50 years ago

March 17, 1976

— Board starts process of employing teaching staff

While 43 observers watched, the Cassville Board of Education conducted its regular meeting Friday night, possibly drawing a larger crowd because there was no basketball game scheduled. Major business included review of faculty employment with department principals. For that discussion the board entered closed session after the meeting began at 8:25 p.m. and did not return until 11:27 p.m. Afterward, board president Freddie Evans read the resignation of high school principal Bob LeMon, who had served eight years in the position and planned to return to college to complete his doctorate degree. Ford reminded the board that the district must notify teachers of contract decisions by April 15.

— Troop 76 honor court presents award list

Missing only one rank, Boy Scout Troop 76 held a court of honor Monday night at the Cassville High School cafeteria. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of Eagle Scout awards numbers 44 and 45 under Scoutmaster Charles Vaughan. The awards went to Terry Beuterbaugh, son of Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Beuterbaugh, and Danny Priest, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cleburn Priest. Other advancements included Tenderfoot for Mike LeCompte and Jeff Nickols; Second Class for Keith Brisco and David Young; First Class for Stanley Beeson; and Star rank for Ricky Jagger. Jay and Jon Edmondson participated in opening and closing ceremonies. Vaughan also presented a conservation award to Terry Beuterbaugh and recognized leadership ranks for troop activities planned for the spring and summer. Assistant scoutmasters Max Fields and Leon Sanders presented the Eagle awards. Films of troop trips to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico were shown, followed by refreshments provided by parents.

— County road work costing state $374,603

The Missouri State Highway Commission awarded a $374,603.61 contract for highway maintenance work on roads in Barry County as part of 74 maintenance projects statewide. The work called for plant-mix bituminous surface leveling on portions of Missouri routes 39, 76, 248 and Business Route 37 in Cassville. Route 39 work was divided into three sections: about nine miles from Route TT southeast to Route 248 south of Jenkins; about seven and one-half miles from Route 248 south of Jenkins to about a mile north of Route 76; and about four and one-half miles from just north of Route YY near Shell Knob to the Stone County line. Costs for the three segments were $69,831.46, $56,509.12 and $32,699.58 respectively. The Route 76 project covered about 10½ miles from Route 112 south of Cassville east to Route 39 with a low bid of $80,481.55. The Route 248 project covered a 14-mile stretch northeast from Cassville to Route 39 and cost $112,959.20. The final project involved about two and one-half miles of Business Route 37 in Cassville, running from about three-quarters of a mile south of Route 37 northwest of town to Route 112, at a cost of $22,122.70. Combination bids were permitted, and the successful bid for the entire project was submitted by Howard Construction Company of Sedalia. District 7 Engineer W.F. Stegner of Joplin was to supervise the work for the Highway Department, with G.L. Miller of Neosho serving as resident engineer.

40 years ago

March 19, 1986

— No contaminated dairy herds in county

Local and federal officials reported there were no dairy herds in Barry County contaminated with heptachlor. Approximately 100 herds in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma were being tested to determine the extent of contamination from feed purchased from an Arkansas source. Tony Kickard, Barry County dairy specialist with the University of Missouri Extension Service, attended meetings in Fayetteville, Arkansas. A USDA team was investigating the impact on the industry. A Barry County ASCS spokesman said the local office had not received requests for indemnity payments that might be available through the federal government. The closest involvement to the area appeared to be in McDonald County west of Washburn and Seligman. Officials said contamination of dairy products removed from store shelves throughout the three-state area resulted from improper use of grain by a Van Buren, Arkansas manufacturer.

