50 years ago

Feb. 11, 1976

— Forest Share To County Will Increase 11 Times

A windfall of funds to Barry County will result in the combination of Clark and Mark Twain National Forests in Missouri, according to an announcement this week by Congressman Gene Taylor. James Roles, ranger of the Cassville District of Mark Twain, said income to the county, road districts and schools would increase about 11 times under the proposal. Congressman Taylor’s office said Monday the signing of an executive order by President Ford would merge the two national forests in the southern part of the state. Funds derived from the sale of minerals, timber, grazing rights and other special use permits by the National Forest Service will be divided. The congressional office explained the Forest Service each year dispenses 25 percent of the monies collected to the various states and counties based on the number of acres that are located within the respective boundaries. Last year Barry County received $5,749 based on a payment of .11 per acre from Mark Twain. Clark forest counties received $2.07 per acre. Under the new combination, Barry County’s share should increase to $1.21 per acre for the 53,000 acres in this county in the Cassville district. This would increase the fund considerably to $64,000 in fiscal 1976. Roles said forest offices in Rolla have practically settled on continuing the name Mark Twain for the entire region. The Cassville district will remain in operation, with all forest offices remaining at Rolla. Roles said the Mark Twain presently runs to Van Buren, Ava and Willow Springs. The Cassville district includes some forest area in Stone County. Congressman Taylor said about two years ago the National Forest Service combined the administration of the two areas and located all personnel in Rolla, closing the Springfield office. It became obvious to me that it would be more than official if the two forests were completely merged and I made that suggestion to the president and secretary of agriculture. I’m gratified they have concurred. Last year the State of Missouri received a total of 1.7 million dollars from the program of distribution of funds. Funds received annually are distributed to schools and road districts through the Barry County clerk’s office on a formula recommended by the national government. Included are number of pupils in each district and number of miles of roads and area assessed evaluations.

40 years ago

Feb. 19, 1986

— Inspection Says Close Bridge At 13th Street 

A consulting engineering firm has recommended the city of Cassville close the 13th Street bridge over Flat Creek. The bridge evaluation information was asked for by the city of Cassville through the Missouri Highway Department. George Ulmer, city engineer, said he was informed Tuesday by the Springfield concern making the evaluation that the bridge should be closed. Highway department and legal advisors have recommended closing. Mayor Rolland Meador said the city was looking at the liability that might be involved. The mayor said he first advised Cassville R-4 school district officials since at least two bus routes use the bridge. The bridge involved also serves a heavily populated area of Cassville, Wildwood Estates, East 13th Street and an access to Highway 248. Ulmer said the bridge is 10 feet wide and 86 feet long. Beams in the center portion of the structure are the problem area according to the evaluation. In addition to problems of width and other safety factors, Meador said the structure had been a source of trouble for Cassville over a period of years. The narrowness of the throat of the bridge has been thought to cause back-up of Flat Creek in times of flooding. “Perhaps the time has come to seriously consider doing something if a crossing is to be maintained on 13th Street,” Meador said. “It’s quite possible an 80-20 project with Barry County would be possible with the availability of additional sales tax funds recently approved,” the mayor observed. City officials would be in conference later this week to set an exact closing date of the crossing if this in fact was the eventual decision.

— Three Lane Main Street In $1.2 Million Highway Plan

Major improvements on Business Route 37 in Cassville and Highway 112, costing an estimated $1.2 million, will be proposed by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department. Joseph Mickes, district engineer, made the information known this week in a Cassville Rotary Club appearance. Mickes, going to Jefferson City for a headquarters assignment with the department, introduced his replacement, Ken Stalcup, who will be engineer of District Seven, headquartered in Joplin. Highway people have been considering the project, including some signalization and three-laning for a number of years. Relieving of flooding problems between First and Third Streets is also in the plan. Cassville municipal efforts would be tied to the plan. Mickes said the project would run from one-half mile east of Highway 37 four-way stop to south of Route 248 on Highway 112 near the entrance to Southern Hills subdivision. Included would be widening, resurfacing and installing a left turn lane. One mile in length, lanes would be 12’-14’-12’ permitting turn lanes and exploiting through traffic. A traffic signal would be located at the Business 37 intersection with Routes 112-76-248. Another feature would be widening the 56-year-old Flat Creek Bridge to 22 feet. On Main Street, the project would begin one-half way between Fifth and Sixth Streets. There will be an extra lane at the 112-248 intersection, but no signalization. The project obviously will neck down to get across the Flat Creek bridge, then widen again to provide three lanes in the heavy travel area. On the south part of Business 37, the project will run from the connection of Main Street and the by-pass fill that connects with Highway 37 west of town. Mickes said the project was not in 1986 programs by the Highway Department. He said planning would be completed by district offices for presentation to the commission probably in July. It could be on construction plans by 1988, the engineer estimated. Designed to better handle traffic in a heavy commercial area, the three-laning would cover traffic counts that are high. Don Hershberger of the District Seven offices said today’s counts are running about 8,302 vehicles daily from 11th Street south to the T-intersection between Fifth and Fourth Streets. The east arm of the project, Route 36 and Business 37 carries 7,376 vehicles daily, the leg from Fifth Street south 7,221 and the north part of Main Street 8,302. Mickes said the design of the project was such that would carry traffic in the downtown area anticipated at 10,360 daily by the year 1996. “That’s just 10 years away,” the engineer noted. Preliminary plans in the project include some curbing at the main intersection where signalization will be used. Mickes said the highway property inside the curb areas would be leased to the City of Cassville for adjoining commercial parking. Highway plans for a major project in the busy intersection area approximately 10 years ago were dropped by the department when commercial opposition was expressed. Highway officials said the project could be completed when funds were available since no additional right-of-way would be required.

