Forum Flashbacks: Nov. 26 – Dec. 2

FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 years ago – Horace Mann School has started a new program, Citizens of the Month. Students are nominated by the teachers and voted on by members of the class. Citizens of the Month for November were: front row, (left to right) Michael Hollingsworth, third level; Tracy Harr, second level; Miranda Oehler, first level; back row, (left to right) Christopher Brown, sixth level; Anthony Stiens, fifth grade; and Jessica Cordell, fourth grade.

25 years ago

• The Maryville City Council, last night, approved several increases in the wage and benefits package offered to City of Maryville employees.
  In the package, approved by a four to one vote, all city employees would receive a 2.5 percent cost of living increase and a 2.5 percent step increase was approved for those who qualify. City employees would also be able to get up to a 2 percent match in a retirement package.
  The package approved also calls for the end of the insurance offset, which allowed employees which did not opt for a family insurance plan to receive a compensation in wages.
  The insurance offset would end through attrition and any employees hired after Dec. 1 1995, no longer have the option to qualify for higher wages.

15 years ago

• Nearly 75 people ventured through the cold winds on Tuesday, Nov. 29, to meet with the Missouri Director of Agriculture, Fred Ferrell, who, along with State Rep. Brad Lager and Deputy Director Matt Boatright, made a welcome visit to the Graham Seed Company in Graham.
  Ferrell spent time during his visit to discuss some of the issues that affect agriculture in Missouri. Whether or not Ventria will come to northwest Missouri, county health ordinances for livestock and Quality Systems Assessment programs were among these topics.
  “I believe Ventria wants to come to Missouri,” Ferrell said. “They like Missouri. They chose Missouri. There are some funding issues that need to be worked through, but generally people are for Ventria coming. Affordable medicine is needed. We need to be able to move in the venue of pharmaceuticals. Ventria hasn’t gone away — it is just delayed. We get frustrated because we want it to happen right now.”
• Northwest Missouri received another taste of winter weather on Monday, and the result was crushed fenders and broken bones for some area residents.
  After a day of rain and snow, temperatures dropped below freezing Monday evening, and sheets of ice formed on roads and sidewalks.
  Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood said officers responded to dozens of wrecks in town Monday night, and several times officers received multiple wreck calls at the same time. …
  “It sure did move in fast,” said Greg Decker, director of the Maryville Public Works Department.
  Decker sent the city’s three salt trucks out from 6:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. to combat the road ice. The trucks dumped a combined 40 tons of salt.

5 years ago

• Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice said during a press conference Wednesday that no charges will be filed in the second of two alleged rape incidents at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house in Maryville.
  The episodes spawned both criminal investigations and an extensive review on the part of administrators at Northwest Missouri State University into the after-hours activities of what had been one of the school’s largest and most influential Greek-life organizations.
  Northwest Vice President of Student Affairs Matt Baker announced Tuesday that Northwest’s Delta Nu chapter of TKE has had its institutional recognition revoked by the university, a move that essentially shuts down the chapter until at least 2019.
  Despite what he described as a determined effort on the part of Maryville Public Safety investigators, Rice cited a lack of evidence in saying he would not file charges in connection with the second incident, which happened overnight on Oct. 31.
• Black Friday used to make the news with reports of frantic holiday shoppers punching each other out for Tickle Me Elmos and Furby toy robots.
  But this year’s traditional holiday shopping opener appeared to moderate somewhat, at least in Maryville, due to an icy burst of winter weather.
  Economics played a role in a less-crowded Black Friday as well.
  With more retailers beginning holiday sales as early as Veterans Day, and with the continued shift toward online shopping, fewer customers apparently felt the need to hit the stores in the early hours of what has long been the biggest retail day of the year. …
  According to Maryville Sears owner Ryan Gessert, this trend is fueling a nationwide push that could eventually turn Thanksgiving back into what it used to be, a holiday. “Everybody wants to be closed on Thanksgiving,” Gessert said.