Blast from the past

The Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail has made finding new inmates to fill all its cells a top priority of 2009. The jail lost about 100 inmates when the Polk County, Iowa, newly built jail got up and running in November of last year.

Next week’s Hamilton Invitational Tournament promises to be a knock-down-drag-out affair for three GRC girls’ teams jockeying for position in the league’s hierarchy. The top three seeds, Hamilton, Gallatin and South Harrison, bring a combined 29-5 record into play, starting on Monday.

Rachel Hopkins of Pattonsburg has been selected to the 2009 Women’s All-American Trapshooting Team. This is the second time the 16-year-old has been named an All-American.

Jan. 20, 1999

Jesse Eaton, son of Glen and Virginia Eaton of Kidder and a senior at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, has been selected to play in the Professional Football Association All-Star Game in Orlando, FL. Eaton is optimistic about continuing his playing career in the National Football League or Canadian Football League.

Smithville’s Jayce Tingler set a new SHS career scoring record Thursday night against Carrollton. Tingler scorched the net for 35 points to lead Smithville to a 91-83 victory over Gallatin in the championship game of the Lawson Tournament on Saturday. Jayce is the son of former Jameson High School standout Steve Tingler and former Gilman City star Diana Tingler, who is the sister of Gallatin R-5 High School Principal Mike Burrell.

Jan. 25, 1989

Tri-County R-7 Schools at Jamesport have been closed for the second time this week because of a flu epidemic. Absenteeism is reported over 30 percent.

Pattonsburg’s Chris Bauer, Mike Lawson, Amy Shipers and Valerie Cornett were named to the King City All-Tournament Teams following the conclusion of Saturday night’s games. King City’s boys and girls took championships from Pattonsburg teams.

State officials say that Cameron is being strongly considered as a site for one of two 150-bed veterans nursing homes for Western Missouri. Cameron and Warrensburg are geographically located near the center of two areas in need of veterans homes.

Jan. 24, 1979

Just when Daviess Countians had thought they’d weathered through the near-blizzard, another storm, this time bringing damaging ice, took its toll last week. Freezing rain packed snows on rooftops, causing some home damage and numerous trees were stripped of limbs. Approximately 4,000 members of the FEC in the nine-county area had electrical service disrupted by the storm, with Daviess and Caldwell counties the hardest hit.

Announcement was made today that negotiations for the sale of the world-famous Litton Ranch at Chillicothe have been completed. The announcement came from Charley and Mildred Litton, and the purchaser, Don Pettinger of Worthington, Iowa.

Mike Shuler ripped Hamilton for a career high 39 points but the conference leading Hornets spoiled Gallatin’s basketball homecoming Saturday night with a 62-59 win. Hamilton also claimed the girls’ contest, 63-34. Most unusual in this game were five technicals assessed against Hamilton when subs failed to report to the scorer’s desk.

Jan. 23, 1969

Jaycee officers who have piloted the Gallatin Chapter through an outstanding first year are Junior Terry, director; Steve Tate, director; Ed Wells, director; Bob Teegarden, director; Larry Richards, president; Duane Frost, internal vice president; Robert Snidow, external vice president; Ronald Gray, treasurer; and Ronald Corwin, secretary.

Gallatin voters overwhelmingly approved the $160,000 waterworks bond issue Tuesday by a vote of 260 to 75. The $160,000 in bonds will be matched by $60,000 from the city’s reserves to finance an expansion and improvement project to the city’s water system.

Jan. 29, 1959

A project of interest and value to this area is now taking shape on the right-of-way of the Wabash Railroad near the depot. K.C. Froman, well-known Daviess County farmer and former manager of the MFA Co-op and fertilizer plant here, has organized the Farmers Grain and Fertilizer Company and the plant is under construction.

An incident which figured prominently in the history of Daviess County and Northwest Missouri, the robbery of the Rock Island train near Winston in 1881, has been re-created with startling realism in a wood carving by Dee Flagg of Scottsdale, AZ. The train robbery scene was carved from a piece of spruce six inches thick, 23 inches wide and nine feet long. The finished carving measures 14 feet in length by 40 inches wide.

Jan. 27, 1949

A new vocational agriculture building and workshop has been erected at a cost of $15,000 as a classroom and workshop for the Veterans Administration farm training classes. Lack of heating facilities has prevented occupancy so far. The building is located just north of the high school.

It has been brought to the attention of this newspaper that violations of the city’s parking regulations have resulted in fines and court costs totaling $7.50. That is out of all reason for first or even second time offense of the parking violations.

The Gallatin VFW basketball town team is rapidly becoming recognized as one of this area’s hottest outfits. Friday night’s 60-39 victory over Breckenridge was the Gallatin quintet’s 23rd in 24 games.