50 years ago

Oct. 30, 1974

— BARRY ELECTRIC MAKES $42,000 BUILDING PLAN

Barry Electric Cooperative of Cassville will begin as soon as possible on a building program to enlarge vehicle and general storage facilities. Joe Preddy, co-op manager said the board of directors had approved land purchase and contracts on the project costing an estimated $42,000. Included in the project was the purchase of two lots from Mrs. Maxine Ferguson at Second and West Streets for $12,000. A duplex building on the site is being moved from the location. Preddy said the acquisition of property joining the existing cooperative headquarters measures approximately 105 x 105 feet. Planned for the location is a 50 x 90 foot steel pre-fab building, expected to cost $30,000. Space for parking will be allotted to the project. Preddy said it was hopeful concrete work on the structure can be started almost immediately. Present vehicle storage in the building could be used at a later date by the co-op for office and other facility expansions. Barry Electric also has a warehouse building on the east end of Eighth street here. The cooperative, established in 1947, moved to the present location from the public square here in 1948. A major feature of the additional space will go to carry additional inventories of supplies that are required by present-day market sources. Preddy said the cooperative could no longer rely on prompt shipment of needed supplies to keep the area’s electrical system in top operation order. Stockpiles of materials are required to insure they are on hand when needed. Preddy said cooperative officials were hopeful the expansion would be underway prior to the arrival of severe winter weather. The metal building will be installed by the prime contractor.

— PROPOSE TRAFFIC SIGNALS AT MAIN ST. INTERSECTION

Establishing a new traffic pattern at the multi-highway intersection in the south part of Cassville’s business district was proposed by the Missouri Highway Department in a meeting here Thursday. Wilbur Stegner, district highway engineer met with city government and Chamber of Commerce officials in review of preliminary plans. With Stegner here for the meeting was Don Hole, district traffic studies engineer. The highway officials told city and civic personnel that the Highway 112, 248, 76, 86 and, Business Route 37 junction between Fourth and Fifth Streets in Cassville carried a 12 hour traffic count of 7,480 automobiles. The same traffic center had 905 vehicles in a one hour noon time period. For this reason the department has proposed signalizing the intersection and elimination of the pie-intersection that has been utilized for several years. Stegner also told Mayor Bill LeCompte and members of the C of C roads and highway committee that curbing of the highways and traffic islands would be proposed to channel vehicles into traffic lanes for easier access through the intersection. To more easily handle present congested traffic and anticipated increases with FASCO Industries location here, a proposal to eliminate parking on the west side of Main between Sixth and Fifth to permit traffic storage areas on Main was suggested by the state plan. A similar proposal of redesign, curbing and traffic islands was also outlined for the intersection of the Sales Barn Road with Highways 248, 112, 76 and, 86. No signalization would be installed initially, but conduit for future needs would be included. Stegner and Hole noted the 12 hour count at this location was 6,076 autos with a peak noontime period of 720 counted. The highway officials told local interests no completion date could be forecast at this time. Final design and availability of funds will be determining factors. The plan was left here for submission for comment by property owners and business interests in the congested area of traffic. Stegner also noted that a grade change was in the making for an intersection with the Sales Barn Road with Highway 37 near Brown’s Ford Sales. He said this had not been designed as yet. No private property is involved at any of the locations. Hole said he was certain the proposed work could be accomplished on existing highway right of way. At the main intersection, Stegner said future planning would include installing equipment that would create magnetic fields at the intersection to detect autos approaching and handle late evening traffic in the area. The plan is proposed to handle present and future traffic problems in the area. FASCO’s arrival as an addition to the manufacturing family in Cassville will mean eventually 500 persons using the highway area at some time of the day. This, combined with existing traffic problems, brought on the local request for redesign of the intersection. Representing Cassville in the session in addition to Mayor LeCompte were: Truman Baker and Carter Koon, co-chairmen of the highway committee, with members Wayne Krepps and Tom Cardin, with C of C president Bob Mitchell and secretary Bill Ward.

