Forum Flashbacks: Jan. 7 – Jan. 13

By Geoffrey Woehlk | January 8, 2021 |

FORUM FILE PHOTO
15 YEARS AGO: Explosion deaths confirmed – A Maryville firefighter on Thursday morning walked through the wreckage of a house that exploded at 123 S. Alco on Wednesday night. The explosion, which was caused by a natural gas leak, killed two people and the house was destroyed. Yellow tape marked where one of the bodies was found.

25 years ago

Cars being parked along streets with snow routes caused a few problems with snow removal in Maryville last week.
“It would have done better if certain people would have moved cars out of snow routes — especially in the downtown area,” David Angerer, city manager, said.
However, he did say snow removal went fairly smoothly and there was an absence of significant complaints. No ticketing or towing was performed for cars parked in snow routes.
“There were at least 50 cars along snow routes,” Ron Brohammer, assistant city manager, said. “It makes it difficult to clear the streets.”
Several series of vandalism incidents starting at the first of December have left 25 to 30 victims with automotive repair bills.
According to Keith Wood, director of Maryville Department of Public Safety, the vandalism has primarily consisted of tire slashings, but car windows have also been broken.
Wood added Public Safety does have some leads on the incidents.
“We tend to think it’s probably juveniles by the nature of the crimes, when they’re being committed and the location they’re being committed,” Wood said. …
In another vandalism incident unrelated to the tire slashings, eight mailboxes on West 16th Street were crushed. Wood theorized it was a four-wheel drive vehicle which drove up on the snow and clipped the mailboxes.
The Department of Public Safety has felt frustration about the amount of vandalism recently.
“It’s been rather frustrating for us because of the number of victims involved and vandalism is such a senseless crime,” Wood said.

15 years ago

The bodies of a 93-year-old woman and her 69-year-old son were pulled from the wreckage of a Maryville house that exploded on Wednesday night.
Maryville Public Safety confirmed on Thursday that Lois Hall and her son Carroll Hall died in the explosion at 123 S. Alco Ave. Another son, Donald Hall, 49, survived, although he has serious injuries and is being treated at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan.
A natural gas leak is being pinpointed as the cause of the explosion, which destroyed the home and could be heard miles away from the blast site.
Based on information received from Donald Hall, Public Safety Director Keith Wood said, “There had been an odor of natural gas in the residence before the explosion,” perhaps as much as two days beforehand. According to neighbors, Hall said the family had planned on contacting the gas company on Thursday.
Just after 8 p.m. Wednesday night, the family was gathered in a living room watching television. The natural gas may have been ignited when one of the two brothers tried to light a pipe, according to Wood.

5 years ago

In an echo of a dispute that arose more than a year ago between Nodaway County and the defunct Carbolytic Materials Company plant east of town, County Collector-Treasurer Marilyn Jenkins told the County Commission Wednesday that the now-vacant Energizer battery factory, located at 3131 E. First St., owes nearly a half-million dollars in back taxes for 2015.
Jenkins brought up the delinquent real estate and personal property tax bills during the first quarterly officeholders meeting of 2016, which took place in the commission chambers at the County Administration Center.
As of Jan. 1, Jenkins said, Energizer Battery Manufacturing Inc., which in Maryville operated as subsidiary of St. Louis-based Energizer Holdings, owes the county $206,456 in real estate property taxes and $253,603 in personal property taxes related to fixtures and equipment, a total of $460,059.
In addition, Jenkins said, the corporation owes nearly $44,000 in penalties and will be charged an additional 2 percent penalty for each month that the tax bill remains outstanding.
Though the funds would be paid to the county, most of the money — nearly $317,000 — is actually owed to the Maryville R-II School District.
One of Maryville’s veteran spiritual leaders will close the book on more than three decades of professional ministry this month.
The Rev. W. Dale Stewart, pastor of the First Christian Church of Maryville (Disciples of Christ) since 2007, will deliver his final sermon as senior pastor this Sunday before officially retiring on Jan. 15.
In addition to his pastoral duties, Stewart is well known locally for taking an active role in civic life through such affiliations as the Maryville Optimist Club. He is also a writer, and in 2013 published “Where Life Meets Love … Nudges Toward God,” a collection of essays that includes reminiscences of his rural Kansas youth and early career as a peace officer.