50 years ago
July 10, 1974
—TROOP 76 SCOUTS AT CAMP ARROWHEAD EVENT
Seventeen members of Boy Scout Troop 76 of Cassville, including nine first-timers will be at Camp Arrowhead near Marshfield July 14-20, according to Scoutmaster Charles Vaughan. The weeklong activity will include training and completion of various scout skill programs. Included in the group as first timers are: Roger Malarkey, Kevin Morris, Mike Lowe, Stanley Beeson, Bobby Rhodes, John Wilson, Whitney Norton, Kerry Th-ompson, Brent Amos. Two or more year campers in the group include: Steve Vaugh-an, Mike Woods, Randy Norton, Ricky Jagger, Danny Priest, Matt Harmsworth, Jay and Jon Edmondson. Parents night is Thursday night according to Vaughan. Activities at the camp will include four members from Troop 76 being tapped-out for Order of the Arrow recognition at camp.
— FESCUE CAPITAL PROGRAM SET FOR JULY 19 FESTIVAL
The program Friday, July 19 designating Cassville as the Fescue Capital of the United States has been formulated by the sponsoring Chamber of Commerce agriculture committee. In addition, co-sponsors including nine area business firms, were announced by Cherry Warren, chairman. Cassville’s claim to the title is one of the major programs of the C of C this year, originally announced by Bob Mitchell, president, during the Soils and Crops conference last winter. Object of the event is to give the emphasis to agriculture and this particular crop. Warren said this week sponsors of the event would include First National Bank, Barry County Bank, Brown’s Ford Sales, Bank of Selig- man, Pennington Grain and Seed, Blalack-Koon Chevrolet, Bank of Exeter, Ozark Production Credit Association, Hailey Tractor and Implement, Cassville Farmers Exchange and J. C. Kenney Motors. Scheduled at Memorial Park, the event will begin with a beef barbecue and corn boil service from 6 to 8 p.m. A 1,300-pound steer and sweet corn will be prepared to serve approximately 600 persons Sponsoring organizations have tickets that will be distributed to fescue growers, custom harvesters and agribusiness interests. Committees assigned to cover various aspects of the session include: Burl Hess and Dr. Eugene Miekley, barbecue, L. D. Brown and Warren, corn boil and Ken Morris, area farm management agent, the program. The program is scheduled to last from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Warren will welcome guests on behalf of the C of C. The invocation will be given by John Hubbard, area agronomist at Stockton and onetime county agent here. Master-of-ceremonies will be Cordell Tindell of the Missouri Ruralist. Richard Prewitt, area agronomy specialist, will cover fescue and its dollar value to Barry County. Brooks Pennington of the Madison, Ga. firm which several buying stations in this area, will cover the market outlook for present and future seed crops. Morris is scheduled present certificates to longtime growers of fescue, especially those who pioneered the threeway crop in this area and established its importance to the area. Principal speaker will be Dr. Hal Wheaton, stage agronomist for the University of Missouri extension division. Morris noted this week fescue has made a tremendous impact upon Barry County’s economy. The three-way feature of the crop includes grazing, seed harvest and haying. Seed alone will bring approximately $1 million to growers and harvesters this year. This area produces about six percent of Missouri’s total 133 million pounds. The Show-Me State’s production of fescue seed is the highest in the nation. One purpose of the program is to encourage better per acre harvest ratios. Missouri’s average is about 300 pounds per acre in the seed area. Some states have up to 700 pounds per acre in harvest reports. Full membership of the agriculture committee, in addition to Warren includes: Burl Hess, L. D. Brown, Duane Blankenship, Mike Keen, Dr. Eugene Miekley, Ken Morris and Lonnie Duckworth.
