Sept. 24, 1975

— COURT SAYS NO TO CASSVILLE PROPOSAL By a split 2-1 vote, the Barry County Court has turned down a proposal by the City of Cassville to remodel an existing building instead of constructing a new facility here. Presiding Judge Nolan McNeill and Northern Judge Dick Sanders cast votes for a new building. Southern Judge Lige Frost went for the city plan. The court said Monday it would proceed with plans for spending $74,000 for construction of a community center-ambulance district garage facility on land owned by the South Barry County Hospital here. Cassville had proposed the Housing and Urban Development funds be used to remodel a city building for new offices, spaces for the Chamber of Commerce, community facilities and ambulance garage at Third and Main. City plans for the project fell through two years ago because of lack of funds.

— GROUNDBREAKING MONDAY FOR CASSVILLE’S NEW AIRPORT Groundbreaking for Cassville’s new airport will be Monday at 4 p.m. at the construction site northwest of Cassville. The date and time was set this week in Chamber of Commerce aviation committee gathering. City, Chamber, engineer and construction personnel will take part in the observance. The public is welcome and invited to attend. When the first shovels of dirt are lifted Monday, the end of a 30 year wait will be realized. Cassville interests have been seeking a hard surfaced airport facility since the early 1940’s. Mayor Bill LeCompte and city council members had earlier requested the C of C be in charge of arrangements for the program. An entirely local participation will be involved. Wider involvement of state and national officials will be reserved for dedication program next year. The aviation committee designated C of C president Bob Mitchell to serve as master-of-ceremonies for next Monday’s event. Coordination and support of the airport was a prime project of the Chamber for the past two years. On hand for the event will also be representatives of Hamilton-Patten Construction Company of Mt. Vernon, holder of the $173,899.50 construction contract. Overall the cost of the facility is estimated at $350,304. Monday’s start of the project will signal installation of a 3,000 ft. landing surface, which will be 60 feet wide. Included will be taxi-way, turn around, dirt work, fencing and seeding. Ken Hamilton said initial work would include fence removal and elimination of existing trees. The sub-contractor on dirt work will be Jim Norman Construction Co. of Shell Knob. Actual work will begin within the next week to 10 days. Bids on the project were opened June 19. Power line removal and other requirements were completed last Friday when George Ulmer, engineer and Gene Schlichtman, city councilman, flew to Kansas City for conferences with Bill Clark, Federal Aviation Agency engineer. Ulmer issued the construction start order this week. Located on a 90 acre tract northwest of Cassville and adjacent to Highway 37, federal grants funded for the program amount to $262,728. or about three-quarters of the cost. The facility will be the only municipal hard-surfaced airport in Barry County. The State of Missouri will have about $50,000 grant funds in the program and the City of Cassville another $25,000. CASCO Corp., outgrowth of the C an of C, provided $20,000 for access. land to the property. Land purchased from E. R. Heston, Leon Sanders, L. D. Pinnell and Bob Gibbons will permit extension of the program in years to come to a length of up to 4,200 feet according to Ulmer. Land costs for the project amounted to $86,000 for the four parcels. Other costs involved will include $15,000 for engineering and $38,000 for moving a KAMO power line in the vicinity of the project. CASCO retained approximately three acres of access land not considered prime for the project. Officials said the plot of ground would be retained for facilities which would complement the airport. Nearly 100 business and professional persons in the area provided CASCO funds which were turned over to the city as a local contribution for the airport. Chamber officials said the short groundbreaking program would officially signal the start of the project. Later dedication plans will call for a more extensive program, displays of aircraft and other activities. Members of the C of C aviation committee include: Max Fields and Eldon Johnson, co-chairmen; Leon Sanders, Glen Garrett, W. G. Barnes and Carter Koon. Council members, W. C. Hailey, Ed Leonard, Marlee Edie and Gene Schlichtman, combine with the C of C group to form CASCO, Inc., officers. —FALL TOURISM COULD PUSH EXISTING RECORDS Tuesday was the beginning of fall…..and one of the more popular times of the year for visitors to the Barry County Ozarks. If weather conditions hold, some tourist industry agencies are predicting existing records of 1972 will fall in this area. For instance, Richard Groves, resident manager for Table Rock Reservoir, said recently the lake had 6,328,275 visitors three years ago. This record placed the impoundment fifth among the Army Corps of Engineer’s 380 lakes in the United States. Groves says he believes, “We are tracking so close to our record year that unless we have some serious weather problems, and I’m talking about miserable weather, I fully expect us to come awful close to 1972.” From the standpoint of Roaring River State Park, one of Missouri’s best attractions, Superintendent John Hardin, places an increase of 10% on the visitor number this year. With the annual Flaming Fall Review scheduled about mid-October, prospects are for one of the most elaborate shows ever, says most observers. “This will add considerably to visitor numbers in the next four weeks,” they add.

