50 years ago
Sept. 26, 1973
— HOUK EARNS HONOR
Lonny Houk of Exeter was one of ten students at Southwest Missouri State University at Springfield designated as distinguished military student for the 1973-74 school year, according to Col. Thomas Oberley, professor of military science at SMSU.
— NATIONS AWARDED SCHOLARSHIP FROM SMSU
A Cassville young lady, Cathrynn Nations, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nations, has been J. B. awarded a regent’s scholarship from SMSU for the current academic year. The sophomore at the Springfield college is a graduate of CHS, where she was an honor student. Academic standing in college made the financial assistance possible.
— SPLIT IN OPENER FOR JUNIOR HIGH FOOTBALL SQUAD
Cassville Junior High got its season underway with two games at Aurora last Thursday. In the opening contest the seventh grade Wildcats fell victim to Aurora, 14-0. The Houn’ Dawgs scored both of their touchdowns early, then the Wildcats dug in to blank Aurora the second half. Although Cassville dropped this clash, the players executed well and hit real good. Helmet emblems are being awarded to those players who show up well this year. Mike Carr won three of th- ese ‘pride patches one for offensive back, one for defense, and the third for super hitter. Other players meriting attention were offensive linemen, Jay Howerton and Greg Brooks; and defensive players Loye Ro- se, Kevin Madison, Dwight Hayes, Billy Linenbrink, Terry Varshall, and Robbie Gripka. The eighth-graders battled Aurora for three scoreless quarters before breaking through in the final period to ice the game, 16-0. It was a helmet-cracking contest from front and the to back, Wildcats showed their colors with the late rally.
— POSSE WELL RECEIVED AT STEELEVILLE EVENT
Members of the Barry County Sheriff’s Posse and their families were in Steeleville for the weekend to attend the Ozark Trail blazers Rodeo there. They left on Friday morning returning Sunday afternoon. There were 63 in the group making the trip. They were as follows: Sheriff and Mrs. Vernon Still and family, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Higgs and family, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Still. Mr. and Mrs. Donnie Coffey, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Nelson and family, Mr. and Mrs. Randy Hilburn and family, Mr. and Mrs. James Adams and family Mr. and Mrs. Henry Phillips and Mrs. Phillips sister Barbara, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Pendergraft, Mr. and Mrs. Johnnie Saunders and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Dean Gurley and family, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Riddle and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Holloway and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Lanny Aldridge and family, Mr. and Mrs. Loren Lowe, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Stumpff, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weathers and son, Bob Norman, Henry Burns, Glen Ennis, Kenny Propps, Burl Mitchell, and Larry Hollo- way. Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Ryan attended the rodeo on Saturday night. The Posse drilled on Friday night, participated in the down town parade on Saturday afternoon and drilled again on Saturday night. The Saturday night performance of the drill was before and overflow crowd and the response they received from the audience was overwhelming. They received a return invitation to the 1974 Steeleville Rodeo and also an invitation to preform at Salem, Iowa. No plans have been made as yet for the 1974 sea-son, but from all indications the Posse is regaining the name they once made for themselves. The Sheriff’s Posse plan on using the proceeds from this trip to sponsor a Christmas supper for all the members and their families. They will also be having a turkey shoot on November 4.
