FLIP PAGES FOR WEBSITE.qxp_shopper 4-22-20.qxp 11/16/20 11:25 AM Page 1
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
REPUBLICAN-TIMES TRENTON
Trenton, MO 64683
Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 157th Year - No. 22
SCHOOL BOARD Grundy R-5
MCCA DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
R-5 Board Approves Modifications The Grundy R-5 Board of Education approved COVID modifications for home basketball games during a meeting held Wednesday evening. The board discussed the present COVID-19 response and agreed to continue taking the current precautions for the foreseeable future. Modifications for home basketball games will include: attendance will be allowed only for those with a ticket; approximately 150 tickets will be issued per game for all participants; all Grundy R-5 players, coaches and cheerleaders will receive five tickets each, with visiting teams receiving two tickets per player, coach and cheerleader; all fans will be asked to wear a mask and socially distance outside of their family group; See R-5 Board, Page 4
NCMDA
75¢
per copy Check out the Republican-Times on the Internet: www.republican-times.com ©W.B. Rogers Printing Co., Inc.
Ten Pages
Briefs... CCOVID Numbers I ncrreas se
Crooks’ Support Of NCMC Earns Her Honor From MCCA Trenton Mayor Linda Crooks was recently recognized by the Missouri Community College Association for her outstanding alumni support of North Central Missouri College and Missouri community colleges. Linda received the 2020 Distinguished Alumni award at the statewide MCCA convention held virtually Nov. 11-13. This prestigious award is given annually to community college alumni who show their support and commitment to their community college alma mater. Mrs. Crooks is a 1969 graduate of Trenton Junior College, now North Central Missouri College with an AA transfer degree. From TJC, Linda transferred to Central Missouri State University as a physical education major, acquiring her Bachelor of Science Degree in 1971 and Masters of Science Degree in Physical Education in 1978. While attending CMSU, Linda was a varsity player for two years in field hockey, basketball and softball.
The number of COVID19 cases in Grundy County continued to increase over the weekend. Grundy County’s active cases rose to 128, an increase from 103 active cases that were reported to the Republican-Times on Thursday. Grundy County has monitored a total of 543 cases since testing began, a number that is up 60 since last Thursday. Health Department Administrator Elizabeth Gibson is encouraging residents to continue wearing masks, washing their hands frequently, practicing social distancing and disinfecting when needed. Those who are not feeling well should stay home. In addition, she is stressing the importance of getting a flu shot this year and said vaccine for all ages is available at the health department.
Upon retirement from her rewarding 44-year career in education, Linda made a bold and decisive movement in her life choices when she felt her head and heart being pulled to return to her hometown of Trenton. Becoming a volunteer was her primary focus to improve life in her hometown. Mostly, North Central Missouri College became the recipient of her energies. She became an avid supporter of campus activities, primarily the sports teams, especially the Lady Pirates/Pirates basketball teams, the NCMC Foundation Golf Tournament and Holiday Hoops. She is a strong advocate for community colleges, NCMC, the college’s foundation, and the communities in its service area. Each year, MCCA honors individuals and businesses who support community colleges in Missouri and provides recognition to those who are selected based on their support, generosity, commitment and partnerships with community colleges in the state. Trenton Mayor Linda Crooks
Technology Changes Economic Landscape
WRIGHT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
COVID-19
Business Attraction A Goal No Visitors Allowed At WMH Editor’s Note: The Trenton Republican-Times will be publishing a weekly series of articles regarding the activities of the North Central Missouri Development Alliance and information about economic and community development in Grundy County. By Micah Landes, Director North Central Missouri Development Alliance If you were to ask people in the county what economic development is all about, the majority would respond by saying it is bringing a new factory, big box retailer or chain restaurant to town. While business attraction and recruitment is certainly one of the legs of the three-legged economic development stool, it is the method
U.S. NEWS
most challenging for rural communities and the hardest for the general public to understand. The development of the United States highway system dramatically changed economic development practices. Prior to the highway system, vibrant economies developed around rail system hubs. With the highway system developed in the 1950’s, economic development practices began to focus on industrial park development along or near two-or four-lane highway infrastructure. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, communities developed these parks and filled them with manufacturers and industry. Grundy County’s industrial park was created on the north edge of the commu-
nity and is currently occupied by Modine Manufacturing, Jim’s Building Supply, Trenton Coca-Cola, Global Instruments, MFA, Muff’s Logistics/Warehouse, Barnes Greenhouse, the Missouri National Guard and Hope Haven’s recycling and warehouse buildings. The opportunities that the highway system development presented decades ago have been replaced today by a “highway” system that is not visible to passersby. The evolution of the internet has dramatically changed the economic landscape and broadened opportunities for rural communities in ways not even imagined 10 years ago. See NCMDA, Page 4
Two local organizations that serve the public have announced changes in their operations due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in Grundy County and the surrounding area. Wright Memorial Hospital and Hedrick Medical Center have revised visitor guidelines to “Level 5 No Visitors” effective Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7 a.m. No visitors will be allowed in the hospitals, emergency departments, clinics or maternity units. Limited exceptions allow visitation if patients are under the age of 18 or cognitively impaired and, in some instances, if the patient is disabled or the care team determines family assistance is required.
