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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021
TRENTON
R-T REPUBLICAN-TIMES 75¢
©W.B. Rogers Printing Co., Inc.
12 PAGES + 1 INSERT
Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 157th Year - No. 44
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BRIEFS County COVID-19 Update
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Grundy County ticked up a little this week, according to the Grundy County Health Department, with the total number of cases sitting at 1,032 as of Thursday morning, an increase of 20 from Monday’s tally. Of that amount, 796 are confirmed, up from 781 and 236 are listed as probable, an increase of five. There are currently 36 active cases, an increase of five, while the number of deaths attributed to the virus stands at 39, an increase of three from Monday’s report.
Township Meeting Set
The annual meeting of township officials from Grundy County will be held Friday, Feb. 12. The meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m., will be held at the Community Action Partnership of North Central Missouri (formerly known as the Green Hills Community Action Agency). The distribution of CART rock and other transportation issues will be discussed.
I REMEMBER TRENTON
Ice Storm In 1937 Was One For The Ages R-T Photo/Wendell Lenhart
17TH STREET BRIDGE PROJECT MOVES FORWARD The only thing that lasts longer than the Missouri winter (or a pandemic) is when you’re waiting for a bridge you use regularly to get finished being replaced! Well, take heart if you’ve been waiting for the 17th Street Bridge replacement project to move forward because work is continuing, with piers recently installed. Boone Construction of Columbia is building the bridge, with a June 2 tentative completion date.
Plans Changed For Alumni Mailing Classes Will Once Again Be Asked To Stuff Own Letters
Due to COVID concerns, the annual mass mailing meeting to assemble the preliminary mailing to nearly 6,000 alums has been changed, with plans to be handled as completed last year. Unable to gather in a large group for assembling the tentative schedule and mailing, classes will once again be asked to assist the association in stuffing their own
letters with supplies provided and return mailings for bulk mailing. The original plans were to gather on Feb. 21 for the mass mailing meeting. “The Grundy County Opportunity Center will again be utilized in preparing the mailing and we are appreciative of their assistance,” said Steve Maxey, secretary of the Alumni Association/Found-ation Trust. “This will enable the large mailing to be completed in a safe manner while supporting a local organization with compensation. This will be the second year for the Opportunity Center to provide such assistance. “ Classes are still reminded of the need for updated addresses to print the labels for mailing and those should be sent to Dr. John Holcomb now at
johnlholcomb@gmail.com. In addition, classes planning to host reunions or other special events this Labor Day are asked to forward tentative reunion plans to Maxey as soon as possible at maxeysteve@gmail.com for completion of the schedule to be inserted in the mailing. Maxey said as soon as materials are ready for assembling, classes will be notified on details for picking up supplies. In addition, he reminded classes planning to insert a class letter are invited to include a one-page letter in their class mailing and requested the letter be on lightweight paper to comply with bulk mailing regulations. Classes with specific questions should contact Holcomb or Maxey.
Committee Votes No On COVID Vaccines Being Sidewalk Snow Removal Handled Regionally City Attorney Will Draft Ordinance On Reptiles It was a “no” for snow removal on the sidewalks across the Ninth Street Bridge and a “probably” for changing a city ordinance concerning reptiles in the city when the administrative committee of the Trenton City Council met Tuesday evening. After discussion, which has been ongoing, the committee voted to not recommend to the full council that any action be taken on removing snow from the sidewalks on the Ninth Street Bridge. First Ward Councilman Glen Briggs had
told the council he has received public input that the snow on those sidewalks makes it difficult for those who need to cross the bridge on foot, bicycle, wheelchair, etc., to get across. While committee members agreed that it can be an issue, they said it wouldn’t make sense to clean the sidewalks on the bridge when the walks on either side of it would still be covered in ice or snow. In addition, it was noted that any time a snow plow came through to clean the roadway, it would likely just throw snow back onto the sidewalk, making it a neverending task. It was also discussed that in the past, bids were sought for the snow removal and none were received. [See REPTILES, Page 5]
National Guard Is Assisting With Vaccine Clinics
The availability of COVID19 vaccine continues to be the leading factor limiting vaccination of the more than 2 million remaining Missourians currently eligible according to Missouri’s priority phases, according to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. Missouri’s interagency vaccine planning team has selected hospitals within all regions of the state who will be receiving just over half of the state’s weekly vaccine allocation through the month of Feb-
