50 years ago
March 14, 1973
— The often burglarized Harris-Howell Clinic at Purdy was the scene of a brief shoot-out and arrest of a Kansas man at 3 a.m. Monday morning. Sheriff Vernon Still said the man is being held in connection with burglary of a quantity of drugs which were in his possession. The owners of the clinic, Dr. Noland Harris and Dr. Kermit Howell, apprehended John D. Kralik, 24, of Arkansas City, Kansas, while in the pharmacy of the building. There were a number of pistol and shotgun shots fired, all of which hit the ceiling and door of the building. Sheriff Still said none of the shots hit any persons involved. The doctors after discovering the break-in, phoned dispatchers at the Barry County Sheriff’s office, with the first response made by Cassville city patrolman Danny Spyres. Spyres and Sheriff Still who arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, took custody of the man and brought him to the jail.
— After 1,896 days as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, Commander Edward Estes, USN, a native of Purdy is on his way home this evening as part of the third release of U. S. prisoners from the former enemy. He is due back in this country early next week if patterns of previous releases are followed. Cdr. Estes, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Estes of Purdy, Has been a prisoner since his aircraft was downed January 4, 1968. He was one of those prisoners permitted to write letters home and had been previously confirmed as a POW to his family.
— The old Star rural school down Flat Creek from Cassville in the McDowell community, is destined for moving to the School of the Ozarks where it will be restored for use in pre-school education and as a historical item. Owner of the property. Professor Don Sater of SMSU in Springfield, has donated the building to S. of O. Sater is a Cassville native who teaches administrative education.
— The Purdy school district has received an anonymous gift of $25,000 to be used in a building program according to Superintendent Dalton Ham. The donor specified that the gift be used in conjunction with a $173,000 bond issue recently passed in the district to provide more classrooms and a physical education facility. Specifically the funds are to be used to brick veneer the building and provide furnishings.
— Three senior members of this years CHS Wildcat basketball squad of Coach J. C. Duncan have been accorded district and conference honors. Cited for their performances on ballots from coaches throughout the district were Mike Carman, Larry Hawkins and Tony Leach. Carman racked up the biggest share of the honors, being named as honorable mention All-Ozark by the Springfield newspapers; All-District by the Joplin Globe and to the first five Big 10 Conference all-stars by loop officials. He is a repeater as a conference choice. The 6’6° center was leading scorer for the Wildcats this past year with 394 points in 24 games. He also averaged 12 rebounds a game. Hawkins, a 6’3” forward, was tapped by the Joplin newspaper for honorable mention re-cognition. He was named to the second team All-Stars in the Big 10. He scored 293 points in 23 games, was second high in rebounds, averaging 10.9 a game and led regulars in free throw percentages hitting 48 of 66 attempts. Leach, a 5’11’ guard, got an honorable mention nod from the Joplin publication. He topped assist statistics for the Wildcats with 82 in 24 games. His point output was 9.1 per game and also hit 60% of his charity tosses.
— Weather this time of the year can always make news and it has in the Barry County Oz-arks. Unusually heavy rains have area streams running full blast and Table Rock Lake is nearing its all-time high levels. Measurements at the dam Wednesday morning placed the reservoir at elevation 919.25 which is just under five feet above the top of the power pool. Slight wind damage was reported throughout the area with major storms thus far staying south of this immediate vicinity. Rainfall measurements at the U. S. Forest Service in Cassville show 4.77 inches thus far in March. Recent rains of Saturday produced 1.95 inches with .16 of an inch falling Tuesday night. Mrs. Charlotte Vinson of the Cassville District station of Mark Twain National Forest said to date for 1973 the area had received 10.95 inches, can unusually high amount for this early in the season.” In 1966 at this time of the year this area had received 11 inches of rainfall. March in 1968 had 6.20 inches and previous to that the high was 10 years previous.
