Forum Flashbacks: April 8-14

FORUM FILE PHOTO
Stupefying Jones, played by Gretchen Townsend, is presented as Dogpatch’s secret weapon to show the government the town really is necessary. Stupefying Jones was one of the town’s last ditch efforts to save it from becoming a bomb test site. “Lil’ Abner” presented by MHS, will be performed for the public.

25 years ago

• The City of Maryville will be turning over one of its duties to the private sector. In an era of downsizing government, this is more commonly known as privatization.
  The Maryville City Council unanimously approved a contract between the City of Maryville and the New Nodaway Humane Society of Maryville for acting as animal control officers and running the Nodaway Animal Shelter.
  City Manager David Angerer said privatizing animal control will not cost the city any more than it is currently paying. He said the contract was for the exact amount budgeted for animal control in the current budget.
  Four members of the Humane Society were on hand for the Council meeting Monday.
  “We are anxious to take over the shelter,” Martha Johnson, pas president of the society, told the Council. “The Humane Society will run the shelter with its heart rather than the time period.”

15 years ago

• The issue is sensitive, and everyone in the room at the Conception Abbey knew it.
  The special committee looking into the Nodaway County health ordinance on large livestock operations meets, all sides come out. The ordinance — which was established last month by the Nodaway County Health Board in reaction to proposed Confined Animal Feeding Operations — has been a hot topic since its inception.
  “Six months ago, we all got along, and we didn’t even know we had a health board,” said Jeff Cordell, one of four members on the task force that is for the ordinance — the other four members of the committee oppose the ordinance.
  Much of the discussion Tuesday evening centered around answers to questions the task force needs from the health board. The eight-member committee will develop a list of questions that will be passed along to the health board. The task force indicated the answers will need to be in place if it is to continue working toward a compromise on the health ordinance.
  “We know you’ve got a difficult task in front of you,” Presiding County Commissioner Lester Keith said. “We want a compromise that would be suitable to keep Nodaway County as an agriculture county.”
• JEFFERSON CITY (AP) — The Senate passed legislation Thursday allowing for creation of a statewide “virtual school,” which would allow students to take courses over the Internet.
  The bill by Sen. Jack Goodman would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish a virtual school by July 2007.
  Students could either attend the virtual school exclusively or use it to take classes beyond the traditional ones in their school building.
  Supporters believe the school could help a variety of students, including those who are expelled, home schooled, disabled or so bright they need tougher courses.

5 years ago

• Efforts to secure Community Development Block Grant funding for construction of a new 15,800-square foot preschool and childcare center at SSM Health St. Francis Hospital moved forward Friday during a meeting that included representatives from St. Francis, the City of Maryville, the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments, St. Louis-based SSM Health, and Nodaway County.
  Regional Council Executive Director Jackie Spainhower said her agency is working to “package” the grant application, which, if successful, could provide up to $1 million dollars for construction of the center. Total cost of the facility is estimated at $3.2 million.
  St. Francis Foundation development officer Megan Jennings said SSM Health St. Francis plans to make up the difference through additional grants, private donations, and capital expenditures by the hospital itself.
  Jennings said the new facility would double the capacity of the hospital’s current daycare center, which can serve up to 67 children ages zero to 5.
  If financing is secured, Jennings said construction could begin as early as 2017.
  In addition to CDBG funds, St. Francis is also seeking to acquire approval for the sale of up to $250,000 in Neighborhood Assistance Program tax credits, which like community development grants are issued through the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
• The throaty roar of V-twin engines filled the street outside the Bram-Danfelt Funeral Home in Maryville over the noon hour on Thursday as more than 20 black-clad motorcyclists rode in a solemn procession, not-so-silently paying tribute to one of their own.
  Zachery Eugene Armentrout, who died Saturday at age 29 when his transplanted heart failed after 14 years, was a dedicated motorsports enthusiast and motorcycle rider who spent much of his brief life relishing the feel of the open road with the wind in his face and the miles flowing like a river beneath his wheels.
  And so, after the funeral, his friends — some of them still wiping away tears — turned their bikes into the sharp northwest wind and escorted Armentrout on his last ride, following a big Cadillac hearse from Maryville to the Home Cemetery in Tarkio.
  It was a gesture Armentrout would have appreciated, said his brother Chad Sillers, who led the line of riders astride Zachery’s gleaming Harley-Davidson.
  “He enjoyed the outdoors,” Sillers said, “and he loved anything that went fast and got loud. So we thought we would make a little racket today.”