40 years ago

Sept. 25, 1985

— COUNTY FROWNS ON GROWING LION POPULATION IN CHARGES Barry County doesn’t think much of the growing lion population. In fact, after one escaped in the Eagle Rock community over the weekend, charges are being filed and county government is thinking of making regulations prohibiting the animals as pets. Prosecuting Attorney John Lewright said Tuesday he would file charges against owners of a Cassville area tavern who own an 11-month old cub weighing about 175 pounds. Lewright said his office was preparing animal neglect charges after the animal, farmed out at Eagle Rock, escaped over the weekend. Gone only 24 hours, the animal returned to the site where it had slipped out of a collar. It’s master at a former Cassville business, Joe Bruton, re-collared the animal and it was returned to the Hilltop location. At Hilltop, where Larry Rainey, the owner, was preparing a more adequate cage for the animal, hopefully to meet county standards. The animal there apparently joined another, according to Lewright, who said his information was that a second young lion had been acquired. The prosecuting attorney, acknowledging a number of calls’ about the animal, said he would submit to the Barry Coun ty court a set of regulations, patterned to those in St. Louis county, prohibiting the keeping of animals of this type as pets. Rainey told officers during the first lion’s vacation from captivity in the Table Rock Lake community, that the animal had been declawed. Lewright said he understood this, but noted the strong animal still had its full mouth of teeth. The Friday through Sunday time the lion was loose, he apparently roamed an area between Eagle Rock and Big M Boat Dock. During the hours the animal roamed the area, officers of the Barry County sheriff’s department and Missouri Conservation Commission, patrolled roads. Bruton, who had taken care of the animal at a previous location in Cassville, slipped a collar over the animal’s head when it returned for food the following morning. Lewright said his office had checked with state officials to determine what could be done in response to complaints about the animal (now animals) at the business location. “We’re concerned about the animal and safe-ty, health and welfare of the public in this one”, the prosecutor said. Acknowledging the animal had been declawed, Lewright and Sheriff Jim Hopkins said they wanted the animal put in an enclosed pen rather than on a chain. Rainey was apparently complying with their wishes by enclosing a carport at the tavern location. Neighbors in the Hilltop area acknowledged the owners of the cats had changed one feature of their sign, “The Only Cat House In Barry County.”

— WHEATON BOARD GOT BEST TEST REPORT High school counselor, Shirley Fickie, presented the Wheaton school board with the 1985 BEST Test results in their last meeting. She reported 100% passed the reading/language arts subtest with 95.6% being the state average, 86.4% passed the math subtest with 83.4% being the state average, and 86.4% passed the government/ economics subtest with a state average of 86.6%. Superintendent Charles Cudney reported that the high school renovation and gym addition project is ahead of schedule and should be completed by the middle of October. An open house for the new building was tentatively set by the board for October 20 from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The board approved all bus routes for 1985-86 submitted by transportation director Don Cope. In other action the board approved the 1985-86 Barry-Lawrence library agreement, and approved a Parents as Teachers implementation plan. Mrs. Linda Marple was employed to direct the Parents as Teachers program for the district. Present at this meeting were Board President Larry Butler, Joe Higgs, Lester Prewitt, Karen Vinyard, Lynn Dilbeck, Jerry McBride, secretary Connie Forgey, principals Don Cope, L. B. Nolan, counselor Shirley Fickie, and Superintendent Cudney.

30 years ago

Sept. 20, 1995

— TABLE ROCK LAKE VISITOR NUMBERS

Over 13,000 people visited the five parks on upper Table Rock Lake over Labor Day weekend. According to statistics provided by the Army Corps of Engineers, there were 13,413 total visits made to Campbell Point, Big M, Eagle Rock, Viola and Viney Creek public use areas. Year-to-date visitation figures for the five parks total 249,172 visits. A breakdown of this total into visits per area is as follows: Campbell Point, 72,526; Big M, 43,403; Eagle Rock, 73,522; Viola, 28,246; and Viney Creek, 31,475. The corps changed its method of tallying visits this season so there are no comparison figures available for last year.

— BARRY COUNTY RANKS HIGH IN GIVING OUT TOTS’ SHOTS Almost 75 percent of children in Barry County are receiving the immunizations they need by the time they turn three, according to recently released statistics from the Missouri Bureau of Immunization. That puts the county above the state immunization average of 60.6 percent, which places Missouri 49th in national immunization levels. “We are in the top as far as percentages in the state and as far as numbers we serve,” said Pat Tichenor, director of the Barry County Health Department. When comparing Barry County to other counties that serve the same number of children, Barry County’s 74.8 percent is high. There are 25 other counties that are in the same category as Barry County. They include: Buchanan, Clay, Johnson, Boone, Audrain, Warren, St. Charles, Franklin, St. Louis, Jefferson, St. Francoia, Miller, Pulaski, Phelps, Laclede, Webster, Greene, Taney, Stone, Cape Girardeau, Scott, New Madrid, Remiscot, Dunklin and Butler counties. Immunization percentages in those counties ranged from a low of 33 percent in St. Louis County to a high of 74.8 percent in Barry County. Tichenor said the county’s immunization levels have risen over the past three years. In 1993, only 36.5 percent of the county’s children, two and under, received all the immunizations they required. In 1994, that percentage rose to 55.9 percent. According to Tichenor, the main reason immunization percentages have risen is because the local health unit offers immunizations from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Hours at the clinic and availability of immunizations were extended by the board about three years ago, Tichenor said. Barry County is one of the only clinics in Southwest Missouri that is open for 10-hour days. “There is no reason why people can’t get their children immunized,” Tichenor said. “The shots are free and you can get them anytime. There are no barriers.” Tichenor said the health unit also offers three clinics a month in Monett and sends out reminder cards every month to children who need shots. “Immunizations are a priority at the Barry County Health Department,” Tichenor said. Because the Barry County Health Department offers shots daily, people from other counties are coming to Barry County for immunizations. Last month, health unit records showed that children from Lawrence, Newton, McDonald, Stone and Greene Counties came to the Cassville-based health department to receive shots.

— FARWELL NETS RECORD 24-POUND GAR

Brad Farwell, 10, of Eagle Rock, reeled in a 24-pound, 1/4-ounce longnose gar Aug. 17 from Table Rock Lake. The catch broke a state record that had stood since 1979.