40 years ago
Sept. 21, 1983
— CASSVILLE MANOR COMPLETES SITE PURCHASE FOR CENTER
Cassville stepped closer to having a nursing care facility Monday as officials of Cassville Manor Inc. and Medical Holdings Ltd. of Ft. Smith, Ark. and Dallas, Texas, obtained ownership of 14 acres of land from South Barry County Hospital District. The site chosen by Cassville Manor for the 90-bed facility changed hands on the exchange of a check in the amount of $85,000 from Medical Holdings and a deed from the hospital district. Francis BeVier of Springfield, president of Cassville Manor, said construction, processes would hopefully begin in the next three or four weeks. Principals in the property purchase included BeVier, a father-son combination S. W. Creekmore, Jr., and Steve Creekmore, IlI, representing the financing company and directors of the hospital district. The 14-acre location for the nursing care center is located at Old Exeter Road and Rainbow Drive in Cassville. Another hurdle for the project was completed Thursday night when the Cassville City Council approved an earlier Zoning and Planning Commission ruling that changed the classification of the property. Mayor Bill LeCompte said council action was unanimous in rating the property from Residential One to Residential Three, which will permit the new facility’s location at the site. The Creekmores, representing investment firms that are involved in like projects throughout the country, said the site had possibilities for other projects that would be explored at a later date. Cassville Manor’s project involves an estimated $2,200,000 cost financed by industrial revenue bonds issued by the Barry County Industrial Development Authority. An early start on the 26,050 square foot project will make the facility available for service to the area sometime after the first of the year. Construction will be single-story, brick veneer according to details outlined in a Certificate of Need held by BeVier from Missouri regulatory agencies. Aside from the nursing care services provided for the area, Cassville Manor projects an economic growth factor in the project. Included are 40 employees during the first year of operation, which grew to 50 in the second year. Salaries, fees and supplies for the first year are projected at over one-half million dollars by the developers. Officials of Medical Holdings said projects of this type usually help com- munities in expansion of medical personnel numbers in the area. County IDA financing for the project was approved in April of this year. Public hearings were conducted during processes by the Barry County Court and IDA, according to Cherry Warren, chairman of the industrial group. The IDA bonds will be retired through revenue from Cassville Manor’s operation and do not require a tax levy.
— COL. RENO SLATED FOR ONE STAR
A native of Cassville, has been nominated by the President of the United States for the rank of brigadier general. Colonel William H. Reno, son of Mrs. C. M. Reno of Cassville, is currently serving an Army assignment in Washington, D. C. Reno, first Cassville native to attend a service academy, graduated from the local schools in the early 1950’s. He received an appointment to West Point out of the enlisted ranks while in the regular Army. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1961. Prior to assignment in Washington, he served from June 1979 to August 1981 as district engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Memphis, Tenn. In this post he was responsible for Corps’ water resource development activities in parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois. Col. Reno presently serves as executive to the Army’s Vice Chief of Staff. Reno holds a master of arts and master of science degree in civil engineering from Princeton University. Army assignments have included a tour at West Point as a member of the mathematics instructional staff. He has also attended Army War and Command and General Staff Colleges. Col. Reno, whose nomination must now be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, is married to the former LuAnn Freeman of La Grange, Ky. Their family includes two daughter’s, Mary 20 and Suzy, 17.
30 years ago
Sept. 15, 1993
— ORCHARD HARVEST PROVIDES MANY APPLES-A-DAY
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, Vollenweider Orchards between Cassville and Exeter are getting ready to keep a lot of people out of medical offices. The facility that extends on both sides of Route 86 in the east edge of Exeter is picking, racking and shipping the first variety of apples of the season. Jonathan apples are being picked by about a one-third crew that will eventually grow to 250 persons through the processes of mid-October picking and packing. Mark Vollenweider, fourth generation apple grower, said the orchard has about 305 acres in production at this time. His father, John, estimates the orchard will pick about 300,000 apples daily this time of the year. That number will grow to 1,200,000 apples as the crew size grows. Tree size will also influence the number of apples picked a day. So, on a good day, the quality products of the orchard could provide a health boost to something over one million persons. While Jonathan’s are coming off the trees now, on the first of October will find a larger apple, Red and Golden Delicious being picked. Shortly thereafter, the Rome variety will become available. During the full part of the season there will be 125 pickers going through the trees, 60 will be employed in the packing and cold storage facilities and another 40 general employees will be involved in the harvest. Processes of the employment and availability of top-quality products in this area began in 1947 when the late Fred Vollenweider purchased the original 100 acres from the Fader interests. Over the years the additional 230 acres have been added. The facility is fully irrigated by deep wells and lake storage of water, ensuring a constant watering of the crop, that quite frankly has been used on a limited basis this year. Mrs. Ruth Vollenweider, of Cassville, joins her son and grandson in active involvement of orchard operations. She and her late husband moved to Cassville after selling an orchard in Seymour in 1965. Mark, a native of Cassville, joined the orchard staff after graduation from the University of Missouri. Processes of development of the sprawling apple orchard have included elimination of growing peaches which were vulnerable to cold weather conditions, installation of wind machines to combat spring frost, building of crew quarters on the site and development of extensive cold storage facilities to put the crop on markets when most advantageous to the growers. The storage facilities also ensure a better quality product for the market. This time of the year, weekend traffic between Cassville and Exeter runs heavy with visitors taking that route to make their trips to the Barry County Ozarks worthwhile in buying some of the Vollenweider product. The closer to fall, traffic will increase for visitors to travel in this area and make their stop at the orchards.
