Forum Your Non-Stop Source for News in Nodaway County
maryville Daily
Online at:
F
Online
maryvilledailyforum.com
Volume 104 • Number 7 • Friday, January 10, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO
75¢
Barnett guilty of misdemeanor By TONY BROWN News editor
In less than half an hour a two-yearold sexual assault case that bitterly divided the Maryville community and created a national media sensation ended with a brokered guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge by a single defendant who was placed on two years’ probation with no jail time. The plea by 19-year-old Matt Barnett to one count of endangering the welfare of a child means that the former Maryville High School student will face no further criminal action in connection with a liquor-soaked teenage party after which two teenaged girls, aged 13 and 14, claimed to have been raped.
“Legally we could not get that charge over the bar. I could not file that charge.” — Jean Peters Baker One of the girls, Daisy Coleman, has been living inside an intense media spotlight since investigative stories by the Kansas City Star and a Kansas City public radio station portrayed her as a tragic victim of bullying and abuse, much of it via social media. The abuse became so severe, according to the Coleman family, that they were forced to leave town, moving to Albany. The house where they had lived on the northeastern edge of Maryville was later destroyed in a fire for which no cause was ever determined. After the move, Daisy Coleman reportedly continued to suffer from depression and anxiety, a downward See BARNETT, Page 3
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Speaking for the prosecution
Special prosecutor Jean Peters Baker talks to reporters in front of the Nodaway County Courthouse after Judge Glen Dietrich accepted a plea-bargained guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child from Matt Barnett, the sole remaining defendant in the Daisy Coleman sex abuse investigation.
R-II board reviews performing arts building plans By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff Writer
Planning for the future
KEVIN BIRDSELL/DAILY FORUM
The Maryville R-II Board of Education discussed proposed additions to Maryville High School and Eugene Field Elementary School during a Wednesday work session. The extensive capital projects, including a performing arts center at the high school, are dependent on voter approval of a $10.25 million bond issue this spring.
OFFICE NUMBER
660-562-2424
INSIDE
Record....................... 2 Opinion..................... 4 Religion..................... 5
The Maryville R-II Board of Education gathered this week for a work session geared toward ironing out the details of major capital improvements to be financed with a proposed $10.25 million bond issue set to go before voters during the April 8 municipal election. If the measure passes, the district plans on adding a performing arts center at the Maryville High School campus and expanding the existing cafeteria, kitchen and commons area at Eugene Field Elementary School. District officials have described the performing arts center, which would seat about 680 people, as their main priority. As now envisioned, the proposed center will be constructed close to the current band and choir rooms and provide easy access for the ensembles to practice in their main performance space.
Community Life ..... 6 Sports.................... 7, 8 Classifieds............... 11
In addition, the first three rows of seats in the auditorium will have tablet arms, allowing the space to be used as a classroom or examination site as well as during guest lectures by students wishing to take notes. The current cafeteria at Eugene Field Elementary School seats only 120 students, which means only one of the school’s four grade levels is able to eat at a time. The proposed new facility would seat around 250 students, which would allow two grades to be served at once, cutting the time needed to serve lunch in half. Other changes to be paid for with the bond issue include secure entryways at all three R-II campuses, including the installation of door buzzers and security cameras. The district also wants to build a practice gymnasium at the high school, which would be largely financed with a grant through the See PLANS, Page 12
OUTSIDE
Today High: 37° Low: 22°