50 years ago
Jan. 22, 1975
— SW BUILDING BOND ISSUE PASSED IN 414-160 VOTE
With a substantial 72% in favor, the Southwest R-S school district of Seligman and Washburn communities passed a $58,000 building bond issue at the polls Tuesday. In a joint announcement by Jim Pitts, board of education president and Superintendent John Fite, the total vote was 414 in favor and 160 against. The vote represented about one-half of the registered voters in the district going to three polling places to decide the issue. Votes recorded at the three locations included: Washburn, 169 yes and 81 no. Seligman, 144 yes and 67 no. Roller, 42 yes and 11 against. Absentees voted, 59 yes and one no. The issue required a two-thirds majority for approval of the bond issue. No tax levy increase is involved in the project that will add two buildings to the Washburn campus. District plans are to use a prefabricated metal type construction in the two buildings. Included will be a music building which will be constructed west of the present gymnasium. A new shop building to serve the present industrial arts department and newly proposed vocational agriculture subject, will be built north of the bus garage. Included in the larger structure will be two class-rooms, two shops, rest rooms office and storage. Fite and Pitts said a bond sale to finance the improvements is scheduled February 10. The district hopes to have a bid letting for the buildings ready with final plans on February 15. The vocational agriculture department will become available in the district next year. Both Pitts and Fite said the performance of the district Tuesday was outstanding, considering some district issues in the state have been turned down by voters in recent months. Other school officials meeting following the closing of polls Tuesday included the remaining board members: Leonard Roller, Leon Paul, Ray Porter, Vern Dalton, and Dr. Donald Parkison.
— EXCISE TAX BRINGS $2 MILLION TO STATE
Missouri will receive about $2 million in federal aid for fish and wildlife restoration and hunter safety programs for fiscal 1975. A total of $70.3 million, up from $62 million in 1974, has been allocated nationwide. Missouri will receive $1,-252,294 for wildlife restoration; $136,500 for hunter safety; and $446, 889 for fish restoration. The money is derived from an 1l per cent excise tax on sporting arms and fishing tackle and 10 percent excise tax on pistols and revolvers. Distribution of fish and wildlife funds is according to a formula based on fishing and hunting license holders, and distribution of hunter safety funds is based on the relative population of each state. Funds will be managed by the Missouri Conservation department.
— FIRST SECURITY OPENS SAVINGS BRANCH HERE
A new branch office of First Security Savings Association of Carthage opened in Cassville Monday. Clayton Smith, president, said the firm, established in 1887, would have a two-member full time staff here. Manager of the office is Galen Carter, 27, a Carthage native and Missouri Southern State College graduate in business administration. Mrs. George Antle of Exeter is the secretary-teller. Savings and building loans through the firm will be handled from the office on the north side of the public square in the former Standard Mutual building in spaces leased from Mr. and Mrs. Gene Taggart. A computer terminal has been installed to handle fiscal transactions between the local branch and home offices. Carter and his family, including a 17-monthold son, will reside in Meadow. View subdivision here. Smith said plans have been underway for establishment of the branch here for several months. State and federal regulatory agency approval paved the way for office opening.
40 years ago
Jan. 23, 1985
— STATE WANTS BIDS FOR THREE PARK PROJECTS
In three separate bid requests, the State of Missouri is seeking proposals from contractors on an estimated $310,000 work at Roaring River State Park scheduled for possible start this Superintendent Boyd Holcomb said projects include renovation at Camp Smokey, repairs to the lodge and landscaping at the park restaurant and renovation, including new equipment at the park’s largest campground. Under advertisements published by the Missouri Office of Administration, bids are scheduled for opening at 1:30 p.m. on February 14, in Jefferson City. Plans and specifications are available from architect Kent Smith in Springfield. Largest of the projects at Campground One, is placed in the $160,000 price range, will include paving, new tables and grills and general renovation. This facility is located along Dry Hollow near the park maintenance buildings. Camp Smokey work, estimated to cost $100,00, will include work at four barracks buildings, roofs and installation of bathrooms. No work is scheduled in the dining-recreation building. Due to the work in progress during the season, Camp Smokey will be closed during 1985 and not available for use by groups. Work orders being issued 30 days after bid opening would mean a start two weeks after the park opens. Projects at the lodge will include a roof, stabilization of a porch overhang and minor exterior work. Landscaping is scheduled in the area of the restaurant parking lot. The projects are estimated to cost $50,000. Holcomb said work since the park closing, November 1, includes installation of a fish cleaning station near Dry Hollow, renovation and improvements to cabin facilities, improvements at the motel and general clean-up of accommodations.