— FILMING NEXT WEEK IN NATIONAL FOREST
During the week of September 20-24, a California production company, Diamond P Sports, Inc., is coming to the Cassville ranger district of Mark Twain National Forest to film a segment for “Trucking USA,” broadcast on TNN: The Nashville Network. The production company does not want hordes of sightseers watching the actual filming. However, they have indicated that local media are welcome. One the first day of filming, the crew will shoot trucks driving on National Forest gravel roads. The drivers and trucks are being provided by the Ozark Mountain 4×4 Club, a Springfieldbased group. On the second day, the company will film other points of interest in the area.
—CITY DEPARTMENT REPORTS PRESENTED
Reports from the police and public works department of the City of Cassville were presented during a city council meeting Monday night. Sergeant Lonnie McCullough presented the police department, noting 49 summonses issued during the month of August. Most obvious in the process was issuing eight exceeding posted speed limit citations. Six careless and imprudent driving citations were issued, five for drivers with open containers in the vehicle and seven for failure to yield right of way. Two minors in possession citations were issued. On the public works side of the reporting, Steven Henderson noted Cassville wells pumped 21,916,400 gallons of water during the month, sold 12,753,700 gallons, used 2,473,800 gallons for flushing lines, provided 38,000 gallons to the fire department and had 1,694,900 lost through leaks. The percentage accounted for was at 77. Treatment plant operations handled 23,146,000 gallons with an average daily flow of 746,645 gal-Jons. Department time percentages included water 46, sewer plant 17, streets 14, sewer town six, parks 9, flood three, compost site two and fire and airport one each.
—TROJAN CROSS COUNTRY OFF AND RUNNING
The Southwest of Washburn Trojans kicked off the fall season with a strong showing in the Carthage Cross Country Invitational. Boys varsity finished fourth in the elite field of 3A and 4A schools. The varsity tallied 92 points to finish behind Springfield, Parkview, and Arkansas powers, Rogers and Fayetteville. Placing for the Trojans were: Varsity boys: Ninth – Jake Holt, 23rd – John Rasmussen, 27th – Jeff Chadd, 30th – Curtis Tipton, 31st – Eric Sterling, 34th – Eric Bernard, and 42nd – Hesston Comer. Junior varsity boys: Ninth – Tony Littleton, 10th Shannon Tipton, 17th Michael Blackburn, 20th – Will Pendergraft, 29th – Del Rasmussen, 33rd Cal Tolbert, 42nd – Matt Waterdown, 45th – Dale Neely. Freshman boys: Third – Robert Embrey, 8th – Jimmy Oxford, 12th – Chadd Fosse, 14th – Lance Larson, 18th Adam Peterson, 22nd Brandon Peterson, 28th – Michael Wilson. Varsity Girls: 15th – Heather Robbins. Mark Vanslyke coaches the cross-country Trojans.