40 years ago
July 11, 1984
— DR. NEWMAN TO END 45 YEAR PRACTICE HERE
A Cassville physician, who has been in Cassville 45 years, will end her practice July 20. Dr. Mary Newman had previously announced to patients intentions to end medical practice here. Dr. Newman, a native of Barry County, graduated from the University of Arkansas school of medicine in 1937. She practiced in Eureka Springs, Ark. one year before moving to Cassville. She was here one year before she married the late Dr. George Newman in 1940. Plans for Dr. Newman include travel and consulting in Missouri and Arkansas as her health permits. She has been suffering from back problems for the past several years. Plans also include remaining on the courtesy staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Monett.
— NURSING HOME OPENING TARGET FOR SEPTEMBER 1
Cassville’s new 90-bed nursing center, to be operated under the name Red Rose Inn, has a prospective opening date of September 1. Officials of Care Inc., of Rogers, Ark., who will operate the facility, set the date this week. Jane McKay of the Rogers office said the firm would begin immediately accepting applications for residents of the 24-hour skilled nursing care facility. Ms. McKay said Care Inc. had leased Red Rose Inn from the owners, Medical Holdings, Inc. of Ft. Worth, Texas. The Texas corporation built the new nursing center here under agreements with the Barry County Industrial Development Authority and Barry County Court. Contractors, Griffin Construction of Ft. Smith, Ark., say they will have the facility finished by the first of August. Furnishing and equipping the 26,000 square foot will begin immediately thereafter. Care Inc. also announced this week the employment of Kaye Learned, RN, of rural Washburn to head nursing services here. Also employed is Jane Prier of Eagle Rock to head the bookkeeping department. Red Rose Inn will employ about 40 persons as resident numbers increase. Ms. McKay said application forms could be secured in this area from the Cassville Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. Ella Frost, secretary, said the C of C would function as local contact until the firm locates at the nursing care center. Johnny W. Krouse, an associate of Care Inc., will administer the Cassville facility. Initially, Krouse will alternate between Rogers and Cassville. Constructed on a 14-acre site purchased from South Barry County Hospital District on Old Exeter Road here, Red Rose Inn was built with a $2 million revenue bond issue through the county IDA.
30 years ago
June 29, 1994
— FESCUE SEED 25 CENTS IN LIGHT CROP
Prices for fescue seed went to one of the highest levels in several years at noon Tuesday, posted at 23 cents for wet and 25 cents for dry seed. And, under extreme heat conditions, buyers were reporting very little, even damp seed Todd Vandergrift of Pennington Seed at Washburn said the market increase was seven cents above the 18-cent level throughout a bumper season in 1993. “The price opened at 18 cents last year and stayed there throughout the season,” he noted. Vandergrift and John Marney of Barry County Co-op were estimating the crop at somewhere between one-half of last year and about average for the county. Some grower and harvester storage of seed was being noted by the receiving stations. The price increase at buying stations was about the same as two years ago when seed crops were attack by army worms and early spring cold temperatures reducing the amount of seed. Some normal seed growers might have guessed wrong on the price and crop this year as they looked back to the harvest last year and pricing that remained low throughout the season. Considerable of the Kentucky 31 fescue grown in the county this year was baled for hay this year. Agriculture officials were estimating at pre-season the fescue seed in Barry County would be better than counties to the north growing area. Stations estimate the combining of swaths will continue into the middle of next week at which time the harvest will be completed.
— SQUIRREL ON LINE CAUSES OUTAGE
Just over one thousand power users of Barry Electric Cooperative were out of service for about an hour Monday morning when a squirrel on a line near the southeast edge of Cassville caused a burned main service line. Bill Shiveley, coop manager, said 1,045 services were affected by the outage. Shiveley said the burned squirrel was found near the scene across from the south edge of the American Legion Grounds. A passer- by noticed the flash of light when the animal hit the line. The short threw breakers at the substation between Cassville and Exeter on Highway 76-86. Cooperative crews said the report from the witness was most helpful in pinpointing the spot of line damaged. Without this information crews might have been much longer locating the point of trouble. The outage was recorded about 7:15 a.m.
