Skip to content

Looking Backward 9.29.2016

25 Years Ago

September 26, 1991

 

Ava Art Guild announced this week that it is in the process of establishing a fine art museum and gallery in Ava.  The Ava Guild members have been wanting a building of their own for several years and this has been a long planned goal.  The building next door to Hale Hardware on East Highway 14, across the street from the Herald Office, was the building discussed.

More than 2,000 people gathered under the big tent at Shadow Rock Park near Forsyth Saturday, Sept. 21, for White River Valley Electric Cooperative’s 52nd annual member meeting.  At this year’s meeting, attending members elected three directors George Simpson, Sparta; Russell Loftin, Ava; and James Heckman, Branson were re-elected to the board and will each serve a three-year term.

There was no fanfare and no big hoopla, but the first dirt was moved Wednesday at the site of the new Ava Post Office on West Washing-ton Avenue. The new post office is expected to be completed by February 1992.

Janet Bloomer was hostess for a slumber party for her daughter, April who was celebrating her 11th birthday, Friday, Sept. 20.  Girls attending and bringing gifts were Cassie Rush, Melody Tate, Megan McGill, Brooke Fish, Rebecca Welch, Christy Jones, Brooke Sillavan, Crystal Sillavan, Holly Bloomer and Melanie Dodson.

Coy and Christene (Wilson) Turner of Thornfield will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Oct. 4.

Rollan and Debra Stewart, Ava, won big in Harrison, Ark., last week with their show cattle.  Overall, they won 12 first place ribbons, five second place ribbons, and one third place ribbon.

 

50 Years Ago

 September 22, 1966

 

The Herald Publishing Com-pany has taken the first step in its plans to convert to offset printing by installing darkroom and printing equipment of a size suitable for newspaper printing.  The new Kenro camera and related equipment were installed last weekend by Carroll McKinney of Lawrence Photo Supply of Springfield. The major investment in offset printing – a web offset press – is still in the planning stage.

The October induction call is for six men, and the preinduction call is for nine.  Those ordered for induction are Dale Posey, James Alcorn, Sonny Hale, Rodney Alms, and Milton Brazeal.  Carl Gunter has been ordered for immediate induction.

Mrs. Freda Strong of Route 1, Ava, was notified Monday that her son, Marine Pfc. Bill R. Frye, had received a serious neck wound Sept 18 in the fighting at Quang Tri, in the northern part of South Viet Nam, and is now undergoing treatment at the Danang Air Force Base Hospital.

Leland Barnes, a member of the Ava Bears Football team was injured in a practice session Tuesday evening. Hospital officials report that Barnes suffered some strained muscles in his back, but received no apparent fracture.

Mr. and Mrs. Ace McCullough observed their golden wedding anniversary on Sept. 2 at their farm home near Red Bank. The couple married in the old courthouse at Ava on Sept. 2, 1916.

The Ava Art Group of SMMA opened the fall season at the home of Mrs. Wallace Williams, 712 S. Jefferson. A dessert course, pineapple chiffon pie and coffee, was served with nuts and mints to the following members of the club:  Mesdames Harold Hutchison, C.K. Shollenberger, Jim Shindler, Howard Curry, Bill Pettit, Howard Pettit, Vance Moore, Vestil Taylor, Ben Callaway, Charles Cagle and Virgil Kester.

Miss Heather House began work last week in the School of Phar-macy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

Students going to Columbia to begin the fall semester at the University of Missouri were: Miss Jennifer Tallent, Eddie Hesterlee, Harry Stafford, Jr., Gene Holman, Harold Kellogg, and Miss Deanna Painter.

Several local young people have started work in the School of the Ozarks at Point Lookout.  Included in the group are Miss Sherry Sims, Miss Mary Kay Harnden, Miss Hope Benedee, Miss Pat Livesay, Ronald Denney, Jack Upton, and Rodney Horner.

Social Security: the guarantee of a steak in your old age, when all your teeth are gone.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Pitts were hosts Sept. 4 to a party at their home on Hunter Road in honor of their son, Jim, who will leave for Springfield to attend Southwest Missouri State College.

 

75 Years Ago

September 25, 1941

 

Ava’s new sewer system now is complete.  Started in March 1939, a year and a half ago, as a WPA project, the job took longer to finish than was first hoped, and it cost the city more than was expected, but now it is all done and Ava may well be proud of it.  We have made a big step in city sanitation. Over-flowing septic tanks with foul odors and contaminating influence will be things of the past.

The most rainfall ever recorded here in a single rain fell in Ava yesterday from 11:30 o’clock in the morning to 9 o’clock last night, the amount measuring 4.05 inches.  The Forest Service has been keeping weather records since 1936 at the ranger station here.

Jefferson City – Missouri’s truck and bus owners have an opportunity to make a contribution to national defense by supplying information to the highway traffic advisory committee to the War Department and the Federal Works Agency now engaged in a statewide inventory.

For the first time since the war began on Sept. 11 not a single item of war news appeared on the front page of Hitler’s newspaper, the Voelkischer Beobechier. Just what this signified none could say.

Resurfacing of four and one-half miles of city streets with a coating of asphalt is to get under way here next week.

Thirty-five Douglas County rural schools have made application for school lunch programs up to the middle of this week.  The programs already have started in some schools, but will start in most schools Oct. 1.