40 years ago
March 9, 1983
— Cassville city government is going after approximately $1,100,000 in government grants in an effort to make a number of improvements. Mayor Bill LeCompte was authorized Tuesday night to make the requests. Major of the requests is a request for $810,000 from Housing and Urban Development for industrial park and industry assistance funds. The application comes on the heels of Alvey Inc.’s plans to locate a manufacturing plant here. Next largest fund is a community development effort for housing rehabilitation, water line extension and other programs. In the amount of $300,000, this fund could assist low- and medium-income families make improvements. The city last year completed a rehabilitation program which was termed highly successful. Third request is to the State of Missouri for assistance in outdoor recreation facilities. This is a 50-50 share program seeking $100,000 for park, playground and recreation improvements. George Ulmer of Miller-Newell and Associates will coordinate the city requests.
— Cassville Manor, Inc., a Springfield based corporation, has made preliminary application to the Barry County Industrial Development Authority to construct a 90-bed facility here. Francis BerVier, president, said the $1,646,906 project would be financed by an industrial revenue bond issue. Proposals for the skilled’ nursing care facility are covered in a certificate of need approved by the Missouri Health Planning and Development Agency, included in BeVier’s presentation to the authority. Cherry Warren, IDA president, said Tuesday’s session with members of the board were preliminary in nature to provide information. Resident And related facilities would be located in a single story brick veneer building, consisting of approximately 26,050 square feet. BeVier’s information said all improvements will be constructed at one time as a single stage.
— Cassville volunteer firemen answered a pair of fireplace flue fires this week. The burnouts, apparently resulted in a rekindling of the heat sources in a dipping of temperatures. The calls came from the homes of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Cardin in Chinquipin Woods and Mr. and Mrs. Steve Buchheit at Hilltop. There was no damage at either residence.
— It was nearly like a new opening at Roaring River State Park over the past weekend. Trout tags sold during the twoday period were 987 on Saturday and 888 on Sunday. Good weather had park accommodations full for the first weekend of the season. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Nickols and Mrs. Carolyn Marrs, concessionaires respectively for accommodation and restaurant, say early season bookings indicate a good season.
— Travel on Missouri’s state highway system in 1982 was seven-tenths of a percent (186 million miles) higher than 1981 with only January and February showing decreases compared with the same months the previous year. Highway and Transportation Department Chief Engineer Robert N. Hunter said travel in 1982 was 25.5 billion miles while the figure for 1981 was 25.3 billion. Hunter noted, however, that the state’s share of Missouri’s seven-cent per gallon motor fuel tax revenue in 1982 was more than $4 million lower than 1981. Motor fuel use and travel figures formerly rose and fell at approximately the same rate. Hunter added that the travel increase can probably be attributed to declining fuel prices, successful conservation efforts by Missouri drivers, and unseasonably mild weather in the last few months of 1982. Travel increased 216 million miles on the Interstate system and 42 million miles on the supplementary system. Travel on the primary system decreased 71 million miles. The highest travel month in 1982 was July at 2.4 billion miles, while January was the lowest at 1.7 billion miles.
— Funds are now available for Barry County landowners on a cost-share basis for erosion control through the Soil and Water Conservation District. Marvin Grandy, soil conservationist said $13,602 for the program had been allotted to the county. Service personnel were in Springfield recently for a spring meeting to cover aspects of the program. Landowners desiring additional information should contact the SCS office in Cassville. Concerns of the meeting covered erosion of soils and what programs, such as cost-share, are available to assist area farm operations. Don Wolf of the state office provided this information to the meeting.
— One of the nation’s oldest manufacturers of conveyers and systems in the United States, Alvey Inc. Of St. Louis, will build a plant in Cassville. Announcement of the firm’s decision to locate here came from company president, Steve Lob in a luncheon Tuesday at Roaring River State Park. Lob told representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Development Corp. and government agencies the firm would begin immediately in constructing a 75,000 square foot plant in Cassville. Eventual employment here would be 100 persons. The firm will fabricate and assemble conveyors for customers throughout the world. The project will consist of an expenditure of $2 million. Alvey, established in 1911, is considered one of the leading International manufacturers of conveyor systems. Following the luncheon, Alvey and local officials broke ground for the new plant on 18 acres in the southeast part of Cassville which is being provided by the IDC.
