Looking Back
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Looking Back: Fifty Years Ago by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society Some weeks I know exactly what I want to write about in this column. This week, I had no clue. When that happens, I get in my car, drive to the Historical Society Museum and start looking. Upon entering the building, I first remembered the group of 20 or more people gathered around the old Grain Valley School yearbooks on display. They came for the ice cream social but ended up staying to look at the yearbooks, laugh at the old pictures with crazy clothes and even crazier hair, and reminisce about “the good old days!” I also thought about how COVID-19 had prevented the Grain Valley Alumni Banquet from being held the past two years; another opportunity for graduates to reminisce. Next, I saw the stack of yearbooks that were recently donated to the society by Vickie Officer’s sister. And that is how I arrived at this week’s column. From the 1971 Treasure Chest, I share the following bits of history. In the first three pages I learned Sandie (Brown) Doty was editor and Melinda (Murry) Henson was assistant editor of the yearbook. It was dedicated to Don Kalthoff, “friend, teacher, and coach” of the I-70 Conference Championship Football Team. In the fall of 1970 students began their first full year in the new high school building. Turning the pages, I further learned Marvin Headley was superintendent and Harvey Wright was the principal. The high school had only 14 teachers. There were 6 school bus drivers, 5 cafeteria workers, and 4 custodians. Forty-two graduates were led by Valerie Beecher, class president; Paul
Willard, vice-president; Debbie Rogers, secretary and Terri Tracy, treasurer. Ron Affolter was the Student Council President. The trip to Lake View Beach capped off the year for the Class of 1971. Fifty years ago, GVHS had only three competitive sports; football, boys’ basketball, and track. The yearbook also has two girls’ volleyball photographs; the junior-senior team and the freshmansophomore team. Since neither team has numbers, they must have been league teams. There was also a concert and marching band, varsity and JV cheerleaders and queens, lots of queens! Up the Down Staircase was the theatrical production for 1970-71. Mary Harper (drama teacher) and Barbara Murry (music teacher ) co-directed G.V. Hee Haw. It was a variety show presented to showcase the talents of their students. Near the end of the yearbook there are 12 pages of advertisements. Of the nearly 75 ads, only 7 were for businesses in Grain Valley. Looking back fifty years the town did not offer much in the way of commerce. We had the Bank of Grain Valley, 4 gas stations, a convenience grocery, a beauty shop, a barber shop, a couple of restaurants, car repair shops and some light manufacturing. We did not have a supermarket, a laundry, a pharmacy, a library, a movie theater, etc., etc., etc. But what Grain Valley has had since 1909 is a school system dedicated to the education of our children. That tradition has not changed.
Taken from the 1971 Treasure Chest: “Work started on our new high school building in September, 1969. After waiting anxiously, we began to hold classes in it during the second quarter of 1970. We have pride in this new facility and we are grateful for it.” Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society Visit the Historical Society any Wednesday, check out our yearbook collection, and reminisce about “the good old days!”
We have over 50 yearbooks for your perusal.
State News: DOJ asks court to block Missouri’s ‘Second Amendment Preservation Act’ by Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent (www.missouriindependent.com) A Missouri law prohibiting state and local police from enforcing certain federal gun laws has already undermined drug and weapons investigations, the U.S. Department of Justice argued in documents filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court. As part of an ongoing lawsuit set for a hearing Thursday afternoon, the Justice Department is asking Cole County Judge Daniel Green to block the “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” a law approved by the state legislature in May and signed by Gov. Mike Parson. Among its provisions, the law says law enforcement agencies will face $50,000 fines if they “infringe” on Missourians’ Second Amendment rights. Some of those laws would include imposing certain taxes on firearms, requiring gun owners to register their
weapons and laws prohibiting “lawabiding” residents from possessing or transferring their guns. Brian M. Boynton, the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division, wrote that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and “has caused, and will continue to cause, significant harms to law enforcement within the State of Missouri.” Frederic Winston, special agent in charge of the Kansas City Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), said in an affidavit submitted to the court that a dozen state and local officers have withdrawn from participating in ATF task forces at least in part because of the law. That includes members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Columbia
Police Department, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, O’Fallon Police Department and Sedalia Police Department. Additionally, Winston wrote, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s information analysis center informed ATF it would no longer provide any investigative support, including background information on investigative targets. Missouri’s law, he wrote, “will cause a strain on law enforcement relationships due to the inability to communicate as effectively and to efficiently share information and investigative resources. This, in turn, will prevent law enforcement at all levels from effectively serving and protecting the citizens of Missouri and other states.” Winston noted that in 2020, the highway patrol reported more than
13,800 firearms offenses in Missouri. That number, he said, is more than 8,000 in 2021. The city and county of St. Louis filed a joint lawsuit in June seeking to block the law from going into effect. The suit argues the law violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause and will hinder law enforcement’s ability to deter crime. When he signed the bill earlier this year, Parson said it was intended to push back against any effort by the federal government to tighten gun laws, saying he will “oppose government overreach and any unlawful efforts to limit our access to firearms.” Both Parson and Attorney General Eric Schmitt have publicly vowed to defend the law.