If you have been doing any shopping at all you have been struck by the fact that prices are rising and some commodities are getting extremely scarce.  One shortage we have heard of is stovepipe. That’s something one rarely thinks about until this time of year or when a section of pipe rusts through or burns through.  How’s your stove pipe?  Then there’s hair pins.  Probably nothing else a woman uses does she take so much for granted as hair pins.  But now hair pins are hard to get.

Mr. and Mrs. Pete Leroy of the Gentryville community will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary Saturday, Sept. 27.  Mr. Leroy is 70 years old, and Mrs. Leroy is 69.  Five of their nine children are still living.

Avalon Theatre – “Strawberry Blond” with James Cagney, Olivia deHavilland in the gayest comedy of the Gay Nineties yet made.

CROSS ROADS – Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Norman and two children, Ronald and Janice, visited Sunday afternoon with Mrs. Mary O. Nodman.

ROY –– Mr. and Mrs. Corbin Mathews and family were entertained at dinner by Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Melton last Sunday.

SANDY –– Miss Rogers took her students on a sight-seeing trip to Springfield Saturday. Among the interesting places they visited was the air field, zoo, bottling company and a potato chip factory. The school was accompanied by the following parents: Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Buttram, Mrs. Belle Hodges, Mrs. Alta Cornett and Sam Kenner.

 

100 Years Ago

September 28, 1916

 

JEFFERSON CITY –– Suit was filed here Sept 23 to compel Secretary of State Roach to place the prohibition amendment on the ballot. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court next Friday, and it is expected that a ruling will be announced Saturday. The petition sets forth that Roach is outside of the law in refusing to place the proposed amendment on the ballot.

Republicans from everywhere seem to be going to Buckhart to attend the Campaign opening and big rally on Wednesday, Oct. 4.  From every section of the country reports are coming in about plans to attend.  There will be a large delegation from Ava.

Railroading is a new occupation for women.  The New York Times reports that no less than 26,000 women are now employed on the various state railroads in Germany, according to recent reports.  They are working as car cleaners, door closers, platform guards, ticket collectors, telegraphers, train dis-patchers, track women and mechan-ics in repair shops.

The least that may be said of President Wilson is that he has been right half the time, for he has been on both sides of almost all important questions.

It is not to be wondered that Thomas A. Edison favors Wilson’s re-election.  The electrical wizard naturally likes anything that switches on and off.

BRUSHYKNOB – Will Waters, who has kept a store here for a year or more has sold out to Bill Morgan and he and wife and little son Marvin are visiting relatives near and in Ava.

A two-year-old mule owned by Dad Plummer tore loose from its custody while being shod at the A. Herrell blacksmith shop in Ava on Thursday of last week, and ran out into the street and fell on his side. Death followed immediately.

No one doubts that alcohol in large quantities is a poison.  Prof. Irving Fisher, from an exhaustive study, has become convinced that if there is any minimum of alcohol which is harmless it must be exceedingly small.  He found alcohol increases fatigue, it gives no increase of muscular power; it is not really a stimulant, but a depressant. And alcohol decreases also the capacity for mental work.  Many of the largest business concerns have issued orders forbidding men in their employ to visit saloons or resorts where liquor is sold.

 

125 Years Ago

October 1, 1891

 

New York electric experts doubt the feasibility of ocean telephoning.

The story of cows getting drunk on fermented apples comes from Clarksville, Mo.

Herds of pauper immigrants are working their way into the United States on straw bonds.

Owing to the rush to the new lands, the Oklahoma statehood convention has been indefinitely postponed.

  1. J. Philips of Walls Township raised a champion stalk of corn this season which was 15 feet in height and measured 5 inches around. The stalk bore two ears of corn both of which were over 9 inches in length.

The Lyon & Richards Roller Mill Company of Rome, Mo., are paying as much for wheat as can be obtained at the railroad and five cents more per bushel than is now offered by any mill in Douglas County. They believe in giving the farmer a part of the profit.

  1. P. Powers of Campbell Township, made a pleasant call at the Herald office on Saturday, and renewed his subscription for the Herald and Globe Democrat for the next 12 months. Mr. Powers has just received his voucher for a pension, he got $140.00 and an allowance of $12.00 per month. It does us good to see the old veterans cheer up when they get what Uncle Sam justly owes them. Especially so when they appreciate the fact that a liberal republican administra-tion is the case of their being pensioned.

S.P. Davidson, of Hoxie, Kansas was in Ava on Tuesday.  He has purchased the Howard farm 1 ½ miles north of Arno, and expects to move to Douglas County this fall.  He is the owner of a fine herd of blooded cattle which he will bring with him to the county.  Mr. Davidson states that there are quite a number in his neighborhood who are anticipating a change of residency to the county and that there will probably be quite a large migration to South West Missouri from North Western Kansas during the next elections.

The Johns Mill Post Office has been moved to Wm Spurrier’s place in Douglas County, and Mrs. Wel Spencer has been appointed post master.

The Cave Spring School is being taught by W. R. Payten who seems to be giving good satisfaction to the patrons of the school.

The new $30,000 opera house at Carthage, Mo., has been opened.

Within two weeks, four distinct shocks of earthquake have been felt in Tacoma, Washington.

Between 3 and 4 o’clock yester-day afternoon fire was discovered in the machinery storage rooms of Plant Milling Company, situated at the foot of Chateau Avenue, and the flames spread so rapidly that the firemen could do nothing but save adjoining property.