40 years ago

Oct. 31, 1984

— EMERGENCY TEST EXERCISE SET NOVEMBER 11

During the last winter storm that came through Barry County in February, it became apparent that the communication system in our county was not adequate to cope with such a major emergency, says Gene Page, director emergency management. Due to the power failure experienced, the telephone system was out, radio Communication was out in some areas, and travel was at a complete standstill unless four-wheel drive vehicles were available. In order to ascertain just what can be done to cope with such an emergency in case we experience another such outage of power, the HAM Radio operators in the Barry County area, in conjunction with the Barry County Emergency Management Agency is going to conduct a communication test on November 11 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cassville Community building. The Emergency Operating Center will be there with the Barry County Court, Presiding Judge, Lloyd Dilbeck, Southern Judge, Lige Frost, and Northern Judge, Vedes Davis, as officials in charge. The HAM (ARES) (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) will have operators to handle communications. There will not be simulated injured people, nor runs of ambulances, nor emergency rooms in hospitals in operation. Only communication capabilities will be tested at all of the following sites: Barry County Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Sheriff’s department, Cassville police department, Cassville Area Ambulance Service, Barry-Lawrence Ambulance, Cassville volunteer fire department, Monett fire department, Monett police department, Cassville city hall, Monett city hall, Cassville Emergency Preparedness, Monett Emergency Preparedness, and Barry County Emergency Management. A representative from the ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) unit will be at each of the above sites to assist in handling incoming and out-going messages. Each organization’s cooperation is requested. The news media will be notified that the test and exercise will be conducted so that the public will not be overly alarmed if they are monitoring the ARES frequency. So that each organization will know what the subject of the test will be, the scenario will be a major earthquake with damage being sustained in Barry County, says Page. The main objectives of the Test will be: To test the above network by feeding messages to the locations with a corresponding response. To identify “dead” spots at the locations and within the county itself. To identify communication strengths and weakness within Barry County Emergency Management Organizations. To test and exercise the “Emergency Operations Center” Communication and Coordination functions for participating agencies to a simulated disaster. To test the communication link to adjacent counties/jurisdictions and to communicate to a higher authority ie., to the EOC in Jefferson City (State Emergency Management) requesting additional assistance. In summary, the test and exercise is to evaluate what can be done to improve the communication capabilities in Barry County.

— MILLER CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

Mrs. Ruby Miller of Cassville will complete nearly 25 years with the Barry County Division of Family Services this Wednesday. Mrs. Miller, who is income maintenance supervisor with the local office, actually has completed 24 years and eight months with the state agency. William Moseley, county director, said a reception will be held in her honor with a number of area office people attending.

30 years ago

Oct. 19, 1994

— CASSVILLE AG-ED PROGRAM RECEIVES $12,000 DONATION MONEY WILL ALLOW CHS TO BUILD GREENHOUSE, EXPAND CURRICULUM

Cassville schools will experience “the greenhouse effect”, following a donation to the school’s agricultural education program. Ball and Prier of Golden and Kumbo Tire Co, joined together to present Caseville FFA officers with a check for nearly $12,000 to be used by the district to purchase a greenhouse. The greenhouse, which will be located on the new high school campus, will be 22 by 24 foot structure with eight foot walls and a curved, pitched roof. The greenhouse interior will contain advanced environmental control systems to be used for the study of horticulture, Richard Asbill, Cassville ag-ed teacher, said the purpose of the greenhouse project was to expand and supplement the school’s horticulture curriculum. Asbill, who joined the CHS faculty this year, said use of the greenhouse would be multi-dimensional and give students hands-on experience. “Plant science classes could use the facility to study different crops,” said Asbill, “Marketing and economics classes could potentially sell what is produced and gain practical experience in the areas of production and management.” У Asbill said the $12,000 donation will purchase the greenhouse in its entirety, An additional $3,000 is still needed for foundation work. Asbill is working with the Cassville Adults for Agriculture organization to procure the needed funding. Construction bids are being solicited. The greenhouse is part of Asbill’s plan to expand Cassville’s agricultural education program. Asbill added that he is working on an aqua-culture project that would supplement use of the greenhouse by using waste water from fish to fertilize the plants in the green-house. Currently, Cassville’s ag-ed program involves 120 students at the high school level. The district offers classes in agricultural eco-nomics, agricultural science, construction and horticulture. High school principal Ron Richardson is also pleased with the recent donation. “We’re very grateful that we have interested patrons who have the resources to make valuable financial contributions to the betterment of our educational curriculum,” Richardson said.

— HABITAT FOR HUMANITY ORGANIZES IN AREA

The newly affiliated Barry-Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity, headquartered in Aurora, will sponsor a benefit chili supper before the Cassville-Aurora football game on October 21. The supper will be served in the Aurora high school cafeteria beginning at 5:30 p.m. Meal cost will include chili, dessert and drink. The newly organized group wants to set up satellite committees in any interested communities in the two-county area. A letter will be sent to all churches and civic clubs in Barry and Lawrence counties.

— TROJAN YEARBOOK WILL FEATURE HISTORIC PHOTOS

Patrons and alumni of Southwest R-V schools are being asked by the Trojan yearbook staff to aid in the publication of a special edition 1995 yearbook. The purpose of the special edition will be to commemorate the history of the school and its unique relationship with families, businesses, and community. In the yearbook, the staff hopes to include not only current students and special events, but also a pictorial history of the school and community. Using the school’s photography department, the staff will photocopy old photographs, documents, and newspaper articles about the school and will reproduce them on special pages throughout the yearbook. The yearbook staff is searching for old photographs of schools, which have been in the region, and old pictures of businesses in the Washburn-Seligman area. Pictures of school groups, teams, clubs, teachers and pictures of family, church and civic groups will also be collected. Persons who have pictures, newspaper articles or other memorabilia of this type are asked to contact Trojan yearbook sponsor John Harp at Southwest. Original photographs will be copied with no damage to your original picture. Anyone providing pictures will receive a free copy negative or picture copy for their efforts. Names of all contributors will be published in the finished yearbook.