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Volume 104 • Number 28 • Tuesday, February 11, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO • 75¢
County sues CMC over back taxes By TONY BROWN News Editor
In announcing her resignation late last year, former Nodaway County Economic Development Director Lee Langerock expressed optimism with regard to the shuttered Carbolytic Materials Company plant on the eastern edge of Maryville. “I don’t think the story of CMC is over yet,” Langerock said. “They did what no other technology company has been able to do, and I believe there is still opportunity there.” Those hopes will apparently continue to languish after Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice on Friday filed a lawsuit against CMC’s owners in which the county is seeking to collect nearly $350,000 in back taxes, fees, penalties and interest. The suit came after months of
negotiations between CMC and the county as, according to Collector/ Treasurer Marilyn Jenkins, at least two companies interested in buying the defunct scrap tire processing plant from its original owners backed away from the deal. Jenkins said Monday the suit was filed against a corporation owned by a group of St. Louis investors headed by Ray Riek, who brought CMC to town in 2008 amid much talk of good-paying jobs and economic growth. That growth was to be fueled, CMC officials trumpeted at the time, by the company’s “proprietary technology” designed to chemically “crack” shredded automotive tires in order to produce marketable gas, fuel oil and “carbon black,” a material used as a pigment and reinforcing agent in the manufacture of See COUNTY Page 6
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Unfulfilled promise
Pictured above is a portion of the deserted CMC plant on the eastern edge of Maryville. Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice has filed a lawsuit against CMC’s owners in an attempt to recover nearly $350,000 in unpaid personal property taxes.
Regents upgrade fundraiser position By TONY BROWN News editor
Frighteningly frigid
DARREN WHITLEY/NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
Northwest Missouri State University student Tassi Cook jumps into Colden Pond during the 2013 Colden Pond Plunge. The event, sponsored by Northwest’s Up ’til Dawn student organization, raises money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This year’s plunge will take place at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, on the Northwest campus.
Colden Plunge returns Feb. 21 By STEVE HARTMAN Staff writer
Northwest Missouri State University’s Up ’til Dawn organization has announced the date and time of the 2014 Colden Pond Plunge. The event will take place at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, at Colden Pond on the Northwest campus. The event is free to the public, and Maryville Public Safety will provide complimentary hot chocolate to those who attend. Between now and Feb. 21, the community is invited to donate on behalf
of any one of the 17 Northwest students who have been nominated to take the plunge. The five students who raise the most money during this time will jump into Colden Pond. Up ’til Dawn members are collecting donations between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Friday on the second floor of the J. W. Jones Student Union. Those who wish to donate by check should make checks payable to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. All proceeds go to as-
sisting St. Jude with operating and patient-care costs. Last year’s Colden Pond Plunge raised more than $3,000. Up ’til Dawn is part of a national philanthropy involving students at more than 200 colleges and universities who raise money for St. Jude. The hospital uses the money to advance its mission of treating children with serious illnesses. Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude is a major healthcare center for children and is funded almost ex-
OFFICE NUMBER
660-562-2424
clusively through private donations. The hospital is both a treatment center and a research facility, and is traditionally associated with the fight against pediatric cancer. In recent years, St. Jude scientists and physicians have expanded their focus to include genetic disorders and the development of a vaccine for pediatric AIDS. For more information about the Northwest Up ’til Dawn campaign, contact Kylie Niichel at s508436@mail.nwmissouri.edu.
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The Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents continued putting the pieces in place for a proposed $45 million capital campaign last week with an upward salary adjustment for one of two new professional positions being created to flesh out the school’s fundraising staff. Back in October, the board signed off on hiring a director of development with a salary range of between $77,000 and $94,000 and a development officer with a salary range of between $54,000 and $66,000. As originally proposed, the development officer would have reported to the director of development, who, in turn, would have been responsible to Vice President of University Advancement Mike Johnson. During its regular session on Friday, however, the regents approved Johnson’s recommendation to upgrade the development officer position, which will now come with the title “director of corporate and foundation relations.” The change means the job’s salary range will jump to between $68,000 and $87,000. Also, whoever is ultimately hired will report directly to Johnson. Johnson said Monday he pushed for the change due to “gaps” in the university’s fundraising operation when it comes to working with corporations and non-profit family and institutional foundations. In filling the position, Johnson said his office would seek someone with both expertise and access in the world of
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Mike Johnson corporate giving, especially in Kansas City and other metropolitan areas. The new director, Johnson said, will also be expected to work with Northwest’s newly hired grant writer, Ty Parsons, both in terms of soliciting and structuring potential gifts, which could sometimes take the form of grants tied to an application process. “Growing corporate and foundation relations is an opportunity that has been identified as a high priority for the university and the campaign,” Johnson said in his report to the regents. “… We wish to more closely align the development officer position with identified corporate and foundation needs and are asking for a slight refinement to the approved position.” In creating both positions, Northwest officials are hoping to add fundraising muscle to the Advancement Office in order to bring in enough money to carry out several major projects, including imSee REGENTS Page 6
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Today High: 18° Low: 11°