ruary. For Grundy County, which is in Region H, Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph is the hospital that will be handling the vaccine for the entire month of February. Federal partners are responsible for the state’s total allocation, which is currently approximately 76,000 doses per week, and the state decides where to apportion that allocation among Missouri’s enrolled COVID-19 vaccinators. “We are committed to fairly allocating doses in regions throughout the state and working with vaccinators to ensure efficient administration of the vaccine,” said Gov. Parson. “Our partnership with the selected hospitals will help provide the consistency needed for effective planning of high[See VACCINE, Page 5]
Boot Cleats And Skates Helped People Get Around
Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by Rick Neff and was told to him by Max Berton Oyler (June 18, 1918Jan. 31, 2020). Rick met Max when Max was 99 years old. Max allowed him to write his life story and this is an excerpt from it. My family lived about 10 miles north of Trenton, just off of Route A. On a Saturday night just after the first of the year in 1937 I went on a date with my future wife’s older sister, Mevlyn, and two other couples to the movie in Trenton. Our car was my neighbor’s coupe with a rumble seat behind. Two couples rode in the front seat and Mevlyn and I rode in the rumble seat. The car didn’t have a heater and of course Mevlyn and I were outside, but that was just what we did in those days and we had a great time. After the movie, we took the girls home, then took a route through our pasture to my home instead of trying to drive up the hill on a muddy clay road. When we stopped so I could open the pasture gate it started sleeting, thus starting the big ice storm that stayed on for about six weeks. It continued sleeting all night and the next day. Then we had some freezing rain on top of the sleet. During the following days and weeks, we had freezing rain every few days. It would melt a little, then refreeze. The ice was thick everywhere and on everything. People had to make cleats for their boots to be able to walk. It was vastly different from today. There were no MoDOT trucks out blading or salting roads. Most of the roads were still dirt or mud. If you had a team of horses shod with cleats you were lucky. Cattle, hogs, horses and most
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
THE AVENGERS...
Friday night will see partly cloudy skies with a low of 13. Saturday will have afternoon snow with a high of 25 and a low of 2. Sunday will be mostly cloudy with a high of just 17 and an overnight low of 6. The high at Trenton Monday was 30 with Tuesday reaching 38. Wednesday’s high was 51 with a low of 24. The high Wednesday at the Government Weather Station near Spickard was 48 with a low of 23.
The North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team avenged an early season defeat, going on the road and picking up an 82-71 victory over No. 9 John Wood on Tuesday in Quincy, IL. SPORTS, PAGE 2
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other animals could barely walk and many slid down hills into a ditch or against fences, barns, trees or other barriers. My cousin, Woodrow Oyler, brought his steel wheeled tractor over to break tracks in the ice for us and our livestock. This was big in helping us deal with the ice. We only lost one cow whose back legs did the splits. Firewood had to have the ice chipped off, then be allowed to dry inside the house. Our Model T had chains on the back for traction, but I also had to put chains on one front tire to make the car steerable. Our horses were running in a pasture bordering the Weldon River when the river iced over. We found that the horses had crossed the river to someone else’s farm. So, I put on my ice skates and went skating after them. I did some pretty fancy skating out in the open but banks and ditches were a challenge. I rounded the horses up and drove them back across the frozen river into a different pasture and closed the gate, then skated home. One afternoon me and my two younger brothers, Charles and Clifford, thought we had a ride home from the movie in Trenton, if we just had a way to get there. So, we put on our skates and skated 10 miles across fields, down right of ways and down roads to town to watch the movie. Fortunately, we did get a ride home. The ice storm created a lot of hardship for everyone, but we just did what we had to do, like everyone else. Spring was just around the corner. Let Us Hear From You: Persons who have a memory to share about any topic related to Trenton and the surrounding area are asked to do so by e-mailing the Republican-Times newspaper at rtimes@lyn.net. Stories should include the writer’s name, address and telephone number. Stories are to be submitted by e-mail and will appear periodically in the newspaper.
WHAT’S INSIDE
SPORTS ....................PAGE 2 & 3 OP/ED ...........................PAGE 4 CALENDARS ..................PAGE 5 AGRICULTURE ...............PAGE 6 NASCAR ......................PAGE 7 COMICS ..........................PAGE 8 CROSSWORDS ................PAGE 9 CLASSIFIEDS.........PAGE 10 & 11 AREA .............................PAGE 12