30 years ago

Feb. 14, 1996

— Roaring River Hatchery crews plan stocking strategy for opener

The Missouri Department of Conservation expects more than 2,500 anglers at Roaring River on opening day, weather conditions permitting. Hatchery Manager Jerry Dean reports that the hatchery staff is busy preparing for March 1. At least 5,500, 12-inch rainbow trout will be stocked in addition to the 1,900, 14-inch trout and 113 lunkers already in the stream for the winter catch and release program. Twenty-five more three-to-six pound lunkers will be added before opening day. Trout will be distributed evenly throughout the stream with about 228 trout in each of Roaring River’s 33 fishing holes. An additional 300 fish will be stocked in the management area below the park. Water conditions have been lower than normal this winter due to a relatively low amount of precipitation. The recent snow melts have increased the river’s flow, but it is still below normal, according to Dean. Crews have been busy removing more than 2,665 cubic yards of gravel from six holes in the stream this winter. Two other bank stabilization projects are planned for the fly area as soon as weather improves and the park receives permits from the Corps of Engineers. In February, MDC initiated the new Point of Sale system for selling permits. The Roaring River hatchery staff began selling permits on the system Feb. 1. Although the permit system was designed with a large database and easy access, it does take a little more time to purchase the permit the first time. Dean advises fishermen to purchase permits before coming to the park on opening day. Lines for permit sales will probably be slower this year. The park will continue its opening day tradition of honoring an individual who is significant in the park’s history by presenting James Woods with the first tag of the 1996 season. Woods, a longtime trout fisherman and outdoorsman, was a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps and helped construct the hatchery at Roaring River during the 1930s. He has been the secretary/treasurer of CCC Co. 1713 for 40 years.

— Local physician joins peace keeping mission in Bosnia 

The first National Guard unit to be deployed in support of the United State’s peace keeping mission in Bosnia will travel with a local physician on board. Dr. Tom Harris, a family practice physician with Roaring River Family Medicine Clinic in Cassville, will spend two weeks at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy, serving as flight surgeon with the 184th Fighter Squadron of the Arkansas Air National Guard. Harris is one of the 200 guardsmen in his squadron assigned to Mission Decisive Edge. The squadron of F-16s, pilots and support personnel leave for Italy on March 6. The squadron’s primary mission, according to Harris, will be to patrol and protect the no-fly zone over Bosnia. As part of the peace accords, Bosnians, Serbs and Croatians are banned from flying fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft in the airspace of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The squadron’s secondary mission includes providing close air support to troops on the ground and conducting approved air strikes against designated targets that threaten the security of UN-declared safe areas. As the squadron’s flight surgeon, Harris’ job is to keep the 20 pilots and 180 support personnel healthy. He will work out of an air transportable clinic, which will be set up at the air base. Harris also expects to fly at least one sortie over the no-fly zone. He said flight surgeons routinely fly with pilots so that they can observe the pilot’s environment and experience physiological conditions and stress factors. The Arkansas squadron will be cooperating with other multinational units based at Aviano. According to the flight commander, squadrons from the United States, Italy and France will be flying out of Aviano. On an international level, NATO aircraft are also stationed at other air bases in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and on carriers in the Adriatic. Squadrons from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey, Britain and the U.S. have been deployed as part of Decisive Edge. Harris has been in the military ever since he was 18. From 1973 to 1978, he served in the U.S. Army as a special forces medic. He then left the army to attend college. While at the University of Arkansas, he continued to serve as a medic in the Arkansas National Guard. He then received a military scholarship to medical school, serving as a United States Air Force reserve during that time. Harris completed his three-year residency at Scott Air Force Base and then served an additional four years at Wheeler Air Force Base and Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Harris has reached the rank of major and successfully completed the Top Knife fighter surgeon’s course in 1993. He trains monthly with the 184th Fighter Squadron, which is based in Ft. Smith, Ark. In talking about the United States peacekeeping role in Bosnia, Harris said he believes the government has a valid mission there. He added that the United States has a moral obligation to make sure fighting among the warring parties ends and peace prevails. Harris said his overseas deployment will end March 22. His squadron is scheduled to fly a training mission to Australia for 30 days in late June and July. His involvement in that mission is still undetermined.