30 years ago
March 3, 1993
— Franchise operations continue in the spotlight in Cassville as a major company opens a 46-unit motel next Monday and a Springfield developer makes contacts to purchase a site for a fast food operation that is targeted to open in mid-spring. Super 8 Motel, developed by Continental Management, Inc. of Aberdeen, S.D., is on schedule to open next Monday according to officials. Jon Bortz, president, heads the organization building the facility at the four-way stop area west of Cassville. Marion Halbersma, supervisor of construction said the facility will be open at the designated date as final sewer line constructions across Highway 37 are completed. Angela Hilburn, a native of Exeter, has been named manager. Graduate SMSU in Springfield, she majored in hotel, Motel, restaurant management. Starting in December last year, Super 8 is located on the former Trix Smith residence adjacent to the Stephens 4-way.
— Despite repeated bad weather predictions and the trout season falling on Monday, Roaring River State Park posted a record March 1. Monday’s opening was a record for that time of the week as 2066 tags were sold, according to concessionaire Jack Nickols. A 34 degree temperature reading was reported by superintendent Pete Landstad with a warmup to 46 degrees by noon. While it was raining in Cassville at 5 a.m., not a drop fell in the park during the predawn or opening hours. Missouri secretary of state Judi Moriarty posted a couple of firsts for the annual event. She was the first woman state official to open the season in a tradition started in the 1960s by former secretary of state James C. Kirkpatrick. She was also the first opening gun official that emptied the six-shot revolver handed her by conservation agent Charles Marrs.
— April Welch was elected Future Homemakers of America Region 11 state vice-president for the 1993-1994 school year. She gave up her Region 11 presidency February 3 to accept the position. Miss Welch will attend the Missouri FHA Leadership meeting in June, where she has the opportunity to run for state president. She is a junior at Exeter high school and is the granddaughter of Sheldon and Barbarline Dudley. Other Exeter FHA members attending the Regional Elections Were Kerry Senters and advisor, Shelly Rozean.
— Cassville R-IV school district is planning for our children’s future by proposing a $4.3 million bond issue to build a new high school. The high school will be located on a recently purchased 40-acre site just two blocks north of the present campus. Approximately 90,000 square feet with 40 classrooms. A serving kitchen with a cafeteria that seats 375 students. A physical education facility with seating on one side for 750 people.
— Season ending games for the Cassville Wildcat basketball games were postponed until roads cleared Saturday, but the rest might have been a good thing as both squads completed regular season play on winning notes. The Wildcats pulled a come-from-behind victory 80-64 from the Reeds Spring Wolves before a howling home crowd while the lady Cats were at Aurora pounding out a 55-49 Big Eight conference win. Coach Ron Cowan’s lady Wildcats finished the regular season at 17-6 and 5-2 in the conference, good for a second place standing. Coach Chris Trimmer’s Wildcats ended scheduled games at 8-13 and 4-3 in the loop.
— Lynn Henderson of rural Cassville will have her day care youngsters participating in a Muscular Dystrophy fund raiser March 12. The youngsters will have a hop-a-thon with sponsors providing funds for the drive.
— J. O. Buxton, maintenance area supervisor and Glenn Banks maintenance crew leader at Longview, have been recognized for 32- and 26-years, respectively, of service under safety conditions for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department. They received the recognition for not missing a day of work due to an on-thejob injury.
— Barry County rural fire department, serving the Cassville area going into the 34th year, could do so with the same directors and officers that exist since only two people showed for an annual meeting scheduled last month. The session was scheduled February 19 at the Community Center, but board vice chairman Nolan McNeill and secretary- treasurer Barbara McNeill were the only persons that showed. None of the seven directors or 614 members of the district service were available to conduct the meeting required by the annual meeting. Mrs. McNeill said the district would probably look at the possibility of calling another meeting or permitting officers to continue until 1994.
