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Volume 104 • Number 5 • Wednesday, January 8, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO • 75¢
Coleman reportedly makes suicide attempt By TONY BROWN News editor
JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
Clear and dry
A section of S. Munn, resurfaced over the summer, is one of two local streets to be treated exclusively with a new corn-based ice-melt product. It was surfaced with concrete instead of asphalt due to the longevity of concrete roads.
Corn-based ice melt meeting expectations By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff Writer
A new corn-based ice melt is being applied to snow-covered streets in Maryville this winter and appears to be performing as advertised. Late last year, the Daily Forum reported that the new “bio-melt” formula was being adopted in order to eliminate salt corrosion on two newly reconstructed streets, South Depot and South Munn. Now, with a couple of winter storms under their belt, city crewmen report that the compound has proved effective. “We used to use a beet extract juice,” Maryville Street Superintendent Jay Cacek said. “But we needed something to pretreat our new concrete streets that wouldn’t hurt them.” The old beet-based product didn’t work as a melting agent unless mixed with salt, and as any driveway owner knows salt and concrete don’t mix without some damage being done.
The corn-based melt, however, works as a melting agent whether it’s mixed with salt or not. And when it is used with salt, the recipe requires only five gallons per ton of salt instead of six. Both products make salt about 60 percent less corrosive. However, on the two new streets salt isn’t being used at all this year. “By itself, it’s working real well on Munn and Depot streets, the new concrete streets we just put in,” Cacek said. “We use it as a pre-treat down there because we don’t put anything on the streets until they are more than a year old.” In preparation for the rest of winter, the city brought in 25 additional tons of salt Tuesday. In addition, a predicted warming trend this week means that potholes are looming as a major concern for the street crew. “Right now we aren’t doing too bad on pot holes,” Cacek said. “But I’m sure with the freezing and the thaw we will probably start
to get them.” Potholes will get a temporary patch during the winter, assuming that patching material is available from plants in St. Joseph and Kansas City. “Once they pop up, you temporarily patch them if you can get the patch,” Cacek said. “But that’s if the plants are making the patch. It has to be a certain temperature for the plants to be make it.” The new roads, of course, shouldn’t show much wear this year. But Maryville’s asphalt streets are another matter. “The concrete is a little more durable pavement,” Cacek said. “You’ve got a hard permanent surface that will hopefully last you several years. But the asphalt streets aren’t as thick as the concrete streets.” As the weather warms, potholes are inevitable. And if patching material is scarce, Cacek warned that drivers will need to stay alert for damaged road surfaces and adjust their speed accordingly.
Daisy Coleman, the former Maryville High School student who is one of the alleged victims in an ongoing sexual abuse case, was reportedly hospitalized following a suicide attempt on Sunday. According to Fox 4 News, the Albany teen was taken to a Kansas City hospital. The station reported that Coleman’s mother, Melinda Coleman, said her daughter became distraught when she read derogatory remarks on Facebook after attending a party on Saturday. Daisy Coleman’s condition was not immediately available, however news reports indicated the suicide attempt involved an overdose. Melinda Coleman wrote on Facebook that her daughter “had been terrorized to the point she tried to kill herself last night.” Daisy Coleman’s story made national news in Oc-
tober when investigative reports by public radio station KCUR and the Kansas City Star identified her as one of two teenage girls allegedly raped during a house party in Maryville attended by several local high school students.
Daisy Coleman
Arrested following the incident were Matthew Bradley Barnett and Jordan James Zech, both then 17. Also taken into custody was a 15-year-old boy who allegedly assaulted
another girl, age 13. In December the Star reported that the boy, whose identity was withheld because of his status as a juvenile, was allowed to return home for treatment after spending two weeks in the custody of the state Division of Youth Services. Coleman was 14 years old when the alleged assaults occurred two years ago. After reportedly enduring intense bullying by classmates and other fallout related to the episode, the Colemans moved to Albany. The house where they lived, located in a subdivision just northeast of Maryville, was later destroyed by fire, the cause of which was never determined. Two months after the initial investigation in January 2012, Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice dropped felony charges against both Barnett and Zech, See COLEMAN, Page 3
Judge Dietrich to retire from bench after term Glen Dietrich, associate Circuit Judge of Nodaway County, issued a release Tuesday announcing that he will not seek re-election in 2014. Dietrich’s retirement at the end of his current term on Dec. 31 will mark the end of a 20-year career on the bench. A Democrat, he was first elected in 1994 and re-elected in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010. “I am one of those fortunate people who have enjoyed every day of my professional career, especially my time on the bench serving the public,” Dietrich said. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Dietrich attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He is an ASTAR (Ad-
Glen Dietrich
vanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource) Fellow, and also serves by appointment of the Missouri Supreme Court on the Circuit Court
Budget Committee (longest serving member), the Judge Transfer Subcommittee and as chairman of the Fine Collection Center Committee. A past president of the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges (2007-2008), Dietrich has presided over trials in 15 counties and nine of Missouri’s 45 judicial circuits. By temporary special appointment, he has also been seated with the Missouri Supreme Court and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. Before joioning the Missouri judiciary, Dietrich was in private practice as a trial and transactional lawyer in Maryville from 1974-1994. He taught business law at Northwest Missouri State University from 1974-1975.
Local author uses night class to achieve dream By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff Writer
A local man credits his “persistent” wife and the teacher of his night class for helping him get new confidence to become a published author. Gene Cease, owner of Advantage Glass, had written a novel
before, but it had never been published. “I wrote a book a couple years ago,” Cease said. “One-hundredthousand words and I thought it was okay. My wife looked it over and said it had worth. I sent it off to a friend of mine I went to school with who was more in line to (edit the story) and (his evaluation)
was scathing. I was was just heart broken. I figured I was done, so I threw it on a shelf and gave up.” “I tried to tell him that one bad review didn’t equal no talent,” Gene’s wife, Lana Cease, said. “It just meant that particular person didn’t like it. I suggested he keep trying, but he somewhat gave up.” After giving up on his writing,
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however, his wife didn’t give up on him. She would ask if he were writing any more. He hadn’t been writing so Lana signed him up for a class. “She said, ‘There’s a continuing adult education course at the vocational school,’” Gene Cease said. “There was a class for novel and story writing. She said ‘You’re
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enrolled in it, it’s already paid for, and we can’t get our money back. So it would be a shame if you couldn’t go.’ I was politely irritated, but I went. And I loved it. It was probably the boost that I needed.” The class was a six-week program that was taught by Jason See LOCAL AUTHOR, Page 3
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