In the Hedrick Medical Center Labor and Delivery department, once the patient is in labor she may have one designated support person, who may not leave and re-enter unless pre-approved. For more specific information please see the Saint Luke’s website to review all visitor guidelines. North Central Missouri Mental Health Center has also changed its operations. Effective Monday Nov. 16, all offices of the mental health center will be open for staff only. All consumer activities will be conducted via telehealth or telephone services, and requests for medication refills will be addressed and completed as usual. Consumers and members of the
public will not be granted entry into North Central facilities at this time. Offices will be staffed with employees to answer phone calls, make and reschedule appointments, etc. Office phone hours will remain the same as current business hours, which are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. As always, the crisis line is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week at 1-888279-8188. This temporary business plan will be in place from Nov. 16 through Nov. 27 (including the Thanksgiving holiday). The situation will be re-evaluated on Nov. 27 and, if necessary, an updated announcement will be made at that time.
Vaccine Appears 94.5% Effective
Company Says Vaccine Proving Highly Effective By The Associated Press Moderna said Monday its COVID19 vaccine is proving to be highly effective in a major trial, a second dash of hope in the global race for a shot to tame a resurgent virus that is now killing more than 8,000 people a day worldwide. The company said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from Moderna’s ongoing study. A week ago, competitor Pfizer Inc. announced its own COVID-19 vaccine appeared similarly effective — news that puts both companies on track to seek permission within weeks for emergency use in the U.S. The results are “truly striking,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious diseases expert. Earlier this year, Fauci said he would be happy with a COVID-19 vaccine that was 60% effective.
A vaccine can’t come fast enough, as virus cases topped 11 million in the U.S. over the weekend — 1 million of them recorded in just the past week — and governors and mayors are ratcheting up restrictions ahead of Thanksgiving. The pandemic has killed more than 1.3 million people worldwide, over 245,000 of them in the U.S. Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moderna’s president, welcomed the “really important milestone” but said having similar results from two different companies is what’s most reassuring. “That should give us all hope that actually a vaccine is going to be able to stop this pandemic and hopefully get us back to our lives,” Hoge told The Associated Press. He added: “It won’t be Moderna alone that solves this problem. It’s going to require many vaccines” to meet the global demand.
National Weather Service
Mostly sunny with highs in the low 60s to 70 this week. Lows will be around 50. The high at Trenton on Thursday, Nov. 14 was 58, Friday’s high was 45 and Saturday’s high was 60, the low was 33 and .05 of an inch of rain fell. Sunday’s high was 52, the low was 37, with .01 of an inch of rain. The high Sunday at the Government Weather Station near Spickard was 50, the low was 31.
The National Institutes of Health helped create the vaccine Moderna is manufacturing, and NIH's director, Dr. Francis Collins, said the exciting news from two companies “gives us a lot of confidence that we're on the path towards having effective vaccines.” But “we're also at this really dark time,” he warned, saying people can't let down their guard during the months it will take for doses of any vaccines cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to start reaching a large share of the population. If the FDA allows emergency use of Moderna’s or Pfizer’s candidate, there will be limited, rationed supplies before the end of the year. Both vaccines require people to get two shots, several weeks apart. U.S. officials said they hope to have about 20 million Moderna doses and another 20 million doses of the vaccine
made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to use in late December. Exactly who is first in line is yet to be decided. But Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the hope is that enough doses are available by the end of January to vaccinate adults over 65, who are at the highest risk from the coronavirus, and health care workers. Fauci said it may take until spring or summer for enough for anyone who is not high risk and wants a shot to get one. Another important message: Additional vaccines that work in different ways are still in testing — and despite the promising news about Moderna's and Pfizer's shots, more volunteers are needed for those studies. Stocks opened higher on the news on Wall Street. Moderna was likely to hit an all-time high. Markets in Asia and Europe were up sharply as well.
What’s Inside... The Trenton High School winter sports season got under way on Friday night with the THS basketball team hosting Maysville in jamboree action at the THS gym. See details on page 2 of today’s paper.
Trenton Republican-Times “News Every Day...When YOU Want It”
PLEASANT
www.republican-times.com
Moderna’s vaccine is being studied in 30,000 volunteers who received either the real thing or a dummy shot. On Sunday, an independent monitoring board examined 95 infections that were recorded after volunteers' second dose, and they discovered all but five illnesses occurred in participants who got the placebo. The study is continuing, and Moderna acknowledged the protection rate might change as more COVID19 infections are detected. Also, it’s too soon to know how long protection lasts. Both cautions apply to Pfizer’s vaccine as well. But Moderna’s independent monitors reported some additional, promising tidbits: All 11 severe COVID-19 cases were among placebo recipients, and there were no significant safety concerns. The main side effects were See Moderna, Page 4
What’s Inside
Sports.............................page 2 Local News.................page 3-4 Community ...................page 5 National News ...............page 6 Comics ...........................page 7 Dear Annie ....................page 8 Crosswords....................page 8 Area News ..................page 10