— Shell Knob firm and manager honored

Eddie Davison, manager of the TAPJAC Home Center in Shell Knob, was named Manager of the Year by TAPJAC Company Inc., an award given to the manager whose store achieves the best overall performance during the year. The store was also named one of four winners in the annual “Super Stores” competition for the second consecutive year, meeting high performance standards in seven of nine categories. Davison, who became manager in 1977 after serving as assistant manager, and his wife Becky received an expenses-paid trip to Bermuda. The Shell Knob home center was undergoing an expansion that would increase interior display space to about 10,000 square feet and allow growth in lawn and garden, plumbing and electrical, paint and hardware departments, along with a new housewares and small appliances section. The Davisons, active in church and community affairs in the Shell Knob area, have two sons, Joshua, nine, and Jacob, eight. TAPJAC Home Center, built in 1969, was one of the first major businesses in Shell Knob and is one of 12 TAPJAC stores operating in Missouri and Oklahoma.

30 years ago

March 13, 1996

— “Miracle Boy” survives 72-hour ordeal

Josh Carlisle Coffey is known nationwide as “Barry County’s little miracle.” After being lost for 72 hours in freezing temperatures and rough terrain, the 10-year-old Cassville youngster with Down syndrome was resting Monday in a warm hospital room surrounded by family members, eating chicken strips and watching cartoons on TV. On Tuesday, Josh was released from the hospital. Doctors at Cox Medical Center-South in Springfield said he suffered from overexposure but may not lose any toes due to frostbite. His mother, Johnny Sue Coffey, and his nurses agreed that Josh had quickly returned to “rare form.” Josh survived for three nights and two and a half days on his own thanks to the companionship of several stray dogs who apparently snuggled up to him and kept him warm as temperatures dropped as low as 2 degrees with wind chills reaching 34 degrees below zero. Missing since Wednesday at 4 p.m., Josh was found Saturday at about 12:30 p.m. by Junior Nell, a Springfield cowboy searching on horseback. Josh was found reclining face down in a gully about one and a quarter miles north of his home, with one dog curled beside him and another running up a nearby hill barking. The barking led Nell to the boy. The dogs, credited with helping keep Josh alive, were taken in by Chip and Dana Kammerlohr, who planned to keep them until they could return to live with Josh and his family. Josh talked about a dog he called “Baby,” a small brown and tan dachshund-beagle mix, and another he called “Brown One,” a blue heeler mix now nicknamed “Angel,” along with two other dogs that were never identified. His mother noticed one of Josh’s cheeks was red and chafed; Josh said the dogs had been licking him. Coffey said her son has an active imagination and told several different stories about his adventure, including one about a bear, though the family believes the dogs kept him safe and may even have brought him scraps of sandwiches left by rescue workers. “The angels just slipped in beside Josh,” Mrs. Coffey said. “Those dogs had wings for sure.” She said doctors were amazed by his condition. “When the doctor walked out with the final report, he was shaking his head,” Mrs. Coffey said. “He kept saying, ‘This is unbelievable … this is a miracle.’ Then he said cancel ICU and put him in pediatrics.” The family recalled how they reacted when searchers reported a possible find. An officer came to the Coffey home with the news but initially did not know whether the boy was alive or dead. Mrs. Coffey sent her husband, Lynn, to the command post to listen to the radio and return home with the news. “The minute I saw Lynn’s smiling face at the door, I knew,” she said. “I said, ‘Lord, thank you for answering my prayers. He’s alive.’” As officers walked her down the road to a car that would take her to Josh, she cried, laughed and blew kisses to the volunteers lined up outside the house. “I had to be shoved into the cop car because I wanted to take time to thank everyone,” she said. “At that moment I felt so loved and so blessed. It was like swimming in a sea of love.” Mrs. Coffey arrived at Oak Ridge Church on Highway 248 just before Josh was flown by helicopter to Springfield. She said his first words to her were, “Mom, where have you been?” “We knew that night would have been his last night,” she said. “His muscle joints had locked up and his legs had given out. He could go no further. I don’t have the words to say thank you for all those who filled the hills and went looking for Josh. Without them we wouldn’t have gotten Josh back.” When Josh fully recovers, the Coffey family hopes to line volunteers up outside their home so they can personally thank each one with a hug. Local volunteers say they would also like to plan a special welcome home for the young boy who captured their hearts and made them believe in miracles.

