone wishing to build a livery stable to gain the consent of all property owners within so many feet. The case, he said, is almost an exact parallel of the Nagle case.
Judge Ewing, however, in turning down the motion for dismissal, said he could see no legal difference between the Maryville ordinance and the old provision requiring that saloon keepers could not disperse liquor within 300 feet of a church without the church’s consent.
There was one direct conflict in testimony presented Friday. Mrs. Pittsenbarger said there were no other animals within 300 feet of her residence; Nagle testified that two horses are 168 feet north of her residence, and that other horses had been in a pasture south of her house.
About 35 people attended the hearing. Ewing said in a ruling on the motion for acquittal would be made “in the near future.”
75 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, Nov. 18, 1950
Sat. Night Musings
By Ye Editor
Why don’t you say something about people who double park? Why don’t you write about these traffic violators? These and questions like them are brought to your editor’s attention almost daily. Our answer is always the same.
Maryville has four policemen, yet they can not seem to cope with the situation. If Chief Kalstrup’s department had 40 men, it is doubtful whether they would be able to eliminate traffic hazzards(sic) or prevent violations of the law. Editorials are like drops of water on a rock, when blasting powder would be more appropriate. It doesn’t look as though anyone can do any good until man adopts the same code of behavior behind the wheel that he employs when on foot. Why doesn’t some research scientist attempt to discover what makes humans inhuman the moment they get their hands on a steering wheel?
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 50- and 75-year flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.
