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Volume 104 • Number 20 • Thursday, January 30, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO
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DAILY FORUM PHOTOS BY KEVIN BIRDSELL
It’s showtime
Left: Members of Maryville High School’s Spectrum show choir rehearse dance moves for Turn It Up!, a musical review that will be presented Friday at Northwest Missouri State University. Proceeds from the show will be used to raise money to send the group to a competition in Carthage. Above: Maryville High School vocal music director Nic Vasquez leads Spectrum in warm-ups on Wednesday. The choir will be putting on their show, featuring nine songs, at 7 p.m. Friday in the Charles Johnson Theater.
Spectrum show choir’s plans are to ‘Turn It Up!’ By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff writer
Fans of both musicals and the hits of today will be in for a treat Friday when the Maryville High School Spectrum show choir presents Turn It Up! at 7 p.m. in Charles Johnson Theater on the
campus of Northwest Missouri State University. Proceeds from the stage review will help fund Spectrum’s trip to a show choir competition in Carthage. “We are trying to raise money to offset the cost of costumes and travel,” MHS vocal music direc-
tor Nic Vasquez said. “Most everything the kids pay for on their own. We buy tuxedos, dresses, shoes, ties, and it all adds up and gets pretty expensive.” This will be the first time Spectrum will be traveling to Carthage. The group will be parSee SPECTRUM, Page 3
Suspect apprehended after early morning chase By TONY BROWN News editor
An Independence man remained in custody Wednesday following a brief crime spree and high-speed chase conducted by Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White, who was assisted by other county officers and troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A plucky young man from St. Joseph — who just happened to be driving by — helped out as well. According to White, Dustin L. Smith, 31, had been in Nodaway County since at least Tuesday evening after allegedly stealing a car in the Kansas City area and driving north. Smith is suspected of committing a burglary near Clearmont. he will also likely be charged with stealing a second vehicle north of Wilcox and breaking into a third vehicle Tuesday night outside the Applebee’s restaurant in Maryville. The car taken in Nodaway County was the gray 2014 Ford Focus involved in the chase. White said the owner, Scott Stiens, reported the car stolen at about 7:30
Wednesday morning. Left near Stiens’ residence was the Toyota Camry taken in Kansas City. White said the Camry contained a shotgun that was apparently stolen in the Clearmont burglary. After Stiens reported the theft of his car, White responded to a second call of someone asleep in a vehicle parked in a driveway just off Highway 71 two miles north of the Andrew County line. When the sheriff attempted to approach the suspect, Smith took off, driving northbound on 71 at a high rate of speed with White in pursuit. The chase, which began shortly before 8 a.m., ended when Smith ran over tiredeflation spikes set out by a state trooper. The Focus crashed into a road sign, flipped over in mid-air, and came to rest on its wheels in the median seven miles south of Maryville at the four-lane’s intersection with 330th Street. Smith was wearing a seat belt and suffered only minor injuries in the crash, according to the patrol. After the wreck, the suspect tried to flee on foot.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
A wild ride
Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Shane Sims walks away from a wrecked car that was allegedly stolen prior to a high-speed chase Wednesday morning northbound on Highway 71 south of Maryville. One suspect is in custody. White was beginning to give chase as a passing motorist, Jason Beaver of St. Joseph, who had been driving southbound, stopped his car and pursued Smith over a fence and into a field on the west side of the highway. White said Beaver “tack-
OFFICE NUMBER
660-562-2424
led” Smith, forced his hands behind his back and was “sitting on him” as officers arrived to take the suspect into custody. “He (Beaver) was just going to drive off,” said White, who described Beaver as a slightly built man in his
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20s. “But I walked over and thanked him for stopping to help.” It appeared that Smith was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs at the time of his arrest, White said. The suspect was being held Wednesday in the Nod-
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away County jail pending the filing of charges. Bail for Beaver was expected to be set later. In addition to the Sheriff’s Department and the patrol, Maryville Public Safety is also assisting in the investigation.
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