Forum Flashbacks: Jan. 21 – Jan. 27

FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO – Ventriloquist comic Jeff Dunham performs with Peanut and Jose Jalapeno on a Stick, last night, on the Mary Linn Performing Arts stage at Northwest.

25 years ago

• “Just show me how and I can do it,” said Nick Kohlleppel, a confident industrial arts student, at Northeast Nodaway R-V, in regards to construction work.
  Some of his confidence may come from his work in an industrial arts program which gives students practical training while incorporating academics and improving the school facilities.
  Students have had a major role in construction and improvements of a new facility in Ravenwood and an addition in Parnell.
  “I’ve learned how to do a lot of things,” Kohlleppel said. “It’s been an excellent experience.”
  Along with instruction from industrial arts instructors Tom Toalson and Mike Nutter and traditional activities in the workshop, students watch contractors and participate when possible.
  Toalson said after students watched a surveyor work on site, the surveyor then gave a talk about the need for math in his profession.
  Aside from the excellent hands-on experience, Toalson said there is a strong emphasis on incorporating academics into the program.

15 years ago

• Michael Rietz took over as Maryville’s new city manager on Monday, and he didn’t hesitate to dive into the deep end, even dealing with city business at a city council meeting that night.
  “That’s kind of the nature of this business,” said Rietz, 39, sitting in his new second-floor office at Maryville City Hall. “It has been a very busy couple of days. There’s the day-to-day business to keep on top of, in addition to learning who everybody is and what they do.”
  Rietz said he’s ready to take the driver’s seat and lead Maryville into the future, and he appears to have the full support of the council.
  “I’d like to welcome him to the City of Maryville,” Mayor Mike Thompson said at Monday’s meeting. “He’s been getting his feet wet, hitting the ground running, all day long.”
• Maryville native Nate Rice is in the middle of a five-month job assignment at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. As if it wasn’t cold enough there, Nate is working in a freezer storage unit for Raytheon, which provides food and supplies to scientific expeditions. …
  McMURDO STATION, Antarctica — One thing that makes Antarctica so dangerous is the weather. It’s a desert because it only rains (or rather snows) about two inches a year. We are used to thinking of a desert as hot, where if you sweat it cools you down and you’re fine.
  When you work up a sweat in Antarctica it could possibly kill you.
  You have to always keep your core body temperature steady. If you get too hot you’ll sweat, and the sweat will cool you down to where you won’t be able to warm yourself back up. This is called hypothermia.

5 years ago

• After several years of trying, the Maryville R-II School District has secured a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to design an auxiliary gymnasium at Maryville High School.
  The facility is to double as an emergency shelter in times of severe weather or other calamity.
  According to Superintendent Becky Albrecht, FEMA has only officially approved the design phase of the project. FEMA has committed $149,347, and the district will be responsible for a 25 percent match at just over than $49,000.
  Once the architects devise a plan and submit it, FEMA will have to decide whether or not the total grant amount will be approved for the construction phase.
  “Technically, we’re just designing, but we hope to design very soon,” Albrecht said. The total award is about $1 million, and the district will match it with $383,056.
  “We’re very excited about that.”
  When functioning as a shelter, the gym will accommodate approximately 1,000 people. It is to be located behind the high school south of the performing arts center, which is currently under construction.
• The City of Maryville will soon be officially out of the solid waste business — sort of.
  On Monday night in a rare 3-2 split vote, the five-member council accepted a bid submitted by the Maryville Trash Cooperative, which beginning late this summer will begin operating the municipal solid waste transfer station east of town.
  Mayor Renee Riedel and Council Member Rachael Martin voted against accepting the bid.
  “Yes” votes included council members Tim Shipley, Jason McDowell, and Jerry Riggs.
  The co-op consists of three local haulers serving residential and commercial customers: Klosek’s Trash Service, Mozingo Sanitation, and Gaskill & Son Trash Service.
  The only other bidder was American Recycling & Sanitation Inc. of Rock Port.
  Once under contract, the co-op will run the station as a private business, paying the city $100 a month in rent. It will also dispose at no charge of up to 360 tons a year of municipal street sweepings, “clean fill,” and other debris generated by the city.