Sept. 3, 1975

— OPINIONS DIFFER ABOUT DROUGHT NEED IN COUNTY

Barry County is on the drought assistance list in Missouri after all. At the request of the Barry County Court, Gov. Christopher Bond included the county in a list submitted to the United States Department of Agriculture for assistance. In a letter to Presiding Judge Nolan McNeill, Bond said, “When approved, this will make financial assistance available to those agricultural producers who qualify for such.” The governor’s inclusion of Barry County on a drought disaster list came a week after an Agriculture Disaster Committee decided not to put the county on the list of those in the state needing additional assistance. This is a point with which the court is apparently in disagreement. Spokesmen said that while showers this summer furnished ample rainfall in some areas, there are farm locations which have received subnormal amounts of moisture. At the U.S. Forest Service in Cassville, a total of 11.92 inches of rain were measured during June, July and August. The rains produced 3.47 in June, 4.63 in July and 3.82 in August. Ranger Jim Roles termed this a normal amount of rainfall for the area. The disaster committee, composed of representatives of federal agencies in the county concerned with farming, left their turn-down of the assistance open in the event programs might become necessary later in the summer. There was apparently no coordination of the effort between the court and agencies involved. Decisions by the disaster committee were made on Aug. 23. Bond’s letter to Judge McNeill was dated Aug. 28.

— TR AND PARK PACKED OVER LONG HOLIDAY Jam-packed. These are the only words necessary to describe camping and recreation facilities in the Barry County Ozarks over the Labor Day weekend. Thousands of visitors chose the final holiday of the summer to escape 95-100 degree temperatures that prevailed in the four-state area. At Roaring River State Park, Superintendent John Hardin said counting equipment failed after nearly 8,000 visitors were recorded. He said an accurate count had 1,008 campers in 252 units in the park. A lot of those visitors were fishing, with 782 purchasing tags on Sunday. Jim Rogers, park concessionaire, said this was the third biggest day for tag sales in the park this year. Previous highs were 2,349 on opening day and 741 on July 4. Charles Curry, superintendent of the park hatchery, which provided over 100 lunkers for anglers to seek during the holiday, said total tag sales in the park, with September and October remaining in the season, now stand at 59,936. The number will undoubtedly reflect a considerable increase this year over the past two years, which have shown decreases. Curry noted the three-day total for this past weekend was 2,006, a considerable gain over the same holiday last year, which drew only 1,604 anglers. A similar story was evident at all public use areas on Table Rock Lake. Accurate figures will not be available from the Army Corps of Engineers until all district statistics are released. However, it didn’t take an expert to tell camping and boating facilities throughout the area were taxed to limits. Labor Day was the final weekend for camping charges on Corps reservoir facilities. Holiday weekend accidents were held to a minimum in this area, according to law enforcement reports.

— CAMPING TRIP

Ten residents of the Sunset Valley Nursing Home enjoyed an overnight campout at Viney Creek recreation area Aug. 23. Several of the residents enjoyed speed boat rides. For most, it was their first overnight camping experience. This was the second trip to Viney Creek. “We would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Wiseman and everyone else at Viney Creek for helping make both the trips a success.”.

Sept. 4, 1985

— COUNTY’S 1985 ENROLLMENT 4,994 FOR RECORD HIGH With all districts in session following the Labor Day weekend, Barry County school enrollment for the start of 1985-86 year classes stands at a record 4,994. That’s an increase of 165 youngsters above the 4,829 recorded at the start of school last year. Last to begin classes were rural elementary district of Shell Knob and the Monett district. All other districts took an agriculture option this year to begin classes prior to Labor Day. Pushing the county’s enrollment to a good increase was the Cassville R-4 district, which listed the largest increase, 83 pupils, over last year. Superintendent Dan Bailey said the district’s 1,403 update from last week’s preliminary enrollments was an alltime high for the district. Breaking down the R-4 enrollment, Bailey said there were 540 in kindergarten through fourth grade, 371 in grades five through eight and 492 in grades nine through 12. Other districts registering increases, based on updating of initial enrollment figures, included Southwest of Washburn, Superintendent Richard Reavis said current enrollment stands at 718, representing an increase of 32 over last year. Southwest reported at opening last week they had an increase of 11 students. Substantial enrollment figures during the last week jumped the student number 21 since opening. Wheaton Superintendent Charles Cudney added one to his initial total, giving that district an increase of four. Total enrollment at Wheaton stands at 362, compared to 358 last year. Purdy Superintendent Richard Place said the pupil numbers there remained stable from opening figures. Purdy posted a 53-pupil increase with 521 enrolled, compared to 468 last year. Jenkins principal Judy Meadows said an increase of two pupils had been recorded at this rural district. Enrolled at present are 76 students. This represents a decline of seven compared to last year. Exeter Superintendent David Burns reported a 17-pupil increase from initial figures. Current enrollment at Exeter is 310. The district experienced a decline of 11 compared to the 321 enrollment at the start of last year. Shell Knob principal Bill Hadlow said the district was down 14 students this year. The 1985 enrollment stands at 128, compared to 142 at the start of classes last year. Monett Superintendent Ralph Scott said the district had 25 more pupils this year at opening Tuesday morning. The district posted 1,476 enrollment, slightly above the 1,451 reported last year. The Monett breakdown stood at 666 in kindergarten through fifth grade, 352 in sixth through eighth grades and 458 in grades nine through 12. Enrollments for the past four years have reversed a trend to low numbers in 1981 when a drop in total enrollment was experienced by many districts. In that particular year, Cassville was among the few showing an increase. The declining enrollments had first been noted in 1978 and continued until 1982 when total pupil numbers started increasing. Past county enrollments, covering an eight-year period, are as follows: 1977, 4,904; 1978, 4,895; 1979, 4,754; 1980, 4,736; 1981, 4,534; 1982, 4,659; 1983, 4,772; and 1984, 4,829.