— DISPUTED AND UNAPPROVED BUDGET ABOVE INCOME FIGURE
Barry County still doesn’t have a fully approved budget for 1985. County commissioners worked through Monday, with the standing figure of requests and approvals at least $87,677.96 over anticipated in-come. And that doesn’t include the budget of a major office which is in dispute, social security, insurance and bonds, plus other costs. Yet to be approved is the budget of county commission clerk Rex Stumpff, apparently disputed by commissioners Vedes Davis and Bill Chappell. Without the clerk’s budget in figures for salary purposes, social security payments, emergency fund, and other aspects of the budget cannot be completed. Commission members said attempts would be made Thursday to complete the county’s fiscal expenditure proposals. As requests and approvals now stand, expenditures would run $783,729.40 Estimated income for the county this year is placed at $566,051.44. Presiding Commissioner Lloyd Dilbeck said Tuesday indications are the budget in general revenue would exceed revenue available by at least $100,000, as he noted the majority judges had cut requests only slightly during initial approval, except for disputing Stumpff’s budget. Apparently causing problems in the one office approval are Missouri statutes involving salaries. In 1984 Stumpff’s office spent $94,228.09 in general operations and voter registration costs. Initially, his request was $10,000 lower at $84,986 which was rejected to follow statutes. A second budget, at $87,701 for the two departments, ($51,076 for general and $36,625 for voter registration) $2,715 higher than the first, was also placed on the counter as disputed. Included in the overall requests and obligations is an estimated $130,000 in reassessment costs that would be reimbursed by the State of Missouri. Even with this figure subtracted from requests, the county would spend the $87,000 figure over income available next year. Chappell said at his insurance office, he did not have county budget figures with him that would permit a comment. Dilbeck, at the court house, said the district commissioners would obviously play the major role in making budget decisions.
30 years ago
Jan. 11, 1995
— SBC HOSPITAL GRANTED PROJECT APPROVAL BY STATE
Embarking on a project that will result in the issuance of $3 million in revenue bonds, South Barry County Hospital District has received state agency approval for an extensive building project. Debbie Stubbs, administrator, said Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee giving approval in Jefferson City Monday paved the way for SBCH district to proceed with building plans. Project cost is estimated in the $2.3 million range for construction, renovation and equipment, directed mainly at emergency room expansion, clinic provisions, radiology and CT Scan equipment. An additional $690,000 will be used to retire and incorporate existing debt for past expansions through Farmer’s Home Administration. Despite previously published accounts, Mrs. Stubbs said the project costs will be retired through revenue bonds from hospital operations and will not require an addition to the district’s tax levy of eight cents per $100 valuation. The levy produced only $78,092.38 last year from the multi-township district. Stubbs, board chairman Don Cupps, financial officer Keith Daniels and an accounting firm representative appeared before the commission to present required information. Hospital plans call for 10,180 square feet of floor space being added for emergency room enlargement. The entrance and ER approach will be turned from Gravel Street to Main Street. Nearly 2,000 square feet of floor space in the existing structure will be renovated for clinical use. Land acquired in a real estate swap several months ago will permit access from Business 37 into the emergency and main entrance area of the hospital. Hospital officials expect the project will begin this summer, with final plan drawing and full financial arrangements to begin since state approval is in hand. State agency approval was also forthcoming for addition of state-of-the-art equipment to “enhance our outpatient and emergency services in Cassville,” the administrator noted. Included will be an in-house CT Scanner permitting this work at SBC Hospital without referral to other hospitals or use of portable equipment. In addition to chairman Cupps, hospital plan development will be reviewed by an elected board of directors Bill Easley, Lona Mae Keen, Odis Holder, Jane Prier and Neal Vineyard. Hospital officials said addition of equipment would be designed for quicker and more adequate service to residents of the area and those using the emergency facilities. Patient numbers through the ER facilities have doubled in the past two years, nearly 6,000 going through the facility last year.
— CASSVILLE NATIVE ACCEPTED IN ASTRONAUT PROGRAM
A Cassville native whose parents died in an airplane accident nearly 28 years ago, is one of 19 chosen from 3,000 applicants for astronaut training by NASA. Janet Sellers Kavandi, 35, now of Reston, Wa., has become one of the 160 astronaut candidates chosen by NASA for the shuttle program since 1978. A daughter of the late Bill and Ruth Garner Sellers, she lost her parents when she was eight years old in an aircraft crash in Oklahoma. A flying group was returning from attending a rodeo in that state in 1967 when the Sellers craft was struck by another in a mid-air collision and crashed. Another couple, Paul and Marjorie Land also died in the accident. Mrs. Kavandi and a younger sister, Deborah Thompson, now of Springfield, went to live with an aunt and her husband, Mary and Edward England of Carthage, following the accident. The Sellers’ home is currently owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles England. At the time of their deaths, Sellers was sanitarian with the Barry County Health Department and Mrs. Sellers was deputy to the Barry County clerk. She was a lifelong resident of this area, Sellers an Air Force veteran of WW II during which he was a prisoner of war, came to this area to accept the health unit position. Mrs. Kavandi, termed a “very disciplined person,” by Mrs. England, is a mother of two, will begin her training in March. She has previously gone through phases that included medical and psychological tests, interviews and various screening processes at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tx. Her educational background is in chemistry, graduating with honors from MSSC in Joplin, University of Missouri-Rolla and ultimately completing a doctorate four years ago at the University of Washington. During her working years she was employed by Eagle-Picher of Joplin and Boeing Aerospace in Washington. Astronaut selection processes by NASA occur about every two years, or as needed. Selections are for pilots and mission specialists, Mrs. Kavandi could eventually become the latter. In her scientific career, she developed a spaceage paint as an engineer for her company. Anticipating her eventual space travel to come within three or four years, she noted, “Thinking back on each decision I’ve made since that plane crash, I tried to think about how my parents would feel about each choice. I tried to do things not just because they’d approve, but because they’d be proud.” Her younger sister, Mrs. Thompson, and her husband operate a floorcovering business in Springfield.