— Search teams never stopped believing Josh was close by

The Barry County Sheriff’s Department received a report of a missing child at 7 p.m. Wednesday, launching an extensive rescue effort that eventually involved 350 volunteers from six states. The search for 10-year-old Joshua Carlisle Coffey covered an 18-square-mile area surrounding the Coffey home southeast of Highway 248 in the Forest Grove–Galena Hollow area. Searchers combed the hilly, wooded terrain by foot, by air, on horseback and with all-terrain vehicles. Josh’s mother, Johnny Sue Coffey, realized he was missing at about 4:30 p.m. and searched for nearly two hours before contacting authorities. Josh was last seen wearing a red jacket, gray sweats and cowboy boots. One of the first officers to arrive was Dana Kammerlohr, a member of the Missouri Search and Rescue K-9 unit and a county reserve deputy. Trained dogs were sent into the area using the scent from a tennis shoe but initially could not locate the child. A command post was established in a bus purchased and equipped by Sheriff Ralph Hendrix and parked below the Coffey home so the family could see that the search was underway. Mark Vollenweider served as search coordinator with assistance from Jack Lowe and Paul Krull, while Lt. Connie Collins handled communications with county dispatchers Becky Davis, Mandy Blake and Peggy Clark helping sign in search teams. Volunteers made an initial sweep the first night, searching until about 4 a.m. Eight square miles were covered that night as more volunteers arrived. At one point Kammerlohr sat on a log and prayed, then looked across the hollow and saw searchers performing an arm-to-arm sweep across a hillside. “The flashlights created a straight line of lights moving from top to bottom,” she said. “It was one of the most touching sights I’ve ever seen. It was very inspiring.” The search expanded daily: 10 square miles were covered Thursday, 13 on Friday and 18 by Saturday. At one point 23 teams were searching; by the final day there were 12 larger teams combing areas “fingertip to fingertip.” Unlike many searches, the number of volunteers never dwindled and the effort never stopped. “We never thought of quitting,” Hendrix said. “There wasn’t a night when someone wasn’t looking.” Throughout the search, rescue dogs repeatedly picked up Josh’s scent north of the house, near where he was eventually found. Because of those indications, Hendrix concentrated teams in that direction on Saturday, sending crews out with instructions not to return until the boy was found. Searchers scoured the area inch by inch, turning over boulders and sifting through leaves. “We sent searchers into areas where rabbits don’t go,” Collins said. Ponds were dredged, caves and old mines were checked and a dive team searched Old Hailey Lake. Hendrix received word of a possible find around 12:30 p.m. Saturday while he and Lawrence County Sheriff David Tatum were at the Coffey home with the family. After Josh was safely returned and reunited with his mother, Hendrix said she gave him a huge hug. “She was one happy girl, and I think I was the happiest sheriff ever,” he said. During the search there were emotional highs and lows. At one point a pilot spotted what appeared to be a red object on a ledge, but crews later discovered it was only a bucket. Another time a tent was spotted from the air; it turned out to belong to a 15-year-old runaway who was later returned home. Hendrix praised everyone who helped with the effort, from those who searched the woods to those who brought food, supplies and prayers. “There’s a lot of people who never believed in miracles but do now,” Kammerlohr said. “When the cry went out, it touched a lot of hearts. We all learned it’s not over until it’s over.” The sweetest words Kammerlohr said she heard came when Jack Lowe radioed “10-200,” the code meaning Josh had been found alive. “I screamed, jumped over Connie and grabbed the mike,” she said. “I asked, ‘Did you say 10-200?’ and Jack answered, ‘Yes ma’am I did.’” Vollenweider said the parents were overwhelmed when they heard the news. “There was quite an outburst of emotion,” he said. “It’s hard to put in words how they felt.” Those involved also credited dogs with playing a major role. Rescue dogs kept teams focused on the correct area, and two stray dogs stayed with Josh in the woods. Hendrix later learned several strays had been around the house the day Josh disappeared and believes the boy may have followed them and become lost. In the end, the dogs and the relentless efforts of hundreds of volunteers helped save Josh’s life.