Forum Flashbacks: May 20-26

By Geoffrey Woehlk | May 21, 2021 |

FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO: Blast Off! – The Bandit I left only a cloud of smoke behind as it rocketed into the air next to Eugene Field Elementary Friday afternoon. (Left to right) Carole O’Riley, second grade teacher, watches as the launch team of Nicholas Martin, Stephanie Morriss and Paul Pankau each carry out their duties as ignition specialist, altitude tracker and recovery specialist. The seven launches culminated in a two-month space unit in science for O’Riley’s second grade class. The rocket launched by Bob Lewis, principal, who was a team member, hit an estimated height of one half-mile.

25 years ago

The City of Maryville received $54,000 worth of damage to its vehicle fleet, following the recent hail storm. The city has a $2,500 deductible on its insurance.
City Manager David Angerer said the city would not spend a lot of money pounding out dents on these vehicles.
“We are going to make repairs to make vehicles operable,” Angerer said, meaning things such as headlights and windshields.
Angerer said the city would take the extra insurance money and place it in the bank to replace vehicles when their useful life is over.

15 years ago

No one wants to over estimate what a pandemic might do, or when one might occur, but officials at Northwest Missouri State University are making sure they will be prepared to meet such a crisis.
Pandemics do occur every so often in the human population, said Gerald Wilmes, director of Northwest’s student health services. The most deadly was in 1918-19 when millions of people died from an influenza that spread around the world in the space of months. That episode killed more people than World War I, which was being fought in Europe at the same time. And, as with most pandemics, it finally wore itself out. A vaccine was never developed to stop it.
Wilmes said the university has long had an emergency operations plan that includes preparedness for disease outbreaks. But a campus committee was recognized last fall for planning for a pandemic. In part, the effort is a way of regularly updating the existing plan. The group’s planning is focused on a possible pandemic and is in concert with recommendations of national and international health organizations, which have identified the Avian Flu as a possible source of a worldwide pandemic.
The owner of a pit bull killed his raging animal Sunday while trying to subdue it.
Keith Wood, the director of Maryville Public Safety, said the incident happened on North Main Street shortly before noon, when the pit bull attacked another, smaller dog.
“The pit bull was running loose while the owner was washing his car,” Wood said. “The smaller dog the pit bull attacked was being walked by its owner on a leash.”
Wood said officers arrived on the scene and attempted to gain control of the pit bull with use of their batons. One officer was able to get his baton in the pit bull’s mouth and get the smaller dog removed. …
Wood said the owner tried to control the animal’s attack by subduing it through loss of consciousness. The animal passed out for a short time, then came to and began attacking again.
“He lifted the pit bull to the point of it losing consciousness,” Wood said. “At that time, the pit bull expired.”
He said the smaller dog was sent to the care of a veterinarian but that he didn’t know its status Monday. The owner of the pit bull has been cited for having an animal at-large.
“We felt fortunate that there wasn’t a person hurt any more than they were,” he said, adding that the officer received some scrapes in the incident. “Fortunately, they were able to keep it from biting anybody.”

5 years ago

Nodaway County Economic Development and Logan Walker, CEO of L&L Holdings in St. Joseph, announced Wednesday that L&L has purchased the former Energizer Battery manufacturing facility on the east edge of Maryville.
According to an NCED release, L&L Holdings owns and operates Midwest Warehousing, which operates several facilities in St. Joseph and plans to use the half-million-square-foot plant to “accommodate various light manufacturing industries” and “provide warehouse space and storage facilities to both new and existing customers.”
“We also believe there is the opportunity to provide leased office space to customers who may be looking for a location,” Walker was quoted as saying.
The exact purchase price of the facility was not immediately disclosed.
“I am honored to welcome Logan Walker and L&L Holdings to the Maryville business community,” said NCED Executive Director Josh McKim in a prepared statement. “Mr. Walker is dedicated to the productive re-use of the former Energizer facility and has vast experience working with multi-tenant industrial/warehousing facilities in the St. Joseph area. NCED is proud to partner with Mr. Walker and L&L Holdings in its efforts to rejuvenate the former Energizer facility.”
The two lawmakers representing Nodaway County in the Missouri General Assembly addressed a small gathering of local leaders and businesspeople on Thursday during the annual post-session Legislative Coffee hosted by the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce.
Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, who represents the 12th Senate District, and Rep. Allen Andrews, R-Grant City, who represents the 1st District in the House of Representatives, spoke and answered questions for about 40 minutes on a range of issues, including transportation spending, education, and 911 funding. …
Again in 2016, the General Assembly failed to come up with a way to significantly increase funding for the state’s highway system, rejecting a proposal to add about 2 cents per gallon per year to Missouri’s motor fuels sales tax over the next three years.
The measure would have raised the fuels tax from 17.3 cents to 23.3 cents a gallon in 2018 and tied future increases to the inflation rate.
Hegeman said he opposed the measure because it was designed to gradually bump up the tax rate while staying below the cap set by Missouri’s Hancock Amendment, which limits state revenues and expenses to a percentage of personal income.
Hegeman said he understands that the state’s roads and bridges need help, but insisted that the Legislature should not impose a major tax increase without voter approval, even if the hike falls within the Hancock restrictions.