30 years ago

Aug. 30, 1995

— PETITION TARGETS BROILER HOUSE CONSTRUCTION ON 37 Area property owners are protesting the construction of six chicken houses on Highway 37 near Butterfield. A petition is being circulated asking George’s Inc. to stop building a chicken house compound on acreage located south of the George’s processing plant. J.B. Nations of Cassville drafted the petition, which has attracted about 50 signatures. According to the petitioners, they have three main complaints: odor, unsightliness and possible water supply contamination. One person who signed the petition said he didn’t understand why George’s chose to place the chicken houses on the highway next to someone’s house. Others thought the company had planned to build a feed mill on the site, not chicken houses. Fred Edwards, live production manager for George’s, said the company is building six broiler houses on the 57-acre site. He said the houses are set back 250 feet, “as far away from the highway as possible.” He added that the houses will be constructed of green and white metal. “It is not going to be an eye-sore,” Edwards said. “We’re going to keep it real nice. We want the farm to be attractive.” Edwards said he had no knowledge of the petition drive. He said George’s has a permit from DNR to construct the facility. Ken McGruder of Cassville has also signed the petition and said he will go on record as being against the building of chicken houses on the highway. He said it probably won’t affect his property but it will affect the approach to Cassville. “I’m very much opposed to it,” said McGruder. “I think the houses are being put in the wrong place. The houses will be right on the highway as people come into our city, which is tourist- oriented.” McGruder added, “I think the chicken houses could be located in a less visible place. They don’t need high visibility, and I don’t think the houses will be an asset to our fair county.” He said that if other petitioners would be willing to contribute money, he would go so far as to investigate the idea of hiring an attorney to see if the building project could be stopped. A nuisance suit could be filed, McGruder said, and the group might be able to get an injunction until the case was ruled upon by a judge. Edwards said construction on the broiler houses would be completed in three months. According to Edwards, George’s does not have plans at this time to add more houses to the six-house compound.

— LOCAL ACCOUNTING FIRM CHANGES OWNERSHIP

A local accounting firm announced ownership changes this week. Darrell Johns, one of the partners in Johns-Berget & Co., said his partner, Brian Berget, had sold his share of the company to Dan Angel of Cassville. Berget said he wanted to move back to the Minnesota area. He and his wife, Jane, and two daughters, Deanna and Kala, will be moving to Montevideo, Minn. Angel, who is a certified public accountant, said he missed public accounting and “jumped at the chance to get back in the business.” Angel came to Cassville a little over a year ago, after he purchased part ownership in Luck “E” Strike U.S.A. He said he will keep an ownership interest in Luck “E” Strike but will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations of the local manufacturing company. The accounting firm will keep its name through the filing season. After April, it will be renamed Johns-Angel & Co. Johns and Angel said that the office staff will remain the same, except for the addition of Angel’s wife, Allison, who will work part-time at the firm. Angel, who holds a master’s degree in accounting, has been a CPA for nine years. Before coming to Cassville, he served as senior tax manager for Peat-Marick in Wichita, Kan. Johns has been a CPA for 27 years. He worked at Arthur-Anderson for several years before going out on his own for the past 25 years. Before moving to Cassville, he owned an accounting firm in Minnesota. The change in ownership will be effective Friday.

— STATE CANCELS PUBLIC HEARING ON AMBULANCE The Missouri Bureau of Emergency Medical Services has canceled a scheduled hearing on the ambulance service. The public convenience and necessity hearing had been scheduled this Friday in city hall. Kenneth E. Cole, director and licensing officer, said the cancellation was at the request of the applicant. The notice also stated the applicant “has signed a service contract with the existing licensee, South Barry County Ambulance District.” The ambulance district board of directors announced last week that Williamson had assumed the contract of Naugle Emergency Services of Ava, former operators of the service for the district. Williamson assumed the operation effective Sept. 1. Opposition to the contract change had apparently surfaced after the board action when a group of individuals were requesting public attendance at the previously scheduled hearing.