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Looking Backward 2.14.2013

  25 Years Ago

February 11, 1988

 

The City of Ava purchased the Adams property just off the northeast corner of the public square, to be used for a parking lot. The only structure on the property included in the purchase is the cobblestone building on the southeast corner. There is speculation that this building could be developed into a very adequate office for the Ava Area Chamber of Commerce.

Ava City Council approved the purchase of a typewriter for the Police Department. The typewriter is an Olympia brand, purchased  at the bid price of $809.

Highway Patrol Sgt. Danny Middleton presented to the Ava City Council a proposal top return two-way traffic to a portion of the square. The proposal submitted in rough draft would make Business Route 5 two-way traffic through the west side of the square. The one-way traffic would continue on the other three sides.

Skyline Elementry School was burglarized Wednesday morning. The only items taken were a Comodore computer, Magnavox monitor, the computer keyboard and disk drive unit.

Douglas County Sheriff Leonard Sanders, Prosecuting Attorney Souder Tate and Douglas County are all named defendants in a complaint filed by Max Storey, Norwood. He alleges that tools stolen from him were recovered but were impounded and were not returned to him.

Rick and Theresa (Rust) Miller are proud to announce the birth of their daughter Kandace Renee Miller.

Orilla Mae Murray daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Delbert M. Murray has been elected to “Who’s Who in Music”.

Five Loaves of Golden Bake Bread for $1 at Town & Country Supermarket

The Ava Bears freshman basketball team finished a perfect 12-0 season by capturing 1st place in the Ozark Tournament.

 

50 Years Ago

February 7, 1963

 

Grand opening of the new annex of the Highway Church of the Nazarene will be held Sunday Feb. 10. The project began in June of 1962 and has been erected almost entirely by donation labor of church members.

Ava Volunteer firemen were called out twice during the past week to two blazes that caused little damage. One a fire broke out in the wall of a small home occupied by Mrs. Ed Lister across the street from the Gastineau MFA Station after some hot ashes were dumped next to the wall. The  second was a small grass fire on the Miller property one block north of the Ava Motel.

The Ava school Peewees won the championship trophy of the Thornfield invitational basketball tournement by defeating Wasola 35-21. Squad members include Henry Robertson, Lindell King, Ronnie Curry, Gary Daugherty, Marvin Emerson, James Ray Parsley, Hamilin Tallent, Grayson Tallent, David Dooms, and Rick Strong.

Slab Bacon only .29/lb at Richard Bros.

The second member of a Douglas County family suffered gunshot wounds under mysterious circumstances. John Vining 16, of Dora drove to West Plains Memorial Hospital with a bullet lodged in his lower left leg. Vining’s 21 year old brother was in the West Plains Hospital last August with a bullet wound between the ankle and knee of his left leg. Both boys received the injuries under unexplained circumstances. John told officers he was doing homework when he heard three or four shots outside the home. When he went outside to investigate he heard another shot and felt a sharp pain in his leg. His brother was shot the summer before while he was sleeping in a hammock outside.

A Willow Springs school bus driver, who brought the school’s basketball team to Ava for a game, probably went away muttering angry thoughts, and commented on the downright meanness prevalent in some of the unbalanced minds here abouts. If it helps he wasn’t singled out as hoodlums let the air out of one of the tires of the Willow Springs bus and did the same to two of the tires on an Ava bus belonging to Lonnie Moore.

HB 210, introduced at the Capitol would create a minimum wage of not less than $1 per hour in Missouri.

 

75 Years Ago

February 10, 1938

 

Mts. Ellen Johnson confessed this week that she put lead arsenate into her husband’s food on three different occasions. She suffered a mental collapse in jail and was declared insane by the Douglas County court and is now in the state hospital in Nevada. If she recovers her sanity she will face first degree murder charges in the death of her husband George Johnson. Mrs. Johnson admitted in her confession that she had first given her husband the poison about nine moths prior. She had at that time put it in his potatoes. She gave him the second dose in beans about three month prior to his death. The third dose was given to his Saturday Jan. 8, before he died on Jan. 12. Her motive for killing her husband, she told officers, was that “he was mean to me” When asked in what ways was her husband mean to her she said “He beat me and wouldn’t buy me anything. He hit me once a week before a baby was born and the baby was born dead.” When interviewed neighbors claim the still birth was more likely cause when Mrs. Johnson hit herself with an axe handle one day while chopping a pine knot or possibly in stooping over an old oil drum used to catch water. The children or Mrs. Johnson stated that their father was good to them and their mother and never beat any of them.

Plans for the construction of a $10,000 family cold storage plant in Ava in the immediate future were disclosed by O.E. Jennings of Springfield, speaking before 115 men and women at a dinner meeting of the Ava Chamber of Commerce. He has obtained an option on the old building of the Dairy Belt Cheese company and plans to remodel it. The plant will contain 300 family size lockers so constructed at to preserve indefinitely as much as 325 pounds of food.  Besides the storage system Mr. Jennings hopes to install also an ice plant and eventually a soda water bottling plant big enough to take care of Ava and vicinity.

Mrs. Murley Grabeel became suddenly ill Saturday morning and was taken to the Springfield Baptist hospital. Mrs. Grabeel is suffering from a severe attack of yellow jaundice.

 

100 Years Ago

February 20, 1913

 

WANTED – At once 1,000 good, live citizens with $10,000 apiece to locate in Ava

Just a few more days of good Republican government, then comes an era of doubt and uncertainty such as this country has experienced before as a result of putting Democrats where Republicans have so faithfully served. Let us hope for the best and do all we can to prevent a recurrence of hard times.

J.H.F. Taylor brought us a load of wood on subscription last week. He had us send the paper to F.M. Vinson of Ava.

H.S. Wilson is having the large gasoline engine, which he recently bought off the K.C.O&S. Ry., permanently installed at the Opera house this week. He has put in a concrete foundation and built a nice room especially for the machine. With this machine he will furnish electricity for lighting the building as well as for the moving picture show. This will be quite an improvement to the already well arranged building. Henry is always doing something to make something better, or to improve his property on the town.

Will have a care load of timothy hay Saturday or first of the week for sale. $14. Also a car of alfalfa next week at about same price.

What is the matter with our commercial club? Have the knockers knocked it in the head until it is dead, dead, dead?

The one cent letter rate promises to be the next live issue effecting the post office department in Washington.  A new one cent letter postage bill has been introduced in the Senate and active steps are being taken to promote it’s passage. “Without a doubt the time had arrived when the people of the United States are entitled to one cent letter postage” declares Senator Burton. “The present two cents rate has been in exsistence since 1883, and no important changes have been made since that date, despite the fact that the population of the country has increased immensely, and there has been an astonishing increase in the amount of letter communication between our people.”

Don’t be afraid to visit before meal time now at Mr. Lewis Swearengin’s. they butchered hogs Monday

 

125 Years Ago

February 17, 1888

 

There was not an issue of the Herald published during this week in 1888. The Herald after this point switched to being a Thursday publication. It had been Friday publication.