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Volume 104 • Number 9 • Tuesday, January 14, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO • 75¢
Engineer inspects historic Elks Lodge By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff Writer
KEVIN BIRDSELL/DAILY FORUM
Building gets checked out
Engineers from Structural Engineering Associates check out the Elk’s Lodge on Monday. The building, located at 115 N. Main St., has been a downtown landmark in Maryville since 1909.
The Maryville Elks Lodge at 115 N. Main St. got a check-up Monday from an engineering firm hired by the fraternal organization to assess the ornate brown brick building’s structural integrity. Local Elks Lead Knight Bill Eckles said the examination was needed to make sure the downtown landmark, constructed in 1909, remains safe. “We want it to be a lasting building here,” Eckles said. Built for the exclusive use of lodge brothers, the building is one of the few Elks buildings left in the country that retains members-only status, Eckles said. The engineer’s examination began earlier with the porch area, but that process was stalled due to severe winter weather. Subsequently the effort was divided into several stages, with the remainder of the exterior evaluation now underway. The Lodge has hired Structural Engineering Associates from Kansas City to make sure their building remains safe. “Usually, a brick
building doesn’t need much (maintenance) for 50 years,” engineer Ralph Jones said. “Then after that, you may have to come back every 10 years or so.” Jones said he is looking for signs of deterioration on the face of the building. He added that different portions of the structure could display various levels of deterioration depending on exposure to sunlight, wind, rain and other significant environmental stresses. “It’s kind of a general overview of the exterior of the building,” Jones said. “The whole purpose is just to see if they have anything that needs maintenance on it so they can service the building for years.” The removal of several bricks near the building’s lintels is part of the process. Jones is also looking to see if steel around doors and windows is rusting or corroding. The inspection is also covering mortar joints and other architectural components. “They’re just trying to do their due diligence to make sure the building is in good shape and make sure people can occupy it safely,” Jones said.
Barn artist forges images to suit any farmer’s fancy By STEVE HARTMAN Staff writer
Bill Welch
A project born out of necessity in the early 1960’s helped local resident Bill Welch discover his artistic side, and he’s been creating and inventing ever since. “I was living at my dad’s place, which is a mile north of Parnell,” Welch said. “We had a big old barn, and the upper hay loft doors were rotten and about ready to fall in. So I made new doors and painted them white, but they looked so plain up on the barn. I had one of those penny rubon temporary tattoos of a dressed-up pig in a running motion inside a big heart, so
I used it as the design for the picture I decided to paint on the doors.” Once the picture was painted, Welch thought See Barn, Page 3
Silhouettes
(Shown at right) Silhouettes of cowboys and cowgirls are among the favorite subjects of ‘barn artist’ Bill Welch, who has spent decades creating fanciful objects and collecting antiques and other odds and ends emblematic of farm life in northwest Missouri.
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Rates rise as USPS fiscal crunch continues By TONY BROWN News editor
It may not mean a lot to folks who do most of their long-distance communicating via phone text, Facebook, Twitter and email, but the cost of sending a letter via the U.S. Postal Service — that quaint custom known “snail mail” — is about to go up. Beginning January 26, the cost
of placing a stamp on a first-class, 1 ounce, single-piece letter will rise from 46 cents to 49 cents. The proposed changes, which pretty much affect all postal rates across the board, are intended to generate $2 billion in annual revenue for the Postal Service, which has been floating on billions of dollars of red ink for years. And while most individuals — especially those who take care
of most of their correspondence online — are unlikely to feel much pain except maybe around Christmas card time, it’s a different story for businesses that depend on the Postal Service to advertise, sell and deliver their product. Newspapers, for example. Daily Forum/Maryville Post Publisher Phil Cobb said Thursday that the planned 6 percent increase in bulk mail rates will add about
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$13,000 a year to his operation’s postage costs. “We’ve been talking to our congressmen for the past couple of years about the situation with the post office, and how they seem to be on a death spiral,” said Missouri Press Association Executive Director Doug Crews, who described the challenge facing the Postal Service — less mail to deliver and more places to deliver
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it to — as a “perfect storm.” “It doesn’t shape up to a very good situation in the future,” Crews said. “But we’ve been trying to educate Congress and others about the vital role (the Postal Service) plays in delivering our product.” Formed in 1971 from the old U.S. Post Office Department, which was organized in 1792, the Postal Service operates as an See Rates, Page 3
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